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Kentucky attorney general names members to opioid advisory commission
The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, tasked with distributing opioid settlement dollars, has new members, Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office announced Tuesday. ? The commission was created by the state legislature in 2021 and has nine voting and two non-voting members.? Kentucky receives installments toward $900 million in settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. So […]
‘Tip of the iceberg:’ Kentucky releases domestic violence data report
If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.? You can also contact any of Kentucky’s 15 domestic violence programs.? Over a seven-month period last year, there were nearly 27,000 alleged cases of child abuse with a […]
Applications now open for Kentucky cannabis business licenses
Kentuckians can now begin applying for a cannabis business license, and medical providers can apply to Kentucky’s Board of Medical Licensure and Board of Nursing for permission to write cannabis prescriptions.? This is thanks to a bipartisan House Bill 829 that became law during this year’s legislative session and moved up the medical cannabis timeline […]
Judge rules against Jewish women challenging Kentucky’s abortion ban
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards has ruled against a motion made by three Jewish women seeking to challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban on religious grounds.? In a 9-page Friday night opinion, Edwards wrote the women do not have standing and that their concerns are “hypothetical.” Citing several precedential cases, the judge said the issue was […]
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky announces leadership succession
After nearly a decade at the helm of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Ben Chandler is set to retire at the end of 2024.? The foundation announced his plan Thursday and said its current chief operating officer, Allison Adams, will take his place. She will serve as president and CEO starting Jan. 1.? Chandler […]
Louisville expanding an emergency mental health response service
LOUISVILLE — Kentucky’s largest city is expanding a program that directs certain mental health 911 calls away from police.? Louisville’s two-year-old Crisis Call Diversion Program will begin operating 24/7 as of July 1, the mayor’s office announced Thursday. That’s an expansion from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.? This deflection program works […]
Who called Kentucky abortion fund for help in the years before Roe v. Wade was overturned?
LOUISVILLE — Between 2014 and 2021, 6,162 people called the Kentucky Health Justice Network Abortion Support Fund to seek financial help to get an abortion.? In a new study published last week, researchers analyzed calls made to the abortion support fund and compared them with the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s records of abortions.? And […]
‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it.
A funding dispute between Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican lawmakers threatens to delay long-awaited financial relief for grandparents and other kinship caregivers who are raising children in Kentucky.? Beshear signed and says he supports a new law that allows relatives who take temporary custody of a child, when abuse or neglect is suspected, to […]
Kentuckians decry ‘terrifying’ choices, two years after Dobbs ended abortion access in the state
LOUISVILLE — Two years to the day after the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, advocates and physicians in Louisville and Lexington slammed the fallout from Kentucky’s almost total ban on the procedure. Kentucky’s U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey was in Louisville Monday morning alongside Planned Parenthood and others to say “the […]
‘Free market health care:’ Boon or bane for rural Kentucky?
Experts and lawmakers continue to split over whether Kentucky should reform its controversial certificate of need process.? Two Republican lawmakers on different sides of the issue — Sen. Stephen Meredith of Leitchfield and Rep. Marianne Proctor of Union — spoke Thursday during a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations. […]
How to stay safe as extreme heat is forecast to slam Kentucky
Kentuckians can expect high temperatures this week, with portions of the state predicted to reach 100-degree heat indexes from Tuesday to Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.? High temperatures can be dangerous, particularly for children, people who are chronically ill or pregnant and older adults.? It’s not safe to leave pets or children in […]
Lexington Democrat will attempt to make Juneteenth a state holiday (again)
Kentucky Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington, says he will file legislation in 2025 to try and establish Juneteenth as an official state holiday.? Past efforts to do so have failed.? Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, commemorating the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free in […]