In her op-ed ("Don't determine vote by false labeling, Aug. 14), Phyllis Sower assures us that President Donald Trump is not a racist. She must be right, because she says she has “not seen or heard any proof to support such a claim.” She must be right because one of our two major parties, th…

In 2016, the Kentucky Court of Appeals issued a scathing opinion to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in an open records dispute involving access to child fatality or near fatality records maintained by the Cabinet.

Semple Elementary first-grade teacher Christina Carter read a story to her class about a child who faced stressful events every day, making it hard to focus at school. After the story, she gave her students a prompt — if Ms. Carter only knew.

As the Tanglewood Neighborhood Association (TNAi) and its vice president, Glenn Goldstein, ("Tanglewood maligned," Aug. 7) continue to quibble over the height of the single 7-million-gallon reservoir and how it will negatively affect their property values, they seem oblivious to the potentia…

It’s not often that a company returns money to its customers when it realizes a savings. But because the Frankfort Plant Board is a public utility, it is not beholden to corporate shareholders. As a municipal utility, you and I — its customers — are its owners. And that’s why when you get yo…

School safety has garnered much attention in recent years. The passage of Senate Bill 1, the “School Safety Bill,” in our state demonstrates the type of positive legislation that can occur when parties work together. 

In full disclosure for anyone who is reading this column and does not know who I am, I am the president of the Tanglewood Neighborhood Association (TNAi). I have held that position since August 2017. So, I have been front and center in the FPB’s reservoir project debate for nearly two years.

A letter to the editor in The State Journal ("No gray area when it comes to racism and the president," Aug. 3-4) inspired the thoughts that follow. The author, while claiming not to be writing about politics, urged readers to vote Democratic for the sole reason, the author asserts, that the …

Not sure how this poorly reasoned open records decision slipped passed the attorney general’s crack management review team, but I’ve rarely seen a more legally unsupportable resolution of an open records dispute.

I am a chemical engineer and worked as a project engineer for 3M Co. designing chemical manufacturing plants. This included designing storage tanks. Our city is now stuck in a controversy about a water storage tank, the Tanglewood reservoir. 

I ask the people of Frankfort to show our solidarity with the young people of Hong Kong. These brave people are fighting to change a corrupted government.

For some time now a few citizens of Frankfort have joined the Frankfort Plant Board in maligning residents of Tanglewood, where I live, over the reservoir controversy.

I am writing in response to Paula Moore’s guest column ("Community leaders, Humane Society must commit to new shelter," July 18).

Definitions of the abyss:

The recent special legislative session resulting in temporary relief from soaring pension payments faced by regional universities, local health departments, rape crisis centers and other groups known as quasi-government agencies gave Republican Gov. Matt Bevin a political victory in this yea…

The 2019 Extraordinary Session delivered another blow to the already struggling pension system and legislative independence.

In the recent editorial ("(Stephen) Mason brings statesmanship to a feud that needs to end”, July 19), The State Journal opined that the Frankfort Plant Board "acted in good faith in identifying the most cost-effective option for ratepayers" while "Tanglewood residents (TNAi) have legitimate…

Like Paula Moore ("Community, Humane Society must commit to new shelter," Thursday, July 18) and countless others who have posted on The State Journal website and on social media, I have followed the commentary being expressed about the proposed plan for a new Humane Society shelter. I am mo…

At the city commission meeting Monday evening, the commissioners agreed to lease land for a new animal shelter. Thank you for that. But they continue to kick the can down the road for funding the actual construction of the animal shelter. 

Where are we as a society? I would propose we are in a dangerous place as a society. 

In May, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the City of Frankfort a $25,000 Our Town grant to support the creation of an Arts Master Plan for Frankfort.

As legislators head to Frankfort for a special session Friday, it’s important to be clear about the relative merits of proposals to provide relief from spiking pension costs to quasi-governmental organizations and to address challenges going forward.

I have read with much interest the articles in this newspaper and the social media posts regarding the construction of a new animal shelter being proposed by the Franklin County Humane Society (FCHS). I would like to add my thoughts and suggestions to both sides in, hopefully, a constructive…

Kentucky employers have a growing front-line awareness of the devastating impact the opioid epidemic is having on our state.

Public health is the nexus of science and politics. Unfortunately, the two frequently do not mix well. A recent example involving childhood immunizations prompts real concern for the erosion of science in the name of politics.

Where do you expect you would find these phrases?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit recently put its stamp of approval on Kentucky’s legislative ethics law, sending a clear signal for strong public ethics laws across the nation.

With Gov. Matt Bevin expected to call a special legislative session soon to pass his public pension plan, we are reminded of Henry Ford, who famously said his customers could have cars painted “any color, so long as it’s black.”

In 2017, the City of Frankfort applied for and, in 2018, was awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation grant from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

The Frankfort City Commission meeting on May 20 and the June 10 work session really defined the generational chasm we have in Frankfort.

With the city’s mural guidelines now in place, it’s a good time to share news about some exciting additions to Frankfort’s cultural landscape through a new initiative called Arts Downtown. Using funds raised locally, this program will bring five sculptures and three murals to our community t…

Don't judge a mountain by its curves or a woman by her gray hairs.

I write in response to the June 19 editorial “FPB pay hikes should be in line with COLA,” which stated: "Each year the Social Security Administration (SSA) makes Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA) to the supplemental income of retirees, veterans and disabled Americans — many of whom are FPB r…

I am writing in response to people asking me what kind of feedback I've received from my article in The State Journal ("Focus on the present, not past," June 11).

I am in the process of appointing a working group to assist with recruitment and retention of women and minorities in city government positions.

June is Pride Month for the LGBTQ community and for all of us who support them. They are our loved ones, neighbors, co-workers and friends. They are Americans, entitled to the same freedoms and protection as their straight allies.  

It’s time for a decision on a new animal shelter.

Congratulations to Ed Powe and Frankfort’s Focus on Race Relations (FORR) for their plan to erect a memorial to African American men who were lynched in Frankfort at the Singing Bridge just a little more than a century ago. This is long overdue.

I do not envy the Frankfort city commissioners.

The clearest judicial thinking on abortion has come from the pen of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. His May 28 concurrence in Indiana v Planned Parenthood says, “I write separately to address the other aspect of Indiana law at issue here — the ‘Sex Selective and Disability A…

Mountain bikers have been riding all over Fort Hill for years, so it is nothing new. I have done it myself.

In response to the article "Facing down racism: Lynchings on the Singing Bridge to be remembered at August ceremony," published in the June 7 edition of The State Journal, my immediate response is this: What good can come from digging up and displaying the unpleasant past and trying to blame…

Calling all men ...

“She is 18 years old and she’s scared. She’s getting on a plane today at 1 p.m. on her way to Washington D.C. to have an abortion … unless she can find a willing family to adopt her baby. If someone will take it, she will have it.”  

The epidemic of illegal drug abuse is one of the most difficult challenges facing our communities. Our region’s harrowing experience with opioids has been well documented and remains an ongoing struggle for those who are addicted and their families. Increasingly, the scourge of methamphetami…

“Thank you for your service.” As a U.S. Army Soldier living in middle Tennessee, I am grateful for these words, which I hear often when wearing my uniform in this community.

Adolescent and teen use of e-cigarettes or vaping products has doubled or nearly doubled in Kentucky in the last two years, according to the 2018 Kentucky Incentives for Prevention Survey. About 1 in 4 10th and 12th graders and 1 in 7 eighth graders in the commonwealth vaped in 2018. This Ke…