Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series regarding the issues at Kentucky State University. 

Steady cash flow comes from steady work. If you want money you have to do something that produces money. 

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd’s ruling that the school choice bill passed earlier this year is unconstitutional is hardly a “crippling blow” — as the Courier-Journal describes it — to the commonwealth’s school choice efforts.

On Sunday, many Franklin County residents dealt with an unusually warm day to witness a wondrous sight, the ground breaking on the future Franklin County Humane Society’s new shelter. It was one of those rare days when all came together to celebrate an accomplishment that will give cats and …

As flu season comes around and our children are going back to school, there are many concerns on how to monitor your child's health. Not only can a common cold mimic the symptoms of COVID-19, but allergies and the flu can both have similarities as well. With school being in-person, it is cru…

Do you know how many states must ratify a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution before it can take effect? Or what qualifications a person must have to be nominated as a justice of the Supreme Court? How about who serves as president in the case of a vacancy of that office, th…

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." 

During my inaugural address, held on the Capitol steps in Frankfort less than two years ago, I said advanced manufacturing was an area where Kentucky was “poised to be a national leader — if we have the vision and the will to be bold.”

Kentucky State University will soon be in the market for a new president. Unquestionably, the last few have left much to be desired.

The Kentucky Kernel’s six-year legal battle with the University of Kentucky has come to an end.

The Kentucky General Assembly recently passed a law that cancels emergency regulation 702 KAR 1:195E, which required all individuals, including students, school employees, contractors, and visitors to wear a mask while inside any school facility, leaving it up to the individual school distri…

As a UK HealthCare obstetrician-gynecologist serving families at Georgetown Community Hospital, my goal is to always provide the best possible care and medical advice for expectant mothers and women who plan to become pregnant. I love helping moms-to-be stay healthy and prepare to welcome th…

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the past 18 months have brought many challenges for our health care system, businesses, schools and families. Now, employers of all types and sizes across Kentucky are eager to get back on track and contribute to the state’s economic recovery. B…

As a former staffer with the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, I often heard this quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck, “Laws are like sausage: it is better not to see them being made.”

Dear Gov. Andy Beshear,

Often we blame the problems of governing on the leaders in the executive and legislative branches of government at the state and federal levels. Yes, the elected leaders are responsible for the policies and laws to protect our people and serve their best interests. But, unfortunately, the ma…

The objective is to raise environmental awareness as simply and quickly as possible.

Kentucky State University, the shining beacon of hope and positive transformational change for so many in Frankfort and across the great Commonwealth of Kentucky since 1886, has been placed at another crossroads in time. How we as a university react to current issues can have a profound impa…

Sometimes “no” isn’t just the right answer; it’s the only realistic one.

Pope Francis declares that the Catholic church’s pro-life stance could not be more important today, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The life we ​​are called to promote and defend is not an abstract concept, but always manifests itself in a person in flesh and blood: a newly co…

As you well know, the Delta variant has been raging through our Commonwealth and our community recently. In Franklin County, our daily incidence rates have recently been as high as they have ever been, and September is on pace to be Franklin County’s worst yet in terms of number of reported …

A new Frankfort transplant, “free trash week” is something I recently experienced for the first time. While on an evening walk with my dog, I noticed a couple unloading items from their garage onto the curb. 

For months, the Kentucky Open Government Coalition has sounded the alarm that Attorney General Daniel Cameron represents a clear and present danger to the Commonwealth’s open records and open meetings laws.

The framers of Kentucky’s constitution made crystal clear the state’s responsibility to provide for a system of common, public schools across the commonwealth. And in 1989 the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed that obligation and said funding inadequacies at the time meant the state had “falle…

Thanks to Austin Horn for his recent reporting and opinion piece about zoning reform (“Austin Horn: Franklin County’s most important snoozefest,” Sept. 10-12). I agree that 468 pages of zoning code is a snooze fest. However, without reading the code, all you have to do is look around to see …

State test scores indicate fewer than one in three high school students in the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), Kentucky’s largest school district, can perform math at a proficient level. In some of the district’s schools, the percentage of students proficient in math is in the single…

No one will argue that the past year and a half have been a challenge for all of us, but there is no possible way we, as a society, can give enough thanks to those that have been at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. The selfless drive among frontline workers to work countless …

When the Kentucky State University football team travels to Nashville to face off with the Tennessee State University Tigers at the John Merritt Classic on Saturday, they will unknowingly face their own history. Because while former Tennessee Titans running back and Tigers Head Coach Eddie G…

Our special session has come and gone in a flash. Sept. 7-9 were dedicated to an adjusted plan for education, new healthcare provisions, spending and extending the state of emergency.

Kentucky families without good education options got a reprieve last spring. The General Assembly created an Education Opportunity Accounts Program that will encourage donations to lower-income families to pay for a wide range of educational investments —including tuition to a school that is…

As we began to open our schools this year, we talked about a return to normalcy. But as usual partisan politics and cultural rifts have usurped the rights and safety of children. Many adults have rejected the vaccines and mitigation measures, especially simple masks, and these chosen battles…

Franklin County, we need to talk. 

Life is short. The best we can do, is the best we can do. If we are doing our best, then what more can we expect from ourselves and others? Most people are doing the best they can with the information and abilities they have.   

I have lived in Frankfort over 30 years. I love this warm and welcoming community; it offers a comfortable life. Imagine how much better it would be with a respectable, well-functioning university led by an honorable president with integrity and an informed board that understood academia and…

The unexplained death of an inmate at the Franklin County Jail is a reminder of the unintended consequences of a recently enacted exception to the open records law.

To say the past 18 months have been different for us could possibly be the biggest understatement ever. While far from unprecedented in history, a pandemic is something few if any Americans alive had ever experienced.

Agriculture and energy have historically shared a symbiotic relationship, especially since the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created 85 years ago — to bring electricity to rural America. This development, coupled with the ingenuity and hard work of U.S. farm families, enable…

For the past 18 months and counting, Kentucky has battled the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing its decades-long fight against addiction. This has truly been an epidemic within a pandemic. But our state has a unique opportunity on the horizon that may forever change how we address addiction…

Starting last year, as COVID-19 led people to social distance and quarantine, a new term entered the lexicon: "essential worker." Though everyday working people have always been the key to a functioning society and economy, the crisis laid bare their vital roles like never before. 

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part column regarding Kentucky State University. Read part one here.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a troubling rise in related public health threats, including an increase in opioid overdoses and incidence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Unfortunately, Kentucky may be making matters worse — a federal appeals court recently ruled that the Kentucky Departmen…

Permanent federal approval for one coronavirus vaccine Monday should have eliminated the arguments of some sadly misled, vaccine-hesitant Americans that Operation Warp Speed is just one big experiment. But as Kentucky deals with another deadly surge of the coronavirus, it has started a heavi…

Last week Attorney General Daniel Cameron issued a third open records decision determining that — without regard to their nature, purpose, or content — “text messages sent and received on privately-owned devices, for which no public funds have been spent, are not ‘public records’ under KRS 6…

School is back in session. New classrooms, new supplies and new teachers bring a feeling of opportunity, and maybe a little anxiety too.

“You can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution.” — Huey P. Newton

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part column regarding Kentucky State University.

As another college year begins amidst a resurging pandemic, new Census data shows those struggling the most with student debt are also among the hardest hit by COVID-19’s economic impacts. Scholars and advocates continue to call for student debt relief as an effective policy tool for economi…

Kentucky lawmakers will have a historic opportunity to begin putting the state back on track for a brighter future next legislative session. Thanks to aggressive federal pandemic relief that has increased Kentuckians’ incomes and strengthened consumer spending, the state budget is seeing lar…

Gov. Andy Beshear’s latest political gyration involving leaning on the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) to mandate all children in every public school across the commonwealth don masks for 270 days — the entire school year unless the board relents, which is unlikely —  helps strengthen the …

The increase in violent crime across our nation and Kentucky’s cities should not surprise us. The Kentucky legislature the last several years has set the table for it. House Bill 463 reduced penalties for drug offenders. There is so-called “juvenile justice reform” to severely restrict judge…