While Gov. Andy Beshear’s response to COVID-19 has resulted in significant economic harm to many Kentuckians — especially hundreds of thousands of workers unable to get critically needed unemployment dollars after being thrown out of work — the governor’s budget proposal does seek to address…

In 2020, parents grew increasingly frustrated with school closings and the apparent inability of many public schools to adequately deal with the COVID crisis. Children are falling behind academically and socially.

It is no secret that Google has secured a near monopoly in the search and local advertising world. However, the impact on newspapers hasn’t been quite as obvious.

Throughout the course of my education career, I have engaged in numerous discussions on how and if schools should discuss and teach controversial topics with students.

State Journal Publisher Steve Stewart last week offered an optimistic view for state Republicans to “lead the way in restoring dignity” when it comes to governing (“Kentucky's GOP leaders should lead the way in restoring dignity,” Jan. 8-10). Too bad Republican state legislators chose to ign…

What a crazy first week at the Capitol! From the audience view, here’s what happened:

Regarding Anna Marie Rosen’s guest column “Energy decisions or energy choice?” in the Weekend edition, Jan. 8-10, it should offer some solace to the ratepayers of the Frankfort Plant Board that an expert like Rosen is continuing to closely follow this dicey relationship between the current d…

The insurrectionist mob of Trump diehards who desecrated our national Capitol on that new day of infamy, Jan. 6, 2021, were a nationalized version of the same treasonous spirit displayed by the gun-heavy insurrectionist mob who threatened and hanged in effigy our honorable young governor in May.

I read with great interest the recent articles and opinions about the future development of Frankfort and Franklin County.

As lieutenant governor, secretary of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, educator and mom, I believe every Kentuckian has the right to a world-class education and high-quality job training.

Editor’s note: This column is in reference to Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr's and Rep. Lisa Willner's Youth Mental Health Protection Act, being considered in the current legislative session, to protect youth from conversion therapy (BR 99 and BR 216).

During the Dec. 29 Kentucky Municipals Energy Agency (KyMEA) special meeting future energy procurement was determined through 2029.

When Amber, my server at a Central Kentucky restaurant where I stopped to work and get some breakfast recently, saw my computer open to the petition on change.org labeled in big, bold letters: “The Impeachment of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear,” she immediately asked: “Are they going to impeach …

For many, it has taken a global pandemic to remind them of the importance of basic life skills. With restaurants closed and stay-at-home mandates, a growing number of adults have turned to online tutorials, social media recipes and family and friends to learn basic life skills.

The physicist Albert Einstein wrote a letter in 1939 to President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggesting that the U.S. should develop its own atomic research.

I hope everyone in Franklin County had a merry Christmas. Although my term as your senator is four years, we will have Christmas together five times. On this Christmas, I was still "senator-elect," because my term did not officially start until the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.

A new state-by-state comparison of the nation’s health ranks Kentucky near the bottom in a variety of significant categories. Though the 2020 America’s Health Rankings Annual Report from United Health Foundation may underscore Kentucky’s longstanding position as a state with serious health c…

Once the dust has settled and Kentucky returns to a post-COVID-19 world, it will be time to address “just compensation” for those who suffered as a result of the executive orders and administrative regulations imposed on Kentuckians — orders and regulations that oftentimes picked winners and…

While small businesses in Kentucky are struggling for survival under the governor’s lock down orders and many service industry workers are out of a job, some state lawmakers are putting together a stimulus package for... the state's wealthiest industry.

What’s in Santa’s bag for Kentucky this Christmas?

During the 2021 session, our elected leaders face a daunting array of issues. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, economic insecurity, the continued fight for racial justice and the separation of state powers are all areas that have deeply divided both legislators and citizens alike across our co…

Kentucky’s addiction crisis is too substantial and far-reaching for any single legislator, organization or government agency to tackle alone. It’s a sentiment we’ve said and heard time and time again.

If someone pounded on your door and kicked it open in the dark of night, what would you do? 

“Walking in a COVID Spending-Land”

I grew up in a place where I witnessed firsthand the debilitating effect of a lack of critical infrastructure upon the individual, the community, and the country as a whole. Health, education, and commerce were all impacted by a lack of access to electricity and telephone service. Today, in …

I have known Julian Carroll for a long time. At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, the curtain will drop on one of Kentucky’s most remarkable public service careers spanning over 70 years. The 54th governor of Kentucky was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1962, where…

By the time you read this, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) could very well be headed to the White House to be signed into law. The bill S. 4547 is being sold as a catch-all fix to the problems of the horse racing industry. The problem is we have not had an industry-wide discu…

The torrent of job losses Kentuckians have experienced because of COVID-19 has thrown an unprecedented number of households into turmoil. As paychecks have disappeared, unemployment insurance has been a critical backstop, allowing hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians to make ends meet while …

Editor's note: Kentucky House Democratic Caucus members sent the following letter to U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, urging them to work on extending critical federal COVID-relief programs expiring this month.

Craft brewers in Kentucky experienced exponential growth prior to COVID-19. A 2019 Forbes article documented that Kentucky had the second highest rate of craft brewer growth in the nation — a whopping 43%.

As numbers of new COVID-19 cases have risen in the state of Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear has once again put the clamps on the commonwealth. The newest restrictions issued by the governor include no indoor seating at restaurants, reduced capacity of many businesses and public use facilities, a…

I read with great interest about the efforts of Roni Robinson and friends to gather hats, coats and gloves to distribute to those in need in our community ("Hats, gloves, coats to be distributed to those in need Saturday at Dolly Graham Park," Nov. 24).

The year 2020 has been like no other, filled with unprecedented challenges and continued uncertainty.

As of October, more than 2 million women in the U.S. left the workforce, the majority having left to tend to their children’s online education.

This year’s COVID-19 version of the Kentucky Derby featured an upset win by Authentic over heavily favored Tiz the Law, who came rocketing toward the winner in a furious homestretch battle but couldn’t overtake him.

This month the Kentucky Capital Development Corp.’s “Grow” initiative focuses on commercial and residential development (and developers) here in the capital city. 

As residents of Frankfort, we have borne witness since March to several months of protests at our state Capitol, protests which are rooted in conspiracy theory and promulgate rhetoric that is anti-science, anti-public health and anti-economic relief, and which demonize racial justice issues …

With all the uncertainty surrounding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is certain: Local governments will face a changing financial picture due to decreased sales tax, income tax and other revenues.

The public is understandably alarmed by the COVID-19 pandemic we have endured since February. All of us know someone who has been infected, and many of us know someone who became very ill or even died.

Thanksgiving is a great time for counting our blessings and expressing gratitude. In challenging times, an attitude of gratitude is all the more important, and this year has been one of the most difficult for so many!

Of all the things we can be thankful for this Thanksgiving, let’s not forget that American farmers are selling rice to China.

It has been my great honor to serve as the chairman of the Kentucky State Board of Elections (SBE) over the past year.  

This Thanksgiving, some things will be different for just about everyone. Kentuckians will sit down for dinner with fewer family members and friends than they’re used to seeing. Remembrances of lost or absent loved ones may complicate the holiday’s traditional counting of blessings.

Public education is big business, costing Kentucky taxpayers $5 billion this year – nearly six times more than human services, four times the amount spent on higher education, three times that of criminal justice and even more than twice what the state spends on Medicaid.

It is well documented that for the 18th consecutive year, people trust nurses more than any other professional group (Gallup Poll, 2020). 

One side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and response is a reported increase in opioid mortality from states across the country.

I miss Pic-Pac so much. I miss Danny Bryant and the other Pic-Pac employees each week, but they are especially missed during the holiday seasons. 

Michelle Bruner, a member of Let Them Learn in JCPS — a growing Facebook group of parents calling for the district to reopen schools closed since COVID-19’s onset in March — says her eighth-grade daughter, Sarah, thrives with the constancy offered by traditional in-person schooling. 

November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, a time for us to bring attention to the prevalence of homeless youth within Kentucky and create an awareness of the challenges faced by students and families experiencing homelessness.

“Kentucky Kernel editor-in-chief and reporter William Wright appeals the University of Kentucky’s denial of his request ‘to obtain copies of all records detailing the investigation by the University of Kentucky or the Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity of a tenured professo…