Archive for December, 2010

Stumbo says gambling is dead this legislative session

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Wednesday that the legislature will likely not tackle any gambling related legislation this session, which begins next week.

Proponents of expanded gambling have pushed the legislature to change the law to allow for video lottery terminals or VLTs at the state’s race tracks. However, those efforts have been stymied by the Republican-controlled Senate over the past several years.

Galbraith, Riley want clarification on petition

FRANKFORT — A Lexington lawyer running as an independent for governor wants a Franklin Circuit Court judge to decide whether it is appropriate to put his campaign’s mailing address on forms for signatures he needs to get on the ballot in November.

Gatewood Galbaith and his running mate Dea Riley must get 5,000 signatures by August to get on the November ballot for the governor’s race. The form for those signatures does not tell those who have signed where to send the information once the form is completed. Typically, the forms are sent back to the respective campaign headquarters before it is forwarded to the Secretary of State.

Lawmakers hope to protect hunting rights in Kentucky Constitution

By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com

Several state lawmakers want constitutional protection for Kentuckians’ right to hunt and fish, although they acknowledge that no authority has threatened this right in anyone’s memory.

A bill calling for a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment was pre-filed for the 2011 General Assembly by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg; Rep. Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville; and Rep. John “Bam” Carney, R-Campbellsville. The legislature convenes Jan. 4.

“The citizens of Kentucky have the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife, including the use of traditional methods, subject only to statutes enacted by the legislature,” the amendment would read, in part. “Public hunting and fishing shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.”

The measure reflects bipartisan concern in Frankfort following President Barack Obama’s health-care reform law and what some people see as overreaching by the federal government, Carney said. The right to own and use guns might be targeted by federal legislation in the future, he said.

“We thought it was important that we make a statement here for states’ rights,” Carney said. “I don’t see any imminent threat to our hunting rights at the moment. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say.”

Several state lawmakers battling for leadership posts

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The general election is over, but several state lawmakers are still scrambling for votes.

Lawmakers must choose their leaders when they return to Frankfort on Jan. 4, and a handful of races remain hotly contested.

The five House Democratic leaders will not seek re-election as a slate, said Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

“Each leader decided to go on his own,” he said.

Former Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, has been seeking votes to displace House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark of Louisville. Rep. Tommy Thompson of Owensboro is seeking a leadership position, most likely that of majority whip, a post now held by John Will Stacy of West Liberty.

New legislation targets skyrocketing use of synthetic meth

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A Western Kentucky lawmaker wants the state to outlaw a type of synthetic drug that mimics the effects of methamphetamine or cocaine.

Democratic Rep. John Tilley of Hopkinsville, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, prefiled legislation this week that would make manufacturing or trafficking in MDPV a Class A misdemeanor. Those arrested for possession could face a Class B misdemeanor.

The bill mirrors legislation that passed last year that outlaws Salvia and K2, which mimic the effects of marijuana.

Law enforcement officers have seen the use of MDPV, a chemical component made in a laboratory, skyrocket in recent months, Tilley said.

“It has four times the potency of Ritalin and mimics drugs like Ecstasy and methamphetamine, and if we don’t get a handle on it now, it could quickly get out of control,” Tilley said in a news release.

Ark park gets preliminary OK for tax breaks: Kentucky Speedway given green light

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A state tourism board gave preliminary approval on Monday for a controversial religious theme park to apply for up to $37 million in state tax incentives.

The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority also gave final approval Monday for the Kentucky Speedway to collect up to $20.5 million in sales tax breaks over 10 years. The deal will allow the Northern Kentucky race track to recoup up to 25 percent of the $82 million it is spending on an expansion that will allow it to host a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

The Kentucky Speedway is slated to hold its first NASCAR Sprint Cup race in July.

The six-member board voted unanimously to approve the incentives for the Kentucky Speedway and to give preliminary approval of the Ark Encounter park in Grant County.

The centerpiece of the Ark Encounter park will be a 500-foot-by-75-foot wooden ark, which is billed as a replica of the biblical Noah’s Ark. The proposed project has garnered national and international attention, with critics questioning whether granting state tax incentives to the project would violate laws separating church and state.

Task force proposes changes for early childhood education

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A task force charged with improving early childhood education in Kentucky is recommending the state develop a model curriculum for early childhood education programs and implement a screening tool for children entering kindergarten.

The task force on Early Childhood Development and Education released its findings Monday at a news conference in Frankfort. The task force released eight recommendations that it says would strengthen Kentucky’s existing childhood education system.

Gov. Steve Beshear convened the task force in February 2009.

The 28-member task force also recommended that the state adopt and distribute a universal school readiness definition to local communities and develop a governing model for early childhood education programs.

Guests scheduled for ‘Comment’ and ‘Kentucky Tonight’

Joining host Ferrell Wellman on this weekend’s “Comment on Kentucky,” a public affairs show of the Kentucky Educational Television network, are three journalists — Dori Hjalmarson of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Eastern Kentucky bureau; Kentucky Enquirer political reporter Amanda Van Benschoten and Courier-Journal Frankfort bureau chief Tom Loftus.

The show will air live at 8 p.m. Friday on KET1. It also will be broadcast at 6:30 a.m. Saturday on KET KY, 7:30 a.m. Sunday on KET KY, 12:30 p.m. Sunday on KET 1, 8 a.m. Monday on KET KY and 7:30 p.m. Monday on KET KY.

On the Monday, Dec. 20 edition of “Kentucky Tonight” at 8 p.m. ET on KET1 and at www.ket.org/live, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss the state’s penal code.

Scheduled guests are state Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, chiar of the Senate Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the 2010 Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act; state Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the 2010 Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act; state Justice and Public Safety Secretary Michael Brown and Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John Minton.

State never saw feasibility study for Noah’s Ark theme park

By Linda B. Blackford – lblackford@herald-leader.com

When Gov. Steve Beshear held a Capitol news conference to announce potential state tax incentives for an amusement park built around a life-size Noah’s Ark earlier this month, he cited a feasibility study that predicted the park would attract 1.6 million visitors in its first year.

However, neither Beshear nor other state officials had seen or read the study, which was commissioned by Ark Encounter, LLC, the group building the theme park.

“The press release was a joint effort, and the Ark Encounter provided the numbers for the release based on their own research, much like how we work with companies on jobs announcements — they give us the info about their job numbers and investment and we work together on a release,” said Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson in an e-mail.

The state doesn’t have a copy of the report, according to responses to requests under the Open Records Act sent by the Herald-Leader to the state tourism and economic development departments and to the governor’s office.

Advocates urge more autopsies, death reviews for disabled

By Beth Musgrave – bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Kentucky needs to increase the number of autopsies and death reviews done for the mentally disabled and mentally ill, a leading advocate said Wednesday.

Marsha Hockensmith, director of Protection and Advocacy, told the Interim Committee on Health and Welfare that the state currently reviews deaths of the mentally disabled and mentally ill in state-run facilities and can review deaths of disabled people in some community-based settings. Protection and Advocacy is a state agency that advocates for the disabled.

However, more needs to be done to ensure that those who receive services in community-based settings are not dying as a result of abuse, neglect or other preventable diseases, Hockensmith said.

Problems were uncovered in other states where autopsies were performed on people with disabilities, she said. For example, a Michigan woman with an intellectual disability died from a dental abscess that led to a brain infection because surgery on the infection was delayed, Hockensmith said.