State Auditor Crit Luallen found no evidence of wrongdoing in an audit of the Kentucky Retirement Systems, but the report raises several areas of concern. The audit primarily focused on the use of placement agents, who act as middlemen to secure investments from entities like the KRS. Placement agents have been at the center of “pay-to-play” […]
Author Archives: Tony McVeigh
Sandhill Crane Hunting Season Continues Forward Movement
The legal hunting of sandhill cranes in Kentucky has moved another step closer to becoming a reality, but final approval is still pending. Earlier this month, the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved a sandhill crane hunting season in Kentucky. The season, with a mid-December start, would last for 30 days, or until 400 […]
University Officials Start Lobbying for Capital Projects Early
Kentucky public colleges and universities are already compiling their capital project wish lists to get ready for next year’s legislative session. A $33 million Engineering-Physics building tops the projects list at Murray State University, but President Randy Dunn says the school also badly needs a new $62 million library. And with online technology rapidly replacing books, […]
Beshear Again Selling Surplus Property
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is selling surplus state property again. This time it’s a vacant lot in Frankfort. Since taking office in 2007, Gov. Beshear says his administration has generated nearly $7.5 million through surplus real estate sales. Included in that figure is nearly $79,000 Beshear says the state got for a vacant, two-acre industrial […]
Kentucky Lawmakers Above Average in Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education has been evaluating the education levels of state lawmakers in the United States. The state with the most college-educated lawmakers is California, with 90 percent. New Hampshire, with 53 percent, has the least. The national average is around 75 percent, slightly lower than Kentucky’s 77 percent. Sixty-eight percent of Kentucky […]
Hospital Partnership Formally Announced
Three major hospitals are joining forces to provide a statewide healthcare delivery system for Kentuckians. The partnership involves University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish Hospital in Louisville and Saint Joseph Health System in Lexington. They’re still working on a name for the joint effort, but James Taylor of U-of-L Hospital says the partnership means better healthcare […]
Statewide End-of-Course Exams Begin Next Year
End-of-course assessments were authorized in education reforms approved by Kentucky lawmakers in 2009. The statewide tests measure student achievement in graduation-required courses of English, Algebra, Biology and U.S. History. Rhonda Sims of the Education Department says districts are also being encouraged to base up to 20 percent of a student’s final course grade on assessment […]
In-Depth: Despite Investigations and Complaints, For-Profit Colleges Have Supporters in Frankfort
Complaints about for-profit colleges in Kentucky continue to raise eyebrows in Frankfort. But the schools also have many legislative defenders. Currently there are 141 for-profit colleges in Kentucky, which are seeing significant growth. National enrollment in proprietary colleges is nearing two million students, compared to a half-million in 1998. The schools cater mostly to students […]
In Light of Higher Reciepts, Beshear Says No Furloughs for Next Fiscal Year
It’s been another stellar month for state revenue receipts in Kentucky. And that means no furlough days for state workers next fiscal year. General Fund receipts in May were $750 million, a whopping 18 percent increase over May 2010 receipts. Tax collections in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year have grown 6.7 […]
Lawmakers Debate Medicaid Management in Kentucky
Statewide Medicaid managed care is coming to Kentucky, but maybe not as fast as some lawmakers thought. Governor Steve Beshear says the state can save millions of dollars by letting private health care organizations—rather than the Cabinet for Health and Family Services—manage services for the state’s 820,000 Medicaid recipients. The state has sent out a […]