By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Friday!
The governor says we should spend a budget surplus on our most vulnerable. GOP leaders say we should save more to strengthen the economy through income tax cuts. They question each other’s motives. This keeps happening, and we keep writing about it because it’s a serious policy dispute (unlike performative culture war fights) that has real outcomes in Kentucky.
We’re also covering another story about the Kentucky Tenant Union, a group that is trying to give real power to a historically marginalized group: renters. They just got a legal victory in one flight in Fleming County.
We’ve talked a lot about how President Trump’s policies will affect rural hospitals in Kentucky. Our national partners are writing about a new study that found it’s not where closing hospitals are located, it’s who they serve that affects their outcomes.
And in Commentary, outdoors writer, and avid hunter and fisherman Mark Reese talks about the growing tensions between Kentucky’s ecotourism efforts and the all-terrain-vehicle enthusiasts around the state.
Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for reading!
By Liam Niemeyer
A Republican leader has raised concerns about whether political games are being played with budget forecasts that show new revenue amid a very uncertain economic forecast.
An example of a “TENANT UNION PROUD!” sign at the Fleming County apartment complex included in the initial lawsuit. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)
By Liam Niemeyer
A Franklin County judge has told the ownership company of a Fleming County apartment complex to halt any efforts to evict members of a tenant union there over placing pro-union signage in apartment windows.
By Nada Hassanein
Urban hospitals are closing at roughly the same rate as rural ones, and the shuttered hospitals are more likely to have served communities with high poverty rates and fewer transportation options, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA.
A man explores the Rockcastle River in Eastern Kentucky. (Mike Wilkinson/The Nature Conservancy)
COMMENTARY
By Mark Reese
It’s amazing how quickly we forget. In the not-too-distant past local residents and environmentalists were concerned about the damage done to local streams and rivers from strip mine run-off. While much of this danger has abated as strip mines closed and sites were rehabilitated, it seems as if a new danger lurks, one that many seem to be embracing. This is the damage being done to local country roads, trails, and ultimately creeks and rivers in Eastern Kentucky and all across the country by large off-road all- terrain vehicles.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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