By Sarah Ladd | Health and policy reporter
Remember the case from this March, when two women sued the state over the sales tax on menstrual products? Sarah Ladd (yes, that’s me) was in court yesterday to listen to oral arguments in that case.
And we have an update on the state fair board saga. Sarah Ladd reports Kentucky’s constitutional officers are asking the state’s highest court to reconsider a case that clarified Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s appointment power over the State Fair Board.
Al Cross wrote an opinion piece about the transparency (or, translucency) around Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health.
Thank you for reading the Kentucky Lantern.
Tampons and pads used for menstrual bleeding. (Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
By Sarah Ladd
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Melissa Logan Bellows heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging the constitutionality of Kentucky’s sales tax on period products.
This comes months after two women, Alex Baldon and Skylar Davis, sued the state over the 6% sales tax on menstrual products like tampons and pads, saying it was “arbitrary and irrational” as well as unconstitutional.
Kentucky State Fair. (Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky’s constitutional officers are asking the state’s highest court to reconsider a case that clarified Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s appointment power over the State Fair Board.
They are also asking the high court to reconsider an unconstitutional finding on a 2022 law giving other executive branch officials appointment power over the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell speaks during the Fancy Farm Picnic on Saturday, Aug 2, 2025. (Austin Anthony/Kentucky Lantern)
COMMENTARY
By Al Cross
Sen. Mitch McConnell has long followed the political maxim, “You can’t get into trouble for something you didn’t say,” but his taciturn approach caused turmoil for him and the country when he went four weeks without explaining why he was hospitalized.
And it gave Gov. Andy Beshear an opening to burnish his potential-president profile.
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