By Linda Blackford | Editor
In the nick of time, Gov. Andy Beshear found money to save the Lee Specialty Clinic. This came one day after advocates and family members trekked to Frankfort to beg legislators to keep the facility, the only one of its kind in the state, open. The legislative-executive branch blame game continues apace.
And if you want to know how much these kinds of political games hurt real people, then read the commentary from disability rights advocate Paige Rayburn.
Frankfort is always full of surprises. Reporter McKenna Horsley found one: a new Center for American Civics at the University of Kentucky College of Law. It was tacked on Senate Bill 4, the infamous school board bill, at the end of the session. But no one seems to know much about it – what it’s really for, how it will be paid for, or whose idea it was. No one seems to want to take credit, which is pretty unusual for politicians.
What else happened on Thursday? Beshear has to end his gas tax break, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced his reelection campaign for next year, and Kentucky found out it won’t have to pay an extra share for SNAP benefits because the state’s fraud rate is low. You can read about all of it here at the Kentucky Lantern, and we appreciate you doing just that.
Kentucky advocates came to Frankfort to ask elected officials to find a way to keep Lee Specialty Clinic open despite recent budget cuts that caused them to discharge more than 1,000 patients. June 24, 2026. (Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
By Sarah Ladd
Gov. Andy Beshear is moving $4.5 million from a Capitol Annex renovation project to fully fund Lee Specialty Clinic in Louisville through this fiscal year.
Beshear announced the decision a day after hundreds came to Frankfort and pleaded with Kentucky leaders to find a way to work with each other and fund the clinic, which has discharged more than 1,000 patients and lost 83% of its staff because of funding cuts.
A sign on the University of Kentucky campus says “Shared Governance” outside of the College of Law in September 2025. (McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern)
By McKenna Horsley
A center for civics courses is coming to the University of Kentucky after state Republican lawmakers approved an eleventh-hour addition to an education bill earlier this year, but it’s unclear who spearheaded the idea.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announces his plans to seek another term in office in Oldham County. (McKenna Horsley/Kentucky Lantern)
By McKenna Horsley
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman hopes to do something no other Republican has done as attorney general — get a second term in office.
Kentucky advocates came to Frankfort to ask elected officials to find a way to keep Lee Specialty Clinic open despite recent budget cuts that caused them to discharge more than 1,000 patients. June 24, 2026. (Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
COMMENTARY
By Paige Rayburn
Whether this situation is the result of years of financial mismanagement, unavoidable budget pressures, or something else entirely, one thing is certain: the people paying the price are not the ones who made those decisions. They are the people who rely on Medicaid every single day to remain healthy, independent, and connected to their communities.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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