A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Opinion – Bill Straub: This is a circus, dear readers, and Gomer Comer lies and flirts with pornography

Besides the fact that they are both proud sons of the old Commonwealth sod, what do Rep. Jamie Comer, wherever he claims to hale from these days, and the late magazine publisher Larry Flynt, of Salyersville, have in common? Both men promoted pornography. That revelation leapt to the fore on Wednesday during a hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, chaired by Comer, R-TheFrankfortHook,...

Opinion – Al Cross: Republicans, it’s time to stop sniveling about 2020 election, follow the right leaders

The tableau in the rotunda of the state Capitol on the year’s first day of business was, for a moment, reassuring to those of us who worry about the future of the party in which we were long registered and where its current strongman may take it and our country. The swearing-in of Republican constitutional officers – Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell, Auditor Allison Ball, Attorney General...

Opinion – Teri Carter: ‘Having a conversation is not an act of aggression,’ so let’s talk about gun control

Kentucky’s 2024 regular session opened with lawmakers insisting leadership consider rules changes to make the legislative process more transparent. Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, was one of those lawmakers, saying, “Proposing rules changes, having a discussion in this body, having a conversation, is not an act of aggression.” She was right. Savannah Maddox (LRC photo) And yet this is the...

Opinion – Mitch McConnell: The country’s growing national security challenges won’t solve themselves

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks Monday on the Senate floor regarding government funding and national security: “I’d like to begin by wishing our colleagues a very happy new year and welcoming everyone back to begin a new session. “There’s a tremendous amount on the Senate’s plate, beginning with the unfinished business of the year that...

Opinion – Chris McDaniel: Reporting on first week of the legislature — and explaining what to look for next

As outlined in Kentucky’s Constitution, the General Assembly must gavel into session on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in January. We are required to conclude legislative business on April 15. We convened for day one of the 2024 Legislative Session on Tuesday, January 2, with incredible renditions of our national anthem and “My Old Kentucky Home” by the 100th Army Band,...

Joe Heller: Cartoonist view of news of week – Election year, the bill, Epstein list, Mickey Mouse

Joe Heller was the editorial cartoonist for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Green Bay, Wis., from 1985 until being laid off in July 2013. He still draws several cartoons a week and distributes them through his own syndicate. Through Heller Syndication, his cartoons regularly appear in more than 400 newspapers, making him the most successful self-syndicated editorial cartoonist in the nation. His cartoons...

Opinion – Letter to Editor: Legislature needs to pay more attention to housing needs of ‘ordinary’ Kyians

The state legislature has started to meet this week, but are they focusing on the right things, the things that will really matter to us? I think they need to pay more attention to housing needs for ordinary Kentuckians, and fund that need in their new budget. Here in Covington and elsewhere there’s a major problem with affordable housing – an issue that’s far broader than just...

Opinion – Bill Straub: Daniel Cameron to the rescue, tilting at ‘woke’ windmill to save the ‘American Way’

Apparently unable to find honest employment after his Failed with a capital F gubernatorial campaign, former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has hopped aboard the think tank gravy train that will undoubtedly pad his wallet nicely while simultaneously providing him with a plethora of opportunities to hit the links in his early retirement. It was announced this week that Cameron will become...

Opinion – Reform ‘prior authorization’ and improve the health of Kentuckians, medical group says

It’s a situation all of us will find ourselves in at some point. You’re sick, or get diagnosed with a chronic condition, or need to have surgery. Thankfully, your physician diagnosed the issue quickly and a treatment plan was made, and you have health insurance to cover it. You should be on your way to health and healing, right? Unfortunately, thanks to something called a “prior authorization,”...

Joe Heller: A cartoonist’s Year-in-Review of top news of 2023 — well said in few words and bright color

Joe Heller was the editorial cartoonist for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Green Bay, Wis., from 1985 until being laid off in July 2013. He still draws several cartoons a week and distributes them through his own syndicate. Through Heller Syndication, his cartoons regularly appear in more than 400 newspapers, making him the most successful self-syndicated editorial cartoonist in the nation. His cartoons...

Joe Heller: Cartoonist’s view of week’s news — Resolutions, Snowfall, Sliding back, the New Year

Joe Heller was the editorial cartoonist for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Green Bay, Wis., from 1985 until being laid off in July 2013. He still draws several cartoons a week and distributes them through his own syndicate. Through Heller Syndication, his cartoons regularly appear in more than 400 newspapers, making him the most successful self-syndicated editorial cartoonist in the nation. His cartoons...

Opinion – Jim Waters: New Year’s wish for legislature — yield not to spending temptations

Proponents of big government at all levels always have a strategy for spending more of your hard-earned tax dollars. If times are tight – like during the Great Recession – they push for stimulus checks and bailouts to artificially prop up the economy. The nation’s entire economy will implode without the intervention, they dramatically claim. At a national level, Democrats and Republicans are...

Opinion – Bill Straub: KY’s delegation contributed to broken 118th Congress; more of it isn’t looking great

Let’s face it, you’d have to be a few tics below the IQ level of Mortimer Snerd to dispute the proposition that the 118th Congress is broken, perhaps irretrievably so. And guess which delegation has wholeheartedly contributed to this disaster. Kentucky, you should be so proud. This Congress has been entertaining, in a peculiar sort of way, inducing the sort of muffled laughter you might encounter...

Opinion – Alex Berling: Kenton County Democratic party offers microcosmic view of what’s wrong in KY

It’s hard to believe that in 2016, Kentucky Democrats were not a super minority, but we had a balanced legislature. As we celebrate four more years of a Democrat in the Governor’s mansion, we cannot be blind to the fact that the Kentucky Democratic Party’s lack of vision, investment in counties outside of Fayette and Jefferson, and inability to go on the offensive and start investing in the “too...

Eli Capilouto: A year-end message and thank you for making possible the personal stories of real impact

The momentum from this past year is palpable across the University of Kentucky campus. We are educating and graduating more students than at any other time in our university’s history. We are making life-changing discoveries in our $476 million research and development enterprise, generating $873 million in economic activity across Kentucky. We are breaking ground on the new Michael D. Rankin M.D....