News

A bill that would alter the section of the state Constitution dealing with redistricting is moving through the state legislature. The Senate took up the measure Thursday. The bill passed mostly on party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber, 27-11.

Brad Rodu says it's time for the public health community to re-think how it looks at the smoking debate in this country.  Rodu is head of the Tobacco Harm Reduction effort at the University of Louisville's James Graham Brown Cancer Center. He says for too long the smoking issue has come down to an all-or-nothing wager: smokers are told they either have to give up cigarettes, or keep smoking and die.

The Kentucky House budget committee has approved the next two-year road plan for the commonwealth. The committee easily passed the plan and the Transportation Cabinet’s operating budget Thursday afternoon. The road plan funds many of Governor Steve Beshear’s big initiatives, such as widening both Interstate 65 around Bowling Green and the Mountain Parkway.

An Adair County native and a former member of President Bill Clinton's Senior Staff will be the new Secretary for Kentucky's Cabinet of Health and Family Services. Governor Beshear says Audrey Haynes will start her new role as Cabinet Secretary on April 16th.

The Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet  says jobless rates declined in 114 of the state’s counties from January of last year to January of 2012. State officials say Woodford County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state, at 6.9 percent. Webster, Fayette, Union, Oldham, and Henderson Counties are among those listed with relatively low rates, ranging from 7.2 to 7.9 percent.