WKU Public Radio | The Public Radio Service of Western Kentucky University

Chief Justice: Conversation on Bail Reform Just Getting Started

By Lisa Autry • 59 minutes ago

Kentucky’s chief justice of the Supreme Court says he expects bail reform to come up again in the state legislature.

John Minton Jr. says the current method of setting bail disproportionately affects low-income defendants who aren’t able to pay for release after being charged with low-level, non-violent offenses.

Minton addressed members of the Bowling Green Noon Rotary Club on Wednesday.

Mueller Report: Team Couldn't Rule Out Obstruction, Couldn't Firmly Establish Either

By Philip Ewing & Carrie Johnson • 3 hours ago

Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET

Special counsel Robert Mueller's doorstop report about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election thumped to Earth on Thursday following an explanation by the attorney general as to why President Trump isn't facing criminal charges.

Bowling Green Priest Reflects on Notre Dame Fire Ahead of Easter Sunday

By Lisa Autry • 19 hours ago

A Catholic priest in Kentucky says this week’s fire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will likely bring people of all faiths together.

The Catholic icon has been a house of worship and tourist destination for more than 850 years.

In an interview with WKU Public Radio, Father John Thomas, pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Bowling Green, said the timing of the blaze is significant.

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7:32

Bevin, Devos Promote School Choice Policies at Event in Lexington

By Bruce Schreiner | Associated Press • 20 hours ago

The Trump administration's top education official on Wednesday urged school choice supporters in Kentucky — a coalition that includes the state's Republican governor — to "keep fighting" for initiatives aimed at giving students more flexibility to find their right fit.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos teamed with Gov. Matt Bevin to promote school choice policies in a state where political activism has surged among public school teachers who have staged statehouse rallies to challenge pension and education proposals.

Federal Opioid Strikeforce Indicts More Than A Dozen Ohio Valley Doctors

By Aaron Payne • 21 hours ago

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday more than a dozen indictments against doctors in the Ohio Valley on charges relating to the illegal distribution of opioids. These are the first major indictments from the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, which started work in December.

“The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region,” Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement.

Fairness Ordinance Voted Down in First Reading at Bowling Green City Commission

By Colin Jackson • Apr 17, 2019

The first reading of an ordinance that would provide greater protections for LGBTQ individuals failed to pass the Bowling Green City Commission at its meeting Tuesday night.

The commission heard 24 public comments in favor of what's known as a "Fairness Ordinance", and nine comments against the proposal.

The ordinance failed to pass on a vote of 3-2, with Mayor Bruce Wilkerson and Commissioners Joe Denning and Sue Parrigin voting against the proposal. Commissioners Slim Nash and Dana Beasley-Brown voted in favor of the proposal.

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3:59

Colin Jackson speaks with Commissioner Sue Parrigin, who voted no on the "Fairness Ordinance," after it was voted down during it's first reading at Tuesday's meeting.

Beshear Calls On Bevin To Rescind Teacher ‘Sickout’ Subpoenas

By Ryland Barton • Apr 16, 2019

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear says he’ll take Gov. Matt Bevin to court if he doesn’t rescind subpoenas for information about teachers who participated in protests in Frankfort last month.

Last week, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet demanded information from several school districts identifying the names of teachers who called in sick on the same days that protests took place in Frankfort.

Kentucky Aluminum Plant Investor Is Russian Company Formerly Under US Sanctions

By Sydney Boles • Apr 16, 2019

Russian aluminum company Rusal announced Monday it plans to invest in a new Kentucky aluminum mill to be built near Ashland in eastern Kentucky. The $200 million investment in Braidy Industries is Rusal’s first U.S. project since the Trump administration lifted U.S. sanctions placed against the company.

Rusal had been sanctioned by the U.S. government because its major controller, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, faces accusations of “a range of malign activity around the globe” by Russia, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Those actions include interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and meddling in neighboring Ukraine.

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1:47

CBD Uncertainty: Sales Soar But Science Lags On Hemp Health Effects

By Liam Niemeyer • Apr 16, 2019

Inside the Bluegrass Hemp Oil store in Lexington, Kentucky, the CBD oils and lotions lining the walls have an origin story — a story of a family’s struggle.

“We took a huge risk, to be perfectly honest, because we didn’t know. We weren’t trying other people’s CBD products that were out there,” Bluegrass Hemp Oil Co-owner Adriane Polyniak, said.

Polyniak’s son, Colten, began inexplicably having violent seizures in 2009 when he was three. He was diagnosed with idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

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4:03

Bowling Green City Commission to Review 'Fairness Ordinance'

By Colin Jackson • Apr 15, 2019

The Bowling Green City Commission is set to hear the first reading of a set of civil rights measures known as a "fairness ordinance" at its meeting Tuesday.

The proposal would prohibit discrimination in housing, employment and public accomodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Commissioner Brian "Slim" Nash previously introduced the protections, but did not receive the second needed to bring them to a vote. He says that's when he decided not to reintroduce the ordinance until there was a shift in the makeup of the board.