Lisa Autry

The Kentucky Department of Education is seeking feedback on the state’s new minimum high school graduation requirements. 

Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis will hold four town hall forums this month and next.  The first one is on Monday evening in Shelbyville at the Ohio Valley Education Cooperative. 

Some students with learning and attention issues have outstanding skills in certain academic areas.  These kids are often called “twice-exceptional.”

They're gifted, and they have learning issues.  For instance, a child on the autism spectrum may also a gifted musician. 

As provost of Bridges Graduate School for Cognitive Diversity in Education, Dr. Susan Baum specializes in working with twice-exceptional children.  She spoke this week at Western Kentucky University and stopped by the WKU Public Radio studios to share some of her expertise.

Former Miss America Heather French Henry says her experience working with veterans would translate well to the Secretary of State’s office.  The Democratic nominee spoke to the Bowling Green Noon Rotary Club on Wednesday.

As former Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, French-Henry says she worked with the Secretary of State’s Office to create polling locations in veterans’ nursing homes and to eliminate filing fees for new veteran-owned businesses, among other things.  She says leading the department gave her administrative, fiscal, and legislative experience.

There are no cars rolling off the assembly line in Bowling Green, or for that matter, any General Motors Plant in the nation.

About 900 hourly workers at the Corvette Assembly Plant are on strike after negotiations over a new labor contract hit a stalemate.

Some of the workers in Bowling Green are picketing outside the Corvette Assembly Plant,  joining roughly 49,000 of their counterparts in the first nationwide strike involving GM since 2007.

State police posts across Kentucky are expanding their services to include a victim’s advocate who will provide support to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes.

A program called Victim Advocate Support Services (VASS) was announced on Thursday at the KSP post in Elizabethtown. 

The program will connect crime victims with resources like counseling and legal support, and keep them up to date as their case moves through the court system.

Kentucky’s attorney general is promising public school teachers a clear contrast from the current administration if he’s elected governor. 

Democrat Andy Beshear brought his “Stop the Bullying” tour to Bowling Green on Tuesday.  Speaking at the local Kentucky Education Association office, Beshear accused Republican Governor Matt Bevin of bullying and degrading teachers who protested pension reform that would have impacted their benefits in this year's legislative session.

McLean County is bracing for an economic hit with the planned closure of a coal mine. 

Amid declining coal prices and industry changes, Pennyrile Energy’s Riveredge Mine in Calhoun will cease operations this fall.  The mine opened in 2014 and produced 1.3 million tons of coal last year

McLean County Judge-Executive Ed West says the mine paid some employees $25 an hour.

As Hurricane Dorian begins to bear down on the nation’s southeastern coast, a Daviess County man is lending a hand to those impacted by the storm.  

Among them is Stan Scott of Owensboro who's a volunteer for the American Red Cross.  He’s stationed in Greenville, North Carolina where he’s been delivering supplies to evacuation shelters.

Scott says he enjoys volunteering because he’s been on the receiving end before.

Kentucky’s labor secretary is defending his agency’s handling of the Blackjewel fallout.  The company abruptly declared bankruptcy in July, putting hundreds of coal miners out of work and paying them with cold checks. 

Attorney General Andy Beshear last week accused the Labor Cabinet of negligence for not enforcing a law that would have paid the miners.  Coal companies operating in Kentucky five years or less are supposed to pay a performance bond that equals four weeks of pay for its employees if the mine closes. 

Labor Secretary David Dickerson says that under existing law, the Labor Cabint can’t force a mining company to pay.  It can only issue fines, which some companies rather pay than comply with the order.  He refutes Beshear’s claims that the Labor Cabinet has been negligent in bringing other companies into compliance.

As Hurricane Dorian threatens the U.S. mainland, Kentucky is sending help to its neighbors to the south. 

The American Red Cross has sent more than two dozen volunteers to work in shelters, assisting those displaced from their homes with food and other needs.  Jennifer Capps is executive director of the American Red Cross of South Central Kentucky. 

“Monday night, more than 12,000 people stayed in 171 Red Cross shelters and community shelters in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, so we anticipate as the storm continues north, those numbers will grow," said Capps.

Kentucky’s attorney general is accusing the state Labor Cabinet of negligence following the bankruptcy of Blackjewel Mining in Harlan County. 

After the mine closed July 1, miners’ paychecks bounced and they haven't been paid by the company since.  Andy Beshear says other miners face the same risk. 

Mining and construction companies doing business in Kentucky for less than five years are required to post performance bonds equal to one month’s payroll.  The attorney general says an investigation by his office has found that no mining companies have paid the bonds, putting around 1,000 miners in jeopardy.