You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2009.
Here’s what we reported on today:
Congressman John Yarmuth took to the floor of the House to recognize the 125th anniversary of the Louisville Slugger. Here’s the video, which features a hilariously oversized baseball bat.
(Thanks to Jake at Page One for the link)
Have we all heard the now-infamous recording of Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Daniel Mongiardo bashing Gov. Steve Beshear? (If you haven’t, listen here)
Beshear dismissed the first clip as chicanery, but this second recording may be harder to brush off.
The clips are posted under two different YouTube accounts and are (as of 11:15 Wednesday) the only videos posted.
The first clip is posted by user senrace2010. The next video is posted by kentuckyfight10.
Both accounts were created on September 18th. Kentucky Fight was also the name Rand Paul supporters gave to their last money bomb. The video on the Kentucky Fight homepage, though, is posted by YouTube user LastStandingGround.
Why would a Republican candidate’s supporters push damning information about a financially-weak Democratic candidate during the primary? Perhaps this isn’t the work of Paul and the username kentuckyfight10 is a coincidence or inspired by the money bomb. Perhaps this person knows Tjenkins106.
What happens if Beshear gets fed up with Mongiardo over this? If Mongiardo steps down, will Jerry Abramson get to start his dream job as Lieutenant Governor early?
I wonder, though, who recorded these comments.
The C-J has posted three quick blurbs about Metro Council members holding public events.
First you can wake up with 12th District Councilman Rick Blackwell, who has invited his constituents to coffee.
Then you can have lunch with Council President and mayoral candidate David Tandy, who is sponsoring the Willie B. Bright community barbecue.
That night you can head over to Hill Street Missionary Baptist Church for 3rd District Democrat Mary Woolridge‘s town hall meeting.
Hello world, I’m back in Louisville. Here’s what we’re working on today:
I’m getting an update on some changes at KET and I’ll see if the Metro Council is working on any big legislation.
The Norton-Anthem talks continue today. No indication that an agreement is near.
Rick is getting tape on the start of forest fire season tomorrow.
Elizabeth is working on spot on tomorrow’s opening of the first Louisville International Festival of Film.
Today on SOA…”Recovering Undersea Artifacts”
Remember the push to bring a NASCAR race to Kentucky? What if that race were mostly silent and required no gasoline?
Wired is calling for an electric vehicle class in auto racing leagues.
Why hasn’t Tesla supported a single-marque racing series for the Roadster? Why hasn’t the Federation Internationale d’Automobile or any other big-league sanctioning body enlisted a company like eWolf to build cars to run in the support races during F1 weekends? Why doesn’t the SCCA, the AMLS, the NHRA and every other alphabet-soup sanctioning body have an EV class?
Such an effort would inevitably lead to better EVs and introduce the masses to the technology.
It seems like every other car commercial touts “racing inspired” features, so why not a racing inspired electric motor? If racing breeds innovation then perhaps an electric car circuit would lead to better performing, more affordable, more easily-repaired electric vehicles?
The piece also argues that an EV race would make the idea more popular. You may get dirty looks driving a Prius in certain parts of town, but what if your family sedan was powered by the same technology that throws ad-covered stocks around left turns at 200 miles per hour?
Happy Monday, folks! This is Laura Ellis with a look at what’s coming up this week on State of Affairs.
That elusive work-life balance we hear so much about is the topic du jour on Monday. We’ll talk about how employers and employees can work together to achieve it and make the most efficient use of their time.
Here in Louisville we may be partial to the Twin Spires, but there’s no denying Keeneland‘s place in Kentucky’s thoroughbred racing history. On Tuesday we’ll learn about that history, Ted Bassett (the man who embodies Keeneland), and Keeneland’s current operations.
Archeological excavations are challenging under the best of circumstances – it’s a delicate endeavor to unearth tiny pieces of artifacts without damaging them, and in a way that maintains the integrity and context of the site. So just imagine how those challenges are magnified when the entire operation takes place at the bottom of the ocean. This Wednesday we’ll learn about the recovery process for undersea artifacts, and the most famous underwater excavation – the Titanic.
Our show on Thursday will be a tribute to the late great Louisville singer & songwriter Tim Krekel. Our panel will be WFPK‘s Laura Shine, Ear X-Tacy‘s John Timmons, Jeffrey Lee Puckett from the C-J, and Morgan Atkinson, who just completed a documentary called Live Music: The Tim Krekel Story. We’ll be listening to some favorite Krekel tunes and we hope to hear from you with songs and memories.
On Friday we’ll take a look back at the week in our weekly State of the News show.
Have you looked at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s interactive hate-group map? If not, take a peek.
According to the SPLC, Kentucky has 11 hate groups: 6 KKK, 2 Neo-Nazi, 1 skinhead, 1 neo-confederate and 1 Christian identity.
That’s fewer than Tennessee, which has 38 hate groups. In fact, the Commonwealth lags behind its neighbors. Indiana has 16, Ohio has 23, West Virginia has 14, Missouri has 30 and Illinois has 22. No doubt one of the 22 in Illinois is the infamous Illinois Nazis from the Blues Brothers movie.
Related: Books defaced with racial slur
One of the first stories I covered when I came to Louisville was the smoking ban. Detractors said the government was going too far to regulate health.
The New York Times seems to side with that argument in this recent dining piece about Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The piece points out that Bloomberg indulges in many of the foods he’s fought through legislation.
“I like a Big Mac like everybody else,” he confessed the other day, explaining the city’s warts-and-all approach to fast food. “I just want to know how many calories are in it.”
The NYC Mayor also loves salt…on everything, even though he’s pushed for sodium regulation.
So the piece hints that Bloomberg’s health legislation is somehow hypocritical because he eats unhealthy food. But is that true? I think the conclusion might be a little broad.
The Awl agrees with me. Making light steps to stop people from inadvertently guzzling down salt isn’t the same as banning its sale.
I understand the libertarian arguments about everyone being able to make their own choices in a free society, but is that really what this boils down to? No one is talking about banning salt; the proposal simply reduces the amount in prepared food. You’re always free to add your own. In an age where you have to go on an extended safari to find a food that’s free of high fructose corn syrup, is it an absolute restriction of liberties to say that maybe we should remove those items that are obviously detrimental to our health, particularly when we know that most of us are so lazy that we will pretty much accept the default option without complaint?
I’ve heard from people who favor an outright ban on unhealthy foods and I’ve heard from people who disagree with mandatory nutrition facts on foods in grocery stores. Where do you stand?
