Kentucky Lawmakers Supporting “Unenforceable” Anti-EPA Bill

The Associated Press is reporting that lawmakers in Kentucky are threatening to declare the commonwealth a “Sanctuary state,” placing it out of the reach of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Republican Senator Brandon Smith, who chairs the Energy and Environment Committee, says environmental regulation is hurting Kentucky, and he’s proposed legislation that would block the EPA from enforcing regulations in Kentucky.

But the bill is unenforceable, and Smith says it’s meant to send a message to President Barack Obama.

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Green

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Judy Green is the target of an ethics complaint.

Retired police officer Ray Barker Sr.—who challenged Green in the Democratic primary for her seat last year—filed the complaint with the Metro Ethics Commission. He’s seeking Green’s resignation over her involvement in a summer jobs program that, according to auditors, benefited some of her relatives.

LEO Weekly reports that the Ethics Commission will meet on the 24th and decide whether to hold a hearing or dismiss the charges. The commission could also choose to launch its own investigation.

The complaints cite an internal audit of a $55,000 grant Green appropriated to the nonprofit LIFE Institute to fund “Green Clean Team,” a summer program for at-risk youth in her district. It criticizes the city lawmaker for hiring her husband, James Green, as the program manager, along with other relatives.

Green has declined to comment on the matter, but says she has no interest in resigning.

In Response To Paul, McConnell And Rogers, Begala Says “Defund Kentucky”

Democratic consultant Paul Begala has penned an op-ed for The Daily Beast arguing that the small government rhetoric of Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, and Representative Hal Rogers is hypocritical, given Kentucky’s dependence on federal money.

Take Kentucky, please. Kentucky has given us Makers Mark bourbon, Churchill Downs, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky has also given us Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, tea party favorite Sen. Rand Paul and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers. While Rogers was once dubbed the “Prince of Pork” and McConnell has hauled so much pork he’s at risk for trichinosis, they are now converts to Sen. Paul’s anti-government gospel.  McConnell says President Obama’s new budget is “unserious” and “irresponsible” because it merely cuts projected deficits by $1.1 trillion.  “The people who voted for a new direction in November have a five-word response,” McConnell said, “We don’t have the money.”

Fair enough.  So here’s my two-word response: Defund Kentucky. Cut it off the federal dole. Kentucky is a welfare state to begin with. The conservative Tax Foundation says the Bluegrass State received $1.51 back from Washington for every dollar it paid in federal taxes in 2005 (the most recent data I could find on the Tax Foundation’s website.)  We need to listen to the people of Kentucky. They don’t want any more federal spending in their state—and they certainly must be appalled by the notion that they’re a bunch of welfare queens, living off the taxes paid by blue states like California(which only gets 81 cents back on the dollar), Connecticut (69 cents), Illinois (75 cents) and New York (79 cents).

The issue was briefly raised during Paul’s race for the U.S. Senate. In recent years, we’ve seen many rural writers and advocates take increasingly bold stands against federal program cuts. From Post Office closures to poorly-expanded internet access, rural areas often see the effects of altered spending first. Of course, Louisville benefits from federal spending as well. Many previously-proud earmark earners say now is the time to end the process and close the deficit. Others, however, argue that in times of recession, a balanced budget should not be a high priority. When asked about the cuts in various federal budget proposals in the House, Third District Congressman John Yarmuth told WFPL:

“A lot of us, for whom some of these cuts the Republicans have proposed and even cuts like the ones the Obama administration has proposed would be much more acceptable if we didn’t have 10% unemployment and so many people suffering.”

What are your thoughts on how to square rural difficulties with small-government politics?

Ackerson Hopes To Keep Waterfront Park Lawn Free For Thunder Visitors

by Sheila Ash

A Louisville Metro Councilman is hoping to keep all of Waterfront Park free and open for this year’s Thunder Over Louisville.

Derby Festival officials changed the seating rules this year to charge visitors to sit in one portion of the park. About ten percent of the Great Lawn will be fenced off for this year’s fireworks show. Visitors will need a Pegasus Pin to enter the area.

Festival president Mike Berry told a Metro Council committee Tuesday the change will stop early visitors from staking large claims in the lawn and blocking others from getting the best views. The sales of the pins will offset the cost of guarding the area.

“This was not just those of us who are behind the scenes in Thunder. I think the public was realizing as well that there were challenges when it comes to this area and the civility,” he said. “Safety and security is always the most important part of our events.”

Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson says it’s unfair to charge people to visit the park, and he told Berry he wants to find a way around the fee.

“For the $20,000 cost I hope to talk to my colleagues to see if we might be able to off-set that to where you all might consider still fencing off the area if that’s the security concern but at the same time still making it free to those in this area that otherwise would like to go but maybe discouraged by that additional family charge,” he said.

The money would likely come out of the council members’ discretionary funds.

Pegasus Pins cost $4 in advance and $5 at the gate.

Ackerson Has Nine Questions For Derby Festival Officials

As reported earlier, Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson has taken issue with a change to seating for Thunder Over Louisville. Ackerson says it’s unfair for the Derby Festival to require visitors purchase a Pegasus Pin to sit in a section of the Great Lawn in Waterfront Park.

Derby Festival officials will appear before the Metro Council’s Parks, Libraries, Zoo and Cultural Assets Committee Tuesday at 5:00. Ackerson has released nine questions he wants them to answer. WFPL will have a summary of the hearing shortly after it happens.

Here are the nine questions:

1. If staking out portions of the Great Lawn and volleyball courts are a problem, then wouldn’t the simpler and more cost effective solution be to ban such activity and allow police officers to patrol those areas to enforce such a ban?  Aren’t officers already patrolling the area?
2. Won’t fencing areas with limited entry/exit points further cause crowd control issues at the end of the evening by bottlenecking pedestrian flow?
3. Exactly which areas of the Great Lawn and Waterfront Park area will be fenced to accommodate the 50000 people, restroom facilities, and vending areas?  Which areas are to remain free to the public?  Do the maps contained as part of the License Agreement fully define the areas which are free and which are to be fenced?
4. Has there been any discussion with the Derby Festival organization about the increase in revenue from the proposed fenced portions of the Great Lawn and the other parts of the park?  If so, what are the expected increases in funds or revenues?
5. We’ve been told of increases in the costs of fencing the area at issue.  What are these projected costs and how do such compare to the estimated Derby Pin sales increase from this new “pin-for-entry” requirement?
6. With regard to the proposed fenced area, how many extra restrooms are proposed to be added within this area, as compared to the restroom facilities availability in previous years when the area was not fenced?  What are the additional costs for these extra restroom facilities?  Will there be a decrease of such facilities in other areas that are not being fenced?
7. With regard to the proposed fenced area, how many extra vending facilities are proposed to be added within this area, as compared to the vending facilities available in previous years when the area was not fenced?  What is the projected revenue from any new vending facilities within the proposed fenced area?  Will there be a decrease of such facilities in other areas that are not being fenced?
8. Will there be police assigned to the fenced area of the park, and if so, will such officers be taken from other areas or will there be additional officers assigned to the fenced area?  Who is paying for these police officers, and what is the projected cost for any additional police solely within the fenced area?
9. With regard to the problems which KDF claims it is attempting to solve this year with the proposed fencing of certain areas of the park, what other solutions were discussed or proposed, did these other solutions have costs involved with such (and if so what were they in comparison to the solution to fence the area at issue), and what were the reasons why the other solutions were abandoned in favor of the one presently proposed?

 

Baylor Planning To Run For New Albany Council

On his blog Monday, Roger Baylor announced that he plans to run for one of the three at-large seats on the New Albany council.

Baylor is co-owner of the New Albanian Brewing Company. He’s also a frequent progressive voice in southern Indiana politics, often speaking out against the current Ohio River Bridges Project. Baylor writes a column for the New Albany News and Tribune. The column will go on hiatus after this Thursday as Baylor seeks office.

Baylor will be one of several Democrats running. He’ll face:

Shirley Baird, Brad Bell, Garretson Lane, Doug England, John Gonder, Captain Frank Road and Patty Walker.

Gonder is the incumbent. England is the mayor, who recently announced that he planned to leave office. At the time, England said he wanted to spend more time with his family. When asked whether he was done with politics, he said no.

“Oh no I won’t be out of politics,” he said. “I won’t be out of politics. I’ll be doing a lot of helping and a lot of un-helping.”

Live Coverage Of President Obama’s News Conference

WFPL will air live coverage of President Barack Obama’s news conference at 11 am on Tuesday. Mr. Obama is expected to talk about his budget proposal.

From NPR:

NPR’s Neal Conan will host the coverage. He will be joined in the studio by NPR Correspondent John Ydstie, NPR’s Diplomatic Correspondent Michele Kelemen and NPR’s White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro.

Sit-In Ends, Protesters Say It Was Worthwhile, Though Few Concessions Were Granted

Fourteen protesters have ended their three-day sit-in at Governor Steve Beshear’s office. And while the protesters didn’t get the concessions they wanted from the governor, they say the effort was worthwhile, in part because of the response they received from the public.

The group, known as Kentucky Rising, occupied the governor’s office from Friday morning through Monday morning to protest Beshear’s support for the mining process commonly called mountaintop removal.

“I’ve mined coal. And I’ve got friends right here that’s done the same thing. We are here because we want to keep our mountains and water in the condition they were given to us by the good Lord above. And I’m a firm believer that he entrusted us to keep them this way,” says protester Stanley Sturgill.

“We’ve heard from people in Argentina, Germany, all over the United States. 500 farmers in Vermont.signed their names to a letter of support and sent it. Churches all over the south reported they were holding prayer services for them,” says group spokesperson Silas House.

Supporters brought so much food for the group that the demonstrators couldn’t eat it all and donate some of it to a local women’s shelter.

They emerged to a boisterous welcome from the roughly one thousand demonstrators who gathered on the steps of the state Capitol for the annual I Love Mountains Day rally. Beshear did not change his positions regarding mountaintop removal, but he did agree to tour mountaintop removal sites at the group’s request.

Sweeping Review Ordered For Bridges Project

The federal government has ordered a possibly years-long review of proposed changes to the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Last month, Mayor Greg Fischer, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels proposed cutting lanes from the east end bridge, dropping pedestrian paths from the downtown bridge and rebuilding Spaghetti Junction in place. The cuts, they say, would shave about $500 million off of the projects’ $4.1 billion cost.

As the Courier-Journal reports, the changes will require new environmental research. In other states, similar federal reevaluations have taken years to complete, but an official with the Ohio River Bridges Project told WFPL’s Rick Howlett the new studies should only take one year.

A conference on how best to complete the project will be held in Louisville on Wednesday and Thursday.

TARC Updates Busy Routes

Two of the busiest bus routes in Louisville now have more frequent service, but funding for the improvements is only guaranteed for about one year.

Transit Authority of River City buses will run every fifteen minutes on the number 18 route on Preston and Dixie highways and on the number 23 route, which serves Broadway and Bardstown Road. About 20% of TARC’s riders use the two routes.

The extra buses are being paid for with a $1 million federal grant. The grant will last for about one year. Last year, TARC had to cut routes to overcome a more than $5 million revenue shortfall. The authority relies heavily on occupational taxes, and the budget is affected by local job losses.

TARC director Barry Barker and Mayor Greg Fischer will discuss the service changes publicly Tuesday morning.