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Columns

  • Public Pensions Task Force makes recommendations

    Earlier this summer a Public Pensions Task Force began meeting to discuss possible solutions to the unfunded liability in the Kentucky retirement system.  After several months of consideration and discussion with local and national experts, we approved an eight-point proposal outlining suggestions to put Kentucky's public retirement system back on sound financial footing.
    We looked at ways to pay down the pension debt, provide immediate relief to cash-strapped budgets and create a new pension system that is sustainable and secure.

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  • Patrons of the arts

    When I was leaving Saturday evening's performance of "The Desperate Director" at Angelic Hall, spectators said watching the play was much better than sitting at home clicking through the channels on the television.
    I agree.
    Unfortunately, too few people took advantage of the live entertainment this past weekend right here in our hometown.

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  • High-profile matters to be discussed in 2013

    Each fall, not long before Thanksgiving, the General Assembly's administrative staff offers an in-depth look at some of the issues it believes could be debated during the legislative session that begins each January.
    The report comes from the 15 main committees that vote on legislation, and while no one can predict what ultimately will become law, this analysis gives us a better idea of what may need to be addressed.

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  • The hero

    "The hero."
    I got goose bumps every time I heard those two words Saturday during Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Rakes' funeral.
    Anytime an officer referred to Deputy Rakes, he or she wouldn't say his name. Instead, they would say, "the hero."

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  • Pride, prayers and support

    By John G. Mattingly
    Marion County Judge/Executive

    There is no way to make it right, you can't explain it, a senseless act of violence will change a community like no other event. The tragic death of Deputy Carl Anthony Rakes last week shocked the Marion County community to its very core. It is a shame that it takes a real tragedy to bring a community together. Marion County showed how much they can and do care about their fellow citizens, and especially those who seek to protect them on a daily basis.

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  • A time to be thankful

    This week, as we turn our focus to family, food and - for some - football, now is the ideal time to pause for a moment to recall all for which we are thankful.
    At the state level, the good news is that some silver linings have begun to shine through after several especially tough years.
    The 12 months between Sept. 2011 and 2012, for example, saw Kentucky add 47,000 jobs - our highest year-to-year total since 2000. Only South Dakota had a larger percentage increase during the same 12-month period.

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  • Kentucky taking the lead in education

    Over the last two decades, Kentucky has built a national reputation for its willingness to blaze new paths when it comes to education. Early this month, we took another major step forward with the release of the latest round of school accountability scores.

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  • Protect fishing and hunting from whom?

    As I voted on Nov. 6, I almost laughed out loud when I saw the question asking voters to amend Kentucky's Constitution to protect the right to hunt and fish.
    My first thought was protect hunting and fishing from whom, or what?
    Trying to keep people in Kentucky from hunting and fishing is like trying to get diehard UK basketball fans to not wear blue. It ain't gonna happen.
    I've read the arguments behind the amendment - the preservation of a God-given right to harvest game and keep animal herd population numbers in check.

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  • Stories worth telling

    On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered at Lebanon National Cemetery to honor the military veterans who have served our country in times of war and times of peace. As usual, the crowd was filled with many of those veterans and their families.
    I couldn't help but wonder what those veterans' families know about their service.
    My grandfather on my father's side, Sylvester Lega, was a World War II veteran. He died a few months before I was born, but I know from conversations with my grandmother that he said very little about his time in the service.

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  • With pride in their hearts

    Veterans Day is Sunday. It's often a time we think about individuals who have or are serving overseas, whether as part of an active military operation or at one of the United States military bases throughout the world.
    But serving one's country doesn't always mean leaving its borders.
    In the latter half of 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall started as tensions mounted between the West and the Soviet Union. What became known as the Berlin Crisis prompted several soldiers to be called up for duty.

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