HomeGrown takes a trip back through Louisville and Kentucky history this week with a visit to Farmington, and a
discussion about growing hemp there, and elsewhere in Kentucky. Farmington’s Andrea Pridham and Holly Smith have the information on the early 1800s plantation house, and the restoration of its garden. Former Louisville resident Deb Alexander talks about her research into hemp growing in Kentucky, and its link to slavery and violence in the state. Downloadable MP3
View photos from HomeGrown’s visit to Farmington
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A new medical clinic for families considering or going through the international adoption process is now operating at the University of Louisville.
Clinic director Dr. Mike Howard says he’s worked with several such cases, starting several years ago in private practice. He says many people expect to encounter problems with infectious diseases.
“The main thing, over time, as anybody that’s been doing international adoption from a physician’s aspect discovers is that these children have more developmental problems as they come in,” says Howard, “and again, helping the families acclimatize and the child to assimilate, within their new families.”
Howard says the clinic offers the services of many specialists, including pediatricians, child psychologists and language and occupational therapists.
The clinic is held twice a month at U of L’s Child Evaluation Center on Floyd Street.
From WFPL’s Cassidy Herrington
The Kentucky National Guard is collecting funds for a new memorial to be located at the entrance to the Boone National Guard Center in Frankfort. Memorial Fund Secretary Jason LeMay says the memorial will include a statue of Daniel Boone on the site in addition to the names of Guard personnel who have perished in the line of duty.
“The idea has been around for several years, developing especially with the global war on terrorism. The losses to the Kentucky National Guard have been much more frequent than they were in the past … I think it really brought it home to a lot of people about how to we make sure these people aren’t forgotten,” he said.
Officials are asking anyone who knows of a fallen Guard soldier to contact them so they can be honored in the memorial.
A list of names gathered so far is available here.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Louisville Visual Art Association
When we think of supporting the arts, we’re likely to think of the theatre, opera or ballet. But here in Louisville we have a strong visual arts community; so strong in fact that the Louisville Visual Art Association is celebrating its centennial anniversary. For the past 100 years LVAA has endeavored to support visual arts and artists by hosting exhibits, teaching classes and conducting community outreach. So what’s their secret to survival, especially now in these uncertain economic times? Join us on Friday for a conversation about the LVAA.
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The Kentucky Humane Society will again open its south Louisville food bank Saturday to offer free pet food to owners who are at risk of having to give up their pets because of financial difficulties.
Spokesperson Michelle Ray says more than 150 people visited the food bank last weekend.
“This is something that we plan to keep doing as long we have food available,” Ray said.
The food bank will be open from noon to 4:00pm Saturday at the Humane Society’s main campus on Steedly Avenue in south Louisville.
Ray says because of the overwhelming response last week, the organization is accepting donations of dry and canned dog and cat food.
Declining tax revenues took a bite out of Mayor Jerry Abramson’s proposed operational budget for the next fiscal year, but the capital budget was augmented by the federal government.
The capital budget is largely sustained by about 100 million federal stimulus dollars.
Abramson has already celebrated the flow of stimulus dollars into Louisville this fiscal year. He says the money coming into the capital budget after July will help bring 3,000 private sector jobs to the area.
“That will create more road repairs, curb repairs, sidewalk repairs, new sidewalks to be developed, weatherization of homes, et cetera than we probably have had in recent times in terms of the amount of money we can focus toward spending in these areas,” he says.
The stimulus funds are not necessarily a renewable source of income. Future projects may depend on funds earned through competitive grants and all stimulus projects must be completed in two years.
From Kentucky Public Radio’s Tony McVeigh
A panel of economic experts agrees with Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear; the state could be facing a deficit of almost one billion dollars.
After analyzing current and projected state revenue receipts, the Consensus Forecasting Group is predicting Kentucky could be facing an almost one billion dollar shortfall next fiscal year. The forecast options were optimistic, control or pessimistic, and the panel went with a 50/50 blend of control and pessimistic.
“Some argued 50/50, there was one 75/25, one 25/75, so it was pretty much the consensus feeling that we’re not as optimistic as the control forecast would suggest,” said chairman Larry Lynch.
Lynch says the projected shortfall in the road fund is $239 million. Immediately after the meeting, Governor Beshear issued a statement indicating he will call a special session beginning June 15th to address the budget shortfall.
