News

Louisville Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26, is calling on the government accountability committee to investigate Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, D-2, who has been embroiled in a series of scandals.

Since May, Shanklin has faced mounting questions about the use of citys grants from her office, particularly for an upholstery training program for ex-convicts that served no former inmates but that she and her relatives participated in.

The city's internal audit is conducting a review of the jobs program and a report is pending.

It has also been reported that $3,000 in taxpayer money went to Shanklin's family members through funding of the Petersburg-Newburg Neighborhood Association, which she is a board member. Until last year, Shanklin has personally signed checks to the group  since 2005.

An audit of council discretionary spending found a lack monitoring in the majority of those grants, but the report called out Shanklin specifically for having a conflict of interest in funding the neighborhood group while being a board member.

Ackerson says he is concerned about the oversight of taxpayer dollars as well as media reports, adding he wants to know the full story behind Shanklin's controversies.

"Controversy such as this do not bode will for government period. There's a lot of questions that are raised about discretionary funds. Negative stories out there that don't talk about everything and don't give government a chance to address those, all they do is create improper conclusions. And I'm a firm believer in discretionary funds and what they can do for an area," he says.

A 2010 report prepared for Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured by Washington D.C.’s Urban Institute shows the commonwealth could have the largest decrease rate of uninsured people in the nation under the Affordable Care Act.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer will join us Monday at 1pm to discuss jobs, crime and the latest controversies in the Metro Council. We'll get his take on the status of the former Kentucky Kingdom site, and the latest ruling involving the firefighters settlement. 

Join us with your thoughts, Monday from 1-2pm, at 502-814-TALK (8255), news@wfpl.org, or leave us a comment on our Facebook or Twitter. 

A central Kentucky lawmaker says he will continue to push for tougher penalties against drunk drivers.

State Rep. Mike Harmon of Danville has pre-filed a bill for the 2013 legislative session that would lengthen the amount of time a DUI stays on a person’s criminal record to 10 years and increase fines for repeat offenders.

Jeffersonville residents can now receive a fixed rate for wastewater, or sewage, bills until the end of summer.

The city’s three-member sewer board adopted the policy Thursday to alleviate the high costs from extra water usage during hot days. Customers that sign up for the new wastewater billing program will pay $61.04 a month.

“If people don’t come down and sign up for this they won’t get it. So people have to come down and sign this piece of paper in order to get the relief," said Mayor Mike Moore.

A new conservative think tank in Kentucky is expanding its political influence outside of its usual lobbying efforts.

The Commonwealth Policy Center is a fiscally and socially conservative group. Now, the group has launched a sister political action committee, the Commonwealth Policy PAC (pack), to influence elections.

The center’s director is Richard Nelson, a former analyst of the Family Foundation in Kentucky. Henderson City Commissioner Robby Mills is the PAC’s director.

Kentucky officials have declared a water shortage watch for 27 counties, mostly in central and western parts of the state.

Nearly all of the state outside of Jefferson and nearby counties is in some degree of drought. Many have been classified as abnormally dry, but central and northern Kentucky are in a level one drought, and the entire western part of the state is in a level two drought. That means in some places, water is becoming scarce.

The state issues water shortage watches when drought conditions could possibly threaten the availability of drinking water supplies.

People of all ages are invited to the annual butterfly count Saturday at the University of Louisville’s Horner Wildlife Sanctuary in Oldham County.

The count will be led by U of L biology professor emeritus Charles Covell, who speaks here with WFPL’s Rick Howlett about the purpose of the count and what you need to know to participate.

It’s fine to hit the downtown First Friday Trolley Hop without a plan. Park, wander in and out of galleries, grab a drink or dinner with friends and hop a TARC trolley from one end of downtown to the next and back—you’re sure to find something to catch your eye or ears.

But with so many events and gallery receptions happening at once, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so every month we take a look at five don’t-miss art events happening during the hop.