The Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts celebrates its 25th anniversary of free summer arts education Saturday at the Kentucky Center. The celebration includes an art show, an open mic, silent films from the new media program and a concert featuring Harry Pickens, Ben Sollee and jazz violinist (and GSA alum) Zach Brock.

The Associated Press reports that the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere is at the lowest level in two decades. The information is from the Energy Information Administration, and though the story doesn’t mention this, it’s actually just a measure of the CO2 being released by the nation’s energy sector.

Government officials are pointing to a drop in coal burning and an increase in natural gas for the decline.

KentuckyOne Health, the largest health system in the state, has dropped all contracts with Medicaid managed care organization Coventry Cares.

Coventry Cares had terminated two of its contracts with KentuckyOne Health, including one with Our Lady of Peace, which provides specialized services for high risk patients in Louisville.   Now, KentuckyOne spokesperson Barbara Mackovic  says her organization is responding by halting all its contracts with the managed care organization.

Louisville philanthropist Owsley Brown Frazier is dead. A spokesperson for the Frazier History Museum, which Frazier founded (as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum) in 2001, confirmed that Frazier died at a local hospital this afternoon. The cause of death is unknown at this time. 

Frazier, 77, retired as vice chair of the board of Brown-Forman Corporation, the Louisville-based spirits and wine company founded by his family.

In a statement, Mayor Greg Fischer says that Frazier had a profound impact on Louisville.

Kentucky Auditor Adam Edelen is encouraging local officials to help him find out about the state’s hundreds of special taxing districts.

A special taxing district is a quasi-governmental agency—such as a local sewer system or public library—that gets its funds from a separate tax.

No one knows how many such districts there are in the state. And since the spring, Edelen has set out to find and catalog all of the districts, then see if any are abusing public funds.

Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Donna Hargens says she’ll use the recently announced decrease in JCPS graduation rates as a catalyst for increasing student achievement.

Hargens made her comments during an interview Thursday with the Courier-Journal. 

Democratic candidate Bill Adkins has been endorsed by the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police in the Fourth Congressional District race.

University of Louisville football coach Charlie Strong brought his team to the downtown Marriott Hotel today  to greet a sold-out crowd at the Cards’ annual kickoff luncheon.

There are high expectations for Strong’s third Cardinal team, which is favored by many to win the Big East Conference title.U of L tied for the conference crown last year and earned its second consecutive bowl appearance.

Strong says he wants to bring consistency to a program that has won only seven conference titles going into its 94th season.

The involvement of a state representative in a major coal deal in Kentucky is raising some eyebrows. Under the terms of a new $7 billion contract, Kentucky coal producers will ship nine million tons of coal a year to India for the next twenty-five years. Representative Keith Hall was instrumental in brokering the deal—and he represents both the people of Kentucky and his own private coal interests.

Hall's district covers part of coal-rich Pike County. He’s the chair of a special energy subcommittee, and the vice chair on the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

He also owns several coal-related businesses in the area—including mines—and sits on the board of FJS Energy. FJS is the New Jersey-based company that signed the deal with India.

“I’m not just a friend of coal,” Hall said. “I’m coal’s best friend.”

The Kentucky State Fair Board has released a request for proposals to operate the former Kentucky Kingdom amusement park.

This comes a day after a group of developers called the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Company announced a $40 million plan to re-open the park by 2014.

The proposal provides $10 million from four private investors, including local businessman Ed Hart, and $30 million in bank financing, which would need to be guaranteed by the state.

Other members of the group include Ed Glasscock, Bruce Lunsford, and Mary Moseley.