Phillip M. Bailey

Joined by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and other housing advocates, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced Monday that his office is allocating $3.2 million to the city to deal with vacant and abandoned properties.

The funding comes from a $19.2 million pot the state got from the National Mortgage Settlement, which was the result of a lawsuit filed by several states against five of the country’s top banks. Across the country, states are using the money to provide legal assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure, redevelop foreclosed properties and reduce the blight created by vacant properties.

Conway says his office fought with state lawmakers during the legislative session to push that the settlement money be used for these sorts of programs and initiatives

"I am proud to say that the money I secured on behalf of Kentucky will be going to help people and communities who were harmed by the mortgage foreclosure crisis," says Conway.  "This settlement will provide second chances for people who’ve lost their homes, help revitalize properties that have been abandoned, and develop affordable housing in communities throughout our Commonwealth."

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington woman has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for threatening to kill U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman handed down the punishment for 50-year-old Susan Mary Collins Thursday for mailing a threatening communication.

Collins previously pleaded guilty to sending the letter on September 2 threatening to kill the U.S. Senate’s top Republican.

According to Collins’ plea agreement, McConnell perceived her letter as a genuine threat that could cause him harm.

When asked about his documentary debut, Louisville filmmaker Shawnell Harrison is direct about why he chose to tackle the razing of the historic Sheppard Square housing complex as his first project.

The 35-year-old director wanted residents to purge their feelings about the demolition and life in the projects, and Harrison's style dived into the Smoketown neighborhood where he received a raw and emotional reaction. Several residents offered him their explicit love and disdain for the 70-year-old housing project, including criticism of how the housing authority, Metro Police and media view them.

The last resident was relocated in March and demolition began in June, which leaves Sheppard Square as mostly rubble now. Construction of new homes has recently started near the former housing development that will pave the way for a mixed-income neighborhood.

Below is an excerpt of Harrison's film.

Joining the firestorm, University of Louisville President James Ramsey and Provost Shirley Willinganz are pledging to not eat at Chick-Fil-A as a result of the fast food restaurant’s stance against same-sex marriage.

Last week, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy ignited a fierce debate when he said his company proudly supports the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about," Cathy said in a radio interview.

In response a U of L student launched an online petition that has gotten over 1,000 signatures calling on university officials to shut down the restaurant’s new campus location.

U of L spokesman Mark Hebert says the university is not officially boycotting the restaurant, but that Ramsey an Willinganz have made a personal decision to not patronize Chick-Fil-A anytime soon.

Urging federal assistance, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., met U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Friday to discuss the impact severe drought conditions are having on Kentucky farmers.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released a new report this week showing the severity of the heat wave and lack of rainfall is worsening across the country, and that the amount of land classified as having "extreme" or "exceptional" drought is over 20 percent.

The chairman of the Louisville Metro Council’s Appropriations Committee is asking the Ethics Commission to weigh-in on whether city lawmakers can pass out gifts to constituents.

Earlier this week, the appropriations committee discussed a pair of Neighborhood Development Fund requests made by council members Rick Blackwell, D-12, and Vicki Welch, D-13. The two were seeking to give Metro Parks $3,000 in return for 400 tickets to performances at the Iroquois Amphitheater, which Blackwell and Welch would give out to residents.

The county attorney warned that tickets can have a "monetary value and political value" and lawmakers should discuss the matter further. After a fierce debate, the committee voted down the proposal by a 3-to-3 vote.

Councilman Robin Engel, R-22, who chairs the appropriations panel, sent a letter to the commission Friday asking if it is a violation of the city's code of ethics for council members to control the distribution of tickets. He says there has been a fierce debate on passing out tickets, but lawmakers need non-partisan guidance.

"The question is the temptation and the possibility of impropriety of being able to distribute tickets as a council member. That is in play here and that’ the question of the day,” he says.

Former Democratic Governor  John Y. Brown Jr., is disappointed with President Barack Obama's job performance and is criticizing the national party for "acting like socialists" over free enterprise.

Brown served as Kentucky's governor from 1979 to 1983, and is successful businessman and a revered patriarch among state Democrats past and present.

In an interview with Pure Politics, Brown said Mr. Obama doesn't understand the economy and is more interested in "taking care of people instead of taking care of our Constitution" and getting people back to work.

The unemployment rate in the Louisville metro area increased to 8.3 percent in the month of June, which is a slight uptick, according to the Kentucky Office Of Employment & Training.

The numbers released Thursday show the jobless rate was 8.1 percent in May, but that unemployment is down significantly when compared to the 9.9 percent rate last year. Statistics in the report cover the 13-county metropolitan statistical area that includes surrounding Kentucky counties and Southern Indiana. It shows approximately 53,700 people are unemployed. 

Louisville attorney David Kaplan is withdrawing his candidacy for the Jefferson County School Board to support former Humana chairman David Jones Jr. for the District 2 seat.

The 41-year-old Kaplan is the father of two young children who attend JCPS. He is a managing partner at Miller Wells law firm and is a former Kentucky assistant attorney general.

Kaplan says he filed to run to make positive changes in education policy, but after meeting with Jones he found the two generally agree.

Retiring Congressman Geoff Davis, R-Ky. announced Wednesday that fellow GOP Congressman Todd Young, R-In., will take over lead sponsorship of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.

For three years Davis has championed the legislation as a way to spur economic growth and tackle burdensome regulation. The REINS Act would require that Congress take an up-or-down vote on any major rules that would have more than $100 million annual economic impact.

The bill passed the GOP-controlled House last winter, but it went nowhere in the Democratic Senate. Davis announced last December he was not seeking re-election but that Young will take the lead on the REINS Act in the future.

"Todd Young is one of the hardest-working and most diligent new members of Congress. He has enthusiastically championed the REINS Act at home and in Washington," Davis said in a news release. "Congress has excessively delegated its constitutional responsibility for making the law of the land to unelected bureaucrats for too long.  The REINS Act is one of the most important structural reforms to restore this accountability.  I am confident that Congressman Young will be a tireless champion for the REINS Act going forward."