Tagged: Louisville Metro Councilman Jim King

An ordinance before the Louisville Metro Council would require restaurants to post nutrition information on their menus.

Council President Jim King, D-10, and Councilwoman Vicki Aubrey Welch, D-13, are sponsoring the bill.

It requires businesses that have caloric and other nutrition information available to post that information on their menus or on a menu board located in the restaurant. The ordinance would only apply to businesses that have the information available.

Welch is chairwoman of the health, education and housing committee. She says the law will give residents the needed information to make better choices.

"I want consumers to be able to choose what they’re eating and putting into their bodies. I think they deserve to know what they’re purchasing. So many people are health conscious now about what they’re eating," she says.

Louisville Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26, will return his two percent cost-of-living pay increase to the city’s general fund in upcoming fiscal year.

Each council member is paid approximately $42,500 annually and lawmakers are set to receive a raise of about $850 in the next budget. It's the first cost-of-living increase for non-union Metro employees in two years.

Ackerson says many city workers need a raise as the economy begins to steadily improve, but other costs are still going up.

"I don’t think that I as a council person in my situation need this raise. However, I recognize that our employees do need this raise," he says. "The reality is their two percent raise likely won’t even cover the increase in their health care costs. At the end of the day our city employees will likely take home less dollars to their family than they did last year even with this raise."

Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad testified before the Budget Committee on Wednesday that crime has increased by eight percent in the last year.

In recent weeks, the escalation of violence has concerned residents and gained the attention of community and city leaders. In May, a shooting spree in the Parkland neighborhood left three dead and three others injured including the brazen murder of Makeba Lee, 24, who was shot by Cheetara Goldsmith, 24, in front of officers.

Earlier this week, 15-year-old Tysha Spearman, a junior at Shawnee High School, was shot and killed and a 4-year-old was shot in the arm nearby the Parkway Place housing projects.

Conrad says the department is planning to create a new mobile unit that will target high crime areas and repeat offenders.

"For the coming year we are focusing on reducing violent crime. That should go without saying. We have pulled together a summer crime reduction task force, which involves identifying and arresting the worst of the worst, putting police officers in the most challenged areas, which we are referring to as hot spots," he says.

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Attica Woodson Scott, D-1, is defending hefty contributions from individuals outside her district, but rivals in the Democratic primary are criticizing donations from Council President Jim King, D-10, and allege he’s buying influence.

Scott has raised over $20,000 in the May 22 election, which is six times more than her closet rivals. During WFPL’s District 1 debate, opponents grilled the incumbent for taking campaign cash from people outside the district and questioned Scott's relationship with the council president.