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Sylvia Lovely, Executive Director of the Kentucky League of Cities had lunch with the Courier Journal editorial board recently. She discussed many problems facing cities in Kentucky. She spent most of her time speaking to the problems of city pension costs. The article is a long read, but if you desire to understand how 21st Century Kentucky must confront issues, then it is worth the time to read.

The propsed luxury hotel,to be built at the Kentucky State Horse Park, is triggering many questions on the wise use of Kentucky state public debt. This is the second large scale public bonding project(City of Versailles,KY being the other project) to create large public debt for used in strange private development projects and potential large private profits. The Lexington Hearld Leader did an excellent article concerning these questions.

Spending on health care in the United States could double by 2017, reaching $4.3 trillion and accounting for 19.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, a new government report shows

Valley Watch comment: "Coal to liquids technology has been available for nearly a century but it has never achieved feasibility except in countries without access to petroleum like Nazi Germany and South Africa during apartheid."
 
Lexington Hearld Leader article:

Gov. Steve Beshear is taking a $400,000 grant back from Peabody Energy Corp. because the company has made no visible progress toward studying the feasibility of a $3 billion coal-to-liquids plant in Western Kentucky. Former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration awarded the grant in May.
 
Peabody originally told state officials that it might build a $3 billion plant near Sturgis in Union County to convert regional coal into synthetic diesel fuel. But the company submitted no progress reports or invoices for any of the $400,000, said Brad Stone, assistant director for research, development and demonstration at the Governor's Office of Energy Policy.

Valley Watch has one purpose, protect the public health and environment of the lower Ohio River Valley Southwest Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois see pollution in their future. Coal's gains mean we will become the electrical energy "sacrifice zone" for the nation. We can keep this from happening. Join Valley Watch. Download Membership Brochure

Note to Readers from Editor: We can’t make this stuff up! Late Tuesday night (2-26-2008) as we were rushing to publish our latest edition of the newsjournal, the lights were going out in Miami. Like some bad B movie from the 1950’s the local nuclear power plant in south Florida had turned itself off because a switch had over heated and a fire had started in one of the energy network’s sub-power stations.

It took only three minutes for an overheated switch and then a fire at a power substation near Miami on Tuesday afternoon to shut down a nuclear plant south of the city and trigger Florida's largest blackout in at least 20 years. Figuring out why is going to take longer.

From Courier Journal Article: The existing law effectively puts a moratorium on nuclear power in Kentucky, since there is no permanent disposal facility in the United States. The federal government has been studying locating one at Yucca Mountain in Nevada for more than two decades. But the legislation by Sens. Bob Leeper, I-Paducah, and Charlie Borders, R-Russell, and Rep. Steven Rudy, R-West Paducah, would allow nuclear power plants in Kentucky as long as they have a waste-disposal plan that complies with federal law, such as securing the waste at the plants. The waste remains dangerous for thousands of years. Leeper and Borders both acknowledged that the bill could help constituents involved in the nuclear fuel industry, but they also said they are looking to help the nation and Kentucky diversify their energy supplies.

As Atlanta and other cities in the region run low on water, the burden of having water-hogging nuclear and coal plants diverting massive amounts of water is increasingly evident. This week Alabama’s Governor Riley sent a letter to President Bush about Alabama’s opposition to the state of Georgia’s efforts to get an emergency drought response in place, citing the dire need for Alabama to get water to supply nuclear plant Farley along the Chattahoochee River. Riley’s letter stated, “At a minimum, the lack of adequate cooling water could require a shutdown of the plant, thereby putting the reliability of the electric power grid in the region at risk.”

Give nuclear power a fresh look Nuclear power can both solve America’s energy woes and help protect the environment, Vice President Cheney told CNN. The answers, Cheney said, lie in increasing the supply of energy sources -- a policy that would include giving nuclear power “a fresh look.” Cheney said, “It is a safe technology and doesn’t emit any carbon dioxide at all. With the gas prices rising the way they are, nuclear is looking like a good alternative.” Cheney acknowledged that the problem of nuclear waste was “a tough one” and that the US would need to establish a single location to dump the waste, a program he said has been very successful in Europe. “Right now we’ve got waste piling up at reactors all over the country,” he said. “Eventually, there ought to be a permanent repository.” Cheney foresees an additional 1,300 to 1,900 new power plants over the next 20 years to meet demand -- some of which could be nuclear plants -- along with a number of refineries to process oil. Source: Interview with CNN’s John King May 8, 2001

The Three Mile Island accident was the most significant accident in the history of the American commercial nuclear power generating industry. It resulted in the release of a significant amount of radioactivity, an estimated maximum of 13 million curies of noble gases (480 petabecquerels), but under 20 curies (740 gigabecquerels) of the particularly hazardous iodine-131, to the environment

The nuclear weapons complex generated waste, pollution, and contamination that pose unique problems, including unprecedented volumes of contaminated soil and water, radiological hazards from special nuclear material, and a vast number of contaminated structures. Factories, laboratories, and thousands of square miles of land were devoted to producing tens of thousands of nuclear weapons.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Three state legislators are trying to overturn a nearly-quarter-century ban on nuclear power in Kentucky, as the nuclear industry vies for a comeback. Two companion bills -- one in the Senate, the other in the House -- would remove a requirement stipulating that before any nuclear plant is built, there must be a permanent disposal facility to handle its radioactive waste.

Marshall Cohen, an official of the Nuclear Energy Institute told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the industry is looking to several communities that might welcome interim storage of its used fuel. Two or three communities, according to Cohen, are showing interest in the proposition, but he declined to name them pending further negotiations. He did say, however, that some were among the 11 sites that once volunteered to host a government run nuclear waste reprocessing site. Those states were Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Washington..

MURRAY, Ky. Feb. 22 — Murray State University students will compete in a statewide business plan competition. The competition, called “Idea State U”, is hosted by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economics Development. The purpose of the competition is to find and reward the best young entrepreneurs in the state. Students from Kentucky’s public universities will be competing to see who can develop the best business plans and business concepts based on innovative products and services.

After nearly 5 years, more time than it took for Democratic President FDR to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan in WW2, we are told that our soldiers need more time to "win." We have already sacrificed over 4000 soldiers killed, 30,000 wounded, $600 BILLION tax dollars so far, our credibility and trust around the world, turned millions more Islamic people against us, and have turned Iraq into the perfect training ground for people who hate us.

American governors will attend the 100th National Governors Association (NGA) meeting in Washington D.C. this weekend. This will be Governor Beshear’s first opportunity to meet with his fellow states chief executives. Traveling with Governor Beshear will be Chief of Staff, Jim Cauley; Deputy Chief of Staff, Vance Gabbert and Deputy Policy Advisor, Katie Allison.

The NGA meeting will start on Saturday, February 23 and last through Monday, February 25. According to the Governor’s Press Office on late Friday afternoon, Jim Cauley has been named as the National Governors Association Representative for the Governor’s Office. This post is important in its policy networking and intergovernmental relations with the public interests groups in Washington as well as working with the other states on major issues facing the states. Governor Beshear will take the seat on the NGA Economic Development and Commerce Committee that was held by Governor Fletcher.

State budgets are being slammed by a triple-whammy: consumers and businesses are spending less so state tax revenues are dipping; a new bond-market crisis could make it more expensive for states to borrow; and the recent stimulus package Congress approved to jumpstart the economy actually will hurt state coffers. All but a few states tie their state tax rates to the federal system and could lose as much as $5 billion from Congress’ decision to give extra depreciation allowances to businesses, lowering their taxable income.

Before a large gathering at the former Miller Courthouse Annex building Tuesday afternoon, Sen. McConnell made two presentations to local officials. The first was $2 million for the Murray-Calloway County Economic Development Corp., geared toward developing 137 acres of land for a new industrial park. The other was for a computer-aided dispatch system for the Murray Police Department.

A draft of Governor Beshear's plan to overhaul and financially stabilize Kentucky's public employee retirement systems has been obtained by WHAS 11 News. The draft summary shows new state and county employees will have to work longer and contribute more of their pay to get full retirement benefits. The plan would take effect July 1st and only impact new employees.

Here is a response to the article about Horne pulling out or more accurately to the caption under the Fischer photo. The caption under Greg Fischer’s photo (Can Fischer's millions beat Lunsford's millions?) is misleading.

Hickman County Sheriff John Turner came before the fiscal court Monday, Feb. 11, to request an increase in gas mileage reimbursement. Turner said that with the current price of gas, the county reimbursement of 30 cents a mile “won’t get it.”

A federal deadline is looming for Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services. At issue is how the Cabinet will implement sweeping changes for community based service agencies working with people with mental retardation and physical disabilities with a commitment of $ 45 million dollars. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees the community services program, must explain how it intends to proceed with commitments to fully fund the program changes called for in a 2006 court agreement.

A massive beef recall has direct impact to 17 Kentucky school districts, including six in Western Kentucky. Each affective school district will be forced to dispose of hundreds of pounds of hamburger patties, sloppy joes and taco meat, as part of the largest nationwide beef recall in history.

UPDATE

At noon of February 5th, 2008, the price of gas, at the only four gas pumps in Hickman County, reached a four week high of $3.2999. This was an increase of 80 cents or 29% in 30 days.
 
From February 5, through March 5, the customers at the Jewell's Convent Store in Clinton, Ky. had witness a series of price hikes that move the purchase of gasoline into a new area of "consumer fear."

The customers at Jewell's fall into three categories: (1) farmers (2) senior citizens and (3) commuters to out of county jobs. The average job related commute is 35 miles one way or 70 miles a day. Many of the senior citzens are on fixed income and cannot afford the new price increases for gas.
 
Most of these seniors mantain a monthly appointment out of town with their doctor. Senior citizen population added to single women families head of household and below poverty level incomes account for 20% of Hickman County's population at "risk" due to new high price increases in consumer goods and services.
 
DURING THE WEEK OF MARCH 3RD, WORLD PRICES FOR CRUDE OIL HA S BROKEN THROUGH THE $100 DOLLARS A BARRELL BARRIER AND HAS MAINTAIN THIS RECORD EXPANSION WITH NEW PRICES MOVING FROM $103 TO $106 PER BARRELL.

PAIN AT THE PUMP IS NOW VERY REAL FOR THE COUNTIES OF WEST KENTUCKY. PEOPLE ARE NOW HAVING TO MAKE DAILY GUT WRENCHING DECISIONS ABOUT PURCHASING FOOD VS. MEDICINE VS. HOME HEAT VS. AUTO GAS VS. EVERYTHING ELSE! 
 
IS ANYONE IN FRANKFORT LISTENING TO THE PAIN OF WEST KENTUCKY VOTERS?