Kentucky

Kentucky Governor Retaliates Against Poor After Court Rejects Medicaid Changes

July 10, 2018 Michael Corcoran, Truthout.org Educate! Courts, Kentucky, Medicaid, Poverty

GOP cruelty is not new, but it seems to be reaching new depths. Case in point: In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin is now using the lives of Medicaid patients like pieces on a chessboard in an act of revenge and political spectacle. Governor Bevin’s administration announced that he would deprive Medicaid patients of dental and vision benefits, effective immediately. This unilateral (and some say illegal) maneuver impacts 460,000 peoplein Kentucky. This occurred just hours after a federal court stopped his Kentucky Health plan, which would throw people off Medicaid with work requirements, deductibles and other administrative and economic obstacles. The case in question is Stewart v. Azar. Through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Trump administration announced new guidelines in January to remake the program in the GOP’s image.

Thousands Of Teachers And Staff On Strike Across Oklahoma And Kentucky, Arizona Might Be Next

April 4, 2018 By Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Resist! Arizona, Class Struggle, Kentucky, Labor, Oklahoma, Strikes, Teachers, Unions

Schools shut down on Monday as thousands of teachers and staff in Oklahoma walked out to protest the low wages, benefit cuts and lack of school funding. Leading up to the planned strike, Oklahoma educators gave lawmakers an opportunity to pass a bill that met their demands, but could only come up with a $447 million compromise to the $3.3 billion requested by the teachers, Vox reported. The bill, which would have given teachers a $6,100 raise, support staff a $1,250 raise and $50 million in education funding, was going to come in part from raising taxes on oil production, diesel fuel and cigarettes, but the deal was rejected by the Oklahoma Education Associate, the group negotiating on the educators behalf.

Kentucky Teachers Are Protesting And Walking Off Job To Save Their Pensions—And Winning

March 27, 2018 Michael Arria, Inthesetimes.com Resist! Kentucky, Protests, Teachers

Thousands of teachers across Kentucky have protested against proposed cuts to their pension benefits in recent weeks, and last Wednesday more than 60 of the state’s schools closed while their staff attended a rally at the capitol building in Frankfort. On the heels of the teachers’ strike in West Virginia, Kentucky teachers are effectively beating back an attack on public workers—and they plan to continue to fight. The proposed cuts emerged from a months-long GOP political push. Last October, Kentucky’s Republican Governor Matt Bevin pushed an even more draconian plan, which he called “Keeping the Promise,” aimed at “saving” the state’s pension system. Bevin’s plan would have forced workers and teachers to enter into a 401(k)-type system and pay an extra 3 percent to access their retiree health benefits. Bevin intended to call a special session to implement the changes.

Kentucky Medicaid Enrollees Sue To Block Work Requirement Waiver

January 25, 2018 By Harris Meyer, Occupythebronx.org Resist! Kentucky, Lawsuit, Medicaid

Groups representing Kentucky Medicaid beneficiaries sued the federal government Wednesday to block the state from implementing its Medicaid waiver program that includes a work requirement. The proposed class action complaint alleges the changes, which include premiums, cost-sharing and a controversial work requirement, will lead to substantial reductions in Medicaid coverage. The CMS approved Kentucky's Medicaid waiver application this month. The controversial work requirement means able-bodied beneficiaries will have to complete 80 hours per month of community engagement activities, such as employment, education, job skills training or community service to maintain their Medicaid eligibility.

Lawmakers’ Attacks On Independent Abortion Clinics Are Working

September 20, 2017 Nicole Knight, www.rewire.news Resist! Abortion, Kentucky, Legislation

By Nicole Knight for Rewire - A fight is raging in Louisville, Kentucky, where the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Save America aims to shut down the state’s last remaining abortion clinic. A new report suggests the anti-choice assault in Kentucky isn’t an isolated event. In the past five years, almost one-third of independent abortion clinics have been forced to close, according to a new report out Thursday by Abortion Care Network, a national association of independent providers. The report suggests that while independent clinics provide the majority of U.S. abortion care, “anti-abortion politicians and extremists are forcing these clinics to close at an alarming rate,” said Nikki Madsen, executive director of the Abortion Care Network. Independent clinics are the chief providers of abortion care in the United States. Three in five people ending a pregnancy go to an independent clinic, according to the report. And independent clinics perform 60 percent of U.S. abortions—nearly double the share performed by Planned Parenthood, which has more fundraising might and greater name recognition. Due to their small size and sometimes isolated locations, independent providers, the report notes, “are also most vulnerable to anti-choice attacks (including anti-choice legislation, harassment, and violence), funding restrictions, and other attempts to close clinic doors and make abortion unavailable.”

Anti-Choice Attacks On Independent Abortion Clinics Are Working

August 28, 2017 Nicole Knight, www.rewire.news Educate! Abortion, Kentucky

Coal Country Trouble: Health Risks Of Retired Miners & Their Families

November 2, 2015 Alec MacGillis, www.propublica.org Educate! Coal, Kentucky, Pensions

By Alec MacGillis for Pro Publica - John R. Leach worked for Peabody Energy Corp. in western Kentucky for 23 years. When he retired, he and his wife Rhonda relied on his pension and health benefits not only for themselves but to care for two severely disabled adult children. So when Peabody notified them in 2007 that their benefits were now the responsibility of a spinoff called Patriot Coal, they had a worrisome premonition. “We said, ‘There’s something going on here that’s not right,’” Rhonda Leach said. The family’s worries were justified. When Patriot filed for bankruptcy two years ago, retiree benefits for thousands of mining families were put at risk.

Defiant Kentucky Clerk Taken Into Federal Custody

September 4, 2015 Tierney Sneed and Katherine Krueger, www.talkingpointsmemo.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Kentucky, Law

By Tierney Sneed and Katherine Krueger in Talking Points Memo - Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue gay marriage licenses, has been found in contempt of court and taken into federal custody. According to AP, U.S. District Judge David Bunning said Thursday that Davis would be held in jail until she complied with the previous court orders to begin granting the marriage licenses. “The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” Judge Bunning said, according to the New York Times. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.” She was not in handcuffs when she was led into custody, AP reported, and said "thank you" before a U.S. marshal escorted her out of the court room.

Kentucky’s Anti-Fracking Movement Deals Setback to Pipelines

July 10, 2015 Kelley Davidson, www.occupy.com Resist! Fracking, Kentucky, Oil & Gas, Oil Pipelines

By Kelley Davidson in Occupy - Some recent victories against powerful energy companies have given environmental activists in Kentucky a reason to celebrate. In late May, Bluegrass Pipeline LLC was denied eminent domain by the Kentucky Court of Appeals following a legal battle against environmental lawyer and renowned activist Tom FitzGerald, whose efforts succeeded in blocking a natural gas transport line across 13 Kentucky counties. FitzGerald, representing a group of concerned citizens called Kentuckians United to Restrict Eminent Domain, or KURED, managed to stave off a deal that would have transported gas fracked from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virgina through hundreds of miles of state farmland, and heading all the way down to the Gulf Coast.

Kentucky Fracking Forum Draws Large Crowd

January 30, 2015 Machaela Ballard, www.richmondregister.com Organize! Environment, Fracking, Kentucky, Oil & Gas

The walls of the Acton Folk Center were lined with people without room to sit Tuesday night during the first Frack Free Foothills community forum. The group was formed after energy companies began approaching landowners of the Red Lick and Clear Creek areas seeking to lease mineral rights for hydraulic fracturing. Those in attendance had many questions for speakers Bill Hughes of Wetzel County, W.Va., and Tom Fitzgerald of the Kentucky Resources Council. Hughes, a documentarian of fracking, presented what he said are production stages that typically occur on fracking sites. These include large vehicles traveling on rural roads, water issues and air pollution, he said.

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