The legislation cuts $61 billion from the federal budget and was approved by the Republican controlled House of Representative over the weekend. It makes substantial slashes to education, human services, medical research and transportation projects, but heads toward an uncertain future in the Senate and a possible veto from the president.

Before the vote, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who participated in the march last week, made a speech on the House floor in opposition to the bill, saying it would weaken environmental regulations that protect people against pollution.

Check it out:

And in a stinging editorial that appeared in The New York Times, author Silas House, who participated in the sit-in, says the mining practice puts the state’s environment and people at-risk.

From My Polluted Kentucky Home:

Since it was first used in 1970, mountaintop removal has destroyed some 500 mountains and poisoned at least 1,200 miles of rivers and streams across the Appalachian coal-mining region. Yet Governor Beshear is so committed to the practice that he recently allied with the Kentucky Coal Association in a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to block more stringent regulations of it. In court his administration’s lawyers referred to public opposition as simply “an unwarranted burden.”

The news media and the rest of the country typically think of mountaintop removal as an environmental problem. But it’s a human crisis as well, scraping away not just coal but also the freedoms of Appalachian residents, people who have always been told they are of less value than the resources they live above.

Over the past six years I’ve visited dozens of people who live at the edge of mountaintop removal sites. They bathe their children in water that has arsenic levels as high as 130 times what the E.P.A. deems safe to drink.

The agreement will turn the unused and rusting span into a new bridge that will connect Louisville’s Waterfront Park to downtown Jeffersonville. The historic bridge was built for railroad traffic in 1895, but has been closed with its approaches removed since 1969.

Under the agreement signed by both states, Kentucky is pledging $12 million to replace the deck on the bridge and connect it to the spiral ramp that has been completed in Waterfront Park.

On the other side of the river, Indiana will spend up to $8 million and Jeffersonville will provide $2 million in matching dollars to pay for construction its ramp to the Big Four Bridge.

“I am grateful to both states and particularly (Indiana) Gov. (Mithc) Daniels because Jeffersonville could not have done this on its own,” said Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan in a news release. “This is a big day for citizens on both sides of the river.”

While Jeffersonville is finalizing an environmental review of their proposed ramp, officials say the construction is set to begin this spring meaning the new pathway could be open to pedestrians and cyclists in early 2013.

“The governors of Kentucky and Indiana are working together to make great things happen for Louisville and Southern Indiana,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “The Big Four will not only link both sides of the Ohio River, it helps bridge our communities together. We are one city, one community and one family, as I said in my inaugural address. Let me add a fourth element: We are one region. This project is proof of that.”

From Mother Jones:

The fight over MTR has been heating up at the national level since last month, when the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed a permit for the controversial Spruce Mine in West Virginia. Both enviros and the coal industry have interpreted that move as evidence that the agency is serious about enforcing existing laws when it comes to MTR.

For coal field residents who have long been outspoken opponents of MTR, it’s a moment of opportunity. “I’m about to pull an Egypt,” Mickey McCoy, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and former teacher from Inez, Kentucky, told me by phone last night ahead of this morning’s action. “I’m just tired of lobbying, begging.”

Earlier today, LEO Weekly reported that Gov. Steve Beshear met with protestors, who were less-than-satisfied with his remarks and have refused to leave the state capitol building until their demands are met.

UPDATE:

One of the demonstrators, Jason Howard, a spokesman for Kentucky Rising, is live Tweeting the protest from Frankfort.

Check it out here.

UPDATE II:

I’ll see your live Tweet and raise you a live Ustream broadcast of the protest. Who says Kentucky is backwards?

The protestors say they plan to stay in Beshear’s office until the close of business.

Live video by Ustream

In an editorial published by Insider Louisville, Cindy Heine, interim director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, defends the state assessment process, saying that high academic expectations are necessary for Kentucky students to compete in today’s workforce.

The op-ed piece says that JCPS faces challenges similar to school districts throughout the commonwealth, which haven’t fallen behind as drastically despite having “extreme poverty” and “rural isolation.”

From Insider Louisville:

The fact of the matter is that Jefferson County has fallen behind in recent years on state assessments. The percent of Jefferson County students scoring at the lowest levels (called novices) went up from 2007 to 2010 in all five elementary school subjects.

At the middle and high school levels, novice performance increased in every subject except writing. Over the same period, the percent reaching state standards went down.

That is, proficient and distinguished results declined in three of five elementary school subjects, four of five middle school subjects, and four of five high school subjects.

(SNIP)

The measurement that determines the state’s low-performing schools has been characterized by some as being too narrow in scope and flawed in other ways. But, whether you like the measuring stick or not, it’s the same one used to measure all schools in Kentucky.

And the students in many of those schools, located in districts throughout the state, face significant challenges due to extreme poverty, rural isolation and other factors.

But many of those schools deliver at high levels for students. For example, 46 Kentucky schools are in the top 25 percent for reading results and also in the top 25 percent for low-income enrollment.

Since the school board voted against renewing Superintendent Sheldon Berman’s contract, academic achievement has been a centerpiece of the discussion in finding a replacement, however some — such as school board member Linda Duncan — say JCPS doesn’t have enough resources.

Duncan also called the state’s academic standards “unrealistic” and “unacceptable.”

It’s true that JCPS faces challenges that go beyond the classroom and include a high number of at-risk students in an urban district. This school year, for instance, 61 percent of students are receiving free or reduced lunches. And last school year, the number of homeless students jumped 23 percent to 10,555, an increase of nearly 2,000 students over the previous year.

However, Heine contends that should not mean officials lower standards in order to avoid scathing audits and necessary restructuring.

“What we’re saying is that school districts need to set high expectations for every student,” Heine says. “We cannot make the assumption that because children have challenges that they cannot learn.”

The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, and would put the issue before voters as a constitutional amendment on the next statewide general election.

Those in support of the measure who testified before the committee included the Rev. Patrick Delahanty, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville NAACP and Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel.

Since 2007, Crenshaw has proposed the bill but remains confident that felony enfranchisement will finally become a reality during this legislative session despite having never cleared a Senate committee.

Currently, Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that impose a denial of voting rights for felons after their release. The commonwealth has allowed felons to regain their rights by going through a rigorous applicaiton process that requires a pardon from the governor.

Even if the bill gets out of the General Assembly and the amendment was approved by voters, certain felons would still need apply in order to have their rights restored by the governor, including those convicted of bribery, treason, certain sex crimes or intentionally killing someone, except under extreme emotional disturbance.

The bill would require a person to get a doctor’s prescription to purchase cold medicine and is a measure that supporters contend will combat the proliferation of methamphetamine labs in Kentucky.

“I understand the urgent desire to address the meth problem in Kentucky, but we also have a very bad prescription drug abuse problem here already,” Moffett says. “The biggest impact this bill will have is on increased costs for innocent Kentuckians. Attacking the root cause of the problem is the only real solution. My jobs and education plans will do much more for the drug problem in Kentucky than SB 45 ever will, and cost less too.”

While making its way through the General Assembly, the bill has sparked a debate that has divided state lawmakers, pharmaceutical companies and law enforcement officers, who disagree on whether making cold medicine prescription-only will have an effect.

Moffett, a Louisville businessman affiliated with the Tea Party, calls Senate Bill 45 an abuse of power by “ruling class politicians” such as his GOP opponent, Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, who is in favor of the bill.

According to the Moffett campaign, Williams is supporting a “snot tax” that won’t decrease drug abuse or the threat that meth labs present.

The three-way GOP primary in the Kentucky governor’s race also includes Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, who announced her candidacy late last month.

“We encourage everyone who can to visit the center to see this and other exhibits,” says Ken Lucas, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, which contributed some of the funding to bring the exhibit to Louisville. “The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is an inspiring one for Kentuckians and all Americans, and the Muhammad Ali Center provides the perfect showcase.”

The Ron Spriggs Exhibit of Tuskegee Airmen is the personal accomplishment of Nicholasville resident Ron Spriggs, who was inspired by the 1995 HBO movie about the first unit of African-American pilots during World War II. An eight-year Air Force veteran, Spriggs felt the small Tuskegee Airmen exhibit at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, did not portray America’s first black military airmen in a positive light.

Since then, Spriggs  started collecting Tuskegee Airmen memorabilia, photographs and historical details while learning about the unit’s connections to the commonwealth.

“I realized that Kentucky has a rich history in black aviation even before the Tuskegee airmen,” he says. “There were 12 cadets from Kentucky (among the Tuskegee Airmen.)  Even before the Tuskegee Airmen experiment, Willa Beatrice Brown Chappell from Glasgow, Kentucky, was the first African American/Native American woman to get her pilot’s license. With her husband, she formed a company to teach people how to fly.  She was instrumental in getting black pilots into the cadet program in 1941.”

In 2002, Spriggs started buying items for the exhibit, ranging from books to models of the planes the Tuskegee Airmen flew. From 2004 to 2008 he received some funding to help him purchase items, but now operates on a shoestring budget.

The exhibit includes a half-scale replica of the nose cone of a P51D Mustang whose pilot was one of the first to shoot down three German Me262 jet planes in one day. The pilot’s crew chief was a native of Henderson and Louisville, who painted his half of the nose cone to honor Miss Kentucky State University, Maggie Cathryn Clement. The replica was created and built by Steven Gray, CWO 4, USA Ret., a former helicopter pilot, of Nicholasville.

The exhibit also includes 15 replica scale-model planes flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, and a uniformed torso mannequin of Tuskegee Airmen commander Col. Benjamin O. Davis.

“We are proud to showcase this extraordinary exhibit at the center so the community can experience a part of history and connect it to our state,” says Greg Roberts, president and CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center. “Everyone needs to see this. And it’s a great learning opportunity for kids.”

The exhibit will be on display at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville from Friday, Feb. 4 through Monday, Feb. 28.

On average the state lottery has between $8 to $10 million dollars that aren’t awarded, but saw a significant jump in unclaimed winnings this past year due to a popular scratch-off game. The majority of the prizes that go unclaimed are those small tickets that are worth up to $5, however, officials say they’ve seen more lucrative winnings left behind over the years.

“We’ve had tickets that were worth $1 million before that have gone unclaimed,” says Chip Polston, a spokesman for the Kentucky Lottery. “What we find with those big tickets is that they’re purchased in areas centered along interstate highways where a lot of folks are passing through. The theory is a lot of times you had a person pick up a ticket, throw it in the backseat and just plain forgot about it.”

In 2009, lottery officials in Louisville failed to find the winner of a $200,000 Powerball from a ticket that was sold in northern Kentucky. All winning tickets must be claimed 180 days from the drawing, says Polston. The largest unclaimed prize in Kentucky Lottery history was a $1.2 million ticket sold three decades ago in Bowling Green.

There are currently  three outstanding high dollar winners set to expire in 2011.

From the Kentucky Lottery:

$250,000 Mega Millions ticket
Sold at: Ameristop Food Mart at 512 West Pike St. in Covington on Dec. 12, 2010
Expires on: 6/19/11

$52,000 Win For Life ticket
Sold at: Speedway #9596 on 246 Southland Dr. in Lexington on Jan. 22, 2011
Expires on: 7/21/11

$52,000 Win For Life ticket
Sold at: Marrowbone Community Market at 109 Jefferson St. in Taylorsville on Aug. 28, 2010
Expires on: 2/24/11

By law, if a prize is not claimed it goes into a reserve fund set up to cover any potential shortfalls to the KEES scholarship program. In the past, the lottery proceeds have funded college grants, scholarships sand literacy programs. Since its inception in 1989, the Kentucky Lottery has sent more than $3.2 billion to the Commonwealth.

The map shows that whether its suicides in Alaska, unemployment in Michigan or ugliness in North Dakota, every place needs improvement. The worst thing about the commonwealth? You guessed it, most cancer deaths at 227 per 100,000 people in large part due to  having the highest rate of tobacco smokers at 25.6 percent.

From Pleated-Jeans:

The Louisville Republican’s entry makes the GOP primary a three-way race, including State Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, and Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, who have already filed.