Government

While there have long been calls to institute Juneteenth as a federal holiday, the movement has taken on renewed significance in the wake of the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25.

Beshear committed to asking the legislature to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday through legislation. The legislature would have to pass the measure during the next general assembly.

The Picnic Committee has planned for the event to have fewer booths, reduced hours, masks for volunteers and people dedicated to sanitizing.

Buses will provide free transportation to the city's single polling place, the James E. Bruce Convention Center, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23.

The monument was installed in 1917 with funds from the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Kentucky farmers have received $73.4 million in federal relief payments to offset the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

After a voter receives and completes the ballot, it can be returned in the mail or dropped at locations established in each county. If it is mailed, it must be postmarked no later than June 23. Two locations are available where voters can personally drop off ballots — at the Christian County Courthouse on South Main Street or at the drive-thru lane at the new Christian County Sheriff’s Department on West Seventh Street.

Two National guardsmen were involved in the shooting death of Louisville barbecue chef David McAtee, and police and state officials have said McActee fired first. The incident has sparked outrage from people across the city, state and country already protesting police violence.

The governor noted that more deaths have been reported recently among people in their 50s and 60s, which he said should remind people in at-risk categories (over 60 or with underlying medical conditions) that “just because things are open doesn’t mean you should be going to them.”

Booker is a first-term state Representative from Louisville, and one of ten Democratic candidates running in his party’s primary for the U.S. Senate

Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a Republican from Crofton and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the legislature should take a look at banning the use of no-knock warrants and other policies.

Kentucky’s Republican-led state legislature passed the ban in 2018, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Matt Bevin.