Shelly Baskin

Kentucky’s Education Commissioner is asking Congress to allow the state to continue under a waiver from No Child Left Behind standards. Commissioner Terry Holliday appeared today at a hearing for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions – or HELP – to speak on the benefits of flexibility for states.

Local state legislators join a pension expert for a roundtable discussion at Murray State University this Saturday. Keynote speaker Cameron Smith is the policy director for the Alabama Policy Institutes and co-authored the Alabama study on pensions.

Package liquor sales could begin as early as next week in Murray. Earlier this week the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control issued the first packaged alcohol licenses for Murray liquor stores.

Kentucky’s First District Congressman Ed Whitfield says the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers made no promises to change their decision to restrict access near Cumberland River dams, but they were willing to continue discussions. Whitfield and several other lawmakers met with Army Corps of Engineers officials yesterday about the planned restricted access.

Kentucky's 1st District Congressman Ed Whitfield and several western Kentucky judge executives are taking their complaints about changes to Army Corps of Engineers regulations to the top of the chain of command tomorrow. The corps has reinterpreted an existing rule to prohibit recreational activity, including fishing, within several hundred feet on either side of the dams on the Cumberland river.

Murray State University’s President says he's confused about an ad-hoc committee's planned closed door meeting about his contract.  Randy Dunn's current contract expires in June of 2014, and requires the university's Board of Regents to act on his contract one year before expiration. The board voted to create the ad-hoc committee in December.

A group of concerned residents of Marshall County have joined together to provide medical services for people in need in the county. And they want to provide those services for free. The Marshall County Free Clinic’s mission is to provide professional medical care for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

The Illinois State Board of Education wants lawmakers to increase funding for schools by $874 million next year. The board recommended the 13.4 percent increase at their meeting today. Finance Committee Chairman Jim Baumann says 67 percent of school districts are in deficit spending.

Western Kentucky's energy assistance program for low-income families, or LIHEAP, has almost exhausted its yearly funding allowance. West Kentucky Allied Services administers the region's program. LIHEAP grant director Tony Dowty says they’re working with much less money than previous years.

Kentucky First District Congressman Ed Whitfield says he’s against closing off waters close to Cumberland River dams to boaters and fisherman. Army Corp of Engineers officials say the restrictions would include closing off 400 feet of water upstream and 700 downstream from Barkley Dam.