Whitney Jones

From NPR: Christine Ammer went the whole hog in collecting colloquial phrases for The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. She talks about the surprising history behind some of the most common idioms and why “control freak” might be her favorite.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is restricting traffic to one lane on the Kentucky 274/Rockcastle Road Little River Bridge starting Friday. The restriction is to allow workers to clean and paint the bridge. An automated signal will control one-lane traffic as work starts over the weekend.

From NPR: For many families exercise doesn’t happen naturally. It has to be scheduled, and that often means carting a van full of kids to separate locations, limiting time for outdoor play. But a few families are starting to prioritize exercise by purposefully choosing to live in cities and neighborhoods that are suitable for more walking and biking.

Legislation that would institute a statewide smoking ban in restaurants and other public places has been sent to the House Judiciary Committee for further review, making it unlikely to pass this legislative session. 

House Speaker Greg Stumbo says he doesn't expect the measure to make it back to the full House for consideration.  The bill has proven divisive in Kentucky, one of the nation's top tobacco-producing states.

The presidents of Kentucky's public universities have signed a letter urging the state's U.S. senators to help overhaul the immigration system.

The letter, sent to Republicans Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, says American universities educate some of the world's top international students only to see some of them leave under current U.S. immigration policies and work for competing companies abroad.

A Kentucky House committee chairman says he’ll scale back an industrial hemp bill to allow the University of Kentucky to seek permission to study the crop that is currently banned by the federal government. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom McKee says his amendment would have UK test hemp if it received a federal permit.

McKee said he plans to offer the amendment when the Agriculture Committee takes up the hemp bill today in Frankfort. 

The Illinois House completed seven hours of debate on the contentious issue of public gun possession by adopting a comprehensive plan long pushed by advocates.

The vote in favor of Representative Brandon Phelps' amendment doesn't mean concealed-carry got House approval. Phelps’ plan was one of a dozen amendments to a concealed-carry bill a federal court says Illinois must adopt by June. 

An Illinois House committee has endorsed allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. The House Executive Committee voted last night to move a measure lifting the state's ban on same-sex marriage to the floor.

Democratic Rep. Greg Harris says his bill is a matter of treating gay and heterosexual couples equally under the law.  Advocates say the measure would also help eliminate discrimination against children of homosexual couples. But opponents say the bill steps on religious freedom. They argue lawmakers don't have the right to redefine marriage.

U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield has introduced a bill to keep the Army Corps of Engineers from blocking fishing near dams on the Cumberland River, a plan that’s drawn outrage from anglers in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Whitfield met earlier with corps officials and said he was prepared to file legislation if necessary.  Whitfield says his Freedom to Fish Act allows continued boating access to river tailwaters for sportsmen and recreational fishermen.

From NPR: Benedict XVI’s inspiration to voluntarily step down as pope fell to the last man to do that: Celestine V. To find his place in history you have to go back all the way to 1294. The frail hermit is thought to even be referenced in the classic Dante’s Inferno.