Government

Kentucky lawmakers are set to pass a bill with the hope it will help a uranium enrichment plant in Paducah create new operations.

The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill giving defendants in Kentucky who receive home incarceration prior to trial credit for the time served as part of their sentences.  Wednesday, the Senate voted 32-2 to pass the proposal by Senator Robin Webb.  The only votes against it were from Republicans Damon Thayer and John Schickel.  The original version of the bill would have made the measure apply retroactively to defendants granted pretrial home incarceration on or after July 15, 1996, but that provision was deleted before the Senate voted on the bill.

Illinoislawmakers are again pushing to get rid of legislative scholarships.  The House voted yesterday to end the program that allows each lawmaker to hand out tuition waivers to students from their district. The measure now goes to the Senate, which has backed the program in the past.  Each legislator can award four-year waivers to two students or divide them among up to eight students.  The program has received criticism after revelations some legislators awarded waivers to family members and the children of political allies.