Tagged: wkms

WKMS-FM and Murray State University’s Teacher Quality Institute have teamed up for the fifth year of a special project during April, National Poetry Month. WKMS broadcastsPoetry Minutes, short poems by students in western Kentucky public schools, that air at 7:19 a.m. and 4:19 p.m. weekdays through Monday, April 30. Poems will also be posted on the station’s website wkms.org, along with the Journey Stories images that inspired them, so the work of the young writers can be heard any time.

Kentucky's Senate Judiciary Committee has passed a measure controlling the production and sale of synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of methamphetamine, marijuana and other controlled substances.  The legislature had already banned hallucinogenic drugs known as "bath salts" and synthetic marijuana, but chemists have gotten around the ban by slightly altering formulas. The new bill's approach would ban whole categories of compounds. Penalties for first-time offenders could include forfeiture of property, fines, jail time and loss of alcohol sale licenses.

The measure creating an external panel to review child abuse cases involving fatalities and near-fatalities has been revived in a committee moments after dying in another.  The bill, sponsored by Democratic Representative Susan Westrom, creates a 13-member panel of experts to review how the Cabinet for Health and Family Services handles cases.  It also establishes an independent office of investigation for child protective services.  Westrom's bill was heard Tuesday by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, but it included several amendments favored by Republican chairwoman Julie Denton.