Jess Clark

Gov. Andy Beshear is temporarily halting use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Kentucky. The governor said he is following a recommendation from the CDC after the agency found cases of blood clotting in six women. More than 6.8 million people have received the shot nationwide since it was approved in February. 

  Future public school teachers will have less generous retirement benefits, and families in some counties will soon be able to apply for private-school scholarships funded through tax credits after Kentucky state lawmakers overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes of two controversial education bills Monday.

  Kentucky 120 United, the public education advocacy group that led mass teacher sickouts in 2018 and 2019, is unionizing.

Gov. Andy Beshear has vetoed two controversial education bills: One would create a $25 million tax-credit program to fund private school tuition; another would add a less-costly tier to the state’s teacher pension program for new hires. 

Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed five bills Monday aimed at stripping away several powers his office has historically held. Beshear, a Democrat, called the Republican bills “purely partisan.”

  State senators voted Monday to strip the Kentucky Board of Education of its new non-voting student and teacher members.

  The Kentucky House passed a controversial bill Thursday creating a $25 million scholarship fund, paid for by private donors who would receive tax credits in return. Low- and middle-income families in Jefferson, Fayette and Kenton counties could use the money to pay for private school tuition. 

  A measure to create a tax-credit scholarship program is moving through the Kentucky General Assembly. But bill sponsor Chad McCoy (R-Bardstown) removed the measure’s most controversial feature — he struck K-12 private school tuition from the list of items the scholarships could fund.

Louisville’s Forecastle music festival is taking another summer off in 2021, marking the second year in a row the festival has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

  A Kentucky House bill requiring school districts to offer at least two days a week of in-person learning by March 29 has cleared the state Senate.