Wondering where your Metro Councilmember stands on Greg Fischer’s proposed budget?
Here’s where some of the Republicans stand (the rest can’t be bothered to offer thoughts because they apparently don’t have them):
“As Vice-Chairman of the Metro Council’s Budget Committee, I look forward to reviewing all aspects of the Mayor’s Budget. The Mayor’s process of developing a budget worked with members of the Metro Council reflects much of our shared vision for the community. I support the increased spending on paving throughout Louisville Metro, and look forward to hearing the details from representatives from Public Works as we hear their plan for addressing our communities transportation Needs.” – Kelly Downard, District 16, Louisville Metro Budget Committee Vice-Chair
“I support the inclusion of funding for projects like the construction of the Urton Lane Corridor, investment in the East Government Center and the priority given to increasing funding for community ministries. I look forward to discussing the administration’s plans for adding bike-paths, but will focus my attention to ensure that our paving needs for motorists are met in the priority set by Public Works.” – Jerry Miller, District 19, Member of the Budget Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Minority Caucus.
“This budget seems to have made progress on addressing our continued concerns related to overtime costs but makes little progress in making our city more economically competitive.” – Ken Fleming, District 7, Member of the Budget Committee and Minority Caucus Chair,
“The release of the Mayor’s Budget starts one of the most important parts of the council calendar. I am glad to see the expansion of the pilot program for recycling that several of us on the council supported in previous year’s budget has gained the support of the Mayor and that they are making another investment in expanding the recycling options for our citizens.” – Kevin Kramer, District 11, Member of the Metro Council Budget Committee.
And the Democrats:
‘At the beginning of the year as President, I said the Metro Council has three key priorities: reopening Kentucky Kingdom, paving of our city’s streets and eliminating abandoned property. Kentucky Kingdom is in the process of reopening with the help of Metro Government. The Mayor has heard the Metro Council’s call for a top priority to be paving. The Council continues to search for ways to solve the problem of abandoned and vacant property. We welcome the Mayor’s partnership in this effort.” – President Jim King, District 10
“I applaud the Mayor’s plan for rebuilding our infrastructure. The proposed plan for connecting bicycle paths through Old Louisville from downtown to the University will go along to help our environment while providing alternative travel that will cut down on wear and tear of our roads. – David James, District 6 Majority Leader of Democratic Caucus
“I am so pleased to see paving funds since our major roads like Mud Lane, as well as subdivision roads, are in very poor shape now. Also the Louisville Loop connector to the forest by matching funds is a great component to this budget. And finally improving the Northern Overlook at Iroquois Park is very meaningful to many of our constituents.” – Vicki Aubrey Welch, District 13 Vice Chair of Democratic Caucus
Louisville Metro Police say they’ve arrested a woman after she allegedly beat and choked her 12-year-old nephew. [WDRB]
It will take a little digging and watering, but the Floyd County Nutrition Coalition provided residents with a way to eat healthier without having to visit the grocery store. [News & Tribune]
Thousands of bones are on display at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts as part of a project to draw awareness to genocide. [WHAS11]
Officials in Louisville and some surrounding counties have begun a campaign for a regional sewer commission and a new, large treatment plant, perhaps on the Salt River south of Louisville near the Ohio River. Meanwhile, corruption is rampant and your rates continue to skyrocket to pay for mind-blowing swaps that other states have jumped on but Kentucky ignores. [C-J/AKN]
A big twist took place in the trial of Jeffrey Mundt on Monday as the prosecution’s star witness refused to testify. Joseph Banis, the ex-boyfriend and co-defendant of Mundt, refused to testify after he was denied a new trial. [WAVE3]
For Kentuckians hammered with distressing reports on the state’s poor health conditions, there was a scattering of good news this past week that followed Gov. Steve Beshear’s decision to expand the Medicaid program to provide coverage to 300,000 more citizens without insurance. [Al Smith]
A Louisville family continues to wait for justice seven years after their loved one was killed. There are no suspects in the killing of Jesus “David” Corona-Paredes. His family said that may be the hardest part of this anniversary. [WLKY]
Churchill Downs Inc. has amended its revolving credit line, extending its available credit from $375 million to $500 million. Is it looking for a new property? [Business First]
Greg Fischer has made the hiring of an urban forester a budget priority, along with allocating $50,000 for a tree canopy study and another $100,000 for tree planting. [C-J/AKN]
The hearing date has been scheduled for the removal trial of embattled Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, but not without her attorney Aubrey Williams’ claiming the process by which Shanklin is being tried is illegal. [WFPL]
Poverty is soaring in the suburbs. According to a new book from the Brookings Institution, the suburban poverty rate in America has climbed by 64 percent over the past decade, more than twice as fast as the poverty rate in urban areas. [HuffPo]
Friday marked one year since the deadly shootings in the West Louisville, that left a lasting impact on our community. On Saturday, hundreds of people, including gunshot survivors, banded together with a call for peace. [WDRB]
Just think – it’s all thanks to mismanagement and will be used to pay for that corrupt swap. Louisville’s sewer rates would rise 5.8 percent starting Aug. 1 under a proposed increase that would boost a typical residential customer’s annual bill to about $570. [C-J/AKN]
Jefferson County Public Schools recently announced layoffs affecting 41 teachers. Many of the teachers teach English and work with special needs students. [WHAS11]
Apparently, Louisville is one of the sixth most affordable places to retire in the United States. Locals know that’s just on the surface, though. [HuffPo]
In the wake of the violence, police have spent countless hours investigating the initial shootout that triggered the events that fateful day. There have been no arrests in that crucial case. [WLKY]
Raoul Cunningham was a gangly 17-year-old high school junior when Louisville police came for him at the lunch counter of the old Stewart’s Department Store in February 1961. They handcuffed him, he says, and hauled him off to the old Children’s Center juvenile facility on East Chestnut Street. [H-L]
A judge has not made a decision whether or not the death penalty is on the table for the man accused of killing a Sullivan University student. Gregory O’Bryan is charged in the death of Andrew Compton. [WAVE3]
Indiana has canceled subsidies for a planned $1.8 billion fertilizer plant in the state because of concerns that a Pakistani company involved in the project makes products used in improvised explosives that kill and injure U.S. troops in Afghanistan. [Reuters]
Independent retailers of home goods, drug stores and speciality goods appear to be gaining share within downtown Louisville, according to new data released by JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Friday. [Business First]
Oxbow put D. Wayne Lukas in the record books again with an upset of Orb in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving the Hall of Fame trainer his 14th win in a Triple Crown race. [NPR]
A man suspected of murdering a Shively woman Thursday died early Saturday after an 11-hour standoff with police. The woman, 48-year-old Gloria Ross, was found outside the rear of her home in the 3300 block of Fernheather Drive on Thursday evening with fatal shotgun wounds, Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Larry Carroll said. [C-J/AKN]
New Albany Police Chief Sherri Knight said severe mental illness is what led to New Albany resident Jaime Clutter to drown her two children, then herself, in Falling Run Creek on March 13. The bodies were found where the creek runs through Binford Park. [News & Tribune]
Everybody is just cold getting murdered in Shiveley. Don’t tell any of your meemaws who live there. [WDRB]
The Lexington Parking Authority board of commissioners voted Thursday to accept the proposed new city food truck ordinance, subject to several modifications. Seems Lexington takes food trucks more seriously than Louisville. [H-L]
There’s been some progress after a WHAS11 story the other night about a growing problem along Frankfort Avenue and through the Crescent Hill Neighborhood. [WHAS11]
It’s almost humorous to read articles written about Louisville’s economy never going bust. Especially when those articles continue to present as fact that Greg Fischer “invented an automatic ice and beverage dispenser” – which we now know he did not. [National Journal]
The Louisville Metro Planning Commission has made a decision on a controversial high-rise condominium project. The Jefferson Development Group had its sights set on building a 17-story building in the Cherokee Triangle. [WLKY]
Louisville Metro government would not be allowed to commit revenue from an insurance tax increase to an affordable-housing trust fund, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell told Metro Council members. [C-J/AKN]
Taxpayers have spent almost a half million on a habitual offender who has been arrested 152 times. Officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department recently arrested Alejandro Rodriguez, 33, for allegedly threatening he had a bomb at a gas station. It’s the latest allegation against Rodriguez who has spent more than 2,200 days in jail since 2002. [WAVE3]
The charging committee that petitioned to remove embattled Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin announced it’s ready to move forward with a hearing following its executive session meeting Thursday. [WFPL]
The new, Louisville-built Ford Escape, the top-selling small SUV so far this year, got a “poor” overall rating in front-end crash tests conducted by an insurance industry group. Only two of the 13 models in the category performed well in the tests. [H-L]
It has become a familiar refrain among those in the local industrial real estate industry — the Louisville market needs more available space for companies that are pondering expansion projects. [Business First]
Jeffersonville Main Street Inc., a nonprofit downtown revitalization organization, announced Wednesday that grants are available through its Front Porch Project to increase investment in the residential areas of Jeffersonville’s downtown district. [News & Tribune]
Jefferson County Public Schools is projected to lay off 41 teachers before the start of the next school year. The district blames budget cuts, especially cuts in federal funding because of the sequestration and a loss of stimulus funds. It could also be blamed on poor management and those, you know, 100+ people making more than $100,000+ a year in the central office. [WDRB]
River Ridge Development Authority Board members agreed to allow River Ridge Executive Director Jerry Acy to negotiate yet another deal for a company to locate in the commerce center. [News & Tribune]
This is what they’re fighting about in Indiana this week. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller (ZEHL’-ur) says he’ll defend the state’s position on limiting who can sell cold beer against a lawsuit by a trade group representing convenience stores and gas station owners that contend it’s unfair. [WHAS11]
An internal investigation into one of Kentucky’s largest regional child protection and social services office should conclude in coming weeks, said Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes. [H-L]
Opening statements got underway Wednesday afternoon in the murder trial of Jeffrey Mundt. Mundt’s co-defendant, Joseph Banis, was found guilty of the Dec. 2009 murder of James Carroll, who was found buried in the basement of pair’s Old Louisville home. [WLKY]
Who wants to place bets on which sorority sister Sadiqa Reynolds will hire to run Metro Animal Services? [Deep LMAS Failures]
For more than a decade a Louisville chaplain has collected ancient swords and dagger, but he recently came home and discovered his house burglarized and his special collection was gone. Guess this means the city is due for another rash of sword crimes. [WAVE3]
Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth says the Internal Revenue Service should examine the tax-exempt status of non-profit groups, but the agency failed to apply the policy evenly. [WFPL]
Your local paper finally realized there was a problem with a religious indoctrination meeting held at a JCPS facility. A religious-based organization that leased space from Jefferson County Public Schools to hold a meeting last week that featured district principals talking about bringing Christianity into the classroom has raised concerns from community members, including a Jewish group. [C-J/AKN]
S&ME Inc. is a Charlotte, N.C.-based engineering and environmental-services firm tapped by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet as a contractor on the Ohio River Bridges Project. The company needed space near the project to house its operations during construction. [Business First]
A quarter-century ago, 54 racetracks had on-track treatment programs to address addictions on the racetrack, principally in the stable areas where employees both live and work. Today, only a few of those 54 programs remain in operation. Moreover, national conferences seldom include worker health on their agendas. [Paulick Report]
