A Fine Export: Used to be the Courier-Journal was a fertile training ground for journalists who went on to become national newsmen. There’s no better example than Howard Fineman, who had the political and environmental beat here in the late 1970s, when the paper truly covered the entire state. Now, he’s best known as Newseek’s […]

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That must be some contentious divorce out in Oldham County.
As WLKY reported Friday, and the C-J on Sunday, an Oldham County Judge will decide which parent gets his/her way in a dispute on where their 8th-grade son will go to high school.
David Ryan and Susan Bisig have been divorced for eight years. Their child, Michael, […]

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Today’s big news stories, and the C-J’s front page:
Shot Dead, Good Timing: All day yesterday, news stations covered the police shooting in the South End, which occurred conveniently before the Noon news. WHAS-TV sent three different reporters (Melanie Snow, Chuck Olmstead, Adam Walser) to Third Street throughout the day. It leads the C-J. But reporters […]

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Happy 10th Birthday, Luke. I arranged to get you out of school early!
Podcast Surge: Looks like the C-J’s latest strategy is to lets its reporters read their stories for online broadcast. Earlier this week we noticed the launch of Eric Crawford’s daily Sportswriter’s Almanac (good one today on a UK walk-on being dismissed - for […]

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Mere days after Governor Steve Beshear delivered the gloom and doom news of his budget cuts for state universities, days after University of Kentucky President Lee Todd sent out a damning email and only one day after six state university presidents testified in Frankfort, the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority sent out a blast of […]

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Some Quickies but Goodies:
The Worst of Us: I can only applaud the three Louisville senators who came up on the short end of a 30-5 vote in the Senate on a bill banning universities from offering domestic partner benefits. Denise Harper Angel, Gerald Neal and Tim Shaugnessy stood up against the gay-bashing bill. Didn’t Gov. […]

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Gov. Steve Beshear’s budget address may have been a wake-up call for those who didn’t think things were as bad as they seemed. For others, it may have been a realization that the bold leadership Beshear campaigned on was nothing but campaign rhetoric.
There will be a $165 million cut in spending next year, and it […]

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Which would you prefer first, the good news or the bad news?
Mayor Jerry Abramson’s 19th State of the City speech offers the good news about downtown projects, Parks initiatives, employment, Every1 Reads, neighborhood projects that add to the city’s quality of life. Geez, if he’d stopped right there, you’d get the idea that we’re in […]

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Maybe we should invite Mr. Obvious to a meeting at the Governor’s Office. It might go something like this:
Beshear: I’ve got to fix this budget crisis. I don’t know what to do.
Mr. O: Well, you really just have to cut spending or increase revenue, Steve, that’s how you balance a budget.
Beshear: But all these new […]

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When Stephen Daeschner was forced out as head of the Jefferson County School Board last year, it marked the end of a contentious battle with the teachers association and board members. Ultimately, Daeschner lost the power struggle. Daeschner moved on to a job in Illinois, and Sheldon Berman seems to be on a nice honeymoon […]

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On a dreary Sunday, it seemed a good time to finally take my family to see the Ali Center downtown. Having been given a private tour a few weeks back, I was anxious to share it with my wife and three boys because it offered a little something for everyone.
I knew Ali’s activism as a […]

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I”m glad to report that it was not my sons who hacked into the Manual High School computer to change their grades and attendance reports. Those responsible will certainly get justice, and the school will toughen its computer security.
But the episode offers one of those moral dilemmas so popular at the Courier-Journal site, where dozens […]

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A Washington think tank has released some sobering statistics about high school education. Think high school graduation is a given? Not exactly. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, 30 percent of American high school students don’t graduate in four years. Most drop out. The numbers are lower for African-Americans and Hispanics. Asians and Whites […]

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Fresh Face: David Scott is making his debut on Fox41’s 10:00 newscasts this week, and it occurred to me how rare it is for a station to introduce a new primetime anchor. Scott, who comes to WDRB from a Fort Wayne, Ind. station, looks like a polished, professional anchor.
Among the anchors at the four local […]

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