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Columns and Editorials

  • App eliminates distractions while driving

    Distracted driving killed about 3,330 people in 2011, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Each day in the United States alone, eight people die and 1,161 sustain injuries due to a wreck involving a distracted driver, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

    But Henry County Coroner Jimmy Pollard hopes that while technology has contributed to the distractions, an app can also make the roads safer. Especially if it can be loaded onto the phones of young people who have less experience behind the wheel.

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  • Kentucky tweaks education

    Education has come a long way in Kentucky over the past 30 years. Much of our progress began with the 1990 passage of KERA or the Kentucky Education Reform Act, which improved funding for K-12 education statewide from the mountains to the Mississippi. Today, that progress is seen in school facility improvements, better test scores, and a better educated Kentucky.

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  • What happens in the interim

    Over a month has passed since the conclusion of the 2017 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly but my work as your senator has not slowed. Between answering your well thought-out letters and phone calls, I have been visiting with constituents in our district and listening to your concerns and preparing to discuss many of those topics during the interim.

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  • Bills passed to protect first responders

    When a police officer, sheriff deputy, firefighter or emergency medical services worker dies in the line of duty, the entire community — indeed, the entire state of Kentucky — comes together to mourn the loss. 

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  • Taking the pledge to sit less, move more

    Not to be a hypochondriac or anything, but the increased discussion around “the sitting disease” has soaked in. It sounds like something I’ve already caught.

    Folks who read any news at all, like me, have probably been exposed to the growing consensus that inactivity serves as the enemy of good health. 

    Thinking back to this past winter, more than once I used the excuse of the weirdly warm and wet weather as an excuse to beg off on my normal goal of walking at least two miles a day. 

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  • Communication in the time of emojis

    As I finished writing a thank you note the other day, I congratulated myself on stubbornly upholding what some consider an old-fashioned practice rarely seen these days.

    At second glance, I was dismayed at the messiness of my cursive writing, which some suggest might also be a thing of the past.

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  • State faces aging challenge

    The U.S. population is growing faster than a blade of bluegrass in spring. But a larger population will not necessarily mean a younger population, for either our country or the Bluegrass State. 

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  • In the grip of mowing mania, think monarchs

    Beyond the orange barrels and black asphalt in warm weather work zones, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) will also try, by adding milkweed to its interstate pollinator plantings, to pave the way for orange and black monarchs during their massive international migration, according to a news release sent out by the state department last week.

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  • Bills passed designed to move state forward

    It’s been good to be back among the people of the 47th House District in Carroll, Gallatin, Henry and Trimble counties since the adjournment of the 2017 session of the Kentucky General Assembly on March 30.  I’ve enjoyed talking to so many of you about the many issues we faced and the final decisions that were made, some with my support and some without. 

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  • As one session ends, planning for next begins

    Long nights, intense debate and media attention from across the globe wrapped up what started as a quiet final week of the 2017 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Minutes before the Senate gaveled out for good, Gov. Matt Bevin called this session the most productive in history.  It was truly an honor to work alongside the governor with the new House majority to pass many great initiatives for our commonwealth.

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