Columns and Editorials

“Holy, holy, holy,” cried the heavenly beings called Seraphim. With that clarion call to worship, Isaiah, not yet a prophet, sensed he was in trouble. “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips...” 

After weathering several tough budget cycles, the state is on track to end the current fiscal year next month with much better news to report.

Two weeks ago, the Office of State Budget Director said that April’s General Fund receipts – which drive the budget – brought in a little more than $1 billion, a high-water mark that had never happened in a single month before.

It may not be the official start of the season, but for most of us, the upcoming three-day weekend is when summer arrives.

This time is about much more than that, of course.  More importantly, it’s when our nation pays tribute to those who died defending our country.

That list now has more than 1.2 million names, about half of which were added during the four years of the Civil War.

This spring, my wife Beth and I have enjoyed several anniversaries that highlight our growing bonds with our new communities.

With our transition eased by extended family long established in the region, we uprooted ourselves about 14 months ago from the mountains of Virginia, a place where we lived 17 years, to pursue great new opportunities here in Kentucky.