The Department of Justice says states can’t lease out their lotteries for big cash infusions. So Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels today scrapped plans to privatize the state’s lottery. Kentucky wouldn’t seriously discuss anything like that anyway, but we did make a little progress with the idea of cutting spending on lottery advertising in the last…
For Massachusetts voters, the most important item on the ballot November 4 won’t be the one that asks them to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB2x0xxhQEI]
In Kentucky – Some Data Is Top Secret In New Jersey even the governor is getting serious about the critical problem of high public school dropout rates. He is spearheading a new effort to cut the number of kids who don’t graduate from high school. And, in an interesting twist, because low graduation rates impact…
The threat of economic chaos can benefit politicians and policymakers by sharply focusing the mind on what really works. If rumors circulating in Frankfort are to be believed, Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration could be gaining an unexpected dose of focus. Supposedly, the administration is seriously considering working to lower healthcare costs by repealing Kentucky’s Certificate…
Critics of government growth through casino proliferation sometimes claim the surest way to end the debate once and for all is to allow casinos in every state and watch them bankrupt each other in a zero-sum battle. An article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal suggests this may already be happening:Pie-in-the-sky government funding schemes could have…
Kentuckians who don’t play golf may not even know about the money they are spending to subsidize the activities of those who do.And of course this “special deal” doesn’t even include municipal courses in the state. Anyone care to take a stab at justifying this use of our public resources?
A Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University poll shows what happens when a population gets too comfortable with big, expensive government. The poll showed that Illinois favors a tax increase but only on “the rich,” and thinks that spending should be cut, but only for highly-paid government employee salaries.The poll showed 73%…
Jim Waters’ column reaches out to Gov. Steve Beshear: “Liberty Lovers: Governors who lead.” “I’ve been pretty hard on Gov. Steve Beshear lately for his policy follies, but I also believe he’s done some things right.” “I criticized the administration in this column for dragging its feet in getting the state’s checkbook online, Frankfort announced…
Information in a new AP article indicates the days of Kentucky’s deceptive high school graduation and dropout rate reporting may be about over. According to the AP, “Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is expected to issue new rules next week that will force states to use the common tracking system (developed by the nation’s governors) and…
“Tough economy” news stories are everywhere these days. WKYT has this one. Doesn’t Pike County have some belt-tightening to do?Is there anyone left in government who isn’t operating on the Karl Marx playbook?