News

The topic this week: small businesses and entrepreneurship as the Small Town Merchant Program comes to town.

Our round table is full on Eastern Standard, as experts in the field of entrepreneurship are in town and on our show to help teach others who own small businesses. We will discuss all things relating to the local economy, and talk about the innovations in owning your own start-up in the changing times. Our Guests this week include:

As the city of Lexington prepares to update its comprehensive plan, at least one council member believes it could include expansion of the urban service boundary.

The matter surfaced during council’s weekly work session.  The city’s plan for where development occurs is updated every four years.  The process starts in earnest in January.  The last time the boundary was expanded to any significant degree was 1996.

Kentucky is among five states that are again suing the Obama administration over its efforts to strengthen discrimination protections for transgender people.   

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in a North Texas federal court. It seeks to block parts of a nondiscrimination mandate of President Barack Obama's health care law.

Opponents of the president’s order say the rules could force doctors to act against their medical judgments or religious convictions.

The State Public Service Commission has approved a settlement in Kentucky American Water Company’s rate increase case.  The order amounts to slightly less than half of the amount requested by the utility.

The settlement means a typical residential customer will see a monthly increase of $3 dollars 60 cents.  The new rates take effect August 28th.  It amounts to a six and a half million dollar boost in annual revenue to Kentucky American. 

On this week’s Kentucky Summer Stage…WindSync...

Their hometown Houston Chronicle calls the quintet “revolutionary chamber musicians”

The gold medalists in the national Fischoff Chamber Music Competition gave a mini concert on the campus of Eastern Kentucky last Sunday and you can hear it on Kentucky Summer Stage Sunday evening at 8:00 on 88.9 WEKU.

A newly-formed state task force begins its work Tuesday on how to deal with hundreds of horses moving about Eastern Kentucky.  Part of the discussion involves the coal industry.

The Free Roaming Horse Task Force came about through state legislation.  Ginny Grulke, with the Appalachian Horse Center, says the largest concentration of horse herds is found in Breathitt County, but there are also hundreds in another nine or ten counties. 

On 120 acres in Marion, Kentucky, small-scale farmer Joseph Mast is taking an innovative approach to provide for his growing family of nine.

Mast belongs to an Amish community and is reluctant when it comes to media. He makes a concession, however, when the conversation involves sustainable farming.   

“I’ll talk grass any day,” said Mast.

Here’s an email from listener Tim,  “I have listen(ed) to this station for the last four or five years and it seems to me that you guys get more and more one-sided all the time.  Try at least to say something good about the other side once in a blue moon.  We are all Americans.  We, Republicans are not your enemies.”

Construction is set to begin on an Outreach Center at a popular Madison County trail area. The new facility will help introduce visitors to the history of Berea College’s Forest.

The 5,000 square foot structure is being built near the Indian Fort Trail.  It’s expected to include space to offer a curated description of the College Forest. 

A citizens group wants representation at the table as the state of Kentucky negotiates the clean-up of radioactive waste at a Central Kentucky landfill. The best a state official is offering is to hear citizen comments.

Representatives with the Energy and Environmental Cabinet are talking with Advanced Disposal Services.  It’s the owner of the Estill County landfill where 2,000 tons of radioactive waste was illegally dumped. 

The Madison County Sheriff's department is investigating an incident that caused Eastern Kentucky University officials to issue multiple emergency alerts during the weekend. EKU sent out a campus alert shortly after 2:30 Sunday morning. 

The initial alert sent by email, text and voicemail to students, faculty and others in the Richmond area, reported a “dangerous situation” involving a “possibly armed individual.”

15 minutes later, university safety officials said four persons were detained by police on the EKU following an incident in which shots were fired off campus.

This year's tight financial situation is causing Eastern Kentucky University officials to consider suspending a total of 21 academic programs.  Senior Vice President for Academics and Provost Janna Vice brought the matter before the Board of Regents during a special meeting Thursday.

The proposed cuts are only recommendations at this point.  The discussion is, in part, due to a $7 million budget reduction planned for the 2017/18 fiscal year.  Any decision to suspend the academic programs would not affect current students. 

It’s time for our weekly chat featuring weekend arts and cultural events with Rich Copley and Harriett Hendren of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Today, they’re thinking about concerts, movies and Lexington’s annual arts festival.

Rich Copley & Harriett Hendren cover arts and culture for the Lexington Herald-Leader and Lexgo dot com. 

You can also find listings of arts and cultural activities at the events calendar link at WEKU dot FM. 

The effort to make Kentucky’s Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park part of the National Park Service has gotten a congressional boost. 

Sixth District Representative Andy Barr visited the Jessamine County Civil War site Thursday morning.  He is seeking congressional co-sponsors to back legislation for a feasibility study.  Barr says such a review could itself take three years. 

The 2016 International Hunter Derby Championship at the Kentucky Horse Park will feature more than 70 of the nation’s top equestrian riders and a first for this type of equine competition.   The course will include jumps over eight sculptures, made with 125 tons of sand. 

A Lexington community center, known for its cultural significance, especially among African Americans, now holds new historical prominence.  The Charles Young Center is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

The community center in Lexington’s East End opened in 1935.  It carries the name of Charles Young who born in Mays Lick Kentucky and the third African American to graduate from West Point. 

Lexington city leaders are beginning the annual process of setting property tax rates for taxpayers.  Once again the issue of paying for streetlights was debated Tuesday at city hall.

There are a number of property tax rates to consider this time of year.  For years, the assessment for city owned streetlights has not kept up with associated costs.  On the first meeting back after a summer break, council members considered a motion to raise rates. 

Attorneys in Lexington’s U.S. Attorney’s Office are noting the importance of minimum sentences for opioid trafficking convictions tied to overdose deaths.  Three convictions in federal court occurred Monday.

As faculty and staff prepare for the Fall Academic Term, Eastern Kentucky University’s President gave his annual convocation address yesterday. Dr. Michael Benson projected an upbeat attitude about the school’s present and future.    

  With students returning to campuses across Kentucky, we’re hearing a new term, “Safe spaces.”  It’s something that began in the area of women’s rights and within the LGBT community and we’re wondering if it will tend to benefit or hinder the development of young people in college.

On this week's show: Matthew P. Winslow, PhD.: EKU Department of Psychology, Marieke Beck-Coon: Senior Program Officer of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and Dr. Meta Mendel-Reyes: Professor of Social Justice Studies at Berea College.

More than 37 hundred Kentucky social workers and those in Family Support will see an increase in pay, effective next month.  The $4.8 million appropriation in the current two year state budget also impacts corrections workers.

Lynne McNees is vice president of the Lexington-based Associations International and president of one of its nine member organizations, the International Spa Association.  In this week’s Focus on Business, she talks with Tom Martin about the business of serving the many needs of a variety of interests.

Here’s an email from Lisa in Berea,  “Hey! It's taken me a while to respond to something I heard during your last fund drive, but here I am now.  I noticed what seemed like a lot of negative comments about the development of the Prairie Home Companion's new format. I disagree." 

Lisa continues, "I like that they are trying something new with a new host. I like that they focused on his strengths and expertise. I hope they will continue to explore ways to do drama, storytelling and comedy, but I appreciate the shift in emphasis.”

Trade has emerged as a potent issue this election season, with the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a flash point in the political debate. The stakes are high for the Ohio Valley region, where thousands of workers and billions of dollars in goods could be affected by the outcome of this trade agreement.  

To learn more, I visited two manufacturing companies in the Bowling Green, Kentucky, area: conveyer-belt maker Span-Tech and auto parts maker Trace Die Cast.

With classes underway in many sections of Kentucky, school officials are considering stocking a life-saving drug.  It is being used to reverse the effects of an opioid related overdose.