Tuesday January 27, 2026
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In an effort to combat the state’s opioid epidemic, Attorney General Andy Beshear and CVS Health teamed up to launch new safe medication disposal programs in Kentucky.
Beshear joined CVS Health’s Thomas M. Moriarty, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, State Representative George Brown Jr., Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and Sharon Tankersley with Voices of Hope to urge Kentuckians to clean out their medicine cabinets and dispose of unused prescription drugs at a CVS Pharmacy.
In-store disposal units, now in nine 24-hour CVS Pharmacy locations allow Kentuckians to properly dispose of dangerous opioids and help reduce the nearly 80 percent of heroin users who begin their addiction with prescription drugs.
“One of the most dangerous places in a home is a medicine cabinet with unused opioids,” Beshear said. “Thanks to this initiative, many Kentuckians now have a convenient way to make their home safer and stop addiction before it starts by safely disposing of drugs at their local pharmacy.”
“CVS Health is dedicated to addressing and preventing opioid abuse in the communities we serve in Kentucky and across the country,” said Thomas M. Moriarty, executive vice president, chief policy and external affairs officer, and general counsel, CVS Health. “Expanding our safe medication disposal program to CVS Pharmacy locations in Kentucky is one of the many initiatives we support to fulfill that commitment and our purpose of helping people on their path to better health.”
Two of the new units are located at the Harrodsburg and Todds road CVS Pharmacy stores in Lexington, and in seven stores in Elizabethtown, Frankfort, Georgetown, Louisville and Paducah. In total, CVS Health will install units in 750 CVS Pharmacy locations across the U.S.
“Today we’re talking about a step everyone can take to help stem the opioid epidemic,” Mayor Gray said. “If you have unneeded medications in your medicine cabinet, dispose of them properly and safely. Keeping them can expose your family to unnecessary risks.”
“For many Kentuckians, opioid addiction starts with prescription pills,” Rep. Brown said. “We all know how tough it can be to overcome addiction, so I commend CVS Health and Attorney General Beshear for stepping up to help reduce the rate of new addiction by offering folks all across the Commonwealth new and easy ways to dispose of unused and dangerous opioids.”
“Each year Lexington Police collects more than a ton of unwanted and expired medication through a drop box at police headquarters and through our prescription take-back events in April and October,” Chief Weathers said. “So, the need is there. These CVS in-store disposal units will help meet that in a way that is convenient for residents all over Lexington.”
Sharon Tankersley, executive director of Voices of Hope an addiction recover center in Lexington said, “Safe disposal of unused medications is an important way that everyone can help in reducing accidental poisoning, misuse or even overdose death. We all have a role to play to help those who have struggled to heal from this disease.”
CVS Health also offers a community donation program, which invites local law enforcement to apply to receive a drug collection unit for their community. In Kentucky, the company has donated units in Campbellsville, Georgetown, Flatwoods, Frankfort, Madisonville, Maysville, Murray, Vanceburg and Wilmore.
Through CVS Health’s Pharmacist Teach program, CVS pharmacists have taught more than 2,000 students in Kentucky about the dangers of opioid abuse.
Since taking office, Beshear has made tackling the state’s opioid epidemic a core mission for his office and recently launched the state’s first initiative to allow Kentuckians to safely dispose of opioid medications at home.
Beshear’s Kentucky Opioid Disposal Program has the potential to dispose of more than 2.2 million unused opioids.
The pilot program includes Floyd, Henderson, McCracken and Perry counties, as well as the Green River Area Development District, Hardin County Sherriff Office, Johnson County Public Schools and Powell County Sheriff Office. Beshear’s Office of Senior Protection is also working with the faith-based community to distribute the pouches at senior events.
Thousands of volunteers will join together on Saturday, April 14 for the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community-Wide Cleanup to pick up litter and beautify sites across Louisville.
Youth organizations, neighborhood associations, businesses, elementary school classrooms, faith groups, families and more will be participating in the event, which serves as the kick off to Mayor Fischer’s Give A Day Week of Service, April 14-22. Last year, 17,500 volunteers participated in the Spring Cleanup. This year, a goal has been set of 20,000 volunteers cleaning every corner of our city.
“Banding together to clean our streets is a terrific example of an active and compassionate community,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “We can all improve our quality of life and health of our neighborhood with a simple investment of time to pick up trash. Let’s all use the arrival of warmer weather to get outside, work with our neighbors and clean up our streets.”
To participate, volunteers choose cleanup sites and coordinate with Brightside to receive gloves, bags, and for the first 5,000 volunteers, t-shirts. Trash pick-up is coordinated with Louisville Metro Solid Waste Management Services. The cleanup is sponsored by Passport Health Plan. Additional sponsors include Heaven Hill, Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation and Kentucky Pride Fund.
“We are proud to continue as the title sponsor of the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community-Wide Cleanup,” said Mark B. Carter, CEO of Passport Health Plan. “We know that a healthy community includes a clean and vibrant environment where people can thrive. We’re pleased to partner with Brightside and the many volunteers across various neighborhoods to improve the overall health and quality of life of all our residents.”
Neighborhoods can hold their own cleanups at any point throughout the year, and Brightside encourages neighborhood associations, block watches, businesses and faith groups to play an active role in keeping their neighborhoods litter-free.
Registration for the April 14 Brightside & Passport Health Plan Community-Wide Cleanup is open. Visit the Brightside website at www.brightsideinc.org to complete the registration form or call (502) 574-2613 to register your team. Groups of any age, size or neighborhood are encouraged to participate.
Attorney General Andy Beshear is calling the passage of federal legislation amending the 1996 Communications Decency Act a “victory” in Kentucky’s fight to hold accountable those who promote and facilitate child sex trafficking online.
Online companies, like Backpage, profit from the promotion of child sex trafficking, but the 1996 Communications Decency Act has prevented the investigation and prosecution of these companies by state, territorial and local authorities, Beshear said.
Recently passed H.R. 1865 or Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 changes that, and Beshear hopes the President will swiftly sign the legislation into law.
“Every day in our county children are being sold for sex through companies like Backpage that are profiting from this horrendous child abuse,” Beshear said. “I commend the lawmakers who voted to help us stop this vile abuse.”
“Passing laws that hold those who profit from the victimization of others accountable for their actions is an important step in making survivors of sex trafficking whole,” said Angela Renfro, founder of the Kristy Love Foundation. “We are encouraged to see our Attorney General Beshear and other states’ attorneys general have this new weapon in the fight to end human trafficking.”
Beshear has established the Kentucky Attorney General’s office as the leading state agency fighting human trafficking, a modern-day form of slavery in which adults and children are forced into sex or labor services.
In the first three months of 2018, Beshear’s office has arrested a Louisville man and woman on human trafficking charges, and a Kansas man who attempted to purchase a Kentucky child for $250 and in exchange for drugs in a separate case. The office also secured the guilty plea of a Lawrenceburg man in March on human trafficking charges.
In February, Beshear’s office secured the guilty plea of former Campbell County District Judge Timothy Nolan on numerous felony charges, including human trafficking of adults, promoting human trafficking of minors and unlawful transaction with minors. He is scheduled to serve 20 years in prison.
The AG’s office, along with Catholic Charities of Louisville, received a federal grant in 2016, the first Department of Justice grant ever awarded to a Kentucky agency for human trafficking. The federal grant provides support to the statewide human trafficking taskforce in its efforts to develop a process for collecting and interpreting data on human trafficking and model protocols for victim-centered response, investigation and prosecution of these cases.
The funding allowed a specially trained human trafficking investigator to be hired.
The office offers training to organizations throughout the Commonwealth, and has trained over 4,000 individuals statewide, while forging partnerships with the trucking and hospitality industries and the Baptist Convention.
Human trafficking victims are often the most marginalized in society – victims of abuse and violence, runaways, refugees, immigrants or those who are homeless, Beshear said.
To learn more about human trafficking and efforts to fight it, contact the Attorney General’s Office of Child Abuse and Human Trafficking Prevention and Prosecution at 502-696-5300 or visit Catholic Charities of Louisville Rescue and Restore program website at http://www.rescueandrestoreky.org. The national human trafficking hotline number is 888-373-7888.
Photo: AT&T Kentucky
AT&T is continuing efforts to drive economic development and investment in Kentucky. AT&T and local officials today announced that the Louisville & Jefferson County Riverport Authority, more commonly known as Riverport Industrial Park, has been designated AT&T Fiber Ready.
The AT&T Fiber Ready designation helps economic development leaders more effectively position their communities for site selection by emphasizing the availability of high-speed, fiber-based services.
In today’s world, connectivity is vital to new employers and businesses of every type.
“It is always encouraging when the business community comes alongside local leadership and provides a resource like this designation to highlight what our community brings to the table, when companies are making the important decisions on where they have the best chance to succeed,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “Our community has many wonderful aspects to attract businesses looking to locate or move, and having the ‘Fiber Ready’ designation is a key tool in the toolbox to emphasize that we are ready to face the challenges of a modern economy.”
“The AT&T Fiber Ready designation provides a clear stamp to tell the business community that we have the fiber-optic infrastructure in place to meet the needs of businesses,” said Kent Oyler, president & CEO, Greater Louisville Inc. “I am grateful for the leadership of our elected officials here in the city and in our state legislature who have created a more positive, pro-investment environment in the Commonwealth.”
AT&T has been deploying high-speed, fiber-optic infrastructure across Kentucky for years, totaling nearly 980,000 strand miles of fiber-optics to date, and the AT&T Fiber Ready designation is a tool for economic development leaders to highlight the assets available in their facilities.
“For years, AT&T has invested in Kentucky to deliver high-speed Internet in urban and rural areas all across the Commonwealth using the latest wired and wireless technologies, and this announcement offers an opportunity to highlight AT&T’s fiber infrastructure in the Riverport Industrial Park – infrastructure that is helping local businesses drive job creation,” said Hood Harris, president, AT&T Kentucky. “AT&T Kentucky’s employees are working hard every day to deploy our fiber-based network that delivers the high-speed Internet access that Kentuckians want and need, and the fiber optic connectivity that is available in the Riverport Industrial Park is in place to meet the communications needs of businesses of all sizes.”
Photo: Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
Louisville Parks and Recreation is providing four opportunities next week for those seeking a part or full-time job with the city’s largest health club.
“We have some great opportunities available. You might be a college student looking for some experience during the summer, or maybe even looking for a new career. We encourage those who are looking at their employment options to come and check us out,” said Seve Ghose, Director of Parks and Recreation.
Ghose mentioned that the department employs engineers, architects, planners, naturalists, and horticulturalists among other positions. “Some of these positions are a great way to get a foot in the door in the parks and recreation industry and can lead to long-term success in the field,” he said.
Job seekers are encouraged to dress professionally and bring a copy of their resume, if possible.
The job fairs and locations are as follows:
- Portland Community Center, 640 North 27th Street, 40212
Monday, April 2, 1-4 p.m. - Vettiner Maintenance Facility, 7201 Outer Loop, 40228
Tuesday, April 3, 9 a.m. – noon - Iroquois Amphitheater, 1080 Amphitheater Road, 40214
Thursday, April 5, 9 a.m. – noon - Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, 201 Reservoir Avenue, 40206
Friday, April 6, 1-4 p.m.
Mayor Fischer, the Southwest Dream Team and Metro Council members were joined by local business owners and residents to unveil the 2018 edition of the South Points Scenic Area Map. It is the fourth rendition of the map, which has expanded its outreach year over year to include more local businesses and attractions, including this year, Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay.
Also new to this year’s map is an inaugural food district, called “Dine South Points,” which highlights the cultural eateries of the South Points Scenic Area, near Iroquois Park and south to Fairdale. Some new restaurants to be featured in the food district are: Vietnam Kitchen, Binh Phuoc Market, Cocoberry Pops, Shack in the Back BBQ, Golden Wall, La Riviera Maya, Sunergos Coffee and Vietnam Oriental Food Market.
The diverse range of businesses included in the map shines light on the wealth of cultural diversity that lies within the South Points Scenic Area. Louisville Metro and the Southwest Dream Team are proud to support these businesses and invite new businesses to consider participating in next year’s map.
“South and southwest Louisville continues to experience positive economic development, and is a tremendous source of pride for our entire community,” said Fischer. “The number of locally owned businesses and attractions continues to grow, with attractions serving residents and visitors from near and far.”
It is the mission of the Southwest Dream Team to promote economic development in south and southwest Louisville. The South Points Scenic Area was created in 2013 to promote the many tourism-related business and cultural and natural attractions that the area has to offer.
”The Southwest Dream Team is celebrating 10 years of continued efforts to make Southwest Louisville a healthier and more prosperous region of Louisville, and is currently in a strategic planning period,” says Vince Jarboe, President of the Southwest Dream Team. Jarboe also announced their recent hiring of an Executive Director, Charlotte Caldwell, who has extensive experience in nonprofits through her service as an AmeriCorps VISTA and volunteering on several committees for various nonprofits. “The Southwest Dream Team thanks the sponsors and Metro Council members who have been supporting us since the inception of the South Points Scenic Area.”
A mobile version of the map can be viewed at www.southpoints.org, and @SPScenicArea on Facebook and Twitter. For more information and to join the conversation visit www.swdreamteam.org, and follow @SWDT on Twitter to stay updated on the work of the Southwest Dream Team
After an extensive review of city programs and policies, Mayor Greg Fischer announced that Louisville Metro Government (LMG) is expanding its internal policies to better prevent and respond to child abuse in any youth-serving city program.
The Mayor ordered the review last spring, following abuse allegations related to the LMPD Explorer program. Noting at the time that Louisville Metro offers programs and partners with many local agencies on children and youth programming, he said a fresh perspective was important to strengthen city policies to ensure they are as comprehensive as possible.
Metro’s Department of Human Resources hired an outside agency, the McNary Group, to assess current youth-serving program policies in Louisville and to identify best practices.
All city employees are required to adhere to the city’s Code of Ordinances, which states, “Any Louisville Metro employee who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a child is abused shall immediately cause an oral or written report to be made in compliance with KRS 620.030.”
Some agencies had additional policies or practices based on their own program requirements, accreditation or agency oversight, the review found, but the policies varied, often based on program interactions with other entities, such as Jefferson County Public Schools.
McNary made four recommendations to enhance LMG’s commitment to prevent and appropriately respond to allegations of child abuse within government programs, and noted that the adoption of these recommendations “could set Louisville apart as a model and a leader among other cities.”
The recommendations:
- Create Comprehensive Youth Protection Personnel Policy
- Louisville Metro Government should create a comprehensive and holistic youth protection policy for all employees that includes best practices for employee screening, a code of conduct that elaborates on “duty to report” fundamentals, and explicit reporting procedures.
- Training for All Employees
- All employees should receive youth protection training that communicates a culture of zero tolerance and provides a platform to discuss cultural and systemic barriers to understanding and reporting child abuse. Training should define youth protection and child abuse, provide discussion of healthy boundaries, and reinforce the LMG Personnel Policy.
- Educational Campaign
- Efforts should be taken to regularly engage employees and to reinforce a policy and culture that will not tolerate child abuse, including an internal communications campaign and sharing of materials generated through a partnership with national or local organizations working to end child abuse.
- Specific and Relevant Departmental Code of Conduct
- LMG should convene a cross-functional team to further enhance program-and department-specific youth protection policies and practices, including accountability measures.
The next step will involve working with the McNary Group to implement their recommendations.
J.P. Hamm, Metro’s director of Human Resources, said work already is underway to establish a more comprehensive code of conduct and build an educational campaign around it.
Mayor Fischer thanked the McNary Group and Metro’s HR staff for its work, adding that while he believes the vast majority of LMG programs operate effectively and safely, implementation of the new policy will further ensure that all employees know what is required, and all children are safe.
“My concern has always been ensuring that children in our care are protected,” the Mayor said. “These additional safeguards should assure the community that we take the welfare of children seriously.”
