Wednesday October 15, 2025
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SubscribeLouisville Mayor Greg Fischer today announced the ABCs of Buying Local social media campaign. The campaign aims to increase dollars spent locally during the holiday season.
Starting this week, various business groups are being featured thorough the holidays, with A for Arts on Monday; B for Bourbon on Tuesday, and C for Chocolate on Wednesday. The campaign runs through Friday, December 23.
“It’s true that from A-Z, Louisville small businesses have something to offer everyone,” said Fischer. “From local restaurants that sell farm-raised, Kentucky Proud products to your favorite locally-brewed cup of coffee, Louisville’s small business shopping experience is second to none.”
Follow Louisville Forward on Twitter (@LouForward) and Instagram (@LouisvilleForward) to find out each day’s category.
The public is encouraged to join in the fun by sharing their favorite local gift giving ideas and favorite local places to shop using #BuyLocalLou.
A recent study of Louisville-area businesses shows that for every $100 spent at a locally owned, independent business, $55 is reinvested locally. By shopping local, consumers also help to preserve the unique community character of the Metro Louisville area.
By: Jill Scoggins, UofL Academic Communications
A University of Louisville faculty member has been tapped for leadership roles with the world’s largest organization of professionals who provide psychosocial services to people with cancer and their families and caregivers.
Tara Schapmire, Ph.D., has been elected president-elect of the Association of Oncology Social Work. Her three-year term begins in January 2017 with one year as president-elect, followed by one year as president and the final year as past president.
Also elected as Director-at-Large are Jane Dabney, a certified oncology social worker in the Blood & Marrow Transplant program at The Cleveland Clinic; and as Education Director, Chelsea Kroll, an outpatient social worker with the East Alabama Medical Center.
“AOSW is honored to welcome such well respected and experienced oncology social workers to its Board of Directors,” AOSW President Alison Mayer Sachs said. “We are grateful for the participation of our members in the election process, which reinforces AOSW as a recognized leader in support of oncology social work professionals.”
About Tara Schapmire, Ph.D.:
Schapmire is an assistant professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Palliative Care and Medical Education of the Department of Medicine. She also is on the faculty of the Kent School of Social Work.
As a long-time oncology and palliative care social worker, Schapmire’s research interests include psychosocial care of cancer survivors and their families, gerontology, health disparities, communication and cancer, caregiver issues, palliative care, survivorship, end of life care and interprofessional education.
She is co-investigator on a Health Resources and Services Administration grant aimed at development of an interdisciplinary gerontology curriculum for learners in medicine, nursing, social work, dentistry and pharmacy. As a co-investigator on the $7.5 million Kentucky LEADS Collaborative, she and her team are dedicated to reducing the burden of lung cancer in Kentucky and beyond through development, evaluation, and dissemination of novel, community-based interventions to promote provider education, survivorship care prevention and early detection regarding lung cancer. Her past research includes a National Institutes of Health grant focused on development of an interdisciplinary oncology palliative care curriculum for schools of medicine, social work and nursing and chaplaincy residency programs and an American Cancer Society-funded study of emotional distress in older adults with cancer.
Schapmire has been involved in the interprofessional education, research and service efforts of the School of Medicine. She also has taught classes in the Kent School since 2008, most notably in the master’s degree program and the psychosocial oncology specialization, in addition to other master’s level practice and research classes.
Schapmire is a past national board member of the Association of Oncology Social Work and vice president of the American Clinical Social Work Association. She is a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow in the Social Work Academy of the National Academies of Practice and has received the AOSW/American Cancer Society Leadership in Oncology Social Work Award. She also is a past recipient of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s Research Scholar Award and the American Cancer Society’s C.A.R.E. Award for service to people with cancer and their families.
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) has named Fairdale High School Principal Brad Weston as Assistant Superintendent for Achievement Area 2.
Weston, who has served as principal since 2011, has led Fairdale through a dramatic academic turnaround during his tenure, including improving statewide assessment scores and adopting the Cambridge International Studies program. A former assistant principal at the high school, he has also worked directly with students as a math teacher and counselor at Fairdale and Doss high schools.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to positively impact several thousand students and several hundred teachers in 28 schools,” Weston said. He said while he will miss working with the Fairdale staff and students, “I am thrilled that this new opportunity will allow me to continue working for and with Fairdale High School.”
“Brad has a proven track record of improving student achievement, and he spent many years as a teacher in the classroom and as a principal,” said JCPS Superintendent Dr. Donna Hargens. “His experience will be invaluable as we look to increase student achievement across Area 2.”
Weston will stay on at the school until his replacement is named.
Weston holds a bachelor’s degree in math from the University of Louisville and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in secondary school counseling from Western Kentucky University. His Rank 1 in administration is also from WKU.
Mayor Greg Fischer and members of Metro Council today celebrated great progress on repairing or replacing worn out pavement on roads across Louisville. The celebration was held at the corner of Broadway and South 45th Street along Shawnee Park, where crews recently completed the city’s 100th mile of paving for 2016.
This is the first time in nine years that Louisville has topped 100 miles of paving. The feat was last accomplished in 2007 when 104 miles were paved. The 2016 total is projected to reach 130 miles by the end of the paving season.
Mayor Fischer and the Council have quadrupled the city’s paving budget from $4.8 million in fiscal year 2015, up to $22 million in the current fiscal 2017 budget. The Council also included funds to complete a new assessment of the condition of pavement on arterial and connector roads throughout the city. The recently completed Pavement Condition Index will help guide future pavement management.
The Mayor said the increased paving budget is an integral part of the Move Louisville long-term multimodal transportation plan. “One of the top priorities for Move Louisville is fixing and maintaining our existing transportation infrastructure, and this achievement of paving more than 100 miles in a single year shows that we’re committed to making that happen,” he said.
Council President David Yates, Budget Committee Chairwoman Marianne Butler, Vice Chairwoman Angela Leet; and Public Works, Bridges & Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Owen all joined Mayor Fischer for the celebration.
Yates promised to continue the increased funding. “This is the start of a decade-long annual investment to ensure our city’s roads, the connectors between our homes, schools and businesses are adequately maintained for our citizens. I am proud to lead an esteemed body willing to make the hard choices today to ensure this burden is not placed upon the shoulders of our children and grandchildren tomorrow,” he said.
“Not only do nice roads enhance our neighborhoods, they also spur economic development and have a lasting impression with visitors,” Butler said. “Members of the council, particularly the Budget Committee, were happy to work cooperatively to find additional dollars for paving our roadways.”
Leet added, “This level of financial commitment is not one we can retreat from as a community in the coming years. These last two years have been a great first step toward an even more ambitious 10-year goal of repairing our roads.” She also thanked Public Works for handling the increased load. “They spend a great deal of time working with individual council offices to get these projects prioritized and ensure that these paving projects are completed correctly. They deserve a great deal of credit for their hard work,” Leet said. Owen, an avid bicyclist said, “Smooth pavement is a bicyclist’s delight! I’m so pleased that our growing local economy and the Mayor and Council have allowed us to make investment in basic infrastructure.”
CodeRED is Out, Smart911 is In
In the past, residents of the Greater Louisville Area and Kentuckiana have been able to sign up to receive emergency notifications by email, text, or phone calls through a service called CodeRED. During emergency situations, subscribers would receive notifications with details about the emergency along with instructions for what to do such as shelter in place or evacuate.
CodeRED’s coverage of the Louisville area will officially terminate tomorrow night, August 16, at midnight and currently subscribed citizens will no longer receive area alerts from that service. Area residents will still be able to receive alerts, although it requires action.
The new service that will provide emergency alerts involving the Louisville Metro Area is LENSAlert – with LENS short for Louisville Emergency Notification System. This service is provided through the Smart911 framework.
Those wishing to do so can sign up for LENSAlert by visiting the subscription page here.
Hazmat crews are on scene in the 600 block of Main St where a chemical leak is spilling ammonia.
A shelter-in-place has been ordered for the NuLu area within the borders of I-65 and Witherspoon, Clay, and Market Streets.
Louisville MetroSafe/EMA issued the following:
THERE HAS BEEN A RELEASE OF A HAZARDOUS MATERIAL AT 609 EAST MAIN STREET. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS ASKING THAT PERSONS EAST OF I 65 NORTH OF MAIN STREET AND EAST TO CLAY STREET TO SHELTER IN PLACE AT THIS TIME.
Since the current Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, is running as Vice-President on the Republican ticket with Donald Trump, he is unable to run for re-election as Governor. A replacement candidate needed to be found.
22 members of the Indiana Republican State Committee held a meeting earlier this week to determine who would be the Republican candidate for Governor this year.The choice included big names, such as Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb, US Representative Susan Brooks, US Representative Todd Rokita and State Senator Jim Tomes.
The meeting lasted a few hours and the committee announced that Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb will be the candidate this election cycle. The announcement did not surprise many since Governor Pence endorsed Holcomb last week. Holcomb has not named a running mate for Lieutenant Governor yet, but he will be running against:
- John Gregg (Democrat) with Christina Hale
- Rex Bell (Libertarian) with Karl Tatgenhorst
- Adam Adkins (Write-in) – no running mate named at this time
- Christopher Stried (Write-in) – no running mate named at this time
Gregg also ran in 2012 against Pence. Pence narrowly won that election with 49.5% of the vote (Gregg had 46.6% and Libertarian candidate Rupert Boneham had 4%). Polls from earlier this year show that Pence and Gregg were nearly tied, but Pence did have a slightly lead in May. It is unclear how close Holcomb and Gregg are at this time.
Brooks and Rokita both had to remove their names from the ballots for the US House of Representatives, but both intend to seek re-election in their districts. Both are still eligible to be placed on the ballot in November.
