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Governor Steve Beshear yesterday issued the following statement concerning the current situation involving county clerks in Kentucky in regards to marriage licenses:
“There are obviously strong feelings on both sides of this issue, but the United States Supreme Court has spoken and same-sex marriage is now legal in Kentucky and the rest of the United States. Regardless of whatever their personal feelings might be, 117 of our 120 county clerks are following the law and carrying out their duty to issue marriage licenses regardless of gender. Same-sex couples are now being married in Kentucky and such marriages from other states are now being recognized under Kentucky law.
The future of the Rowan County Clerk is now in the hands of the courts. The legislature has placed the authority to issue marriage licenses squarely on county clerks by statute, and I have no legal authority to relieve her of her statutory duty by executive order or to remove her from office.
The General Assembly will convene in four months and can make any statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money calling a special session of the General Assembly when 117 of 120 county clerks are doing their jobs.”
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has issued a public statement regarding the recent decision on the fate of the Jefferson Davis statue in the state capitol building’s rotunda.
Beshear had this to say:
The Historic Properties Advisory Commission by law has control over the statues in the Rotunda of the State Capitol, and recently I asked the Commission to review the appropriateness of the Jefferson Davis statue remaining in the Rotunda.
The Commission received thousands of public comments and consulted with state historians. After reviewing all the information, the consensus it reached is that the Jefferson Davis statue represented a part of the state’s history and will remain in the Capitol. However, the panel voted to establish a committee that would determine ways to ensure the statues, including Jefferson Davis, are displayed in the appropriate historical context.
While many Kentuckians feel that it would be preferable for the Jefferson Davis statue to be in a museum setting, the addition of this educational and historical context is critical. The generations to come must understand the enormous toll of the Civil War that tore apart this nation and the tragic issue of slavery at the root of that war.
Kentucky played a unique historical role as the birthplace of the presidents of both sides of the conflict. We must ensure that dark chapter of our nation’s past serves to educate in ways that ensure such a tragedy can never happen again.
Davis, the only president of the Confederacy, was born in 1808 in what is now the community of Fairview, Kentucky, on the border of Christian and Todd counties and was the last of ten children born to Samuel and Jane Davis.
Funds will expand opioid treatment for pregnant women in Bluegrass, Cumberland regions; curb rise in drug-addicted newborns
FRANKFORT, KY – Governor Steve Beshear announced today that Kentucky will receive up to $3 million in federal grants over three years to provide expanded substance abuse treatment for opiate-dependent pregnant and postpartum women from the Bluegrass and Cumberland regions of the state.
“State leaders must do everything we can do to stop the pain drug abuse is having on Kentuckians and their families every single day, especially when it impacts mothers and their babies,” Gov. Beshear said. “Pregnant women who use heroin or other opiates during pregnancy have a significant risk of adverse outcomes for themselves and their babies. This important pilot project will allow us to improve access to treatment and support for pregnant women in two of the areas of our state hardest hit by substance abuse issues.”
Kentucky is one of 11 states selected by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to receive this new grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of an initiative to increase access to substance use disorder treatment services.
Kentucky’s Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID) will receive up to $3 million over three years from the grant, which it will use to build upon and expand current efforts to provide access to individualized, evidence-based substance use disorder treatment for these pregnant women, including medication-assisted therapies.
With the grant, officials hope to reduce the number of Kentucky newborns who experience neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) or neonatal opiate withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) by identifying opiate-addicted pregnant women and engaging them in treatment prior to delivery.
Kentucky hospitalizations for drug-dependent newborns soared in the last year, from 955 in 2013 to 1,409 in 2014, according to the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy.
The grant will also Continue reading
