Wednesday October 15, 2025
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Photo: Kentucky Governor’s page
First Lady Glenna Bevin today attended the Women’s Auxiliary Spring Luncheon held at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville. Mrs. Bevin spoke in front of an audience of 300 women, where she shared how her personal experiences have influenced her passion for children and those in the Kentucky foster care system. After being involved in the Southern Baptist Seminary for many years, the Bevins established the Bevin Center for Mission Mobilization in memory of their oldest daughter, Brittiney, who had an incredible passion for children and mission work.
“I have raised my children to be the hands and feet of Christ,” said Mrs. Bevin. “We have children here in Kentucky who are going to bed hungry, abused, and that don’t know Jesus loves them. That shatters everything inside me.”
Mrs. Bevin stated that there were many reasons her husband decided to run for governor, but one in particular was to correct Kentucky’s broken foster care system. Prior to adopting four children from Ethiopia, Gov. and Mrs. Bevin attempted to adopt an 11-year-old girl in Kentucky. However, their application was denied due to the many unnecessary regulations in the state’s foster care system.
“My reasons for being here are not to tell you my story. My reasons are very, very, selfish,” said Mrs. Bevin. “I am here to call on you to be my foot soldiers in this battle for Kentucky’s children. We have to take advantage of our programs and educate ourselves on the issues that Kentucky kids face today. Step out of your comfort zone, rethink your plans, your missions, and to pray for God’s guidance in making Kentucky your mission field.”
This call to action follows the Gov. and First Lady’s Open Hearts/Open Homes summit held in March. This was a collaboration between the Governor’s Office and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. There, state officials called on communities to take action and provided inspiring, but sobering education as to the current situation within Kentucky’s foster care and adoption systems.
Photo: Care Innovations
Mayor Greg Fischer and Gov. Matt Bevin today announced Care Innovations LLC, a telehealth company specializing in designing, developing, and optimizing remote care delivery programs, will invest nearly $1.7 million to relocate and expand its research and development center, creating 24 high-wage jobs in Louisville.
“Louisville is seeing tremendous advancements in analytics, data science and technology within our lifelong wellness and aging cluster. Care Innovations’ expansion is a great example of how technology can innovate to meet the market’s advanced industry growth,” the Mayor said. “I welcome the company’s innovative solutions to bettering patient care, and look forward to its future success and growth.”
Care Innovations will relocate from its 1,900 square-foot Prospect office to a more than 7,000 square-foot space on Fourth Street in Louisville. The new office will provide additional room for software development, analytics and testing.
“Care Innovations located in Prospect less than 18 months ago, confident they would be able to tap into Louisville’s tech and healthcare industry expertise,” Gov. Bevin said. “That confidence was not misplaced, and Care Innovations is now moving to larger offices that will better accommodate their substantial and consistent growth. We congratulate them on their impressive efforts and look forward to their continued progress.”
The company, based in Roseville, Calif., opened its Prospect office in October 2015 to better reach its customers, build relationships with industry leaders and analysts and attract strong technology and healthcare talent.
“As we continue to partner with major healthcare systems and health plans both nationwide and internationally on their goal to provide continuous care, it is imperative that we expand our talent, and Louisville’s growing healthcare market is ideal for doing just that,” said Randall Swanson, CEO of Care Innovations.
Also known as RPM, remote patient management is a form of telehealth that uses information technology to gather patient data outside of traditional healthcare settings. By moving care into patients’ homes, clinicians can provide proactive care, rather than reactive, which may help reduce hospitalizations, improve outcomes and lower costs.
Care Innovations has been an advisor and leading provider in the remote patient management and telehealth industry for more than 10 years. The company partners with payers, healthcare providers and home health companies to make continuous care easier by employing its service suite, technology and education offerings to design, develop and deliver remote care. Doing so helps Care Innovations’ customers reduce costs and improve patient outcomes outside of traditional clinical settings.
To encourage the investment and job growth in the Louisville area, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in January preliminarily approved Care Innovations for tax incentives up to $500,000 through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
For more information on Care Innovations, visit www.careinnovations.com.
Members of the faith-based community in the Louisville area are invited to learn more about Governor Matt Bevin’s “Open Hearts/Open Homes” initiative during a series of breakfast events later this month.
The Jefferson County Office of the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), which coordinates the foster care and adoption program within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), is sponsoring several free “Kickoff Breakfasts” for faith-based community partners. Everyone is invited for a meal and fellowship to discuss the state’s need for more adoptive families.
Gov. Bevin launched Open Hearts/Open Homes in March at a Frankfort summit of more than 200 partners as part of his pledge to improve the state’s adoption and foster care system. Open Hearts/Open Homes aims to find permanent placements for those children in foster care with a goal of adoption by relying on the state’s churches, nonprofit groups and caring individuals.
Gov. Bevin said he hopes to see the Louisville-area network of churches become involved in Open Hearts/Open Homes.
“We are asking our churches to help lead on this issue,” Gov. Bevin said. “Church leaders and members are encouraged to consider the life-changing journey of foster care and adoption. With the commitment of these incredible communities, we can give these children the forever homes with loving families.”
Of the state’s 8,000 plus children in out of home care, more than 1,000 are in Jefferson County. Each session begins at 9 a.m. and include a short presentation about the foster care and adoption program and a question and answer session with those in attendance. Each event will close with prayer at 10 a.m.
Here is the schedule for the breakfast sessions in Louisville this month.
- April 25: Bridges of Hope Neighborhood Place, 1411 Algonquin Parkway
- April 26: Charmoli Neighborhood Place (Middletown), 200 Juneau Drive, Suite 200
- April 27: Fairdale Neighborhood Place (Fairdale), 1000 Neighborhood Place (off National Turnpike, behind the South Park TAPP School)
- April 28: Youth for Christ Building, 4102 W. Market St.
Because of limited seating, RSVPs are required and should be sent to patricia.franke@ky.gov. Please limit number of attendees to two per organization.
CHFS Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson said Gov. and First Lady Glenna Bevin are putting all Kentucky children first in their efforts to improve the Commonwealth.
“Gov. Bevin and the First Lady are exceptional ambassadors for our foster and adoption services,” Glisson said. “Thanks to the Governor’s servant leadership we are now in position to discuss the great need around this issue and engage many more loving families into the foster and adoptive communities.”
For more information about how you can become a foster or adoptive parent, or to get more general information simply email: openhearts@ky.gov, go to the state adoption website adopt.ky.gov, which helps families more easily navigate the foster care and adoption process or call 1-800-232-KIDS (5437).
The Clark Memorial/2nd Street Bridge will close Thursday, April 20, in preparation for Thunder Over Louisville. We ask your help in communicating this information to the public in the coming days. The Louisville Metro Police Department will release their Thunder traffic plan next week.
CLARK MEMORIAL/2ND STREET BRIDGE CLOSURES THUNDER WEEK:
- Thursday, April 20th: 9:30 a.m. – CLOSED thru Sunday at 2 p.m.
- Friday, April 21st: CLOSED ALL DAY
- Saturday, April 22nd: CLOSED ALL DAY
- Sunday, April 23rd: CLOSED Midnight to 2:00 p.m.
BIG FOUR PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE:
The Big Four Pedestrian Bridge will be closed from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday, April 21, for the air show practice window. On Thunder day (Saturday), it will also close at 9 a.m. until 12 midnight. Access to the bridge will be restricted to only those pedestrians wishing to cross to the other side from 10 p.m. (post fireworks) to Midnight. Signage will be placed on the Big Four Bridge to help notify the public of the closures and restrictions.
Thunder Over Louisville – the Derby Festival’s Opening Ceremonies – is one of the more than 70 events produced by the Derby Festival in the spring. The 2017 Thunder Over Louisville themed “Thunder: Local & Original” is set for Saturday, April 22. The show is sponsored by Horseshoe Southern Indiana, LG&E, Meijer, UPS and Valero.
As part of an annual extravaganza of compassion and service, thousands of Louisvillians will be volunteering in ways large and small during the Mayor’s annual Week of Service, which runs Saturday through April 23.
One of the week’s largest projects will be the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community Wide Cleanup on Saturday. Already, more than 16,000 people are committed to making Louisville a greener and cleaner community, by picking up litter and debris from neighborhoods, greenspaces and roadways.
And there is still time to register: Go to www.brightsideinc.org. With the help of sponsors Passport Health Plan and the Kentucky Pride Fund, Brightside provides bags and gloves to all participating groups, and T-shirts to the first 5,000 registrants.
Volunteer for Give A Day Projects
Mayor Greg Fischer will kick off this sixth annual Give A Day week with a 9 a.m. stop Saturday at the Build A Bed event at Meyzeek Middle School, where hundreds of volunteers will work in teams to build beds that will go to Jefferson County Public School children who are sleeping on couches, air mattresses or even the floor.
Other Saturday events include a 3 p.m. bicycle giveaway to refugees at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, thanks to volunteers from Pedal Power; and huge community cleanups and picnics in the California, Parkland and Shelby Park neighborhoods. (Similar events are planned in the Smoketown and Shawnee neighborhoods on April 22.)
The Mayor’s goal for the week, which helps launch the 2017 Kentucky Derby Festival, is to break Louisville’s existing “world record” for caring and helping – set in 2016 with more than 175,000 volunteers and acts of compassion.
“When we decided six years ago to start to focus on celebrating and cultivating compassion as one of our city’s core values, the people of Louisville responded, demonstrating over and over again that this is a city where people believe in the value of doing what our great native son Muhammad Ali called ‘the work of the heart,’” the Mayor said. “That work happens every day in this city. Give A Day simply shines a spotlight on it.”
The Mayor pointed out that participating in the Week of Service can be as simple as dropping food into the Dare to Care bins at all area Kroger stores.
And for the second year in a row, the international WE Day will, in partnership with the Mayor’s office and WLKY, hold a short Walk of Compassion through downtown as a Give A Day event on April 18. The public is invited to join more than 3,000 students participating in the lunch-time walk, carrying signs of compassion.
Students from both private and public schools are a huge component of Give A Day. JCPS’ students will be planting trees, collecting items for local food pantries, organizing campus and neighborhood cleanups, writing thank you cards to police and veterans, and collecting teddy bears for police to have in their cruisers when they make runs on cases involving children.
“We are proud to once again have 100 percent participation from our schools in the Mayor’s Give A Day initiative,” said JCPS Superintendent Dr. Donna Hargens. “Last year, our students logged more than 1,145 days of service – that’s more than three years of kindness, service and citizenship in just one week. This experience gives our students a chance to give back to our community and participate as citizens in our diverse, shared world.”
Most local Catholic schools are also engaged in projects. St. Stephen Martyr, for example, is making care packages for cancer patients, filling decorated bags with things like hard candy, pocket tissues, hand sanitizer, lip balm and small packages of snacks. And fifth-graders at Holy Trinity will be visiting and playing games with residents of the Masonic Home.
Local businesses are also a huge part of the Week of Service, as companies large and small contribute their time, talent and treasure on projects throughout the community.
Volunteers are still needed for more than 100 projects of all kinds. To register, go to the website: www.mygiveaday.com and click on “volunteer for an existing project.”
Groups and individuals are urged to use the same website to report projects and good deeds they are doing on their own.
Photo: Attorney General Beshear’s Office
Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Cyber Crimes Unit today announced a Jefferson County man has been arrested for allegedly seeking sex with a minor.
Robert L. Tomlinson, 55, of Louisville, has been charged with one count of prohibited use of an electronic communication system for the purpose of procuring a minor for a sex offense, a Class D felony.
According to Beshear’s cyber investigators, Tomlinson became the subject of an investigation after seeking sex with a minor and asked for sexually explicit photos of a minor.
Beshear’s cyber investigators arrested Tomlinson April 5 in Louisville with the assistance of Louisville Metro Police and the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force.
The work of the AG’s Cyber Crimes Unit, a division of the Department of Criminal Investigations, is part of Beshear’s core mission to keep sexual predators away from Kentucky’s families and children.
“The Attorney General is the chief advocate and protector of Kentucky families, and my office’s job is to ensure our communities are safe by taking off the streets anyone who would exploit children,” Beshear said. “I want to thank our cyber investigators, Chief Conrad and his officers, and the Secret Service for working on this case.”
Beshear’s work to prevent child abuse led to nearly 80 arrests, indictments and convictions of online child predators in 2016.
Tomlinson was transported to Louisville Metro Corrections where he remains on a $10,000 full cash bond. He is scheduled to appear in court April 14.
Beshear’s Cyber Crimes Unit partners with federal, state and local agencies to further their ongoing efforts in Operation Shielded Child, which targets those who would seek out children for sexual exploitation and those who promote the ongoing proliferation of child pornography.
Louisville has been chosen to host the 27th annual Congress for the New Urbanism, an international placemaking conference, in the spring of 2019. Recent Congress host cities include Seattle, Detroit, Dallas and Buffalo. The event will bring over 1,500 attendees–including urban planners, architects and landscape architects, environmental consultants, engineers and real estate developers–to Louisville from across the country and the world.
CNU’s annual Congress is the premiere international event on planning, designing, and building walkable communities, mixed-use development, and sustainable, equitable cities.
“The arrival of the Congress for New Urbanism could not come at a better time for Louisville,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “Many of the country’s most innovative and creative urban experts will be in our city and they can witness the renaissance happening across our neighborhoods while contributing their talents to areas of our city needing more attention.”
Each year, CNU members work with the host city to organize and to execute two to four Congress Legacy Projects which identify crucial roadblocks, engage local residents in visioning, and generate top-of-the-line design and placemaking strategies. Through multi-day workshops, CNU members engage with city officials, business owners, developers, neighborhood leaders, and members of the public to form a plan to enhance a corridor, section of a neighborhood, or other land use challenges chosen by the city’s host committee.
“Hosting CNU 27 is both an honor and a remarkable opportunity for Louisville,” Host Committee Chair David Tomes said. “Our city will have the chance to showcase New Urbanist neighborhoods like Norton Commons and Liberty Green, as well as dynamic redevelopment initiatives like Russell, Portland, NuLu, and SoBro, while also focusing worldwide attention on iconic places such as the Cherokee Triangle and Old Louisville. Most important, the visiting leaders of CNU will offer practical proposals to improve the livability of this city we love.”
Louisville’s host committee includes over 100 public officials, community leaders, academics, and representatives from the planning and urban design industries.
For more information on the Congress for the New Urbanism, please visit https://www.cnu.org/
