Posted by: Carissa Lenfert on October 4, 2013
Next Tuesday the Supreme Court is hearing a
huge case on campaign finance reform. And Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell will be there to testify in favor of eliminating campaign contribution limits in the case McCutcheon vs FEC.
Right now individuals are limited in how much we can give to a candidate running for office. Senator McConnell and others are arguing that since you can give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs, you should be able to give unlimited amounts of cash directly to candidates. This could open up an additional floodgate for money in campaigns. In the last election cycle, one individual gave $20.5 million to the American Crossroads PAC.
Posted by: Joe Gallenstein on October 4, 2013
A couple of years ago several musicians from the Greater Cincinnati area came together to help raise money to put an end to mountaintop removal mining by supporting Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and Ohio Citizen Action. They created a CD filled with local music that was unique to that album. The efforts raised over $15,000, split between the two organizations.
Posted by: Joe Gallenstein on October 3, 2013
On September 13th and 14th KFTC members and allies, anchored by members coming from Scott County, attended a Mountain Witness Tour visiting members from Letcher and Harlan counties. The group, which included members from the Northern Kentucky and Scott County chapters, a blogger named Stormy, her daughter, allies from the Georgetown College Sustainability Initiative, and members of Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, began the weekend by visiting Wiley’s Last Resort on top of Pine Mountain.
Posted by: Ryan Fenwick on October 3, 2013
The invitation to participate in member-driven grassroots activism along with music, brownies, cookies, and sweet tea brought numerous current KFTC members and dozens of community members to the new Jefferson County KFTC office in Louisville’s Smoketown Neighborhood. At the event speakers explained the two new local chapter campaigns, air quality in the Rubbertown Neighborhood and affordable housing, and an information table was there to connect people with state-wide work. Attendees were invited to tour the new office, meet KFTC members and allies, and write their vision for the Smoketown Neighborhood on poster boards. People identified 100% voter registration, ending the food desert, affordable housing, more green space, green energy, installing bike lanes and sidewalks, spaces for children, and more jobs as priorities for the neighborhood.
Posted by: Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on October 3, 2013
Kendell Nash, a KFTC member in Jefferson County, does not shy away from ways to make Kentucky better, and there are certainly some good starting points that most Kentuckians are aware of, especially this week. But yesterday, after signing up her family for health insurance on KYNECT, Kendell said, "It feels very good to be a Kentuckian right now."
Kentucky is playing a key role in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It is the only southern state to have opened up a state-based marketplace. (Governor Beshear's affirmation of how Kentuckians would benefit drew national acclaim. Check out this New York Times story about the pepople left behind in states that have not opted in.) It is one of only two southern states (Arkansas is the other) to be moving toward expanding Medicaid to higher incomes. Further, the process of getting people signed up for health coverage seems to have gone better in Kentucky than in many other states.
Posted by: Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on October 2, 2013
What a day. 
Scanning KFTC’s social media feeds confirms, of course, frustration over tactics by House Republicans, and fear about the impact of the government shutdown. Attempts to confirm weekend hikes, fall camping trips, and sources for research projects kept bumping up against websites that are now closed because of the federal government shutdown. The impact of the shutdown will continue until well after it has passed. What we know now is that it will be significant, with thousands of federal workers furloughed, Head Start programs shutting down, federal school lunch programs and WIC uncertain, and the EPA basically shuttered.
Posted by: Denney Breeding on October 1, 2013
On September 24, Southern Kentucky KFTC members came together for their regular monthly chapter meeting with many big updates and even bigger plans for the next few months.
Steering Committee representatives updated members on the recent steering committee retreat held in Whitesburg, which provided both an orientation to newly elected representatives and an exciting start to our Fall Fundraising campaign. Several local members have agreed to participate in our Power Builders program, joining members all across Kentucky to celebrate KFTC’s focus on growing a healthy democracy as we raise funds, awareness, and members. To see how to join in this HUGE event, visit our KFTC POWER BUILDER page.
Posted by: Lisa Abbott on September 27, 2013
Noted Kentucky farmer and author Wendell Berry spoke during the opening session of KFTC's annual membership meeting in August. We are pleased to share the full text of his speech below. You may also download his essay.
Also, be sure to mark your calendars for a very special interview with Wendell Berry by Bill Moyers. Their conversation will be shown nationwide on public television stations in early October. In Kentucky the program will be aired twice on Sunday, October 6, 2013. It will be shown on KET 1 at 11 a.m. and on KET 2 at 6 p.m.
LOCAL ECONOMIES TO SAVE THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Written and delivered by Wendell Berry at the KFTC annual membership meeting, August 16, 2013
As often before, my thoughts begin with the modern history of rural Kentucky, which in all of its regions has been deplorable. In my county, for example, as recently as the middle of the last century, every town was a thriving economic and social center. Now all of them are either dying or dead. If there is any concern about this in any of the state’s institutions, I have yet to hear about it. The people in these towns and their tributary landscapes once were supported by their usefulness to one another. Now that mutual usefulness has been removed and the people relate to one another increasingly as random particles.
Posted by: Cara Stewart on September 27, 2013
It's always a great time to be a Kentuckian, but thanks to Governor Beshear making the choice to accept federal money to expand Medicaid and create our own healthcare marketplace,
Posted by: Jessie Skaggs on September 26, 2013
Thirty people from nine counties in three different states came to Appalshop in Letcher County to learn how to do basic tests of local streams, to talk about water quality issues we face in the mountains, and to learn how to get involved with work organizations from around the region are doing related to clean water.
