KFTC Blog

The Kentucky Secretary of State's office is setting up a series of town meetings across the state to review and recommend improvements to Kentucky’s election laws.

A few have already happened, but four upcoming meetings are:

• Wednesday, May 22 – Kenton County - 5:30pm at Dixie Heights Highschool

• Monday, June 3 – McCracken County - 12:30pm.  Robert Cherry Civic Center, 2701 Park Avenue, Paducah, KY

• Thursday, June 6th – Jefferson County - 12:30pm.  Muhammad Ali Center, 144 N. 6th Street, Louisville, KY

• Thursday, June 20 – Madison County - 5:30pm.  Madison County Extension Office, 230 Duncannon Lane, Richmond, KY

*blog updated on 5/9,  5/20, and 5/30 to reflect shifting times and locations.  See the bottom of the blog entry for more information. 

This could be an excellent time for KFTC members and allies to make the case for changes we would like to see in our democracy - from expanding voting rights to former felons, lengthening voting hours, or limiting the power of corporations and large donors.

As three of these 4 meetings are in KFTC chapter areas, we'd like to encourage our members to come out to them and speak their minds. 

You can say anything you want, but we created a template (adapted from the earlier blue ribbon tax commission hearings) that might help you think through what to say:

Representative Carl Rollins (D) stepped down from his legislative seat a few weeks ago, which covers Woodford County, parts of Franklin County, and a small piece of western Fayette County.   There will be a special election to fill the vacancy. 

The election is set for Tuesday, June 25th and polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  The deadline to register to vote for this election for people who live in the district but are not yet registered is May 28th. 

On the ballot are:

KFTC members were among the crowd that rallied Wednesday in front of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, DC, calling for an end to mountaintop removal and protection of the region’s water.

Residents of Central Appalachian states brought with them more than 100 gallons of brown, black and red water that have been collected from water sources in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

“Sometimes the water runs orange, and you wouldn't want to touch it, much less drink it. But what’s more dangerous is when toxic water from your tap looks and smells totally fine. People sometimes drink it for years without knowing that they’re drinking toxic water and that’s what’s making them sick,” said Josh May of Magoffin County, a member of STAY (Stay Together Appalachian Youth) and KFTC. “We are bringing this water to the EPA as a way of holding them accountable. We’re having them sign for it so that they can formally acknowledge the problems that we’re living with everyday in the mountains."

U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers recently announced major progress for efforts to bring a new maximum-security federal prison to Letcher County, one of the many Eastern Kentucky counties hard hit by the declining coal industry.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded a contract to conduct an environmental impact study on two selected sites. But even as that process moves forward, no funding has yet been allocated for construction of the proposed $250 million to $350 million project.

If built, this will be the fourth new federal prison to come to Eastern Kentucky, and the sixth federal prison built in Central Appalachia, since 1992 — in addition to new state and private prisons. Indeed, in the last quarter-century of skyrocketing incarceration, Central Appalachia has become one of the most concentrated areas of prison growth in the country.

Each prison came with the promise of hundreds of jobs and broad-scale economic growth. So as Letcher County waits, we should ask, what happened in these other prison-host communities. Did the promises come true?

McCreary County, where a federal prison opened in 2004, provides one example.