A monthlong celebration of Lexington’s Asian American-Pacific Islander culture kicks off Friday evening. This is a follow-up to an inaugural celebration last year. There were a couple of AAPI events in the Lexington area in 2023. Lexington Vice Mayor Dan Wu said this year there are weekend activities planned throughout May. Wu said for what he considers a very diverse multicultural community, there hasn’t been a lot to reflect the culture, values, and arts of Asian American-Pacific Islanders out in the public sphere in Lexington. “So to have these kinds of celebrations where people can show up ..read more

WASHINGTON — Doctors on Thursday urged Congress to pass legislation addressing the disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality throughout the country and to lower barriers that have hindered people of color from becoming medical professionals. During a hearing in the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a panel of five medical professionals detailed health disparities for communities of color, including higher rates of maternal mortality. “Research consistently demonstrates that patients from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds experience better outcomes w ..read more

The law, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, also prohibits a PBM from reimbursing a pharmacy that it owns at a higher rate than a community pharmacy, or from keeping a community pharmacy from filling a 90-day prescription for a maintenance drug. And PBM will not be able to penalize a community pharmacy from sharing information with a patient on the cheapest option to pay for their medications. Several other major lobbying interests dealt with health-care issues. The biggest spender was the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, at $151,010, followed by the American Civil Liberties Union of K ..read more

Westerfield, of Fruit Hill in Christian County, announced before the legislative session began that he would not seek re-electin this year. ‘They should always be preserved’ Westerfield and his wife, Amanda, are expecting triplets this summer. The three, as well as their 6-year-old son, were adopted as embryos — the result of someone going through IVF and donating eggs. The Westerfields also have a daughter who joined their family as a “traditional domestic adoption.” They have another embryo they are paying around $500 annually to preserve. “I think they should always be preserved,” Westerfie ..read more

Fayette County Public Schools hosted a Teacher Signing Day on Thursday, meant to encourage graduating high school seniors going on to major in education. The seniors signed a letter of intent to their college of choice in front of school officials, teachers and parents. The event was also meant to help raise interest in the profession at a time where Kentucky is facing a statewide teacher shortage. Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman was among those in attendance as the event’s keynote speaker. “They know that they’re gonna have this village around them as they go through this process,” Col ..read more

Northern Kentucky police say a four-year-old girl was hospitalized after she ate a THC gummy belonging to her grandmother. The girl’s grandmother and great uncle were jailed, in part because they allegedly didn’t get the child medical care quickly when they couldn’t wake her. Dr. Elizabeth Hawse, a pediatrician in Lexington, said the case is a reminder that kids can find things they’re not supposed to. “Keeping things out of reach and locking them up are really the best way; anything that they shouldn’t be eating, right? Medicines, THC, alcohol, any poisons, cleaners, anything like that needs ..read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden responded Thursday to weeks of protest on college campuses calling for a ceasefire in Gaza with a brief statement that the right to protest should be protected, but “not the right to cause chaos.” “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Biden said from the White House’s Roosevelt Room. “In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues. But neither are we a lawless country.” Biden said that the student-led protests have not made him reconsider policy in the Middle East an ..read more

New reports highlighted by the Kentucky Education Association show that Kentucky educators’ salaries continue to lose ground to those in other states.  According to the annual reports released by the National Education Association looking at 2022-23 numbers, Kentucky dropped from 40th to 41st nationally in average teacher salary at $56,296 compared with the national average of $69,544.  Kentucky also dropped in starting teacher salary from 44th to 45th, with an average starting salary of $39,204.Nationally, average starting pay for teachers was $44,530 Kentucky’s pay for education su ..read more

After decades of intense debate that led to about half of their churches in Kentucky leaving the denomination, United Methodist delegates voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to no longer forbid gay clergy and same-sex marriage. The vote by the delegates at the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., was 692-51. The conference was the church’s first legislative gathering in five years. United Methodist Church in Kentucky losing congregations to rift over LGBTQ inclusion The historic vote removed the church’s 1984 ban on ordaining or appointing clergy who are “self-avowing prac ..read more

A central Kentucky farmer said he’s cautiously optimistic about this year’s growing season. Todd Clark has cattle and hay on 13 properties totaling more than 13-hundred acres. He’s a first-generation farmer who got started in Burley tobacco over 30 years ago and produces grass-finished beef for a leading grocery chain with his oldest son. He does have some worries, though. “I’m a little concerned about the moisture or lack of moisture. We’ve had enough – certainly we don’t need flooding, but we haven’t had the sorts of rains that would recharge the groundwater from the past couple of dry years ..read more