Gov. Beshear discusses Mountain Parkway completion, increased education funding at judge-executive’s conference

Originally published by WEKU.

Governor Beshear pledged that the four-laning of the Mountain Parkway will be complete before he leaves office at the end of 2027. Beshear spoke Wednesday at the Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association’s winter conference in Lexington. He said a $116 million federal grant secured two months ago will provide enough money to finish the project.

“And while that grant has been temporarily frozen twice in the last 10 days, it’s opened back up, and we believe we are going to continue to be able to push through with that project.”

Beshear credited the General Assembly for providing 150 million dollars to help secure the federal grant and asked for a round of applause for state legislators. Another portion of his speech may be less popular with them. After speaking of the economic progress the state’s made the last several years, he said to keep attracting new jobs, more investments need to be made in public education.

“If we want to truly be competitive, the next investment that we absolutely have to make is universal pre-K. Listen, right now, over 50 percent of our kids show up for kindergarten unprepared, and many of them never catch up.”

Beshear also spoke of progress in substance use disorder treatment. He said 21 communities have been certified “recovery ready” and he wants to bring that level of service to every county in the commonwealth.

** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.

Originally published by WEKU.

Republished with permission.

https://www.weku.org/lexington-richmond/2025-02-05/gov-beshear-discusses-mountain-parkway-completion-increased-education-funding-at-judge-executives-conference