News

Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session is finally almost over.  Lawmakers will spend Thursday and Friday in Frankfort tying up some loose strings and mainly overriding several (if not all) of Gov. Andy Beshear’s nearly 30 vetoes.  Queer Kentucky will be monitoring things so you don’t have to (but, obviously, feel free to join us in…

Transgender inmates in Kentucky will no longer have access to gender-affirming health care after Gov. Andy Beshear let a bill become law without his signature Wednesday. Senate Bill 2 — one of the Republican-dominated Senate’s top priorities during the 2025 legislative session — will now go into effect in late June.  “The Governor does…

With a few days left in the 2025 legislative session, Republican lawmakers pushed through a bill they say should reassure doctors they can rely on their medical judgment when treating pregnancy complications, despite the state’s abortion ban. But some Kentucky doctors said the wording of House Bill 90, in an effort to clarify the…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Federal charges have been filed against three men accused of using counterfeit immigration documents to gain employment on a secured military installation in Frankfort, raising questions about the scope and focus of immigration enforcement in Kentucky. According to federal court filings unsealed this week, Gilbert Cazun-Arana, Yunior Omar Ventura, and Mynor…

Kentucky will soon begin licensing retailers who sell nicotine, which advocates have said will help regulate an industry and protect minors from addictive chemicals. Gov. Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 100 into law earlier this week. Griffin Nemeth, a student and coordinator for the iCANendthetrend Youth Advisory Board coordinator at the University of Kentucky,…

School staffing shortages can affect nutrition in Kentucky school districts, as many districts across the state rely on frozen, processed breakfast and lunch options from conglomerates. Now, some cooperatives are helping schools with the bidding process to use their dollars for locally sourced produce, dairy and meat. Alex Smith, food service program coordinator for…

Some Kentucky lawmakers want to make it mandatory for some Medicaid participants in Kentucky to work, but experts say that would disproportionately affect people with mental health or substance use disorders. House Bill 695 would require able-bodied adults with no dependents to work – and prove it – to receive health care. Kentucky currently…

As anticipated, Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill that would both allow conversion therapy in Kentucky and prevent transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from accessing gender-affirming health care. Kentucky’s overwhelmingly Republican legislature, though, is likely to override his veto of House Bill 495 during the final days of session this coming week.  “Conversion therapy is…

Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature spent some of its final veto-proof minutes Friday prioritizing bills aimed at taking away gender-affirming health care for some transgender Kentuckians, stifling debate and rushing votes as a midnight deadline drew near.  But guess what a majority of Kentucky voters don’t think is a priority?  That’s right — blocking transgender Kentuckians…

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is joining forces with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs at the Postal Service, this week announcing plans to cut 10,000 workers, amid other reforms. Kentucky has lost postal service offices at higher rates than other states, especially in rural and Appalachian counties. Mark Dimondstein, president of…