COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) - The Kentucky Lottery plans a new advertising campaign this summer that focuses on how ticket purchases support college scholarships.
The move comes after the General Assembly voted last month to remove a prohibition on mentioning scholarships in ads.
The lottery anticipates a $3 million boost in sales over the next two years with the new ad campaign.
Kentucky Lottery spokesman Chip Polston told The Kentucky Enquirer (https://cin.ci/1iuyuQO) that the ads will run statewide and will show how much good the game has done. He said that until now Kentucky was the only lottery state that wasn’t allowed to advertise that proceeds fund scholarships.
When the Kentucky Lottery was created in 1989, some lawmakers feared it might use the scholarships as a way to pressure people to purchase tickets so they banned any mention of government service that lottery proceeds fund.
“The lottery was a very unknown entity at the time,” Polston said. “Folks didn’t know how the lottery would operate as a business, what level of societal responsibility the lottery would take.”
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky has spent nearly $18 million over the past six years to bus students to private schools, most of which are religious. That’s despite the fact that the state constitution prohibits state funds from aiding any “church, sectarian or denominational” school.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports (https://bit.ly/1fHS5T0https://bit.ly/1fHS5T0 ) state financial records show that 8,375 private school students were bused last year using a subsidy of $2.9 million. In addition, many local governments kick in their own funds because the state subsidy does not cover the entire need.
In 2013, 19 counties requested about $3.9 million in subsidy from the state and got about $3 million, leaving an unfunded gap of $830,000.
The subsidy began in its current form in 1998 under Democratic Gov. Paul Patton. It was challenged, but the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled 4-to-3 against the challenge in 1999. The majority opinion found the subsidy was not state aid for religious schools, but rather aid for children attending the schools.
In March, the General Assembly voted to boost the subsidy to $3.5 million annually.
State Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, is chairwoman of the House budget subcommittee that oversees K-12 schools. She says the public schools have need for the money now spent sending children to private schools.
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HINDMAN, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky State Police are investigating after six goats were found shot to death in Knott County.
Farmer Randy Bates told WYMT-TV (https://bit.ly/1i9s7H7) the family noticed the animals were missing from their farm in the Kite community on Saturday morning. They went searching for the animals and found them at a creek. Bates said all six had been shot in the head.
Bates expressed dismay at the crime and said it must have been about hate.
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Information from: WYMT-TV, https://www.wkyt.com/wymtnewshttps://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - A new report says Adult Protective Services has not properly investigated abuse allegations at a Lexington group home for disabled men.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader (https://bit.ly/1ogjNGn) the report by Protection and Advocacy suggests one of the reasons for the failure is because officials are concerned that if the Messner Home is closed the men there will have nowhere to go.
The home consists of three buildings, one of which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Courts have found that the remainder of the home is not required to be regulated or licensed by the state.
An investigation two decades ago found “filthy mattresses, insect infestation, soiled rooms and physical plant deterioration.”
Protection and Advocacy, an independent state agency that protects and promotes the rights of people with disabilities, first began interviewing residents at Messner Home in August 2011 as part of a larger project to monitor Social Security benefits for people with disabilities.
Its report released last week found that some of the same problems identified in the 1990s persist. Problems identified in the new report include inadequate bathing facilities, lack of bedding, bed bugs and general uncleanliness and disrepair of the facility.
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