Summary of recent Kentucky newspaper editorials:
___
April 26
Lexington Herald-Leader on a lack of personal income growth in Kentucky despite record-low unemployment:
It stands to reason that the state with the largest share of minimum-wage earners would lag the nation in personal income growth.
It’s disappointing that, despite record-low unemployment, that state is Kentucky.
Nationally minimum-wage earners make up 2.3 percent of hourly workers but in Kentucky’s it’s double that - an average 4.6 percent or more than 50,000 Kentuckians in 2016-2017, according to an analysis by Governing magazine.
Our high percentage of minimum-wage earners helps explain findings released last month by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis that identified Kentucky as having one of the lowest rates of personal-income growth from 2016 to 2017.
Just five states had lower increases in personal-income than Kentucky’s 1.6 percent. Nationally, personal income on average increased 3.1 percent.
Congress has not raised the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour since 2009, despite 16 percent inflation since then that’s weakened the buying power of minimum-wage earners.
Twenty-nine states set their minimum wages above the federal level - but not Kentucky.
Lexington and Louisville enacted higher minimum wages, only to have them rejected by the state Supreme Court, which ruled in 2016 that Kentucky cities lack that authority.
As a result, any hope for an improved minimum wage rests with the legislature. But since Republicans took over the House in 2016, the legislature has shown more of an inclination to hold down wages, through anti-union laws, than to raise them. The prevalence of minimum-wage earners should, however, worry a legislature that’s banking on increases in consumption taxes to make good on obligations to education and public pensions.
State revenue sources will shift from income to sales taxes under a tax code revamp recently enacted by the Republicans who control the legislature. Some services including auto repairs, will be taxed for the first time. Income tax rates were lowered for most Kentuckians, a change that showers the greatest benefits on the highest earners. With an annual income of $15,089, minimum-wage earners spend every penny on necessities. Their levels of consumption can’t possibly fuel enough growth in state revenue to even keep pace with inflation, while income tax cuts for upper earners will rob Kentucky’s of its fastest growing revenue source.
Kentucky’s 4 percent unemployment rate, the lowest in more than 40 years, should be driving up wages. But beneath that positive number lurks some troubling currents, as the slow pace of income growth confirms.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that growth in three industries - health care and social assistance; professional, scientific and technical services; and construction - were the leading contributors to overall growth in personal income last year. Although health-care employment typically grows, it declined in nine of the last 12 months in Kentucky.
The legislature should raise the minimum wage - obviously - though that seems unlikely from the Republican majority.
Long-term, education is the way Kentuckians can claw their way out of the economic cellar. But Kentucky is again cutting state support for higher education, which constricts and steepens that path to prosperity.
Online: http://www.kentucky.com/
___
April 28
The Daily Independent of Ashland on a police program geared to helping those struggling with addiction:
Kudos goes out today to everyone involved in the Ashland Police Department’s new Angel Program, which allows for an alternative to arrest and incarceration for those struggling with addiction.
Those addicted to drugs can surrender any illegal items, drugs or paraphernalia to the department. A mentor or “Angel” will then connect them with a local treatment facility.
“This program has one goal, saving lives,” Police Chief Todd Kelley said.
Is this going to solve all of the region’s problems with drugs? Of course not. Is the program likely to be heavily used??Time will tell.
We do know that it would be easy to approach this with a cynical viewpoint, i.e. the perception that everyone struggling with prolific addictions will only get clean when they are locked up for extended periods of time and that this is the only way to drive home that society will not tolerate their situation. This, on paper, is certainly a logical presumption. The problem is we’ve been doing this for decades and it isn’t working. Our jails are ridiculously overcrowded to the point of bursting at the seams yet the drug problem continues to get worse. It is, unfortunately, also the truth for a segment of the population that incarceration is necessary. The reality for some drug dealers and addicts is incarceration, whether we like it or not, ends up being the last and only viable option for getting these individuals away from society.
But that option should, in our view, only be used when all other options have failed.
All of this highlights the immensely complex problem that requires immensely complex, multi-prongued solutions in a world where public resources and leadership for tackling the problem are increasingly limited. We believe this Angel Initiative is a viable and admirable effort that really does have the potential to work and work well. It seems to us that it will work for those who truly want help and who are scared of dealing with the police in any form because they don’t want to go to jail.
It is our belief that when you strip away the despair and fog of addiction, most struggling are usually good people deep down inside. When given a helping hand, it is possible to help them. Sometimes, people change, and this program is for those people. Our view is to truly solve this problem it is going to take leadership from the president, the federal government and significant resources to back it up - not just declarations and press conferences. It also requires extensive education about the true outcomes of lives addicted to heroin and other hard drugs. It requires communities to come together to help their fellow citizenry with an approach that requires compassion and patience like what is demonstrated through this program from Ashland police and with the help of Pathways.
A key component is going to have to be finding a way to get people treatment for free or for very low cost. We take calls time and again at the newspaper from folks who have family members struggling with addiction but who have an extremely hard time finding treatment that is affordable. This is a huge part of the conundrum, and we don’t know what to tell them.
This is a struggle likely to last generations. What we can say today is that the Ashland Police Department and all those involved in establishing this program have the community’s support in such a noble and meaningful endeavor.
Online: http://www.dailyindependent.com/
___
April 28
Commonwealth Journal cites the work of those serving time as an inspiration for hope:
Everyone makes mistakes. For some of us, however, the price is much higher than for others. This week, Pulaski County saw two examples of those who fell on the wrong side of the law and have been serving their time get rewarded for their diligence in turning over a new leaf.
On Wednesday, Mellow Mushroom, a pizza chain with a local restaurant, brought food for Pulaski County Detention Center inmates working on the Virginia Cinema. For weeks, the men in the orange jump suits have been hard at work preparing a local landmark for a potential second life.
Other people could do this, but the Downtown Somerset Development Corporation has a Herculean-enough task finding a new purpose for the venerable old movie house as it is. The time and expense of hiring workers - or doing it themselves - could be prohibitive in advancing the Virginia project. Using the inmates as volunteer labor, however, saved the organization tens of thousands of dollars, according to Pulaski Jailer David Moss.
Moreover, Moss said that getting out and being around other people, in a different environment, is good for the incarcerated individuals. It gets them out of the rut that jail life can become and helps them get a taste of what it’s like to be a productive member of society once again.
The hard work of the inmates did not go unnoticed. Organizing the opportunity to have lunch provided by a popular local pizzeria is something the inmates don’t get to experience normally. They’ve toiled for the good of the community, and the community gave back to them.
It’s a feel-good story, and we should feel good - these are people, not just statistics. They have hopes and dreams, hungers and feelings. Showing them that doing good is rewarded, at least in some small way, is a step on the road to them living a better life.
On Thursday, the 28th Judicial Drug Court graduated nine new alumni. The Drug Court has become a national model on how to help drug abusers get clean and rejoin society. It’s a success story within an often depressing system, from right here in Pulaski County.
Smiling faces of people who worked to overcome their addictions could be seen, promising new hope for the future. These individuals put in the work and the graduation ceremony was an opportunity to recognize just how much they’ve accomplished.
Even to people who might feel they have no hope, good things can happen. This week in Pulaski County proved just that. Maybe, just maybe, that can offer a little hope for all of us.
Online: http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/
Please read our comment policy before commenting.