Devin Katayama

After closing its doors last year, the Parkland Boys and Girls Club will hold its grand reopening Monday.

Parkland and three other local Boys and Girls Clubs operated by the Salvation Army were closed last year due to financial cuts. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana, which also operates clubs in the area, reopened the closed Newberg club earlier this year and at the time president Jennifer Helgeson said the organization would also try to reopen the Parkland club.

A regional waste management company has partnered with Louisville Metro Government to help increase the city’s tree canopy over the next decade.

Ecotech will work with Louisville’s Tree Advisory Commission, which was formed by Mayor Greg Fischer last year to help maintain and add to the city’s tree canopy.

Fischer helped plant the first three trees Friday and over the next 10 years, Ecotech has committed to donating 1,000 trees through its 10,000 Trees Partnership.

The ballots for the school board races this fall are set and Jefferson County Public Schools has one of the largest candidate pools in recent history.

A total of 15 candidates are vying for three school board seats (districts 2, 4, and 7) and many say bettering student performance is a top priority, but how that's accomplished can be argued.

The AARP has announced its sponsorship of the 2012 Vice Presidential Debate Festival at Centre College in Danville next month. 

AARP will offer three discussions over the next month leading up to the Oct. 11 debate.  They’ll focus on Medicare, financial security and Social Security, which are considered key issues to AARP and are featured in Voter Guides released by the organization.

Boxing legend and Louisville native Muhammad Ali will be presented with the 2012 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Thursday night.

The award honors individuals of courage and conviction who strive to represent liberty to people around the world.

The bidding process for investors wanting to reopen the former Kentucky Kingdom amusement park is being launched this week.

Once the applications are in, the state will narrow the competition to the top three bidders.

The doors to Kentucky Kingdom have been closed since late 2009.  Its previous operator, Six Flags, declared bankruptcy.

The Jefferson County Board of Education has approved the performance objectives for Superintendent Donna Hargens’s evaluation, but measuring student performance may still be a challenge.

The board approved the criteria at Monday night's board meeting. It measures three major performance objectives, including implementation of the new strategic plan, continuation assessing and organizing management and improving student achievement.

A Kentucky lawmaker is considering introducing legislation that would hold back third-graders who don’t meet the benchmark for reading. 

That’s the grade by which some experts have decided reading needs to be mastered.

Jefferson County Public Schools is one of 893 districts that have announced an intent to apply for new federal “Race to the Top” funding.

Kentucky applied for the federal government's competitive Race to the Top grants before, and last year the commonwealth received around $17 million after losing the larger grant it applied for.

The Jefferson County Teachers Association is prepared to fund campaigns for three candidates it recently endorsed for open school board seats, but union officials have not yet determined how much they may invest.

In previous races JCTA has pumped thousands of independent contributions to candidates and last week a 12-member JCTA committee endorsed David Jones Jr. in District 2, Lloyd “Chip” White in District 4 and Chris Brady in District 7.

The candidates represent diverse backgrounds, said JCPT president Brent McKim.