Joseph Lord

The last of the 18 child care centers to have its license to operate revoked by the state regulating agency is Small Smiles Day Care on South Seventh Street Road in Louisville.

The flurry of bills passed in the final hours of the Kentucky General Assembly's 2013 session, Louisville's final sustainability plan is released and a state agency sanctions 17 Louisville day cares after a fraud investigation—these issues and more today on Byline.

The possible closure of at least 17 Louisville child care centers investigated by a state agency is already causing difficulties for parents who depend on their services—and an advocate is questioning why the state hadn't took action earlier.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is withholding payments to 18 child care centers for a subsidy program for low-incoming working families after a year-long investigation.

Here are 17 of the letters:

Letter

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services sent letters dated Wednesday to 18 Kentucky child care centers—at least 17 in Louisville—notifying them that their state licenses to operate were being revoked.

The child care centers have 20 calendar days to appeal. The child care centers can stay open during this time period, the cabinet said.

The Kentucky General Assembly was in session Tuesday to the last possible minute—that would be midnight—working on several key pieces of legislation. The most-discussed bills dealt with industrial hemp, funding for the state employee pension systems and "religious freedom."

Each of those proposals were approved, in one form or another.

 (Related: Legislators call 2013 session a success.)

Robert Plant & The Sensational Shape Shifters have been added to the line-up for the 2013 Forecastle Festival in July, organizers announced on Tuesday.

"Robert Plant and his amazing new group of conspirators the Sensational Space Shifters will be performing songs from every era of Plant’s storied career," Forecastle said.

Plant, of Led Zeppelin fame, more recently collaborated with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss.

Boys Noize, Inc. and singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz were also added to the Forecastle lineup.

Three men died Sunday afternoon outside an apartment complex near Berry Boulevard, bringing Louisville's number of criminal homicides to nine as we near the end of the first quarter of 2013.

The shooting appears to have followed a drug deal, said Lt. Barry Wilkerson, the Louisville Metro Police Homicide Unit commander.

On Saturday night, some 300 people gathered at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville for the annual ACLU-KY/Fairness Dinner. Things got ugly after the festivities concluded.

Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman left at about 11:30 p.m. and discovered that his car parked near the Ali Center had been sideswiped while parked on the street—the mirror damaged, the side dented and scratched. He called Louisville Metro Police to file an accident report.

Officers noticed more.

Each week, members of the WFPL News team spotlight interesting stories we've read and enjoyed, for your weekend reading pleasure: