Noise & Notes

Kentucky's lone Democratic congressman says he is confident the party will find an opponent to defeat Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, but adds Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes needs to make a decision.

The GOP is beginning to gloat that Democrats cannot find a suitable challenger willing to take on McConnell next year.

Grimes is considered the top contender in the field and she met with Governor Steve Beshear last week to discuss the race. But Grimes was still "wrestling" with the idea of running for Senate after sitting down with the governor.

Observers are beginning to question if the race is beyond Democrat's reach despite McConnell's unpopularity. The GOP leader has a $13.5 million head start and the political rumor mill is beginning to move on to former Miss America Heather French Henry, who is now reportedly being encouraged to run.

In an exclusive WFPL interview, Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth says Grimes needs to let whatever those plans are known before the summer or risk hurting the party.

"I do think that it is important that Alison Grimes immediately decide whether she’s running or not because there are a number of people sitting on the sidelines who would be interested I think in making a race who are waiting to find out what she does. And for her to keep prolonging this as she said possibly until the late summer I think is a disservice to the party," he says.

Summer brings with it the big Hollywood blockbusters, which more and more are based on the characters and stories in comic books.

The genre of made up for 14 percent of box office sales last year with iconic and lesser known figures. Beneath the spandex of super heroes, however, are important themes.

Whether it's street crime, metal illness or racial discrimination, comics have put those topics at the forefront of their issues for decades.

Fiction has also often been used to highlight history real life politics, and comics are no different.

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Attica Scott’s push to demolish the worst vacant and abandoned properties in District 1 has ignited a debate between residents and neighborhood leaders on how to tackle the problem.

The "Bringing Down the House" initiative is part of Metro Government’s overall effort to raze houses officials argued cannot be rehabilitated.

In January, Scott appropriated $25,000 in discretionary funds to pay for just over half a dozen demolitions mostly in the Parkland neighborhood.

Just this week, Scott's office announced one of those targeted properties located a 3020 Hale Avenue was torn down by city crews. It is the second house to be razed on that block in recent months, and another on Virginia Avenue was demolished last year.

In the announcement, Scott said this is an intentional attempt to clean up a scourge of empty structures. But neighborhood activists such as Chickasaw Federation President Donovan Taylor say tearing down those properties is not the answer, adding more should be done to refurbish those homes.

"There's a blight that comes with vacancy in the form of overgrown grass, liter and blight. And demolishing the homes does not eliminate that primary primary. You’re killing the fabric of the neighborhood when you may have a block that once had 20 homes that now only have 10 homes," he says. "We have on house on Cecil and Greenwood that during the summer the grass becomes so high that you can barely see the home because it’s between two vacant lots."

The chairman of an ethics watchdog group is questioning whether Louisville Metro Councilman Dan Johnson, D-21, should serve as a juror on fellow council member Barbara Shanklin’s removal trial.

The 20-member council court convened earlier this week to schedule a hearing after the Ethics Commission ruled Shanklin violated five provisions of the city’s code of ethics.

City lawmakers will sit as a jury to decide whether to oust Shanklin in a trial beginning July 23.

Last September, however, Shanklin’s attorney Aubrey Williams entered an affidavit alleging Johnson told him the commission was prejudiced against his client, and mishandled the proceedings.

"Johnson called ... and informed me that his wife’s sister’s husband was a friend of a certain Commission   member, who had told the friend that the commissioners were out to get Barbara Shanklin," Williams wrote. "That is to say that they had made up their minds to rule against her. He stated that he did not think they were going to be fair to her when the hearing got underway."

Common Cause of Kentucky Chairman Richard Beliles filed the initial ethics complaint against Shanklin. He  says Johnson’s prior interference in the case raises concerns if the south Louisville Democrat can adequately serve on the jury.

"It’s really important that the public has confidence in whatever jury. So from that standpoint, reading about and hearing about the questions about Metro Councilman Dan Johnson, it would seem to me that perhaps he should consider recusing himself from that jury," he says.

The Louisville Metro Council Budget Committee will begin its review of Mayor Greg Fischer's spending plan next Wednesday.

The committee has scheduled several hearings over the coming weeks and will review the health department's funding first with the goal of approving the entire budget by June 18.

Fischer's office will give an overview of revenue, planned projects and operations at a hearing on June 3. The council will also hear from public safety agencies such as the fire, EMS and Metro Police departments.

"This is the first budget where our revenue picture looks much brighter than in years past," Budget Committee Chairwoman Marianne Butler, D-15, said in a news release.  "We have a good working relationship with the mayor and his staff and I do not expect any major surprises as we begin our review."

Former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has been appointed to President Obama's commission to improve U.S. elections, which was first introduced at this year's State of the Union address.

During the 2012 elections, voters across the country complained of long lines and confusion at the polls, and many have called for reforms to the system since the 2000 presidential race.

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, D-In., has introduced a bill to create a monument commemorating the armed service members in the first Gulf War conflict.

The legislation is being co-sponsored by Senator John Boozman, R-Az., and would authorize the government to establish the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial on federal lands within Washington, D.C.

It has been over 20 years since U.S. troops were sent into Iraq to defend the country of Kuwait, and many observers say is long overdue for a landmark.

Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blasted Democratic lawmakers for calling on Apple Inc.'s chief executive to testify over moving assets offshore to avoid taxes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was called to testify before a Senate panel on Tuesday over claims the technology company is exploiting loopholes to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes.

A report compiled by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found Apple is holding around $102 billion of its $145 billion in profits overseas while using technicalities to avoid any levies.

Presenting the Louisville Metro Council and residents with his third budget, Mayor Greg Fischer unveiled a new spending plan which includes additional funding for the city’s roads and infrastructure.

The 2013-14 budget avoids any tax increases, employee layoffs or service cuts due in large part to higher than anticipated revenue and curbs to spending.

Metro Government has a $528 million general fund and has seen significant budget shortfalls in recent years.

In the coming fiscal year officials expect a $3.3 million surplus due to the city's occupational tax rising by about 3 percent, a 2.5 percent increase in the insurance premium tax and business profit taxes are expected to increase by 6 percent. The Fischer administration was also able to cut expenditures by not replacing retiring employees, reducing overtime pay by $1.5 million and lowering the structural imbalance by $15 million.

But one of the chief items the mayor's office is bragging about is putting $6.4 million towards paving roads and creating biking lanes. The city has spent on average $2.5 annually on infrastructure since city-county merger, which is well below the needed $8 to 10 million council members request and others argue the Public Works department requires.

Fischer says the city still has a financial imbalance and pension obligations, adding officials will have to watch every dollar. But the mayor believes an improved economy has allowed for his administration to make needed infrastructure improvements.

"There's been a little bit of relief and we have good control on our expenses with cost reductions as well. And that's going to allow us to make some investments that we haven't been able to make in the last couple of years, in particular with some road improvements and more bike lanes," he says.

The U.S. job market is slowly picking up and stock prices are rising for Wall Street, but poor people and the middle-class haven't fully recovered from the economic gut punch of the recession.

For social justice advocates like Kentucky Jobs With Justice Executive Director Bonafacio 'Flaco' Aleman, raising wages and other protections for American workers is just as important as job creation.

"I think that historically poor people have always gotten the short end of the stick," he says.

Though the national unemployment rate is down to 7.6 percent and has dropped in most states, those once middle-class occupations are being replaced with low-wage jobs.