Politics

At the end of every year LEO Weekly publishes a controversial edition that it dubs 'Loserville', which is a list of individuals and stories that the staff scorns.

It includes a who's who of Democratic and Republican elected officials, various organizations and topics, and this year was no different when it targeted Papa John's founder John Schnatter on the 2012 cover.

The staff argues that the penance is a sign that their issue is trying to make locals do better, but the very next week LEO comes out with an issue that highlights the good work of organizers, local business owners and journalists.

Among those represented on that list were the Rev. Pat Delahanty, who is leading a charge to abolition the death penalty in Kentucky.

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo is joining calls for a nation debate about gun issues in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shootings, and also said that violent video games are a cause of such violence.

Stumbo says he’s a lifelong National Rifle Association member and an avid outdoorsman — and he has helped many NRA-friendly bills pass in Kentucky. But he’s joining other rural Democrats in their call for a discussion on gun control.

WFPL will have NPR's live coverage beginning at 3 p.m. Friday of discussions between President Obama and congressional leaders on the impending "fiscal cliff" -- the automatic tax increases and spending cuts set to go into effect next week.

Obama is meeting at 3 p.m. with  Sens. Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid, the Senate minority and majority leaders, respectively, and House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Gov. Steve Beshear says he's concerned about the declining revenues form the coal severance tax, echoing concerns raised by House Speaker Greg Stumbo.

Money from the tax on mined coal is used largely for state, county and city infrastructure projects -- specifically in coal mining areas like Eastern Kentucky. 

“I am concerned about the coal severance receipts -- they are down, they’re down significantly. And that's because coal mining is down significantly, the tons of coal mined has dropped,” Beshear said.