Politics

Louisville Metro Council President Jim King says it isn’t practical to raise taxes for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, despite Mayor Greg Fischer’s suggestion.

The council set up the trust fund to give grants and loans for affordable housing activities, such as new construction, home rehabilitation, payment assistance and emergency repair. But the fund has struggled to find an adequate revenue stream since it was first formed in 2008.

After months of saying that residents had no appetite for higher taxes, Fischer told The Courier-Journal his administration supports a one percent increase of the insurance premium tax to pay for the trust fund if council members agreed.

But King says raising taxes of any kind would be a burdensome to residents and small businesses in a tough economy.

"I would have to say that I didn’t expect (Fischer's) comment because I wasn’t aware he was interested in adding anything to that tax. But I don’t think that the council as a whole is in a position to support that right now," he says.

For over 30 years, Betty Winston Bayé wrote an op-ed column in the Louisville Courier-Journal until a round of layoffs last year ended her stint.

"I think what really hurt was I never really got a chance to say goodbye to my readers," she says.

But Bayé is still writing, and putting her views on the table—whether people agree or disagree—in radio and television.

Besides becoming a motivational speaker, she was recently inducted into the National Association of Black Journalist’s Hall of Fame and has plenty to share about African-Americans in media.

Bayé stopped by to talk about leaving C-J, the state of journalism and why it's important to teach the Civil Rights era as living American history.

Former Kentucky Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo is considering a run for governor in 2015.

Mongiardo is among several Democrats—including current Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, Attorney Jack Conway and former State Auditor Crit Luallen—who are rumored to be running in three years.

The Hazard, Ky. physician exited public life two years after two failed bids for the U.S. Senate and being dropped by Governor Steve Beshear as his running mate for re-election.

But as the Lexington Herald-Leader's Jack Brammer reports, Mongiardo is searching for a entry point back into Frankfort politics.

From The Herald-Leader:

Mongiardo said Friday he is enjoying his life as an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Hazard with his wife and two children. "Stepping out of politics for a while has given me the perspective of what many people not in politics see," he said. "People are frustrated with the lack of progress and compromise in government."

Is now the time for the General Assembly to address expanded gambling? (Again.) With just more than a month before the 2013  session begins, observers of the Kentucky legislature are wondering.

A few new factors are at play: First is the governor’s continued interest in the topic. Second expanded gambling's chief opponent, David Williams, is gone.