News

A prominent conservative group is endorsing Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in his campaign to unseat a longtime Republican US Senator. Mourdock represents a challenge from the right against Senator Richard Lugar, who is seeking a seventh term this fall.

The Club For Growth has previously run TV attack ads against Lugar, but hadn’t previously endorsed Mourdock’s primary challenge. Now, the Mourdock campaign hopes the endorsement will lead to momentum and increased campaign contributions.

After several years, a bill allowing charter schools in Kentucky has received a hearing in a House committee. Advocates for and against the measure spent Tuesday debating the merits of the education reform in the capitol. Charter school administrators from other states joined Rep. Brad Montell, the bill’s sponsor, and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president Dave Adkission in support of the bill.

The first statewide audit from new Auditor Adam Edelen has uncovered some familiar problems.

Edelen is required to conduct an audit of all state agencies every year. His first report was released this morning. In it, Edelen takes many state agencies to task. That includes the Department of Military Affairs and the Kentucky Horse Park, which the report says incurred expensive and unnecessary fees for paying invoices too late.

After weeks of waiting, Governor Steve Beshear and state Senator Damon Thayer have unveiled their constitutional amendment for expanded gambling.

The amendment allows for up to seven casinos in Kentucky, but five must be at horse racing tracks. The two free-standing casinos cannot be within sixty miles of a track, regardless of whether that track has a casino.

Kentucky's Medicaid Managed Care Organizations say they have fixed a number of issues with reimbursements to pharmacists. CoventryCares, WellCare and Kentucky Spirit took over management of the state's Medicaid system last year. Since then, doctors and pharmacists have come forward to say the organizations are poorly managed and the reimbursements for care are too low.