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Gov. Andy Beshear authorizes COVID-19 booster shots for all Kentucky adults
Gov. Andy Beshear has authorized COVID-19 booster shots for all Kentuckians over 18, citing a concern about a possible increase in cases and the holidays approaching.
"Folks you need to get vaccinated and you need to get this booster, and now it should be fairly easy," Beshear said Wednesday in announcing his executive order authorizing the additional shot meant to increase immunity among those already vaccinated. (Courier-Journal)
Kentucky social workers take demands to Capitol steps
Nearly 50 Department for Community Based Services social workers gathered on the steps of the Kentucky Capitol Tuesday morning, some carrying signs, all demanding an increase in pay and more support measures to help stem what has become a mass exodus of workers that has left an already beleaguered workforce at wits’ end.
“We’re not asking for a lot. We’re not asking to be overcompensated,” Shawnte West, a social worker in Jefferson County, said to cheers. “We want to be able to take care of our families and not need food stamps, not need the same services we’re providing to our clients.” (Herald-Leader)
KY State Board of Elections names new executive director
The Kentucky State Board of Elections named a new executive director on Tuesday to replace Jared Dearing who had served in the role since Nov. 2017.
The Board voted to replace Dearing with Karen Sellers who had served as the assistant executive director under Dearing. Sellers served as a healthcare executive for 21 years at Highlands Health System in eastern Kentucky before joining state government under the Bevin administration as a Deputy Commissioner in the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. (KY Fried Politics)
Kentucky cuts academy training, sends new juvenile justice employees straight to work
Faced with a staffing shortage, the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) has accelerated its training for newly hired youth workers. It is sending them directly into detention facilities rather than have them spend their first three weeks learning basic security skills at the DJJ Academy, as it previously did.
The first round of new youth workers skipped the DJJ Academy, located in suburban Louisville, in favor of two weeks of “on-the-job training” at the start of this month, state officials say. Additional training, including “virtual” classes, will follow later. (Herald-Leader)
Cuban immigrant files for Yarmuth seat
(Via Twitter) Cuban immigrant and Republican Darien Barrios Moreno filed to run today for the open Yarmuth seat, Kentucky's 3rd congressional district. He describes himself as "a beloved fighter for Human Rights" with a goal of "Saving America from Socialism" (Joe Sonka)
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