Recent editorials from Kentucky newspapers:
___
March 22
The Daily News of Bowling Green on a local Civil War battlefield:
The Civil War is a very interesting piece of our nation’s history.
The war, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, was the bloodiest, costliest war as far as human loss in American history.
It was a very troubled time, when brother fought against brother and classmates from famed military academies fought against one another in many cases.
Kentucky was an interesting place during the Civil War in that some in the state wanted to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy while others wanted to stay in the Union. Initially, Kentucky claimed neutrality, but that changed when Confederate and Union troops ventured into Kentucky in 1861. The Confederates formed a provisional government at a convention in Russellville in 1861 and made Bowling Green the Confederate capital of Kentucky.
But the Confederates’ stay in Bowling Green was rather short-lived after they were run out of the city by advancing Union forces in February 1862. Although Confederates such as Kentucky native and Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan tried to retake the state on numerous occasions, Kentucky ultimately stayed in the Union.
Kentucky’s role in the Civil War was an important one. Not far from here, we have the famous Perryville battlefield, sometimes called the Battle for Kentucky, where blood from both sides was spilled. It is now a state-preserved battlefield site where thousands of people visit each year.
We are fortunate to have these types of Civil War sites in our state. One nearby that wasn’t the site of a battle the size of Perryville but does have historical significance worth preserving is the Battle for the Bridge Historic Preserve outside Munfordville in Hart County.
The Confederate victory there in August 1862 allowed them to strengthen their grip on trying to take control of the state and temporarily impair Union supply lines.
On April 1, volunteers will gather in Hart County to maintain and restore the site.
Every year on Park Day, volunteers gather for an event the Civil War Trust orchestrates to see to the maintenance of Civil War battle sites.
The preserve works with the Hart County Historical Society to maintain the battle site and the Anthony Woodson House, the reconstructed home of a family that lived near the battlefield, now a museum dedicated to exhibits related to the battle.
Neither the preserve nor the historical society hires people to maintain the grounds, instead depending entirely on volunteer work.
Volunteers will mainly be clearing away overgrown bushes, removing fallen sticks and branches from the ground, straightening up the Woodson House and painting the outbuildings.
It really is a great thing that people take time out of their busy schedules to clean and preserve such an important piece of history.
Those who volunteer to help preserve this historical site see the value in doing so, so that future generations can see the battlefield as we have seen it.
We commend their tireless efforts in preserving this historical site.
Online:
https://www.bgdailynews.com/
___
March 21
The Lexington-Herald Leader on Republicans’ proposed health care plan:
In January, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “If Hillary Clinton had been elected, if there were a Democratic Senate, we’d be revisiting ’Obamacare.’”
True, but we wouldn’t be making it worse, as McConnell and President Donald Trump are proposing, we’d be making it better.
Trying to sell Americans on their alternative, Republicans are making dubious claims about what we have now. But they can’t build a better system if they won’t admit - or don’t understand - today’s reality. Here’s a look at GOP criticisms of the Affordable Care Act (better known as “Obamacare”), the law some Republicans love to hate.
- It’s an “absolute disaster” for Kentucky.
The ACA covers 500,000 Kentuckians and has brought more than $8 billion into the state over the last three years. Hospitals are being paid for care they once had to write off as charity; their uncompensated care is down by 75 percent or $2 billion a year. Research is showing gains in preventive care, less emergency room use and improvements in health outcomes. The ACA required Medicaid to begin covering addiction treatment as opiate addiction and overdoses spiked. You can argue that Kentucky can’t afford to pick up its share of the Medicaid expansion which started coming due this year. (By putting up $200 million, Kentucky gets $3.4 billion in federal funds.) But a disaster? No way.
- The ACA is in “full scale meltdown,” premiums are soaring, insurers are dropping out.
Kentuckians who signed up for health insurance in the ACA marketplace are down to 81,155 from last year’s 93,666. Most receive tax credits to make it affordable, bringing the average cost in Kentucky to a little over $1,700 a year in 2017. If you’ve never been able to afford insurance, having the choice of even one insurer can save you from bankruptcy in case of a health crisis. Republicans in Washington have sabotaged the ACA market by killing a protection against drastic premium increases and canceling advertising before this year’s sign-up deadline. With a little help, the market would stabilize, moderating costs for the few who make too much to get subsidies.
- Who in his right mind would settle for Medicaid unless he had no other choice?
Only someone who has a life of privilege or no imagination can fall for this one. Just ask a low-wage worker who can finally afford blood-pressure medicine or to see a doctor about that suspicious lump. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion has given 400,000-plus Kentuckians who earn below 138 percent of the poverty line ($33,465 for a family of four) access to preventive care.
- “I don’t need maternity benefits because I don’t expect I’ll be expecting.”
Only someone who misunderstands both insurance and biology would fall for this criticism of the ACA’s standard plans. We all end up paying for each other’s health care, if not through premiums then through higher medical costs and taxes. Paying for someone else’s preventive care saves you from paying for their ER care. Young adults help pay for older people, who need more care, because one day they’ll be old. Women help pay for prostate checks to avoid paying for men’s cancer treatments. A child born without prenatal care is far likelier to become a financial burden on others, perhaps for a lifetime. And there’s no pregnancy that doesn’t involve a man.
- Congress has to repeal the ACA before it can take up tax cuts.
The Republican health care plan is a tax cut - for the wealthiest Americans and insurance industry executives. People making more than $1 million a year would enjoy a $144 billion tax cut over the next decade.
- It’s OK to rush this through with one party’s support because so was the ACA.
In the end, no Republicans voted for President Barack Obama’s health care law in 2010. But that came after more than a year of hearings, debate and compromises aimed at satisfying Republicans in Congress.
Republicans would be wise to slow down and get their health care reform right.
Online:
https://www.kentucky.com/
___
March 17
The Courier-Journal on reporting child abuse in the state:
Courier-Journal investigative reporter Andrew Wolfson had a simple question for Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad: “Greetings. I am trying to see if the department reported the allegations against Officers Betts or Woods to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Child Protective Services, as required by law.”
The question stems from Courier-Journal reporting about claims that former Louisville police Officer Kenneth Betts and current Officer Brandon Wood raped a teenage boy in the Youth Explorer program and that Betts had been investigated in 2013 over possible “improper contact” with a teenage girl in the program.
The only acceptable answer to Wolfson’s question should have been a simple yes.
Under Kentucky law, any person who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a child has been abused is required to report it.
But the law allows such reports to be made to local police, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Kentucky State Police or a county or commonwealth’s attorney.
As uncovered by Courier-Journal reporters Phillip M. Bailey and Wolfson, the law doesn’t explicitly require a police department that learns of an abuse allegation against one of its own to report it to another authority specified in the law.
That must change.
A spokesman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the agency charged with protecting children, said the wording of the law suggests, but doesn’t mandate, that the agency be notified.
The law must be clear that suspected child abuse or child sexual abuse at the hands of police must be reported to the state. There can be no reports that slip through bureaucratic cracks or are hidden.
We urge the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to work with the Kentucky Legislature to clear up any ambiguity - the legislature returns for the final two days of this year’s session later this month.
In the meantime, we await Chief Conrad’s answer about what he knew and when.
Online:
https://www.courier-journal.com/
Please read our comment policy before commenting.