Auto Workers Strike Hits Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant

The United Auto Workers union announced Wednesday that its nearly four-week strike against the “Big Three” automakers was expanding to Ford’s truck plant in Kentucky.

Roughly 8,700 union members work at the Louisville facility producing the company’s Super Duty trucks as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.

Kentucky cop was supposed to take sexual assault survivor home — but instead took her to a hotel and raped her again

A Kentucky police officer is under investigation for rape charges, according to WLKY News.

Officer John Nissen was indicted for theft, tampering with a witness and misconduct.

Kentucky's Hedge Funder Governor Keeps State Money In Secretive Hedge Funds

Kentucky’s public pension system is a long-running, worst-in-the-nation disaster. Even as state workers chip in their fair share, the system suffers from years of chronic underfunding by the state. Seeking higher returns, the program, formally known as Kentucky Retirement Systems, has turned to “alternative investments” such as private equity and hedge funds. But those funds also carry far more risk than traditional investments in stocks and bonds ― and much higher fees.

Protests Erupt in Kentucky After GOP Supermajority Passes Extreme Anti-Choice, Anti-Union Bills

In Kentucky, hundreds of demonstrators packed into the Capitol building Saturday to protest the state Legislature’s passage of a slew of controversial bills, including an anti-union "right-to-work" law and extreme anti-choice legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks and requires a woman to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. The surprise emergency legislative session Saturday came after Republicans seized a supermajority in the House of Representatives, giving the Republicans control of the House, the Senate and the governorship for the first time in Kentucky state history. On Saturday, the Legislature also repealed a law that had guaranteed higher wages for workers on publicly financed construction projects. We go to Louisville, Kentucky, for an update from Richard Becker, a union organizer with Service Employees International Union, and we speak with Lisa Abbott, a community organizer with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Koch Astroturf Army Cheers Union Busting in Kentucky

On the first day that the Kentucky legislature got underway with a newly elected Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican governor, the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity group blew the whistle and legislators jumped to do their bidding.

This week, the Speaker of the House Jeff Hoover rammed through the legislature three bills to break the back of unions and lower wages for highly-skilled construction workers.

 Why Workers Everywhere Should Be Scared by Kentucky’s Assault on Unions

“A lot of working people voted for change in this election,” argued Bill Finn, the director of the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council, as Kentucky legislators were shredding labor rights in the Bluegrass State. “They didn’t vote for this. They didn’t vote for a pay cut.”

Finn got that right. Kentucky Republicans launched the new year with a race to enact sweeping anti-labor legislation, and they weren’t concerning themselves with the question of whether they had a mandate to assault labor unions and undermine wages and workplace protections. They are moving immediately, aggressively, and thoroughly to implement an across-the-board assault on workers and the unions that represent them.

Kentucky’s Governor Dramatically Cut Education Funding. Now He’s Getting Sued.

This spring, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) bypassed the state legislature to unilaterally cut $41 million in education funding. Now, he’s getting hit with a lawsuit.

State Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) is suing Bevin over what he sees as a violation of state law and the governor’s authority. Bevin ordered a 4.5 percent cut to higher education funding in March, and Beshear told the governor he had one week to renege on his budget cuts or he would face a lawsuit. Bevin has refused to renounce his budget cuts, so the attorney general is following through on his promise to take the governor to court.

A Kentucky Lawmaker’s Hilariously Stupid Attack On Marriage Equality

The U.S. Supreme Court ended the debate on whether same-sex couples can marry, but one Kentucky lawmaker has a new plan to circumvent this decision. State Rep. Joseph M. Fischer (R) is happy to let same-sex couples marry, but only different-sex couples will be able to enter “matrimony.”

Fischer has introduced HB 572, the “Matrimonial Freedom Act” — an epic 454-page bill that creates the new status of “matrimony.” Declaring that the Supreme Court has established an “absolute Tyranny over these States,” the bill asserts, “we have full power to define marriage and to establish a new institution of matrimony in this Commonwealth,” adding, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Warning From Kentucky: Managerial Democrats Can Lose to Extreme Republicans

Democrats who think they can win simply by highlighting the extremism of Republicans—a popular notion as Dr. Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Senator Ted Cruz rank high in Republican presidential polls—would do well to consider the case of Kentucky.

Yes, Kentucky—where cautious Democrats just clashed with extremist Republicans. In an exceptionally low-turnout election, in which two-thirds of eligible voters failed to cast ballots, the Republicans prevailed.

5 Myths About Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis You Shouldn’t Fall For

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis remains in jail this week as she continues to refuse to issue marriage licences to Kentucky couples in violation of a federal court order because of her opposition to same-sex marriage.

Her story has attracted national media attention, and most of the Republican presidential candidates have chimed in too. In fact, Mike Huckabee will be in Kentucky today today to join other conservative groups in an #ImWithKim rally for “religious liberty.”

Kentucky Clerk Asks Court To Force Governor To Let Her Deny Gay Marriages

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept 7 (Reuters) - Lawyers for jailed Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis said on Monday they had asked an appellate court to force Governor Steve Beshear to let her refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses based on her religious convictions.

The lawyers sought emergency relief from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to grant Davis an exemption from the "governor's mandate that all county clerks issue marriage licenses," the non-profit legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis, said in a news release.

Charles Scott Howard, Kentucky Miner, Wins Reinstatement In Whistleblower Case

Kentucky miner Charles Scott Howard lost his job at Cumberland River Coal Co. last May, after years of butting heads with management over safety issues at the mine. Now, more than 13 months later, Howard may suit up and head back into the mine, whether his employer likes it or not.

A federal judge ordered Friday that Howard's company immediately reinstate him at the mine and pay a $30,000 fine for discriminating against a whistleblower. The sharply worded decision said managers at Cumberland River, as well as its parent company, coal giant Arch Coal, went to great lengths to find a reason to fire Howard after he brought his mine to the attention of federal safety officials.