Saturday, April 02, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...4-3-'11
- According to documents filed in Cumberland County, State Senate President David Williams, who opposes expanded gambling in Kentucky, in his 2003 divorce case, reported more than $36,000 in gambling losses in the four-year period from 1999 to 2002. Documents state that Williams has to have won a greater amount than he lost during that period in order to have reported those losses on his taxes. Williams said Friday that he has long acknowledged gambling at tracks and casinos, but he does not think that is inconsistent with his public opposition to expanded gambling, which he believes is not in the best interest of the people of Kentucky.
- Kentucky's Attorney General Jack Conway has written a letter to the editor of the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in South Florida urging Florida residents to speak out for their state's prescription drug-tracking law, which he says would help crack down on so-called pill mills feeding addictions in Kentucky. Conway is encouraging residents to contact their state representatives and senators to let them know they support efforts to implement an electronic monitoring program in Florida. South Florida is a region widely regarded as the national epicenter for illegal dispensing of prescription drugs such as the highly addictive painkiller Oxycodone. Conway called it "a matter of life and death" in urging Floridians to follow through with their state's planned database for tracking prescription drugs. Conway cited estimates from federal law enforcement that 60 percent of illegal pills in Kentucky come directly from Florida. Conway said 34 states, including Kentucky, have prescription monitoring programs in place. Florida Governor Rick Scott has proposed scrapping the pill-tracking database, claiming privacy concerns. In February, U.S. Representative Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, wrote to Scott urging him to back off repealing the pill-monitoring law. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi opposes repealing the system and has been working with Scott to find an alternative.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:28 PM 
