By Sheila AshThe first of day of furloughs is Friday for many Kentucky government employees. Last month Gov. Steve Beshear announced the unpaid days off to help balance the budget."We’ve worked very hard to look at each furlough plan from each agency to minimize any disruption and at the same time save the maximum amount of money. We’re going to save roughly $24 million with this furlough policy," he said.Friday is the first of six days state workers will have to take off through the end of the fiscal year. Some, such as corrections employees and mental hospital workers, are exempt from the furloughs. Last month, various agencies began laying off political employees in order to save another $5 million.The budget requires Beshear to save $131 million this fiscal year. A Franklin circuit judge Thursday denied a request by some state workers to block the furloughs.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.