Amye Bensenhaver

1 month ago | kyopengov.org | Amye Bensenhaver

In 2009, The Owensboro Messenger Inquirer experienced the frustration that University of Louisville stakeholders and others, as well as the media, are currently experiencing. In May, the president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System dismissed Paula Gastenveld from her position as President of Owensboro Community and Technical College, “a public institution supported by public funding.”No explanation was given for the dismissal.

1 month ago | thenewsenterprise.com | Amye Bensenhaver

There’s a picture that apparently exists in the minds of the majority of Kentucky lawmakers. It’s an image of a law enforcement agency’s harried records custodian recklessly and without reference to the law — much less public safety — releasing banker’s boxes of investigative records to morbidly curious open records requesters or requesters with bad intent. kAm%92E A:4EFC6 :D 6?E:C6=J 72=D6]k^AmkAm%96 C6G6CD6 @7 E92E A:4EFC6 :D @7 2 =2H 6?7@C46>6?E 286?4J’D F?4@@A6C2E:G6 C64@C5D 4FDE@5:2?

1 month ago | kyopengov.org | Amye Bensenhaver

On March 27, Governor Beshear permitted House Bill 520, "AN ACT relating to law enforcement records," to become law without his signature. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/25rs/hb520.htmlhttps://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article302913014.htmlIt is safe to assume that Beshear’s course of inaction was motivated, at least in part, by the public relations thrashing  he took from open government advocates when he unapologetically supported 2024's House Bill 509.

1 month ago | kyopengov.org | Amye Bensenhaver

The Kentucky Kernel moved one step closer to a decision in its open records dispute with the University of Kentucky on March 25 as attorneys for the parties presented their arguments to Fayette Circuit Court Judge Thomas Travis. The case concerns the newspaper’s access to records compiled by the university in its investigation of a reported rape in a residence hall.

1 month ago | kyopengov.org | Amye Bensenhaver

A footnote to the 2025 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly -- but emblematic of lawmakers’ dismissive attitude toward open meetings and public participation -- on March 11, doctoral student James Orlick hand-delivered an open meetings complaint to Representative James Tipton as chairman of the House Committee on Postsecondary Education. Orlick hand-delivered courtesy copies to Speaker David Osborne and Legislative Research Commission general counsel Greg Woosley.