FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky’s Republican nominee for governor says the state should stop issuing marriage licenses following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
Matt Bevin said in a news release the government should be out of the marriage business altogether, arguing that the religious covenant of marriage should be separated from the “contractual relationship” recognized by the state.
“A license should not be needed,” he said. “As with other contracts, the government’s role should be limited to recording, interpreting, or enforcing such contracts in times of dispute.”
At least two county clerks in Kentucky have stopped issuing marriage licenses after the Supreme court’s ruling. Those clerks, Kim Davis in Rowan County and Casey Davis in Casey County, object to same-sex marriage for religious reasons. They say issuing a marriage license with their name on it to a same-sex couple is the same as endorsing the marriage.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued Kim Davis on behalf of two gay couples and two straight couples who were denied marriage licenses. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear on Thursday personally asked Casey Davis to either issue marriage licenses or resign from office. But the clerk told reporters he would go to jail before he would resign.
Kentucky’s governor’s race offers the first test of the political impact of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling. Democratic nominee Jack Conway is also the state’s two-term attorney general. Last year, he made national news when he tearfully announced he would not appeal a district judge’s ruling overturning the state’s gay-marriage ban, saying to do so would be to advocate discrimination.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Croatian woman can be extradited to Bosnia to face war crimes charges after living for years in Kentucky, a federal judge has ruled.
Azra Basic (BAH’-sich) has been battling her extradition in federal court since authorities arrested her in 2011. She is wanted in Bosnia on charges of committing war crimes against ethnic Serb civilians in 1992.
Her attorney filed court papers in 2012 saying Basic was being held in violation of her rights as a U.S. citizen and asking for her release after Magistrate Judge Robert Wier ruled international treaties allowed her to be returned to Europe.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell denied that petition on Thursday, ruling the treaty cited for extradition is valid and applies to the case.
Basic’s attorney, Patrick Nash, said he disagreed with the ruling.
“It’s a lengthy opinion and I’m still in the process of studying it,” he said Friday. “But we are definitely going to appeal it.”
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Kentucky Board of Education has voted to take over Menifee County Schools where officials said earlier assistance has not fixed the district’s problems.
The Lexington Herald-Leader (https://bit.ly/1JUwS6thttps://bit.ly/1JUwS6t ) reports the board voted unanimously Friday to take over the district, which has about 1,100 students in Frenchburg. The district joins the Breathitt County school district under the Kentucky Department of Education’s management.
The decision means the state education commissioner exercises complete control of school district management formerly exercised by the local school board and the superintendent.
The district has been under state assistance since December after a management audit found a significant lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the school district’s finances and instruction.
State documents show the Menifee school board voted in June not to contest the move.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky taxpayers got good news and bad news on Friday on the state’s budget.
The good news is the state finished the fiscal year with a $165.4 million surplus in the general fund. But the bad news is the state’s road fund has a $20 million shortfall.
The results were not unexpected. State budget officials had predicted a general fund surplus just two months ago. State officials also predicted a deficit in the road fund after falling gas prices automatically cut the state’s gas tax rates. State lawmakers agreed to freeze the gas tax in March, preventing what could have been a larger deficit.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said the surplus is a sign that Kentucky’s economy continues to grow and is moving in the right direction.
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