NOTES ON NEWS ITEMS:

1---If Mr. Webb has finally found a financing source he can tell us for CentrePointe, the guiding principle for the Mayor and city council should be “Show us the Money!”

2---All you who oppose “Obamacare” should read an article in the C-J last week. The headline: “Preventive care rises in patients”. This was one of the goals for that program, indeed for any public health program, and it seems to be working on this count. And that’s important for Kentucky which has several hundred thousand on Medicaid.

Comparing 2014 with 2013, breast cancer screenings were up 111 percent, preventive dental services up 116 percent, perhaps even more important general physical exams rose 187 percent. A report says the state cut its  health uninsured rate among the non elderly from 21percent to ten percent.

Problems, including  costs, remain, but this report, which ought to be a major issue in the fall campaign, is encouraging.

3---If you thought there were more mass public shootings these days, you were right. The Congressional Research Services says in the 1970s such shootings killed six people per year; from 2010 to 2013  there were 33 deaths per year on average. A dozen mass shootings have occurred since the 70s resulting in double digit deaths, and 7 of those have happened since 2007.

In half the cases a single firearm was used; in a quarter of the cases an assault weapon was used.

4---With the new school year comes a new report from a doctors’ group saying most teens start school too early, depriving them of sleep they need to learn and stay healthy. A report in USA Today says the doctors’ recommended starting middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30am. 83% of our schools start classes earlier.

5—Kentucky has long been regarded, with a lot of actual proof, as one of America’s more corrupt states..so far as public officials are concerned. The FBI recently put out a plea for our citizens to help root out corruption by passing tips to them for investigation. A toll free number  was given for such tips.

Since my fave Lexington morning paper didn’t publish this, and neither did our local tv stations so far as I know, here’s the hotline:   toll free (844) KYNOPCI  (or 586-6724 ). Rooting out corruption in the commonwealth is important, so keep those calls coming! 

I'm just sayin'...