Here's what's on Front Page P.M. From WKMS News.
(1.) COLSTON ON THE CAPITOL–- It’s been a busy week in the Kentucky General Assembly. An effort to legalize casino gambling died on the Senate floor, the sponsor of a measure to regulate the sale of products containing meth precursor pseudoephedrine withdrew it from consideration, and debate continues over the Commonwealth’s dropout age. Kentucky Public Radio Capitol Bureau Chief Kenny Colston speaks with Rick Howlett for some perspective on what’s happening in Frankfort.
(2.) NELSON COMMENTARY-- Advocates for a constitutional amendment to legalize casinos in Kentucky have had an up-and-down week. The proposal cleared a major legislative hurdle in the Senate’s State and Local Government Committee Wednesday, only to fall in the full Senate the next day. Governor Steve Beshear has vowed to continue the effort, but the measure’s primary sponsor, Republican Senator Damon Thayer has thrown his hands up over the matter. Commentator Richard Nelson believes that’s just as well. He says casino legislation in the Commonwealth is a sweet deal for the elite, but a bitter one for the local communities in which the casinos would be built.
(3.)THE ARTIST @ MA -- The 2011 film playing at Maiden Alley this week harkens back to the early days of Hollywood's Golden Age in more ways than one. The Oscar-nominated French film The Artist is set in 1927, shot in black and white, and silent, save for the incredible score and a single line of dialogue. You may have seen films with a similar plot, but you likely never seen a love letter to Hollywood so beautifully and meticulously crafted. Larry Thomas and I talk about The Artist.
(4.) MSU PROFESSOR STEVE JONES-- A year after the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, Murray State University welcomed its first African-American students to class. But it wasn’t until 1977 that the school hired its first African-American faculty. Dr. Steve Jones is chair of M-S-U’s Department of Sociology and he was among those the school first hired 35 years ago. Dr. Jones is retiring at the end of this semester, and he sat down with Shelly Baskin to talk about what he experienced during his Murray State tenure.
(5.) JO DORTCH/EMPTY BOWLS PROJECT-- Last year, local residents glazed hundreds of bowls in preparation for the Empty Bowls Project, a charity event in Paducah organized by ceramic artist Michael Terra. When the handmade bowls are ready, patrons purchase a $15 ticket and fill them with food donated from local restaurants. All of the proceeds benefit the Paducah Community Kitchen. With Paducah’s second annual Empty Bowls approaching, Casey Northcutt takes a look at one woman who’s spent the past year glazing bowls for the project. She says in doing so, she’s nourished her own soul.
