According to Senator Jack Crumbly, Chair of the state Senate's Subcommittee on Minority Health, Senate Public Health Welfare & Labor Committee, there are 19 counties in this state in which its citizens life expectancy is ten years less than that of citizens in the state's healthiest counties.

"We have neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies, only permanent interest. "

That, paraphrase of the British statesman Lord Palmerston about sums up how I feel about party politics, especially these days.
 

 Gadfly and Former appeals Court Judge Wendell Griffen is as in the race for the Pulaski Circuit Court 5th Division judgeship vacancy as he can be without just saying so. "I can now confirm that I am seriously considering becoming a candidate (this is a change from my position days ago) because of the people who have indicated their willingness to actively support my candidacy" Judge Griffen said.

About a  month ago the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Washington State’s law denying the vote to people with felony convictions is racially discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA). It concluded that the penal system in that state is racially discriminatory, particularly the way and the rate at which minorities are searched, arrested and convicted out of proportion with the actual rate at which they commit crimes. Let us hope that this ruling is a trend.