Latest news with #DaviessCountians
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
We need to defend Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
In Washington, they're talking about cutting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for the first time in generations. Some people say it will never happen. Others fear that it will. We'll just have to wait and see. But here are a few things to consider. A study last year found that Kentucky and West Virginia were the unhealthiest states in the union. Kentucky, it said, has the highest percentage of adults with no physical leisure-time activities — 34.77%. Other things we rank high in are obesity (40.3%), getting less than seven hours of sleep (39.3%) and smoking (27.09%). The study says that 32.7% of us have high cholesterol and 7.9% have heart disease. So, we're not exactly a healthy place to live. The U.S. Census Bureau says the poorest states in the country are Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia and Kentucky. So, we need help. According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 31,426 Daviess Countians are on Medicaid this month — up from 31,379 last month. That's roughly one-third of the county's population. Medicare doesn't break it down by counties. But last August, there were 986,495 of us in Kentucky on Medicare. That's 17.8% of the population. And in 2020, there were 1,009,092 of us in Kentucky on Social Security. says Social Security pumps $1.4 billion into Kentucky every year. Of course, the number of recipients is growing by the day as Baby Boomers continue to age. In 1954, President Dwight D. 'Ike' Eisenhower wrote,' Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.' He wrote, 'There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.' Again, we're a poor, unhealthy state and these programs pump millions into Daviess County each year. Whether the threat is real or not, we need to defend them.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How many Daviess Countians are on Medicaid?
When the folks in Washington talk about cutting Medicaid, how many people are we talking about in Daviess County? According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 31,426 Daviess Countians are on Medicaid this month — up from 31,379 last month. • It looks like the old Bowen Tire building at 2600 Frederica St. may be about to be demolished. So, what's happening. According to the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission, 'All we have received is a buyer for the Bowen Tire lot is wanting to convert it into a restaurant of some sort. No plans have been submitted as of yet.' • Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, is hiring more than 2,000 people for the summer. Applications are now open on the Holiday World website — An in-person job fair will be on March 8 and phone interviews will be Feb. 22 and March 15. Holiday World will also host hiring events in Owensboro on March 1. Starting pay is $13 an hour. • ZipRecruiter says the average pay in Owensboro is $25 an hour or $51,684 a year. • WalletHub analyzed the prices of 26 common grocery items in each of the 50 states, 'then compared the prices to the median household income in order to determine which consumers are spending the greatest percentage of their income on groceries.' Kentucky was fourth-highest with 2.41%. Mississippi was first with 2.64%. • Kentucky's general fund receipts were up 4.9% in January and 2.2% for the fiscal year so far. And road fund receipts increased 8.2% for the month and 1.2% for the fiscal year. • The state said this week that Kentucky once again set 'an all-time record for products shipped globally, with $47.7 billion in exports in 2024. The commonwealth broke the record set in 2023 with an 18.7% increase over the previous year.' Canada is Kentucky's top export destination, with over $9.3 billion in products. The United Kingdom (more than $4.9 billion), France (over $4.7 billion), China (more than $4.3 billion) and Mexico (over $4.1 billion) remain in the top five destinations for Kentucky-made products. • Aldi says it plans to open more than 225 new stores in 2025 as part of its five-year growth plan. The company previously announced plans to reach 800 new stores by 2028. Last year, it opened nearly 120 locations, bringing its total store count to more than 2,400. • Chicken Salad Chick says it opened nearly 40 new locations last year, giving it a total of 288 restaurants in 20 states. • U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Mark Warner, D-Va., have introduced the White Oak Resilience Act to use more federal resources protect the tree. Kentucky bourbon is aged in white oak barrels.
