skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Bill Would Add Mental Health Services in KY Schools

play audio
Play

Monday, February 18, 2019   

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky House will now consider a bill that passed unanimously in the Senate.

Senate Bill 1 focuses on addressing the gap in mental health resources for students.

Sponsored by Sen. Max Wise of Campbellsville, the bill calls for providing mental health professionals in every school, one for every 1,500 students.

Chris Barrier, director of law enforcement for Montgomery County Schools, says lawmakers behind the bill were affected by the tragedy of the Marshall County school shooting in 2018, but didn't want to act in haste.

"And so what they did was, they started looking at realistic ways of how they could make kids safer in schools,” he relates. “And so over the past year, when they looked at legislation for Senate Bill 1, they took a very holistic approach at how to keep kids safe, how to have early interventions in place."

According to a 2017 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 percent of high school students in Kentucky have experienced symptoms of depression, and 15 percent said they've had suicidal thoughts.

Donald Rogers, chief clinical officer at Bluegrass.org, a statewide network of community mental health centers, calls the bill a step in the right direction.

"I believe that there does need to be more clinical services available to the schools,” Rogers states. “I think it needs to be a little more clear what the role of those mental health professionals needs to be."

Rogers points out there aren't enough mental health professionals in Kentucky as it is, which adds automatic complications if the bill passes.

"The other element is, the bill, as far as I'm aware, has no funding in it,” he states. “So, I don't know where the funding for all these mental health professionals is going to come from."

Senate Bill 1 is now in the House Education Committee.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021