Much has been made of the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Maryland v. King, which upholds a Maryland state law that 26 other states already utilize in one form or another that allows law enforcement to take a DNA sample by buccal swab (a simple swab on the inside of the mouth) when someone is arrested for a "serious" offense.
For a little over a decade the General Assembly has been meeting every year, with alternating terms. The odd years see the legislature gavel into session on 30 legislative days, and short of something remarkable, the biennial budget is left untouched until the following even-numbered year. Those even years see a 60 day legislative session. But the legislator’s work is not confined to those short 30 and 60 day sessions.
The work of the General Assembly is never done. Even though the regular session has adjourned legislators gather each week for joint committee meetings during the "interim" period running from June through November.
We all are in shock over the tragic tornado damage and loss of life in Oklahoma. Please remember those families and first-responders in your prayers. The Kentucky Baptist DR team is communicating with those on the ground to assess if and how Kentucky can help. This email went out this morning:
I was reading some of the statewide news articles today in the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Courier Journal, when an op-ed headline from the Leader caught my attention:
