FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s unemployment system was hit with another security breach, but state officials offered assurances Wednesday that it posed no threat to sensitive financial information.

State technology workers are trying to determine the cause of the latest breach.

The problem was discovered Monday after a claimant saw another person’s information while navigating his own unemployment application, the state Labor Cabinet said.

The claimant saw the other person’s employer and health information, it said.

“At no time was the other individual’s name, Social Security number or other personally identifying information available,” the cabinet said.

Gov. Andy Beshear discussed the matter later Wednesday. As with the first breach, “absolutely no one to our knowledge has been financially harmed whatsoever” in the latest incident, he said.

The Office of Technology Services is investigating, and once it determines the cause, actions will be taken to prevent similar problems, the cabinet said.

A prior breach in the spring allowed some unemployment filers to view information for other claimants. The findings of a review of that breach will be released in coming days, Beshear said.

“I believe that what it will show is that on the technical side, the response was everything we’d want — was shutting down the system, getting it fixed, protecting that information,” he said. “On the reporting side, I think we’re going to find that a better job should have been done.”

State Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Auditor Mike Harmon, both Republicans, have called on Beshear’s administration to explain a delay in disclosing the initial breach.

Kentucky’s unemployment system, like others nationwide, has faced an unprecedented surge in claims for jobless benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic that damaged the economy. Beshear’s handling of unemployment issues has come under steady attack from Kentucky Republicans.

State GOP spokesman Mike Lonergan said Wednesday that the latest security breach was another example that Beshear’s unemployment office is “one abysmal failure after another.”

Beshear said the state has to “patch” vulnerabilities in the computer system because “it’s so old.”

“Our challenge is this system was put in in 2000,” he said. “Can you imagine if the computer system that you had in 2000 currently had to protect critical information of almost a million Kentuckians?

“It’s what happens again when we starve a system,” he added.

Beshear has noted on several occasions that the state’s unemployment system endured years of budget cuts before he became governor.

Beshear’s administration recently decided to extend a contract with an outside company hired to help work through a backlog of unemployment claims. On Friday, his administration said more than 1 million unemployment insurance claims had been filed, paying out more than $3.23 billion to Kentuckians since the virus outbreak began.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear expressed hope that a fairly stable number of coronavirus cases reported Tuesday in Kentucky signals his mask-wearing mandate might be “starting to kick in and help.”

Beshear reported 532 more confirmed virus cases in the state, up by 10 cases from the previous day but below the 10-day average. The state’s positivity rate — reflecting the average number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 — dropped for the first time in four days, the governor said.

He also reported 10 more virus-related deaths, raising the state’s death count to 719.

The Democratic governor has taken several steps — which he says are backed by federal health officials — to try to slow a recent surge of virus cases. Those actions include a mandate he announced nearly three weeks ago that most people wear masks in public.

“Again too early to draw conclusions, but I hope … that this is us starting to see, because the time period is right, where the facial covering requirement is starting to kick in and help,” he said in commenting on the daily number of cases.

Beshear stressed that wearing masks offers the “best way to get back to our old normal, or something close to it.” The governor indicated Monday that Kentuckians should be prepared for the mask mandate to be extended. He has warned that an unwillingness by people to follow health guidelines threatens lives, the economy and efforts to reopen schools.

On Monday, Beshear ordered Kentucky bars to close and restaurants to scale back indoor service in what he hopes will be short-term steps to stop the spike in cases. The Bluegrass State was hit recently by a series of record or near-record numbers of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The governor also reduced the number of people allowed at social gatherings from 50 to 10. That rule doesn’t apply to businesses or wedding venues.

On Tuesday, he also stressed that people should cancel trips to states being ravaged by the virus.

“At this time, when we’re losing more people, when we know we’re going to lose more people, when we’ve got to get control of this, I’m still learning that folks are going to the beach in a place like Florida,” Beshear said.

He issued an advisory last week for Kentuckians traveling to a number of hot spot states. People traveling to those places are recommended to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine.

Beshear said Tuesday that he talked to people this week who changed their plans and will instead vacation at Kentucky Lake. He said that “both helps our economy but it’s also the right thing to do.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness and be fatal.

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Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is set to announce “new steps” Monday as the state experiences rising COVID-19 case numbers.

According to a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Beshear says Kentucky and the White House have agreed that additional steps need to be taken to address the ongoing, and escalating, COVID-19 pandemic. Beshear did not mention, nor tease the nature of those anticipated “steps” that are to be announced.

“I want you to know that the White House and Kentucky state government are in complete agreement that the escalation of cases is going to require us to take some new steps,” Beshear said Sunday. “We’re going to announce those steps tomorrow and we’ll talk through the what and the why behind each one.” 

The governor’s statement came as he announced the state had crossed the 27,000-mark for COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, and that the state’s death toll as a result of the pandemic had reached 700. Beshear announced 316 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, along with four new deaths, including that of a 70-year-old woman from Harlan County.

Kentucky has had at least 27,079 COVID-19 cases, Beshear’s office said. Of the new cases announced Sunday, eight were from children aged 5 or younger.

On Friday, Beshear’s office announced Kentucky had experienced the second-highest number of newly-reported COVID-19 cases, with 797 new cases reported that day. On Saturday, the state, again, set the second-highest number of newly reported cases it had experienced. On Saturday, Beshear’s office announced that there were 836 new COVID-19 cases in Kentucky, and that the state’s positivity rate had increased to 5.41 percent.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in Kentucky on March 6.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor warned Thursday that more restrictions could be reimposed to combat the coronavirus if the state doesn’t show progress soon in slowing the surging number of infections.

Gov. Andy Beshear also acknowledged he wouldn’t ask school teachers to return to classrooms amid the current spike in virus cases. Beshear has said he wants to see schools reopen, but expressed misgivings about in-person classes resuming in early August if the escalation continues.

The sobering assessments came as the Democratic governor reported another 611 virus cases, pushing the statewide total past 25,000 since the start of the pandemic. He reported seven more virus-related deaths in Kentucky, raising the death toll to 684.

Beshear has already taken recent steps, including requiring that most people wear masks in public, to try to blunt the recent upswing in cases. The governor told reporters that “it’s about time to start seeing” progress and said he’ll assess the situation next week.

“We’re going to have to really start seeing at least a leveling off — that’s what we would expect to see first — or we’ll have to consider additional steps at that time,” he said.

“We just can’t let this thing get out of control,” he added. “We’ll continue to take whatever actions that we have to, based on the guidance of the White House and our public health officials, to make sure that we can stop the escalation.”

Additional steps to contain the virus could potentially include closing bars and reducing capacity at restaurants. Beshear said he doesn’t want to impose new restrictions because people would be laid off and small businesses would be hurt.

But if he decides to take more action, he said: “Our goal would be how do we get the maximum impact on reducing the virus with the smallest impact on our economy.”

The governor took aggressive steps in the spring to shut down much of the state’s economy to curb the virus. Beshear eventually lifted or eased many of those restrictions to reopen commerce and other activities, but has since taken new steps to try to reverse the state’s record surge in cases.

Besides the mask mandate, Beshear recently announced limits on social gatherings and a travel advisory. Kentuckians traveling to several hot-spot states are recommended to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine. He also reduced the number of people allowed at social gatherings from 50 to 10. The rule doesn’t apply to businesses or wedding venues.

Meanwhile, with school districts making plans for the upcoming school year, the governor raised concerns about the timing of resuming in-person classes with surging virus cases.

Asked if he’d be willing to return to school if he were a teacher, Beshear replied: “I wouldn’t ask a teacher to do that today.” He added that he wants to see where case numbers stand next week.

Beshear said he wouldn’t be surprised to see some districts opt for virtual instruction at the outset or push back the start of the school year in hopes that virus cases are reined in.

“If we don’t see a stabilization at least by early next week, I’m likely to make a recommendation that if you are (starting in) early August, that you push back a little bit and give us time to see if we can get it under control,” the governor said.

He said there are “basic non-negotiables” as districts look to resume in-person instruction.

“I do want to see a school be able to spread kids out,” Beshear said. “I do want to make sure that every child that goes, if they can’t be 6 feet apart from somebody, wears a facial covering.”

Meanwhile, Beshear reported that 581 people are hospitalized in Kentucky because of the virus, with 135 in intensive care. Both numbers were down from the prior day.

“We are still in a generally good place with our overall bed capacity in Kentucky, our ICU capacity and certainly our number of ventilators that we still have out there,” the governor said.

But in a time of escalating cases, “that can get out of control really fast,” he said.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness and be fatal.

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Kentucky is rolling back its recommendations for social gatherings amid an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the state.

At a press conference Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear said he is recommending social gatherings should reduce to no more than 10 people, as opposed to the 50-person recommendation that was put into place as the state’s COVID-19 numbers plateaued weeks ago. The recommendation does not include bars, restaurants or front-facing businesses. The gatherings recommendation takes effect Monday, July 20.

Beshear also announced a travel advisory for Kentuckians. He said anyone traveling to Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina or Texas should quarantine for 15 after returning home. The travel advisory covers states with COVID-19 positivity rates of 15 percent or more.

The recommendations come after Kentucky set a new high for daily case increases on Sunday, with 979 new COVID-19 cases that day. During Monday’s briefing, Beshear announced 258 new cases for the day, attributing the number to labs not reporting numbers to the state due to the weekend. He said he anticipates high numbers to be reported again by mid week. Beshear also announced one new death Monday.

Editor’s note: This report was compiled in-part using information from a LEX18 new report.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s highest court on Friday blocked lower courts from suspending the governor’s emergency orders related to the coronavirus pandemic pending its own review.

The state Supreme Court stepped into the dispute by issuing a stay on any orders halting enforcement of Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive actions. In doing so, the high court preempted a judge who was expected to sign an order blocking all of the governor’s COVID-19 orders.

In its dramatic order, the high court said two lower courts could proceed with coronavirus-related issues before them and issue “finding of fact and conclusions of law.” But the Supreme Court said “no order, however characterized, shall be effective.”

“Our stay shall continue until the full record of proceedings below is reviewed by this court, all parties have been given the opportunity to address the orders in briefs, and this court issues a final order addressing these issues of paramount public importance to all citizens of the commonwealth,” the Supreme Court said.

Earlier in the day, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said a Boone County circuit judge intended to sign an order blocking all of the governor’s emergency orders.

Beshear’s office acknowledged it was anticipating a lower court order that would “void all of the orders the governor has issued to keep us safe.”

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After months of daily briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky’s governor has ceased the tradition in favor of a new weekly format.

During Wednesday’s briefing, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that day’s briefing would be last daily live update he would conduct. Beshear recently scaled back the schedule for his briefings to four days per week, but since early March, he had mostly been a daily fixture in providing updates on Kentucky’s ongoing response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think it’s time. We’ve done a lot of these,” Beshear said Wednesday. “I think I’ve permanently lost part of my voice, but I appreciate everybody sticking with us, especially when information was so critical, changing so quickly. We now know a lot more about this virus and we’ll be able to come to you when it’s important if there are major changes that cause us to change strategy.”

Beshear will now move to a weekly format, and will offer live updates on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. He indicated the new format will not only center upon the state’s response to the ongoing pandemic, but also other happenings and developments across the state.

Updates on the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky, including up-to-date numbers may still be found on Kentucky’s COVID-19 information website, kycovid19.ky.gov.

Beshear gave his first press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic on Feb. 27, and he began his daily briefings on March 5, the day before he confirmed the state’s very first confirmed case of COVID-19. The briefings earned him widespread praise for his empathetic and transparent handling of the crisis, while also shining a light on Kentucky for its response to the pandemic. Many times, Beshear became emotional while delivering daily updates on new COVID-19 cases and deaths associated with the virus.

Beshear’s daily briefings and his growing popularity at the time also inspired the Facebook group “Andy Beshear Memes for Social Distancing Teens,” where members of the page shared memes and other posts in support of the governor and his handling of the crisis. The group boasts nearly 225,000 members.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear on Wednesday announced an international agreement with the Dutch government and other international partners to promote farm technology in Kentucky.

The agreement was initiated by AppHarvest and involves other companies that Beshear said are “reimagining the future of farming.” It follows up on a campaign pledge the Democratic governor made last year to promote high-tech farming in the Bluegrass State.

The partnership establishes an advisory council and launches a series of research programs, construction of “a center of excellence” and the building of additional private infrastructure similar to an AppHarvest farm set to open this fall in Morehead.

“COVID-19 has driven home how critical it is that we have a stable food supply, (that) we have it here in the United States,” Beshear said.

Over the past two years, Kentucky has sent delegations to the Netherlands to study advanced farming techniques practiced there. The agreement calls for establishing a “Dutch representative office” in Kentucky to encourage investment in local projects and create new job opportunities.

Around two-fifths of Kentucky’s workforce has filed for unemployment benefits for the first time over the past 12 weeks, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Reversing his Republican predecessor, Kentucky’s Democratic governor announced plans to bring back a health insurance program his father started that was credited with signing up hundreds of thousands of people for coverage before it was dismantled.

Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that he sent a letter to federal officials notifying them of his plans to revive the state’s health insurance exchange at the start of 2022. The program was an outgrowth of the landmark Affordable Care Act championed by then-President Barack Obama.

Beshear’s father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, launched the state’s online exchange in 2013, but it was dismantled by the Republican governor who followed. The state’s exchange, dubbed kynect, allowed Kentuckians to purchase commercial health plans or sign up for Medicaid — a joint federal and state health care program for poor and disabled people.

Steve Beshear’s successor, GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, had abolished the state exchange, fulfilling a campaign promise from his election in 2015. Bevin said it was too costly and that Kentuckians could use the federal website to buy health insurance.

Andy Beshear unseated Bevin in last year’s election, and on Wednesday the new governor took the step of moving to revive the state exchange as part of his efforts to expand health insurance coverage.

“We have an opportunity to be better, to get healthier, to save money and ultimately to provide that basic human right that is health care,” Beshear said.

The state can do a better job of running the exchange, he said, adding that doing so would lower health insurance premiums for many Kentuckians. They now pay a 3% surcharge on insurance plans obtained through the federal site, amounting to $9.8 million a year, he said.

Beshear said the coronavirus outbreak has reinforced a “critical and deadly lesson” on the importance of health care coverage in a state plagued by high disease rates.

“This pandemic shows us that the lack of good health care options makes us more vulnerable and less resilient,” he said. “In the last four years, we moved backwards on health care. The rate of uninsured children and overall the rate of uninsured Kentuckians grew.”

Under the state’s health exchange, about a half million newly eligible Kentuckians were enrolled for coverage through Medicaid or other health plans, Beshear said.

“Kynect was one of the most successful exchanges in the country,” he said. “And because of it, we reduced our uninsured Kentuckians at the highest rate in the country for several straight years.”

The governor said last week that his goal is to have every Kentuckian covered through private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. He said then that an early focus would be on signing up black Kentuckians for coverage, noting they have suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus.

Relaunching the state exchange will result in a $5 million, one-time fee, followed by yearly operating costs of $1 million to $2 million, the governor said. Resuming the state’s own exchange will give it the added flexibility to extend enrollment periods to sign people up, he said.

It’s the latest move by Beshear to reverse Bevin’s health care policies.

Early in his term, Beshear halted Bevin’s efforts to impose work requirements as a condition for some able-bodied adults to receive Medicaid health coverage. Beshear signed an executive order rescinding Bevin’s plan to require that the affected recipients either work, study, volunteer or perform other “community engagement” activities to qualify for Medicaid coverage. A federal judge blocked the requirements before they took effect, but Bevin’s administration had appealed.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has been awarded a $55.15 million federal grant to widen 11 miles of the Mountain Parkway, officials said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation grant will be used to create a four-lane corridor for drivers between Interstate 64 and Salyersville, Gov. Andy Beshear’s office said in a news release.

Beshear and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the expansion is expected to help move freight and goods through the area and reduce travel time.

Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said the expansion “will bring the Mountain Parkway Expansion one step closer to closing the only gap in a 400-mile, four-lane, high-speed corridor” across the state.

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