The Kentucky Society for Human Resource Management (KYSHRM) and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce are now accepting registrations for the 2025 Best Places to Work in Kentucky program. Now in its 21st year, the program continues to encourage companies in the Commonwealth to focus, measure and advance workplace environments toward excellence.

Click here to register for the survey program.

Registrations must be submitted by Friday, December 6.

Research partner Workforce Research Group will survey participating companies and reveal award winners on May 22.

Award winners will receive a final ranking at the awards ceremony scheduled for May 22, at the Central Bank Center in Lexington. Rankings and in-depth interviews with the winners will also be published in the Best Places to Work in Kentucky magazine.

Winners will be selected from three categories, small companies of 15-149 employees, medium companies of 150-499 employees and large companies consisting of more than 500 employees. Category is based on number of U.S. employees, but only Kentucky employees surveyed.

The selection process is based on an assessment of the company’s employer policies and procedures and the results of an internal employee survey. Workforce Research Group manages the assessment and survey based on research and list selection.

All participating companies receive survey feedback, which enables them to develop and implement strategies aimed at creating a great workplace and improving business performance.

Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – When it comes to school, math can be a divisive subject for both students and educators.

Though the Educator’s Professional Implementation Center, or EPIC, a group that works within the Green River Regional Education Cooperative is hoping to change that.

Earlier this month, EPIC announced its designation as an Approved Professional Learning Partner with the Kentucky Numeracy Counts Academies.

“With the recent passing of the Kentucky Numeracy Counts Act, which is House Bill 162 of 2024, the intent of that bill is to increase mathematics support for students and to impact student outcomes,” said EPIC’s Chief Programming Director Rebecca Gaddie. “When KED, the Kentucky Department of Education, received funding related to that particular house bill, they were able to open up the opportunity for partners to submit proposals and become an approved professional learning partner in that work with them.”

This approval will allow EPIC to give 200 Kentucky educators the chance to increase their mathematical literacy through their Numeracy Alliance.

“They’re going to receive some in person training at a couple of locations across Kentucky, as well as some ongoing support around how to increase their own capacity in mathematics as just an individual,” Gaddie said. “Then also, how to support students in really deep learning mathematical reasoning in relation to our standards for mathematical practice and our Kentucky mathematics standards.”

The program is open to third through eighth grade educators across the Commonwealth, with Gaddie adding districts won’t have to come up with a fee.

“With that house bill, some funding came down to the Kentucky Department of Education, and as an approved partner with KDE, we’re actually able to sponsor the fee for engagement in this opportunity, which is a value of $3,500 per educator over the two-year experience.”

Gaddie said the program is just as much for math fanatics as it is educators who want to subtract the subject all together.

“Traditionally, mathematics has been something that some people like, and some people are a little bit more apprehensive about. So, one of our main goals is to open up people to this idea of enjoying mathematics, to really digging around in the fun part of mathematics, which is really where the complex mathematics happens. Looking at patterns, really identifying relationships between quantities and looking for math in the world around them and how they actually use it in real life.”

Grade three through five educators will be focused on numeracy concepts related to fractions, while grade six through eight educators will build their understanding of ratios and proportional reasoning.

EPIC will be hosting educators from across the state at their kickoff meeting Sept. 27 in Bowling Green and Oct. 17 in Shelbyville.

Educators interested in the program are asked to email EPIC at epic@grrecc.org.

Copyright 2024 WBKO. All rights reserved.

A former University of Kentucky student who physically assaulted and shouted racial slurs at a Black student has pleaded guilty to several charges, according to multiple news reports.

On Monday, Aug. 12, Sophia Rosing, 23, pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault as well as one count of disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Fayette County Circuit Court, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, USA Todayand WLEX-TV. 

On Nov. 6, 2022, Rosing, who is White, was accused by authorities of physically assaulting and repeatedly shouting racial slurs at Kylah Spring, who is Black, at the campus residence hall where Spring worked, USA Today reported. The incident was caught on video and went viral on social media.

University police responded to the scene and said in a police report cited by the Herald-Leader that Rosings appeared “very intoxicated” and resisted arrest, adding that she kicked an officer and bit the officer’s hand. She was later permanently banned from campus.

“As a community working to prevent racist violence, we also must be committed to holding people accountable for their actions,” University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouoto said in a statement at the time, according to USA Today.

Monday’s guilty pleas came after a mediation earlier that day in which Rosing’s attorney, Fred Peters, said, “A lot of things got said, apologies were made and we worked it out,” the Herald-Leader reported. 

Rosing, he claimed, “has had a lot of time to think about what she has done, and she wrote a nice letter of apology.”

Spring addressed the guilty plea on Monday, telling WLEX-TV that she forgives Rosing but notes that the process hasn’t been easy.

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“I forgive her more so for myself,” Spring told the outlet. “I was raised not to hold grudges, I was raised that we give people forgiveness because God forgave us. It’s a hard thing for me to come to terms with, but in the end, I want to live a life where people can say I was a kind and forgiving person.”

According to WLEX-TV, Spring has since founded The Spirit & Grace Project to provide support to other Black women attending colleges and universities where White people are the majority.

Rosing faces up to a year in prison and 100 hours of community service, USA Today reported. 

Public court records show she’s scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 17.

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