Ark Park Still in Kentucky Budget

The governor of Kentucky plans budget cuts of $350 million over two years, including $50 million from public education and substantial cuts to higher education – but has managed to find $11 million to build an interchange to a phantasmical Ark Park, according to LEO Weekly, a Louisville alternative newspaper. Presumably the interchange, which will connect to a 1-mile road between Interstate 75 and a town of 3500, will go to roughly the same place as the Bridge to Nowhere or one of its brethren.

The governor, Steve Beshear, reportedly understands that his state “struggles due to the lack of an educated labor force” and admits that his proposed budget “is inadequate for the future needs of our people.” Maybe he should read a recent editorial in Science magazine and ponder whether the poor performance of US students in science and mathematics can be traced to politicians who cut education budgets and pander to anti-scientific crackpots.