Poll Shows Public Support for Televising Supreme Court Hearings
A recent public poll indicates that 61% of voters believe that televising Supreme Court Hearings would be "good for democracy." About one-fourth stated that doing so would "undermine the Court's dignity or authority." Supreme Court hearings are currently not televised. The full report may be found at:
http://publicmind.fdu.edu/courttv/

LBA Releases Results of Judicial Evaluations
The Louisville Bar Association released the results of their annual Jefferson County Judicial Evaluation, based on ratings submitted by local attorneys. The District Judges who received an overall Satisfaction Rating of 91% or higher were the Honorable Donald E. Armstrong, Jr., Angela McCormick Bisig, David P. Bowles, Anne Leitsch Haynie, Claude R. Prather, Ann Bailey Smith, Michele B. Stengel, Judith K. Bartholomew and Joan "Toni" Stringer. (No Circuit Court Judges were evaluated in this report.) The full results may be found at: http://www.loubar.org/download/JudicialReviewReport_09.pdf

Governor Beshear Appoints Jefferson District Judge
Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed Mason Lee Trenaman Sr. as District Judge for the 30th Judicial District, Division 13, to fill the vacancy of the retiring Joan A. Stringer. Judge Trenaman received his juris doctor from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law and his bachelor's degree from Murray State University.

2009 Bank Failures More Costly than Entire S & L Crises
According to its own estimates, the FDIC will sustain losses in excess of $36 billion to cover the 140 bank failures in 2009. That cost will eclipse the total dollar amount of the losses the FDIC incurred during the entire six years from 1987 through 1992, when over one thousand banks collapsed during the savings and loan crisis, costing the FDIC over $29 billion.