I’m so pleased to report that legislation honoring Shemp Howard (née Samuel Horwitz), the most overlooked member of the comedy troupe, The Three Stooges, has now officially become a law in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Shemp has deserved this honor for decades, and I for one am thrilled to death that a proud Jewish exemplar is finally getting the recognition he so truly deserves.

Mazel Tov, Shemp!!!

UPDATE  4:30

So it turns out that the legislation that has officially become law is not “Shemp” legislation, but “hemp” legislation.

(Which is also pretty damn awesome. Read my piece upon the bill’s passage in the General Assembly.)

But my apologies to the Howard family and the entire American Jewish community for my reading mistake.

Here is the update on the hemp legislation from the Courier-Journal:

Gov. Steve Beshear will allow legislation permitting hemp production in Kentucky to become law without his signature, and now supporters of the measure say they plan to turn their attention toward Washington in hopes of knocking down federal barriers to the crop.

The bill will officially become law at the end of the day Saturday but will have no real effect until the federal government takes action to declassify hemp as an illegal drug or to grant Kentucky a waiver that would allow people to start growing the plant, which is native to Kentucky.

“We’re going to be figuring out a strategy about going to Washington and trying to get a waiver or trying to get them to lift the ban,” said state Rep. Paul Hornback, the primary sponsor of the bill.

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, of Tompkinsville, a key proponent of the legislation, said he plans to talk next week with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth about how to move forward to obtain federal permission to grow the crop. “I hope farmers can start putting seeds in the ground next spring.”

Hemp fiber, oil and seed have a variety of uses and can be used in products including clothing and fuel. Hornback said the market for hemp products in the United States is more than $400 million annually, which he expects to increase if cultivation resumes in the country.

Hornback and Comer argued that as one of the first states to allow hemp farming, Kentucky could attract processors they speculate could employ hundreds. Opponents have been concerned that legal hemp would complicate efforts to spot illegal marijuana plants. The two are identical in appearance, but hemp has a fraction of marijuana’s intoxicating ingredient THC.

Click here for the full piece.