FRANKFORT -- Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul will officially file to run for the U.S. Senate on Dec. 30, his campaign spokesman, David Adams, said Monday.
The filing will occur at 2 p.m. that day in the Capitol office of state Secretary of State Trey [...] 
FRANKFORT — A former Transportation Secretary under Gov. Ernie Fletcher wants to delay a Jan. 11 highway bid-rigging trial and has asked a federal judge to try him separately from another key defendant.
In court documents filed Friday, attorneys for Bill Nighbert [...] 
FRANKFORT -- Republican Jimmy Higdon of Lebanson will be sworn in as the newest state senator at 1 p.m. Dec. 16 in a ceremony in Marion County High School's gymnasium.
"I am humbled and honored by the trust the people of the 14th" [...] 
By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — State Rep. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, has failed for seven years to disclose to a state ethics panel that his wife holds a part-time salaried position with the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts.
Stephanie Hall is paid [...] 
FRANKFORT --- Bucking an 11-month trend, state revenues were up in November from the previous year, but Kentucky's top budget official warned Thursday that the state is still not out of its fiscal free-fall.
General Fund receipts were up [...] 
Sign a guestbook for Velma Childers
By Dori Hjalmarson - dhjalmarson@herald-leader.com
PIKEVILLE -- Mrs. Velma J. Childers, a prominent Pikeville civic leader and long-time mainstay of the Kentucky Republican Party, died at Pikeville Medical Center after a car crash Wednesday afternoon, Pike County Coroner Russell Roberts [...] 
By Andy Mead - amead@herald-leader.com
Lexington Vice Mayor Jim Gray, who has clashed with Mayor Jim Newberry on several key issues, will run for the top spot himself next year, he told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday.
"My decision has a lot to do with" [...]
By Jack Brammer - jbrammer@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Central Kentucky voters rejected an attempt by Gov. Steve Beshear to erode Republican control of the state Senate Tuesday, choosing the GOP’s Jimmy Higdon over Democrat Jodie Haydon in a special Senate election.
The election — one [...] 
FRANKFORT --Democrat Jack Conway announced his campaign team Tuesday in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
They are media strategist Mandy Grunwald of Grunwald Communications, whose clients include former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; campaign manager Jonathan Drobis; press secretary [...]
By Jack Brammer - jbrammer@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Some Central Kentucky voters will go to the polls Tuesday in a special election that could help determine which political party controls the state Senate and the fate of expanded gambling [...] 
By Jack Brammer - jbrammer@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear said he sees no reason to investigate the recent firing of a state mining regulator who blames political pressure from the coal industry for his dismissal.
Beshear said he is not aware of anyone in his [...] 
FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday that he could not rule out the possibility of layoffs as he cobbles together a two-year budget proposal that could be the most austere in recent history.
Beshear, in a wide-ranging interview with reporters on Monday, said the [...] LEXINGTON -- A federal judge ruled Monday that a bid-tampering trial scheduled to begin in January will remain in Lexington.
Defense lawyers for Leonard Lawson, a prominent road contractor, former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and Brian Billings, a Lawson employee, had argued [...]
By Jack Brammer and Ryan Alessi - jbrammer@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Republican Elliot Polach is disenchanted with his party's leaders in Washington, many of whom voted for a bank bailout and other big-ticket spending bills in the past year.
These days, he'd rather be called a conservative than' [...] 
By Halimah Abdullah - habdullah@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — For weeks, Democratic leaders gritted their teeth whenever Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell airily dismissed suggestions that Republicans would work to slow the health care debate.
The Democrats felt they knew better. Under McConnell’s leadership during [...] 
FRANKFORT – Republican Jack Ditty, a Greenup County dermatologist who narrowly lost a special state Senate election in August to Democrat Robin Webb, said Friday he will run next year for a full four-year term for the office.
“I’m definitely running. I’ve never stopped running [...] 
By Kevin Hall and Halimah Abdullah - McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Jim Bunning, the conservative junior Kentucky senator who will retire next year, landed a parting punch Thursday against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Bunning, who has railed against Bernanke’s performance during the nation’s [...]
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul issued a statement Thursday about President Barack Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, but it’s still not clear what Paul thinks of the move.
In a statement released by his campaign, Paul said it is Obama’s “prerogative to [...] 
By Halimah Abdullah - McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama's call for a troop surge in Afghanistan is shaping up as a dividing line in Kentucky's 2010 race for the U.S. Senate.
The two leading Democrats in the race — Kentucky [...] 
By Janet Patton - jpatton1@herald-leader.com
Major Republican donors with ties to horse racing are crossing party lines to support a Democrat running for the state Senate who promises he’ll back casino-style gambling at racetracks.
If that trend continues beyond the Dec. 8 special election, it could have [...] 
By Jim Warren - jwarren@herald-leader.com
The Kentucky Department of Education plans to cut its spending by about $20 million over the rest of this fiscal year, which could affect many programs in local school districts around the state.
Bedrock items including the basic [...]
FRANKFORT -- The Republican vying for a recently vacated state Senate seat is trailing his Democratic opponent in fundraising for a hotly contested Central Kentucky race, according to finance reports filed Monday.
Rep. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, raised $99,843.99 and spent about $49,170.73 from [...] FRANKFORT --- Lexington will host a conference this summer that will focus on growing and strengthening the south's standing in the automotive industry, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Tuesday.
The conference will be part of Beshear's new role as chairman of the Southern Growth Polices [...] FRANKFORT -- Attorney General Jack Conway wants Gov. Steve Beshear to set execution dates for three men on Death Row.
In a statement, Conway said that Ralph Baze Jr., Robert C. Foley and Gregory L. Wilson had exhausted all of their respective appeals [...] Beth Musgrave, Jack Brammer, John Cheves, Government Editor, Ryan Alessi, valariehoneycutt
