Politics

Prominent Kentucky Republicans are urging grassroots efforts to expand GOP influence in Frankfort by flipping the last two Democratic constitutional offices in the upcoming election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin and Congressman James Comer joined incumbent officers and Republican office-seekers at the First District Lincoln Reagan Dinner Saturday night in Murray.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke addressed a packed bar overlooking Cleveland’s industrial valley Monday afternoon, days after announcing his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

O’Rourke spoke for about 45 minutes, taking questions from an audience that filled Gino’s Cento Anno and spilled outside onto the patio in Cleveland’s Brooklyn Centre neighborhood. He opened by telling the crowd the country had never been more polarized.

The Kentucky legislature has passed a bill banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, sending the measure to Gov. Matt Bevin to be signed into law.

Leaders of the Kentucky legislature have proposed revising the state’s tax code, cutting $105 million in state revenue largely by changing how local banks get taxed.

Vice President Mike Pence visited the Ohio Oil And Gas annual meeting Friday to talk about the administration’s effort to expand energy production, and defend the administration’s national emergency declaration.

Columbus Police have concluded their internal investigation into the 2018 arrest of Stormy Daniels at a Columbus strip club, which the department calls “improper” but not pre-planned or politically motivated.

An estimated 21 percent of Hoosiers smoke – one of the highest smoking rates in the country. 

But of the nine bills related to smoking, cigarettes, and e-liquids introduced at the Statehouse this session, only two are moving forward. 

Amid massive protests from teachers in the state Capitol Thursday, Gov. Matt Bevin spoke at an anti-abortion rally celebrating several bills that would restrict the procedure.

The state legislature is poised to pass several anti-abortion bills, including one that would ban the procedure as early as six weeks — earlier than many people realize they are pregnant.

During Thursday’s rally, Bevin called himself the “most pro-life governor in America” and said restricting abortion protects human life.

A bill that would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat some medical conditions has passed out of a state legislative panel.

Though the legislation has a long way to go to pass out of the legislature, the move amounts to one of the only times that a medical marijuana proposal has advanced in the statehouse.

House Bill 136 would create a state-regulated system that would include growers, processors, dispensers and testers of marijuana.

Leaders of the Kentucky House and Senate have begun meeting behind closed doors to hammer out a final version of a bill that re-opens the two-year tax bill that passed last year.