Andy Beshear

Gov. Andy Beshear is asking a legislative committee to dismiss an impeachment petition against him. Petitioners say Beshear violated the Kentucky Constitution when he imposed restrictions during the pandemic, including mandatory closures of non-essential businesses.

In a 45-page response to the petition, Beshear notes that the courts have upheld many of his restrictions, and describes the petitioners as “political activists ostensibly unhappy with the Governor’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and their lack of success in court.”

“The Petition cites no facts and little law in a last-ditch effort to upend our constitutional separation of powers, hoping the General Assembly will ignore the judgments of the judicial branch as well as the will of the people in electing their chief executive,” the response reads.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday how the first shipments of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will be dispersed throughout Kentucky.

At his briefing, Beshear said he expects the vaccine to be available as early as Dec. 15. The first shipment will include about 38,000 vaccinations.

Two-thirds of the shipment will go to long-term care facilities through a program operated by CVS and Walgreens. The rest will go to hospitals for frontline healthcare workers.

“We’re going to make sure that those most vulnerable in long-term care, that make up about 66% of all deaths, have first priority, along with our healthcare workers that are in there caring for COVID patients right now,” Beshear said.

Only 11 Kentucky hospitals will be included in the first shipment. They include The Medical Center in Bowling Green, multiple Baptist Health sites, including the hospital in Madisonville, Norton Healthcare, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.

The Kentucky Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favor of Gov. Andy Beshear’s power to issue emergency orders during the coronavirus pandemic.

The ruling comes after several Northern Kentucky business owners sued Beshear in late June over his orders, which affected their reopening during the pandemic.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron joined the lawsuit and expanded it, asking the court to rule on whether Beshear had the power to issue any orders during the state of emergency.

Gov. Andy Beshear has extended Kentucky’s mask mandate another 30 days amid a weeks-long surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the state.

Beshear announced 1,635 new cases Wednesday, bringing Kentucky’s total to more than 113,000. Though the total did not break any records for daily cases – something that has happened repeatedly over the past several weeks – he said it is “way too many.”

Because of the ongoing uptick in cases, the state’s mask mandate will now extend into December. Beshear said a new poll reported by the New York Times showed 71% of Kentucky voters “strongly or somewhat strongly” support mask requirements for public interactions.

Tracey Hayes was working as a retail merchandiser in March, arranging products on store shelves around Glasgow to promote sales, when she decided she couldn’t risk exposing her mother to the coronavirus or handle child care for her two children by herself.

Hayes had been watching Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily coronavirus briefings, and she was sure Team Kentucky would have her back.

“I watched him everyday. He said, ‘Healthy at home,’” Hayes said. “So I was healthy at home.”

After Kentucky logged its highest-ever number of coronavirus cases last week, Gov. Andy Beshear says he believes the pandemic is escalating in the state.

There were 4,949 new cases of coronavirus cases in Kentucky last week—more than any other week during the pandemic.

During his Monday afternoon coronavirus briefing, Beshear blamed the rise on people who haven’t been following masking and social distancing requirements during the pandemic.

“When we get casual, when we don’t show urgency, what we see is alarming trends in the virus, more cases and ultimately more people passing away,” he said.