Kentucky’s new Democratic governor hits the ground running

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Just days into his term as Kentucky’s governor, Democrat Andy Beshear already has checked off some big priorities from his to-do list.

A new state school board has been installed. The education commissioner is gone. More than 140,000 nonviolent felons had their voting rights restored.

Now comes the hard part – working with a Republican-led legislature with its own policy priorities that will likely clash at times with his.

Beshear’s aggressive start in his first three days as governor was possible because he did most of it with executive orders, fulfilling promises he made during the campaign.