by Sheldon S. Shafer, @sheldonshafer – Gov. Matt Bevin has named attorney Doreen Showalter Goodwin as Family Court judge for the 12th Judicial Circuit, Division 2, which covers Oldham, Henry and Trimble counties. She replaces Judge Tim Feeley, who has resigned. The unexpired term runs through November 2016. Goodwin is a solo practitioner and served as the master…
by Ryland Barton – Riding a wave of notoriety from his failed presidential campaign, Sen. Rand Paul has returned to Kentucky, relatively unscathed, to run for re-election to his U.S. Senate seat. Paul has an easy path to securing the nomination in Tuesday’s primary election. With no major challengers this year, he hasn’t run TV ads or…
by Carl Weiser and Scott Wartman, swartman@nky.com – Top Kentucky Republicans – including Gov. Matt Bevin – vowed Friday to resist the Obama administration’s directive ordering schools to let transgender students use bathrooms that match their gender identity. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who dropped out of the Republican presidential race earlier this month, declined comment. Kentucky schools, Bevin…
by Kate Howard – Among more than 320,000 offshore accounts and trusts unveiled in a Panama Papers database Monday are a handful of accounts with names similar to Kentucky entities, and a few registered to addresses in the commonwealth. Names on the accounts mirror a consulting company, a coal education foundation and historic Churchill Downs. Among the individuals identified…
by KARYN CZAR – Secretary of State Allison Lundergran Grimes expects voter turnout to be slightly better than in the 2004 and 2012 primary elections, which were under 14 percent. She’s predicting around 20 percent turnout next week. Grimes wants to get the word out that Republicans still have several things on the ballot even though…
by Tom Loftus, @TomLoftus_CJ – Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he has filed a lawsuit questioning the process and validity of Gov. Matt Bevin’s vetoes. Last month, Stumbo raised questions about the validity of Bevin‘s vetoes and mentioned he could take the matter to court. Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, told the Lexington Herald-Leader in an interview last month that one concern he has…
by Joseph Gerth, @Joe_Gerth – All but one Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate on Monday endorsed what some of them characterized has “common sense” gun laws during a debate on Kentucky Educational Television Monday night.. Ron Leach, a former Army Green Beret, said he favors “pragmatic, reasonable steps” to deal with gun violence, including requiring safety…
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Several underfunded candidates have piled on Democratic front-runner Jim Gray for putting his own money into his campaign for a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat. Six Democratic candidates met in a forum shown statewide on Kentucky Educational Television on Monday night, days ahead of the state’s May 17 primary. Candidate Ron Leach called the reliance on big campaign…
by Joseph Gerth, @Joe_Gerth – Republican Jason Nemes is crying foul over a campaign mailer from incumbent state Rep. Ron Crimm that seems to imply that he has won the Courier-Journal’s endorsement. Nemes, a lawyer in Louisville, is challenging Crimm in the May 17 GOP primary. “I think it’s an indication that he will say anything…
by Deborah Yetter, @d_yetter – FRANKFORT, Ky. – Calling on Christians to get God back in government, Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and successor to his international ministry, held a rally on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday, urging the faithful to elect more people of God to public office. “We need Christian men and…