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Politics makes strange bedfellows. That wise old adage is being proven once again in Kentucky, where some liberal activists and left-wing super PACs are telling Tea Party groups they'll support a conservative challenge against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the 2014 GOP primary.

Politico reports the goal for liberals would be to "soften up" McConnell in the primary, in hopes that he would then be vulnerable against a strong Democratic challenger in the November general election.

No big-name Democratic challengers have thrown their hats into the ring yet, with only Owensboro home-builder Ed Marksberry so far committing to the race. Rumors have been swirling regarding a potential Senate run by Kentucky-born actress Ashley Judd, but Judd recently said she is undecided about entering the race.

McConnell finds himself taking heat from the right, with some Kentucky Tea Party groups accusing the GOP incumbent of being too moderate in recent negotiations over the fiscal cliff.

And a recent Courier-Journal Bluegrass poll shows 34% of those surveyed said they would vote against McConnell in 2014, with just 17% saying they'll vote for the Louisville Republican. Forty-four percent said they were undecided.

Governor Bill Haslam has presented to lawmakers the spending plan that includes a staffing shakeup at the troubled Department of Children's Services, a heavy investment into construction projects around the state and a large deposit into the state's cash savings fund.

The Governor also formally introduced his proposal to create a limited school voucher program in Tennessee to allow parents to use public money to send their children to private schools. According to legislation filed in the Senate on Monday, the program would be limited to 5,000 students in the school year that begins in August, and grow to 20,000 students by 2016.

Haslam acknowledged the proposal will be "hotly debated" and Democrats issued a statement before the speech to criticize the plan.

More than 500,000 people visited distilleries along Kentucky's bourbon trail in 2012, marking a 15% increase over the year before.

The Trail's director said the new attendance record was 509,292. It's the first time since the trail opened in 1999 that the number of visitors broke the half-million mark. Adam Johnson said visitors came from all 50 states and more than 50 countries.

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is a distillery tour that features Four Roses and Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg, Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Jim Beam in Clermont, Maker's Mark in Loretto, Town Branch in Lexington and Woodford Reserve in Versailles.

Nearly two years after their arrest in Bowling Green, a pair of Iraqi nationals will be sentenced Tuesday on terrorism-related charges.

Prosecutors say Mohanned Shariff Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan came to Bowling Green in 2009 and soon after began trying to send cash and weapons to al-Qaeda in Iraq.  The local case raised many national security issues. 

Although both Alwan and Hammadi had been arrested by Iraq security forces in 2006 they were allowed to enter the U.S. as refugees. That highlighted gaps in the screening process, and there was also a debate about the proper location for the trial of Alwan and Hammadi. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell argued the men were foreign fighters and should be treated as such.

State and federal authorities are accusing a University of Kentucky athletics booster of running a massive pyramid scheme. A lawsuit has been filed against Fortune High-Tech Marketing, a Lexington company owned by Paul Orberson. 

The self-made millionaire has donated more than $1 million to UK athletics. Attorney General Jack Conway says Fortune High-Tech scammed more 100,000 people out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Conway says 96% of people who bought into Fortune High-Tech lost their money.