Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he expects fellow Republican Gov. Bill Haslam to announce by Friday's deadline that Tennessee will move ahead with plans to create a state-run health insurance exchange.
In Kentucky's fourth-largest city, there's no instant access to an interstate seen as a magnet for job growth, but officials in Owensboro are riding hopes that a new study will put them on a path toward becoming aligned with a highway running from Tennessee to Michigan.
A statewide gay rights organization says the Shelbyville City Council is being asked to consider an anti-discrimination ordinance. The Fairness Coalition says some residents of the town of around 15,000 will ask the council Thursday night to consider the measure.
A southern Kentucky sheriff facing federal civil rights violations charges says he won't seek re-election when his term ends in December 2013. Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton told The Daily Times that he may open a barbecue restaurant or look for a job with the Cincinnati Reds and spend time with his grandchildren.
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says he will seek to legalize industrial hemp in 2013, and to kick off the effort he convened a Wednesday meeting of a hemp commission that hasn't met in years. Comer told members of Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission that passing hemp legislation will be his top priority in next year's General Assembly.
