Politics

Gov. Steve Beshear will deliver the annual State of the Commonwealth address in early February.

Spokeswoman Kerri Richardson said that the exact date hasn't yet been pinned down.

Beshear is expected to highlight his legislative priorities in the speech that will be delivered to a joint session of the Legislature.

Lawmakers are set to arrive in Frankfort on Tuesday to start the legislative session. But after a week, they're scheduled to adjourn until Feb. 5 when they return to get down to business.

Republican Andy Barr will be sworn in as the newest member of Congress from Kentucky Thursday afternoon in Washington. Barr, a Lexington attorney, won election in November over Democrat incumbent Ben Chandler in a contentious race to represent Kentucky's 6th Congressional district.

Barr will serve on the House Committee on Financial Services, which he says he considers a top tier assignment. He said he'll be able to use the committee assignment to work on solving Kentucky's job crisis by pushing to lift regulations that are preventing community banks from making needed loans to individuals and small businesses.

The "fiscal cliff" deal approved by the U.S. House and Senate over the weekend was crafted by two men on mostly opposite ends of the political spectrum: Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden.

According to a report in Politico, McConnell decided to work with the White House on the deal  because Kentucky's senior Senator believed it would help the GOP gain future leverage in entitlement negotiations, and prevent President Obama from being able to castigate Republicans as the party that held tax cuts for the middle class hostage in behalf of the richest Americans.

A Kentucky legislative leader says progress on reforming the state’s liquor laws  is slow going.  Last year, a federal judge threw out the state law that blocks grocery stores and gas stations from selling wine and spirits.

That same judge later stayed his ruling to prevent a sudden surge in liquor retailers and to allow Kentucky lawmakers to re-write the regulations.  But House Speaker Greg Stumbo says so far, no one has put forward a proposal to properly address the issue.

“Everyone hopes that there will be some sort of reasonable proposal from the entire industry that takes in consideration the court’s ruling. To date I haven’t seen that.”