Andy Beshear

The Kentucky Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Gov. Matt Bevin didn’t do anything wrong in 2017 when he overhauled several state boards that deal with public education.

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear sued Bevin over the actions, arguing that the governor had circumvented the legislature’s lawmaking authority by appointing non-voting charter school advisers to the Kentucky Board of Education and totally replacing boards that deal with certifying teachers and establishing curriculum standards, among other changes.

While Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has run into resistance from Republican lawmakers on pension legislation, and faced a messy dispute with his lieutenant governor, his Democratic challenger has forged alliances with his ex-rivals as the campaign starts taking shape.

Bevin and his Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear, have previewed themes likely to play out in their fall campaign in a red state race that could offer clues about the mood of the electorate heading into next year's presidential election.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has won a closer-than-expected primary election and will face Attorney General Andy Beshear during this year’s race to be Kentucky’s next governor.

The two men have been political rivals since taking office more than three years ago with Beshear, a Democrat, filing a series of lawsuits against Bevin over executive orders and a controversial pension bill.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear highlighted his support for teachers during a stop in Bowling  Green on Friday in his effort to gain the Democratic nomination for governor in next Tuesday’s primary.

The Jefferson County Teachers Association has endorsed Democrat Adam Edelen in the governor’s race.

But Beshear said he’s not running to get the support of any organization. He says he’s been fighting for teachers because it’s the right thing to do.

“When Matt Bevin tried to illegally cut their pensions, I took him to the Supreme Court. We won 7-0 and protected each and every pension," said Beshear. "When he’s attacked our teachers and is trying to fine them $1,000 a day for protesting at the Capitol, I’m standing up to him.”

Kentucky’s attorney general is taking the nation’s three largest insulin manufacturers to court over rising drug prices. 

Beshear has filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court against Eli Lilly, Sanofi-Aventis, and Novo Nordisk.  The three defendants control 96 percent of the world’s insulin market.  

Beshear says the companies have increased the price of their insulin products at least ten times while production costs have remained low, usually less than seven dollars per vial.  The wholesale price has jumped to nearly $300 and the price paid by some Kentuckians can exceed $1,000 a month.

With one week until the primary election, Kentucky’s Democratic candidates for governor made their pitches for why they should be their party’s nominee during a debate on KET Monday night.

It’s the third televised event during this year’s race to see who will take on the winner of the Republican primary, which includes incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin and three Republican challengers. Democrats will participate in two more televised forums this week.

All three Democratic candidates voiced support for increasing state revenue to provide more money for state programs like public education, Medicaid and the state worker pension system, but candidates differed on how they would do it.

A record number of Kentucky residents are registered to vote in the May 21 primary election. 

The Kentucky Secretary of State’s office reports that 3,421,796 Kentuckians are registered to vote in the upcoming primary.

That’s 18,891 more registered voters than in the General Election  in 2018.

Looking at the breakdown by political party, Democratic voters represent about 49 percent of the electorate, with about 1,684,200 voters.

The Kentucky Labor Cabinet filed a notice of removal Thursday, seeking to move a lawsuit Attorney General Andy Beshear and the Jefferson County Teachers Association filed in state court to federal court.

The lawsuit sought to block subpoenas the Kentucky Labor Cabinet issued to 10 school districts to seek attendance records that could identify school employees who called in sick to protest during the last legislative session.

The Kentucky Department of Education has handed over records to the Labor Cabinet that could identify teachers who participated in a sickout at the state Capitol that closed Jefferson County Public Schools for six days this spring.

Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Jessica Fletcher confirmed the department received a subpoena from the Labor Cabinet Thursday demanding the records by the end of the day.

KDE had the attendance records in hand. In March, KDE itself had required 10 school districts, including JCPS, to send documents regarding the days schools closed due to the protests. At that time, Commissioner of Education Wayne Lewis said the department would not directly punish teachers, but indicated in a press release that the Labor Cabinet could investigate the matter and seek to fine teachers up to $1,000.

The state Attorney General’s Office is issuing a scam alert after several Kentuckians reported losing money to two computer virus scams. 

In the last two months, the attorney general’s office has received complaints from Kentuckians in Daviess, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, and Johnson counties with losses totaling more than $92,000. 

A Jefferson County victim alone lost $89,000 and, so far, hasn't been able to recover the stolen funds.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has filed a lawsuit to block subpoenas issued by Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration as part of an investigation into teacher sickouts.

The complaint Beshear filed Monday seeks a temporary injunction to prevent school districts from having to submit records to the Kentucky Labor Cabinet that might identify teachers who participated in recent sickouts at the statehouse. Labor Cabinet Secretary David Dickerson has said it is his office’s duty to investigate whether school employees broke a state law prohibiting public employees from striking. The Labor Cabinet could punish any violation of that law with a fine of up to $1,000. 

Kentucky’s Democratic candidates for governor participated in the first televised debate of the campaign season Wednesday night. They argued over issues like abortion, how to generate more revenue for the state and who has the best chance to beat incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin.

Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of former Gov. Steve Beshear, is trying to maintain his front-runner status in the race while former auditor Adam Edelen and longtime state Rep. Rocky Adkins search for a path to victory.

With about a month to go before Kentucky’s primary elections, all three major Democratic candidates for governor appeared together on stage for the first time on Thursday.

During a forum held by Louisville’s Rotary Club, candidates differed only slightly in their stances on a wide range of issues including preserving Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion, shoring up public education and allowing casino gambling to generate revenue for the state’s ailing pension systems.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear says he’ll take Gov. Matt Bevin to court if he doesn’t rescind subpoenas for information about teachers who participated in protests in Frankfort last month.

Last week, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet demanded information from several school districts identifying the names of teachers who called in sick on the same days that protests took place in Frankfort.