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A U.S. Census worker found dead in a secluded Clay County cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a homicide, authorities have concluded. Bill Sparkman, 51, of London, might have tried to cover the manner of his death to preserve payments under life-insurance polices that he had taken out. The policies wouldn’t pay off if Sparkman committed suicide, state police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said. “We believe it was an intentional act on his part to take his own life,” said Rudzinski, who helped lead the investigation.

Y'all, this primary for the Kentucky Senate race is just amazing...never a dull moment, that's for sure! Here's a little breakdown for those of you who aren't up to speed. I have written previously about Dr. Rand Paul, there's Kentucky Secretary of State, Trey Grayson, Bill Johnson (who is endorsed by Dr. Alan Keyes, no less!), and a host of others, all in contention for the Republican slot on the ballot. To say there's a lot of politicking going on is the understatement of the year.

Rand Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), has surprised a lot of people by surging in polls and fundraising to quasi-frontrunner status in next year’s U.S. Senate race in Kentucky. But Chris Cillizza reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is weighing in against Paul and hosting a fundraiser for Trey Grayson, the young secretary of state, whose “establishment” candidate credentials have been a little banged up by Paul’s campaign.

Chandler said he voted against the “Wall Street bailout” proposed by the Bush administration because he thought it “did too much to help the Wall Street folks who caused our economic troubles” and not enough for ordinary Americans.The federal economic stimulus program, which the Chamber of Commerce supported, was “absolutely crucial” in getting the GDP to grow again, as well as improving the housing and automobile markets, Chandler said.

Rand Paul, a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky revealed in an interview Thursday for the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog that his campaign has asked 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to campaign for him: Washington Wire: Do you want Sarah Palin to campaign for you?Paul: We’d love to have her come. We’ve made some overtures to her.But the son of Texas congressman Ron Paul did not seem too excited about two other potential Republican presidential candidates: Washington Wire: What about Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney?Paul: I don’t know much about Tim Pawlenty....

Smiling after the latest WHAS11 Survey USA poll gave him a slight lead over Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Rand Paul tells WHAS11's Joe Arnold that he made an offer over the weekend to meet with Kentucky's senior senator, Mitch McConnell. "I will work with Senator Mcconnell, and I've already made the first step of calling him," Paul said. It comes three months after McConnell and twenty other Republican incumbent senators hosted a fundraiser for Grayson in Washington D.C., which has been interpreted as an endorsement for Grayson. But, when pressed whether he would...

(WHAS11) - The surprise candidate in Kentucky's Republican U.S. Senate primary tells WHAS11 News he is reaching out to senior Senator, Mitch McConnell. Rand Paul is a Bowling Green eye surgeon. His campaign's poll numbers and fundraising success have stunned party leaders and it is early in the game.

Note: The following text is a quote: Hamilton Man Sentenced to 30 Months' Imprisonment for Threatening to Bomb Cincinnati Airport and Other Cincinnati-Area Landmarks CINCINNATI—Frederick D. Purvis, 43, of Hamilton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 30 months' imprisonment for a series of messages he sent in November, 2008 in which he threatened to blow up seven Cincinnati-area landmarks including the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. He was also sentenced to serve six years of supervised release after his prison term. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, James A. Zerhusen, United...

Polls in Ohio and Kentucky are now closed. Go here for the latest results as they come in. Pike County, Ky. Lawrence County, Ohio Ohio Amendments Meigs County, Ohio Athens County, Ohio Scioto County, Ohio Gallia County, Ohio Vinton County, Ohio Jackson County, Ohio �

WHEELWRIGHT – A Wheelwright man has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, alleging agents working for the bank repossessed his home by mistake and refuse to pay for any damages other than the replacement of locks. According to court documents, Christopher Hamby arrived home on Oct. 5 to find the locks on his doors changed and physical damage to his property from winterization chemicals placed in the plumbing and various lines cut at the residence. The lawsuit also names A1 Preservation and Richard Spurgeon, who owns the business, as agents acting for Bank of America who wrongfully participated in...

The Republican party in Kentucky has never seen anything like it. Bowling Green eye doctor Rand Paul has no political experience, but with the support of the same people who backed his Dad - Texas Congressman Ron Paul when he ran for president,, Rand Paul has now at least pulled even with Secretary of State Trey Grayon in the GOP U.S. Senate primary. 32% Grayson 35% Paul 2% Johnson 1% Oerther 3% Thoney 10% Other 18% Undecided In fact, the WHAS11/Survey USA poll has Paul ahead of Grayson by three percentage points - with a 4.1 percent margin of error....

D.C. Exports School Choice Bethany Stotts, November 3, 2009 This week Virginia Walden-Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, will be traveling to Kentucky to a rally supporting state legislation for charter schools. “Ford brings her message the ‘parents deserve a choice so kids can have a chance’ to Louisville this Friday,” states the Bluegrass Institute press release. “She will speak at a rally on Friday at 7p.m. in the multipurpose facility at Midwest Church of Christ, 2115 Garland Ave…..” Walden-Ford has fought hard for the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provided vouchers for underprivileged students attending the...

Rand Paul supporters have turned the cameras on an opposition research tracker, presumably from the Trey Grayson campaign, who was videotaping Paul flipping pancakes at a charity breakfast. Watch the YouTube video here. The tracker remains stonefaced and concentrates on his own video camera as a Paul supporter attempts to interview him and provide him breakfast.

Promoters of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) ignore two large issues when seeking to incorporate LNG into the energy security mix. According to many energy and national security experts, LNG will actually increase dependency from the very countries which the United States seeks to reduce dependency—countries such as Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Who is the favorite in the Kentucky GOP primary for Jim Bunning's U.S. Senate seat? Candidate A raised $1,010,668 in the third quarter, and Candidate B raised $642,857. While Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has been considered the Republican establishment pick for the nomination (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 22 other GOP Senators supported Grayson at a D.C. fundraiser last month), he is Candidate B in this scenario. Candidate A is Bowling Green eye doctor Rand Paul. Given Paul's $1 million take, primarily from two internet "moneybombs," modeled after the presidential campaigns of Paul's father, U.S. Rep. Ron...

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Thousands of coal miners fearing the loss of jobs if mountaintop removal mining is curtailed or outlawed shouted down a handful of environmentalists at crowded public hearings Tuesday on the much-debated practice. Many in Kentucky and West Virginia wore hardhats and T-shirts and waved signs proclaiming the merits of coal. Environmentalists who have fought for decades to end the destructive form of mining that blasts away peaks to unearth coal showed up in small numbers.

Support Coal, Now! America's Future Depends on it. Watch the downfall of Obama Socialism from real Americans in Kentucky.

PIKEVILLE — Touting Pike County as a leader in not only coal but greener energy technology, businessmen and local officials made presentations to the General Assembly's joint committee on energy Wednesday. The county seeks state money to develop an ethanol plant on its landfill site, county leaders have attended national meetings about wind power, and officials pushed to ensure the courthouse being built in Pikeville will be the state's first to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said.

We have an emergency on the horizon and your participation is IMPERATIVE! The US Army Corps of Engineers is holding six public hearings October 13 and 15 to receive public comments on the two proposals related to Nationwide Permit 21 in the nation’s Appalachian Region. NWP 21 authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities. The effort is underway to apply regulations that will allow the regulation of water from the head of the watershed. The first proposal is to modify NWP 21 to prohibit its use in the Appalachian...

Republicans look like they’re in for a tough fight in Kentucky to maintain the seat of retiring U.S. Senator Jim Bunning. The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey in the state finds the two leading GOP candidates beating one top Democratic contender but struggling against the other. Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson beats Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo by seven points 44% to 37%. Four percent (4%) of Kentucky voters like some other candidate, and 14% are undecided. Both men have announced their candidacies. Mongiardo was the unsuccessful Democratic challenger to Bunning in 2004. Grayson runs dead-even 40% to 40%...

The high school football ritual is a little different for the Falcons of Fort Campbell High School in Kentucky. As the name implies, the school is on a military base. Therefore on top of sports, homework and standard teenage drama, many players are also dealing with the stress of having a parent deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Playing football on a military base is a different experience from a standard public school. For one, Gerard J. Counts, a retired command sergeant major, gives the team fiery pre-game speeches before they play. Almost every high school football team hears such a...

The Rand Paul Senate campaign is beating its collective chest after raising $1 million in the third quarter of 2009. While other campaigns may take a while to release 3rd quarter reports, the Paul campaign routinely posts its day to day totals. "The good news is we raised $55,000 the last two days with just a few phone calls and emails. The great news is that with this million dollar quarter behind us, Rand Paul can continue to shift the focus away from the power brokers' protection of the status quo to instead talking about balanced budgets, term limits, and...

There are some eye-popping numbers being posted in the current annual Keeneland auction for yearling thoroughbred horses. But they aren’t the usual kinds of numbers, with gross auction revenues 41% below last year’s total, and average prices 36% below last year’s.

By my lights, this stuff is funny and should earn the guy some votes. But there are those who, I am sure, will think less of Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D-Ky.) for it. Danny has apparently had enough of the campaign. He starts out ripping the current governor, Steve Beshear, a fellow Democrat, and then really tells us how he feels.

Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo used vulgarity as he criticized Gov. Steve Beshear and his support of Mongiardo's U.S. Senate candidacy in a recording posted last week on the Internet. In the recording, which was placed on YouTube by someone using the name "senrace2010," Mongiardo is heard saying he is so frustrated with Beshear that he is "close to saying f--- it all. I do not need this job. I do not need the U.S. Senate." Mongiardo also is heard saying that Beshear, who has endorsed Mongiardo, will be remembered as the state's "worst" governor and that a "blowup" is coming.

(Frankfort - September 24, 2009) State Auditor Crit Luallen today released the 2008 Pike County Fiscal Court audit, which refers an issue concerning a county employee to the US Attorney’s Office, Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, Kentucky Retirement Systems and county attorney. The audit found that the county’s financial statements, in all material respects, fairly present the county’s assets, liabilities, and equity arising from cash transactions and revenues received and expenditures paid in conformity with the modified cash basis of accounting. As part of the audit process, the Auditor must comment on non-compliance with laws, regulations, contracts and grants. The Auditor...

Online Conspiracy Theorists Latch Onto Census GPS Units

MANCHESTER, Ky. – When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful." The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment. "Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. Census worker found hanging from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment. The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest...

Title only.

The two men arrested are 19-year-old Kendell Towns and 19-year-old Frederick Dorsey. The victims tell WAVE 3 that a 14-year-old girl had just taken the dog out when the men chased her back inside the home. "Once patrol got there they found the two subjects upstairs with the victims in the bedroom," Schraut said. "They were starting to duct tape the victims up, the one child had duct tape in her hair still when we got there. They threw their guns down and gave up." Detectives tell us they don't know why the two men targeted that particular home, saying...

By my estimation (purely anecdotal), Rand Paul is second only to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell among Kentucky politicians getting national press. McConnell is the highest ranking Republican in the country. Paul is a Bowling Green ophthamologist (who also happens to be the son of a cult hero Congressman). Rand Paul is scheduled to be on C-SPAN's Washington Journal on Wednesday, 9/16 at 9AM ET and MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday, 9/17 at 7:15 AM ET. Wednesday afternoon he will meet with the fiscal conservative thinktank, Club for Growth.

Bluegrass Blues by: Sarah Carlsruh, September 10, 2009 It turns out that not many parents in the Bluegrass state want their children to attend public school. Paul DiPerna, author of School Choice Survey in the State: Kentucky’s Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice, found that people are not happy with the current public school system. This August 2009 study is of Kentucky voters’ opinions on their state’s school system. Strategic Vision, a public relations agency, conducted this survey by making live phone calls to a random sample of 1,200 likely Kentucky voters. Its screening questions were such as to...

If Republicans thought their headaches in the Kentucky Senate race were over when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) announced his retirement, they were wrong. Rand Paul, the son of former presidential candidate and Texas GOP Rep. Ron Paul, has crashed the party for Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who is widely regarded as the establishment pick to succeed the 77-year-old Bunning. While Paul, an ophthalmologist, is a long shot, his presence in the contest all but guarantees that Grayson will be embroiled in an expensive and potentially damaging primary contest. It’s not the scenario the GOP was hoping for. Party...

FRANKFORT — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul and a mysterious supporter are attempting to paint GOP front-runner Trey Grayson as a Washington, D.C., insider. Supporter Josh Manuel, whom Paul Campaign Manager David Adams said he doesn't know, has launched a Web site promoting a "Kentucky Fight" between Paul and Grayson on Sept. 23. The site, titled "Rand 'We the People' vs. Trey 'The DC Insiders,'" notes that 23 Republican U.S. senators, including Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, are to hold a $500-per-plate fund-raiser for Grayson's 2010 U.S. Senate campaign in Washington on Sept. 23. "This deck stacking favoritism in a highly...

Web site tries to give Paul a fund-raising boost FRANKFORT — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul and a mysterious supporter are attempting to paint GOP front-runner Trey Grayson as a Washington, D.C., insider. Supporter Josh Manuel, whom Paul Campaign Manager David Adams said he doesn't know, has launched a Web site promoting a "Kentucky Fight" between Paul and Grayson on Sept. 23. The site, titled "Rand 'We the People' vs. Trey 'The DC Insiders,'" notes that 23 Republican U.S. senators, including Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, are to hold a $500-per-plate fund-raiser for Grayson's 2010 U.S. Senate campaign in Washington on...

U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul on Monday pledged not to accept campaign contributions from any U.S. Senator who voted for the bank bailout and challenged his opponents to follow suit. Dr. Paul issued this challenge after learning that Trey Grayson has scheduled a Washington D.C. fundraiser co-sponsored by several U.S. Senators, seventeen of whom voted for the so-called TARP bailout in 2008, which was then used to fund an auto industry bailout Congress rejected. "This isn't about holding politicians to an impossibly high standard of agreeing with everything one's supporters say or do," Paul said. "But a primary focus of...

"Hello. This is Congressman Hal Rogers. "As we head into September I wanted to bring yourattention to an important issue that will be facing the Congress in theupcoming months. "Cap and Trade" is a bill that passed the House inJune without my support and is now up for debate in the U.S. Senate. Though the bill claims to protect our environment, in reality it isnothing more than a $646 billion "carbon tax" paid by every American, rich or poor and every business, small or large. Every time you turn onyour lights, the tax would begin. "I don't need to remind...

^ Rand Paul speech in Nicholasville, Kentucky [Click Here]

WINCHESTER, VA--“Government did us in,” says Dwayne Madigan, whose job will terminate when General Electric closes its factory next July. Madigan makes a product that will soon be illegal to sell in the U.S. - a regular incandescent bulb. Two years ago, his employer, GE, lobbied in favor of the law that will outlaw the bulbs. Madigan’s colleagues, waiting for their evening shift to begin, all know that GE is replacing the incandescents for now with compact fluorescents bulbs, which GE manufactures in China. Last month, GE announced it will close the Winchester Bulb Plant 80 miles west of D.C....

RAYSON, Ky. (WSAZ) -- Democrat Robin Webb has won by a narrow margin the Kentucky 18th District Senate seat in Tuesday's special election. Webb was challenged by Republican Jack Ditty and Independent candidate Guy Gibbons Jr. Webb pulled in 48.1% of the vote, only 282 votes more than Ditty. In all, more than 18,000 votes were cast in the election, which was held in six Kentucky counties: Lewis, Robertson, Greenup, Bracken, Mason, and Carter. Here is a breakdown of the vote in each county:

ELECTION RESULTS [R] Jack Ditty: 8,402 (46.6%) [D] Robin Webb: 8,684 (48.1%) [I] Guy Gibbons Jr. 953 (5.3%) (6 out of 6 counties reporting) GRAYSON, Ky. (WSAZ) -- Democrat Robin Webb has won by a narrow margin the Kentucky 18th District Senate seat in Tuesday's special election. Webb was challenged by Republican Jack Ditty and Independent candidate Guy Gibbons Jr. Webb pulled in 48.1% of the vote, only 282 votes more than Ditty.

He is in charge of keeping our statewide elections fair and orderly, but now Kentucky's Secretary of State is in a contest of his own. Trey Grayson is officially entering the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky. When Senator Jim Bunning recently announced he would not be seeking re-election, that paved the way for Grayson to run in the republican primary. He's making that official by announcing his candidacy through several stops around the state this week, including several visits in eastern Kentucky. At the London-Corbin Airport Wednesday afternoon, Trey Grayson wasted no time in jumping into the health care debate....

The money bomb is back. Borrowing a page from his father’s playbook, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul of Kentucky raked in more than $430,000 during a Thursday Internet-based fundraising drive. Paul, a Bowling Green eye surgeon, is the son of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who gained attention in 2008 by running for the Republican presidential nomination on a libertarian platform.

The one-day “moneybomb” for Rand Paul’s campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, modeled on the 24-hour fundraisers that fueled his father Ron’s presidential bid, was a substantial success: the younger Paul raised $435,000 yesterday. Paul’s war chest has around $677,000 in it, the fruit of three weeks of campaigning. For comparison, Republican front-runner Trey Grayson raised around $600,000 for the first two months of his bid, from May through July. As I wrote last week, Paul’s ability to run a well-funded, credible campaign—he’s only 11 points behind Grayson—is a minor complication when the NRSC looks at its 2010...

Rand Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), is touting the first public poll on the GOP primary for next year’s U.S. Senate race. According to the survey, conducted for WHAS11, Paul trails GOP frontrunner Trey Grayson by only 11 points, 37-26. Among “conservative” Republican voters, he only trails by 7 points. And Paul only trails the two potential Democratic nominees by single digits. (Grayson leads both candidates, Attorney General Jack Conway and Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo.) “Great news for Rand Paul ahead of his scheduled ‘moneybomb’ internet fundraiser on August 20,” writes Joe Arnold in an analysis of...

In a continuing series of one-on-one interviews with opinionmakers, Kentucky Energy Forum recently had the opportunity to pose "10 Questions on Energy" to Governor Steve Beshear. In this exclusive interview, Kentucky Energy Forum presents Governor Beshear's detailed response to our questions. Kentucky Energy Forum: In 2007, Kentucky passed landmark legislation to provide energy incentives for businesses looking to locate in Kentucky. While there have been some amendments to this law, in what ways would you propose, during the 2010 legislative session, to refine/to improve the legislation and to attract new industry to Kentucky?

on with Cavuto now.

COVINGTON, Ky. -- Nicole Howell said she was fired from her dream job as an English teacher at Dayton High School after rumors circulated about an alleged improper relationship."Every time I think it's going to end because someone's going to step up and see I didn't do anything wrong, they continue it," said the 26-year-old Howell.Howell said she told the principal about the rumors after she heard them."I told him then and there, I've never had sex with this student," Howell said. "I have never seen him. I have never even seen him off campus."The 16-year-old football player did not...