Free Republic

Democratic Kentucky state Sen. Julian Carroll was officially removed from his position as minority whip Sunday following a local news report that alleged the lawmaker groped a male staffer in 2005. The Senate Democratic caucus formally voted to remove Carroll and called for him to resign his office, according to a Spectrum News report. “In light of recent media reports, the Senate Democratic Caucus has voted to remove Senator Carroll from his leadership position as minority whip,” Senate Democrats said in a statement. “The Senate Democratic Caucus calls on Senator Carroll to resign his Kentucky State Senate seat, immediately.” The...

The Executive Branch Ethics Commission has thrown out a pair of complaints accusing Gov. Matt Bevin of accepting an improper gift by spending $1.6 million to buy a home in March from a state contractor and member of the Kentucky Retirement Systems board that had been valued at around $2.5 million by the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator. In letters dated Wednesday and first reported by Kentucky Today, the commission’s executive director, Kathryn Gabhart, informed Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, and Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause Kentucky, that their complaints had been unanimously dismissed by the panel at its meeting...

A federal judge set up a buffer zone outside the last abortion clinic in Kentucky on Friday to keep pro-life protesters away from the area. The ruling comes ahead of a protest planned for next week by the group Operation Save America, which uses controversial tactics to protest abortion. In May, police arrested several pro-lifers from the group when they blocked the entrance to EMW Women’s Clinic in Louisville, Kentucky. The arrests were part of a planned effort by the group Operation Save America to risk “arrest to rescue their preborn neighbor,” according to the group. Federal prosecutors requested a...

The Kentucky Tourism Arts and Heritage Cabinet has suspended an incentive agreement worth up to $18 million with a Noah’s Ark-themed attraction in Grant County because the park transferred its main property to a non-profit affiliate. The July 18 cabinet letter to Ark Encounter attorney James Parsons said the ark park’s recent actions put it in breach of the agreement with the state to refund a portion of sales tax collected at the site, which opened last July with a large-scale replica of Noah’s Ark.

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered Kentucky taxpayers to pay more than $220,000 in attorneys' fees for a county clerk who refused to issue marriage license to same-sex couples.</p>

Ken Ham, president of the Answers in Genesis Christian ministry that built the $100 million Ark Encounter biblical theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky, riled LGBT advocates Tuesday when he announced that they will be reclaiming the rainbow for God with permanent rainbow lights for their life-sized Noah's Ark replica. "We now have new permanent rainbow lights at the Ark Encounter so all can see that it is God's rainbow and He determines its meaning in Genesis 6," Ham said in a statement on Facebook. "The rainbow is a reminder God will never again judge the wickedness of man with a...

I’ve posted before about how Williamstown (Kentucky) officials are instituting a “safety fee” for ticket-taking attractions in the city. If implemented, the city would charge Ark Encounter 50 cents per ticket to go towards things like fire trucks and police cars — all the things that make the city a safer place for residents and tourists. Using the estimate of 1.4 million visitors a year, this would amount to approximately $700,000 that Ark Encounter would owe the city annually. The Creationists at Ark Encounter, however, say they should be exempt from that charge because they run a non-profit ministry. You...

Eleven pro-life activists have been charged with violating the federal F.A.C.E. act following a peaceful rescue event outside a Kentucky abortion facility in May. The event, held outside the EMW women’s abortion facility in Louisville, was organized by Operation Save America (OSA). Rev. Rusty Thomas, national director of Operation Save America (OSA), said he decided to check his e-mail late Tuesday evening he discovered that he along with ten other pro-life activists had been formally charged under the federal F.A.C.E. act. F.A.C.E. is the “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” a draconian piece of legislation signed into law by...

On November 8th, the American people sent a clear message to Washington DC. We wanted to:1. Make America Great Again—bring back jobs; reduce taxes; get rid of the IRS.2. Secure our Borders—build the wall, beef up funding and hiring for border security; mandate E-verify.3. Repeal Obamacare—and repeal all the other anti-free market, government interventionist programs disrupting our health care systems.Most of the headlines I have read about Trump are welcome news, like the marked decrease in illegal alien crossings along our border, plus the rising number of arrests and deportations. Jobs are up, unemployment is down, and more states are...

A volunteer sheriff’s deputy who owns an ambulance company has settled a lawsuit that claimed he illegally pulled over a competitor's driver to intimidate them as they transported a patient. Darrell “Steve” McIntosh admitted no wrongdoing in making the June 2016 traffic stop in rural eastern Kentucky and did not help shoulder the cost of the $26,000 settlement. Ambulance driver and EMT Jason Crigger was instead paid by the Kentucky Association of Counties, which insures local governments, with some of the payout covering attorney fees. ... Breathitt County Sheriff Ray Clemons says McIntosh “does a good job” and “he don’t...

Williamstown - Shem’s Snack Shack sits about a mile away from the Ark Encounter on a road that turns into Williamstown’s Main Street. In case you missed the reference to Shem, Noah’s son, it’s also the “Home of the Ark Dog” — two-thirds of a Biblical cubit long — and has swirly blue linoleum floors meant to mimic the ocean and a camel mascot named Humphrey, who declares that the gourmet hot dogs are flooded with flavor. The snack shack is owned by Charleston, W.Va., doctor Brian Plants, a longtime donor to the Answers in Genesis ministry of Australian Ken...

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense held an event at 7:00 p.m. tonight, along with Black Lives Matter, and Every Town For Gun Safety............

On Thursday, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Texas and three other states were being put on a list of states that had adopted laws seen by Becerra as discriminatory to the LGBT community and therefore were off-limits for state-sponsored travel. That drew a response Friday from John Wittman, Abbott’s press secretary. "California may be able to stop their state employees, but they can't stop all the businesses that are fleeing over taxation and regulation and relocating to Texas,” Wittman said. A spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin also criticized California officials. “It is fascinating that the very same West...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Lexington school employee accused of raping a former student under the age of 16 appeared before a judge on Monday. According to WKYT, a Lexington district judge entered a plea of not-guilty on behalf of Lindsey Banta Jarvis.  Jarvis appeared in court, accompanied by an adult male. That male was not identified. The arrest report indicates that Jarvis is married. To read WKYT's original story, CLICK HERE. Jarvis, a Fayette County school employee, is charged with two counts of third-degree rape in Fayette County. A Woodford County grand jury also handed down indictments against Jarvis. In Woodford...

(Video) As promised, here is more proof of how the media purposefully misinforms you.

An eastern Kentucky disability lawyer scheduled to be sentenced next month for defrauding the government of nearly $600 million has disappeared, the FBI said. Eric Conn pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge. He was scheduled to be sentenced next month and had been ordered to pay the government tens of millions of dollars. But Saturday, the FBI said Conn removed his electronic monitoring device, violating the conditions of his bond and prompting the U.S. District Court to issue a warrant for his arrest. David Habich, general counsel for the FBI’s Louisville office,...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is tempering expectations that the Senate will pass an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, promising his colleagues a vote but not success. McConnell in his public comments and private conversations about the ObamaCare repeal and replace bill is painting a more sober picture than Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who in March guaranteed passage through the House.

Full Title............................Exclusive — Sen. Joe Manchin: We Need to ‘Educate’ Gary Cohn ‘A Little Bit Better’ on Crucial Role of Coal..........................Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a Democratic U.S. Senator from the heart of coal country in West Virginia, told Breitbart News exclusively that he was shocked and disappointed in White House National Economic Council director Gary Cohn’s anti-coal comments in Europe this week. Manchin said in the exclusive interview that he hopes that Cohn will allow him to “educate” him more on his uninformed anti-coal standpoint, and that he looks forward to a deeper conversation with the official from President Donald...

A two-month investigation by a Nebraska prosecutor has identified seven people who threatened referee John Higgins after Kentucky’s 75-73 NCAA tournament loss to North Carolina last March. Those seven people could eventually face charges from the FBI or authorities in their jurisdictions, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov told the Associated Press on Friday. “Based on the investigation’s findings, our office has determined that no local charges will be filed and that pursuit of any criminal charges would be best served by deferring to authorities in the appropriate jurisdictions,” Polikov said in a statement. Kentucky coach John Calipari incited a firestorm...

Former U.S. Senator and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning has died at age 85. ... Jim Bunning served as a state senator, becoming minority leader of the Republican caucus in his first term, before winning northern Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District seat in 1986. He mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1983 against former Gov. Martha Layne Collins and went from the U.S. House of Representatives to the Senate in 1998, where he served for two terms. Bunning, who suffered a stroke in October, pitched Major League Baseball’s seventh perfect game in 1964 as a member of the...