Free Republic

-Napa Valley man Thomas O’Donnell found guilty of murder-for-hire in Kentucky court. -Prosecutors say former California Highway Patrol captain Julie Harding hired O’Donnell to kill her estranged husband, Michael Harding, luring him to a secluded Kentucky home for an HVAC repair. -Harding died by suicide months after the killing; O’Donnell, 64, faces 20 years to life in prison. A Napa Valley man hired by a former California Highway Patrol captain to kill her husband has been found guilty as text messages revealed details of the murder-for-hire plot.

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation today to repeal Donald Trump’s global tariffs, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The binding measure will be treated as a privileged resolution that must receive a vote on the Senate floor. The measure would terminate the emergency that Trump declared in order to slap tariffs of up to 40% on products Americans buy from other countries. In the wake of Trump’s tariff declaration, costs have...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a late Friday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump finally delivered the endorsement that each of the top GOP candidates in the race to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell badly coveted. And it went to U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, whom Trump called a "proven political winner" who is "always a vote we can count on because he knows what it takes to get things done." Some Kentucky political insiders say this could seal the Republican Senate primary in Andy Barr’s favor. "It's over," former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a Republican and former U.S. Senate candidate...

Breaking: Ed Gallrein (Thomas Massie’s opponent) has received government benefits for claiming to be 100% physically disabled, while also claiming to do demanding full-time farm work on his family’s operation. Gallrein received two PPP loans during COVID, including one used to pay himself for farm work. His campaign frequently shares photos and stories highlighting his supposed active involvement in farm labor. On the Bill Cunningham Show, he cited “farm work to do” as the reason for skipping a debate with Massie. Real full-time farm work is physically demanding and inconsistent with what most people would expect from someone receiving full...

FRANKFORT — The teetering checks and balances between Kentucky’s judicial and legislative branches over the power to reprimand judges kept swinging Wednesday. The Republican-controlled legislature censured state Supreme Court Justice Kelly Thompson for portions of his recent opinion in a Lexington judge’s appeal of her impeachment by the state House. The Senate approved a censure resolution sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers. A few hours later, the House adopted a similar measure filed by House Speaker David Osborne after Republicans blocked any debate on the measure. Stivers’ resolution alleges that Thompson’s opinion “threatened attorneys and legislators participating in pending impeachment...

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke ranks Thursday morning and voted against a budget resolution that could set the stage for ending the two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, opposed the budget resolution because it would lay the groundwork for passing a budget reconciliation package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for 3 1/2 years — effectively taking those two key agencies out of the annual congressional appropriations process. Murkowski supports funding those critical immigration enforcement agencies, but she didn’t like that...

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning. Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon "vote-a-rama," where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint.

Standing in front of the Hall of Governors at the Kentucky Historical Society, Democratic Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman announced her 2027 run for governor Monday morning. The 43-year-old, who is a former teacher, assistant principal and basketball coach, is making public education a cornerstone of her campaign. Coleman was Gov. Andy Beshear’s running mate for his 2019 and 2023 elections. She added that her run will focus on putting “people over politics.” “If you are looking for somebody to talk less about politicians and more about you, or someone who listens more than they talk, here she is,” Coleman...

Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said the evidence that Iran was an imminent threat to the United States was not there.Co-host Joe Kernen said, “You have such a tough job. I asked Senator Scott, and he said, I love Senator Paul because you never waver, but everybody wavers. I was going to ask you about war powers, and the Constitution is messy, and to stick with it as you do in the real world, it’s hard. I don’t know why you even have this job. It must be so difficult at this point for you, right?...

According to a new poll from Quantus Insights, Massie holds a nearly double-digit lead over his Republican primary opponent — Trump-backed Ed Gallrein — with the incumbent pulling in 46.8 percent compared to Gallrein’s 37.7 percent. A second survey put out by Big Data Poll is slightly less optimistic for Massie, but still gives him a clear edge, as the poll shows him ahead 52.4-47.6.

@QuantusInsights Our polling shows Thomas Massie with a clear advantage in KY-4. He has the stronger ballot position, the deeper reservoir of prior support, and a district electorate that appears more open to independence than simple allegiance politics. Gallrein still has a path, but for now Massie remains the candidate to beat.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will be up for reelection in 2028, the same year as the next presidential election. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Paul didn’t rule out the possibility of a White House bid. Under a new bill that passed the Kentucky House of Representatives this month, Paul would not have to forfeit his Senate seat to run for president. House Bill 534 from state Rep. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, would allow someone’s name to appear on a ballot more than once if the person is a “candidate for two (2) different federal offices on the...

A second Republican senator spoke out in defense of Nato on Thursday, joining Mitch McConnell and the Democrats, after Donald Trump said that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing from the alliance after it refused to take part in the joint assault with Israel against Iran. “Nato stood by America when we were under attack and came to our aid after the September 11th attacks. Their soldiers fought and died alongside our troops in Afghanistan,” said Thom Tillis, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, who co-chair the Senate Nato observer group. “Any president that contemplates attempting to withdraw from Nato...

Illegal immigrants will no longer receive in-state tuition at Kentucky’s public colleges after a federal judge ruled the policy violated U.S. law and permanently blocked its enforcement. The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, hands a win to the Trump administration and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman after they challenged the policy as giving benefits to those in the country illegally that federal law does not allow. The decision forces Kentucky’s higher education system to end the discounted rates after a months-long legal fight. The lawsuit argued the policy violated federal law, which states that, "an...

The community is encouraged to line the streets of Bardstown to help celebrate the life of “our local hero” Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt as she returns home to be laid to rest, according to the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office. Pruitt, 34, was one of six service members killed on March 12 when a KC-135 aircraft crashed in western Iraq during Operation Epic Fury. A dignified transfer will be held when Pruitt’s remains arrive at Samuels Field Airport in Bardstown at 11 a.m. Thursday before her body is escorted to Houghlin-Greenwell Funeral Home. “Ashley’s life was one of purpose, courage, and...

A $167.3 million Kentucky Powerball winner who went from career criminal to multi-millionaire overnight is accused of stealing a comparatively minuscule $12,000 cash during a head-scratching home burglary over the weekend. James Farthing, 51, was arrested on second-degree burglary and marijuana possession charges Saturday after security footage allegedly captured him breaking into a Lexington residence that evening, according to Lex18. Farthing allegedly snatched $12,000 in cash from the home and fled the scene in his black Porsche Passenger — before police caught him and spotted a marijuana blunt in plain view and found more bud during a search of his...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – To conclude a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, the city of Louisville has agreed to pay $800,000 in attorneys’ fees for violating the First Amendment rights of photographer and blogger Chelsey Nelson. The fee settlement comes after the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky held Louisville accountable for violating Nelson’s freedom to speak messages consistent with her religious beliefs. ADF attorneys representing Nelson and her photography studio filed the lawsuit, Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, in 2019 because Louisville’s law threatened to compel Nelson to create photographs and blogs...

Americans hated President Joe Biden’s loose borders, Pennsylvania’s Sen. John Fetterman said on Wednesday as he suggested he would confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin to the homeland security post. “Americans don’t like chaos,” Fetterman said to Mullin, adding: America definitely didn’t like the kinds of chaos during the Biden administration at the border. As a Democrat, I was alarmed that there were up to 300,000 encounters at our border once a month… That’s not sustainable, and that’s not manageable, and it’s making it impossible for us to assimilate [migrants]. “My experience with you has been consistent kindness and professionalism,” Fetterman told...

en. Markwayne Mullin's, R-Okla., confirmation hearing to serve as Homeland Security secretary began with a tense exchange between him and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Paul pressed Mullin to account for his prior comments referring to Paul as a "snake in the grass" and saying that he "understood" why one of Paul's neighbors assaulted him. "I think that everybody in this room knows that I'm very blunt," Mullin told Paul. "I simply addressed that-- I said I could understand, given the behavior you were having that I could understand why the neighbor did what he did." "As far as my term...

The three top Republican candidates hoping to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell faced off in a debate Monday night, with only a little more than two months before Kentucky's GOP primary. Full video of the debate at the link: