Kentucky's Democratic attorney general says he will not comply with the Republican governor's request for a plan to cut spending by more than 17 percent.

Gov. Matt Bevin has asked all state agencies to come up with a plan to cut their budgets by 17.4 percent this year. He said the plan would cover a projected $200 million shortfall and put $150 million into the state's savings account.

Sen. Rand Paul said he still opposes the GOP’s most recent attempt to repeal elements of the Affordable Care Act, despite changes to the legislation over the weekend.

Paul is one of two Republican senators who came out against an earlier version of the Graham-Cassidy bill, which was tweaked over the weekend to send more Medicaid dollars to states whose senators have voiced opposition to the measure.

At an event in Louisville Monday, Paul called those last-minute changes “suspicious” and said the bill still doesn’t do enough to do away with Obamacare spending.

The president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce says opioid abuse is taking a toll on the state’s economic growth and development. 

David Adkisson says many people looking for work can’t pass a drug test, and many of those who do have jobs are leaving the workforce because of untreated or under-treated addictions.  That has contributed to a low workforce participation rate, according to Adkisson.

"If we were simply at the national average, there would be 165,000 more workers in the Kentucky economy than there are today," stated Adkisson.  "Opioid addiction is one of the contributing factors to that, but it's a significant factor."

A state lawmaker has proposed a bill that would allow Kentuckians to carry concealed firearms without a license.

The legislation would allow people aged 21 or older to carry concealed deadly weapons anywhere already allowed for license-holders.

Rep. Wesley Morgan, a Republican from Richmond and former agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he proposed the bill because he thinks it would bring state law more in line with the Second Amendment.

In the wake of chaotic civil unrest across the country, a Kentucky lawmaker is filing a bill to keep protesters in the state from wearing masks or bringing weapons to public rallies.

A previous version would have exempted firearms from the weapons ban, but the bill has been revised.

Rep. Wesley Morgan, a Republican from Richmond, said he filed the legislation in response to reports of people wearing masks at protests around the country.

Refugee resettlement agencies across Kentucky are waiting to hear how many refugees President Donald Trump will approve for the next federal fiscal year. The president has to make that determination by the end of September.

Maria Koerner with the Kentucky Office for Refugees said if the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. is further reduced, funding for refugee resettlement agencies will also decrease. She said anything impacting those agencies will negatively impact services and programs offered to refugees already in the U.S.