The final vote was as close as expected but voters in Barren County have decided to allow legal alcohol sales. Three small towns in Butler County also voted to go wet.

Barren County voted 4,651 to 4,418 to allow liquor sales, a difference of just 233 votes out of more than 9,000 cast.

The group “Move Barren County Forward” led the support for turning Barren County wet.  They said money being spent on liquor in other areas will now stay in Barren County. They also anticipate the number of DUI’s will decrease with people driving less to get a drink.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Cave City had voted to go wet and alcohol sales by the drink were allowed in certain restaurants in Glasgow.

Metcalfe, Adair and Russell counties all voted to go wet this year.

It wasn’t a county-wide vote in Butler County, but the towns of Morgantown, Woodbury and Rochester all approved alcohol sales Tuesday night. Butler County voted to stay dry in January.

Kentucky’s Attorney General is accusing Governor Matt Bevin of “dragging his feet” on returning millions of dollars to the state’s colleges and universities. 

Western Kentucky University is waiting on about $1.5 million that the school is owed following last week’s state Supreme Court ruling.  During a visit Monday to WKU, Attorney General Andy Beshear said the Governor has yet to release $18 million that was withheld from the state’s colleges and universities.

"The funds are sitting in a special account, so there's no reason to delay," Beshear told WKU Public Radio.  "This governor's been about cutting the red tape and the bureaucracy, so let's cut the red tape, the bureaucracy, and provide those funds."

The high court ruled that Governor Bevin did not have the authority to cut university budgets without a budget shortfall. 

The governor has said his office is “looking at our options.”  He has 20 days to ask the Supreme Court to re-consider the case.  Beshear said the outcome is unlikely to change given the 5-2 ruling.

You could see the contrast in the eyes of the respective candidates' spokespersons, surrogates and family members after the first presidential debate of 2016 had wrapped.

As always, earnest efforts were made on both sides to claim victory — even insist on it — after the nationally televised clash between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump.]

"Trump was especially strong on the issues in the first 45 minutes," said former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on CNN.

Yet a general and clear consensus formed quickly among the snap pollsters, focus groups, reporters, commentators and TV panelists. And it did not favor Trump.

In sum: Clinton projected more of what she wanted than Trump, who did not strike the contrast or meet the expectations set up by his own campaign.

Following some high-profile rape cases across the nation, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear says Kentucky’s college campuses have not been exempt from sexual violence. 

Beshear was at Western Kentucky University Monday to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.  He spoke of efforts underway to prevent sexual assault on the state’s campuses. 

Beshear's office, in May, transferred $4.5 million to the Kentucky State Police crime lab to ease a backlog of untested rape kits. Beshear called it the most profound moment yet during his nine months in office.

"Why?  Because that was every dollar, quarter, dime, nickel, and penny that they said they needed to hire more people, train them, and buy more equipment so that this commonwealth would never ever have a rape kit backlog again," remarked Beshear.

Beshear said his office is also providing training this week to circuit clerks on how to better handle domestic violence cases in the courts.  Next month, prosecutors, law enforcement, and victim advocates will be trained on how to help prevent domestic violence fatalities. 

Voters in Barren County will go to the polls Tuesday and decide whether to expand alcohol sales. 

Residents on both sides of the issue are working to influence voters ahead of the local option election.  Michael Richey formed a group called Citizens for a Drug and Alcohol-Free Barren County.   As a church pastor, Richey says he has seen the negative effects  alcohol can have on families and communities.

"Statistics are out there that show when alcohol comes into a community crime, tickets, and DUI are known to rise," Richey told WKU Public Radio.

Tim Brown, with the citizens group Move Barren County Forward, says county-wide sales will keep locals from driving to Bowling Green for alcohol and driving back home intoxicated.  Brown attributes a recent increase in local D-U-I's with a greater police presence--not relaxed alcohol sales.

"In Glasgow, a lot of restaurants are treated like bars.  People hang out there and have a good time, and the police watch those places," Brown commented.  "That's one of the reasons DUIs have gone up.  They know where people are drinking.  Before, we didn't know."

Certain restaurants in Glasgow already served alcohol while Cave City allows packaged sales in stores and by-the-drink in restaurants.

The first presidential debate tonight is shaping up to be one of the most-watched political events ever, with a potentially Super Bowl-size audience.

Here are four things to watch for as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take the stage at Hofstra University on Long Island.

1. Which Trump shows up

Donald Trump "won" the primary debates by dominating his opponents, often by name-calling and bluster. This one will be different.

Instead of facing multiple opponents, he will be doing something he's never done before — face off against just one opponent (and in this case an experienced one) on a debate stage.

A judge has denied a request from Metro Nashville Public Schools that she order the state to provide more money for education.

The school district's petition said lawmakers did not provide enough money for Nashville to hire the legally required number of teachers and translators for its English language learners.

The state has said the funding formula is just a goal.

The Tennessean reports Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle on Thursday declined to issue an order to the state, saying the issue needs to be adjudicated first.

Nashville school board Chair Anna Shepherd said the response was disappointing. She has asked Metro Legal to prepare a list of options.

Shelby County and a cluster of seven counties that includes Hamilton are suing the state over education funding.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has joined a multistate antitrust lawsuit against the makers of Suboxone, a prescription drug used to treat heroin and other opioid addiction by blocking cravings for the substances.

The suit alleges that Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals — now Indivior — switched Suboxone from a tablet to a mouth-dissolving film so that the Food and Drug Administration would grant the drug maker more years of exclusivity before generic alternatives could hit the market.

“Substance abuse is the single greatest threat to our Commonwealth,” Beshear said in a news release. “For these companies to allegedly try and monopolize the market on a treatment drug is beyond belief and borderlines on inhuman.”

Beshear said in order to win the battle over heroin in addiction in Kentucky, the state needs “every resource available and affordable.”