Former Gov. Julian Carroll says he won’t step down from his seat in the Kentucky Senate after allegations that he groped and asked a man for sex.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Carroll said he would not resign despite calls from his fellow Senate Democrats to do so.

The caucus voted to remove him from his leadership position as Senate majority whip over the weekend after Spectrum News first reported on the allegations on Saturday.

As the U.S. Senate this week voted to hold debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear accused some Republican politicians of “religious hypocrisy.”

Beshear said some lawmakers have turned their backs on people who need health care. The former Democratic governor said it’s unfortunate that elected leaders take advantage of religion and use it as a political tool.

"When a politician running for office talks in religious terms people believe them and think that's a good person, and vote for them.  The problem is that a lot of these guys and gals preach like the prophets when they're running and govern like Pontius Pilate when they're serving," Beshear told WKU Public Radio. "What kind of Christian principles is it when you want to throw 22 million people off health care coverage? There may be problems with the Affordable Care Act, and we need to fix them, but the answer isn't to turn millions of people out of the health care they desperately need."

The director of a Kentucky Democratic political action committee has been arrested on charges including theft and forgery.

Grace Wise, 25, was arrested Monday and faces charges including one count of theft by deception of more than $10,000; four counts of theft by deception of less than $10,000; and second-degree forgery, according to local news reports.

Wise has resigned as director of Back the Bluegrass, The Courier-Journal reported . The PAC is "committed to building a stronger bench of progressive millennial candidates in Kentucky," its website says.

One of the latest scams making the rounds in Kentucky involves a caller who claims to be raising money to cover Veterans Affairs medical bills and aid homeless veterans.

The caller claims to represent a bogus charity called “Coalition for Veterans of America.”

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office says its received multiple reports from Kentuckians—including one from state police—who say they’ve been contacted by the scammers.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., returned to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after a brain cancer diagnosis to help Republican leadership begin debate on health care. But after casting his vote in favor of debate, McCain took the floor and said he would not vote for the current health bill, the latest product of a controversial and contentious process in which Republicans have been at odds with one another as well as with Democrats.

With Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie, the U.S. Senate voted by a hair Tuesday to start debating Republican legislation to tear down much of the Affordable Care Act.

The vote gives President Donald Trump and GOP leaders a crucial initial victory but launches a weeklong debate promising an uncertain final outcome.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said after the vote that the Senate will now begin considering amendments from both parties.

A group of Kentuckians tasked with setting up a framework for charter schools to operate is officially down to work. 

The Charter Schools Advisory Council held its first meeting on Monday and began developing regulations on how to implement the alternative public schools.  One of the members is Dr. Gary Houchens, a professor at Western Kentucky University. 

"It's a lot of stringent oversight of the process, and I think both charter applicants and authorizers will be happy with the structures that we're putting into place," Houchens told WKU Public Radio.

Moody’s has downgraded Kentucky’s credit rating because of the low funding level of the state’s pension systems and lackluster revenue gleaned from taxes.

The news comes after the state missed its own revenue prediction by $135 million at the end of the last fiscal year, which finished on June 30.

“The downgrade reflects revenue underperformance that will challenge the commonwealth’s ability to increase its very low pension funding levels,” Moody’s wrote in a news release. “The commonwealth has one of the heaviest unfunded pension burdens of all states. The commonwealth’s high fixed costs will also restrict fiscal flexibility.”