News

Governor Steve Beshear has named a longtime tourism veteran to oversee the part of his cabinet dealing with travel and the arts.

Bob Stewart is a familiar face in state government, having worked for 11 years as commissioner of travel from 1992 to 2003.

And now, he'll be the new Tourism Secretary, having been appointed by Beshear to fill the post vacated by Marcheta Sparrow, who’s retiring.

Stewart is starting work for his fourth governor, having previously served under Brereton Jones, Martha Layne Collins and Julian Carroll. He's either played roles in tourism or worked as an executive assistant for those governors.

Stewart begins June 1.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says the Republican Party needs to “look like America.” Paul told the New Hampshire Republican State Committee Liberty Dinner Monday that the GOP needs to become more diverse in order to prosper.

“We need to be white, we need to be brown, we need to be black, we need to be with tattoos, without tattoos, with pony tails, without pony tails, with beard, without," said the Bowling Green Republican.

The Courier-Journal noted Paul’s appearance in New Hampshire also stokes further speculation that he is planting the seeds for a 2016 presidential run.

New Hampshire is the first state to hold a presidential primary every four years. Paul visited Iowa, home of the nation’s first caucuses, earlier this month, and appeared the early primary state of South Carolina in January.

A national pharmaceutical company is helping train Kentucky law enforcement on how to address prescription pill abuse in their communities.

Purdue Pharma helps produce some of the prescriptions often abused in Kentucky, including OxyCotin.

But company executives say that for the last few years, Purdue Pharma has been helping to train law enforcement officials on how to help crack down on illegal prescribing and abuse.

As part of a free training seminar, Purdue officials are once again in Kentucky helping health care officials and law enforcement address potential pill abuse.

John Gilbride, a law enforcement liaison for Purdue, says the company has frequently held the seminars in the state.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and the Republican National Committee chairman are distancing themselves from conservatives who suggested in recent days that President Barack Obama could face impeachment for the developing scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.

RNC chairman Reince Priebus said, “There’s a few chapters before we get to the last one.” He says it’s up to Republicans to “connect the dots” before calling for impeachment.

Asked about impeachment, Paul says investigators must learn more “before we go anywhere else.”

The Republican leaders addressed reporters before a Monday GOP fundraiser in Concord, N.H.

Paul is touring early-voting states while considering whether to run for president in 2016.

A construction worker has died following an accident at the site of the Owensboro “Blue Bridge” painting project. Daviess County Coroner Jeff Jones says the man—whose identity has not been released—died Monday evening after being taken to the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital.

Co-workers found the 35-year-old unconscious in safety netting at the work site. He was cut from the netting and taken to the hospital with burns on his hands, indicating that he may have come into contact with energized electrical wires on the bridge.

The contractor and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet safety personnel will conduct an investigation into the incident.

The Glover H. Cary Bridge—also known locally as the “Blue Bridge”—is closed until November while it gets a fresh coat of paint. The bridge connects Owensboro with southern Indiana, and is used by an average of 8,500 vehicles a day.