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A bill creating an alternative diploma for special needs students is one vote away from becoming law. Senate Bill 43 would apply different core standards to qualified students who would then earn the alternative diploma. Currently, special needs students in Kentucky receive only a certificate when they graduate.

Governor Steve Beshear’s constitutional amendment to legalize casinos in Kentucky has cleared its first legislative hurdle.  The bill passed the Senate's State and Local Government committee 7-4 Wednesday.

The measure would allow up to seven casinos in Kentucky. But the committee changed the bill, dropping language that requires five of the casinos to be at horse racing tracks. The measure still requires a 60-mile buffer zone between tracks and independent casinos.

Methamphetamine lab seizures rose nationally again in 2011, further evidence the powerfully addictive and dangerous drug is maintaining a tight grip on the nation's heartland, according to an Associated Press survey of the nation's top meth-producing states.

Bowling Green Republican Rand Paul says there's a growing chance that his party's presidential nominee could ultimately be chosen at a brokered convention this summer. The Kentucky Senator has a vested interested in the Republican presidential race — his father, Ron Paul, is among the candidates.

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the 1998 National Settlement between 46 states and 19 tobacco companies is valid and doesn't amount to a conspiracy or anti-competitive behavior by the government. The U-S 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected claims from General Tobacco, a now-closed company based in North Carolina. The company had claimed the agreement it was misled into taking part in the agreement, causing it to effectively shut down five years later.