Kenny Colston

Kentucky business leaders and education advocates are teaming up to start a new funding source for innovation in education.

The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky—also known as the The Fund—is being launched to help with grants and extra fundraising for the Kentucky Department of Education.

Billy Harper, a Paducah businessman and the Fund's chairman,  says the new group won't replace traditional funding, but will be around to help fund innovative ideas or collect grants for them.

"We're not going to replace what we're doing that is funded by tax money or the Department of Education. But we're going to take the role of funding the research, or funding trial ideas to move Kentucky in a new era instead of just doing what we've done in the past," Harper says.

It won't be an advocacy group, Harper says. Only one state, Colorado, is going this route, he adds.

"It is innovative, it's new, but this is what we're trying to do to move Kentucky out front and look for better ways for education," he says. 

The Fund's first role will be to distribute a grant from the Gates Foundation to help innovative teachers.

One of two members of Progress Kentucky who allegedly recorded a campaign meeting between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his campaign staff is now saying he was "just a witness" through his attorneys. 

Progress Kentucky Executive Director Shawn Reilly denies any wrongdoing. As first reported by WHAS 11, Reilly says he was merely at McConnell's office when the recording happened.

His attorneys are putting the blame solely on Curtis Morrison, a volunteer with the liberal Super PAC.  Reilly's attorneys have not returned multiple calls to them since Friday.

Mother Jones magazine published the secret recording earlier this week, and legal experts say it could be considered eavesdropping.  But Louisville criminal defense lawyer Brendan McLeod says just being a witness to eavesdropping is murkier legal grounds.

A bill has already been pre-filed for the Kentucky General Assembly's 2014 session—and it deals with the use of drones in the state.

Republican state Rep. Diane St. Onge bill limits how unmanned aircraft can be used. It allows U.S. military personnel to use drones in Kentucky for practice purposes. And it also allows drones to be used by law enforcement agencies if they have a specific warrant to do so.

Under St. Onge's bill, all other drone usage would be banned into Kentucky, including general use by law enforcement and corporations.

The freshman lawmaker from Lakeside Park says she's filing the bill because she's concerned about the threat to civil liberties with frequent drone use.

Two national Democratic groups are ramping up their fight against Senator Mitch McConnell's re-election efforts.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is targeting McConnell for his votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Violence against Women Act.

And the Senate Majority PAC, run by Majority Leader Harry Reid, has launched a website about   McConnell, who they call Beltway Mitch. It criticizes McConnell for his refusal to compromise on sequestration. The website notes sequestration is costing many public school districts in Kentucky.

The McConnell campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

A new poll shows Sen. Mitch McConnell with a precarious lead over potential Democratic challengers.

The survey from Public Policy Polling shows McConnell with a four point lead over Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes—45 to 41—and a five point lead over former Congressman Ben Chandler.

Despite the leads, McConnell polls below the 50 percent mark in both races. And it shows he only has an 11 point lead over Owensboro contractor Ed Marksberry, 46 to 35.

And the poll results show only 34 percent of voters approve of McConnell, while 54 percent disapprove. Those are similar to previous number PPP had on McConnell's approval ratings.