Regional & State

Beshear announced two of his eleven cabinet secretaries on Monday: former Lexington Mayor Jim Gray will serve as Transportation Cabinet secretary and Lt. Gov.-elect Jacqueline Coleman will be the next secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

Independent pharmacies in Kentucky and around the nation have said for years that the payment practices of pharmacy benefit managers, or PMBs, are so bad that they threaten their survival.

The leader of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet would instead be selected by members of influential lobbying groups — the Kentucky Association of Counties, the Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

Beshear will officially be sworn in as governor at 12:01 a.m. on Inauguration Day as he takes over for outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin.

Bevin also issued pardons to 15 other people, including three women who were victims of domestic violence and who were convicted in the deaths of their abusers.

Lawmakers approved a $50 million dollar bond issue for the campaign during the 2019 General Assembly. Most of Kentucky’s 17 resorts and 45 parks were built about 50 years ago.

With less than a year until the deadline, a state official said setting up regional centers for citizens to obtain the ID cards is the fastest option.

Tilley, a Democrat, was instrumental in getting syringe-exchange programs in a big anti-heroin bill when he was chair of the state House Judiciary Committee. Late in the year, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin named him justice secretary. He has often been mentioned as a possible holdover with Democratic Gov.-elect Andy Beshear.

The governor had made unsubstantiated claims that there were “irregularities” in the election, but never provided any evidence to back them up.

Officials began trapping feral hogs in 2014, but they couldn't keep up with the hogs' rapid reproduction rate; they can have two litters a year with five to 10 piglets, which will themselves be ready to breed in less than a year.

The unofficial results of last week’s election showed Beshear defeating Bevin by 5,189 votes, but Bevin has not conceded the race and has not backed up claims that thousands of absentee ballots were improperly counted.

The governor has made unsubstantiated claims that there were deeper problems with the election, laying the groundwork for an election contest. That would mean the race would be decided by the Republican-led legislature.