FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky posted its lowest-ever unemployment rate in April, offering more proof of the state's unprecedented economic momentum, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

U.S. Congressman Andy Barr sailed to victory in Tuesday's Kentucky Republican Primary election in the Sixth Congressional District. Following his victory, Congressman Barr released this statement: 

LOUISVILLE (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul won his party’s nomination Tuesday to seek a third term, setting up a campaign of contrasting agendas that pits his vision for limited government against Democratic challenger Charles Booker’s support for sweeping health care and anti-poverty …

BENTON (AP) — A sheriff's deputy who was killed in a shooting in Kentucky was identified Tuesday.

Some soldiers at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border are preparing to deploy to Europe. The 101st Airborne Division said deployment of Headquarters, 101st Airborne and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team will begin as soon as this summer. The Army announced in March that about 300 soldiers from Fort Knox’s Victory Corps were being deployed to Germany and Poland to bolster U.S. Army forces in Europe. The Corps already had soldiers stationed in Poland. The 101st says units from Fort Campbell will join V Corps in support of the Army’s commitment to Europe and NATO allies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

A Louisville woman has filed for an emergency protective order against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Rajon Rondo and alleges the former Kentucky star brandished a gun and threatened her life. News outlets report the woman alleges Rondo “became enraged” last week during a confrontation and filed for the EPO on Friday in Jefferson County Family Court. She says in the EPO that Rondo then went outside and knocked over the trash cans, stomped on the landscaping lights and drove his car onto the lawn. Rondo returned and beat on a window with a gun before giving the gun to former Louisville Metro Police interim chief Yvette Gentry and leaving. 

Officials say a sheriff’s deputy and another person have died in a shooting in Kentucky. State police say the deputy, from the Calloway County Sheriff’s Office, was shot at the scene and taken to a hospital, where he died. Matt Hillbrecht of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office told WPSD-TV in Paducah that a suspect who was shot in the incident also died. The station says the shooting happened at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office in Benton. The shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m.

Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has filed paperwork to enter the state's 2023 governor’s race. Cameron is hoping to ride his resistance to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s coronavirus restrictions into the governor’s office. Cameron made history in 2019 as the first African American in Kentucky to serve as attorney general. Now he’s trying to blaze another trail in his bid for governor. Cameron last year led the legal fight against pandemic-related restrictions that Beshear imposed. Cameron won the case in the Kentucky Supreme Court, which cleared the way for new laws to rein in the governor’s emergency powers.

Gov. Andy Beshear has announced $16 million in funding to help provide homes for storm victims in western Kentucky. The announcement comes five months after deadly tornadoes ripped through the region. The money comes from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund. The governor says the funding announced Tuesday will help provide up to 300 homes for families in 13 western Kentucky counties. The relief fund is supported by donations. Nonprofit groups Habitat for Humanity, Homes and Hope for Kentucky and The Fuller Center for Housing submitted proposals to help build up to 100 homes each.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky artists are invited to submit their work for possible exhibition at the state Capitol.

Jockey Sonny Leon and trainer Eric Reed hit the ground running in every way imaginable for the Kentucky Derby. Rich Strike did both one better after his last-minute Derby entry, blowing past 80-1 odds and then Epicenter and Zandon in the stretch Saturday for one of the biggest upsets in Derby history. Rich Strike made it look so easy at the end that the biggest challenge for Leon and Reed was getting their minds around winning the sport’s marquee event on their very first try. Nobody saw Rich Strike coming, figuratively or literally. Nor could they do anything about him.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Additional assistance has been announced for western Kentucky to help with recovery from the December tornadoes.

NEW YORK (AP) — A second book by “Hillbilly Elegy” author and U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance that had been under contract with Harper has been called off, the publisher told The Associated Press Thursday.

GLASGOW (AP) — A Kentucky judge has held the state’s child welfare agency in contempt for the second time this year, according to a published report.

LEXINGTON (AP) — Two children in central Kentucky were killed and one person has been charged with murder, police said Tuesday.

Officials say a Kentucky school bus hydroplaned in rainy weather and overturned on Interstate 64, injuring some students and shutting down westbound lanes of the roadway. Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan told news outlets that 21 students were on the bus and some were injured, though how many wasn’t clear. She said students were taken to area hospitals to get checked out, but there had been no reports of serious injuries. TV video showed the bus on its side in a grassy area along a tree line surrounded by emergency vehicles. The district said the St. Matthews Police Department was investigating the crash. 

A federal judge in Kentucky has extended a temporary ban on the enforcement of a new state abortion law. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings is giving the clinics more time to explain their objections to the law. Jennings extended a temporary restraining order until May 19, after the existing one expires this week. Jennings says, however, some parts of the law not in dispute would go into effect. Lawyers for the clinics, Planned Parenthood and the EMW Women’s Surgical Center, were in court Monday to ask for a preliminary injunction on the law.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ray Charles and The Judds joined the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday in a ceremony filled with tears, music and laughter, just a day after Naomi Judd died unexpectedly.

The Kentucky Derby is moving closer to normalcy after two years of upheaval amid COVID-19 restrictions. The 2020 running was delayed until Labor Day, then held without spectators. It returned to its familiar spring slot eight months later in 2021, but with limited capacity. Churchill Downs will welcome everybody without restrictions this Saturday, raising hopes of getting back to 150,000 or more beneath the Twin Spires. If attendance and participation for companion events leading up to the first jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown is any indication, the stands could be as full and festive as they were pre-pandemic in 2019.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear cleared the way Tuesday for a cannabis research center to open as he reviews whether he has the executive authority to singlehandedly legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Forty-one parks across Kentucky will receive $4.2 million in federal funding to make upgrades and improve accessibility, officials said.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Frustration is building among abortion rights groups in Kentucky, where a restrictive new law has thrown the state's only two remaining clinics into limbo.

SHEPHERDSVILLE (AP) — Body camera video that shows a Kentucky deputy fatally shooting a man fleeing in a vehicle contradicts the official account of what happened, a lawyer who filed a wrongful death suit said.

FRANKFORT (AP) — An increase in traffic fatalities last year has Kentucky officials urging drivers to focus on safety behind the wheel.

FRANKFORT (AP) — A Japanese electric vehicle battery technology company will build a factory in Kentucky, creating 2,000 jobs in a $2 billion investment that reinforces the state's leadership in battery production, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.

FRANKFORT  (AP) — A bill allowing lawyers to carry concealed weapons anywhere in Kentucky, including courtrooms, drew a veto Monday from Gov. Andy Beshear, who said it could spark dangerous situations.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear rejected another Republican education priority Thursday, vetoing a bill aimed at launching charter schools in Kentucky and supplying them with funding.

FRANKFORT (AP) — If a bill legalizing medical marijuana doesn't reach his desk, Gov. Andy Beshear says he's ready to consider taking action himself to give some ailing Kentuckians access to medicinal cannabis.

INDIANAPOLIS – U.S. Supreme Court experts believe that the 6-3 conservative majority will likely weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that protects a woman’s right to abortion.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill Wednesday that would shift key school governance decisions to superintendents and away from school-based decision-making councils.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky's new Republican-drawn legislative maps all but “guarantee” GOP victories in an outsized number of state House districts, a Democratic operative said during his party's legal challenge of the legislature's redistricting work.

LONDON — He didn't make it through Hollywood Week on the popular TV show "American Idol", but London native Brooks Kidd was welcomed in his hometown with a big reception on Friday night.

ASHLAND (AP) — Attorneys for a former Kentucky clerk who wouldn't issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples have appealed a federal court ruling that she violated the couples' constitutional rights and might have to pay damages.

LEXINGTON (AP) — Three men have pleaded guilty to charges in the death of a University of Kentucky student who was fatally shot during a robbery.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers started wrapping up work Wednesday on the state's next two-year budget, approving big pay raises for state employees and increased spending on education while setting aside large sums to offset expected personal income tax cuts.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers voted Tuesday night to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, taking a preemptive step for tougher restrictions that’s tied to a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion rights.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky's Republican-run legislature signaled Tuesday it's ready to put charter schools to the test, setting up a policy showdown with the Democratic governor over a hot-button education issue.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky's legislative leaders on Tuesday revealed a state spending plan calling for big pay raises for state employees, renovations to state parks and increased spending on education.

BEREA - The first-ever Catch the Leprechaun 5K was held in Berea on Saturday morning and luck was certainly with the runners.

FRANKFORT (AP) — A bill aimed at jump-starting the introduction of charter schools in Kentucky won approval from a Senate panel on Monday, putting it one vote away from clearing the Republican-led legislature.

Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron signaled Sunday that he's keeping his options open for Kentucky's 2023 election, tantalizingly adding more suspense to the evolving GOP competition to pick a challenger to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky would make the death penalty off-limits for some defendants diagnosed with severe mental illnesses under a bill that won final legislative approval on Friday.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Thursday a business-backed bill providing another round of coronavirus-related relief to Kentucky employers on their unemployment insurance tax assessments.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A bill aimed at blocking the release of personal information about judges, prosecutors, police officers and other officials advanced Wednesday over objections from a statewide newspaper organization.

FRANKFORT (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers took aim Wednesday at reversing the state's chronically high rates for child abuse and neglect, passing a sweeping measure to bolster prevention and oversight efforts.

FRANKFORT —Kentucky is on its way to joining many states where 18-year-olds can sell and serve alcoholic beverages.

FRANKFORT (AP) — After years of inaction, charter schools would gain a foothold in Kentucky and be supplied with a permanent funding stream under a bill advanced by Republican lawmakers Tuesday.