Author: Associated Press

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear forms PAC to support candidates across the country

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who defeated Donald Trump-backed rivals twice in Republican-leaning Kentucky, announced the formation of a federal political action committee on Monday to support candidates across the country as he seeks to broaden his influence beyond the Bluegrass State. Beshear launched a PAC called In This Together with a focus on helping elect more…

The Supreme Court will decide if Donald Trump can be kept off 2024 presidential ballots

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, inserting the court squarely in the 2024 presidential campaign. The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots…

Kentucky governor backs longer list of conditions eligible for treatment under medical marijuana law

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Access to medical marijuana in Kentucky should expand to include a longer list of severe health conditions, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday in advocating a change that would make hundreds of thousands more people eligible for treatment when the program begins next year. The measure passed by the GOP-led legislature in 2023 specified that the eligible…

David Soul, the actor who portrayed the blond half of TV’s ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ dies at 80

LONDON (AP) — Actor-singer David Soul, a 1970s heartthrob who co-starred as the blond half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky & Hutch” and topped the music charts with the ballad “Don’t Give Up on Us,” has died at the age of 80. His wife, Helen Snell, said Friday that “David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died…

Court records bring new, unwanted attention to rich and famous in Jeffrey Epstein’s social circle

NEW YORK (AP) — Before and after he was exposed as a pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein loved to mingle with the world’s elite. The millionaire invited politicians and academics to his private island and luxury homes. He offered celebrities rides on his private jet. He and his girlfriend, the socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, hung out with princes and supermodels. They made donations…

FBI calls bomb threats that led to brief lockdowns and evacuations of some state capitols a hoax

(AP) – A bomb threat emailed to officials in several states early Wednesday briefly disrupted government affairs and prompted some state capitol evacuations, but no explosives were found and federal officials quickly dismissed the threats as a hoax. The threats follow a spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent days. Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii,…

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear calls for unity in GOP-leaning Kentucky to uplift economy, education

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear reached across the partisan divide Wednesday night to urge a unified effort with Republican lawmakers to uplift education, health care and the economy, saying Kentucky has an opportunity to assert itself as an “economic and a moral leader.” Beshear, who raised his national profile by winning reelection last year in the GOP-leaning…

Trump appeals Maine ruling barring him from ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday appealed a ruling by Maine’s secretary of state barring him from the state’s primary ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, appealed the Maine decision by Democrat Shenna Bellows, who became the first…

US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury has announced that the nation’s gross national debt has surpassed $34 trillion. The record high comes after Republican lawmakers and the White House agreed to temporarily lift the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit last year after the government ran up against its legal borrowing capacity and needed to implement “extraordinary measures” to avoid a…