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Fort Campbell, KY – It weighs 3.5 pounds, has a barrel length of 7.75 inches, fires 12-gauge shells and can be mounted on the M4 carbine or act as a stand alone firearm; it is the M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System and the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is the first unit in the Army to be issued the combat enhancer. “This is a new capability that is now in your hands for you to conduct your mission downrange,” said Col. Scott C. Armstrong, with Project Manager Soldier Weapons, during a presentation ceremony held at Fort...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

A Laurel County woman took matters into her own hands when she fought against an attempted robber who had a gun. "I went and before I got to the door the door opened and this guy come in with a mask on," says Brenda, the homeowner. Brenda says she acted instinctively. "I grabbed him at the top of the mask trying to pull that off. I was grabbing him and kicking him at the same time," remembers Brenda. What she didn't realize was that man had a gun. "I didn't even know that was a gun that he had I...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Nearly all of Kentucky's state-level Republican lawmakers have signed a legal brief in support of a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. "We're tired of sitting out on the sidelines when something of this importance is being deliberated," said Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown. "We're now making it clear where we stand, that we want that law undone because it's unconstitutional." More than 300 lawmakers from 17 states, including nearly 60 from Kentucky, have signed a friend-of-the-court brief that an attorney for the libertarian Cato Institute will file Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices announced...

The Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting incident that left a man dead at a residence near Green River Lake Saturday night. According to a press release from KSP Post 15 in Columbia, the post was contacted around 9 p.m. Saturday night by Adair County 911 Dispatch requesting assistance with the shooting death of 42-year-old Edward Stickel. The incident took place at the residence of 60-year-old Ralph Mercer at 160 Poplar Court, which is located off Corbin’s Bend Road near Green River Lake. According to the release, Stickel was at the Mercer residence discussing the purchase of a firearm...

Two men have been charged in connection with the attempted robbery of a pharmacy, Lexington police said Wednesday night. The attempt was foiled when an employee pulled a handgun, John E. McGarvey and Steven E. Corman, both 47, were each charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, police Lt. Chris Van Brackel said. McGarvey was also charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence; Corman was charged with one count. The incident happened about 10 a.m. Wednesday at Corner Pharmacy, 1701 Alexandria Drive. A man entered the pharmacy, displayed a knife and demanded pills. At that point, an employee...

An elderly Kentucky couple is being remembered today. After 73 years of marriage, Ethel and Presley Bradshaw passed away just hours apart. She was 99 years old, he was 101. "They died just the way they lived, together," Shannon Bass, Director of Admissions at Meadowview Health and Rehab Center, told HLN affiliate WAVE. The couple spent their last years at the Meadowview Center. WAVE reports that Ethel moved to the center four years ago because she was struggling with dementia. Her husband visited her daily for two years, then decided to join her at the center permanently. Bass and her...

The machine guns roared, pouring tens of thousands of bullets into the night's blackness. Suddenly: Ka-WHOOOMP! WAAHHHMP! WHA-OOOOMP!! Enormous fireballs flashed into yellow-white existence, mutating into billows of orange flame 100 feet high. The pulse of shock and heat hit my skin. As the explosions faded, the night air was lit by an endless fusillade of red and green tracer rounds, the incandescent muzzle blast of automatic weapons, and flames from burning vehicles… Just a typical evening in the green autumn hills of north-central Kentucky. Typical twice a year, I should say. Every April and October, the Knob Creek Gun...

Security footage of Sen. Rand Paul after he refused a full body pat-down at the Nashville International Airport on Monday does not show the Kentucky Republican acting “irate,” as the police had described him, according to a report. n the videos, released by the Metro Airport Authority and posted on The Nashville Tennessean, Paul can be seen standing and sitting in a waiting area as he speaks on his cell phone. The Tennessean reported Thursday that the police incident report describes officers responding to a “passenger being irate,” but the footage offers no visible evidence of that behavior. Paul had...

FRANKFORT — Kentucky State Police arrested a Lexington composer Tuesday and charged him with menacing after an altercation outside the state Senate involving supporters of Democratic Sen. Kathy Stein, who recently lost her Lexington district in a Senate redistricting plan. State police spokesman Lt. David Jude confirmed the arrest and charge that occurred after the Senate had adjourned for the day, but he had no other immediate information. The Franklin County Regional Jail’s Web site identified the man who was arrested as Stephen Rhodes Schwartz, who also is known as Stephen Trask. He scored and wrote lyrics for the film...

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Senator Rand Paul was on his way from his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky to Washington, D.C. Monday morning, when he caused some kind of “anomaly” in a body scanner at the airport in Nashville. Agents of the Transportation Security Agency declared that he would have to submit to one of those legendary full-body pat-downs, but before a single rubber glove had snapped into place, Senator Paul refused. He wanted a new scan instead, but the TSA agents really had their hearts set on that pat-down. This ended with Senator Paul parked in a...

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s press secretary Moira Bagley tweeted on Monday that Transportation Security Administration officials were detaining her boss in Nashville, Tenn. “Just got a call from @senrandpaul,” Bagley tweeted at about 10 a.m. on Monday. “He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.” Texas Congressman and current Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul – Sen. Rand Paul’s father – placed a post on Facebook about the news as well. “My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport,” Ron Paul posted. “I’ll share more details as the situation unfolds.” Ron Paul adds, via...

Sen. Rand Paul told his communications director this morning he was being detained by TSA in Nashville. @moirabagley, the Twitter account associated with Paul staffer Moira Bagley tweeted around 10 a.m., ET, “Just got a call from @senrandpaul. He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.” A spokesman for TSA said the agency was looking into the matter but could not immediately comment. Paul apparently set off an airport security full-body scanner, “on a glitch,” a spokesman in Paul’s office told ABC News. The Paul staffer said TSA agents would not let Paul walk back through the body scanner and...

<p>Posted by Ron Paul on his Facebook page: "My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport. I'll share more details as the situation unfolds."</p>

Former Republican lieutenant governor candidate and state Rep. Mike Harmon, R-Danville, has filed a bill allowing Kentucky residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit. The legislation would make the unlicensed carrying of a hidden deadly weapon legal and prohibit employers from having no-firearms policies that apply to buildings or parking areas. It also forbids companies from disciplining employees who have firearms in their vehicles or who use them for self-defense. Harmon says certain restrictions to carrying conceal weapons will still apply to schools and judicial areas, but the bill is about securing Second Amendment rights. “I do believe it’s...

The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday approved its version of the congressional district lines, setting up negotiations with Democratic House leaders over how to rectify the two different approaches to those six districts. (snip) The upper chamber also approved the new 38 state Senate districts that essentially drew at least three Democrats out of jobs, including Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington. It passed the Senate, 21-14 with Democratic Sen. Joey Pendleton of Hopkinsville joining the Republicans...(snip) The map placed together Democratic Sens. Dorsey Ridley of Henderson who represents the 4th Senate District and Jerry Rhoads of Madisonville who represents the 6th District....

The "meat horns" (air raid sirens) just went off.

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky Thursday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles. The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives. ... "I totally understand your objection," the judge told Byler. "But you're in violation, and it's not up to me to change the law. It doesn't really matter what I think about any of...

Paul, speaking Thursday morning in Louisville, said he's "seen the chatter on the Internet" about the possibility of being tapped as the GOP nominee's running mate. But he said for now he is focused on helping U.S. Rep. Ron Paul's campaign for the GOP nomination. "I haven't really considered it yet," Rand Paul said. "I'm focused on trying to help my dad." The Republican from Bowling Green made his comments Thursday morning at the St. Matthews Community Center in Louisville after saying his office would give $500,000 in office funds back to the U.S. Treasury.

From Australia and China to South Africa and Eastern Europe, the global economy is being transformed by the extraction of huge amounts of natural gas from shale rock. The United States has played a major part in this revolution; new “plays,” as fields of shale gas are known, are now producing in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado, West Virginia, and other states. In the last three years, more than 3,000 gas wells have been drilled in western Pennsylvania’s share of the huge Marcellus shale formation. With more and more producers in the business, the price of natural gas has dropped...

Mark Levin, who was on vacation, came back with a fierce threat today. Levin promises he will do "everything in his power" to defeat Sen. Rand Paul if his father runs as a third-party candidate. "If Ron Paul decides that he is going to go third-party, which is detrimental to this nation, and pulls a million votes, which is relatively insignificant in the big scheme of things, I will do everything in my power to defeat his son in Kentucky. I will do everything in my power to defeat his son Rand Paul in Kentucky," Mark Levin said on his...

DES MOINES, IOWA — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is in town today to be a walking Daisy ad on behalf of his father, Ron. His main target: the surging Rick Santorum. On Iowa talk radio this morning, Rand took after Santorum with a line of attack reminiscent of that infamous Lyndon Johnson dig at Barry Goldwater. In short, Rand asked, is Santorum the kind of guy you want with his finger on the button? The line came in response to a question about Ron Paul’s foreign policy, which has given many in the pro-Israel right pause. They worry that Paul...

(CNN) - Ron Paul dinged rival Rick Santorum Monday for being a "very liberal" candidate, saying the former Pennsylvania senator and staunch social conservative voted for too much spending during his time in Congress. Speaking to CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash before a campaign event with his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the White House hopeful said his rival had taken positions counter to true conservative ideas. I mean, have you looked at his record? Go look at his record," Paul said. He continued: "He spends too much money. He wasn't leading the charge to slash the budgets and...

Redrawing the congressional maps will likely produce a few headaches to start the session — but gridlock could produce an interesting political result, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said. Stumbo, a Democrat from Prestonsburg, said if the courts have to intervene over the new congressional maps, Kentucky could end up with all the congressional candidates running statewide and the top six vote-getters go to Congress. That happened in 1932 when lawmakers clashed over redrawing the lines. “What the court would do likely is require what they did once before is that there be an election this cycle and the top vote-getters...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Four criminals are off the streets of Clarksville thanks to two Ft. Campbell soldiers who caught the suspects in the act in two separate incidents this week. The soldiers live just a few miles from one another and caught the thieves just one day apart. Early on Wednesday, the first solder saw a man opening the door to his SUV outside his home in the 3400 block of Old Timber Road and walked outside to approach him. "The burglar was startled and started to run, the homeowner chased after him," Clarksville police spokesperson Sgt. Jim Knoll explained....

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Some scary moments for a 16-year-old who was in bed asleep when two men break into her home in Pleasure Ridge Park. Residents in the Hunters Pointe neighborhood say this wasn't the first time burglars are breaking in in the middle of the day. It's what this teen did that probably saved her life. Around 11:30 Tuesday morning Steve Dennison's 16-year-old daughter was asleep in her bed, home alone, when two robbers busted through the back door. "They took the iron chair and threw it through here. They never bothered to unlock the door they climbed...

A man is stabbed to death after breaking into someone's home. State police say Edward Crowley forced his way into the home on Keith Whitley Boulevard in Sandy Hook early Sunday morning. The homeowner, Jamie Dillon, then stabbed Crowley when the two got into a fight. Police did not charge Dillon and say it appears he acted in self defense. The case will be presented to a grand jury.

A female Mark Morris High School graduate was shot and killed Wednesday in a guard tower in Afghanistan, according to the soldier's stepmother. U.S. Army Specialist Mikayla Anne Bragg is Cowlitz County's first casualty in a combat zone since the Vietnam War, according to Daily News archives. Bragg, 21, was scheduled to leave Afghanistan around Christmas and return to the United States on Jan. 6, stepmother Amber Bragg of Longview said Thursday. Bragg enlisted right after she graduated high school in 2008, Amber Bragg said. According to her Facebook page, Bragg's primary duties were as a motor transport operator for...

Seven of Kentucky’s eight members of the congressional delegation signed the Americans for Tax Reform “no tax” pledge that they have found they now can’t get out of. U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler of Versailles, the only Democrat in that group to sign, now says signing that pledge that is monitored by Grover Norquist was one of the biggest mistakes of his congressional career. “I’m sorry I did that, too,” Chandler said just before the 6:00 of the interview video. “I thought I was doing it for one session. And he made a determination that you do it forever. And I...

House speaker John Boehner is set to sign an offer from Obama to accelerate negotiations. Republicans in the House of Representatives have capitulated in the showdown over the payroll tax, handing Barack Obama an important victory going into election year. Under pressure from other senior Republicans for blocking a bill that would extend tax cuts to millions of Americans, the House speaker, John Boehner, is backing away from his insistence that any deal must cover a full year. A deal agreed by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on Saturday covers two months, to allow further negotiations in January. It...

The standoff over preserving a tax break continued as House Speaker John Boehner showed little sign of reversing course despite sustained criticism from his own party and President Obama. Boehner assembled his top negotiators for a second day at an otherwise empty Capitol, but their position is being overpowered by the risk of a looming tax hike on Jan. 1. Obama planned to showcase stories of workers who will lose $40 a paycheck later Thursday at the White House.  “We’re fighting to do the right thing,” said Boehner, who wants to launch formal negotiations with Democrats to resolve differing approaches...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Occupy Louisville protesters are being told that they will no longer be allowed to camp overnight in the city and their tents must be taken down. The issue has come up as protesters negotiate with the city to renew its permit to continue their occupation of Founder's Square Park in downtown Louisville. The group's current permit lasts through Dec. 31. City officials have told protesters that they have until Jan. 2 to remove their tents. Many protesters told The Courier-Journal that the effect of the order will be civil disobedience (http://cjky.it/uKLnov). Mayor Greg Fischer says the city...

A Richmond man told troopers he shot a burglar in self-defense. Police got a call around 8:30 Saturday morning about a break-in that was happening on Hager drive. Steven Womack later told investigators he was holding the burglar at gunpoint until troopers arrived when the suspect suddenly tried to get out a window. Womack also told troopers when the burglar went to reach for something in his pocket, he shot him three times. The man who was shot, 38-year old Steven Murphy, was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover. No word yet on charges filed in the...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/louisville/press-releases/2011/iraqi-national-pleads-guilty-to-23-count-terrorism-indictment-in-kentucky Iraqi National Pleads Guilty to 23-Count Terrorism Indictment in Kentucky Defendant Participated in Numerous Efforts to Kill U.S. Troops in Iraq with IEDs U.S. Department of Justice December 16, 2011 Office of Public Affairs BOWLING GREEN, KY—Iraqi citizen Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges today in U.S. District Court before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell, announced Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; David J. Hale, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; and Elizabeth A. Fries, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Louisville Division. Alwan,...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Lexington police have obtained an arrest warrant for a would-be robber who they say was shot by his intended victim last week. Darrell Wayne Strunk, 35, of Lexington is wanted in a Dec. 5 robbery at B&N Towing, 336 Lisle Industrial Dr., according to a news release from Lexington police. A man working at the business told police that he was approached by two people, one of whom was holding a handgun. The man, who was not identified, pulled out his own handgun and shot the man with the gun, who is believed to be Strunk, in the abdomen. The...

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - A new poll shows that a majority of Kentucky residents favor a smoking ban in public places, a law which the Kentucky legislature is considering. According to the 2011 Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP), 54 percent of Kentuckians say they would support such a law; 43 percent are opposed to this law; and 4 percent had no opinion. This is an increase from 2010, when Kentuckians were split about the law at 48 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed. "Secondhand smoke exposure poses significant health risks, and smoke-free environments are the only way to fully...

A robbery turned violent, but witnesses say the victim turned the tables on one of the suspects, and shot him. The wife of the man who owns B & N Towing, on Lisle Industrial Avenue in Lexington, said he fought back while being attacked. Lexington Police say around 2 p.m. Monday, a man walked into the business and acted like he wanted to sell the owner an alternator. After a brief discussion, the owner's wife says a second man, wearing a ski mask, came out from behind a car, threatening to shoot her husband if he didn't cooperate with their...

A small Kentucky church has chosen to ban marriages and even some worship services for interracial couples. The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church, located in Pike County, made the vote in response to a longtime member who is engaged to a man whose birthplace is in Zimbabwe. Other pastoral leaders in the area were quick to denounce the church's vote. "It's not the spirit of the community in any way, shape or form," Randy Johnson, president of the Pike County Ministerial Association, told the Lexington Herald-Leader. The small congregation, which usually hosts about 40 members each Sunday, held the vote after...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A tiny all-white Appalachian church in rural Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining its flock, pitting members against each other in an argument over race. Members at the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church voted Sunday on the resolution, which says the church “does not condone interracial marriage.” The church member who crafted the resolution, Melvin Thompson, said he is not racist and called the matter an “internal affair.” “I am not racist. I will tell you that. I am not prejudiced against any race of people, have never in my lifetime spoke evil about...

LEXINGTON -- Police say a central Kentucky father trying to load groceries and children into a vehicle after a shopping trip forgot one thing - his 6-month-old infant. It happened Tuesday at a Kroger store in Jessamine County, WLEX-TV reported. The father left the baby in a grocery cart after unloading everything else and drove away. A few minutes later, a couple found the baby and took the child back into the store to call police. Nicholasville police officer Kevin Grimes said the father quickly figured out what he forgot and also called police while turning around to get back...

Shepherdsville, KY (WDRB) -- The coroner's office has identified the man who was shot in the head following a struggle with a homeowner. Police say he was trying to steal items from the woman's home. 25-year-old Christopher Sanford died of that wound Monday at 2:26 at U of L Hospital A woman who lives at the house on Blue Ash Drive returned home with her twin boys around 11 a.m. Sunday to find an intruder pointing a shotgun at her. A man who spoke to a reporter at the home declined to identify his wife by name, but said the...

States of mind On its own, where you live isn't enough to make you depressed. Personal circumstances and genes also play an important role in mental health, so an area that feels like a downer to one person may be home sweet home to another. That said, mental distress is unusually and persistently common in some states, whether due to economic troubles, lack of access to health care, or other factors. Using data from federal health agencies, Health.com has identified the 10 states with the highest rates of depression, psychological distress, and other indicators of poor mental health. Here they...

I wish George Orwell were alive today. He could have seen just how right he was on such a wide range of issues. If he were still with us, I would show him an email written by University of Kentucky (UK) President Eli Capilouto. I’ve reprinted the email below. But in between each paragraph I’ve interjected some sarcastic observations. Each fall, we welcome to campus a new class of UK students, whose wonderful backgrounds and aspirations add to the already accomplished campus community we are striving to build each day and each year. Sometimes, however, we also experience the unwelcome...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democrat-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican attempt to block a regulation intended to curb power plant pollution that blows downwind into other states. By a 56-41 vote, senators defeated a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said the step was needed to rein in what he called the Obama administration's overzealous job-killing approach to environmental protection. "We are simply asking that the clean air regulations already on the books stay in place and we do not make the regulations so onerous that they put utility plants out of business and we have an...

The man who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken apparently had one more trick up the sleeve of his ubiquitous white jacket. But this time around, its page-flippin' – not finger-lickin' – good. Col. Harland Sanders, the mustachioed face behind fast-food chicken goliath KFC, is said to have penned an autobiography that chronicles his love of food and even shares some of his personal recipes. KFC announced Thursday that a company employee stumbled across the "hidden" manuscript at a storage facility in Louisville, Kentucky. "We've uncovered a new secret of the Colonel's and we want to share it with millions of KFC...

Cincinnati Fire Fighters (IAFF) member Doug Stern says yesterday’s overwhelming rejection of Gov. John Kasich’s (R) attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights of workers like firefighters, nurses, teachers, bridge inspectors and others shows: [T]he citizens of Ohio spoke and they made it loud and clear that the focus of government should be on creating sustainable middle class jobs, rather than  pushing a partisan political agenda. Stern, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Louise Foresman, a member of Working America from Cleveland, took part in a telephone press conference this afternoon about the stunning victory for working families that sent Issue 2 down to...

Curt Jones, a microbiology student, created the ice cream beads in 1988 Once the self-proclaimed "Ice Cream of the Future," Dippin' Dots is seeking federal bankruptcy protection, a move the company said is aimed at staving off foreclosure on more than $11 million in loans. The Paducah, Ky.-based company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday night, asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas H. Fulton to allow it to use cash collateral to continue operations while the case plays out. The company said in a filing that allowing it to use the cash collateral and stay functioning will not harm creditors, including...

Update: We are learning more about a fatal shooting during a robbery at a Mount Vernon gas station. Family members of 20-year old James Hensley of Rockcastle County say he was shot and killed outside the Shell station, off exit 59, overnight. Police say Hensley had just robbed the clerk and was on his way out of the gas station when the clerk fired a gun. They say Hensley used a knife to get away with cash and cigarettes before he was killed. Officers are not identifying the clerk. Police say they are still investigating. Original story: We have confirmed...

A 22 year old soldier from Owensboro, Kentucky faces charges of spying. Specialist William Colton Millay is stationed in Alaska. U.S. Army and FBI investigators arrested Millay last Friday. Army Lieutenant Colonel Bill Coppernoll says Millay's arrest stems from an ongoing investigation conducted by the Army and FBI. Coppernoll says few details are being released now, but adds that unlike the WikiLeaks case targeting Army analyst Bradley Manning, allegations do "not involve the transfer of data on computer networks." His family has hired a defense attorney from Dallas who specializes in defending members of the military charged in crimes. Dick...