GOP 2016-PAUL

Rand Paul faces tough questions from Orthodox Jewish crowd

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican presidential contender Rand Paul of Kentucky faced tough questions as he tried to woo New York's Orthodox Jewish community, including how he would fight lingering perceptions about his commitment to Israel.

The Kentucky senator spoke in front of several dozen rabbis and other Jewish community leaders Monday at the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools headquarters in Brooklyn.

The appearance was part of outreach effort to a community that is heavily courted by his party.

Paul told the group that Israel is one of the nation's best allies but affirmed his support for the eventual end of foreign aid to the country. He also spoke in favor of continuing negotiations with Iran and argued that American intervention across the Middle East in recent years has largely done more harm than good.

GOP GOVERNOR

Comer proposes earned-income tax credit

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate James Comer is proposing an earned-income tax credit to reduce the tax burden on many Kentucky families.

Comer said Monday his proposal for a 10 percent earned-income tax credit would apply to families with household incomes up to $100,000.

He said it would allow families to keep more of their income. Comer said his proposal would cost the state about $86 million a year. He said he would pay for it in part by eliminating special-interest tax credits.

Comer, the state's agriculture commissioner, also proposed a tax credit for first-time small business owners.

Comer is in a four-way primary for the GOP nomination for governor. His opponents are former Louisville metro councilman Hal Heiner, Louisville businessman Matt Bevin and former state Supreme Court justice Will T. Scott.

SUPREME COURT-GAY MARRIAGE

Supreme Court to hear same-sex marriage arguments

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tuesday is a potential watershed moment for gay and lesbian couples. After rapid changes that have made same-sex marriage legal in all but 14 states, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over making it the law of the land.

All eyes will be on the justices for signals they might be prepared to rule that the Constitution forbids states from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Outside the court, people have been waiting in line since Friday for prized seats.

The cases before the court come from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. A federal appeals court upheld those states' bans in November. Most other federal courts have ruled for same-sex couples since the justices struck down part of the federal anti-gay marriage law in 2013.

GAY PRIDE SHIRTS

Judge rules in favor of printer that refused gay pride job

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A judge in Lexington has ruled in favor of a shop that refused to print T-shirts for a gay pride festival.

The ruling Monday by Fayette County Circuit Judge James Ishmael overturns a decision by the city's Human Rights Commission. The commission had ruled in 2014 that the print shop, Hands On Originals, violated a city law that bans discrimination against gays. The shop says it has refused several jobs due to its Christian beliefs.

Ishmael said the Human Rights Commission went beyond its statutory authority in siding with the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization. The judge said that the print shop's refusal in 2012 was based on the message of the gay group and pride festival and "not on the sexual orientation of its representatives or members."

PONZI SCHEME CHARGES

4 charged in Ponzi scheme enter guilty plea

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — Four people charged in a $15 million Ponzi scheme have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.

The Johnson City Press reports Brian C. Rose, Jason Smith, Dallas McRae and Hugh Sackett face up to 20 years in prison when they are sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tennessee.

Prosecutors accused Rose of running the scam and ripping off 160 investors in four states who thought they were investing in coal mines. Rose opened Johnson City-based New Century Coal in 2011 and told investors it was running several coal mines and putting out-of-work miners back on a payroll in Kentucky.

Prosecutors say some mining operations were occurring, but nothing like what was promised to investors.

STATE POLICE ACADEMY

New Kentucky State Police Acadmey dedicated in Frankfort

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — When Kentucky State Police cadets report for training next month, it will be at a different facility in Frankfort.

The new Kentucky State Police Academy is at the site of a minimum-security prison closed in 2011 after the prison population dropped.

The 220-acre site includes a 15,000-square-foot building with a 7,800-square-foot multipurpose room where cadets can train during bad weather.

Gov. Steve Beshear dedicated the new facility Monday and said it gives the agency a facility to match the troopers' level of professionalism.

State police said the training academy has been located on the top floor of the agency's headquarters in Frankfort but offered no room for growth and required cadets to travel off-site for some training.

Planned later are an indoor firing range and additional classroom complex.

INMATE ESCAPE

Blackburn inmate walks away from facility

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — An inmate at Blackburn Correctional Complex in Lexington has walked away from the minimum security prison.

A statement from the facility says 45-year-old Charles Blanton, who was serving a 16-year sentence on charges out of Laurel County including manufacturing methamphetamine, went missing Sunday evening. He would have been eligible for parole in December.

Blanton is described as a 6-foot, 200 pound white male with brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call the Kentucky State Police at (502) 227-2221 or the Lexington Division of Police at (859) 258-3600.

KENTUCKY POET LAUREATE

Kentucky has new poet laureate

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's newest poet laureate is a Harlan County native who now lives in Lexington.

George Ella Lyon was inducted last week as the state's newest poet laureate. The position promotes the literary arts around Kentucky. The position has been appointed by the governor since 1995.

Lyon will hold the job for two years. She succeeds Frank X. Walker, who was appointed in 2013.

Lyon says she hopes to "remind people that they have a voice and invite them to tell those stories. To do so is deeply healing."

She was recently inducted at a ceremony in Frankfort.

LINCOLN BIRTHPLACE-PARK

Ky. communities benefit from visits to Lincoln Historic Park

HODGENVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A new report shows that visitors to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky spent $13 million last year in nearby communities.

The National Park Service report says the spending by the 241,264 visitors supported 227 jobs in the local area in central Kentucky.

The park's acting superintendent, Stacy Humphreys, says the park welcomes visitors from across the country and from around the world.

She says the park is a way to introduce visitors to the entire region and what it has to offer.

Humphreys says national park tourism is a big contributor to the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service.

OBIT-PHILLIPS

One of Kentucky's 1978 'Twin Towers,' Mike Phillips, dies

MADISONVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Mike Phillips, a standout basketball player at the University of Kentucky in the 1970s, has died in western Kentucky. He was 59.

Barnett-Strother Funeral Home confirmed Philips' death. The Hopkins County coroner's office is investigating the cause of death but told WFIE-TV that Phillips died after a fall Saturday at his home in Madisonville.

Phillips and Rick Robey were known as the "Twin Towers" on the 1978 championship team that went 30-2 and beat Duke in the NCAA final. The Courier-Journal reported Phillips was an Ohio native who averaged more than 10 points a game during the season and finished 25th on UK's all-time scoring list.

Former coach Joe B. Hall told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Phillips was courageous and tough and a "gentle giant."

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

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