Ward, 43, will face in the Nov. 4 general election Democrat Kelly Flood , vice president for advancement at the Starr King School for the Ministry, which is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist church. The school is in Berkley, Calif.

Ward is making her first bid for public office.

She said she is running as a single mother who has no health insurance. "I have views on various issues and I have nothing to lose in running."

Ward, a native of Madison County who grew up in Garrard County, said she has been living in Lexington since 1986.

--Jack Brammer

Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Daniel J. Venters of Somerset to a Kentucky Supreme Court seat vacated by former Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert of Rockcastle County.

Venters will represent the 3rd Supreme Court District which includes 27 counties.  The Judicial Nominating Commission, led by Chief Justice Don Minton Jr., recommended Venters, Robert W. Dyche III of London and Eddie C. Lovelace of Albany for the open spot on Tuesday.

Venters is currently in private practice and received his law degree from the University of Kentucky. Venters will serve until the Nov. 4 general election. The deadline to file to run for the November election is Aug. 12. The candidate who wins the election in November will serve out the remainder of Lambert's term, which ends in 2010.

--- Beth Musgrave

Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's latest TV commercial about energy policy compares his views on drilling and oil company profit taxes with those of his Democratic challenger, Bruce Lunsford.

"Billions of barrels of oil are off America's coasts but 85 percent is off limits. McConnell is leading the fight for more exploration. Lunsford wouldn't open a single new acre for offshore drilling," says the announcer of the 30-second ad.

The ad cites an Aug. 4 opinion piece by Lunsford that ran in the Herald-Leader as its source for the statement about Lunsford. Lunsford never says he opposes off-shore drilling -- he just doesn't mention new drilling in his op-ed piece. Previously, Lunsford has told reporters that he wouldn't vote against lifting moratoriums on new off-shore leases.

The ad also draws a sharp line between McConnell and Lunsford over the issue of imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Lunsford has supported that but McConnell opposes it, saying the oil companies would simply pass on the cost of a tax to consumers at the pump.

Here's the ad:

This spot will be running less frequently than other recent ads from McConnell's campaign, most of which have attacked Lunsford on gas price related issues.

McConnell bought less than $50,000 worth of time in the Lexington-Hazard TV market with this current spot, according to media purchasing information filed at WKYT in Lexington. That amount is about half the size of media buys earlier this summer for ads that criticized Lunsford for pushing for a provision 28 years ago that automatically increased the state's gas tax when the price of wholesale gasoline skyrocketed.

UPDATE 4:59 p.m.: MCCONNELL TALKS ENERGY, IRAQ AND HIS CLOUT ON 'NEWSMAKERS'

McConnell taped "Newsmakers" Friday with Bill Bryant on WKYT news, and in a wide ranging interview talked about his favorite subject of late: energy.

On the show, which airs 11 a.m. to  11:30 a.m. Saturday on WKYT Channel 27 in Lexington, McConnell touts his proposed bill in congress to lift moratoriums on new off-shore drilling and exploration of oil shale in the western United States.

When Bryant asked him it squares that oil companies who have received tax breaks from Congress are not receiving record profits, McConnell answered: "The profits are the same as many other corporate entities."

Later, the Herald-Leader asked McConnell to expand on that, considering Exxon-Mobil's most recent quarterly profits set records. McConnell said the percentages of profits oil companies brought in were not out of line with other industries.

"I'm not here to defend them at all, but it's a statement of fact that there are many sectors of our economy where corporations make bigger profits. So the question is: do we have a windfall profits tax on everybody who makes what the government perceives is too much," he said. "If I thought for a minute that raising taxes on oil companies wouldn't be passed on to the price of gas at the pump,  I wouldn't have any particular objection."

McConnell also said he agreed with Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler of Versailles that the surge of 20,000 additional troops into Iraq last year has helped quell sectarian violence there.

"Clearly it's gotten better ... That's why it's not a very bit issue in the election," he told Bryant.

But McConnell wouldn't commit to when he thought U.S. troops should pull out of Iraq. He told the Herald-Leader that it wasn't his decision to make.

"I expect that they'll reach some kind of agreement. At the end that will be negotiated by the Iraqi government and the Defense Department," he said.

One of the other main points McConnell hammered on repeatedly during the half-hour taping was how his position as Republican leader in the Senate has benefited Kentucky, both in obtaining federal funding and helping address the chemical weapons at the Bluegrass Army Depot.

He noted that freshmen Democratic senators, for instance, brought back to their states less money. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey delivered $16 million to his home state.

"I, as the leader of my party in the minority, was able to bring back $500 million to the commonwealth," he said. "If my opponent were to replace me, he'd be a freshman Democrat in all likelihood the majority party, and he's only a few years younger than I am. So consequently we would suffer an enormous loss of influence and clout."

"At the end of the day, I think Kentuckians are not going to want to trade in a guy with a lot of clout and influence on behalf of this commonwealth," he said to conclude the show.

- Ryan Alessi

But that cuts both ways. Lunsford and McConnell both hold Vencor ties.

Vencor was the national health-care company Lunsford founded in Louisville. In 1998, Vencor made national headlines for evicting Medicaid patients from nursing homes to make room for more lucrative private-pay patients. Lunsford apologized and the company paid a $270,000 fine. In 1999, Vencor filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganized.

Asked about a new Lunsford commercial tying McConnell to Washington's moneyed special interests, McConnell spokesman Justin Brasell on Thursday said, "Here is how it works in Lunsford's world: You run a nursing home business that takes millions from the federal government, and then you are forced to pay record fines for treatment of senior citizens. Then you bankrupt the business but make sure that you walk away with millions."

However, Lunsford -- then the chairman and chief executive officer -- wasn't alone in Vencor's corporate suite. McConnell's wife Elaine Chao sat on the Vencor board of directors through its troubled period, from 1997 until she accepted the post of U.S. secretary of labor in 2001. Her financial-disclosure report shows Chao getting $29,000 a year for her Vencor management duties.

In fact, McConnell himself made sympathetic noises in the Senate regarding Vencor's struggle shortly before it filed for bankruptcy. Lunsford and others in the hospital and nursing home industries complained that changes to Medicare reimbursement rules caused "draconian reductions" in their federal payments. McConnell took an interest in several bills that dealt with those rules.

"There is increasing recognition in Congress that this is an issue that needs to be examined," McConnell spokesman Kyle Simmons said in 1999.

In an interview today and in the past, McConnell has deflected questions about his wife's Vencor service, arguing that it's unfair to blame the board of directors for a company's problems.

"My only response is, who was running the company?" McConnell told reporters after the primary election last spring. "It looks like (Lunsford) blames everybody but himself."

On Friday, Lunsford spokesman Cary Stemle said the Democratic campaign has no desire to rehash Vencor, but he confirmed that Chao served at the top of the company, working closely with Lunsford. She did not resign her seat after the news media reported on nursing home evictions or after the bankruptcy.

"She was a good board member, from what I'm told," Stemle said. "She attended the meetings and all the votes were apparently unanimous."

-- John Cheves

Trey Pollard at PolitickerKY offers a look at what Democratic state Senate candidate Kathy Stein had to say about GOP Senate President David Williams. The site also offers its weekly list of winners and losers, featuring Secretary of State Trey Grayson atop the winners list and two prominent candidates for federal office among the losers.

WHAS's Mark Hebert asks why Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford is playing into GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell's hands and shows the latest fund-raising request McConnell has put out.

The Courier-Journal's Joe Gerth has an in-depth look at the new ad by Lunsford.

Republican blogs:

Osi Speaks highlights what Republican congressional candidate Brett Guthrie has been saying on the trail and runs excerpts from the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer story about Guthrie's rotary club speech, which requires a subscription.

KYpolitics.org picks up on a Corbin News-Journal story about two area judges reprimanded by the Judicial Conduct Committee for making campaign contributions to a partisan race, in this case the Democrat who lost in the February special election for state Senate in Perry, Leslie, Bell and Harlan counties. Oddly, the headline is "Another story the MSM won't publish" -- except it was a newspaper story that made up the whole of the post and the contributions were originally reported by the Herald-Leader here and in a later March 18 article.

Kentucky Progress takes Gov. Steve Beshear to task for scheduling a transparency meeting during the time that Grayson, who called for putting government spending online before Beshear did, was out of state for the GOP convention.

Democratic blogs:

Bluegrassreport.org raises concerns about Beshear touting the candidacy of Carroll Hubbard, who is running for state Senate but has served prison time.

PageOne, in addition to following the investigation of former U of L education dean, weighs in on the behind-the-scenes Democratic House leadership races.

- Ryan Alessi

The Council on Postsecondary Education oversees the grants to local counties. Luallen’s office has done an audit of the adult education program -- which includes an assortment of classes -- each of the past four years.

Auditors examined 31 adult education programs in 29 counties. Auditors found some of problems with lack of oversight regarding student eligibility and failure to keep accurate records on staff development, according to a press release from Luallen’s office.

“The overall management and administration of the CPE grants by the local adult education programs seems to be in good standing based on our audits,” Luallen said.

-- Beth Musgrave

They are Ryan Alessi, political reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader; Laura Cullen Glasscock, editor and publisher of The Kentucky Gazette in Frankfort; and Greg Stotelmyer, reporter for Lexington's WTVQ-TV.

The show airs at 8 p.m. Friday on KET1.

--Jack Brammer

After making his first whirlwind trip through Iraq over the weekend, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler said the United States should begin to withdraw troops now and force the Iraqi government to stand on its own.

”As long as we continue to fund this thing and as long as we continue to provide security, there is less incentive for the Iraqi government to do the things they need to do to control the country,“ Chandler told the Herald-Leader. ”I think we need to leave them with as stable a situation as we can but we need to lift off from the country as soon as possible.

”I think it's time to start withdrawing,“ he added, although he acknowledged that any such shift in policy isn't likely to occur until the next president takes office in January.

He also said he's increasingly concerned with the mounting cost of U.S. occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, which works out to roughly $330 million per day.

”It's a shocking amount of money and at a time when we're concerned about our ability to compete in a global economy,“ he said.

Chandler, a member of the House appropriations committee's subcommittee for State Department and foreign operations funding, traveled to Ramadi and Baghdad on Saturday with four members of Arkansas' congressional delegation and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop of New York.

In addition to meeting with troops and surveying the region, the group met with Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, who is commanding general of the multinational force in Iraq.

Chandler praised U.S. troops for being ”heroic“ in quelling sectarian violence that has flared up since U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003.

”It's unbelievable what they have had to deal with — wearing all this equipment in the heat and in dangerous circumstances where you don't know who is friend or foe,“ said Chandler, who was outfitted with a heavy flak jacket for protection in what he said was 120-degree heat during his trip.

Chandler said a surge of an additional 20,000 troops last year — which he spoke against on the House floor — clearly helped conditions.

”We've done a wonderful job really in bringing more security to the country,“ he said. ”You cannot dispute the fact that it is connected with putting more troops there.“

But he said U.S. efforts might have reached the ”point of diminishing returns.“

”We've given them breathing room to stabilize their situation, and I'm not sure for the money we're spending that we can accomplish a great deal more than that,“ he said. ”Essentially we're borrowing from the Chinese in order to pay for a war that, if you look at the final outcome, it's really questionable whether we gain a thing from it.“

CONTINUE READING STORY

Scorsone said he was honored by the appointment.

"Lexington has a strong tradition of an excellent bench and I hope to continue that," he said.

Scorsone, a Lexington attorney,  will serve until the Nov. 4 general election to replace Sheila Isaac, who stepped down to enter the senior judge program.

Scorsone, 56, is the only person thus far to file papers to run in November for the circuit court seat. The deadline to file is Aug. 12.

Scorsone, who served 12 years in the state House and 12 years in the state Senate, recently withdrew his name to run again in November for the Senate. He had no opposition.

Scorsone backed Beshear for governor last year and served on Beshear's transition team.

--Jack Brammer

Flood was nominated during a public meeting.

She is vice president for advancement at the Starr King School for the Ministry, which is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist church. The school is in Berkley, Calif. Flood received a bachelor's degree in American studies from Florida State University and a master's of divinity from Starr King.

She lives in Lexington with her husband and son.

- Herald-Leader Staff

Joined by interim CPE President Richard Crofts  and other higher education leaders, including University of Kentucky President Lee Todd and Eastern Kentucky University President Doug Whitlock,  Beshear said the move "more clearly demonstrates the importance of higher education to my administration while removing an unnecessary layer of government bureaucracy."

He said his order also shows potential candidates for the CPE presidency that the governor wants the president to be one of his top advisers.

"To recruit the kind of national educational leader we need as the new CPE president, he or she must be a close adviser tot he governor of the Commonwealth," Beshear said.

The council oversees all state colleges and universities. It hopes to have a new president named by the end of this year.

Brad Cowgill, who was former Gov. Ernie Fletcher'sbudget director, resigned as interim president of the council last spring.  The council had elected him president but, at Beshear's request, did not sign a contract with Cowgill, pending the release of an attorney general's opinion that said the hiring of Cowgill violated a state law because no national search was conducted. Cowgill had succeeded Tom Layzell, who retired.

Beshear's order returns the council to its original organizational structure envisioned by postsecondary education reforms in 1997.

Fletcher moved the council to the Education Cabinet in December 2003, saying he wanted to remove political influence from its workings and assign more responsibilities to his education secretary, Virginia Fox.

Beshear said the council will remain an independent governing body for higher education and the president will report directly to the board. The council is to report to the governor and the governor's cabinet secretary.

"It's anything but political," Beshear said of his order.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Task Force on Postsecondary Education recommended last December that the CPE be moved from the Education Cabinet "with direct access to the governor."

UK President Todd said he applauded Beshear's move, saying it will provide the council better access to the governor.

EKU's Whitlock said the move will communicate to higher education faculty and students "that postsecondary education is truly valuable."

- Jack Brammer

UPDATED AT 1:30 P.M.

Democrat Bruce Lunsford's campaign for the U.S. Senate rolled out his second television ad Thursday, claiming that Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell is "the master" of turning campaign contributions from special interests such as oil companies into legislative favors.

McConnell's campaign responded by bringing up problems Lunsford had with his nursing home business.

In his new 30-second ad entitled "How It Works," Lunsford is shown standing near a split-rail fence in a rural setting..

"Here's how it works in Washington," says Lunsford. "The politicians get millions in campaign cash. The special interests get what they want. And we get the short end of the stick.

"Mitch McConnell is the master of this system. It's how Big Oil gets billions in tax breaks and we get $4 a gallon gas. It's how Wall Street gets bailed out, and people lose their homes. It's how senators get indicted, and Mitch McConnell says nothing.

"If you're tired of this system, I say it's time for a change. I'm Bruce Lunsford and I approve this message."

Lunsford campaign spokesman Cary Stemle said in a statement that McConnell's "been bought and paid for with millions from Big Oil and other special interests.

"And now with one of his closest friends in the Senate under indictment for corruption, he's silent. What does that tell us? It's time for change."

Stemle said he was referring to U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Justin Brasell, McConnell's campaign manager, issued  a comment on the Lunsford ad. 

It said, "At least Lunsford is consistent, going back to the primary every ad he has run has been full of baseless negative attacks.

"Here is how it works in Lunsford's world: you run a nursing home business that takes millions from the federal government and then are forced to pay record fines for treatment of senior citizens.  Then you bankrupt the business but make sure that you walk away with millions.

"That's how it it works in Lunsford's world."

In 1985, Lunsford started a health care business called Vencor. It grew into a multimillion-dollar corporation with 60,000 employees in 46 states.

In 1998, the company made headlines when it evicted Medicaid patients from nursing homes to make way for private-pay ones.

Lunsford said he did not know what staff were doing and apologized. Eventually, the patients were invited to return, and he company paid a $270,000 fine.

A year later the company was forced to file for bankruptcy. Lunsford has said the 1997 budget bill, which changed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, contributed to the company's problems.

Here's the ad:

--Jack Brammer

Education Commissioner Jon Draud appointed Rasche to the position Wednesday at an annual salary of $80,000. He is filling a vacancy due to a retirement and is to begin his job Aug. 18.

"Frank's experience as a state representative, his service as a local school board member and his deep understanding of Kentucky's P-12 education system make him a natural choice for the job," Draud said in a statement.

Rasche noted in a statement that he worked for several years with Draud in the legislature.

"I am looking forward to continuing our collaboration on education issues and to interacting witht he Department of Education's staff," Rasche said.

Rasche has  represented the 3rd House district in McCracken County since 1993 and has been chair of the House Education Committee since 1999. He also is a former member of the Paducah Board of Education.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said Rasche's resignation from the House is effective Aug. 15.

Rasche plans to chair the Aug. 11 meeting of the interim education committee, Richards said.

Asked who will replace Rasche as House education chairman, Richards said, "I don't know."

"Frank Rasche is a totally honest man and he's very non-political in his approach," Richards said. "He did his work for the betterment of school children."

Richards said he does not think there will be a special election to fill the remainder of Rasche's House term, which ends Dec. 31, because there are no legislative sessions until January.

Democratic and Republican executive committees in McCracken County will nominate their candidates for the Nov. 4 ballot. The winner will take office in January.

Paducah City Commissioner Gerald Watkins, a Democrat, said at last Saturday's Fancy Farm political picnic in Graves County that he is interested in replacing Rasche in the House.

--Jack Brammer

It is the highest honor SPJ, a national organization for journalists, bestows upon a a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.

Others named were Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio who formerly was CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief and chief correspondent for "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer," and the late Tim Russert, who was managing editor and moderator of "Meet the Press."

Smith, 81, has been called "Kentucky's leading public citizen" for his involvement in various causes, including creation of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. He has run several weekly newspapers in Kentucky.

Al Cross, director of the UK journalism institute and a former journalist for Smith, wrote in his recommendation letter for Smith that Smith "taught me how to write about controversial people in a way that allowed you to hold your journalistic head high and still look them in the eye and exchange a greeting the next day."

Smith and the other Fellows will be recognized at a Sept. 6 dinner at the 2008 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Atlanta.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

For more information about SPJ, visit www.spj.org.

--Jack Brammer

Farmer had filed in January to make a second run at Westrom, who has served in the House since 1998.

- Ryan Alessi

FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear has 60 days to select a new Kentucky Supreme Court justice from three names provided by a judicial nominating commission on Tuesday.

The new justice will fill the seat left vacant by former Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert of Rockcastle County, who retired last month.

The names of the three attorneys submitted to Beshear by the Judicial Nominating Commission, led by Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., are Robert W. Dyche III of London, Eddie C. Lovelace of Albany and Daniel J. Venters of Somerset.

Dyche is a former Kentucky Court of Appeals judge. Lovelace has been a circuit judge since 1992, and Venters is a former circuit court and district court judge.

Jamie Ball, a spokeswoman for the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said Beshear's choice will serve until votes are certified in a Nov. 4 election.

The Nov. 4 election will determine who will serve out the remainder of Lambert's term, which runs through 2010, she said.

Ball added that whoever wants to run in the November election has until Aug. 12 to file with Secretary of State Trey Grayson's office.

The new justice will represent the 3rd Supreme Court District, made up of Adair, Bell, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Estill, Garrard, Green, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Lincoln, Marion, McCreary, Metcalfe, Monroe, Nelson, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Taylor, Washington, Wayne and Whitley counties.

The Supreme Court is the state's highest court.

--Jack Brammer

"Scott did a great job. Sometimes these things don't work out," said Ted Jackson, Northup's campaign chairman.

Jackson said the personnel change wasn't a sign that the campaign was headed in the wrong direction. He noted that Northup out-raised Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth during the last quarter.

"It was more of just a personality and management style. We’re very pleased with where the campaign is fund-raising-wise and organizationally, but when we head into the critical part of the campaign, you’ve got to make sure that personalities mesh," he said.

Jackson said a replacement hasn't been named yet.

Will, who came to Northup's campaign from Iowa, did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

That campaign isn't the only one with roster changes.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford also has had some turnover recently. First, his chief spokeswoman Allison Haley left the campaign and was replaced by former Louisville Eccentric Observer editor Cary Stemle. Now, Lunsford's Web guru Nathan Dickerson has switched jobs to work for Kathy Stein's state Senate campaign in Lexington.

Lunsford said the changes don't reflect any internal problems.

"Nathan lives in Lexington. We really like him. We're real big supporters of Kathy and she's a big supporter of me, so I think you'll see Kathy and I together on the campaign trail," Lunsford said.

- Ryan Alessi

Gov. Steve Beshear on Friday replaced Dick Brown, his communications director, with Jay Blanton, who previously led the University of Kentucky's public relations office.

In doing so, Beshear awarded a 14-percent pay raise to the position, according to state personnel records.

Brown -- who has been transferred to become spokesman for the cabinets of Energy and Environment, Public Protection and Labor -- was hired for $109,992 a year.

Blanton, hired six months later, makes $124,992. That's a $15,000 jump. (He made $104,820 at UK, according to the Herald-Leader's UK salary database posted in April.)

Only two other jobs in the governor's office pay as well as Blanton's does now -- chief of staff and the senior adviser position held by Beshear friend Tommy Preston, a Lexington public relations executive.

The governor himself makes just $119,496. But he does get that free house next to the Capitol.

-- John Cheves

FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear signed an executive order Tuesday to allow low-speed electric vehicles on Kentucky roads.

Beshear directed the Transportation Cabinet to develop and implement a regulation authorizing the use of the vehicles on highways with a posted speed limit of 45 mph or less.

Transportation Secretary Joe Prather said the regulation should be ready in two to three months.

With the order, Beshear hopes that Kentucky will land a ZAP (Zero Air Polution) electric car manufacturing plant that would cost more than $100 million to build and equip.

Randy Waldman, chief executive officer of Integrity Manufacturing in Bullitt County, said ZAP, which now makes vehicles in China, will announce by the middle of this month where it wants to locate an American facility.

He said the choice is between Kentucky and Indiana and that ZAP is looking at several sites in Kentucky, including a plot in Simpson County that the company has already secured an option to buy.

The three-wheeled electric cars use no gasoline and make no noise, but can't go faster than about 40 mph.. A ZAP car that can seat four people costs about $11,700 and a truck that seats two runs about $12,400. The cars can go up to 45 miles on a charge that costs about 60 cents.

Leading Republican lawmakers had asked Beshear earlier this year to sign an order allowing low-speed electric vehicles on state roads. However, that action came after the legislature did not consider a measure proposed earlier this year by Rep. Steve Riggs, D-Louisville, that would have legalized the cars.

- Jack Brammer