FRANKFORT — A budget proposal in the Kentucky House will closely resemble the $20 billion biennial budget outlined by Gov. Steve Beshear.

House Appropriations and Revenue chair Rick Rand says that that chamber’s budget will be virtually the same as the governor’s, specifically in the area of education. It largely preserves Beshear’s requests for the funding formula known as SEEK and implements raises for teachers.

A majority of Democrats are planning to takeover the Senate floor to bring attention to climate change in a so-called "talk-a-thon" Monday. 

It's unclear if Kentucky candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes either supports or would participate in the event.

But a prominent environmentalist says the campaign is promising Grimes will be more aggressive in fighting for a green agenda after the election.

Veteran finance and business reporter James McNair is the newest addition to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. 

McNair's nearly 30 years in journalism includes positions at the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Miami Herald, where he's done work to uncover fraud and unethical business practices.

He's worked since 2007 as an independent researcher for hedge funds, in which "he is responsible for combing through records, digging through corporate filings and assisting the company in analyzing the health of businesses," a news release said.

Playwright Jordan Harrison likes a high concept – in his widely-favored 2011 Humana Festival entry “Maple and Vine,” which went on to high-profile productions at Playwrights Horizons and American Conservatory Theatre, urban achievers leave the contemporary über-connected rat race to live in a planned community of 1950s re-enactors, with all of the racial, gender, and sexual anachronisms that implies; in his sci-fi dystopian “Futura” (produced in Louisville by Theatre [502] in 2012), books and paper are outlawed in favor of the computing cloud. 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell holds a nearly 40-point lead over primary challenger Matt Bevin, according to a super PAC supporting the incumbent.

Kentuckians for Strong Leadership released the poll Monday, showing McConnell ahead of Bevin by a 61-23 margin among likely voters.

The polling memo says McConnell's support among primary voters "cuts across ideology and Tea Party affiliation."

The southbound approach to the Clark Memorial Bridge will be reduced to one-lane beginning Monday morning.

Crews will be dismantling historic limestone pylons and railings, officials from the project said.  The structures will be reincorporated into the bridge once ramp construction is complete.

The work will eventually move into the northbound approach, closing one lane in each direction.

The existing four travel lanes on the Clark Memorial Bridge will not be affected during the work.

Jefferson County Public Schools will on Monday night unveil the finalists from the 48 community submissions to design a new school.

The school district plans to open the winning School of Innovation design in the 2015-16 academic year. Last month, JCPS unveiled 12 semifinalists in the competition. Submitters included several teams of JCPS teachers, a group of Louisville museum leaders and a team of educators from Michigan.

In the 1940s, photographer Russell Lee spent two years working for the United States Department of the Interior in Eastern Kentucky. During that time, he took thousands of pictures of coal miners and their families--many of which were centered in Harlan and Bell counties.

Lee's work contributed to health and safety changes that came about later in the mining industry, according to the Texas State Historical Association.