Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stepped up his calls for Missouri Congressman Todd Akin to end his Senate campaign.

The embattled Congressman and Tea Party favorite made national headlines recently for his use of the phrase “legitimate rape” and his claim that it rarely results in pregnancy.

All Jefferson County Public Schools buses were cleared from the last bus depot at 6:38 Tuesday evening, ending the first day of school.

That beats last year time, when the final students were reportedly delivered home after 7:20 pm. The morning commute was also slightly better than last year, according to a JCPS spokesman.

Over 950 JCPS buses carry some 70,000 students throughout the county on any given school day. 

The Louisville Visual Art Association pays tribute to three decades in their historic Water Tower headquarters with its final exhibit in that building. Art Envoy opens Friday with a free reception. The show pairs artists from a foundational exhibit with members of the younger generation of Louisville artists. 

An Iraqi man has pleaded guilty to 10 charges of conspiring to send weapons, money and explosives to al-Qaida in Iraq.

Today, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi also pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to the federal government about his association with a terrorist organization.

Hammadi will be sentenced December 5 in Bowling Green, where he was arrested in May 2011 with a co-defendant. That man, Waad Ramadan Alwan, pleaded guilty earlier and will be sentenced October 3.

A three-judge panel has voted two to one to strike down a new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that would require some states to reduce pollution that travels across state lines. This puts the EPA in a difficult position.

Louisville businessman Ed Hart has—again—formally entered a bid to re-open the Kentucky Kingdom theme park.

Hart and a group of investors have responded to the Kentucky Fair Board's request for proposals to re-open the park.  The letter was delivered to Fair Board president Harold Workman today, and outlines a $40 million plan. Ten million of that would come from the group, and the rest would be borrowed but guaranteed by the state.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will deliver a speech a speech at this month’s Republican National Convention.

McConnell’s office confirmed to the congressional newspaper The Hill that McConnell will speak on August 29, the third night of the convention in Tampa.

The Republican National Committee previously announced that Kentucky junior Senator Rand Paul will speak on the convention’s opening night August 27.

A new research study in Kentucky will examine the effect of military suicides on family and friends.

The number of Army personnel who took their own lives reached a new monthly high mark in July. Dr. Julie Cerel from the University of Kentucky College of Social Work is investigating the toll military-related suicides take on not just close loved ones, but fellow service members as well.