Governor Steve Beshear's office has confirmed that Beshear's Chief of Staff, Mike Haydon, has died. A cause of death wasn't immediately available.

Jefferson County’s suburban fire districts—responsible for protecting nearly 187,000 homes and businesses—are tumbling toward a financial crisis that could force sweeping changes in the way the county fights fires.

The Tea Party appears stronger than ever with Republican primary victories for Senate in Missouri, Texas and Indiana most recently.

It is a movement that has been successful in defeating establishment incumbents, pulling GOP leaders further to the right and gaining a seat at the table. This week it was announced that Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention.

But Tea Party groups and activists have been criticized for their views and blamed for the current gridlock in Congress.

I spoke with Louisville Tea Party President Sarah Durand about compromise, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and what it’s like leading such a forceful—and controversial—group.

The landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars this week had many of our thoughts on space exploration. But only one journalist was asking questions about the legal ramifications of humans in outer space. Fast Company's Neal Ungerleider brought us our favorite headline of the week with his piece, Space Lawyers: They Exist.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discarded his increasingly inert better-safe-than-sorry campaign strategy Saturday when he named budget hawk and Democratic bete noire Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate.

Laws governing the sale of alcohol in Kentucky are already labyrinthine, and to make things more confusing, they are often in flux. It seems like one county or another in the Commonwealth is always voting on whether to be dry (no alcohol sales), wet (alcohol sales allowed), or moist (drinks can be consumed in restaurants, but package sales are prohibited). Marshall County recently held such a vote—they chose to remain a dry county—and emotions ran high on both sides.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is Mitt Romney's choice for running mate on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket.

The official word, which began leaking overnight, came early this morning from the Romney campaign via a smartphone app and a news release.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's newly announced running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, has youth and experience. A conservative from a swing state, he has big ideas and the policy chops to back them up.

He also brings a kind of enthusiasm Romney could use: He's a darling of the conservative base that Romney has had a harder time winning over.

Update at 8 a.m. ET. It's Official:

We're following the story now over at It's All Politics — Romney Picks Wisconsin's Ryan To Be His Running Mate On GOP Ticket.

Update at 1:30 a.m. ET:

Jeffrey Skinner, formerly a private investigator, is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Salt Water Amnesia (2005), and two anthologies of poems, Last Call: Poems on Alcoholism, Addiction, and Deliverance; and Passing the Word: Poets and Their Mentors.

He recently penned The 6.5 Practices of Moderately Successful Poets: A Self-Help Memoir for Sarabande Books.