Politics

Since taking office, Senator Rand Paul has constantly talked about reducing the national debt. 

It's also an issue that Congress seemingly discusses for every spending bill, large or small. The economy hasn't escaped this year's presidential race either, with President Barack Obama continuing to champion a plan that includes increased taxes on the wealthy to help pay down some debt. 

But in a speech to the Horse Cave Rotary Club, Paul pushed back on that idea. Paul argued doing so would hurt private enterprise, which he said helps fund public works the government does.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear is trying to raise awareness of Kentucky's offer of amnesty to delinquent taxpayers.

Beshear kicked off the first day of the amnesty offer today, saying delinquent taxpayers can pay what they owe and a portion of the related penalties without fear of further punishment or prosecution.

Lawmakers authorized the amnesty program earlier this year at the request of Beshear, who expects it to reap $61 million for the cash-strapped commonwealth.

Kentucky businesses and other groups could set a new spending record for lobbying state lawmakers this year.

A report released by the Legislative Ethics Commission shows that $13.2 million has already been spent on lobbying during the first eight months of 2012. The biggest spenders include several tobacco companies, as well as Churchill Downs, Humana and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation.

During the 2012 General Assembly, lobbyists and their employers spent $8.8 million, which is more than in any legislative session in state history. And this year’s lobbying expenditures are projected to surpass the record of $16.9 million dollars set in 2008.

"And the total spent has really grown quite a bit from about $6.5 million in 1994 up to what appears to be in excess of $17 million for 2012," says Legislative Ethics Commission John Schaaf.

With five weeks left in the Indiana Senate race, Republican Richard Mourdock is criticizing Congressman Joe Donnelly for supporting the agenda of congressional Democrats and President Obama in a new statewide ad.

The 30-second spot continues the road motif of the campaign, and highlights that Donnelly voted for the stimulus package, bank bailout and Affordable Care Act. For most of the general election Donnelly has trumpeted himself as a moderate, but the GOP and Mourdock are trying to undercut that by showing the congressman's ties to Democratic policies nationally.

Check it out:

After months of petitioning Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, several residents and homeowners groups are opposing an apartment project in the Highview neighborhood.

Frontgate Apartments is a 212-unit apartment complex being proposed by LDG Development in an area near Outer Loop. It has the support of the mayor’s office as an affordable housing project, but residents have complained it will lower property values.

Jon Bingham is a board member of the Apple Valley Property Owners. He says residents are willing to negotiate with developer, but that the current complex being planned is too big for the area.

"So they can come back to the table and talk to us about a reasonable, smaller size that would be a blessing to those residents as well as a blessing to the community and we can get to the negotiating table. But if they are going to shove all or nothing, we will go for nothing," he says.