Tag: kentucky

Coin Flip Decides Kentucky County’s Tied Election Between Republican and Democrat Candidates

Officials decided an ancient method was the best way to decide the outcome of an election in Robertson County, Kentucky.

When Republican Benny Ray Renner and Democrat Kristen Gifford Fryman tied with 91 votes each in the race for magistrate in the 2nd Magisterial District, it was up to officials to decide what to do next, KCRA reported Sunday.

“Out of the 182 ballots cast, there was not a single vote that separated the two candidates once all precincts had reported their numbers back,” the outlet said.

The Kentucky State Board of Elections recommended officials perform a coin flip to decide the outcome, and Fryman won.

Prior to her win, Fryman said she realized the race was extremely tight, WEKU reported Friday.

“When it was tied, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was kind of shocked cause that’s just something I don’t think that…I was told that’s never happened in our county before,” she said.

The coin used to decide the election was a quarter the sheriff had in his pocket.

“Our county clerk, she flipped it, and Benny, my opponent, he’s the one that got the call because he was listed first on the ballot, and he called heads, and it was tails,” Fryman said.

People in ancient Rome would flip coins to determine outcomes and as a game of chance called “heads or ships,” according to First Colonial Mint:

The rules for a Roman toss of coin were different however, in as much as they would not call out, as we do today, their prediction of the winning side of the coin. One of the protagonists would be assigned “heads.” As the emperor was on the heads side of the coin, it was assumed that the emperor agreed with the person who wins. The “ship” side of the coin always lost.

Later in Middle-aged Britain, the game was known as ‘Cross or Pile’ due to the ‘heads’ side featuring a cross and the ‘tails’ side being referred to as the ‘pile’ because of its indentations from the pressing process.

Throughout history though, no matter what its name or reasoning, it has continued to be used for the same thing — to settle a dispute, make a decision, or end a rivalry.

Robertson County is Kentucky’s smallest county in population, according to the state’s website.

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Massie files articles of impeachment against Hegseth

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Hegseth on Monday.

The articles accuse Hegseth of illegally launching the war in Iran and killing hundreds of civilians in boat strikes against suspected drug-smugglers int the Caribbean, Politico reported.

Massie had initially offered articles of impeachment in September, but Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House before a vote could take place.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced he would hold a Tuesday press conference in the face of a growing impeachment push from lawmakers.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that he’ll support impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Jeffries said that House Democrats will have a conversation about whether there’s enough support for the resolution when they convene in Washington for the first time after the midterm elections on Tuesday.

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Is Banning a Church From Building on Its Property’s Just “A Mere Inconvenience”? The Supreme Court Will Decide

The Supreme Court just agreed to take up a case that could reshape how every church in America is treated when it tries to build. Last week, the Court granted certiorari in Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist v. Frederic to define what counts as a “substantial burden” on religious exercise under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

A Catholic religious organization in Park Hills, Kentucky, wanted to build a small chapel on land next to its church. The construction would be about the size of a backyard swimming pool. The city’s board approved the permit, but neighbors sued, and the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled against the church.

The court’s reasoning was alarming. It said that being barred from building a chapel was “a mere inconvenience” because the church could build a smaller one somewhere else. It also called the burden self-imposed because the church knew about the ordinance before it applied.

Under that logic, a complete ban on a religious use of your own property isn’t a substantial burden as long as a judge thinks you could worship some other way. Judges, not believers, would decide what matters to the faith.

The ACLJ filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take this case. We told the Justices that lower courts have been eroding RLUIPA’s protections by adding qualifiers Congress never wrote. Congress passed this law to stop local governments from treating churches as second-class property owners, and it told courts to read the statute in favor of broad protection of religious exercise.

The grant confirms that RLUIPA’s land-use protections have gone too long without guidance from the Supreme Court. Now that the Court has taken the case, the ACLJ will file an amicus brief on the merits, standing with houses of worship across the country as the Justices decide this question.

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Epstein-Linked Billionaire Reid Hoffman Drops $500K on Kentucky Democrat Zach Dembo

LinkedIn co-founder and Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, the same billionaire who visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, stayed at his Manhattan townhouse, and once sent the convicted pedophile ice cream “for the girls,” just poured $500,000 into a super PAC backing Kentucky Democrat Zach Dembo.

The cash went to Kentuckians Not Corruption on September 24, according to WEKU’s October 16 investigation into Federal Election Commission records.

The group is running heavy television ads supporting Dembo and attacking his Republican opponent, former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District.

Advertising records show the PAC’s weekly TV buys on Lexington’s WLEX-TV exploded after the money arrived, jumping from roughly $14,650 in mid-September to nearly $110,000 the week of October 6. By mid-October the group had already spent about $1.6 million on the race.

“This is really, it’s dirty Epstein class money fueling Zach Dembo’s campaign. It’s offensive,” Alvaro told Fox News.

He added that Hoffman “was one of his best friends,” citing the island visits, townhouse stays, and the infamous Christmas Eve ice cream shipment with the note that it was “either for yourself or for the girls.”

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‘Honor Our Farming Families’: Kentucky County Permanently Bans AI Data Centers

Woodford County in Kentucky has enacted a permanent, outright ban on data center development, following a Fiscal Court vote coordinated with the local governments of Midway and Versailles.

The Lexington Herald Leader reports that the ban followed a Woodford County Fiscal Court meeting on September 8, 2026. Woodford County Judge-Executive James Kay posted about the vote on Facebook, calling it a “clear commitment to what makes Woodford County one of the most special places on earth.”

Kay, interviewed by the Herald-Leader the Wednesday evening after the vote, said the ban came together in an unusual way: the county’s incorporated cities and the county government all agreed on identical banning language. He said there was little pushback, with rural and urban elected officials landing on the same approach.

“By taking this decisive step, Woodford County chose to protect our farmland, honor our farming families, and safeguard the quiet character of our countryside,” Kay said. “This isn’t about closing doors. It’s about holding the line for the community we treasure. Woodford County’s future is rooted in our land and water. Our future is farming.”

Kay said the community has an obligation to preserve “the same vibrant rural landscape, pristine waterways, and strong farming foundation that we enjoy” for those who come after. “We will not allow data centers to compromise our future,” he said.

The permanent ban builds on steps taken earlier this year. In June, the Woodford County Fiscal Court unanimously approved two motions: one directing the county attorney to draft legislation banning data centers outright, and another asking the county’s planning commission to consider similar regulations. That same month, the Versailles City Council, which governs the Woodford County seat, unanimously approved its own data center moratorium, running through Dec. 31, 2026. That measure bars the city’s planning commission and local government from considering any permits, approvals or project plans involving data centers. Versailles acted shortly after the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council took similar action.

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Radical Abortion Group With Ties to Biden Officials and Shady Hedge Fund Faces Investigation and Lawsuit for Advertising Illegal Abortion Pills in Plane Stunt

A radical left abortion group founded and led by ex-Biden officials is coming under fire by Kentucky’s top law enforcement official after an “illegal” stunt advertising abortion pills at the state fair. 

New York-based Mayday Health was founded following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by former Biden White House Traveling Content Director Olivia Raisner, former Biden-Harris campaign speechwriter Sam Koppelman, and Nathaniel Brooks Horwitz.

Last weekend, Mayday Health promoted the trafficking of abortion pills into the state, bypassing an existing law in Kentucky that bans the sale of the deadly drugs, Kentucky Today reports.

The banner, which advertised “Abortion Pills By Mail” with a link to Mayday Health’s webpage, was seen flying over the Kentucky State Fair last weekend.

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman responded to the incident on X, writing, “It appears abortion activists are flying over Louisville advertising illegal drugs.”

“They are breaking the law,” he added. 

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‘Moderate’ Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Calls for Abolishing Electoral College

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has called for the abolition of the Electoral College.

Beshear, who styles himself as a so-called “moderate” and is likely to throw his hat in the ring for the 2028 Democratic nomination, appeared on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday morning to discuss his “big ideas” for the future.

Here is a transcript of the exchange:

HOST: Well, what I’m curious about is what- given they’re looking for big ideas, what would be your biggest, boldest idea that you’re promoting these days?

BESHEAR: Well, I’ll give you two because people want you to fix the darn economy, and they want you to fix the darn government. On the economy, it is time for an aspirational investment in housing that can bring down the cost of especially first-time home ownership.

People can actually see that progress all over the country. We ought to tie the federal dollars to speed. You’ve got to break ground and you’ve got to do it quickly. Get through the overregulation and the NIMBY-ism. But I tell you what, people also think this government is broken.

So, fix the darn government. Constitutional amendment. It is time. It should outlaw partisan redistricting and enshrine part of the Voting Rights Act right there in the constitution. It should create term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court. No more gaming those appointments.

It should also overturn Citizens United, and I think call for direct elections of the president and the vice president. That could actually make things work. A big idea that would, yes, change government, but in a way enshrined in the constitution where people would know it’s going to get better.

HOST: I didn’t realize you support abolishing the Electoral College. If you’re saying direct election of the president and vice president.

BESHEAR: Yeah, I’ve said it a number of times, and it’s because in Kentucky we will never see a candidate for president or vice president unless they’re from here.

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Mitch McConnell Discharged From Rehab Center – Provides Health Update in New Statement

Senator Mitch McConnell was discharged from the rehab center and said he will continue his recovery at home.

McConnell was hospitalized on June 14 after he was found unconscious at his DC home.

“Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home. Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I’ve received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff,” McConnell said in a statement.

“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell said.

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RFK Jr. DECERTIFIES Kentucky Organ Harvesting Group After It IGNORED Signs of Life in Dozens of Patients

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just dropped the hammer on one of the most disturbing scandals in the American organ transplant system.

On Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky, RFK Jr. announced that HHS is decertifying Network for Hope, the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia, after federal reviewers found the group repeatedly ignored clear signs of life in patients who were about to have their organs cut out.

According to the official HHS release, the Health Resources and Services Administration reviewed 351 Network for Hope cases between 2021 and 2024 in which organ donation had been authorized but was ultimately not completed.

In 103 of those cases, nearly 30%, investigators found “concerning features.” That includes 73 patients who showed neurological signs completely incompatible with organ donation.

Some of these potential “donors” may not even have been dead when the procurement process started.

One case that helped trigger the investigation involved Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II. His sister, Donna Rohrer, has said Hoover opened his eyes before the planned retrieval procedure and later thrashed, cried, and grabbed at a doctor during cardiac testing. The process reportedly ended only after a physician refused to proceed. Hoover survived.

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Kentucky Releases Child Killer AGAIN, Father of Slain Six-Year-Old Logan Tipton Says It May Be His Breaking Point

The father of a six-year-old Kentucky boy stabbed to death in his own bed is publicly breaking down after the man who did it was released from prison for the second time, this time with no supervision.

Dean Tipton took to Facebook on Wednesday and wrote that the killer of his son Logan being released again may be his breaking point.

Tipton wrote that the justice system handed his family a life sentence while giving the killer, Ronald Exantus, a slap on the wrist.

Exantus broke into the Tipton family’s Versailles home on December 7, 2015, stabbed Logan Tipton to death as he slept and also attacked Dean and Logan’s sisters. He did not know the family prior to the attack.

The deranged murderer walked free from the Kentucky State Reformatory last week after completing an adjusted sentence.

In 2018, a jury found Exantus not guilty by reason of insanity on the murder and first-degree burglary charges related to Logan’s death, citing his schizophrenia, while convicting him of being guilty but mentally ill on assault charges against the other family members.

Exantus received a 20-year sentence on those assault counts.

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