Steve Beshear

At a Winchester Rotary Club meeting Friday, Gov.-elect Steve Beshear urged voters and officials to work together for the good of the state and forget about political boundaries. "We've had such rank partisanship 24 hours a day, seven days a week that it has almost paralyzed this country and paralyzed this state from getting anything done, and it's time we put a stop to that," he said. Beshear, who has lived on a farm on Jones Nursery Road for more than 10 years, gave the speech shortly after a ceremony at Holly Rood, where officials dedicated a special marker and tree in his honor.

LIBERTY - It wasn't long after the billboard went up along U.S. 127 advertising Bluegrass Shavings' premium bedding that a fire destroyed the company's facility in Liberty in October 2010. Gov. Steve Beshear likely rode by that billboard Tuesday on his way to deliver a $1-million check that will help Bluegrass Shavings rebuild and expand, doubling its workforce to more than 50 employees over the next two years. “This company is fighting back and saying 'We're not giving up,'” Beshear told an appreciative crowd gathered at Liberty city hall.

Winchester and Clark County will receive more than $1.1 million for sewer projects, emergency equipment and energy efficiency upgrades, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Friday with state and local officials. Largest among the grants is a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant through the state Department for Local Government to fund Winchester Municipal Utilities’ Forest Park Sanitary Sewer project. The project will eliminate three sanitary sewer overflows in the Maryland Avenue, Smith Manor and Wabash Avenue areas and reduce operating and maintenance costs at WMU, according to the department.

Honored and distinguished guests. My fellow Kentuckians: Once more, our commonwealth is at a crossroads. The course we set out upon today will help to determine whether or not we pass on to our children and grandchildren a Kentucky that's better and more prosperous, and more promising than the one we live in today. We can choose the path of least resistance; the status quo. Or, we can choose the path of progress. This path will involve new thinking and new ideas. It will require cooperation and patience.

More than 300 people gathered at Wesley Village in Wilmore on Wednesday, Sept. 28 to dedicate a new building on the senior living community's campus. Holloway Cottage, a small home for memory care recently constructed at Wesley Village, is the first of its kind in the state of Kentucky. The home is designed specifically for residents who have Alzheimer's disease. It's a 9,000-square-foot house that allows residents to receive memory care in an intimate setting, featuring a living room, hearth, dining area and kitchen with 10 private bedrooms and bathrooms within short walking distance of each other.

Democratic candidate for governor Steve Beshear votes in his home precinct of Becknerville with his wife, Jane. Beshear has been a resident of Clark Couny for more than 10 years.

Dear Editor, Steve Beshear's plan to bring casino gambling to Kentucky is a high stakes gamble with our future. During a recent debate in Louisville, Steve Beshear told a group of local officials about his desire to put Las Vegas style casinos throughout Kentucky. Like a showgirl on the strip, he wooed the crowd of local officials with his flashy statistics about increased revenue and dismissed any mention of the increased crime rates or negative social ills that accompany casinos.

Gov. Steve Beshear discussed several issues with staff at the Jessamine Journal and Advocate publisher Scott Schurz. Go to www.amnews.com to see Beshear's interviews about the investigation in to the riot at Northpoint, the economy and his priorities for the state.

Dear Editor, Steve Beshear wasn't elected to be our next governor because we wanted to decide about the casino issue. It is because we couldn't stand being "Fletcherized" any longer. Diane Carey Junction City

Dear Editor, Why should Steve Beshear be in favor of allowing Kentucky voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow casinos, when the attorney general, Greg Stumbo, will not enforce the one man, one woman marriage amendment, voted on and passed by Kentucky voters? M. Wendell Anderson Danville

Amazon's decision to build a customer service center in Winchester earned an award from a national magazine for investment and community impact. Trade &¿Industry Development magazine listed Amazon, General Electric in Louisville and Berry Plastics in Madisonville among the nation's top 30 economic development projects from 2012 and winners of the magazine's Corporate Investment & Community Impact Awards. Amazon, which is building a new 70,000 square-foot facility in the industrial park, expects to hire a permanent workforce of 550 with another 600 seasonal and part-time jobs by 2017.

As Gov. Steve Beshear continues his crusade for a statewide smoking ban in restaurants and other public places, Jessamine lawmakers are not overly supportive of the governor's stance. “I don't think it will pass; I don't think they have the votes, from what I've been told by the lobbyists,” state Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, said. “I'm really not for it. I think it (should) be left up to each individual community to decide what kind of smoking bans they want in place. I'm not too much on Frankfort telling Nicholasville what they've got to do.” But last Thursday, Beshear urged state legislators to act quickly on the measure, according to The Associated Press.

LIBERTY - Residents in the Dry Ridge Road area of Casey County now have a safe road to travel on Ky. 1649, a 1.8-mile portion of road near Liberty. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday at Central Kentucky Ag Expo Center in Liberty, Gov. Steve Beshear commended the people of the area for pushing for this change over the course of more than 10 years. “You've proven, time and time again, that you'll help yourselves,” Beshear said of Casey Countians. “It's important for residents to stand up and make these needs known.” The hill was formerly at a 16 percent grade but has been smoothed and expanded, decreasing the grade to 6 percent.

Gov. Steve Beshear was on hand Thursday to meet students enrolled in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, sponsored locally by the Danville/Boyle County Chamber of Commerce. The local program was the first in the state, which prompted the press conference attended by Beshear and YEA! Executive Director Heather Forbes, who was thrilled to be in Kentucky, despite the bad weather. “It's been wonderful,” she said. The program is now being implemented in other schools around the state, which Forbes said had been “exciting” to see. Beshear echoed those sentiments, adding that he knows entrepreneurship is the future of Kentucky.

Since being recognized as a District of Distinction based on state assessment scores, the Boyle County school district has been ready to party. Thursday morning, students and staff did just that in a districtwide celebration held at Boyle County High School, complete with the attendance of Gov. Steve Beshear, who warned students of what they would face when they leave the halls of Boyle County. “The world you'll be competing in after you leave high school is not just the world of Kentucky.

Putting people before politics was the way the U.S. 27 expansion was completed, according to Gov. Steve Beshear during Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony in Lancaster. “We're Kentuckians first and we're Republicans and Democrats second,” he said. “By doing that, we get a lot of things done.” The $41 million project, which broke ground in 2008, faced several difficulties, from environmental issues to a negative economy, according to state Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, who was present and spoke.

Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear will be at Boyle County High School at 10 a.m. Dec. 20 to congratulate all Boyle County students and staff on being recognized as a District of Distinction in Kentucky. The district earned the title for ranking in the Top 10 school districts in Kentucky based on KPREP scores released in mid-October. All Boyle County students and staff will be in attendance to hear the governor's address. The event, to be held in the BCHS gymnasium, will showcase the Boyle County band, chorus, cheerleaders and other students from within the district.

Gov. Steve Beshear applauded the dedication of a bridge over Interstate 64 in Clark County as the Purple Heart Memorial Bridge Friday as a lasting memorial to veterans wounded or killed in combat. “As a veteran, I know the sacrifices our service men and women have made over the years to protect our freedom, especially those who have given their blood and often their lives,” Beshear said. “It is a sacrifice that should never be forgotten, and the Purple Heart Memorial Bridge will serve as a lasting reminder to us all.” The Purple Heart Memorial Bridge is part of the Exit 96 interchange over I-64 at Winchester.

According to Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear, this year's election “couldn't be a more important election for the people of Clark County.” Beshear made an appearance Thursday night at the annual Clark County Democratic Rally at the Fish and Game Club, speaking on behalf of Rep. Ben Chandler and JoEllen Reed, candidate for the Kentucky House of Representatives. Beshear praised Reed for her 20-plus years as an educator in Clark County, and encouraged voters to seek candidates who are strong supporters of education.

Gov. Steve Beshear was part of a group that lit the fuse on a long day of lead-up to the 9 p.m. vice presidential clash between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. Speaking at the Danville Community Arts Center for a vice presidential debate preview hosted by Politico, a multimedia political journalism organization, Beshear went to bat for his fellow Democrats. The governor told the audience at the arts center and watching a livestream of the event, which was sponsored by the Internet Association, he believed the country would ultimately vote based on a gut feeling about who they trust more and that would be Barack Obama.