Updated: 5:27 AM A Friday afternoon meeting among congressional leaders and the president stands as a make-or-break moment for negotiations to avoid across-the-board first-of-the-year tax increases and deep spending cuts.

Updated: 5:28 AM Gov. Steve Beshear issued an executive order earlier this month creating the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics.

Updated: 5:36 AM President Barack Obama returns from Hawaii Thursday to this familiar showdown in the nation's capital, with even a stopgap solution now in doubt.

Updated: 4:24 AM City officials are expecting 600,000 to 800,000 visitors for the Jan. 21 inauguration, far less than the 1.8 million people who flooded the National Mall four years ago.

Updated: 5:33 AM Raising tax rates is suddenly part of a GOP House plan to avert a potential fiscal crisis.

Updated: 5:26 AM House Speaker John Boehner conceded Thursday night that the measure did not have sufficient support from Republicans to pass.

Updated: 8:41 AM As many as 80 to 100 million taxpayers may not be able to file by the April 15 deadline, the IRS commissioner warns.

Posted: 6:01 AM A penny costs more than two cents to make and a nickel costs more than 10 cents.

Updated: 6:38 PM Alison Lundergan Grimes said in a news release Wednesday she plans to hold meetings statewide next year to discuss whether Kentucky should change its election laws to allow early and unexcused absentee voting.

Updated: 10:21 AM In recent weeks, the administration has proposed rules to deal with runoff from logging roads, require data recorders in cars and trucks and implement the new health care law.

Updated: 12:27 AM Clinton would win Kentucky's eight electoral votes in the hypothetical match-up by a margin of 47% to 42%.

Posted: 7:09 AM House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama spoke on the phone Tuesday, a day after the president offered to reduce his initial demand for $1.6 trillion in higher tax revenue over a decade to $1.4 trillion.

Posted: 7:13 AM The NCAA has selected Morehead State as one of six institutions for a grant as part of a three-year pilot program aimed to increase student-athlete academic performance.

Updated: 4:13 PM The Republican senator's job approval rating is 37%.

Posted: 4:17 AM State Budget Director Mary Lassiter reported Monday an overall 7.6 percent increase in revenue.

Posted: 4:15 AM Activists are asking Gov. Steve Beshear that he sign no more death warrants and that he work to abolish the death penalty.

Updated: 9:17 AM It was the first election in which "super" political action committees flourished.

Posted: 4:10 AM Which formula is better for the economy? Analysts say it depends.

Posted: 4:07 AM Obama's approval rating stands at 57 percent, the highest since May 2011, when Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, and up 5 percentage points from before the election.

Posted: 4:05 AM After a nearly year-long review, Kentucky's Commission on Tax Reform has approved recommendations that could generate nearly $700 million a year.

Updated: 7:44 AM That word will be stricken from federal law under legislation that passed the House Wednesday and is headed to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Posted: 4:33 AM The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. dropped to an estimated 11.1 million last year from a peak of 12 million in 2007, part of an overall waning of Hispanic immigration.

Posted: 4:24 AM For one thing, the Dec. 31 deadline is more flexible than it sounds. Negotiators know they can finagle more time if they need it.

Posted: 4:22 AM Beshear appointed the panel earlier this year to recommend a simpler tax code that would generate enough revenue to meet state needs even during recessions.

Posted: 4:26 AM Judd, a former Kentucky resident now living in Tennessee, hasn't ruled out a run.