Garrard County Fiscal Court demonstrated willingness to explore partial or complete merger with Lancaster at its Monday meeting. Court members unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance that would create a commission to study the options for unification, ranging from consolidation of some units to merger of both governments.

A former railroad line will become a new trail for hikers, horseback riders and cyclists and will be the latest adventure tourism attraction for Eastern Kentucky.  Known as the Dawkins Line, the 36-mile stretch runs through Johnson, Magoffin and Breathitt counties and will be managed by the Kentucky State Parks. The trail will be developed in phases. Once complete, the Dawkins Line will be the longest rail-to-trail project in the state.

A crew of 11 firefighters from the Kentucky Division of Forestry returned home from North Carolina over the weekend after a two-week assignment. The crew was assigned to the Juniper Road Fire complex as well as to surrounding fires in the southeastern part of the state. Although thunderstorms late last week helped suppression efforts, the fires continue to smolder and a significant rainfall is still needed.

Gov. Steve Beshear Tuesday announced $952,500 in funding for 39 Community Early Childhood Councils across Kentucky to promote school readiness for children.  “These funds will provide critical support to our local communities,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a press release. “We owe our children – every one of them in our inner cities to our suburbs to our farms and our mountain communities – the opportunity for a promising life. This investment is the best way to promote family and community support around early childhood.”

A jury has sentenced polygamist leader Warren Jeffs to life in prison. The AP reports from San Angelo, Texas:

The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stood quietly as the decision of the Texas jury was read Tuesday. He received the maximum sentence on both counts.

Kentucky and Ohio are automatically exchanging prescription medication data, following this week’s launch of the electronic Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX). The announcement marks a highly anticipated milestone for prescription drug monitoring programs and ongoing work to fulfill a need to share data across state lines.

Dow Jones dropped more than 600 points Monday, and Wall Street's nerves are shaken by the risk of another recession. So what should ordinary Americans do with their stocks now, and what does the downgrade mean for savers, borrowers, retirees and job seekers? Guest host Allison Keyes speaks with NPR Senior Business Editor Marilyn Geewax and Wall Street Journal Economics Reporter Sudeep Reddy.

A college professor says she has collected a couple of thousand signatures to name the eastern peak of Mount Sopris after musician John Denver. The would mean the second peak of Sopris, which sits at the northwest end of the Elk Mountains in western Colorado, would be known as "John Denver Peak."

John McCormack is a staff writer for The Weekly Standard.

John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999.