Phillip M. Bailey

Speaking to reporters at an event organized by the Christian Science Monitor, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., blasted President Obama for using the families of gun violence victims in his push for legislative reforms.

From Huffington Post:

"I think gun control is a legitimate issue for us to debate," Paul said. "I hate to see using people, I think, as props and politicizing people's tragedy. When I see the father and the mothers and them testifying - and I know they're coming voluntarily, and they want to come and be part of this debate - but it still saddens me just to see them, and I think that in some cases the president has used them as props. And that disappoints me.

The president has reached out to family members of victims from the Newtown massacre in the aftermath.

One mother stood in for Obama during one of his weekly presidential addresses. In that speech Francine Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son was murdered during the shooting spree, pleaded for stricter gun control laws.

Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth is joining a bipartisan group of eight House members who are voicing support for fixing the country's immigration system.

Efforts for comprehensive reform in the Senate was backed by President Obama this week after a group of eight senators reached an agreement and unveiled their legislative package.

Among the notable compromises in the measure is giving the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship, but only after stricter border security standards are made. The legislation would also crack down on American employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The statement from Yarmuth's office says lawmakers in the House are also working on drafting a similar bill with Democratic and Republican support.

From Yarmuth's office:

"Americans want to see the nation’s broken immigration system fixed, and they know it will take bipartisanship to solve this problem in a sensible and rational way. This week, a bipartisan group of Senators stepped forward to introduce their proposal, and we applaud their effort.

Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has co-sponsored a bill that would allow individuals to ignore portions of the Affordable Care Act that violate their religious beliefs.

The Health Care Conscience Rights Act seeks to protect those who argue expanding coverage for contraceptives and abortion comes into conflict with their faith. For religious and political conservatives, the health care mandate to employers encroaches upon their constitutional rights.

According to Massie's office, the bill also protects health care providers who refuse to perform certain procedures and give refuge to people with religious convictions.

"Obamacare is expensive, unconstitutional, and threatens our First Amendment right of conscience," Massie said in a news release. "This bill protects churches, religious organizations, and business owners from being forced to violate their beliefs."

The Mother Jones reporter who uncovered a secret recording of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s campaign meeting discussing ways to attack actress Ashley Judd's mental health says a Kentucky Democrat urged him not to write the story.

Journalist David Corn is Washington Bureau Chief for the magazine and appeared on the Diane Rehm Show Monday morning to discuss how he obtained the tape and its contents. He is also the reporter was broke the infamous "47 percent" tape of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Corn says before the original April 9 story about the recordings came out a Kentucky source who "caught wind" of the report discouraged him from writing it and warned the audio would ultimately benefit McConnell.

"There was a person in Kentucky who was sympathetic to the Democrats—let me put it that way—I can’t identify the person. But who got wind that I was going to do the story and contacted me and asked me not to. Why? Because this person wisely predicted that McConnell would come out and make himself the victim and it would help McConnell," he says.

For the sixth consecutive year, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Ky-3, is giving away his entire congressional salary to almost two dozen non-profit groups in Louisville.

Since taking office, Yarmuth has donated nearly $750,000 to local charities since an initial 2006 campaign pledge to do so. This year's salary is being distributed at various amount among 21 different organizations including the Louisville NAACP, Metro United Way and the Louisville Zoo.

"These remarkable organizations, their staffs and volunteers enrich the Louisville community, and I am fortunate to be in a position to offer some assistance," Yarmuth said in a news release. "With drastic cuts to federal funding for essential community services, it is more critical than ever to do what we can to support the organizations that provide so much for Louisville."

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling shows Kentucky voters still overwhelmingly oppose same-sex marriage despite national trends.

The poll was taken in early April, and it finds 65 percent think it should remain illegal and only 27 percent support marriage equality for gay, lesbian and transgendered couples.

That is in stark contrast to national figures that indicate marriage equality is gaining popularity across the country and for the first time hovers well over 50 percent. A number of Republican and Democratic senators have come out for marriage equality in recent weeks such as Democrat Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio.

But in Kentucky the idea faces solid opposition regardless of political party. According to PPP, 54 percent of Democratic voters in the state also oppose gay marriage while only 37 percent support it.

The Rev. Maurice Blanchard of Louisville says LGBT residents are getting tired of defending their relationships, adding Kentucky is falling behind the times.

"Those poll shows how disconnected some people are in this state to what’s happening on a larger sense. And that resistance while they’re proud of it is isolating and alienating us from the progress that’s taking place in the larger sense," he says.

A liberal advocacy group is launching a controversial new ad targeting Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and his opposition to gun control measure that uses an al-Qaeda recruitment video.

Americans United for Change is behind the 30-second spot, which features American-born al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn explaining how lax U.S. laws do not require background checks to obtain firearms.

In the recruitment video, Gadahn calls on Muslims living in the United State to carry out acts of terror and that guns can easily be obtained at local conventions.

The narrator goes on to explain McConnell is against background checks as part of a series of proposed gun control measures in the Senate. He asks: "who does agree with Mitch?"

Watch:

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced Friday the city's information hotline is now on Twitter for citizens to better interact with Metro Government.

Metro Call can be followed at the Twitter handle @LouMetro311.

Residents can now tweet their questions or concerns via the social networking site rather than having to call 311 to verbally report issues.

With the news broken that Progress Kentucky was behind the secret recording of a strategy meeting between Senator Mitch McConnell and his campaign staff, there are a few questions that remain.

What happens to the people who made the tape?

Jacob Conway with the Jefferson County Democratic Party says Progress Kentucky founder Shawn Reilly and then-volunteer Curtis Morrison made the recording. 

A secret recording of a campaign strategy session between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his advisors was taped by leaders of the Progress Kentucky super PAC, says a longtime local Democratic operative.

Mother Jones Magazine released the tape this week. The meeting itself took place on Feb. 2.