You won’t often see us hyping anything that lame duck hack/retributionist Steve Beshear promotes but this is one rare instance.

The first round (nearly $2 million will be handed out in total) benefits 81 farming families and 36 counties. The program provides 25% reimbursement of energy saving items up to $10,000. Things like: energy audits, energy efficient building components, on-farm energy upgrades, on-farm energy efficiency training.

From a release:

Examples of on-farm efficiency investments include Henkle’s Herbs & Heirlooms, of Jessamine County, for greenhouse improvements and Gray Poultry Farm, of Clinton County, for poultry house improvements. Examples of renewable energy investments include Kelley Farms, of Carlisle County, to invest in solar panels for their farm operations and Mac Farms, of Taylor County, for an anaerobic digester to produce gas for heating poultry houses.

And here’s a list of the recipients:

Adair County
Big Creek Poultry – Poultry – $10,000
Clayridge Poultry Farms, Inc – Poultry – $10,000
Greg W. Hatcher – Dairy – $10,000
Gregg D. Burton – Dairy – $2,267
Grider Farm, Inc. – Poultry – $10,000
H and H Dairy, Inc. – Dairy – $2,417
Marshall Irvin – Dairy – $2,217
Rowe Farms, Inc. – Dairy – $1,985
Steve L. Burton – Dairy – $8,404

Allen County
Ben Langman Farm LLC – Solar – $7,500

Barren County
Meadowbrook Farms, Inc. – Poultry – $10,000
Trailsend Farm – Poultry – $4,375

Bourbon County
Mahan Farms, LLC – Grain – $10,000

Breckinridge County
Joseph Kyle Snyder – Poultry – $10,000

Caldwell County
C&C Farms – Farm shop – $6,411

See the rest of the list after the jump…

Calloway County
Gary Brame – Solar – $10,000
Houston Family Properties, LL – Solar – $10,000
James Ray Murdock – Solar – $10,000
Mark & Pam Beane – Solar – $10,000
Shea Sykes – Solar – $10,000

Carlisle County
Kelley Farms – Solar – $10,000

Clinton County
Gray Poultry Farm – Poultry – $10,000

Cumberland County
Allen Creek Poultry Farm – Poultry – $10,000

Daviess County
Brey Farms – Grain – $10,000
Glenn Farms – Grain – $10,000
Robert B. Moorman – Grain – $10,000
Stephen Farms, LLC – Grain – $ 0,000

Franklin County
Wilson Nurseries, Inc. – Greenhouse – $10,000

Fulton County
Dennis W. Jones – Grain – $10,000
Elliott Farms – Poultry – $10,000
Grace Farms, Inc. – Poultry – $10,000

Graves County
Larry Alan Colley – Solar – $10,000
Robert Mills – Solar – $10,000

Grayson County
Valley View Poultry – Solar – $10,000

Hardin County
Joseph Mobley Farm – Grain – $10,000

Henderson County
Triple E Farms – Grain – $10,000

Hickman County
Fuller Poultry Inc. – Poultry – $10,000
Hopper Farms Inc – Farm shop – $10,000
James Neil Mathis – Poultry – $10,000
Joe Stinson – Poultry – $10,000
Morrison Poultry – Poultry – $10,000
Stephen O. Sarten – Poultry – $10,000
Tommy Ward – Poultry – $10,000
Troy Carter – Poultry – $5,850
Westbrooks Poultry, LLC – Poultry – $10,000
Wilson Workman – Poultry – $9,743

Jessamine County
Henkle’s Herbs & Heirlooms – Greenhouse – $5,679

Livingston County
K&K, Inc – Poultry – $407

Logan County
Gary L. Hendricks – Solar – $10,000
Robey Farms, LLC – Grain – $ 10,000

Marshall County
Becker Poultry – Poultry – $ 10,000
Robert Johnson – Solar – $ 9,900
Ronald and Heather Davis – Solar – $10,000

McCracken County
Dewain Gipson – Grain – $10,000

McLean County
Chick Valley Farm – Poultry – $3,986
Evans & Butler Poultry – Poultry – $3,730
Henpecked Farms – Poultry – $10,000
Twin Lakes Poultry – Poultry – $6,584

Metcalfe County
Crist Dairy Farm – Dairy – $9,990
Triple T Poultry, LLC – Poultry – $10,000

Monroe County
Freetown Farms – Solar – $10,000
Grand View Acres, Inc. – Poultry – $10,000
Pebblebrook Angus – Solar – $10,000

Muhlenberg County
Drum Sticks Poultry – Poultry – $2,808

Robertson County
Troy D. Fooks – PTO Pellet Mill – $1,396

Russell County
B & H Dairy, LLC – Dairy – $2,617

Simpson County
Albert H. Perkins Jr. – Solar – $7,500

Taylor County
Mac Farms, Incorporated – Anaerobic digester – $10,000

Trigg County
River Bend Farms – Grain – $10,000

Union County
Roy Robinson Farm – Grain – $10,000

Warren County
Billy W. Thomas – Solar – $10,000
Bush Farms, Inc. – Grain – $10,000
Charles G. Dodson – Solar – $7,500
Dancing Wind Farm – Solar – $10,000
Don E. Hughes – Solar – $7,500
Dotson Hay Marketing, LLC – Solar – $10,000
Idle Acres Farm – Solar – $7,741
L & J Rocky Stables, LLC – Solar – $10,000
Mathews Poultry – Solar – $7,781

Washington County
Riney Dairy – Dairy – $10,000

Wayne County
Williams Farms – Grain – $10,000

The Environmental Protection Agency has concerns about the environmental impact of a 218-acre coal ash landfill in Trimble County proposed by Louisville Gas and Electric. [WFPL]

Way to go Carter County. You’ve done it again. An Carter County man was shot and killed by state troopers Wednesday after police said he pointed a rifle at them and refused to put it down. [H-L]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how sad will it be watching Andy Barr lose to Republican Ben Chandler one more time? [WTVQ]

It’s interesting that in stories like this one, it’s never mentioned how much Bill Bissett is paid to literally spin for the Kentucky Coal Association. That’s his job – to spin – not to provide facts or tell you anything based in reality. [C-J/AKN]

Hal Rogers continues to pretend that there’s some war on coal. Interesting that concern about a devastating practice (mountaintop removal) still equates to a war on every other form of mining in their feeble minds. [WKYT]

Public scholarship funds – meant for the needy – are benefiting private schools. Because that’s how the “conservatives” want it. [NY Times]

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County government has paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit involving the July 2010 death of Dean Ferguson, a prisoner who collapsed at the local jail and later died. [H-L]

Here’s more of that fancy mainstream coverage about Kentucky. Voters registered a strong protest against President Barack Obama in Democratic primaries in solidly Republican Kentucky and Arkansas, while Republican Mitt Romney easily captured both states, according to unofficial election returns. [Reuters]

Is this maybe why America can’t have nice things? The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday moved forward with legislation to increase airline passenger security fees, beating back a GOP attempt to keep them at current levels. [The Hill]

Consultants paid for by the University of Louisville are saying exactly what UofL money-drivers have been saying. Imagine that! What a coincidence. [Business First]

This American Airlines pilot believes sluts should pay the price based on his backwater beliefs. [Wonkette]

Even Colin Powell says the gays should be allowed to get married. Which will cause a bunch of racist twits to freak out. [HuffPo]

A study finds that – yet again – Fox News viewers are the least informed of all. You’re so shocked, we know. [HuffPo]

Two top U.S. financial regulators said on Tuesday the issues around the initial public offering of Facebook should be reviewed, putting fresh pressure on the company, its lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, and the Nasdaq stock exchange. [Reuters]

The UofL Indigent Care Board got its ass handed to it in the latest audit by Adam Edelen. [The 'Ville Voice]

Wonder why Republicans are having trouble with Hispanics this cycle? Maybe because they’re comparing immigrants to dogs. [Politico]

How rural America got fracked. The environmental nightmare you know nothing about. [Mother Jones]

You should check out the comments from this school psychologist. Nope, not racist at all. And you wonder why America is effed up the goat butt. [Wonkette]

The Kentucky State Police will add a new tool to help solve crimes and analyze crash scenes. [WKYT]

Pakistan has sentenced the doctor who helped the United States find Osama bin Laden. And the U.S. continues to throw millions at that jacked up country of awful. [HuffPo]

Let’s take a look at the conservative fantasy history of civil rights. Yes, mouth-breathers, this means you. [NY Mag]

Mittens Romney versus Liberty Christ Rand Paul in 2016? Rand wishes. He believes he is the chosen one. [NPR]

The US could fall off a “fiscal cliff” if tax rises and spending cuts due to take effect at the end of 2012 are not avoided, auditors have said. [BBC]

Four in ten Democratic voters chose someone other than President Obama on Tuesday in primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky. [The Hill]

Donors to Hal Rogers (shocker!) got a sweet deal from the government to sell them $6.5 million worth of $17,000 drip pans. All thanks to Rogers’ fancy earmarks. [NYT]

A small group of anti-war demonstrators staged a peaceful “die in” on Thursday at President Barack Obama’s election campaign headquarters in Chicago to demand an end to the war in Afghanistan and unmanned drone aircraft attacks overseas. [Reuters]

Oh, please. These Democrats are only a member of ALEC so they can go on trips for free. The same as every other Democrat and Republican in the state legislature. [WFPL]

Roger Alford spends almost every waking moment attacking this website and loving the teabaggers. So here’s more on his obsession with them. [H-L]

The Republicans are still terrified of President Barack Obama and they can’t stop foaming at the mouth. Chris Christie tried to eat everybody. And there’s no way the RPK is raising much cash with K.C. Crosbie at the helm. Won’t be long til that joint is as bad off as the KDP. [Ronnie Ellis]

In a nondescript building next to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Washington, a group of lawyers gathers every fortnight to bicker in public. [The Economist]

Even the NAACP has decided it doesn’t hate the gays and supports gay marriage. [Reuters]

And Maryland has decided that the gays can now get gay divorced. So. Get ready for all kinds of gay fighting. [BBC]

The Paulbots are slowly beginning to eat each other alive. It’s almost interesting watching them foam at the mouth now that their overlord has admitted permanent defeat. [Politico]

When MaryAnn Nellis tried to pay for groceries on April 14, her credit card was declined. Later, she said, she found out why: Her credit card company, Capital One, had flagged an earlier purchase as potentially fraudulent. The problem? A $5 donation to Friends of Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor’s campaign committee, Nellis said. [ProPublica]

This whole “war on coal” scam is near-death. Almost no one believes there’s actually an effort to kill coal forever. The mouth-breathers like Bill Bissett and the Kentucky Coal Association continue to push that non-sense and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking anyone who dares question mountaintop removal or dares suggest the world consider other energy options. [The Hill]

I’ll Have Another overtook Bodemeister, blazing down the stretch to win the Preakness in the final strides Saturday and keep alive his hopes of winning the Triple Crown. [NPR]

Nope, Chris Christie didn’t rip his suit while in Lexington. He apparently ripped Barack Obama. Or tried to. But it was really tough to stand at the podium for a long time. [H-L]

The Obama administration on Thursday ordered hefty tariffs on solar panels imported from China, arguing the Chinese goods are sold below fair-market place and are endangering the U.S. clean energy industry. [Slate]

So what’s the latest?

A super-expensive “white paper” attacking the Sierra Club.

Take a look:

CLICK FOR PDF

Bill Bissett wishes desperately that he could be accepted by everybody as a non-spinster. But. Uh. As long as the KCA is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on crap like this? We’ll continue to believe they’re full of it.

Mitch McConnell once again forgets that he is the pot calling the kettle black. [The Hill]

How badly will the Time Warner transition from Insight hurt? Will lubrication be necessary for customers in Kentucky? [H-L]

Kentuckians are already familiar with the damage that can be done with outside campaign money and activity. It’s the only way teabaggers can get elected. [NPR]

What? You mean your schools are selling out to big ag like Monsanto left and right? [Mother Jones]

Trader Joe’s is opening in Lexington at the end of June and that means Lexington hipsters are pooping their pants in excitement. [WLEX18]

Thomas Massie seems to have a problem with Kentucky Open Meetings laws and the Office of the Attorney General is sniffing around. [Page One]

This mess in Colorado where bond companies get involved in pushing school construction campaigns sounds a lot like what goes on here in Kentucky. With both schools and court houses, that is. [Denver Post]

A former supervisor of the KFC Yum! Center has sued the Kentucky State Fair Board, claiming he was fired after reporting “illegal and dangerous conduct” by board employees. Which sounds just right in Louisville and Kentucky. Whistleblowers always get fired and torn apart. [C-J/AKN]

Do you live in one of the most well-read cities in America? Of course not! You live in Kentucky. [HuffPo]

The last few years has been pretty much a nonstop ride of positive safety PR for the nuclear power industry, right? I mean, this is a technology that absorbed an enormous earthquake and tsunami and barely even killed anyone/left whole towns uninhabitable/terrified the world. Heh. [Wonkette]

Police in western Kentucky are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman who worked as a counselor in a middle school. [WKYT]

What was that, again, about us being the only folks to criticize Rand Paul, mouth-breathers? [C-J/AKN]

Didn’t take long for CoventryCares to resume coverage of that addiction drug. [Business First]

Whaaaaat? An undercover gay bathhouse spy was endorsed by Michele Beard Bachmann? Nope, it’s not her husband! This is getting more and more interesting. [Wonkette]

This story about Morehead State will literally make you pee your pants while laughing. [H-L]

Here’s a nice look at how Louisvillians will be screwed by the Louisville Water Company and Metro Sewer District. BEND OVER AND GRAB YOUR ANKLES! [C-J/AKN]

Really, you can’t even sit at home in Lexington without having your home invaded these days. [WKYT]

In Pennsylvania, there’s an industrial revolution going on. Battalions of drilling rigs are boring into the earth to extract natural gas from an underground layer of shale called the Marcellus formation. And as the wells multiply all along the western end of the state, people worry they may be facing another toxic legacy. [NPR]

On April 8th Envisat, Europe’s largest Earth-observing satellite, unexpectedly stopped talking to its users on the Earth below. Since then those users have been frantically trying to re-establish contact. [The Economist]

The House GOP leadership is moving swiftly to try to change the Violence Against Women Act to earn support from outside groups and gain passage on the floor. [Politico]

Doesn’t look like President Barack Obama’s decision to say he doesn’t hate the gays had much of an impact on polling. [Daily Kos]

The agreement over voting on amendments to the Export-Import Bank reauthorization legislation is a good example of how bills will make their way through the Senate, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. [The Hill]

Is Thomas Massie a big time jobs creator? Not so much. And he’s following directly in Rand Paul’s hypocritical footsteps. [Page One Here & Here]

Will the Obama Campaign create a fancy website like this to hit Mittens Romney on his flip-floppy anti-gay ways? [Romney Economics]

You should read this scathing op-ed about Steve Beshear’s road budget veto harming the residents of Clinton County. [H-L]

For evangelicals and mouth-breathers, Mittens Romney is the lesser of two evils. I.E., Mormon cultists are easier to vote for than non-whites. [NPR]

How are the foreigns looking at the JPMorgan Chase scandal? With a lot more concern than those in the U.S., obviously. [BBC]

If you like JPMorgan’s $2 billion loss, you will like Mittens Romney and love Ron Paul. [The Hill]

Really, Southern Political Report? Let’s get a few things straight: Kentucky’s office of Homeland Security has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with doling out cash to buy radios and promote the governor. Otherwise Adam Edelen would never have held the position. And there is no race including Democrats because the Kentucky Democratic Republican Party can’t put a successful KY04 unit together if its life depends on it. [Eyes Rolling Hard]

This cat-lick school in Lexington refused to allow a lesbian couple to attend prom because it “upholds every teaching of the cat-lick church.” Which must mean all the churchymen there are perverts. [H-L]

People would just cold freak out if the mainstream media in Louisville ever published an Ohio River Bridges Debacle story like the one this Southern Indianner paper ran. [The 'Ville Voice]

A shiny new pipe dream? Capturing the carbon dioxide from power stations is not hard but it is expensive. A new project in Norway aims to make it cheaper. [The Economist]

We thought this already happened? Rand Paul endorsed Thomas Massie. He says Massie can make a difference… by being just like him and accomplishing absolutely nothing. [Ryan Alessi]

Remember that whole thing a few years ago, something about how the banks ruined the housing industry, your employment prospects, your children’s employment prospects, and the entire country, really, and in turn got billions of dollars from the taxpayers and continue to rake enormous bonuses and pretty much set the economic policy of the entire nation? [Wonkette]

You will probably pee a little bit (PEE ALERT) when you see this Republican congresscritter with an extreme case of the gay face saying businesses should be allowed to fire employees because they’re gay. [HuffPo]

Here’s the glowing mainstream media review of Jerry Abramson and his tax “reform” commission. Absolutely no mention of his attempt to stifle transparency and to keep proceedings secret. [C-J/AKN]

Lexington got something else right: the council voted against discussing a reduction of ambulance staffing levels. In Louisville, Metro Government allows EMS to continually fall off a cliff. [H-L]

Papaw and Jane thanked some man in Kansas for a free hot beef inj… donation. [WLEX18]

Look how cute! It’s Mitch McConnell pretending that only Democrats use Washington to come up with new campaign material. [WaPo]

You already know Whitley County is a hot mess so you won’t be surprised to learn a man assaulted somebody with brass knuckles. [WKYT]

So much for promised transparency! Jerry Abramson and the Beshear Administration tried to hide today’s tax “reform” meeting by asking the Legislative Research Commission to keep its cameras turned off. [Page One]

LG&E and Kentucky Utilities want to give you $30 for your old fridge or freezer. [FOX41]

So Barack Obama was all, hey students, let me come to your college and sing you some Al Green and whisper sweet nothings about Derrida and Pound and TS Eliot and also about how it is important that the interest rate on your student loan does not DOUBLE, and Republicans were all hey that is not fair because our position is really unpopular and you are being “political” and “pathetic” by pointing it out! [Wonkette]

Here you go. Here’s the University of Kentucky’s tuition hike funtimes. [H-L]

Of course a Republican group’s newsletter is urging an “armed revolution” if President Barack Obama is reelected. That’s how mouth-breathers operate. [HuffPo]

Facing federal action, Kentucky moved to increase reclamation bonds for surface mines. Funny how that always works. [WFPL]

The burden of air pollution and asthma is not evenly shared among U.S. children. [HuffPo]

Folks love to hate David Williams and some of that hate is well-deserved. But he helped make this thing in Louisville happen. [C-J/AKN]

Sorry, Marty Cockring, but the jesusian mouth-breathers did refuse to print those t-shirts because the clients were gigantic, sparkly gays. Stop playing pat-a-cake. What you neglect to mention, however, is that the mouth-breathers also did the right thing by finding another company to print the shirts for them at the same damn price. So you can’t really say they’re discriminating. The Lexington gays went after them because they knew it would be a problem. It’s so blatant that you don’t even hear the usual gay voices chiming in to support them. Additionally, I hope you some day have to suffer at the hands of the Aryan Nation for daring compare gay rights activists to the AN. What a despicable thing. [H-L]

Every singly media outlet in the state ran a story about Hal Rogers’ longtime aide retiring. Because that’s apparently important news. [WTVQ]

We’ve heard more about this story from the bourbon industry than we ever imagined. Seems a certain signature industry is about a pop a vein. [The 'Ville Voice]

Yes, this absolutely is the most boring presidential election ever. [Rolling Stone]

Wait, are we supposed to feign shock and surprise that the University of Kentucky board of trustees is going to vote to raise tuition again? [WKYT]

What? Yet another Republican who is unfamiliar with the minimum wage? Surely not! [HuffPo]

Something doesn’t smell quite right about these Kentucky tourism claims made this week. [H-L]

Who wants to bet this Paul Patton effort to take coal severance funds from several counties to create scholarships at the University of Pikeville isn’t going to work out so well? [C-J/AKN]

Looks like Alecia Webb-Edgington’s silly “gun rights” endorsement is negated by the latest teabagger move. [Kenny Coleslaw]

Adam Edelen says he’s going to review micro-government groups like lie-berries, sewer and fire districts. [Ryan Alessi]