FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Dan Johnson, a Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky who defiantly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the basement of his home, died in an apparent suicide Wednesday night, the county coroner said. He was 57.

Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said Johnson died of a single gunshot wound on Greenwell Ford Road in Mount Washington, Kentucky. Billings said Johnson stopped his car at the end of a bridge in a secluded area, then got out and walked to the front of the car. He said an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday morning.

“I would say it is probably suicide,” he said.

Johnson was elected to the state legislature in 2016, part of a wave of Republican victories that gave the GOP control of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the first time in nearly 100 years. He won his election despite Republican leaders urging him to drop out of the race after local media reported on some of his Facebook posts comparing Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys.

The pastor of Heart of Fire church in Louisville, Johnson sponsored a number of bills having to do with religious liberty and teaching the Bible in public schools. But he was mostly out of the spotlight until Monday, when the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published an account from a woman saying Johnson sexually assaulted her in the basement of his home in 2013.

At the time, the woman told police, who investigated the incident but closed the case and did not file charges.

On Tuesday, Johnson held a news conference in the pulpit of his church, which he began by leading friends and family in singing a portion of the Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful.” He said the allegations against him were “totally false” and said they were part of a nationwide strategy of defeating conservative Republicans. He referenced Republican Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted a message on his Facebook page that asked people to care for his wife. He wrote that PTSD “is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME.” The post appears to have been removed.

Michael Skoler, president of Louisville Public Media, which owns the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, said everyone at the organization is “deeply sad.”

“Our aim, as always, is to provide the public with fact-based, unbiased reporting and hold public officials accountable for their actions,” Skoler said. “As part of our process, we reached out to Representative Johnson numerous times over the course of a seven-month investigation. He declined requests to talk about our findings.”

The sexual assault accusations against Johnson were revealed as a sexual harassment scandal involving four other Republican lawmakers was unfolding at the state Capitol. Former Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover resigned his leadership position after acknowledging he secretly settled a sexual harassment claim with a member of his staff. Three other lawmakers were involved in the settlement, and all lost their committee chairmanships.

“I am very sad over the passing of Rep. Dan Johnson. Over the past few weeks in some of the darkest days of my life, he reached out to me, encouraged me, and prayed for me,” Hoover posted on his Twitter account Wednesday night.

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin posted on his Twitter account that “my heart breaks for his family tonight.”

“These are heavy days in Frankfort and in America,” Bevin posted. “May God indeed shed His grace on us all. … We sure need it.”

States are now grappling with the idea of more guns in church after the Sutherland shooting.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) views the deadliest mass shooting in his state’s history as evidence that more church parishioners should carry guns for self-protection.
“This is going to happen again,” Paxton told Fox News on Sunday, since “you can’t necessarily keep guns out of the hands of people who are going to violate the law.”

Pastor Jaime Chapa of El Faro Bible Church in Sullivan City, Texas agrees with Paxton and said he will be armed when he preaches to his small congregation of 50, and so will a few of his parishioners.

“There will be three armed [licensed] persons at all times at every service,” Chapa told ABC affiliate KRGV on Monday. “Nobody needs to know who they are, but our church will be protected.”

“What happened in Sutherland will not ever happen in our church,” Chapa said. “This was not supposed to happen.”

Other churches in the southern Texas area said they also planned to increase security in the aftermath of the shooting.

The McAllen First Baptist Church, located about four hours south of Sutherland Springs, said it would implement new procedures for church members with concealed handgun licenses to make each other aware of who is carrying.

“We are putting that into place so our concealed-carry people know each other, but we are also setting things up to where they’re located strategically throughout the auditorium in the services that we have,” the church’s pastor, Shannon Talley, told KRGV earlier this week.

The debate has also moved outside of Texas. Some states like Florida, already allow guns in church, but are considering updated legislation.

Detective Tracey Schofield of the Brooksville Police Department said, “If they go to church, they’re legally allowed to carry it (a gun). There are no restrictions in the state of Florida.” 

Florida State Statute 790.06 lists places you are not allowed to bring a concealed carry, if you have a permit. That list includes:  Schools, government buildings, law enforcement agencies, professional sporting events, airports, and anywhere that serves alcohol. 

Meanwhile the Republican-led Michigan Senate, days after the Texas church massacre has backed a bill that would allow guns in Schools, government buildings, law enforcement agencies, professional sporting events, airports, and anywhere that serves alcohol. 

That bill was sent to the GOP-led House for consideration next. They face an uncertain future because Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, vetoed a similar plan in 2012 following the mass shooting of elementary schoolchildren in Connecticut.

The sponsor, GOP Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof of West Olive, said the recent mass shootings in Texas and Las Vegas highlight the need to act.

“I believe citizens have the right to be free and safe and secure and to defend themselves and their loved ones,” he said. “Responsible, well-trained, licensed gun owners may be one of those deterrents to those individuals who seek out gun-free zones as opportunities to commit heinous crimes.”

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said Thursday that fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assault by keeping the lights on, according to The Hill.
During an event with Axios and NBC in Washington, D.C., Perry brought up sexual assault after launching into a story about a trip to Africa, where he said “people are dying” because they don’t have access to energy.

“And it’s going to take fossil fuels to push power out into those villages in Africa, where a young girl said to my face, ‘One of the reasons that electricity is so important to me is not only because I’m not going to have to try and read by the light of a fire and have those fumes literally kill people,” Perry said.

He continued: “But also from the standpoint of sexual assault. When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts.” Perry’s stance however, is disputed by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) who has statistics that indicate only 15% of sexual assaults occur in public open places, while nearly 70% of assaults occur in a homes, buildings, or dorm rooms. 

Perry and the rest of the Trump administration have been outspoken proponents of expanding energy production from fossil fuels. 

This year Starbucks has opted for a predominantly white holiday cup. The coffee chain’s latest holiday design lets customers color it in themselves. This year the cups feature splashes of red and green amid illustrations of presents, snowflakes and a Christmas tree with star on top. But the black-and white illustration is mainly blank for customers to personalize. Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. says most of its U.S. stores will have colored pencils for people to borrow.

The company says the cups — which are typically red-themed — will be in stores today. 

A plainer red cup in 2015 spurred an outcry from critics upset that it lacked snowflakes, reindeer or specific symbols of Christmas. Even President Donald Trump, who was a candidate at the time, suggested boycotting the chain.

Happy holidays!

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Monday called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War, once again thrusting himself into the public spotlight on an emotionally charged issue.

The comments, made on the debut night of conservative media host Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News, came after Kelly was asked about the recent decision by a Virginia church to remove plaques that honored the Confederate general and George Washington.

“I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man,” Kelly told Ingraham. “He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.”

The comments came in the midst of an interview that touched on a wide range of topics including the indictments in the investigation by special counsel Robert F. Mueller, the United States’ relationship with China and Kelly’s work as the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Long seen as a force of order and discipline in the White House, the retired Marine general became part of the controversy over the president’s calls to Gold Star families this month when he defended Trump’s statements to a widow, made false claims about a Florida congresswoman who had criticized the White House and said he would only take questions from reporters who knew families that had lost service members overseas. He told Ingraham on Monday that he did not believe he had anything to apologize for.