FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that the state has broken multiple state economic records.
Beshear said this year the state has brought in an estimated 17,000 new jobs, with companies investing more than $11 billion in projects across the state.
He said $11 billion in yearly investment "shatters any previous records in the state."
Among those developments, the Kentucky governor announced four projects happening in all corners of the Bluegrass state.
In Louisville, a cell phone provider with no-contract plans, Consumer Cellular Inc., announced plans to open its first operation in Kentucky.
The more than $15.5 million investment will bring in nearly 500 new jobs.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the state in Eastern Kentucky, a solar power project is in the works by Savion in Martin County.
The $231 million investment will create 11 full-time positions.
Savion's development will operate on a former coal mine in unincorporated Martin County.
One of the world's largest candy manufacturers, Perfetti Van Melle, also announced plans for a nearly $10 million expansion in Northern Kentucky.
Perfetti's sweet expansion will create 16 new full-time production jobs for Kentuckians.
And earlier this week, Beshear joined officials from Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg to celebrate the opening of a newly constructed visitor's center.
The center is part of Four Roses' ongoing investment to accommodate the growing demand for bourbon, which has already included an expanded distillery in Lawrenceburg, as well as new bottling facilities in Cox's Creek.
"Put simply, this has been the best year for economic development in the history of Kentucky," Beshear said in a Team Kentucky update on Thursday.
"We are no longer a flyover state," he said. "We are the destination."
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