Michael Steele is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee and served as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007.

Summertime, and the living won't be easy. From electricity to groceries to clothing, the cost of everything you need, and of most things you want, has increased. But there are few places where Americans have felt the sting of higher prices more profoundly than at the gas pump. And you don't have to own a car to feel it; just get on a plane, take the train — heck, catch a cab.

After calling Kentucky home for 71 years, the transition of armor functions from Fort Knox to Fort Benning, Ga., will pass another milestone this week when units with the U.S. Army Armor School case their colors at Brooks Field. The colors casing and departure ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday and is open to the public. The Armor School’s primary training units — the 194th Armored Brigade and the 316th Cavalry Brigade — will roll up their flags and case them in a green sheath, a rite of passage for the Army, said Col. Michael Wadsworth, deputy commandant of the Armor School.

Punk doesn't typically lend itself to an optimistic worldview, but Frank Turner has found a way to cultivate his post-hardcore roots into a sunny brand of folksy rock 'n' roll with punk influences. The singer-songwriter — from Winchester, England, and formerly of the band Million Dead — has been building his talents and audience over the past decade, using everything from solo acoustic shows to full-band LPs.

Former state representative Steve Nunn, who is in jail awaiting trial on a murder charge, was placed in protective custody in the Fayette County jail Monday after he allegedly was threatened by another inmate. It was the second such incident in a month. Nunn, accused of killing his former fiancée, Amanda Ross, was beaten up by an inmate while the two were playing basketball May 9.

Kathryn Cunningham has a desk job at the University of Kentucky. But that doesn't mean she's stationary all day. She walks at her desk. Cunningham spent about $2,000 on a treadmill desk, which she has been using since moving into her tiny one-person office in the UK Science Library last fall. She compares her daily desk walk, which can be 3 to 7 miles a day, to the kind of challenge involved in having a class with hundreds of students, yet making sure that each one stays focused.

Lexington police and attorneys for Glenn Doneghy, accused of murder in the death of Lexington police officer Bryan Durman, are looking for a videotape of a woman who allegedly says on the video that she was driving the vehicle that struck and killed Durman last year. The existence of such a tape was discussed Monday during a hearing in Doneghy's case in Fayette Circuit Court.

When the sun finally comes out and the sweaters get tossed in the basement, we're all at least a little tempted to turn off our brains. Don't do it! Summer reading — in this case, summer reading about the science of the mind — can be a lot more fun than dodging volleyballs on a beach. Neuroscience isn't just about parts of the brain and hard-to-pronounce chemicals; the books listed here cover everything from religion to pornography, from die-hard optimists to remorseless sociopaths.

Construction began Monday night on a project intended to alleviate congestion at the Harrodsburg and New Circle Road interchange in Lexington. he project is the first in the state and one of only a handful in the nation that uses what's known as a double crossover diamond or diverging diamond design, which has motorists crossing over and driving on the left side of the road.

John Nichols is a political blogger. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a political careerist who has never taken one elected office without beginning to position himself to run for the next, made a wild play for the national stage just weeks after being sworn in last winter as a Republican governor with Republican majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature.

On Monday, things went back to normal at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky. TMMK production has returned to 100 percent, up from 30 percent production levels the plant experienced from mid-April up to last week. The Georgetown production line was hurt by parts shortages caused by the continuing impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The largest Toyota plant in North America stopped the line for two non-production days each week in an effort to conserve parts supplies.