Gov. Andy Beshear talks to reporters after a Wednesday night rally in Lexington. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LEXINGTON —?Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is joining other Democrats in calling for the U.S. president to be elected by popular vote, saying the country needs to “move to a place where seven states don’t decide the presidency.”?

“We’ll have better government. We’ll have better politics. We’ll have better elections when we get to that point,” Beshear said Wednesday at a gathering of Democrats in Lexington.?

When asked to further clarify in a Thursday press conference, Beshear said that candidates would be encouraged to campaign for votes in all states rather than just in swing states if the popular vote decided the president. He added that such a system would get “us closer to a place where we can govern in a way that lifts all Americans up, that we’re not pushed towards any extreme, that we don’t write off crazy things that some candidates may or may not say, but that we would truly get an election for all Ameriicans.”?

“I think to do that, we would ultimately have to abolish the Electoral College,” Beshear said. “I know that’s been with us a long time, but we see where things currently stand.”?

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors — mirroring states’ total members in Congress — meaning a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.?

In 48 states, the winner of the popular vote, no matter how slim the margin, is awarded all of the state’s votes in the Electoral College. Maine, Nebraska and the District of Columbia use a proportional system to award electoral votes.?

Some Democrats, including Beshear and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are renewing calls to do away with the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote.?

According to POLITICO, the U.S. has had five elections in which the winner of the popular vote lost. The races in this century where this happened are Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 bid against President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against President Doanld Trump.?

Both Gore and Clinton are Democrats. Bush was the last Republican to win the popular vote during his 2004 reelection campaign.?

Beshear’s Wednesday night comments drew ire from Kentucky Republicans on social media. The Republican Party of Kentucky said on X that abolishing the Electoral College would make “Kentucky have no say in presidential elections.”?

In a Thursday evening statement, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said the GOP Senate Caucus sees the Electoral College as “a vital pillar of our Republic that ensures smaller states like Kentucky continue to have a voice and we reject any attempt to dismantle it.” Stivers added that Beshear’s position “proves that he is a nationalized Democrat through and through” and “violates what our founding fathers, including Washington, Jefferson, and others, envisioned for this great country.”

“Governor Beshear’s proposal to eliminate the electoral college not only threatens the federal balance but disrespects every Kentuckian who values their representation in the highest levels of government,” Stivers said. “This proposal is a blatant dereliction of his responsibility as the head of the Commonwealth’s executive branch and a disrespectful affront to every Kentuckian who values their right to be heard.”

Kentucky has eight electoral votes, which have consistently gone to Republican presidential candidates since the 2000 presidential election.?

In his response on Thursday, Beshear said that Kentucky would benefit from a popular vote for president, although he doubts the Electoral College will be abolished anytime soon.

“At the end of the day, regardless of the changes that are or are not made, certainly in my activities, I want to make sure that we are moving not just this state, but other states into a place where they are also considered important in these elections, that we have a seat at the table nationally. That’s good for Kentucky, but it’s also good for every single state.

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 63% of Americans would instead prefer that the winner of the popular vote be the winner of the presidential election while 35% prefer maintaining the Electoral College.

This story was updated Thursday evening with additional comments.?

Voters lined up at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library Thursday morning as early voting began in Kentucky. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Kevin Nance)

On the first morning of early voting in Kentucky, voters in Lexington waited to enter the polling place at the Tates Creek branch of the public library. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Kevin Nance)

With days left in Kentucky’s general election, supporters and opponents of Amendment 2 are traveling the state to make their last-minute pitches to voters.?

Republicans U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, his wife Kelley Paul and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke to a Bowling Green rally for the amendment Monday evening. Meanwhile, Kentucky Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, made their case against the amendment during a Fayette County Democrats’ rally on Wednesday, the evening before early voting began.?

Both the senator and the governor are backing political action committees that are spending a lot of money on this issue ahead of the election. The Protect Freedom PAC, sponsored by Pennsylvania billionaire and mega donor Jeff Yass, has spent $3.75 million to promote Amendment 2 and has released ads featuring the Pauls. Meanwhile, Kentuckians for Public Education, a PAC operated by Beshear’s campaign manager, has raised more than $975,000.?

Amendment 2, which has divided Kentucky politicians along partisan lines, would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, or those “outside the system of common schools.” The amendment would suspend or “notwithstand” seven sections of the state Constitution to allow public money to flow to nonpublic schools. The legislation for the amendment was a priority for Republican lawmakers earlier this year and an attempt to overcome constitutional hurdles cited by Kentucky courts striking down earlier charter school and private school tax credit laws.

At the Bowling Green rally, which was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Kentucky, Sen. Paul blamed Kentucky courts. It “boggles the mind,” he said, that the courts “interpreted our Constitution to say the legislature wasn’t allowed to debate, discuss or legislate on education” but he was unsure of how a different ruling could come without a new court. Kentucky Supreme Court justices are elected on a rotating election schedule.?

“This originated in the courts,” Paul said of challenges to funding nonpublic schools. “They created this problem.”?

Last December, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd wrote that charter schools are “private entities” that do not meet the Kentucky Constitution’s definition of “public schools” or “common schools,” striking down a state charter school law. Before that, the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2022 unanimously struck down a law creating a generous tax credit to help families pay for tuition at private schools. The opinion, which upheld a circuit court ruling by Shepherd, cited a long line of precedent reinforcing the Kentucky Constitution’s ban on the state financially supporting private schools.

Paul said that support for the amendment is “getting closer, but I still sense that we need more momentum.” He urged attendees at the rally to canvass and spread the word about the amendment.?

“It is not legislation. It doesn’t appropriate any money,” he told the crowd. “It doesn’t take a single penny from public education. It’s an amendment that allows the legislature to do what they’re supposed to do — debate how best we should get education for our kids.”

When asked by a reporter what system the legislature should consider if the amendment passes, Paul said lawmakers must debate that. He pointed to the legislation struck down by the Supreme Court? “So I would say vote for Amendment 2 if you believe in private charity, you believe in private philanthropy, you believe in church schools, non-religious schools,” he said. “You believe that somehow we ought to have some kind of educational choice.”?

Republican House Speaker David Osborne has previously said that debate about what should come next if the amendment passes will likely be “contentious.” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers predicted “we’re probably a year away from any type of legislation.”?

Democrats, meanwhile, are honing in on the ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding what could come should the amendment pass. Speaking with reporters after the Fayette County rally at The Burl in Lexington, Beshear said “there is no question that this is simply a voucher scheme” despite what Republicans say. Under such systems, families can use vouchers of state funds to send students to their school of choice.?

“Our solution should be to fully fund public schools and not to give a blank check to Frankfort politicians to move money away from them and further defund them,” the governor said.?

Beshear said “Kentuckians have further educated themselves” about Amendment 2 and was confident it would be defeated Tuesday. He said opponents of the measure, including the Kentucky Education Association, AFT union members, teachers, superintendents, Lexington area faith leaders and parents, have “put in a lot of work” ahead of the election.?

“People are fundamentally against giving Frankfort politicians the ability to take money away from public schools and send it to unaccountable private schools,” Beshear said, referring to how public schools are overseen by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Coleman echoed Beshear’s sentiments in her speech to the crowd. A former educator herself, she has been holding press conferences across the state to speak out against the amendment.

“There are more reasons than I have time to cover right now about why Amendment 2 is detrimental to our schools, our families, our communities in this commonwealth,” she said Wednesday. “But let me tell you this: this General Assembly is undeserving of a blank check from the voters.”?

Volunteers and staffers will be hitting the campaign trail themselves with little time left before the polls close at 6 p.m. Tuesday. A representative of AFP said at the end of the Bowling Green rally that the group is aiming to make 20,000 contacts with voters this week after making 200,000 contacts through canvassing already. One of the largest PACs against the amendment, Protect Our Schools, has canvassing and tour stops listed throughout Kentucky through Election Day on its Facebook page.?

The general election in Kentucky is Tuesday, Nov. 5. No-excuse early voting began Thursday, Oct. 31.

Alice Ford, an outdoor content creator and show host, has spent a decade centering conservationist education on her YouTube channel. She said the glut of nature photos and short videos on social media is resulting in “just people wanting to see a place more than they have respect for the place.” (Photo courtesy of Alice Ford)

Don’t pet the fluffy cows.

That’s the Instagram bio tagline for the National Park Service’s popular account, which showcases stunning photos of the diverse terrains of the United States’ 431 national parks.

The cheeky statement, followed by a buffalo emoji, is meant to make its 6 million followers laugh, NPS’ social media specialist Matthew Turner says, but it’s also a very real warning.

“We want you to be really prepared to stay this distance, and be aware of your surroundings at all times,” Turner said. “And to know that if you don’t, there are consequences where you can get hurt.”

Technology and the rise of social media has driven new people to visit public parks and lands, as the platforms make it easier to showcase the great outdoors. But outdoor enthusiasts and environmental conservationists say social media has also contributed to “selfie tourism” or the influx of visitation to specific landmarks that go viral on social media.

It also can describe the behavior of those that crowd a landmark or ignore safety protocol to get the perfect shot.

Every year, there are incidents of people having such dangerous interactions with wildlife, or getting lost in the parks, or even losing their lives. It’s hard to quantify how exactly social media influences the decision making or behavior of park visitors, but several nearly-fatal and fatal incidents have been connected to attempting to capture content.

In 2018, a 29- and 30-year-old couple fell to their deaths in Yosemite National Park in California while attempting to take a photo at Taft Point. Several people have been attacked by bison in Yellowstone National Park over the last three years — at least one was a tourist trying to touch a bison while recording with her phone.

“A selfie in and of itself can inspire others. Maybe you see a friend post from a great trip, and it inspires you to go,” Phillip Kilbridge, CEO of NatureBridge said. “But you better do it thoughtfully. You better realize that when there’s a fence, it’s because there’s loose rock on the other side, or there’s a steep fall, or so many other unintended consequences.”

‘Loving our parks to death’

Kilbridge runs NatureBridge, an organization that teaches young people how to explore the outdoors without technology. The organization was initially founded with the intention of exploring parks in their off-peak seasons, and teaching kids to learn more about themselves and the environment with low barriers to entry on cost and prior education.

The parks have seen a surge in visitors in the last few years, crossing more than 300 million visitors nearly each year since their centennial celebration in 2016.

NatureBridge has brought more than 1 million kids through the program over its tenure and operates in Golden Gate National Recreation Area?in California, Olympic National Park in Washington, Prince William Forest National Park in Virginia and Yosemite. It makes a conscious effort to explore areas and trails that are outside the most popular ones, but high visitorship is putting strain on the hotels and areas surrounding the parks, and as a result, it’s more expensive to operate the program.

The social media effect on certain areas of the parks might be evident in some data from Yosemite National Park. Many drive in, take pictures at the iconic Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations, and then they head out, Kilbridge said. The focus is on “documenting the visit and putting it on their checklist or bucket list, to prove that they’ve done it.”

“You’ve probably heard the phrase, ‘we’re loving our parks to death,’” Kilbridge said. “But the truth is, we’re loving certain parts of certain parks to death.”

Cynthia Hernandez, the National Parks System’s public affairs specialist, said the agency uses social media to show examples of good environmental stewardship. Staff love and encourage new visitors to the parks, but they want them to be educated on preserving the trails, picking up trash, and learning the history and culture of where they’re visiting.

“We ask visitors to be adaptable and to listen to the park rangers,” Hernandez said. “You know, if the parking lot is full, don’t drive wherever. We like to say, ‘what is your plan B?’”

New Hampshire’s public and private lands are feeling the impact from some not-so respectful visitors this year, as its peak fall foliage season — a few-week stretch in late September and October — is bringing an estimated 3.7 million visitors this fall, the Washington Post reported. New Hamshirians, and their neighbors in Vermont, are dealing with clogged roads, crowded hiking trails, trespassing on private property and trash left behind by their visitors, many of whom are doing so in the pursuit of the perfect fall photo.

Some towns have closed roads to non-local traffic, while others have had to pay for extra patrols during on routes leading to lookouts or popular spots. One group of neighbors in Pomfret, Vermont, has raised $22,500 in a GoFundMe to “save” their road from the surge of influencers, with the funds planned to go toward temporary closures and increased signage, the Post reported.

Wesley Littlefield is a Salt Lake City-based marketing manager and outdoor content creator, and the effects Kilbridge described and New Englanders are experiencing are some of the many reasons he’s become mindful of not overexposing certain locations. Littlefield has been posting on social media and making YouTube videos about fishing, kayaking and other outdoor adventures for a few years, and focuses on educating people on ‘leave no trace’ principles.

He loves exploring the Southwest, but some of his favorite trails and natural wonders have become overpopulated after gaining attention on social media. Horseshoe Bend in Arizona is a prime example, he said, as is Antelope Canyon, which sits on Navajo land.

“What was once a peaceful overlook is now packed with people looking to snap that perfect shot, often at the expense of the environment around them,” he said of Horseshoe Bend. “You’ll notice things like litter, soil erosion and even permanent damage to local ecosystems. In extreme cases, wildlife habitats can be disrupted or destroyed, which takes away from the natural beauty and balance of these areas.”

Responsible exploration?

Littlefield said he loves that technology has allowed people to discover new places and share experiences. But carelessness in certain areas has made him more conservative with geotagging certain areas or “fragile” locations. It’s his way of protecting them while still sharing his love for the outdoors, he said.

“We want these places to remain as beautiful and untouched as possible for future visitors,” Littlefield said.

Alice Ford is another content creator who is sharing her outdoor adventures online as a way to educate others about conservation. She hosts a show on PBS called “Alice’s Adventures on Earth,” has a master’s degree in environmental management and has been making Youtube videos showcasing outdoor traveling, hiking and sustainable living for about a decade.

Her bread and butter is in longer-form content where she gets to place the focus on education.

“I think there’s an issue with these three-to-10 second videos showcasing a place,” Ford said. “Where you’re just seeing the most beautiful part, and you’re not learning anything about it, and you’re then not doing any research. And you’re just showing up because you want to get the exact same shot.”

When Ford travels, she’s looking for those less-busy places, not just to discover somewhere new to her, but also to not contribute to the demand of places that don’t have infrastructure to support an onslaught of visitors. Pulling off the side of a road inundated with visitors may not just cause traffic chaos, but also could damage wildlife and road infrastructure, she said.

“I think also another thing that I’ve seen globally is just people wanting to see a place more than they have respect for the place,” Ford said.

There are very real physical dangers to jumping head-first into a hike or a trip without proper preparation, Ford said. She’s seen a rise in visitors to national parks and other places around the world attempting grueling hikes or exploring dangerous areas in extreme heat without the right footwear, food or water.

Two people died during this summer’s brutal heat waves in Death Valley National Park in California, including a 57-year-old man who attempted a short hike on a day when temperatures reached nearly 120 degrees, which can quickly cause serious dehydration and heat stroke.

In Michigan, The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — a state park featuring miles of sand and bluffs — has a dune climb that’s been well-documented on social media. The hike includes 3.5 miles of sandy, steep terrain and can take three or four hours.

The Lakeshore gets an average of 1.5 to 1.7 million visitors a year, and reached its peak visitorship in 2020 and 2021, Emily Sunblade the park’s lead education ranger said. The climb has long been a rite of passage, but the park rangers said visitors have been recognizing the location because of social media posts of the famous sign outlining the $3,000 fee incurred for being rescued if you get stuck.

The park instituted a preventative search and rescue program where volunteers stand at the top of the dune and check in with visitors before they attempt the hike in order to quell the strain on local rescue resources, which are performed by township emergency services. The volunteers ask visitors if they have enough water, and if they’re prepared for it to take two or more hours. It dramatically lowered the number of rescues needed, Sunblade said.

“The social media posts we are seeing are having a positive impact as people share their experience of what the hike was like, and what they wish they knew before starting,” Sunblade said.

As much as social media has the ability to overexpose and overwhelm one area with visitors, it remains an essential tool for the Parks Service and for content creators who aim to educate others on responsible visitorship.

It’s an important component of the “digital toolbox” for the Parks Service, Turner told States Newsroom. Their online profiles allow them to engage in real time with visitors and connect with people around the world. They use it as a forum to ask and answer questions, respond to outreach and share resources. And they do lean on memes and humor to get people’s attention and have people “learn without maybe realizing they’re learning,” Turner said.

There are ways to add a photo-worthy spot to your travels, if you do so responsibly, Ford said. She suggests trying to research what’s nearby those locations, and if the local community has been negatively impacted by visitors. If there’s not enough restaurants, stores and accommodations, tourism may hurt the community or put a strain on its resources.

Her hope is that folks are making informed decisions about their travel plans and considering the impact that social media may have on driving them to visit.

“I wish people would have more respect, not only for each other, but for the places that we visit,” Ford said. “And to just think a little bit more before we act in general, like whether that’s the time you’re taking to take a selfie at a popular destination, or the place in which we’re walking.”

Kentucky should consider creating triage centers to temporarily house children in state care who can’t immediately be placed in foster homes, said Kentucky Youth Advocates executive director Terry Brooks. (Getty Images)

After receiving what she called “numerous” complaints about foster children in Kentucky sleeping in office buildings without supervision by trained staff, state Auditor Allison Ball said Tuesday the Office of the Ombudsman will investigate.

Calling it an “ongoing crisis” that is “years” in the making,? Ball said the ombudsman will investigate the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to get at the root causes.?

Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said the problem isn’t new — and solving it won’t be? simple or cheap.?

It involves a “niche population” of high-needs youth who likely need specialized care, he told the Lantern.?

“It’s not typically 5-year-old kids who look like they fell off a TV commercial,” Brooks said. “You’re talking about older kids, teenagers, high levels of acuity, probably some special needs, probably with a history of aggressive behavior. I’m painting a portrait of a young person who we definitely need to care for, but we know it’s going to take creativity and resources to be able to do that.”?

A spokesperson for the auditor said the office thinks the practice has “been going on for two years and has affected about 300 children, but we’ll know exactly once we dig in.”??

The cabinet said in a statement that it has “taken action to address the challenges that come with placing youth with severe mental and behavioral problems or a history of violence or sexual aggression with foster families or facilities.”

“We’ve publicly addressed this many times with lawmakers and have offered more funding to secure additional safe, short-term care options for youth,” a cabinet spokesman said. “When one of these placements are necessary, we work to make sure each youth has a safe place to stay until a placement can be made. We urge those interested in becoming a foster parent to help us meet the needs of all our youth, please visit?KyFaces.ky.gov.”

In 2023, The Courier Journal reported that a shortage of available and willing foster families was a factor in the state’s decision to house some youth in a Louisville office building. WDRB reported earlier this year that the practice has continued, despite concerns raised by a Louisville judge.

“My office has continued to receive numerous complaints of foster children and teenagers sleeping on cots and air mattresses in office buildings, often not supervised by trained staff,” Ball said in a statement. “I have instructed the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate this issue to uncover the problems associated with this ongoing crisis.”

“The vulnerable children of Kentucky deserve to be placed in nurturing environments where they are provided with the resources, stability, and care they need,” Ball said.?

Staff are still trying to confirm how many office buildings are involved, a spokesperson for Ball said, though “we can confirm that this is not exclusively a Jefferson County issue.”?

Sleeping in an office building can compound trauma youth already have experienced, Brooks said. “It certainly is not going to create a positive childhood experience,” he said. “It’s going to create more adversity to kids who have already experienced too much adversity.”?

Kentucky ‘can’t do this on the cheap’?

Kentucky needs more families to foster, but it also needs a better system to support children who can’t be placed, Brooks said. Kentucky must “incentivize” — through higher wages and reimbursements — a “willingness to take on tough cases.”.?

Lawmakers can look to Tennessee, he said, which has faced similar problems and responded by increasing? payments to foster parents and wages to state staff working with higher-needs children.

“They have just owned the fact that,‘if I’m getting paid $15 an hour, I’m probably not going to be volunteering to get bitten, spit on and other issues with tough kids,’” Brooks said.??

Another solution Kentucky should consider, Brooks said, would be? to create triage centers — safe, secure, designated spaces — to temporarily house children who can’t immediately be placed.?

“If the General Assembly cares about those kids sleeping in offices as much as (CHFS Secretary Eric Friedlander) and Auditor Ball, then they’ve got to take action,” Brooks said. “And it can’t be rhetorical. It has to be resources. So I don’t know if that is looking at existing resources, I don’t know if that’s taking the big swing (and) reopening the budget, but you can’t do this on the cheap.”?

This story was updated with response from the cabinet.?

The Kentucky Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case between the Jefferson County Public Schools board and the Attorney General's Office over possible special legislation, Aug. 14, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice-elect Debra Hembree Lambert has appointed Justice Robert B. Conley to serve as deputy chief justice starting in January.?

Lambert is the current deputy chief justice, but was elected by her fellow justices to succeed outgoing Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter last month. Lambert and Conley will assume their new roles on Jan. 6, 2025.

“Justice Conley is a man of exceptional character and good judgment,” Lambert said in a statement. “I know he will ably serve in this new role with integrity and will do all he can to advance the work of the Court of Justice.”

The deputy chief justice fills in when the chief justice is recused from a case or administrative matter,?

Conley was elected to the Supreme Court in November 2020. He represents the 7th Supreme Court District, which covers 32 counties in Eastern Kentucky.?

In 1994, then-Gov. Brereton Jones appointed Conley to fill a district judge vacancy in the 20th Judicial District of Greenup and Lewis counties; he was elected again to that seat for three terms. Conley was elected to the circuit bench in the two counties in 2006 and served there until joining the Supreme Court.??

This was the scene on a rainy primary Election Day in 2023 at Elkhorn Crossing School in Georgetown. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Abbey Cutrer)

Early voting for all registered voters will begin this week as a surge of Kentuckians participated in excused in-person absentee voting last week.?

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said in a post on X that 16,441 voters cast ballots last week during the first three days of in-person absentee voting, which is a 114% increase over the same period in 2022. Adams said those voters included 9,739 Republicans, 5,690 Democrats and 1,012 voters registered as “other.”

Three more days of excused in-person absentee voting continue through Wednesday.

No-excuse early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 31, and lasts through Saturday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.?

Voters will cast their ballots in a number of races, including elections for president, U.S. representatives, state legislators and many local offices. Kentucky voters will also consider two constitutional amendments, one that would bar those who are not U.S. citizens from voting in Kentucky elections and another that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

Early voting polling locations and hours vary by county. To find local information, visit the State Board of Elections’ website. Also listed are Election Day polling locations and drop box locations for returning mail absentee ballots.?

The deadline to request absentee ballots was Oct. 22. At the time, Adams said on X that 130,695 Kentuckians had requested a ballot.

“As absentee ballots generally make up 2%-4% of all ballots cast, this portends a massive overall turnout,” Adams said. “For the love of God, vote early.”?

During the 2020 presidential election, 658,000 voters requested an absentee ballot. That was amid the coronavirus pandemic and emergency regulations that expanded eligibility to vote by mail in Kentucky.?

As of Saturday, 56.49% of requested mail-in ballots had been returned to local county clerks’ offices, according to State Board of Elections data.?

In September, 24,536 Kentuckians registered to vote. The deadline to register for the general election was Oct. 7.

Kentucky has 1,649,657 registered Republicans, or 47% of the total number of registered voters. Democrats make up 43% of registered voters with 1,507,936 voters.

For more voting information, visit govote.ky.gov.?

Pedestrians look toward a Waymo autonomous self-driving Jaguar taxi stopped at a red light in Los Angeles. States are trying to prepare for more widespread use of self-driving cars in the future with new laws. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Early one morning last year, as state Rep. Josh Bray left his small town of Mount Vernon in southeastern Kentucky to make his way to the Capitol in Frankfort, he decided to count how many drivers he saw texting or distracted by something else.

He quit counting after 24 when he saw a truck driver reading a newspaper while going down the road.

The incident spurred the Republican lawmaker’s effort to pass a bill this spring in the Kentucky legislature that sets rules for self-driving vehicles, including the largest commercial trucks after July 2026. Bray thinks the rules will ensure that self-driving vehicles are safer than those operated by often-distracted human drivers.

The new law for fully autonomous vehicles — those designed to function without a human driver present — requires owners to file a safety and communication plan that law enforcement can use and to have a minimum of $1 million in liability insurance per vehicle, roughly 10 times higher than the amount for regular personal vehicles.

“I felt like it was necessary to have something on the books in Kentucky because we are kind of a logistics hub,” Bray said. For example, he said, self-driving baggage handling vehicles at a northern Kentucky airport now will be able to cross a state road.

The legislature approved the bill in late March and a few weeks later overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who said the bill advanced too quickly and that there should be a testing period before fully autonomous vehicles are allowed to drive in the state.

While no fully autonomous cars are in regular use in the country yet, some states have allowed limited testing and pilot programs on public roads. Many state legislatures are trying to get ahead of self-driving vehicles that eventually will be on their roads by setting standards for operating the vehicles and rules for law enforcement if they see an autonomous vehicle breaking a traffic law. And many laws require, as Kentucky’s does, a minimum insurance requirement to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians, should the vehicles be involved in an accident.

This year, five states and Washington, D.C., enacted bills dealing with fully automated vehicles, according to Douglas Shinkle, associate director of environment, energy and transportation for the National Conference of State Legislatures. The new laws in Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota allow for the operation of fully autonomous vehicles, while California’s new law deals with safety requirements. North Carolina’s brings the vehicles under updated dealer regulations for all cars.

Updates to current laws

About half the states already have statutes regulating vehicles operated by some degree of autonomous technology — ranging from the fully autonomous vehicles that are not on the road yet to those that have some driver-assist functions, Shinkle said. But many of the laws are being changed already.

“There’s been a steady progression of bills,” he said, “with some going back and refining some of the language. Every year some new states are getting into the mix.”

Most of this year’s new laws have to do with commercial vehicles, he said. States hope to bring in manufacturers of the vehicles or other industries that would use the technology.

“A lot of this is motivated by states that don’t want to be left behind,” Shinkle said. ”They hope this may lead to jobs in their states.”

But labor unions worry that driving jobs might be lost to the technology.

Dustin Reinstedler, president of the Kentucky chapter of the AFL-CIO, testified against the bill in his state, saying at a legislative hearing that his union preferred alternative legislation calling for a study of the “effects of autonomous vehicles on our roads and the jobs of over 50,000 workers.”

Already, autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from Waymo, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project, dot the landscape in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, allowed to drive within limited areas.

Safety concerns

Fully autonomous vehicles have raised safety concerns. California enacted a law this year that will, among other things, require manufacturers to continuously monitor every autonomous vehicle on the road and designate a remote human operator to immobilize a vehicle if necessary. The law also allows law enforcement to issue a notice of noncompliance when autonomous vehicles violate local traffic ordinances.

Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation into four crashes of Teslas operating with a partial-automation system (which can navigate highways and steer the car on city streets but requires a licensed driver to be present), including one in which a pedestrian was killed. In a news release, NHTSA said reduced visibility may have led to the crashes.

A NHTSA spokesperson said in an email that in each incident, the Tesla entered an area with reduced roadway visibility due to sun, glare, fog or dust. She would not elaborate nor be further identified.

Bray, the Kentucky lawmaker, argued that the self-driving vehicles and driver-assist vehicles are “much safer than human drivers.” He added that fully autonomous vehicles, such as large trucks, could run in the middle of the night, taking traffic off the roads during peak hours and lowering the risk of tired drivers falling asleep.

The idea of semitrucks without drivers makes Kentucky Republican state Sen. Greg Elkins uneasy. He opposed the bill and supported the governor’s veto.

“My reasoning was I just don’t think technology is there yet, particularly with 18-wheel vehicles,” he said in an interview. “I would have been OK with the bill that would have restricted [it to smaller vehicles].”

Alabama’s new law requires a minimum of $100,000 in liability insurance for fully autonomous vehicles, about the same as ordinary cars.

California’s new law requires $5 million in insurance for manufacturers testing autonomous vehicles on state roads, should any one of them be in an accident.

Robert Passmore, a vice president at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a trade group for insurance companies, said that should individual autonomous vehicles come into regular usage, the insurance companies still have to answer the question of “who was driving at the time.” He argued that the liability coverage should mirror that required for regular cars with drivers.

“Our position is that these vehicles should be insured the same,” he said. “The things that can happen as the result of driving are pretty much the same. Whatever the minimum limits are for that type of vehicle, those are probably appropriate [for autonomous vehicles]. Most people carry more than the minimum anyway.”

This article is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Patients who qualify for medical cannabis — with a history of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer or other approved medical conditions — can apply for cards Jan. 1. (Getty Images)

LOUISVILLE — Kentucky awarded its first 26 medical cannabis licenses through a lottery held Monday at the Kentucky Lottery Corporation in Louisville.?

The first round of licenses, drawn by state lottery staff, went to 16 cultivators and 10 processors.?

Monday’s winners will get an email within 24 hours and must pay a licensing fee within 15 days. Failure to do so will result in licensing forfeiting, said Sam Flynn, the executive director of the Office of Medical Cannabis. Winners will have to renew after a year.?

Gov. Andy Beshear called the Monday drawing a “big step forward.”?

“Medical cannabis can help people, especially with really serious conditions,” Beshear said after the drawing. “People will be buying product that is grown here, that is processed here, that is tested here, that would otherwise be in other states.”?

Flynn said the program is focused on equitable access for Kentuckians who qualify for medical cannabis.?

“??We want to make sure that these folks have access points throughout the state,” he said. “We want to make sure they have the safest possible medical products and the best possible care available.”??

In a statement, Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Mary Harville said, “over the 35 years of its existence, the Lottery has been known for conducting drawings for a plethora of its draw-based games, first with machines and balls, and now, with state-of-the-art random number generators.”?

“These drawings are conducted with the highest level of integrity and are in accordance with industry established procedures,” said Harville. “We are happy to be able to bring this level of integrity to the cannabis drawings.”

A bipartisan effort?

In 2023, the legislature legalized medical marijuana for Kentuckians suffering from chronic illnesses.?

Then, the bipartisan House Bill 829 that became law during this year’s legislative session moved up the medical cannabis licensing timeline from January 2025 to July 1, 2024.?

During the application period, July 1–Aug. 31,? the state received 4,998 applications for medical cannabis business licenses, including 918 cultivator and processor applications, according to Beshear’s office.?

Patients who qualify for medical cannabis — with a history of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer or other approved medical conditions — won’t be able to apply for cannabis cards until Jan. 1.

Flynn said providers who write certifications for those cards will prescribe types and amounts like any medication.

“We want to make sure that this is safe, that it’s driven by health care and health care decisions,” Flynn said.

“Help is on the way,” Beshear said. “There is a new day coming in Kentucky…where you’re going to be able to get safe medical cannabis to help you with your conditions.”???

A lottery date for the dispensers will be announced on Thursday, Beshear said.?

The winners?

The 10 processor winners are:?

1. KYP LLC – Jefferson County?
2. Kaldem Holdings – Muhlenberg County?
3. Limestone Processing – Fayette County?
4. Hilltop Healing Investco – Warren County?
5. Bijal Kentucky LLC – Boyd County?
6. AJ Alchemy Labs LLC – Barren County?
7. Jill’s Dispensary LLC – Christian County?
8. One Leaf Technologies LLC – Bullitt County
9. Ice House Processing, LLC – Fulton County
10. LMMKY LLC – Warren County

The 16 cultivator winners are:?

1. Natural State GreenGrass CannaCo LLC – Warren County?
2. KSYKAPP, LLC – Barren County
3. NG Health LLC – Fayette County
4. Armory Kentucky LLC – Estill County
5. JMOKY LLC – Warren County
6. Canopy Capital LLC – Grant County
7. L&O Legacies – Boyd County?
8. Synapse Remedies LLC – Jefferson County?
9. CW Bluegrass, LLC – Daviess County?
10. Popp Cultivation LLC – Bracken County?
11. Arizona Bay Investments LLC – Lincoln County?
12. Wong Investments, LLC – Christian County?
13. Joseph Serock – Christian County?
14. Elevated Essence LLC – Bullitt County?
15. Slaughter Branch LLC – Hopkins County?
16. Goeing Blue LLC – Fayette County

Richard Beliles joined protests for civil rights in the 1950s in Louisville and was chair of Common Cause/Kentucky.

Richard Vincent Beliles, a Louisville lawyer known for keeping a vigorous watch on government ethics and political money often at his own expense, died Oct. 23 at Baptist Health East in Louisville. He was 90.

“He was like the lonely warrior. He did so much to make government better and paid out of his own pocket expenses to file lawsuits to accomplish that,” said Ivonne Rovira, former executive director of Common Cause/Kentucky who worked with Beliles, longtime chair of the organization. “He did not get rich working for Common Cause.”

Common Cause is a national advocacy group that describes its mission as “curbing the excessive influence of money on government and promoting fair elections,” but Beliles took up many causes, including coal-mining protests, without being partisan.

Former state Senate Majority Leader David Karem, D-Louisville, said Beliles “deserves a lot of respect. He was very gentlemanly in his push for transparency in government and went after wrong wherever he saw it.”

Tom Loftus, a former Courier Journal Frankfort reporter who became an expert in campaign finance, said Beliles was “an interesting person. He was a quiet, sometimes awkward sort of guy — the last person you would ever think to be any sort of rabble rouser in government — but he always kept a careful eye on ethics in government and campaign finances.”

Loftus said Kentucky “owes a debt of gratitude for his being a watchdog for good government for so many years.”

Loftus noted that Beliles usually supported Democrats in elections but “would go after them when he thought they were taking the wrong steps in public office.”

For example, he voted for Democrat Paul Patton in the 1995 race for governor but soon after Patton took office, Beliles called for a state investigation of Patton’s campaign finances.

He claimed the late Patton aide Danny Ross had possibly violated campaign fundraising rules by coordinating with labor unions to promote Patton in Louisville.?

A grand jury in 1998 indicted Ross, Patton’s chief of staff and two Louisville Teamsters in connection with the questions Beliles raised. Patton pardoned everyone before a trial could be held.?

“I liked Patton,” Beliles said, “but there were serious problems in how he won that race that needed to be examined.”

‘Fighter for transparency in government’

In 2007, Beliles filed ethics complaints against then Senate President David Williams, a Republican from Burkesville, after Williams sponsored a lunch where lobbyists were asked to help raise $50,000 in campaign funds in apparent violation of the law.

The complaint was dismissed after Williams said his aides had made a mistake.

“And all this occurred when Williams was at the peak of his power in government,” said reporter Loftus.

In 1997, Beliles filed a complaint asking the Legislative Ethics Commission to look into a free five-day trip that then-House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, took to a Costa Rican resort to study international trade agreements.??????????????????????????????????????????

Questions arose whether cigarette maker Phillip Morris paid a nonprofit group to pay for Richards’ travel that included a jungle safari. Lawmakers cannot accept gifts from lobbyists.?

Richards denied knowing of Phillip Morris’ role in his trip, and he said no one in Costa Rica lobbied him on anything. The ethics panel sided with Richards and dismissed the complaint.

“Richard Beliles was a fighter for transparency in government,” said former Louisville WHAS TV reporter Mark Hebert.

“He was also the loudest voice for Kentuckians concerned about the corrupting influence of money in politics and understood clearly the role and power of the media to shed light in dark places.”

Beliles maintained a private law practice in downtown Louisville for many years; the last 17 years of which he practiced entirely on a pro bono basis. He received two undergraduate degrees from the University of Louisville and later obtained his law degree from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.

Beliles won many civic awards, including the 2017 Citizen Award of The League of Women Voters. He was chairman of the board of directors for Wayside Christian Mission and was a former board member for five years of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance and president of the KY United Nations Association.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Beliles participated in civil rights protests in downtown Louisville. He was among picketers in front of the Brown Theatre protesting the denial of public accommodations to Black citizens who were barred even from attending the play “Porgy and Bess.”

For three years in the 1960s, Beliles served as the director of organization of the Democratic Party of Jefferson County.

Beliles also was an aide to Louisville Mayor Frank W. Burke and was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Congress in 1988 against Republican Jim Bunning.??

He was a Mason and a member of the Alexander Hamilton Society.

His obituary says his survivors include daughter Sherry Beliles of Louisville and son Mark Beliles (Nancy) of Charlottesville, Virginia. He is also survived by his brother David Beliles of Longboat Key, Florida.; his sister Beverly Belle-Isle of Jeffersonville, Indiana; four grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren and many relatives and friends.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Pearson’s Funeral Home, 149 Breckenridge Lane, Louisville. Burial is to follow at Resthaven Cemetery in Louisville.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, 318 St. Catherine St. Louisville 40203 or Wayside Christian Mission, 432 E Jefferson St., Louisville 40202.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative, which distributes electricity to 16 cooperatives, plans to add solar installations generating 757 megawatts of power and expand transmission infrastructure. (Getty Images)

FRANKFORT — A federal investment of up to $1.4 billion to expand renewable energy will help transform how a Kentucky utility serves future generations, its CEO said Monday.?

Officials from East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture joined Gov. Andy Beshear at the state Capitol Monday morning to tout funding that will build solar installations producing 757 megawatts of electricity and improve transmission infrastructure.

EKPC President and CEO Tony Campbell said the funding, which could consist of grants or subsidized loans, was a “defining moment” for the nonprofit utility that generates electricity for 16 power distribution cooperatives across the state. The USDA announced the funding last month.

“We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and operate with less carbon intensity, while maintaining reliability service and competitive rates,” Campbell said. “East Kentucky Power Cooperative is doing our part to help address global greenhouse gas emissions and slow the impact of climate change. We are boldly planning for Kentucky’s energy future.”

The funding comes from the Empowering Rural America program (New ERA), monies made available through the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act opposed by all of the Republicans in Kentucky’s congressional delegation.

Administrator of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service Andy Burke also said EKPC will receive additional funding in the form of tax credits on top of the $1.4 billion from the New ERA program.?

The USDA received 157 proposals for clean energy projects, and so far the federal department has awarded funding for nearly two dozen of those proposals including to EKPC.?

Beshear called the announcement one of the biggest investments in the state’s electric infrastructure since the New Deal, saying the funding would help with economic development for companies that want renewable energy.?

“Just about every company asks what energy portfolio we can bring to them. It’s either commitments to sustainability they’ve made,or they’ve been demanded by their downstream customers,” Beshear said. “The answer has always been, ‘We’ll get there, and we’re working on it.’ We’ve got a very big answer today with about $1.4 billion.”

Campbell told reporters EKPC intends to build solar installations itself instead of purchasing solar power from private solar developers, known as power purchase agreements. He said the solar installations have to be “on the ground” by Sept. 30, 2031 to comply with a federal deadline.

Roughly 40 transmission projects are also being planned, he said, for “both reliability and to allow more renewables to flow” to homes and businesses. Earlier this year, EKPC proposed to build two solar installations in Fayette and Marion counties generating a combined 136 megawatts of electricity.

Like other electric utilities in Kentucky, EKPC generates the majority of its power from burning coal, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change among electricity sources. Environmental advocates have previously lauded New ERA funding but argue more needs to be done to move utilities from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.?

EKPC is supporting a lawsuit to federal regulations that would require utilities to curb nearly all greenhouse gas emissions by 2032 from new natural gas-fired power plants and existing coal-fired power plants. Campbell said the New ERA funding would help the utility “go down the path to start decarbonizing our generation portfolio” while not harming the reliability of the power supply.?

The leader of the United Nations last year called for developed nations to have carbon-free electricity generation by 2035 and a phase out of coal-fired power by 2030 in order to avoid the worst harms from climate change. A United Nations report last week found the world was on track for catastrophic warming by the end of the century because of the unabated burning of fossil fuels.?

When asked about the call for action from the United Nations’ leader, Campbell said renewable energy paired with battery storage systems hadn’t “evolved enough” to “totally run the country on that.”?

“We have to have reliable power plus decarbonize,” Campbell said.

Other utilities across the country are investing significantly in solar installations and battery storage systems, and the International Energy Agency considers solar and wind power to be the cheapest form of electricity in most of the world.?

Burke, the USDA official, said the decreasing cost of renewables and battery storage systems is “going to build that clean energy future we need.”?

“But we need to do it in a reliable way that makes sense to the person who still has to pay that utility bill at the end of every month,” Burke said.

A view from Metzler's daughter's bedroom in July 2024. (Photos by Aubrey Metzler)

Editor’s note: Since this investigation was published Oct. 24 in Rolling Stone ?the Army has offered to move both of the Fort Campbell families into new homes. The story is republished from POGO, The Project On Government Oversight.

On the weekends, Aubrey Metzler lets out her frustration with military housing by screaming at strangers in the haunted house where she works, playing the part of “lunatic.” The 23-year-old mother of two has good reason to feel a little unhinged.?

Metzler says her whole family has been sick ever since they moved into privatized military housing last spring on Fort Campbell, an Army base straddling the edge of Kentucky and Tennessee. Her 17-month-old son is so congested that he has trouble breathing. Her 2-year-old daughter often complains of headaches and stomach pain, and both kids can’t use the tub in the upstairs bathroom without breaking out in hives. Her husband, an Army private first class, has recently been hospitalized for cluster migraines. Metzler herself throws up “every single day,” and describes the family’s housing challenges in a gravelly voice that’s punctuated by coughs and sniffles. On top of all that, the stress over housing has taken a toll on Aubrey and her husband’s mental health, she says, comparing her time working at the haunted house to “therapy.”

Metzler thinks the cause of her family’s health problems is mold, but she says it’s been an uphill battle getting taken seriously. Military family housing at Fort Campbell is run by Campbell Crossing LLC, a development of the global real estate conglomerate Lendlease.?

“Every time they tell me there’s no mold, I find mold. Every time without fail,” Metzler says. A spokesperson from Lendlease said the company complies with Army guidance, and emphasized that the safety of military families is the company’s top priority.

Mold is among the most common — and most harmful — military housing issues around the country, according to advocates from organizations that have worked with thousands of families in situations like Metzler’s. But a gap in federal mold standards has been exploited by the military and housing companies to avoid testing and competent mold remediation, according to military housing advocates, attorneys, and experts interviewed by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).?

Little recourse against private landlords ?

Newly obtained internal documents reveal just how bad the problem is, and the military’s efforts to contain it both within homes and in the court of public opinion. “Can we reframe the ‘problem’ as just a part of life?” reads a presentation slide from an Army counter-mold workshop held in early 2023. The workshop detailed a multi-faceted plan termed “OPERATION COUNTER-MOLD,” for improving conditions — and public sentiment — on mold issues in the nation’s largest military branch.?

But mold woes are not unique to the Army, nor are they limited to specific housing companies.?

Nearly all of military family housing has been privatized, run by companies that have been called “slumlords” amid a series of recent scandals around deplorable conditions, fraud, and a wave of lawsuits by service members demanding accountability.?

Not to be confused with barracks — which are comparable to dorms and typically run by the Department of Defense (DOD) — privatized military family housing tends to be single-family homes. Approximately 700,000 service members and their families live in these homes, run by 14 companies in the U.S. across 78 developments. Several housing companies have been implicated in fraud schemes in recent years, including one that pled guilty in 2021 to defrauding the U.S. military of millions through falsifying home maintenance records, and another that paid a $500,000 settlement with no admission of guilt in a similar federal fraud case in 2022.?

While the military knows it’s a big problem when property managers fail to address mold, the lack of standards may obscure both the true extent of the damage and the dire impacts it wreaks for military families. Standards for mold could apply to prevention, identification (which could entail testing), or remediation (efforts to remove existing mold).

Plus, the fundamental nature of privatized military housing makes these situations harder for military families to escape. “They end up being trapped,” said Ryan Reed, a Texas-based attorney who specializes in military housing.

Service members typically have to move every couple of years, often into unfamiliar communities where they may not have any support structure outside of the military. This frequency of moving can make it hard for military spouses to have steady employment to provide supplemental income. In most cases, military families have the choice of living on or off base, though experts and advocates have cautioned that in some competitive housing markets, living off base may not be a real option: It can be cost prohibitive on a military salary, or have insufficient options for schools or child care.

When service members live in military housing, their rent is automatically deducted from their salary and sent to the housing company. Unlike in civilian housing, families in privatized military housing don’t have the ability to withhold rent when they have a problem in their home that their landlord needs to address, unless they enter into what is known as a “formal dispute process,” a congressional oversight fix that has a host of problems all its own.?

Aubrey Metzler says they can’t afford to live off base, nor can they afford the cost of child care. “We’re barely making it,” she said. “We are constantly stressed about the kids being in a house that is making them sick, and then feeling bad because we cannot afford to live anywhere else.”

$10.3 million settlement is rare, problem is not

Jason and Sarah Kiernan’s 2-month-old son was emergency airlifted to the Dell Children’s Medical Center in April 2019, struggling to breathe. Days after returning home to Fort Cavazos, another son stumbled through a damp wall, revealing a hidden danger: The home was filled with toxic mold.

Now 5 years old, their youngest son will likely need lifelong care because of a range of conditions connected to oxygen deprivation during infancy — conditions that the Kiernans linked to mold exposure in their lawsuit against the company. After a long legal battle, the Kiernans recently won an unprecedented $10.3 million settlement with an arbitration panel finding that the housing company had misled the family about mold in the home.?

The housing company in the Kiernans’ case was Lendlease, the same private business that oversees housing at Fort Campbell where Metzler lives. Lendlease announced that it was planning to sell off its U.S. military housing portfolio just days before the announcement of the Kiernans’ settlement was made public.

While the Kiernans’ legal victory was rare, their problem is less so.

Mold is the “number one” housing issue that military families face, according to Jean Coffman. She would know — she’s the executive director and board chair of the Safe Military Housing Initiative, an advocacy group that works with military families around the country. Coffman said mold tops the list, both in terms of sheer numbers and the potential for devastating harm to the families through health and economic impacts. Reed said roughly 90% of his military housing cases involve mold.?

Mold was also number one when it came to tenant complaints in both Marine Corps and Navy housing in fiscal year 2019, according to a DOD report to Congress that was obtained by POGO through a Freedom of Information Act request. Mold encompassed 61% of Marine Corps complaints and 29% of Navy complaints in the report, which did not include similar data for the other military branches. More recently, DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed in a letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that in 2023 there were at least 4,588 reports of mold in Air and Space Forces privatized housing.?

There have been more than 20,000 mold-related work orders in Army buildings since October 2022, with more than 1,000 work orders currently open, according to a spokesperson from U.S. Army Installation Management Command. That number encompasses military family housing, barracks, and other Army facilities. Although the spokesperson confirmed that the Army has far more detailed data on mold-related work orders and maintenance costs, including for military family housing specifically, they declined to provide additional data or to provide a narrower range than “more than 20,000.” The DOD and other military branches have not responded to our requests for interviews and mold-related data.

The full health impacts of this problem are unknown, in part because the Pentagon isn’t tracking whether housing conditions are making military families sick, according to a 2022 report by the DOD Office of the Inspector General.

Medical evidence links mycotoxins (the toxins produced by some molds) to a range of health conditions, including respiratory issues, flu-like symptoms, birth defects, immunosuppression, and cancer. Studies have also found a connection between mold and a number of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and “brain fog.” Infants and young children are even more susceptible to mold, with increased risk of asthma.

“There are growing numbers of us who are really worried of what happens when these children are exposed early on,” says Dr. Pejman Katiraei, a pediatrician who specializes in mold exposure.

Hiding behind the lack of standards?

Dallas Vann-Jones shares a wall with Aubrey Metzler in their duplex at Fort Campbell and can commiserate with her neighbor’s housing issues. Vann-Jones’s whole family is sick too (she has a 3-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter), and she says they have had a hard time getting the housing company to even acknowledge whether mold exists in the house, let alone help with getting rid of it.?

“They just gaslight you,” Vann-Jones said, explaining how she has voiced concerns about mold in the house since January 2024 and was repeatedly told by housing company staff that there was no mold. “I literally sat on my couch and I bawled, ‘You are telling me there is no mold here, but my body is telling me otherwise, my children’s bodies are telling me otherwise,’” she said.

Both Metzler and her neighbor say that they have been repeatedly denied requests for mold testing in their homes which are in Pierce Village, a neighborhood in the Kentucky side of the base.

Housing companies and military branches often use the lack of a federal mold standard by the Environmental Protection Agency to justify refusing to test for mold in military homes, according to Coffman. In the Kiernans’ case, court filings indicate that positive test results for mold were the turning point when the family was relocated from the house.?

“The reason we have successes for getting families displaced and for mandating certain protocols is because we’re holding the card that says, ‘Here are the tests,’” Coffman said.

Official documents by the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, and Air Force caution against the use of mold testing, pointing to a lack of federal mold standards. But even though there isn’t a federally established threshold for safe levels of mold, additional documentation by the EPA and some military branches do suggest situations in which testing should be conducted, such as when there are medical concerns linked to exposure — a nuance that may get lost in communications with military families.

“Many, many times our families push for mold testing,” said Heather Hall, founder and chief executive officer of the Military Housing Coalition, a military housing advocacy group. “That’s always thrown out as a no.”?

It is not Army policy to refuse to test, according to an Army spokesperson. The spokesperson said that the leadership of Army installations have trained and certified mold inspectors, and that they follow the Army Public Health Center’s guidance.?

“We are very, very focused on providing that safe, affordable housing for those soldiers and family members, and our command takes this extremely seriously,” the Army spokesperson said.

The Army’s guidance isn’t as thorough as the most widely used industry standard in the U.S., according to Michael Rubino, an air quality expert and the co-founder of the Change the Air Foundation, a national air quality advocacy organization that is pushing for improved federal mold policies.?

Rubino has extensively reviewed the Army’s mold guide as an expert witness in a legal case, and he cautioned that in that housing case, the management company had failed to follow important elements of the Army’s guidance. “It’s equally as important to ensure the staff in charge of property management are educated and trained properly on the standards and ensure that the standards are being adhered to,” he said. Rubino’s organization points to the need for improved standards not only when identifying the problem, but also through requiring that remediation be conducted by accredited professionals.?

The lack of a mold standard is a widely used defense tactic for military housing companies in lawsuits brought by families, according to Reed, with some housing companies even citing language from the military to discredit the use of tests.

“I can go and do a two hour course and now be a mold inspector,” said Katiraei. This is a problem in military housing, advocates say, which can result in incompetence by contractors hired to deal with mold.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command said that their mold mitigation specialists receive two hours of training, but emphasized that approximately 80% of these individuals have also received an OSHA Mold Inspection Certification. The spokesperson said there are approximately 280 mold mitigation specialists for the Army in total, across family housing, barracks, and all Army facilities — Army family housing alone encompasses roughly 87,000 housing units worldwide. The spokesperson said they have the goal to have at least four OSHA certified specialists on each Army installation.

“The techs are not properly trained to identify mold,” Hall argues. “They come in, they misspeak. They will say, ‘mold is everywhere.’”

While a handful of states do have mold standards codified in law, whether they apply on military bases within those states is another question, because of the federal enclave doctrine, a legal defense used to exempt military housing from the protections of some present-day state and local laws.

The mold ‘communication playbook’

“Viewing mold as a normal part of life will decrease anxiety and increase trust,” reads one slide. Another claims, “mold is ubiquitous, its [sic] everywhere.” Yet another slide simply states, “MOLD IS MOLD,” while specifying that the Army’s “Mitigation Working Group” decided not to define what counts as “hazardous mold” because all “visible” mold should be mitigated. Coffman says she hears messaging like this all the time when working with military families, and not just from the Army, but across the military branches.?

That framing is “just ignorance,” according to Joseph Reiss, an expert in mold remediation. Reiss has been working with Coffman’s organization on a pilot project intended to model how military and housing companies should respond to mold, and pushing for Congress to implement federal mold standards. So far, Reiss has conducted mold sampling at 22 military homes. Not all molds hold the same health risks for families, which is why he says testing is so useful. “The goal here is, test: Don’t guess,” he said.

Coffman singled out one military housing company that’s holding itself to a higher standard: Corvias, which recently announced it was seeking certification by the International WELL Building Institute, an organization that sets standards for commercial and residential environments — including for mold.

Lawmakers are aware of the issue and taking some strides to address it, but Coffman says more strenuous response is needed. If passed, a proposed amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act would require a study on the health effects of mold in military housing and new mold standards. Senators Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) also recently introduced legislation to improve DOD transparency in reporting on military housing conditions.?

A February 2024 DOD memo identified plans for adopting “livability standards” that could apply to family housing, including those for indoor air quality. But that same memo touts the “higher quality” of privatized military family housing in terms of tenant satisfaction, and suggests the Pentagon may move to privatize barracks as well.

For now, Aubrey Metzler is still stuck in housing where her family feels unsafe. She says the mold the housing company treated in the bathroom this summer has come back, and she recently discovered mold in her dishwasher. She has also noticed mold growing quickly on fabric items in the home. A couple weeks ago, she said the housing company told her they were going to conduct some tests after all, but they still haven’t indicated when that will happen. In the meantime, it’s stressful to stay in a home that she worries is making her children sick.?

“I cry a lot, because my daughter constantly tells me she doesn’t want to be here,” Metzler said. “She doesn’t feel good here, and I can’t do anything about it.”

In January 2023, more than 100 participants gathered at Army Installation Management Command headquarters for a “counter-mold” workshop, focused on educating Army “stakeholders” about mold issues in the nation’s largest military branch. The workshop covered strategies and practices for mold identification, prevention, and mitigation. It also included ample guidance for how Army officials should be talking about mold with the public, referencing a 2023 “Counter-Mold Communication Playbook,” campaign talking points, and social media campaigns.

An Army spokesperson emphasized that education of military families is a critical piece of their work countering mold, whether it be through face-to-face interactions or social media, “because obviously we hope we can stop any mold issues before they start.”

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. ?POGO says it champions reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.?

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, third from left, with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Gov. Bill Lee and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, at the November 2023 rollout of Lee’s universal school voucher program. (Photoby John Partipilo for the Tennessee Lookout)

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

A new universal school voucher proposal will be the first bill filed for Tennessee’s upcoming legislative session, signaling that Gov. Bill Lee intends to make the plan his No. 1 education priority for a second straight year.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said this week that he’ll file his chamber’s legislation on the morning of Nov. 6, the day after Election Day. He expects House Majority Leader William Lamberth will do the same.

The big question is whether House and Senate Republican leaders will be able to agree on the details in 2025. The 114th Tennessee General Assembly convenes on Jan. 14 as Lee begins his last two years in office.

During the 2024 session, the governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship proposal stalled in finance committees over disagreements about testing and funding, despite a GOP supermajority, and even as universal voucher programs sprang up in several other states.

Sponsors in the Tennessee House, where voucher programs have had a harder time getting support from rural Republicans and urban Democrats, attempted to woo votes with an omnibus-style bill that included benefits for public schools, too. But Senate Republican leaders balked at the scope and cost of the House version.

Johnson recently gave a voucher update to school board members in Williamson County, which he represents, on the development of new legislation.

Similar to last year’s proposal, the new bill would provide about $7,000 in taxpayer funds to each of up to 20,000 students to attend a private school beginning next fall, with half of the slots going to students who are considered economically disadvantaged. By 2026, all of Tennessee’s K-12 students, regardless of family income, would be eligible for vouchers, though the number of recipients would depend on how much money is budgeted for the program.

“The bill is not finalized, but we’re all working together with the governor’s office to come up with a bill we all can support,” Johnson told Chalkbeat after the presentation.

Testing accountability is among chief issues to settle

Johnson said the Senate’s 2025 bill will again include some type of testing requirement for voucher recipients — either state assessments or state-approved national tests — to gauge whether the program is improving academic outcomes.

However, the Senate bill will eliminate a previous provision that might have allowed public school students to enroll in any district, even if they’re not zoned for it. That policy proposal had been included at the insistence of Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg, a Bristol Republican who lost his reelection bid in the August primary.

Lamberth, the House leader, did not respond this week to multiple requests for comment about his chamber’s plan, which in 2024 had no testing requirement for voucher recipients. Instead, the House version sought to dramatically reduce testing and accountability for public school students, including replacing high school end-of-course assessments with ACT college entrance exams.

The House bill also included numerous financial incentives to try to garner support from public school advocates. One idea was to increase the state’s contribution to pay for public school teachers’ medical insurance by redirecting $125 million the governor had earmarked for teacher salary increases.

Johnson told school board members the governor is planning a “substantial” increase for public education funding in 2025 but didn’t specify how much or for what.

“I think we’re going to have some things in there that will be great for all public education,” he said when asked later about including costly incentives such as teacher medical insurance funding. “Whether it’s in that (voucher) bill or if it’s in a separate bill is a great question. We will see. I don’t know the answer.”

Williamson County school board rescinds earlier anti-voucher resolution

Johnson told board members in his home district that he expects “nominal” impact to Williamson County’s two suburban school systems south of Nashville, if the bill passes the legislature in 2025. Most enrollees, he said, would be in urban areas that have more low-performing schools and private school options.

Later Monday, Williamson County’s board, including four newly elected members whose campaigns were supported by a conservative out-of-state political action committee, voted 10-2 to rescind a resolution passed by the previous board opposing Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act.

The governor is from Williamson County and graduated from a public high school there in 1977. So it was significant when his local board voted in March to join more than 50 other school boards across Tennessee on record against his signature education proposal.

But Dennis Diggers, a new board member, argued that it was appropriate to revisit the issue given the recent election, and proposed rescinding the resolution.

“Four of the six candidates who won their election ran publicly for more than six months on this issue, so it was out there,” Diggers said. “I am not going to deny the parents in Williamson County the chance to help their kids.”

Meanwhile, a Tennessee policy organization that supports vouchers released a new poll showing 58% of the state’s voters are more inclined to support a candidate who supports letting parents collect public funding to choose where their child is educated, including public, private, charter, or home schools. The Beacon Center poll did not use the word “vouchers” in its question to voters, which tends to poll worse than language about “school choice.”

Universal vouchers would mark a major expansion of vouchers in Tennessee, where lawmakers voted in 2019 to create education savings account options for students in Memphis and Nashville. That targeted program, which has since expanded to the Chattanooga area, has 3,550 enrollees in its third year, still below the 5,000-student cap, according to data provided by the state education department.

A spokeswoman for the governor said his administration continues to work with both legislative chambers on a “unified” universal voucher bill to kick off discussions for the 2025 session. She also noted that $144 million remains in this year’s state budget for the program, even though lawmakers didn’t approve the bill.

“We remain grateful for the General Assembly’s continued commitment to deliver Education Freedom Scholarships to Tennessee families by keeping funding for last year’s proposal in the budget,” said Elizabeth Johnson, the governor’s press secretary.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at [email protected]. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Besides the main office in Louisville, the FBI has satellite offices or “resident agencies” in eight Kentucky cities. (Getty Images)

Federal law enforcement in 10 Eastern Kentucky counties is now being conducted by FBI special agents from nearby areas while the agency tries to fill vacancies in its Pikeville office.

“The Pikeville territory is currently being covered by FBI special agents from the surrounding areas while we await current vacancies to be filled,” said Katie Anderson, spokeswoman for the state’s main FBI office in Louisville.

She added: “FBI Louisville is fully committed to remaining operational in Pikeville and continue to work with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the area to drive investigations forward.”

Besides the main office in Louisville, the FBI has satellite offices or “resident agencies” in eight Kentucky cities.

The Pikeville office covers Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Perr, and Pike counties.

The FBI would not comment on its personnel in ikeville but the Kentucky Lantern has learned that two agents who had staffed the office ?have left it. One retired and the other was transferred to another state.

“It is FBI policy not to comment on personnel matters,” said Anderson. “At the guidance and direction of our office of general counsel, the Privacy Act prohibits us from commenting on or confirming employment, unless it’s a senior executive service employee or there is some other circumstance that rises to the level of an exception to the Privacy Act.”

It is not known how long it will take to staff the Pikeville office.

The FBI investigates a wide range of criminal activity, including terrorism, cybercrime, public corruption, civil rights violations, organized crime, white-collar crime such as health care fraud and public corruption and violent crime.

The FBI’s investigative authority is the broadest of all federal law enforcement agencies. The FBI works closely with other federal, state, local, and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Within the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI is responsible to the U.S. attorney general, and reports its findings to U.S. attorneys across the country.? Its intelligence activities are overseen by the director of National Intelligence.

Besides Pikeville, the other FBI offices in Kentucky and the counties they cover are:

• Main Field Office: Bullitt, Hardin, Jefferson, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Washington.
• ?Bowling Green: Adair, Allen, Barren, Butler, Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Green, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Russell, Simpson, Taylor, Warren.
• Covington: Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Carter, Fleming, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Henry, Kenton, Lewis, Mason, Owen, Pendleton, Robertso,Trimble.
• Hopkinsville: Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Lyon, Muhlenburg, Todd, Trigg.?
• Lexington: Anderson, Bath, Bourbon, Boyle, Clark, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Franklin, Garrard, Harrison, Jessamine, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, Menifee, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Nicholas, Powell, Rowan, Scott, Wolfe, Woodford.
• London: Bell, Breathitt, Casey, Clay, Harlan, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Leslie, McCreary, Owsley, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Wayne, Whitley.
• Owensboro: Breckinridge, Davies, Grayson, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Ohio, Union, Webster.
• Paducah: Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, Marshall, McCracken.

A prescribed burn will be conducted next week at Taylorsville Lake Wildlife Management Area. (Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources)

Portions of Taylorsville Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Spencer County will be closed to the public for two days between Oct. 28 and 31 to facilitate a prescribed fire project as part of ongoing hardwood forest improvements on the property, according to a release from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

The department says prescribed burns will be conducted when weather conditions are optimal from both environmental and safety standpoints.

Burns are planned on a 1,600-acre section of the Briar Ridge unit of the WMA south of KY 3228 on the first of the two-day closure, followed by a second day for evaluation to ensure all fires are out. The WMA will not be accessible via KY 3228 if traveling west from KY 248 during this time. The shooting range will be closed on the day of the burn project as smoky conditions are possible, but will reopen the following day. Other public access to Taylorsville Lake and the remainder of the 9,417-acre WMA should not be affected.

Project managers will take into consideration wind, air temperature, relative humidity, soil moisture and other factors before determining when to conduct the burns. If favorable conditions do not occur, this project may be pushed to a later date.

Signs will be posted and gates closed at all access points to the project location and adjacent landowners are being notified of the planned burns. The prescribed fire areas will be monitored until all fire, embers and smoke are extinguished before reopening to the public.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will announce the work date through an update on its website (fw.ky.gov) and X (@kyfishwildlife).

E.W. Brown solar array at Kentucky Utilities Mercer County plant. (Photo courtesy of LG&E/KU)

Power-intensive data centers will drive growth in electricity demand in the near future, says the utility serving the most Kentuckians. It plans to meet that demand by continuing to replace coal-fired power with natural gas while potentially adding up to 1,000 megawatts of solar power by 2035.

Investor-owned Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) outlined those steps and others in an integrated resource plan filed Oct. 18 before the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), the state’s utility regulator. Kentucky utilities are required every three years to file plans for how they will meet demand at the “lowest possible cost,” although they are not bound to follow them.

The new plan anticipates adding no new coal-fired generation while building as many as four new natural gas-fired plants plus battery storage systems for solar energy — in addition to a natural gas plant already slated for construction.?

‘Panicked rush to gas’ could hike energy costs, report warns regulators

The PSC will consider the new plan as environmentalists in Kentucky push for a faster pivot to renewables and amid urgent calls from climate scientists to halt the burning of fossil fuels to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.?

There’s also uncertainty over whether new Biden administration regulations that seek to curb nearly all heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from power plants will withstand court challenges from utilities, coal advocates and Republican attorneys general including Kentucky’s Russell Coleman.?

Data center growth reflects nationwide boom

The utility’s plan says Kentucky is “well-positioned” to participate in the nationwide boom in data centers thanks to a lower risk of severe weather, available telecommunications infrastructure and water to cool equipment, as well as “favorable tax incentives.”?

Data centers are essentially computer hubs that power the internet, ranging from storing data on the “cloud” to processing credit card transactions and the surge of artificial intelligence services. They need a tremendous amount of electricity, sometimes on par with what an entire coal-fired power plant produces. The Lantern previously reported the parent company of LG&E and KU was in talks with data centers interested in locating to Kentucky, and Kentucky lawmakers passed tax breaks this year to incentivize data centers to locate in Jefferson County.?

Driving surge in demand for power, data centers eye Kentucky

“The Companies’ Economic Development team is working with a growing number of data center projects that vary in stages of development, but which mostly have very large power requirements,” the utility states in its planning documents.?

The utility currently needs about? 30,000 megawatts of electricity a year. Models forecast that could increase by 30% to 60% by the early 2030s.?

Data centers could increase the utility’s load by 1,050-1,750 megawatts, according to the utility’s modeling. For reference, its forecast peak load in the summer of 2024 was 6,115 megawatts.?

Seeking more natural gas and no new coal?

Burning coal generated 68% of Kentucky’s electricity in 2023, down from more than 90% a decade earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Only two other states, West Virginia and Wyoming, were as reliant as Kentucky on coal for power generation, making Kentucky an outlier in a nation that has generally transitioned to lower-cost natural gas and renewable energy.?

LG&E and KU coal-fired power plants make up over 60% of the utility’s capacity during the summer. The utility anticipates moving away from coal-fired power in favor of new natural gas-fired combined cycle plants.?

Depending on future demand, the utility foresees building two or three new natural gas-fired combined cycle plants to be paired with several utility-scale battery storage systems between 2028 to 2035. The natural gas plants would generate about 1,935 megawatts of summertime load — energy needed to meet demand at a given time — by the early 2030s. ?That includes power from another natural gas-fired combined cycle plant the utility already is slated to construct by 2027 after receiving permission from the PSC.?

That new natural gas-fired plant was opposed last year by environmentalists as a costly investment that would lock in ratepayers to decades of fossil fuel instead of pivoting to renewables that don’t create greenhouse gas emissions. Similar opposition has met other utilities’ plans to build natural gas-fired plants including the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Kentucky utility’s plans for investing in natural gas-fired plants conflict with a call last year by the leader of the United Nations for carbon-free electricity generation in developed nations by 2035 and a phase out of coal-fired power by 2030 in order to prevent the worst harms from climate change. The call was based on research from climate scientists including U.S. institutions such as NASA. LG&E and KU has previously pointed to goals set by its parent company to have net-zero emissions by 2050.?

Burning natural gas, which consists primarily of the potent greenhouse gas methane, for electricity is considered to release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere compared to the burning of coal, but environmental advocates have raised concerns that methane leaks during production and transportation of natural gas are wiping out progress made by the United States on curbing greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out coal-fired power.?

LG&E and KU already has approval to retire one of four coal-fired units at its Mill Creek Generating Station in Jefferson County by the end of this year and another coal-fired unit at Mill Creek in 2027. The utility estimates that retiring the first Mill Creek unit will shave some pennies from ratepayers’ bills starting in March.

LG&E and KU projections call for retiring the other two units at Mill Creek and a single remaining coal-fired unit at E.W. Brown Generating Station in 2035.?

Utilities that opposed Kentucky’s new energy planning commission are now part of it

That would leave Ghent and Trimble County generating stations as its only operating coal-fired plants by 2035. According to the utility, both of those plants would need upgrades to meet existing or anticipated federal regulations on ozone-producing nitrogen oxide emissions and water pollution. LG&E and KU stated it isn’t considering building any new coal-fired power plants because of “the high cost and environmental risk.”

More solar expected, but not until 2028

LG&E and KU’s plans also include more investments in utility-scale solar, potentially adding 500-1,000 megawatts, though the soonest it expects it could add more solar is 2028. The utility is currently planning to build two 120-megawatt solar installations in Mercer and Marion counties; it already has a solar installation in Mercer County at its E.W. Brown Generating Station.

The utility said its agreements to purchase solar power from private companies don’t appear to be moving forward due to issues with getting solar connected to the power grid and cost increases, though adding hundreds of megawatts of new battery storage “could help pave the way for additional new renewable resources in the future.”?

Other utilities across the country are investing heavily in solar installations and battery storage systems, with the Energy Information Administration estimating 58% of all power-generating capacity planned to be installed in 2024 to be solar power. The International Energy Agency considers solar and wind power to be the cheapest form of electricity in most markets in the world.?

Solar power is considered “intermittent,” meaning it produces electricity only during a portion of the day — such as when the sun is shining. But renewable energy advocates have touted battery storage systems paired with solar installations as a way to make the renewable power “dispatchable” and available around the clock.? Solar installations can charge batteries during the day to be used at night.

But LG&E and KU argued that pairing solar with battery systems would be a costly replacement for a“dispatchable” around-the-clock energy source such as coal-fired power. Thousands of megawatts of solar and battery storage would be needed to replace Mill Creek’s 391 megawatts of coal-fired power, the utility’s analysis said.

Advocates and the former PSC chair have expressed concern utilities aren’t able to be held accountable to follow the plans they outline. The last time LG&E and KU presented an integrated resource plan to the PSC, it was chastised by the regulator for not presenting plans that were “actionable” for the future.

LG&E and KU in its latest IRP filing writes the documents are a “snapshot of an ongoing resource planning process” that is “constantly evolving.””

Skepticism about carbon capture, future of greenhouse gas regulations

Looming over LG&E and KU and other coal-reliant utilities are new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that require coal-fired power plants and new natural gas-fired power plants to curb 90% of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2032 if utilities plan to operate them past 2039.?

Challengers are arguing in court that the technology proposed to comply with the regulation isn’t yet commercially viable at a utility scale. Carbon capture and sequestration is a controversial technology that tries to capture carbon dioxide emissions from power plants to prevent release into the atmosphere. LG&E and KU is planning to install and test a carbon capture system on an existing natural gas-fired plant.?

LG&E and KU in its planning documents wrote that implementing carbon dioxide transport and storage “is not achievable” in the timeline set by the EPA. The utility also wrote that converting coal-fired power plants into burning natural gas is also “questionable” because of the time it would take to establish gas pipelines. Retiring coal-fired power plants by 2032 is an option for compliance, LG&E and KU stated, but “retirements require reliable replacement capacity.”?

“Replacing generation at the scale necessary for compliance is not reasonable” under the EPA’s timeline for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the utility wrote.

LG&E and KU’s integrated resource plan will likely come under scrutiny from a range of stakeholders during PSC review — the attorney general, renewable energy advocates, advocates for industrial and residential ratepayers and local governments in the utility’s territory covering Lexington, Louisville and parts of Eastern and Western Kentucky.

Pershlie Ami, a citizen of the Hopi tribe, shares her experience of attending Phoenix Indian School when she was a kid during the Road to Healing tour hosted by the U.S. Department of Interior at the Gila Crossing Community School on Jan. 20, 2023. (Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror)

For the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president is set to apologize to Indigenous communities for the role the federal government played in the atrocities Indigenous children faced in the federal Native American Boarding School system.

The apology, which President Joe Biden will deliver Friday when he speaks at the Gila River Crossing School on the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, comes three years after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched the first-ever investigation into Native American Boarding Schools.

The final boarding school report provided eight recommendations from the Department of Indian Affairs for the federal government that would support a path to healing for tribal communities.

At the top of that list was a call for the United States to acknowledge and apologize for its role in the federal Indian boarding school policies that have harmed — and continue to harm — Indigenous peoples across the country.

“The president is taking that to heart, and he plans on making an apology to Indian Country for the boarding school era,” Haaland said in an Oct. 23 interview with the Arizona Mirror.

Haaland said she has been pinching herself since she got the news that Biden planned on issuing an apology because of the work put in by so many people to shed light on Native American boarding schools and the lasting impacts it has had on Indigenous communities.

“It’s incredibly meaningful,” Haaland said, because, as part of the boarding school initiative, their department organized the Road to Healing tour, where they visited several Indigenous communities to hear stories about boarding schools.

“They were all heart-wrenching,” Haaland said of stories that were shared by victims and their families. “We sat through so many testimonies from survivors and descendants, and I have a deep understanding of what so many people went through and what our community suffered from.”

The Department of the Interior investigated the federal Indian boarding school system across the United States, identifying more than 400 schools and over 70 burial sites.

Arizona was home to 47 of those schools, which were attended by Indigenous children who were taken away from their families and attempted to assimilate them through education — and, often, physical punishment.

The legacy of the federal Indian boarding school system is not new to Indigenous people. For centuries, Indigenous people across the country have experienced the loss of their culture, traditions, language and land.

“This is an incredibly suppressed history that so many people didn’t know about and now it’s seeing the light of day,” Haaland said. “I have to believe that people will heal from what we’ve been able to do, and certainly hearing from President Biden, who has been the best president for Indian Country in my lifetime, say that he’s sorry, it’s beyond words.”

Biden plans to visit Indian Country for the first time on Oct. 25, where he will issue that apology alongside Haaland at the Gila River Crossing School.

“Some of our elders who are boarding school survivors have been waiting all of their lives for this moment,” Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.

“It’s going to be incredibly powerful and redemptive when the president issues this apology on Indian land,” he added. “If only for a moment on Friday, this will rise to the top and the most powerful person in the world, our president, is shining a light on this dark history that’s been hidden.”

Haaland said Biden, being the first sitting president willing to apologize, helps Indian Country feel seen because the “horrible history” of Native American Boarding Schools and assimilation policies aimed at pushing Indigenous people out of their communities has been ignored “for so long.”

“It was an outright assault and genocide that our communities went through for centuries, and we’re still here,” Haaland said. “None of anything that the federal government or anyone did throughout those centuries managed to eradicate us.”

“We have persevered,” she added. “I feel so proud the sitting president is acknowledging that. It’s amazing, and I am deeply appreciative.”

The night the Greyhounds came

Learning that the president is willing to issue an apology, Indivisible Tohono Co-founder April Ignacio said that it is a historic event because they finally acknowledge the government’s role in a national policy of forced assimilation against the first peoples of this land.

“Never in my life did I think we would be here,” Ignacio said. “This apology is long overdue, and the impact the Boarding School era had on our loss of culture and language must be tied to immediate action through reparations.”

In 2023, Ignacio said, Indivisible Tohono organized a caravan of 18 Tohono O’odham elders who were boarding school survivors and attendees to testify during the Road to Healing Tour organized by the Department of Interior.

Ignacio said she has five generations of boarding school survivors and attendees in her family. She shared her story during the Road to Healing tour.

“As a co-founder of Indivisible Tohono, I thank President Biden for his willingness to address the historical and ongoing impact of Indian Boarding School policies,” Ignacio said. “This apology is consistent with President Biden’s promise to honor sovereignty, and this historical acknowledgment will be a part of his legacy.”

This story is republished from the Arizona Mirror, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the States Newsroom nonprofit network.

Katelyn Foust traveled from her Oldham County home to a birthing center in Indiana to give birth to baby Jude. (Photo provided)

After compromises from lawmakers, St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern Kentucky is now neutral on legislation to clear the way for freestanding birth centers in the state.?

Representatives for the health system have previously voiced some opposition, saying hospitals are best equipped to handle the unpredictability of birth.?

Marc Wilson with Top Shelf Lobby spoke on behalf of St. Elizabeth Healthcare during Thursday’s meeting of the legislature’s Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations.?

“I’m happy to report that St. Elizabeth Healthcare is neutral on this legislation as presented to us in the most recent draft, and thank you for allowing us to have a voice,” said Wilson.?

What to know about the certificate of need debate in Kentucky

He then joked: “I had to read that statement, because I’ve been told if I misspeak, that world markets will crash.”??

Freestanding birth centers are health care facilities that are meant to feel like a home. They do not offer c-sections or anesthesia. They are for low-risk pregnancies, and not every pregnancy will qualify for such a birth.?

Neutrality ‘a big deal’?

St. Elizabeth’s new position removes a political obstacle and is expected to help win some lawmakers’ votes for birthing centers.

Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, an Alexandria Republican who’s sponsored bills on this issue the last two years, told the Lantern St. Elizabeth’s neutrality is a “big deal.”

“They’ve also been a good steward alongside me to convene stakeholders and really listen to: ‘What do the doctors acknowledge are a concern?’ so they have been able to bring together the community that really is only accustomed to hospital-based births, to recognize that there are alternatives, and to acknowledge that this is a very good alternative, or to stay neutral, is an acknowledgement, and I’m very appreciative of that.”?

Funke Frommeyer believes several changes in the draft bill helped turn the tide — specifically, requirements that freestanding birth centers have medical malpractice insurance, are located within 30 miles of a hospital that provides obstetric care and have a licensed physician in oversight. The new version will also allow hospitals to own freestanding birth centers.?

The bill she will file in 2025 — a sister bill to the one Louisville Rep. Jason Nemes will file in the House — notably removes the certificate of need process for freestanding birth centers that have? no more than four beds.

Nemes, who’s repeatedly sponsored freestanding birth center legislation, told colleagues in the committee that 2025 is the year it will pass: “It’s a better bill than it’s been,” he said, “and it’s ready to roll.”?

“St. Elizabeth has a very important voice, both in Frankfort and a big footprint …. in Northern Kentucky,” Nemes told the Lantern after the meeting.?

The Kentucky Hospital Association — a potent force with lawmakers — has opposed making it easier to open birthing centers in Kentucky. A spokeswoman has not yet returned a Lantern email asking whether the organization’s opposition has softened in response to the recent changes in the draft legislation. The hospital association has voiced support for reforming the certificate of need process, but not an outright repeal. KHA president and CEO Nancy Galvagni has also said removing birthing centers from the CON process “would put women and babies at risk” and “roll back decades of progress in maternal care.”

‘Challenging compromises’?

Mary Kathryn DeLodder, the director of the Kentucky Birth Coalition, said she hopes the new St. Elizabeth stance is “meaningful” to the legislators who represent the area.?

But it didn’t come without a price.?

“When it comes to legislation, sometimes you have to make compromise, and sometimes compromise is hard,” she told the Lantern. “This was a time that we … felt we had to make some challenging compromises in order, for the greater good, to get birth centers, because we would rather have birth centers than not have birth centers.”?

Among those compromises, she said, is the point requiring licensed physician oversight.?

“We feel that there are lots of midwives, different types, who are very qualified to serve in that capacity,” she said.

She also cited the worsening physician shortage as a concern.?

“I hope that there will be physicians in Kentucky who want to serve in this role for birth centers,” DeLodder said. “We don’t want it to be a barrier for birth centers. We don’t want it to be something that has an additional cost for centers if they have to pay a position to fill that role.”?

She added: “If you trade one barrier for another, you haven’t really gained anything.”?

Nemes acknowledged this issue is “a concern.”

“We want to get them, first off, that’s the most important thing, and then we’ll see how they work out,” he said. “I think that might be a problem in some places, and in some places it won’t be. So, we’ll just see what happens. But … obviously it’s a concern because there’s a physician shortage.”

Background?

Advocates have iterated that people who want a low-intervention birth will do everything they can to get it. Every year, Kentucky babies are born in neighboring states after their parents traveled for the care they can’t get in the commonwealth.?

In 2022, 110 Kentuckians traveled to Tree of Life, the freestanding birthing center in Jeffersonville, Indiana. That is an increase from 107 in 2021 and 71 in 2020.

And around 60% of the Clarksville Midwifery practice in Tennessee are people who come from Kentucky, the Lantern has reported. That means about 25-30 Kentucky babies every year are being born just beyond the border in the Volunteer State.?

Just between those two practices, hundreds of Kentuckians are leaving the commonwealth to deliver in neighboring states.

In the past advocates have said having freestanding birth centers would offer a middle ground for people who will choose a home birth. Kentucky recorded 177 home births in 1988 and 900 in 2021. Home birth is legal in all 50 states.?

This story may be updated.??

Sen. Mitch McConnell is raking in less money for his reelection campaign than at this time four years ago. But he is sitting on a comfy $8 million cushion. (Getty Images)

FRANKFORT — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s reelection committee raised just $76,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30 — the lowest quarterly contribution total it has reported in the four years since his 2020 reelection, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The $76,000 compares to $1.7 million that Sen. Rand Paul’s reelection committee reports it raised in the same period.

And it is far less than the $325,000 that McConnell’s campaign raised during the comparable quarter during his previous term, July through September of 2018.

Follow the money

An occasional series of campaign finance notebooks

By Tom Loftus

McConnell, who is 82 and has won election to the Senate seven times, has not said whether he will seek another term in 2026. Many political analysts expect he will not run, particularly after two incidents in the summer of 2023 when he froze for several seconds during press availabilities.

McConnell allies, however, say the recent low fundraising amounts are insignificant because McConnell’s reelection committee still has a formidable balance on hand of $8 million. And at this same point in his previous term (Sept. 30, 2018) FEC records show McConnell’s committee had $3.4 million on hand.

His supporters say McConnell’s recent fundraising efforts have been focused on helping Republicans retake the U.S. Senate as well as raising money for the McConnell PAC (Bluegrass Committee) which, in turn, has given $200,000 to the campaigns of Republicans running for the Kentucky General Assembly this fall.

Yet McConnell has always been able to tend to these two other fundraising responsibilities while raising big dollars for his own reelection. And a review of past reports the McConnell reelection committee has filed with the FEC shows this downward trend:

In the first nine months of 2021 McConnell’s reelection committee reported raising $3.6 million; in the first nine months of 2022: $1 million; in the first nine months of 2023: $390,000; in the first nine months of 2024: $341,000. Not a normal trend of an incumbent looking toward the next election.

Beshear’s PAC not yet reporting much support for fellow Democrats

Gov. Andy Beshear’s In This Together PAC continues to report raising modest amounts in contributions and through September has reported giving only a small amount to help the candidates in Kentucky and around the country that Beshear supports.

The super PAC reported raising $68,000 in September and having $708,000 on hand as of Sept. 30. Its report shows it made one contribution during the month: $5,000 to a political committee of Michigan Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is running for the U.S. Senate in November.

According to reports it has filed with the FEC since it was created by Beshear in January, In This Together has made $36,400 in contributions to help other candidates. That’s just 14% of its total spending of $259,394. The rest has gone to operating expenses.

Eric Hyers, who managed Beshear’s two campaigns for governor and oversees the super PAC, says In This Together decided from the start to save its money until late in the campaign season when voters are paying closer attention.

“At the end of the cycle, it will be clear that the vast majority of our funds went directly to working to elect good people and win critical elections,” Hyers said.

Donors to In This Together last month include five members of the Chavez family of Cincinnati, who together contributed $21,000. A Chavez family company owns parking garages and parking lots in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati and has been a major donor to Andy Beshear political committees for years.

Others who donated $5,000 each to In This Together last month were:? Judith Vance, of Maysville; Robert Vance (a Beshear appointee to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees), of Maysville; Duane Wall, New York, attorney with the firm White and Case; Myrle Wall, a store owner from New York; the Norfolk Southern PAC, of Washington; and the United Steelworkers PAC, of Pittsburgh.

The biggest expense of Hal Rogers leadership PAC?

Hal Rogers’s leadership PAC continued to pay his wife Cynthia Rogers her $4,000 monthly salary last month as the “event planner” for the Rogers’ leadership PAC called HALPAC. It was the largest expense paid by HALPAC during September.

So far in this election cycle (since Jan. 1, 2023) FEC records show HALPAC has paid $84,000 in salary to Cynthia Rogers. That’s about 22 percent of all of the PAC’s total spending and the second highest expense for the PAC during the cycle. (The PAC’s largest expense over this cycle has been $96,975 paid to Churchill Downs.)

HALPAC reported making two political contributions to Republican members of Congress seeking reelection during the month: $3,000 each to Ken Calvert for Congress (Corona, California); and Juan Ciscomani for Congress (Tucson, Arizona).

HALPAC reported $61,000 in contributions, and $12,000 in spending, during the month and as of Sept. 30 had $82,600 on hand.

The vast majority of its contributions in September came from 11 out-of-state donors who each gave $5,000. HALPAC’s report does not list the occupations or employers of those donors.

Elected in 1980, Rogers has no Democratic opponent in this year’s election as he seeks a 23rd term. He has served in Congress longer than any other Kentuckian.?

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters after an appearance in Louisville, Oct. 23, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LOUISVILLE — U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the presidential election will be “a cliffhanger” when asked Wednesday if he still supports former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

The Kentucky senator fielded questions from reporters, including about his earlier endorsement of Trump, after a Kentucky Chamber of Commerce event. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat, have 13 days left to sway voters.

“Looks like seven or eight states that are going to determine who wins, that’s where both candidates are spending all of their time, which is smart,” McConnell said. “I don’t have a clue how it’s going to turn out. I think it’s going to be really, really tight.”

McConnell was also asked about recent comments by John Kelly, a retired Marine general and Trump’s former chief of staff. Kelly said Trump’s leadership was “dictatorial,” “fascist” and lacking empathy.

“I think the election is pretty clear,” McConnell said. “If you’re satisfied with the Biden years, you’re going to vote for the Democrat. If you think we can do better, support the Republican.”

A? biography of McConnell, “The Price of Power,”? written by The Associated Press’ deputy Washington bureau chief Michael Tackett, is slated to hit shelves next week. According to early reports, McConnell called Trump “stupid as well as being ill-tempered,” a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” following the 2020 presidential election.?

McConnell endorsed Trump’s reelection bid earlier this year following the former president’s Super Tuesday wins. At the time, McConnell said it “should come as no surprise” as he had said he would support the eventual Republican nominee.?

Trump and McConnell have often been at odds. McConnell once blamed the former president for “disgraceful” acts sparking the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In February, Trump said he was unsure if he could work with McConnell in a second term. Days later, McConnell announced he planned to step down as the Senate Republican leader this November.?

McConnell’s remarks preceded Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s visit to Louisville Wednesday afternoon. Walz, Harris’ running mate, is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for the Harris campaign. McConnell did not respond to a question about that appearance.?

From left, Norma Hatfield, Auditor Allison Ball and Alexander Magera, the auditor's general counsel, addressed an interim legislative committee, Oct. 23, 2024. (Screenshot)

Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball has launched an inquiry into whether the Beshear administration can implement a law aimed at helping kinship care families.?

Ball’s office will look at what money, if any, the cabinet has available and if federal dollars could help with implementation, she said, and is the result of an official complaint filed by Norma Hatfield, president of the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky.?

This comes amid a monthslong $20 million dispute between the General Assembly and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) that’s kept a 2024 law from going into tangible effect and helping Kentuckians who are raising minor relatives.?

“We have a lot of reasons to be involved in this issue,” Ball told members of the Interim Joint Committee Families and Children Wednesday. “At this point, we are going to make all attempts to make this a collaborative effort with the governor and CHFS but rest assured, we’re going to do everything that we can to figure out the facts.”?

The new law, which went into effect — on paper — in July, allows relatives who take temporary custody of a child, when abuse or neglect is suspected, to later become eligible for foster care payments. This is much needed relief for the thousands of kinship care families in Kentucky, advocates have said.?

‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it.

Beshear alerted lawmakers to what he called a funding omission in an April letter — five days after he signed Senate Bill 151 into law. He asked them to use the final two days of the 2024 session to appropriate the $20 million for implementation.?

Cabinet officials have said they cannot implement the law without the money, while lawmakers have pressed them to apply for federal funding or use existing budget dollars.?

Hatfield thanked the auditor for getting involved.?

“There are a lot of families, the longer we wait, that are missing opportunities for more long term support that deserve it,” she said. “And I’m just very grateful.”?

A CHFS spokesman said there are no federal dollars available to implement the bill from the Administration for Children and Families.

“This administration is dedicated to the care and welfare of children in the commonwealth,” the cabinet said in a statement. “Team Kentucky is 100% focused on the children who rely on us for their safety and well-being. We’re supportive of the bill, but there is a cost that must be addressed before implementation can occur.”

Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, who sponsored the law, told the Lantern she is “thrilled” to have a third party looking into the issue.?

“Those kids that are in crisis and they are welcomed into the arms of family members — we owe them. We owe them some support,” she said. “And so I’m just really encouraged that somebody has heard our pleas.”?

The past few months of back and forth on the issue have been “really frustrating,” she said. And she wants to see certain parts of the bill that don’t require money implemented, including getting regulations written.?

But, said Raque Adams: “If the auditor came back, that hypothetical, and said, ‘you know, the governor is absolutely right,’ then my response would be, ‘Okay, let’s open up the budget and figure out what we can do.’”??

A panel discusses the Clean Slate initiative in Louisville. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

LOUISVILLE — When James Sweasy was 19 years old, he was convicted of a felony related to marijuana and spent the next 20 years of his life held back by his record.?

He got a lawyer and started the “multi-months” process of expungement when he was in his early 40s, he said.??

“No taxation without representation. … I can’t go on my kid’s field trip, right?” he remembers thinking. “I can’t elect a school board member that’s overseeing my kid? I don’t get a voice in that, but you’ll happily take my tax money? I didn’t like that.”??

Sweasy was part of a five-person panel who spent nearly an hour Tuesday night at the Women’s Healing Place in West Louisville discussing Kentucky’s current process for crime expungement — and their proposal to ease and automate that process, which is expected to come before the legislature next year.

“The computer would notice that (a crime) is now eligible (for expungement) and start the process and move the process forward” without a person having to file a petition or hire a lawyer, explained Kungu Njuguna, a policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.?

In 2024, a slate of bipartisan lawmakers sponsored the proposal as House Bill 569, but it failed to advance past the committee stage. It’s unclear who would sponsor an automatic expungement bill next year.

In Kentucky, about 572,000 people are eligible to have their records fully cleared, according to data from The Clean Slate Initiative. But not everyone has the means and know-how to hire a lawyer, apply for expungement and ultimately clear their records, advocates said.?

Sweasy called Kentucky’s current expungement system “archaic” and a “nightmare” full of “bureaucratic red tape” that was “not cheap.”?

Njuguna said the proposed legislation would automate the current “complex” and “expensive” expungement process.?

Crimes currently eligible for expungement would go through that process paperless and automatically. The proposal? does not expand eligibility for expungement, Njuguna said, and only covers Kentucky crimes. Sexual and other violent crimes would not be eligible for automatic expungement.

“The current expungement process is complex, costly,” said Njuguna. “If you don’t have a lawyer, you probably aren’t going to get it figured out.”??

This can hold Kentuckians back, he said, because many employers are reluctant to hire people who have been convicted of crimes.

“Having a criminal history prevents people from getting back into the workforce,” Njuguna said. “And so we’re trying to even that floor and give people clean records, get people back into the workforce to be able to reclaim their lives.”??

Sen. Johnnie Turner, R-Harlan, spoke during a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation, July 18, 2023. (LRC Public Information)

Kentucky Sen. Johnnie Turner of Harlan has died as a result of injuries received in an accident last month.

Turner, 76, was an attorney and had served in the U.S. Army as a medic. A Republican, he had served in the state Senate since 2021, representing Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Knott and Letcher counties. He served in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002.

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said in a statement that Turner died Tuesday evening.?

“Over the past weeks, his remarkable resolve and strength filled the Turner family — and all of us — with optimism, making this loss all the more difficult to bear,” Stivers said.?

Stivers said the “loss is deeply personal to me” because he also knew Turner before they were in the Senate together.?

“Johnnie spent his life lifting others—whether through his service in the U.S. Army, as a member of the State House of Representatives and State Senate, or in his private legal practice. His unwavering commitment to the people of Eastern Kentucky — his constituents, brothers and sisters in Christ, whom he so fondly referred to as ‘his people’ — was at the heart of everything he did,” Stivers said.?

“Johnnie’s deep love for his family, community, and the region he represented will be remembered and cherished by all who knew him and were fortunate enough to have felt the positive impact he made. The effects of his tireless work on behalf of Eastern Kentucky families will endure, and his legacy of service and leadership will not be forgotten.”

In a post on Facebook, Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, wrote:

“Johnnie was truly one of the most fascinating people that I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. Born on Christmas Eve of 1947 into what was even for the time an atypically large family of 11 children, Johnnie grew up in Harlan County before attending the Red Bird Mission School where he worked on the campus to pay for his books and tuition.

“Johnnie served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969 in the Panama Canal Zone where he met the love of his life Maritza to whom he was married for more than 50 years. Returning to the United States, Johnnie worked in a factory to earn the money to bring Maritza to the U. S.

“He subsequently attended Union College before attending the University of Kentucky College of Law. Johnnie literally practiced law longer than I have been alive, starting his career in January 1978 with former federal District Judge Karl Forester and continuing to practice until his accident in September. Johnnie became a ‘legal legend’ in the mountains trying hundreds of cases and representing thousands of coal miners.”

Calling Turner a “fervent Christian” and a “magnificent storyteller,” Wheeler said one of Turner’s goals in the House was to mitigate the “harsh workers’ compensation law” backed by then-Gov. Paul Patton and enacted in 1996.

Turner was injured and hospitalized in September when a riding lawnmower he was driving went into an empty swimming pool.

Other Kentucky officials offered condolences to Turner’s family and friends Wednesday morning.?

U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky issued a statement: “Elaine and I were saddened to hear of the passing of our friend, Senator Johnnie Turner. Throughout his service to Kentucky and the nation – in the U.S. Army, the State House, and the State Senate, representing Eastern Kentucky’s communities – Johnnie lived his life for others. In recent years, I remember crossing paths with Johnnie to survey the damage left by the devastating floods that hit Eastern Kentucky. Johnnie was on the scene, ankle-deep in mud, his equipment from home in tow, ready to help folks in Letcher County. That’s just who he was: a good man who loved the mountains and its people. We send our condolences to the entire Turner family, Johnnie’s colleagues in the Senate, and all those touched by his service.”

Gov. Andy Beshear said on X: “Britainy and I are saddened by the news of Sen. Johnnie Turner’s passing. We send our condolences and prayers to his family and friends during this difficult time.”

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman wrote in a X post that Turner “was a true champion for his beloved Mountains. His steadfast leadership for our Commonwealth made a lasting impact on Eastern Kentucky.”?

Republican Speaker David Osborne offered condolences to Turner’s family on behalf of the House of Representatives in a statement.

“Johnnie will be greatly missed and his loss will be felt throughout the halls of the Kentucky State Capitol where he served his constituents and Commonwealth so well,” Osborne said. “A committed public servant, Johnnie was an ardent champion and passionate voice for Eastern Kentucky. We are saddened by his loss, but know that his legacy will live on in those he helped.”

Turner’s family includes his wife, Maritza; his children Yazmin, Susie and Johnnie; and grandchildren.

A visitation for Turner will be held Friday, Nov. 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Harlan County High School Auditorium, 4000 North US Hwy. 119, in Baxter, Kentucky. Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. at the Holy Trinity Church, 2536 South US Hwy. 421, in Harlan, Kentucky. The burial site is Resthaven Cemetery in Keith, Kentucky. Donations may be made to Red Bird Mission.

The logo of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

FRANKFORT — The board overseeing Kentucky’s fish and wildlife agency voted Tuesday to establish a three-county surveillance zone after chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found earlier this month on a deer farm in Breckinridge County.

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission also for the second time approved a four-year contract for Commissioner Rich Storm following a complaint that the first approval had violated the state Open Meetings Act.?

Meade, Breckinridge and Hardin Counties are in the surveillance zone where the baiting and feeding of deer are now banned to prevent the animals from congregating and potentially spreading CWD. The commission also banned taking deer carcasses and high-risk parts such as heads out of the three counties and taking care of or rehabilitating injured deer in the zone.?

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects elk, deer and other species in the cervid family and has been found in dozens of states and a couple of Canadian provinces. The department established a surveillance zone in West Kentucky after CWD was detected in a wild deer in Ballard County last year, the first ever case in the state.?

Ben Robinson, the director of wildlife at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), told the commission at the special-called meeting the department was hoping to collect as many samples as possible from wild deer in the three-county zone given evidence that wild deer had interacted in the past with deer in the Breckinridge County deer farm where the disease was detected.?

Robinson said the department also wanted to better understand where deer on the Breckinridge County farm had been transported to other “captive cervid” facilities around the state.?

“Our main goal is to collect as many CWD samples from wild deer as possible, because our goal is to determine if this has spread outside of the fence of this facility,” Robinson said. “Deer are regularly moved around facilities within the state.”?

Unlike the surveillance zone in West Kentucky, the department will not require hunters in the new three-county zone to bring harvested deer to stations to test for CWD. Because deer hunters harvest a high number of deer in the three counties, Robinson told the commission, the department hopes to get deer samples to test for CWD through other voluntary methods.?

Board again approves contract for department chief following complaint

Before voting on the surveillance zone, the commission also unanimously voted with no discussion to approve a new four-year contract for the department’s chief executive Storm for a second time in as many meetings. The action followed a complaint from a sportsman alleging the first time the commission approved the contract in August violated the state Open Meetings Act.?

The vote to approve Storm’s personal service contract took place after the commission met for a little over 15 minutes in executive session closed to the public to discuss the contract.?

The commission during a regular meeting in August had unanimously approved a motion without mentioning Storm’s name to give him another four-year contract, sparking a complaint that the vagueness of the motion violated the state Open Meetings Act. Brian Mackey, a Hardin County farmer, sportsman and former member of the nine-member commission, alleged in his complaint to the commission that the board also erroneously used an exception in the Open Meetings Act to discuss Storm’s contract in closed session.?

An opinion from the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office said the department didn’t violate the Open Meetings Act by using the exception and that the AG had been informed the commission planned to clarify the “somewhat ambiguous” August motion in its next meeting.

KDFWR spokesperson Lisa Jackson in an email said along with making a change to the contract regarding Storm’s health insurance, the commission’s approval Tuesday “clarified their intent to approve the contract and reappoint Commissioner Storm.”?

“Some constituents were confused by the wording of the prior motion on the contract,” Jackson said.

Mackey in a Lantern interview said he was disappointed in the opinion from the attorney general’s office, arguing the department needed to be transparent “because that’s one of the issues this agency’s had for some time.”?

“And to keep all this stuff in the dark is not how you clean up transparency,” Mackey said.

Who serves on the nine-member commission, which has the power to hire or fire a KDFWR commissioner, had been a point of contention between some sportsmen and the GOP-controlled Kentucky Senate. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Storm have previously clashed on a number of issues, including the length of Storm’s contract and executive branch oversight of procurement and conservation easements at the department.

Beshear told reporters in March that state senators — who can confirm or deny appointments made by the governor to the commission —? had to “stop protecting leadership of what I think is the most corrupt part of state government.”

Storm on Tuesday told the Lantern he wished Beshear “had a greater love for what we do here” but that he did not have “any ill feelings toward him.”?

“It’s a tough job that I have, and to coexist sometimes there’s difficulty, but I think we can move on. And we have,” Storm said. “I’d like to hope that in the future that you know his comments are about other entities that aren’t doing good work, because I really do believe in what we’re doing here.”?

“The department’s far bigger than any commissioner, and so a lot of times when you have a successful run, it’s because people are doing good work,” Storm said.?

A federal judge in California has ordered the EPA to consider at least requiring a warning on fluoridated water. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)

A Republican lawmaker will once again push to end Kentucky’s requirement for certain utilities to add or adjust fluoride levels in drinking water.

Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, filed House Bill 141 in 2024, but it died without clearing either chamber.?

Speaking before the Interim Joint Committee on State Government Tuesday, Hart said he wants to “undo an unfunded mandate” and give communities choice on whether they consume water with added fluoride. The legislation he plans to introduce in the 2025 session wouldn’t? ban the use of fluoride, he said.?

Fluoride is a naturally-occuring mineral, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and can be found in most water.?

In August, the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said “higher levels of fluoride exposure, such as drinking water containing more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, are associated with lower IQ in children.” In September, a federal judge in California ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “engage in rulemaking regarding the chemical” ranging from “requiring a mere warning label to banning the chemical.”?

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee, took care to say his ruling “does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health” but that the evidence of its potential risk now warrants some kind of EPA action.

Cindi Batson, a nurse with Kentucky for Fluoride Choice, testified alongside Hart.?

“One of the things Kentucky cannot afford to do,” she said, “is to ignore this risk in our state.”?

Distrust of fluoride ‘mind-boggling’; mineral is ‘time-tested’ and a ‘good thing,’ dentists say

Health advocates sent the committee a letter asking lawmakers to keep fluoride in community water. Those who signed the letter are Delta Dental of Kentucky, Kentucky Dental Association, Kentucky Dental Hygienists’ Association, Kentucky Oral Health Coalition, Kentucky Primary Care Association, Kentucky Voices for Health and Louisville Water Company.??

“Despite our historic issues with poor oral health in Kentucky, we have made strides towards? improvement in oral health by leading the nation with 99% of Kentucky communities with water? fluoridation programs,” the letter states. “We as a Commonwealth cannot afford to move backward.”?

Kentucky water utilities could opt out of putting fluoride in drinking water under advancing bill

Hart said the federal ruling and summer report put Kentucky at risk of liability issues.?

“We mandate this be put in our water,” he said. “Now that the data and the research is showing that it does create an unreasonable health risk, when people start seeing the outcomes — or if they, unfortunately, have a health problem based on the water fluoridation in our water because we’re mandating it — at some point the state’s gonna be responsible for that.”?

The pro-fluoride advocates wrote in their Tuesday letter that they have a “unifying interest to improve the oral health for all people in the Commonwealth? of Kentucky” and “are deeply concerned about any efforts to remove water fluoridation programs in our? communities.”?

The 2025 legislative session begins Jan. 7.

Read the letter supporting fluoridation of water for dental health

Media arts nonprofit Appalshop is based in Southeastern Kentucky. (Appalshop)

Appalshop, the 55-year-old media arts nonprofit based in the coalfields of Southeastern Kentucky, was among 19 recipients of National Humanities Medals at a White House ceremony Monday.

Recipients included Robin Wall Kimmerer, scientist and author; Jon Meacham, historian and author; Aaron Sorkin, playwright, screenwriter and director; Lavar Burton, actor and literacy advocate. Chef and author Anthony Bourdain was honored posthumously.

The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources, according to a news release from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Applashop said in a release that since 1969 it has “helped Appalachians tell their own stories through such media as documentary film, radio, music, theater, and more.”

Appalshop Executive Director Tiffany Sturdivant was accompanied to the ceremony by past Executive Director Alexander Gibson and long-time staff member Tommy Anderson. Sturdivant says, “It was important to me, as the new executive director, to spotlight and celebrate the hard work and dedication that made this medal possible. I am honored to bring Alex and Tommy to take part in this important moment in Appalshop history.”

Andrew and Libby Potter look over the letter they received in October, telling them that their region’s largest hospital system would no longer be considered in-network for Libby’s Medicare Advantage policy. The Potters live in Huntsville, Ala., where Libby is a retired middle school librarian and Andrew is a professor at a state university. (Anna Claire Vollers/Stateline)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Libby and Andrew Potter usually ignore the avalanche of Medicare Advantage ads that land in the mailbox at their home in Huntsville, Alabama, each fall as Medicare’s open enrollment period begins.

Libby, a retired middle school librarian, has what she considers good health insurance through the state employee health plan. Andrew has insurance through his job as a university professor and plans to join Libby’s insurance when he retires next year.

But this year, a few days before open enrollment began, a letter arrived from UnitedHealthcare, informing the Potters that the region’s largest hospital system would no longer be considered in-network for Libby’s Medicare Advantage plan.

The Potters spent the next couple of weeks worried and unsure what to do. It seemed incredible that 14 area hospitals, including the area’s only Level 1 trauma center, could suddenly become much, much more expensive.

“We were being very careful in how we go up and down stairs,” Libby joked.

Baptist Health, Humana restore ‘in network’ coverage for Medicare Advantage patients

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people over 65 and those with certain disabilities. Medicare Advantage is a version of Medicare run by private insurance companies that contract with the government. These plans typically offer extra benefits, such as dental, vision and prescription drug coverage, that aren’t included with traditional Medicare. More than half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries now get their coverage through private Medicare Advantage plans.

But this year, as Medicare’s open enrollment season kicks off, more than 1 million patients will have to shop for new health insurance. Facing financial and federal regulatory pressures, many insurers are pulling their Medicare Advantage plans from counties and states they’ve deemed unprofitable. Meanwhile, large health systems in states including Alabama, Minnesota and Vermont have cut ties with some Medicare Advantage plans.

It’s a situation that’s alarmed state insurance regulators, who are fielding questions from older adults concerned about their hospitals and doctors withdrawing from their Medicare Advantage plans. Last month, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners sent a letter to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asking for guidance.

“Beneficiaries are faced with either paying the increased out-of-network costs or rescheduling their necessary medical services with another provider who may not have prompt availability,” the insurance commissioners’ group wrote. “A delay in access to medically necessary services is likely to result in harm.”

The Potters eventually learned that Libby’s copayments at the hospital would remain the same whether or not the hospital was in-network for the state educators’ Medicare Advantage plan. But those with other UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans will have to pay more — or find another plan.

“When a contract leaves the market, that can threaten continuity of care and access to care,” said Dr. Amal Trivedi, professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. “The beneficiary will have to choose a new plan, and each of these plans is going to have a different benefit structure, different provider network, different prior authorization policies and different [prescription drug] formularies.

“The worry is that’s going to affect their out-of-pocket costs, expose them to catastrophic spending, or compromise their access to care.”

How we got here

Insurance giants such as UnitedHealthcare have been aggressively pushing enrollment in their Medicare Advantage plans for the past several years, luring customers with perks and bonuses not available through traditional Medicare. These plans tend to have low or even no monthly premiums and offer extra benefits such as vision and dental coverage, gym memberships, transportation to medical appointments, and even debit cards for medical supplies.

You’ve covered your copayment; now brace yourself for the ‘facility fee’

And they’re simple: They provide all of a person’s coverage in one plan, unlike traditional Medicare, under which people must get separate prescription drug coverage and supplemental coverage.

But there are trade-offs. Medicare Advantage plans often have a limited network of hospitals and physicians. And while the premiums are typically low, enrollees could end up paying more in the long run in copays and deductibles if they develop a serious illness.

Medicare Advantage programs also are more likely than traditional Medicare to require prior authorization for hospital stays and other high-cost services. The plans’ prior authorization requirements have prompted increased scrutiny in recent years. A congressional investigation by Democratic Senate staff released this month, for example, found the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage insurers denied a quarter of all prior authorization requests for post-acute care in nursing homes, rehab hospitals and long-term care.

Medicare Advantage is popular among large employers, many of which are shifting their Medicare-age retirees into these plans. And most states offer Medicare Advantage plans to retired state employees; in 13 states, it’s the only option. In some of those 13 states, retirees forfeit their health benefits in perpetuity if they choose coverage under traditional Medicare.

North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell, whose office administers the state health plan, said its Medicare Advantage plan is popular.

“What we hear from our retirees, is that they are grateful and happy to have such a great offering as a result of their retirement benefit,” the Republican said. “That’s why nearly 89% of our retirees over age 65 have availed themselves of the [Medicare Advantage] product we offer them.”

Insurers retreat

This year, the handful of insurance giants that dominate the Medicare Advantage market have said they’re scaling back or eliminating plans, to shed members and boost sagging profits. They blame new federal changes to their reimbursements, including a small cut to their base payments, and say patients are using more medical services and benefits than they anticipated.

Though most companies haven’t released data on specific counties where they’re making cuts, plans are reportedly shuttering in states such as Alabama, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas and Vermont, affecting hundreds of thousands of older adults. Experts say the reasons why a company might find certain markets unprofitable are complex, but can include demographics, availability of providers and plans that are already in the market.

“[T]he industry broadly is going to be trimming benefits and in some cases significantly, and exiting from certain counties that aren’t profitable,” Aetna’s former President Brian Kane told shareholders on an earnings call in May, before he left his position. Aetna, a subsidiary of CVS Health, is the third-largest Medicare Advantage insurer in the nation. “I think that’s an industry issue and I think it’s clearly an Aetna focus as well.”

Executives at CVS Health, Aetna’s parent company, told shareholders the priority for its Medicare Advantage program would be improving profit margins rather than increasing the number of enrollees.

They have not announced publicly which counties will lose Medicare Advantage plans, but noted their changes could push out 10% of their membership, meaning up to 420,000 patients could be forced to shop for a different plan.

Canceled plans

Even with the decline in the number of plans available next year, “there are still a lot of plans and people have a lot of options,” said Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, associate director of the Medicare policy program at KFF, a health policy research organization. Next year, the average Medicare beneficiary will have access to 34 Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage, down from 36 this year, she said.

But that average masks wide variation across states and even counties in how many plans are available.

“There are a handful of counties, more than in previous years, where all Medicare Advantage plans exited and those look to be predominantly rural counties,” said Fuglesten Biniek. “We’re talking fortyish counties out of 3,000. For those people in those counties, that matters, but overall, it’s a smaller number.”

Experts say there isn’t enough data available yet to know whether the plan exits are concentrated in certain states or counties.

But research has shown that Medicare Advantage plans that enroll higher shares of Black beneficiaries are more likely to be terminated, said Trivedi, of Brown University. Black enrollees have?more lower-quality Medicare Advantage plans?available in their counties of residence than white enrollees, research shows; terminated contracts tend to?have lower-quality ratings.

“The consequence is that contract terminations in Medicare Advantage seem to have a disproportionate effect on Black beneficiaries because their contracts are more likely to be terminated,” Trivedi said.

A disproportionate share of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries are Black, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander. These patients tend to have lower incomes than white beneficiaries, and may by drawn by the lower upfront costs of Medicare Advantage plans.

“[Insurers] like to frame it as, ‘People are choosing us because we’re awesome,’” said Brandon Novick, program outreach assistant at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “But it’s because financially it makes more sense in the short term” for people with limited incomes.

Meanwhile, at least 28 health systems in 21 states have stopped accepting some Medicare Advantage plans this year, according to an analysis from Becker’s Hospital Review, an industry publication.

Health systems have cited delayed reimbursements, cumbersome prior authorization requirements and high rates of patient claim denials for their decisions to drop Medicare Advantage plans. Nearly 1 in 5 health systems stopped accepting one or more Medicare Advantage plans last year, according to a report by the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

‘A tough ask’

For retirees like Libby and Andrew Potter, losing access to trusted doctors and hospitals can mean going longer without needed medical care. Finding a new doctor and getting an appointment can take months, particularly for specialists. And for older adults living in rural areas, losing an in-network hospital or physician can mean choosing between a long drive for care or high out-of-pocket costs.

“There are really important access-to-care issues when providers no longer contract with your Medicare Advantage plan,” Trivedi said.

He said the sheer number of plans and differences in benefits might be overwhelming for older adults.

“To sort through all of that when somebody also may have frailty or cognitive impairment, that’s a really tough ask,” Trivedi said. “I study health policy for a living and it’d be hard for me to sort through 40 different options.”

This story is republished from?Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and ?part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.?

A new best practices guide from the U.S. Department of Labor outlines how companies should develop and use AI and protect their employees while doing so. (Photo by Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Labor released a list of artificial intelligence best practices for developers and employers this week, aiming to help employers benefit from potential time and cost savings of AI, while protecting workers from discrimination and job displacement.

The voluntary guidelines come about a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to assess the innovative potential and risks of AI across government and private sectors. The order directed the creation of the White House AI Council, the creation of a framework for federal agencies to follow relating to privacy protection and a list of guidelines for securing AI talent, for navigating the effects on the labor market and for ensuring equity in AI use, among others.

“Harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks,” Biden said of the executive order last year. “This endeavor demands a society-wide effort that includes government, the private sector, academia and civil society.”

The DOL’s guide, “Artificial Intelligence and Worker Well-being: Principles and Best Practices for Developers and Employers” was developed with input from public listening sessions and from workers, unions, researchers, academics, employers and developers. It aims to mitigate risks of discrimination, data breaches and job replacement by AI, while embracing possible innovation and production.

“Whether AI in the workplace creates harm for workers and deepens inequality or supports workers and unleashes expansive opportunity depends (in large part) on the decisions we make,” DOL Acting Secretary Julie Su said. “The stakes are high.”

The report shares eight principles and best practices, with a “north star” of centering workers. The guide says workers, especially from underserved communities, should understand and have input in the design, development, testing, training, use and oversight of the AI systems used in their workplaces. This will improve job quality and allow businesses to deliver on their outcomes. Unions should bargain in good faith on the use of AI and electronic monitoring in the workplace, it said.

Other best practices include ethically developing AI, with training that protects and takes feedback from workers. Organizations should also have a clear governance system to evaluate AI used in the workplace, and they should be transparent about the AI systems they’re using, the DOL said.

AI systems cannot violate or undermine workers’ rights to organize, or obstruct their health, safety, wage, anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections, the department said. Therefore, prior to deployment, employers should audit their AI systems for potential impacts of discrimination on the basis of “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, genetic information and other protected bases,” and should make those results public.

The report also outlines how employers can and should help workers with AI. Before implementing an AI tool, employers should consider the impact it will have on job opportunities, and they should be clear about the specific tasks it will perform. Employers that experience productivity gains or increased profits, should consider sharing the benefits with their workers, like through increased wages, improved benefits or training, the DOL said.

The implementation of AI systems has the potential to displace workers, Su said in her summary. To mitigate this, employers should appropriately train their employees to use these systems, and reallocate workers who are displaced by AI to other jobs within their organization when feasible. Employers should reach out to state and local workforce programs for education and upskilling so their workforce can learn new skills, not be phased out by technology.

And lastly, employers using AI that collect workers’ data should safeguard that data, should not collect more data than is absolutely necessary and should not share that data outside the business without workers’ freely given consent.

The guidelines outlined by the DOL are not meant to be “a substitute for existing or future federal or state laws and regulations,” it said, rather a “guiding framework for businesses” that can be customized with feedback from their workers.

“We should think of AI as a potentially powerful technology for worker well-being, and we should harness our collective human talents to design and use AI with workers as its beneficiaries, not as obstacles to innovation,” Su said.

A crowd protesting anti-transgender legislation staged a "die in" on the Kentucky Capitol grounds on March 29, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

The U.S Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on Dec. 4 in a challenge to state restrictions on gender-affirming medical care that has implications for Kentucky.

US Supreme Court review of gender-affirming care for youth could impact Kentucky law

The court agreed in June to take the appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams and their 15-year-old transgender child, two anonymous plaintiff families and Memphis physician Dr. Susan Lacy.

The Biden administration also asked the Supreme Court to review the law.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld bans enacted in Tennessee and Kentucky ending access to puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for transgender minors. The laws were enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures in 2023.

In June, ACLU-KY Legal Director Corey Shapiro said, “Our clients and their doctors simply want to provide the best medical care that is necessary for these amazing youth. We remain optimistic that the Supreme Court will agree and ultimately strike down these bans.”

The Trevor Project, which aims to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, has trained counselors available around the clock. Reach them at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/, or by texting START to 678678.

about 15,000 former inmates reenter Kentucky society annually, said Kerry Harvey, an advisor to the governor. (Getty Images)

Gov. Andy Beshear has established a council aimed at promoting employment of Kentuckians reentering society after incarceration.?

Beshear signed an executive order Thursday to establish the Governor’s Council of Second Chance Employers. The 15-member council will “educate employers and local communities on the benefits of second-chance hiring,” according to Beshear’s office.?

The council will also “advocate for laws and investments to improve reentry outcomes and develop best practices for effective reentry programming,” Beshear said.?

Members are to meet quarterly and provide an annual report to the governor’s office including their findings and recommendations.?

“Investing in second chances makes us safer and addresses some workforce challenges that we’re seeing all across the country,” Beshear said during a Thursday press conference.?

The initial council will have these members, with two-year terms, according to the executive order:?

• Tyler Stegall with BlueOval S
• Barbara Aker with More than a Bakery
• Steve Powless with Lifeline Recovery Center
• Rob Perez with DV8 Kitchen
• Stephen Johnson with Martin Contracting?
• Nick D’Andrea with UPS?
• John Estus with Amazon?
• Chad Mills with Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council
• Ryan Quarles, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System
• Tami Wilson with Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
• LaKisha Miller with Kentucky Chamber of Commerce?

The remaining four members will be the governor and the secretaries or designees of three cabinets — Health and Family Services, Education and Labor, and Justice and Public Safety.

The council will “give us folks that not only can communicate the success that they have had with second chance employment, but they also can provide feedback for us and our programs to make sure we’re doing it right, to make sure that the skills that we’re providing while someone is incarcerated match up with the jobs that are on the other end and to create a flow of communication where we can try to do better and better and better in real time getting that feedback,” Beshear said.?

Kerry Harvey, special advisor for reentry programs, said about 15,000 former inmates reenter Kentucky society annually. And, he said, “successful reentry programming offers an enormous return on investment to taxpayers” and can help prevent recidivism.?

“Everybody wins if those who reenter society from prison succeed,” he said. “And in this context, success means that our reentering inmate does not commit a new crime, does not reoffend.”?

“It means that our reentering inmate obtains meaningful employment at a living wage and can support their families, both financially and emotionally,” Harvey said. “It means that they become role models for their children and their grandchildren.”???

The reimagined Brent Spence companion bridge. (Photo provided by brentspencebridgecorridor.com)

A coalition of transportation and environmental nonprofits have sued the Brent Spence Corridor project in federal court over its potential environmental impacts, especially as they relate to non-white communities around the bridge.?

Filed on Tuesday, the suit’s plaintiffs include the Devou Good Foundation, Civic Cincinnati, Ride the Cov and Queen City Bike. The group’s complaint alleges that the project has inadequately explored the potential environmental impact of the construction and demands that work on the project cease until their concerns are redressed.?

Construction for the estimated $3.6 billion corridor project, which includes a new companion bridge slated for construction next to the existing bridge, is scheduled to begin next year and continue through 2029. This conceivably would bring the number of traffic lanes up from the existing bridge’s eight lanes to 16. The project also entails the widening of I-75.

Specifically, the suit calls for the project to engage in and produce an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS. Large federal projects are required to assess their potential impacts on the local environment. The project first completed an environmental assessment in 2012, which found no significant impact.?

The project floundered for years due to lack of funding, but following an injection of federal money in late 2022, the project went about updating its initial assessment. The federal government approved a second finding of no significant impact in May, following months of public input. Projects whose assessments find no significant impact are not required to produce an environmental impact statement, much to the protestations of the plaintiffs.

“By refusing to acknowledge that the Project will have significant impacts on the human environment, Defendants have arbitrarily and capriciously refused to prepare an EIS, which would require them to meaningfully consider reasonable alternatives, including ones that would include substantial investment in public transportation as part of the Project, or to consider charging tolls on the Ohio River bridges, which would reduce the demand for the Project’s dramatic increase in the number of travel lanes,” the suit alleges.?

“Defendants also have failed to adequately consider or mitigate adverse effects on the predominantly non-white residents located near the highway in the project area, including effects on air quality, noise, health and mobility caused by the anticipated 6 years-long construction of the project,” the suit continues. “They have also failed to adequately consider or mitigate long term effects of expanding these highways, including greatly increased vehicle traffic; water quality and quantity impacts from increased emissions and from the additional acres of highway right of way and impermeable pavement; increased urban sprawl and associated segregation; and the unequal distribution of the benefits and burdens of these transportation system investments.”

The suit demands the court nullify the federal government’s finding of significant impact, issue a court order voiding any agreement using federal funds on the project, prevent any additional work on the project until the environmental assessment issues can be redressed and pay for the plaintiffs’ legal fees.?

This story is republished from LINK nky.

Cuts in Medicaid payments to behavioral health providers are forcing cuts at Kentucky's largest provider of treatment for addiction. (Getty Images)

The state’s largest provider of drug and alcohol treatment is making further cuts in staff and facilities as it faces steep cuts in Medicaid payments from the government health plan that covers nearly all its clients.

Addiction Recovery Care, or ARC, based in Louisa, said it will temporarily close four programs and reduce staff as it plans for cuts of 20% or more from some of the private insurance companies that process and pay most of the state’s Medicaid claims.

The cuts to ARC programs in Boyd, Jackson, Fleming and Pulaski counties follow ARC’s announcement last month it was restructuring some programs and laying off staff after the insurance companies, known as managed care organizations, or MCOs, first notified ARC of the pending cuts.

In a statement, ARC said it remains committed to providing substance use disorder treatment across Kentucky.

“These decisions were not made lightly, and we are dedicated to supporting our team members and communities affected by these changes,” said Vanessa Keeton, ARC vice president of marketing. “Above all, the safety and care of our clients remains our top priority. We are still available 24/7/365 for patients and families in need.”

The cuts come as the MCOs, including Wellcare of Kentucky Inc., are announcing broader reductions in Medicaid reimbursement to other addiction and behavioral health programs that will limit their ability to provide care, said Frankfort lawyer Anna Stewart Whites, who represents about 20 smaller treatment providers.

For example, one of her clients, a small children’s therapy program in Berea, was recently notified of cuts, she said.

“It appears to be very much across the board,” she said.

Wellcare is the largest of six MCOs that manage Medicaid claims for Kentucky, with about 418,000 enrollees.

It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ARC’s cuts are the latest setback for the fast-growing, for-profit company that last year took in $130 million in state Medicaid funds and has expanded from a single halfway house to a statewide network of recovery programs and residential centers in 24 counties across Kentucky.

In July, the FBI announced it was?investigating ARC?for possible health care fraud and asking anyone with information to contact the federal agency. ARC said it stands by its services and is cooperating with the investigation.

Kentucky lawyer climbed out of alcoholism, launched a recovery boom

ARC and its founder and CEO Tim Robinson have emerged as prolific political donors in recent years.

A?Lantern analysis?by Tom Loftus showed that Robinson, his corporations and employees have made at least $570,000 in contributions to Kentucky political causes and candidates over the past decade as his company grew from a single halfway house to about 1,800 residential beds and outpatient care for hundreds more clients.?

ARC said it has provided treatment for 75,000 people over the past 15 years.

‘Set back addiction treatment?’

The MCOs contract with the state to manage most of its $1.5 billion a year Medicaid program and have broad latitude in setting rates with providers. They are? paid a fixed rate per member and reimburse providers for care.

In July, ARC was among providers who testified before a legislative committee, warning that cuts by MCOs in payments for addiction treatment could hamper progress Kentucky has made in treatment for several decades of widespread addiction and overdose deaths.

An expansion of treatment services was fueled by expanded Medicaid payments in 2014 for substance use disorder under the Affordable Care Act.

“Kentucky has made significant strides in access to treatment,” Matt Brown, chief administrative officer for?Addiction Recovery Care, or ARC, told the interim Health Services Committee. “With these cuts, it could completely set back addiction treatment in our state 20 years.”

Last month, Frontier Behavioral Health, based in Prestonsburg, filed suit against Wellcare over rate cuts of 20% and a new requirement that it review all services before agreeing to pay for them. That lawsuit is pending.

Its lawsuit said that when Frontier tried to follow up with Wellcare over an August letter notifying it of cuts, the number provided in the letter for questions had been disconnected.

‘Booting’ out clients

Whites said some providers she represents have had similar experiences — or worse.

When some providers tried to contact Wellcare about rate cuts, it responded by canceling their contract altogether.

That forced clients in the midst of treatment to find another provider or switch to another MCO, both of which mean delays in care. Some providers have continued to offer treatment without reimbursement until clients can make the necessary changes, she said.

“The risk of booting someone out of your program and finding someone who can take them is just too much of a risk,” Whites said.

ARC’s Brown didn’t immediately identify how many employees will be affected by the reductions announced Wednesday. Prior to the staff cuts last month, it employed 1,350 people.

Programs to be closed temporarily are: Sanibel House in Bloyd County; Beth’s Blessings in Jackson County; Belle Grove Springs in Fleming County, and Lake Hills Oasis in Pulaski County.

Brown said clients will be offered placement in other ARC programs or the option to change to a different provider to continue treatment.

Meanwhile, he said ARC continues to negotiate over the pending rate cuts.

“We are very hopeful to have these negotiations done soon,” he said.

He said lawmakers, state officials and providers are working “to create a solution that preserves access to treatment and long-term recovery.”

Amendment 2 would change Kentucky's Constitution to allow the General Assembly to spend tax dollars for educating students at private schools. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — A multimillion-dollar television advertising campaign supporting the so-called “school choice” amendment on the November ballot is being single-handedly funded by Jeff Yass, a Pennsylvania billionaire and Republican mega donor.

In early September a political action committee called Protect Freedom began running television ads advocating passage of Amendment 2 which would change Kentucky’s Constitution to allow the General Assembly to spend tax dollars for educating students at private schools. One of those ads features Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul making the pitch for the amendment.

Protect Freedom is a national PAC closely affiliated with Paul and largely funded by Yass since it was formed by Paul’s political associates in 2017.

A report filed by Protect Freedom with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday shows that it got $5,000,250 in total contributions during the period between July 1 and Sept. 30. Of that total, $5 million (99.99 percent) was donated by Yass on Sept. 6.

The report also shows that it paid $2,031,418 in September to Strategic Media Placement, an Ohio media company that has placed Protect Freedom’s ads advocating for the school choice amendment with Kentucky television stations.

Protect Freedom as of Wednesday morning has bought $4.1 million in ads promoting the amendment, according to a representative of Protect Our Schools, a group opposing the amendment that has been tracking advertising buys in the race.

Yass is managing director and co-founder of the Philadelphia-based trading firm Susquehanna International Group. He is worth $44.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His holdings include a major investment in the China-based ByteDance, the parent company of the hugely popular social media site TikTok.

Yass also is the country’s second largest political donor, having made $79.7 million in political contributions since Jan. 1, 2023 — nearly all of that to Republican causes, according to Open Secrets, a website that tracks political contributions. (That total does not include the $5 million he gave in September to Protect Freedom.)

And for many years Yass has made big contributions to political committees — particularly in Pennsylvania but also in many other states — advocating school choice.

He is no stranger to donating in Kentucky.?

Last year he donated millions to PACs that unsuccessfully supported Republican Daniel Cameron’s campaign for governor.

And he has long been a massive donor to PACs affiliated with Paul. The $5 million he gave to Protect Freedom in September brings his total contributed to Protect Freedom to $34 million since 2017. In? 2021 he gave $5 million to a PAC that successfully supported Paul’s reelection in 2022.

Advocates for Amendment 2 say it will improve education by making it possible for more parents to have a choice in deciding where to send their children to school.?

Another pro-amendment group called Kentucky Students First recently reported that it had raised about $1.5 million to promote the amendment. Kevin Broghamer, who is treasurer? of Kentucky Students First, declined to immediately answer questions from Kentucky Lantern Wednesday morning. Broghamer, who is also treasurer of Paul’s campaign committee, said someone with the group would call back if it had any comment. As of early Wednesday afternoon the group did not call Kentucky Lantern back.

Opponents of the amendment say that it would divert tax dollars from already under-funded public schools to private schools.

A PAC called Protect Our Schools has recently reported raising about $3.1 million from teacher unions for its advertising campaign to defeat the amendment. Of that total $2.4 million came from the National Education Association, and $250,000 each from the Kentucky Education Association and Jefferson County Teachers Association.

Eddie Campbell, president of the Kentucky Education Association and board member of Protect Our Schools, said of Yass’s donation, “A billionaire is giving our politicians in Frankfort a blank check to divert our tax dollars from public schools. … He’s flooding the airwaves with misleading ads.”

Campbell said the difference between the big contributions to each side is that Yass is just one person, while the teacher unions are made up of tens of thousands of “members of local communities who are concerned about the harmful effect this amendment will have.”

DeleteMe expands on Kentucky Safe at Home which lets victims of domestic violence hide their addresses when registering to vote and to use the state Capitol as their address on public records. (Getty Images)

Reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.?

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams’ office has launched a program to help domestic violence survivors delete their personal identifying information (PII) from the internet.?

Called DeleteMe, the program is a national privacy company that removes personal information from certain online sites. Eligible information includes addresses and phone numbers, said a spokesperson for the office.

The program is available only to the 125 members of the Safe at Home program, which came out of a 2023 law. Safe at Home lets victims of domestic violence hide their addresses when registering to vote without a protective order from a judge. It also allows the state Capitol to be the address on public records and lets those moving from out of state easily join the program.?

“Last year, I extended protections to domestic violence survivors to prevent their information from being displayed on government records,” Adams said in a statement, referring to the Safe at Home program. “This year, I am proud to extend those protections to information that can be found easily online.”

Since informing members about the DeleteMe program on Oct. 1, about 15 participants signed up immediately, said spokeswoman Michon Lindstrom.?

As of Wednesday, she said, “there have been about 800 total listings removed (an average of 51 a person) and 4,500 PII removed (an average of 322 a person).”?

“It works kind of like Rocket Money, where they contact places to cancel your subscription. DeleteMe contacts these data broker sites and requests to have the PII removed,” she explained. “Some (data) are instantly removed but some can take a couple of weeks depending on the site.”?

Safe at Home participants who want to opt in for the DeleteMe program should call or email the secretary of state’s office.?

The Dairy Del Ice Cream shop on 7th Street Road in Louisville that Virgil Harris owned before his murder in 1979. (Jefferson Circuit Court clerk)

Brian Keith Moore has spent most of his life in prison, serving a death sentence for the 1979 murder of Virgil Harris.?

From the beginning, Moore said he was framed by an old friend. He’s spent decades filing appeals and fighting to get out of prison.?

Over the years, judges acknowledged the delicate balance between his guilt and innocence — that the evidence he killed Harris is equal to the evidence he didn’t — and that DNA testing could tip the scales.?

Now, Moore and his defense attorneys from the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy say they have DNA test results that show Moore did not wear the jacket prosecutors said the killer wore — a claim pinned on Moore during his initial trial in 1980 and again in a 1984 retrial.?

David Barron, Moore’s attorney, wrote in an August motion that the results “show exactly what Moore has said for more than four decades.”?

“It should therefore be a simple conclusion that Moore’s convictions should be vacated,” Barron said in the motion.?

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Annie O’Connell will decide what happens next. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.?

Kentucky Attorney General spokesperson Kevin Grout told the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting the office will work with the Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney to oppose the motion to vacate Moore’s conviction. But in court filings, Attorney General Rusell Coleman said the state’s attorneys are juggling a heavy caseload and need time to review the case.?

O’Connell gave Coleman until February 2025 to respond.?

Every day counts for Moore, 66. He bounces between a hospital and the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange. Medical records show he suffers from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and acute respiratory failure. He said several surgeries meant to fix degeneration in his spine have made the problem worse. He’s in constant pain, depends on a wheelchair, and he said he can’t write grievances because he can’t close his right hand around a pen.?

Moore’s attorneys said in court documents that, if released, Moore would spend his days at an assisted-living facility. He worries he could spend the rest of his life paralyzed from untreated medical ailments.?

“It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Moore said in an interview earlier this year over a video visit from a bed at the prison. “Even if I’m found not guilty and turned loose and get beaucoups of money and all this type shit, none of that’s no good if I’m paralyzed from my neck down.”?

Moore is one of 25 people on Kentucky’s death row. If Moore’s conviction was vacated today, his would be the 13th capital case in Kentucky overturned based on DNA evidence, according to the Kentucky Innocence Project. Nationwide, only two people to have cases overturned spent more time on death row than Moore, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that provides data and analysis concerning capital punishment.?

Moore’s case highlights how courts and lawmakers prioritize process and finality over fairness and due process, said Robin M. Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.?

“Even if you are the most ardent supporter of the use of the death penalty, nobody wants to see an innocent person executed, and we have this sort of faith in our justice system that the appellate process is going to be able to identify the mistakes and correct them before we have the ultimate injustice,” Maher said. “But the reality is, the law is not really set up to favor innocent people. It’s really set up, after conviction, to uphold that conviction.”?

This year, 19 people have been executed in the United States. Last month, prison officials in Missouri executed Marcellus Williams, despite evidence of his innocence so strong the victim’s family and prosecutors who brought the case against Williams asked the court to stop his execution.

The Williams case belies a simple fact, Maher said: As long as America punishes people by killing them, courts will get it wrong and we will execute innocent people.?

“If we are uncomfortable with that fact, then we need to rethink what we’re doing,” Maher said.?

Dana Maley, one of Virgil Harris’s granddaughters, wrestles with those same questions. Maley ran for Florida state Senate in 1994 and published campaign material with Moore’s face on it, emphasizing her belief in the death penalty and desire to limit the number of appeals convicted people could file so cases don’t drag on for decades.?

“When I did feel strongly about it, when I was running for office, I felt like, what does society owe somebody who is rightfully convicted of a heinous crime?” Maley said in an interview with KyCIR.?

Now, Maley said she’s not so sure. The death penalty has been misapplied, she said, and is prone to inconsistency and bias. Maley said she’s never doubted Moore’s guilt — he’d been convicted, after all. She’s put Moore’s fate out of her mind long ago and doesn’t know what to make of the new evidence.?

“Whatever happens to him, happens to him,” Maley said. “I wouldn’t be fighting heavy duty one way or the other at this point.”?

A birthday murder?

Maley remembers “Pa Pa Virgil” as a hard worker and tolerant man who was active in the church and community.?

He owned Dairy Del Ice Cream on 7th Street Road in Louisville, where it still stands today. Maley and her sister worked at the shop for a few summers as teenagers, taking the bus from St. Matthews.?

August 10, 1979 was Harris’s birthday. He started his day at the Dairy Del, turning on equipment and straightening things out before going to buy bananas at the old A&P Grocery. As he left the store just before noon, a witness saw someone wearing a mask kidnap Harris at gunpoint.

The kidnaper drove Harris and his red wine colored 1978 Buick Electra to a secluded spot on Jefferson Hill Road. They pushed Harris down an embankment, shot him four times in the head, stole his watch and a bag of cash meant for the bank.?

When he didn’t show up for his birthday dinner that afternoon, his family started to worry. His son Jerry Harris, a popular police officer at the training academy, reported him missing around 8 p.m. and told fellow officers to be on the lookout.?

But by then, prosecutors were already working out a deal for Moore’s arrest.?

A few hours after Virgil Harris was killed, an attorney representing a man named Kenny Blair called an assistant Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney looking to make a deal.?

Facing eight years in prison on robbery and burglary charges, Blair offered information about Harris’s murder in exchange for a lighter sentence.?

He pinned the killing on his then-friend, Brian Keith Moore.?

Moore met Kenny Blair in 1975. Blair was a full 10 years older and willing to buy beer for Moore and his underage friends.?

Years later, a psychologist would say a chaotic childhood left Moore searching for guidance, ready and willing to fall in line behind anyone who projected paternalistic authority.

Blair, who friends called “Big Man” or “Jesus”, offered that, in his own way. He introduced Moore to hard drugs and quick scores, showing him how to steal cars and strip them for parts.?

Police arrested Moore in the early morning hours of August 11, the day after Harris’s murder, as he and Blair pulled into a parking lot at the Shady Villa apartment complex in Newburg.?

Moore said he remembers one officer running a pistol in front of his face as he was handcuffed, telling him “you have no idea who that old man you killed was.”?

Moore said that was the first he heard of a murder.?

Did they get it right??

At trial, prosecutors had a stack of evidence they said pointed to Moore’s guilt.?

A witness said they saw Moore driving Harris’s car after the murder. Police said they saw Moore tuck a gun under the seat of Blair’s car when they pulled into the apartment complex and they found lead residue from a recently fired gun on his hands. He also had Harris’s watch and car keys.?

Three Jefferson County Police detectives testified that Moore confessed to killing Harris during an interview a few days after his arrest while a tape recorder was turned off. But Moore said he never confessed.

KyCIR requested the original investigative case file, but it’s gone. Police officials provided a check out slip showing a county police detective took the files in 2001, but they were never returned.?

The Jefferson County Police Department handled the investigation. The department merged with the Louisville Police Department in 2003.?

Moore was convicted and sentenced to death in 1980, but that verdict was overturned because of improper comments made by a prosecutor during closing arguments. A jury found him guilty again in 1984.?

But even in 1984, prosecutors Joseph Gutmann and Larry Simon acknowledged the strongest evidence against Moore was circumstantial.?

“The case came down to whose story you found more convincing, Kenny Blair’s or Brian Keith Moore’s,” Joseph Gutmann, the assistant commonwealth attorney who prosecuted Moore’s second trial, said in a recent interview with KyCIR.?

As Moore tells it, he said he woke up around noon the day of Harris’s murder to Blair walking into the apartment with some groceries and a money bag.?

Moore said Blair told him he had stolen a car — a 1978 Buick. Not surprising, Moore said, the two spent the previous week partying and committing petty crimes like stealing car radios.?

Moore said Blair gave him a watch and asked him to drive the car out to his mother’s house in Shepherdsville that afternoon to drop off the groceries.?

Moore and another witness testified that Blair borrowed Moore’s gun the night before the murder and returned it the following afternoon.?

Looking back, Moore is certain Blair set him up. But he’s not sure Blair committed the murder. The clothes prosecutors said the killer wore were too small for both men, according to Moore.?

Blair died in 1995. His side of the story is found in court transcripts reviewed by KyCIR. “I might have committed a few crimes, but I’ve never hurt nobody,” Blair testified.

Blair said Moore told him he killed a man at Jefferson Memorial Forest and took Blair to the location of the body. Blair said he called his attorney to offer information because he didn’t want to be implicated.?

But in recent court filings, Moore’s attorney said Blair’s cooperation with police and prosecutors — he arranged the arrest, led police to the body and provided the clothes allegedly worn by the murderer — left “plenty reason to believe” he set up Moore.?

Moore’s attorneys in the years after the murder found 10 people willing to testify that Blair confessed to killing Harris. But Blair denied ever confessing.?

During the trials as many as 10 uniformed police officers sat in the courtroom, something Moore’s defense argued could intimidate the jury or weaponize goodwill towards police and stack the deck against Moore.?

Gutmann and Simon both told KyCIR they felt pressure to secure another conviction and death sentence for Moore during the 1984 retrial.

“Because the family of the victim, you know they are people in law enforcement,” Simon said. “And it was sort of like the family of the victim was expecting this to happen again.”?

Gutmann and Simon said they both now oppose the death penalty.?

Gutmann thinks about Moore from time to time, and the other men he helped sentence to death. He wonders: did they get it right??

“I was naive to think that we could never get it wrong, that, in other words, somebody could never be put to death mistakenly,” Gutmann said. “And I don’t believe that anymore.”?

Harmless error?

During his 1984 closing argument, Gutmann said the prosecution’s most important witness was a clerk at a Drivers Licence Bureau who said Blair was in her office around 11 a.m. the day of the murder.?

For a moment, Blair had a rock solid alibi from a civil servant.?

But during the appeals process, Moore’s attorney Bill Yesowitch with the state’s Department of Public Advocacy found a police report in the case file that said Blair was in the office at 1 p.m., two hours later than the witness claimed.?

“When I saw that police report, I mean all kinds of bells and whistles went off,” Yesowitch said.?

Yesowitch based an appeal on this new information in 1995, arguing Moore’s previous attorneys failed to follow-up on this key piece of evidence and deprived Moore of a fair trial.?

The Kentucky Supreme Court in 1998 ruled that Moore’s defense counsel was deficient when it failed to challenge this testimony, but it did not harm Moore’s case. The court upheld the conviction.?

Yesowitch, now retired and living in Florida, is still convinced of Moore’s innocence. Yesowitch said the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling chalks up mistakes made by Moore’s earlier attorneys as a “harmless error.”?

“How do you have a harmless error in a death penalty case?” he said.?

An execution delayed?

David Barron calls the murder of Virgil Harris a “real life who-done-it,”one that could lead to the execution of an innocent man.

Barron took over Moore’s case in 2005 and focused on getting DNA testing on clothes the murderer was allegedly wearing — a suit jacket, floral shirt and a pair of black shoes.?

Moore said the outfit wasn’t something he’d wear. Plus, the pants, a size 34 waist, were six inches smaller than the pants Moore wore the day he was arrested.?

But days before Barron filed a motion in court for a judge’s order to do DNA tests, Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo wrote a letter to Gov. Ernie Fletcher asking to schedule Moore’s execution in April 2006.?

This came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit rejected Moore’s request for relief from a federal judge a few months earlier — exhausting his opportunities to appeal his conviction.?

“It was our office policy to try and push those death penalty cases, because they had just been in the process so long,” Stumbo said in an interview with KyCIR.?

Barron requested the execution be put on hold while the DNA testing worked its way through the court.?

Stumbo didn’t work on Moore’s case directly, he said, but he doesn’t harbor any doubts about the conviction his office secured. Two sets of jurors sentenced Moore to death, he said, and the new DNA evidence doesn’t exonerate Moore.

“This guy’s argued this DNA crap, it looks to me, to excess,” Stumbo said. “Just because the Commonwealth thought he was wearing those clothes, maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, that doesn’t exonerate him.”?

Stumbo’s firm belief in the death penalty stems from his faith in jurors’ ability to come to the right conclusion.?

But two months after Stumbo asked to schedule Moore’s execution, Barron talked to a man who served as a juror on the 1984 trial, Geoffrey Ellis. Barron told Ellis what they’d learned since the initial trials — how Moore could be innocent.?

Ellis, a well-known preacher and community leader in Louisville until his recent death, penned a 12-page affidavit questioning the conviction.?

“Based on the evidence brought to my attention after the trail and comparing that information to the evidence presented at trial, I have doubts about Brian Keith Moore’s guilt,” Ellis wrote. “The now known contradictions on this important issue are important to this case and whether Brian Keith Moore should have been convicted.”?

KyCIR talked with Ellis by phone before his death. He declined to comment further.

Can DNA tip the scales??

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge James M. Shake ordered DNA testing a month after Stumbo tried to schedule his execution.?

“The court finds the evidence set forth above is equally consistent with Moore’s assertion that he was set up by Blair and his girlfriend,” Shake said in his ruling.?

Shake wrote that DNA testing could help shift the balance in Moore’s favor.?

Prosecutors challenged his decision, and the case went to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which upheld Shake’s order and added there was even more evidence than Shake listed to “support Appellant’s [Moore’s] theory that he had been framed.”?

The judges said if testing excluded Moore as a source of the DNA, it would demonstrate he wasn’t wearing the clothes the lower court had already decided the murderer was wearing.?

But by then, the pants and shoes had gone missing, according to a response filed in court by the state crime lab.?

Tests on the jacket and floral shirt were inconclusive because the items didn’t contain enough biological material.

Barron, Moore’s attorney, then asked for more advanced DNA testing by a private lab.?

But Judge Shake retired without scheduling a hearing on the request. There’s been little movement in the case since then, as the DNA testing hung in limbo.?

Earlier this year, Moore’s defense team obtained an order from Judge O’Connell to release the evidence to a private lab for testing.?

The results show Moore is not the source of the DNA on the suit jacket. The results did not identify who the DNA belonged to.?

In August, Barron filed the motion to vacate Moore’s conviction based on the test results. The Jefferson Circuit Court and the Kentucky Supreme Court have already ruled a DNA test that backs Moore’s claim would have likely changed the outcome of his trial, Barron argues in the motion.?

“The only missing link then was that the DNA testing had not been [completed] and thus we did not have the results,” Barron wrote.

Moore reckons the first 20of his sentence were fair game, karmic retribution for his years of lawlessness.?

But Moore said he does not want to die in prison for a crime he insists he didn’t commit.?

“Anything I’ve done wrong, it’s been well paid for,” Moore said. “I didn’t kill this guy. So, if I was to die tomorrow, I would go knowing that I didn’t do this. And if there’s a higher power, he knows I didn’t do this.”

This story?is republished from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Louisville Public Media.?

Gov. Andy Beshear, flanked by opponents of Amendment 2, spoke at a news conference Tuesday at Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)

LEXINGTON —? Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear joined teachers union president Randi Weingarten Tuesday to rally opponents of a constitutional amendment that they warned would defund Kentucky’s public schools.

Beshear took issue with what he called “misinformation” being spread by supporters of Amendment 2. “You don’t have to read very far to know that those trying to get you to vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 2 aren’t telling you the truth,” Beshear said — a criticism later disputed by Jim Waters of the conservative Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, which supports the amendment.

If voters approve the measure’s changes to the state Constitution, Kentucky’s legislature would for the first time be free to put public money into private schools. Kentucky is one of three states with similar questions on the ballot this fall.

Weingarten, president of the 1.8 million-member AFT which represents teachers, nurses and other professions, stopped for a news conference at Consolidated Baptist Church as part of a pre-election bus tour through multiple states where AFT is supporting political allies including the Democratic presidential ticket.

Weingarten, an attorney and former history teacher, praised the protections for public schools in Kentucky’s Constitution. “I’m here to say to Kentucky, if we want to have that Kentucky culture of public schooling being the equalizer for all? kids, we need to vote ‘no’ on Amendment 2.”

She said that in states that have funded vouchers to help pay private school tuition, most of the parents using them were already sending their kids to private schools. “And, in fact, many private schools in the country have raised their tuition.”

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia fund some? form of vouchers that provide a set amount of money for private? school tuition, according to the Education Commission of the? States. Thirty-three states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have some form of “school choice” program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for the programs.

Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, told the gathering that voucher programs are failing students. He said 20 years of research led him to “call vouchers the education equivalent of predatory lending” because kids who leave public schools to attend the non-elite private schools that will accept them suffer declines in academic performance.

Cowen, formerly a professor at the University of Kentucky, is the author of “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers” published recently by Harvard Education Press.

“When it comes to vouchers, it isn’t the school choice at all. It’s the school’s choice. The schools are doing the choosing,” Cowan said, adding that “30% of kids who do come to a voucher school from a public school end up leaving within the first couple of years … because they’re pushed out, asked to leave or they just can’t make it work.”

The movement toward school vouchers has been fueled by a network of super wealthy individuals and their nonprofit advocacy groups, most prominently Americans for Prosperity linked to Charles and David Koch. Another champion of school choice, Jeff Yass, a billionaire options? trader who lives near Philadelphia, has also put millions into a political action committee associated with Republican Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who is featured in television ads supporting Amendment? 2.

Saying he wanted to address “three pieces of misinformation,” Beshear ?said a pro-Amendment 2 flier had implied that he supported the measure because it would give him more options. “Let me be clear, I’m fully opposed to Amendment 2.”

Beshear also disputed assertions in advertising for Amendment 2 that its passage would raise teachers’ pay, saying “that? fails math.” Beshear also said that even though supporters ?argue that Amendment 2 in itself makes no policy changes, Republican lawmakers through their past votes for charter schools and a tax credit to support private schools have made their intentions clear, even as their commitment to further cuts in the state income tax will reduce revenue available for education.

“Amendment 2 would allow Frankfort politicians to take taxpayer money away from public schools and send it to unaccountable? private schools,” Besher said. “Let me tell you the people of Kentucky do not want that and when they are educated on what this amendment will actually do, they will vote against it as many? times as you’ll let them.”

Waters? of the Bluegrass Institute disputed Beshear’s assertion that Amendment 2 supporters are spreading misinformation.

“Voters are not voting on vouchers or any type of policy. The amendment removes barriers so legislators can create school choice policies without being struck down by the courts.”

Waters also said data show that teacher pay is “positively affected by choice policy.” The Bluegrass Institute in August published a brief by John Garren, a University of Kentucky emeritus professor of? economics, that found “increased school choice raises the demand for teachers’ services” and that “this increased? demand pushes up pay for teachers generally in public, private, and charter schools.”

Students arrive at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville in January 2022. (Getty Images)

Amid calls in the Republican-controlled legislature to deconsolidate Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, a new study found that some states that have proposed splitting up large urban districts ultimately did not put those changes into law.?

The Office of Education Accountability, an agency that researches education for the legislature, studied school governance models across the country and presented its findings to Kentucky lawmakers on the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee Tuesday morning. Other findings in the report included that consolidating school districts can result in long-term saving costs but local communities often oppose it.

Co-chair of the subcommittee, Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, asked OEA presenters if consolidation had a positive impact on student performance. OEA Research Division Manager Deborah Nelson said the research on the effects of consolidation were inconclusive.?

Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, asked if deconsolidation has an effect on student performance. Bojanowski teaches at a JCPS elementary school.?

“If you took a large urban school district and split it up, is there any evidence that you would have improved academic outcomes?” she asked. Nelson said there has not been a state deconsolidation of large districts, so it cannot be studied. Some small districts have succeeded from a larger district, but there have not been studies on student achievement in those cases.?

According to the OEA study, Nevada’s legislature considered dividing the Clark County School District in Las Vegas in 1997 but no legislation to that effect was approved. In New Mexico, legislation in 2017 included a provision to deconsolidate districts with more than 40,000 students but it did not pass. In Nebraska, legislation was passed in 2006 to deconsolidate Omaha Public Schools, but the legislation was later repealed.?

“We have no data we can point to for deconsolidation,” West said in a subsequent comment. “In the case of JCPS, for us as a state, we don’t have a lot to go on, really, is what you’re telling us.”?

Last year, a group of Republican lawmakers called for exploring legislative changes to JCPS after a bus-scheduling? debacle delayed the start of the school year. Among policies they wanted to tackle was creating a commission to evaluate splitting up JCPS, the state’s largest school system.?

During the 2024 legislative session, the General Assembly approved a task force to review governance of the school system. That group has met during the legislative interim and any recommendations it will make must be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission by Dec. 1.?

Louisville residents expressed concerns about deconsolidation during two task force meetings held at local schools. A co-chair of the task force, Sen. Michael Names, R-Shepherdsville, told reporters after the first local meeting that he suspected no legislation could come from the task force next legislative session because of the amount of information the task force wants to review.

On other issues, OEA’s report found that Kentucky’s school governance laws for state and local boards of education were similar to most states in the U.S. and that state takeover of school districts can often lead to some improvements for districts’ fiscal health but “on average, does not lead to improvements in student achievement.”?

The report did study authorization models for charter schools and noted that while Kentucky law does have a governance framework for charter schools, none are currently operating in the state. States with charter schools have varying authorizers.?

In Kentucky, authorizers can be the local school board in the district where the charter school would be located or a group of local school boards formed to make a regional charter school. There are also two local government authorizer options: the mayor of a consolidated local government or the chief executive office of an urban-county government.?

Louisville has a consolidated local government plan. Lexington operates under an urban-county government model.?

Photos of fentanyl victims are on display at a memorial at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Va. Federal data shows that overdose deaths are rising in Western states even as many states in the East are seeing improvement; the spread of fentanyl may explain much of the geographic movement, experts say. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Despite an encouraging national dip in the past year, overdose deaths are still on the rise in many Western states as the epicenter of the nation’s continuing crisis shifts toward the Pacific Coast, where deadly fentanyl and also methamphetamine are finding more victims.

Overdose deaths remain sharply higher since 2019. Many states are working on “harm reduction” strategies that stress cooperation with people who use drugs; in some cases, states are getting tougher on prosecutions, with murder charges for dealers.

Alaska, Nevada, Washington and Oregon have moved into the top 10 for rate of overdose deaths since 2023, according to a Stateline analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Meanwhile the biggest one-year improvements were in Nebraska (down 30%), North Carolina (down 23%), and Vermont, Ohio and Pennsylvania (all down 19%).

In Kentucky, overdose deaths declined 18% since 2023. But fatal overdoses remain high in Kentucky at 43 per 100,000 population, the nation’s ninth highest rate.

The spread of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can cause overdose and death even in tiny amounts, explains much of the east-to-west movement in the number of deaths, said Daliah Heller, vice president of overdose prevention program at Vital Strategies, an international advocacy group that works on strengthening public health.

“Fentanyl really came in through the traditional drug markets in the Northeast, but you can see this steady movement westward,” Heller said. “So now we’re seeing overdoses going up on the West Coast while they’re going down dramatically on the East Coast.”

The provisional CDC data estimates drug overdose deaths in the year ending with April 2024, and nationally they decreased by 10%, with more than 11,000 fewer deaths than the year before. But they’re still rising in 10 states and the District of Columbia, including 42% in Alaska, 22% in Oregon, 18% in Nevada and 14% in Washington state. Deaths climbed by almost 1,300 in those states and others with more modest increases: Colorado, Utah and Hawaii.

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Experts are still debating why some Eastern states hit early in the overdose crisis are seeing improvements.

“There’s some kind of improvement spreading from east to west and we don’t know exactly what it is yet. Everybody sees their little piece of the elephant,” said Nabarun Dasgupta, a scientist specializing in opioid disorder and overdose at the University of North Carolina’s Injury Prevention Research Center.

In North Carolina and other states with recent improvements, “it feels like we finally got a lid on the pot, but the pot is still boiling over. Things aren’t really cooling down,” Dasgupta said.

It could be a result of better acceptance of harm reduction policies to help those who use drugs, including no-questions-asked testing of street drugs and providing naloxone to counteract overdoses. Or users may simply be getting more wary of fentanyl and its dangers and unpleasant side effects, Dasgupta said.

"It feels like we finally got a lid on the pot, but the pot is still boiling over. Things aren't really cooling down." - Nabarun Dasgupta, University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center

“Fentanyl is very potent, but potency isn’t the only thing. Otherwise we’d all be drinking the highest proof IPAs (India pale ales),” Dasgupta said.Alaska now has the nation's second-highest rate of drug overdose deaths, about 53 per 100,000 population, behind only West Virginia (73 per 100,000). Other Western states that are now in the top 10: Nevada (47 per 100,000), Washington state (46 per 100,000) and Oregon (45 per 100,000).

The CDC data shows Alaska had the largest increase from 2023 — up 42%, to 390 deaths. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy in August 2023 proposed legislation making fentanyl dealers subject to murder charges in overdose death cases, writing: “Drugs and drug overdoses have had a devastating effect on our state.” The legislation was signed into law this year.

In May, the state kicked off “One Pill Can Kill,” a national?awareness campaign?warning about the dangers of fentanyl.

Fentanyl, mostly in the form of counterfeit 30 mg oxycodone pills, has become tremendously profitable for smugglers in Alaska who make use of airline passengers and air shipments of other products to get drugs into the state, said state Department of Public Safety spokesperson Austin McDaniel. Pills that sell for less than $1 near the U.S. southern border with Mexico can fetch $20 in Alaska, McDaniel said.

“We want to make the dealers think twice about targeting Alaska,” said Alaska state Rep. Craig Johnson, an Anchorage Republican, who supported the bill signed into law July 12.

Johnson’s 23-year-old nephew died of a fentanyl overdose two years ago. “This is personal. I don’t want other Alaska families to go through what we went through. I hope we never have to use it, because that will mean nobody else died.”

Other state and federal authorities are also trying a more punitive approach to the fentanyl crisis: Under a state program in Wisconsin meant to ferret out suppliers, three people were arrested in September and charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the fentanyl overdose death of a 27-year-old man.

In Michigan, two men pleaded guilty this month to federal charges in a mass fentanyl poisoning that led to at least six deathsSuch punitive approaches can backfire, experts say, if they drive people toward more dangerous solitary drug use — where no one can see an overdose and try to help — and away from programs such as free testing to unearth fentanyl hidden in other drugs.

“It’s sort of nonsensical, like saying you can beat something out of people. People are still going to use drugs,” said Heller, of Vital Strategies. “This should be a call to action to wake up and really invest in a response to drug use as a health issue.”

In Nevada, health authorities in the Las Vegas area are stressing more cooperation with residents who use drugs, increasing naloxone distribution and encouraging people to submit their drug purchases for testing so they’re not surprised by counterfeit heroin, methamphetamine or other drugs that are increasingly cut with cheaper fentanyl, said Jessica Johnson, health education supervisor for the Southern Nevada Health District.

For second year in a row, Kentucky overdose deaths decrease?

A state office coordinates goals for county naloxone distribution based on factors such as hospital reports of overdoses. More overdoses trigger more naloxone distribution to community centers, clinics, entertainment venues and even vending machines.

One puzzle in Nevada and in other states is that increasingly, overdoses involve a combination of opioids, such as fentanyl, along with stimulants such as methamphetamine. Almost a third of overdoses in Nevada are caused by both being used together, according to a state report based on 2022 data.

It could be that some people seek the “roller coaster of effects using a stimulant like methamphetamine and a depressant like fentanyl or heroin,” Jessica Johnson said, but mostly she hears that unsuspecting users get cocaine or methamphetamine that’s been cut with cheaper fentanyl.

“We get people saying, ‘Oh I don’t need naloxone because I don’t use fentanyl,’ and our team is able to say, ‘Well, our surveillance data actually suggests there might be fentanyl in your methamphetamine’ or whatever it is.”

Nationally, both drugs are increasingly a factor in fatal overdoses: Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl contributed to 68% of overdose deaths in this year’s CDC data, up from 48% in 2019. Stimulants such as methamphetamine were factors in 35% of deaths, up from 20% in 2019.

Heroin and other partly natural opioids, such as oxycodone, have diminished as factors, together accounting for 13% of deaths in the latest data compared with 40% in 2019.

Some experts theorize that the high potency of fentanyl makes those who use drugs want to tweak or balance the effect with methamphetamine. Fentanyl itself is often cut with xylazine, a non-opioid animal tranquilizer — often known as “tranq” — that can cause unpleasant side effects, including extreme sedation and skin lesions, Dasgupta said.

“During the pandemic, there were a lot of reasons why people were using substances more. Now that things are different, people are tired of the adulteration, the sedation, the skin wounds,” Dasgupta said. “People may take lower doses, and that in itself can help lower overdoses.”

This story is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

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Flash flooding inundated much of Southeastern Kentucky in July 2022, including Breathitt County, above. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Researchers at public universities in Kentucky and West Virginia are planning to collaborate alongside local residents on a four-year project to better understand, predict and prepare for flash flooding in Appalachia and climate change’s impacts on it.?

Surface coal mining worsened deadly Eastern Kentucky floods in July 2022, study shows

A nearly $1.1 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation will bring together civil engineers and scientists from environmental and social fields to study a range of topics, including soil moisture’s impact on flash flooding. Researchers also will gauge monitors installed in waterways to help tailor flooding solutions “to community goals, serving as a model for resilience planning in vulnerable communities across the U.S.,” according to the project’s description.?

Researchers will analyze decades of precipitation and streamflow data from the University of Kentucky’s Robinson Forest in Breathitt County and install soil moisture sensors throughout the research forest to better understand flooding in headwater streams.?

Christopher Barton, a University of Kentucky professor of forest hydrology and watershed management and principal investigator for the project, in a statement said researchers want to do everything they can “to build up the infrastructure to understand, predict and prepare for flash floods in this region.”?

“To best help, we also must understand how climate change and landscape alterations affect flash floods,” Barton said.?

The “novel collaboration” is also funding researchers from the University of Louisville, Eastern Kentucky University, West Virginia University and Marshall University. A main goal of the collaboration is developing improved early warning systems to alert communities when flash floods are worsening.

Eastern Kentucky University will also be using the funding to aid high school and middle school teachers develop science education programming and plant trees as a part of reforestation efforts to mitigate flash floods.

The need for a new area code isn’t necessarily driven by population but associated with the multiple numbers each person may be using.?The supply of 502 area code phone number prefixes, the three digits following an area code in a phone number, is expected to be exhausted by the end of 2027. (Getty Images)

A national organization overseeing the supply of phone numbers on behalf of phone carriers is asking a Kentucky regulator to establish a new area code in response to a dwindling supply of available 502 area code numbers covering Louisville, Frankfort and nearby counties.

The application filed with the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) on Monday by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) states the supply of 502 area code phone number prefixes, the three digits following an area code in a phone number, is expected to be exhausted by the end of 2027. Florence Weber, a NANPA vice president, wrote in the application that representatives of the telecommunications industry consulted by NANPA decided adding a new area code would be the best way forward.

That would work by overlaying a new area code onto the geographic area serviced by the existing 502 area code. New phone numbers added in the area would have the new area code available while those with phone numbers with the previous 502 area code would be able to keep their numbers.

Heidi Wayman, a data manager for NANPA, told the Lantern the need for a new area code isn’t necessarily driven by population but associated with the multiple numbers each person may be using.?

“You may have devices as well with numbers, tablets, watches, etc. So you may have multiple phone numbers even assigned to you,” Wayman said. “We need available prefixes to assign out to the carriers.”

Weber wrote phone numbers with the new area code would be available once the supply of 502 area code numbers had been exhausted, and the supply of numbers with the new area code would last an estimated 30 years. The consensus of telecommunications providers, according to the application, is that? layering a new code onto the current 502 region would be easier to implement and reduce confusion compared to other options.

Industry representatives — which include AT&T, T-Mobile, Charter Communications, Verizon and Boost Mobile — also considered splitting the 502 area code geographic region into two distinct areas, one keeping 502 and another getting a new area code. Other options considered included eliminating the geographic boundaries for area codes in Kentucky including boundaries involving the 270 area code, 606 area code and 859 area code.?

This wouldn’t be the first time Kentucky received a new area code this century. Following a request from NANPA, the PSC in 2014 established the new area code 364 to be overlaid on the 270 area code to increase the supply of phone numbers in Western Kentucky.?

NANPA is requesting the PSC, which regulates utilities in the state, issue a decision on how to move forward by July 31, 2025. Once a decision has been issued, NANPA plans to roll out a 13-month timeline for establishing the new area code. NANPA is run by the New Jersey-based data management company SOMOS through a contract with the Federal Communications Commission.

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, speaks to a crowd while accepting the 2024 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. (Screenshot via JFK Library Foundation livestream)

Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams is mulling a run for governor, according to a recent interview with his law school’s publication.?

An alumni profile of Adams entitled “Election Defender” in the Harvard Law Bulletin says he is considering a run for governor as he is term-limited as the state’s top election official. Adams graduated from Harvard Law School in 2001. He won bids for Kentucky secretary of state in 2019 and 2023.?

In response to the Kentucky Lantern on Monday, Adams’ spokesperson Michon Lindstrom said right now Adams “is focused on running a smooth presidential election and will discuss any future plans at a later date.”?

Speculation about Adams making a future gubernatorial bid swirled after he gave a victory speech last November that focused on topics outside of the purview of the secretary’s office, including public safety, quality of life and the state’s long-term future. When asked at the time by the Lantern about his future political plans, Adams said it was too soon to say.?

“It is way too early to try to predict what I’ll be doing in four years,” Adams said. “I think I showed my party I’m a strong player on the bench. I have found a way to reach across the divide and over-perform in places Republicans generally can’t compete.”

In the 2023 general election, Adams was the top vote-getter after he gained more than 784,000 votes.?

Adams was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award earlier this year. He was selected for his work to increase voting days in Kentucky, as well as for standing up for free and fair elections despite ire from fellow Republicans and death threats from election deniers.?

The Harvard Law Bulletin interview focused on Adams’ career after graduating from Harvard Law and how he first became interested in civics. According to the article, Adams says? that state government fits his style more than more polarized national politics.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, left, and House Speaker David Osborne are among the Republicans who declined to answer the Right to Life candidate survey this year. They conferred during the State of the Commonwealth address in the House chambers on Jan. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

LOUISVILLE — Kentucky Right to Life is endorsing in fewer legislative races this year — 45 candidates for the General Assembly received an endorsement from the anti-abortion group, down from 86 in 2022 and 88 in 2020.

Planned Parenthood’s Tamarra Wieder said the decrease in endorsements is a sign that Kentucky politicians no longer want to take the unpopular stands required to win a Right to Life endorsement.??

Wieder, state director of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Kentucky, said it’s an “incredible indictment on the brand and on the movement.”?

“What this shows is that they have become too extreme, even for their followers,” Wieder said. “They are out of step with Kentuckians, and I think it also shows the legislature is afraid of putting their name on anti-abortion policies.”?

Addia Wuchner, Kentucky Right to Life executive director, did not respond to a Lantern reporter’s voicemail and an email sent to an address posted on Kentucky Right to Life’s website last week.

In a newsletter sent in response to the story, the organization acknowledged “challenges” facing Kentucky’s anti-abortion movement … “as public opinion evolves.”

“While we respect diverse opinions, it’s crucial to clarify that (Kentucky Right to Life) does not measure its mission by popularity or changing political winds,” the email said. “We remain guided by a steadfast moral compass, prioritizing the protection of life over convenience.”?

In order to be considered for an endorsement, the Kentucky Right to Life Victory PAC requires candidates to answer questions about issues important to the group and sign the survey. The organization also considers voting record, a candidate’s involvement in organizations related to abortion, electability and background.?

In 2024, about 50 Republican candidates “declined” to answer the survey, according to the endorsement report. Right to Life endorsed 45 legislative candidates and “recommended” others based on their voting history.?

All 100 House seats and half of the 38 Senate seats are on the ballot every two years, although many seats go uncontested.

The Lantern used information from VoteSmart to count endorsements from earlier elections; Kentucky Right to Life Victory PAC’s voter guides from prior elections are not posted on its website.

It’s unclear if everyone marked as “declined” this year received the survey.?

Although endorsed by Right to Life at times in the past, the top Republicans in both chambers of the legislature are not endorsed this year. Among those listed as declining to answer the group’s questions: Senate President Robert Stivers, House Speaker David Osborne, Senate President Pro Tem David Givens and Speaker Pro Tem David Meade.

Other prominent Republicans listed as declining to respond are House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy and Senate budget committee chairman Chris McDaniel.?

All of them were still recommended by Right to Life based on their voting records.

A Senate GOP spokesperson said Stivers and Givens “agree that their voting record speaks for itself.”?

No Democrats answered the Right to Life survey this year and none were endorsed.

Candidates wary of surveys in general

Political considerations about abortion changed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federally-guaranteed right to abortion in 2022. The ruling allowed a near-total abortion ban that Republican lawmakers had already put on the books to take effect in Kentucky. It has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest and a narrow exception to protect the life of a pregnant patient.?

Morgan Eaves, the executive director of the Kentucky Democratic Party, said the decline in candidates taking the Right to Life survey shows that “Kentucky Republicans know that their extreme anti-choice and zero exceptions policy is unpopular, and that’s why they’re running away from it now.”?

Republicans, however, gave little sign of backing off the abortion ban during this year’s legislative session. Although lawmakers of both parties sponsored bills to loosen abortion restrictions, none of the measures made any headway. Bills protecting in vitro fertilization also failed to advance, after the temporary suspension of the fertility treatment in Alabama stirred a political storm.?

Republican Trey Grayson, a former Kentucky secretary of state, was reluctant to say if the decline in GOP candidates responding to the Right to Life survey signaled a rift with the organization. Candidates, he said, have become more wary of surveys in general. Advocacy interest groups are trying to advance an agenda and elect people who are part of their causes, Grayson said. A? lawmaker seeking reelection recently complained to him about “gotcha” questions on candidate surveys.?

Challengers are more likely to respond to surveys, Grayson said, while incumbents can point to their voting records, floor speeches and websites.

‘ … not that much more to give’

Last year Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear used the abortion ban to his advantage against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron. Cameron had been endorsed by Right to Life but waffled on abortion after Beshear aired ads attacking him as extreme for opposing rape and incest exceptions. (Kentuckian Hadley Duvall, who spoke in a Beshear ad about being impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12, is now playing a prominent role in the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic? candidate for president.)

The year before, in November 2022, Kentuckians had defeated an anti-abortion constitutional amendment that Republicans put on the ballot before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Republican strategist Tres Watson, a former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky, said it’s not Republican politicians who have changed but Right to Life. Having gained its long-time goal of outlawing? abortion in Kentucky, the organization is “continuing to ask for more when there’s just not that much more to give.”

“I think that the leadership over there needs to reconsider their relationship with candidates and with the legislature if they want to continue to be an influencer in Frankfort,” Watson said of the group.?

Weider of Planned Parenthood said the Right to Life questionnaire “is more extreme than ever.”?

Watson said he thinks Republican lawmakers support adding exceptions for rape and incest to the abortion ban. “I think that if you were to remove elections from the equation, I think that an exceptions bill would pass easily among Republicans,” Watson said. “But I think that the threat of Kentucky Right to Life coming out and attempting to make pro-life legislators appear to be pro-abortion liberals is preventing that from passing.”?

Watson said when he worked for the state Republican Party candidates were advised not to respond to a survey from Northern Kentucky Right to Life “because it asked you to take extreme positions that didn’t sit well with independent voters and center right Republicans.”?

IVF among the questions

Kentucky Right to Life’s 2024 questionnaire asks candidates about their support for maintaining a ban on assisted suicide, banning mail-in abortion pills, adding a “Human Life” amendment to the U.S. Constitution to include “all human beings, born and unborn” and more. It highlights issues surrounding in vitro fertilization in which unused frozen embryos are discarded.?

Questions included:?

• If you are in a position to do so, would you advocate, support, sign into law and/or defend against legislation that would permit the cloning of human embryos or laboratory-created life for the purpose of the harvesting their stem cells for research or therapeutic cloning? (procedures requiring the creation and destruction of human lives)
• Do you believe that embryos created through IVF (in vitro fertilization) should be protected as all other lives??
• Do you believe medical schools and nursing programs operating in conjunction with universities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that receive state funding should have mechanisms in place such as conscience exceptions that permit students to be excused from participating in specific curricular activities and training, i.e. abortion procedures that violate the student’s religious or ethical beliefs?
• Are you morally and/or medically opposed to chemical abortions, such as RU-486, the abortion pill, and other drugs known to prevent the newly created human being from attaching (implantation) to his/her mother’s womb or medications that cause the woman’s body to expel her developing child in the early stages of her pregnancy?
• Do you agree that the personal protection afforded to every member of the human race under the Fourteenth Amendment should be extended equally to the preborn?

Eaves, the Kentucky Democratic Party chief, said most Kentuckians and Americans “believe in some form of pro-choice policy.”

Is IVF protected in Kentucky? Depends on whom you ask.

In May, the Pew Research Center reported that 63% of Americans “say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.”?

Gallup polling also shows the majority of Americans think abortion should be legal in certain cases.?

Additionally, 54% of those surveyed by Gallup in May considered themselves “pro choice” and 41% considered themselves “pro life,” the largest gap since 1995.?

Weider of Planned Parenthood said the effects of the abortion ban on health care, especially for? people who are experiencing miscarriages or nonviable pregnancies, will continue to push politicians away from Right to Life.

?“You are starting to see pushback on what was once, I would say, a badge of honor for the majority of conservative politicians in Kentucky,” she said. “And I think it is an indictment on what has happened to Kentucky and health care. And we are seeing the daily fallout.”??

This story was updated with response from Kentucky Right to Life.?

A young boy walks down a hallway at Carter Traditional Elementary School in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky is one of three states with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Supporters of school choice in Kentucky are hoping voters will do what the state courts wouldn’t — allow a new path for state-supported payments to private schools.

Kentucky is one of three states, along with Colorado and Nebraska, with school choice questions on the ballot this fall. Voters will be asked to decide whether public money should go to support private education. Opponents say the measures would undermine public schools by shifting money from them, while backers maintain that state aid would give parents more control over their kids’ education.

In West Kentucky, people like their schools, ponder ‘choice’ amendment’s implications

The measures come as school choice gains momentum across the country. Thirty-three states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico already have at least one kind of school choice program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for the programs. They range from education savings accounts sponsored by the state to voucher programs to various types of tax credits that help provide scholarships or cover educational expenses for private schools.

But the measures have sparked some controversy. In Arizona, which in 2023 became the first state to make all students, regardless of family income, eligible for a school voucher, parents have tried to use the voucher money for dune buggies and expensive Lego sets.

Teachers unions and other public school professionals generally oppose the school choice plans, while many conservative politicians, religious institutions and private educational groups are in favor, along with some people of color in districts with underperforming public schools.

The choice programs have had difficulty gaining traction in rural areas, where there are fewer private schools than in cities and suburbs.

To overcome that resistance in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has worked hard to elect like-minded allies to the state’s legislature. He led a multimillion-dollar political offensive that resulted in six Republican House members who opposed his school choice initiative being defeated in primaries this year. Stateline reported earlier this year that Abbott is within a couple of votes of being able to enact a school choice program when the legislature reconvenes in January.

Ballot measures

In Kentucky, the Republican-dominated legislature approved a program in 2021 to give tax credits to individuals or businesses for donations to nonprofits that provide scholarships for students who attend private schools.

GOP leaders say policy debates are to come as Democrats decry Amendment 2 as ‘blank check’

Lawmakers narrowly overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of the measure. But the state’s Supreme Court ruled the plan unconstitutional in December 2022.

And last year, a circuit court judge struck down a 2022 Kentucky law that would have allowed public funding of charter schools. Kentucky currently has no operating charter schools. Such schools are publicly funded but run by outside organizations that operate them autonomously, without many of the rules governing traditional public schools.

Now, advocates want Kentucky voters to approve Amendment 2, which would change the state Constitution to ?allow the tax credits and public funding of charter and private schools.

The proposed constitutional amendment would give the legislature authority to pass laws providing state funding for the education of students outside the public school system. It says lawmakers could do so despite the parts of the Kentucky Constitution that forbid state funds to be used for “any church, sectarian or denominational school.”

The ballot measure would give the legislature the authority to pass laws similar to the ones that were thrown out, according to Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer, a strong supporter of the referendum.

“We passed [private education] scholarships in the past,” Thayer said in a phone interview. “Those would be on the table in the near future if the amendment is passed.”

He said it would give parents “the ability to send a child to a different school if the public school isn’t giving them what they need, private or parochial.”

But a coalition of public education advocates formed the group Protect Our Schools KY to oppose the amendment. Tom Shelton, a retired Kentucky school superintendent and a leader in the campaign effort, said it is a travesty to send public money “to unaccountable private schools” when public schools in the state could use the funds.

He said rural areas would fare particularly poorly under a proposal that would allow public money to go to private educational entities. Shelton said the vast majority of the private schools in Kentucky are in the two biggest cities of Louisville and Lexington — meaning that rural public schools would lose money diverted to private schools and that rural students would be less able to take advantage of the change.

“Who’s going to lose most? The rural poor kids,” Shelton said.

In some cases, private schools have raised tuition in states with school choice. And The Wall Street Journal has reported that vouchers tend to mostly benefit families who already have students in private schools.

In Nebraska, voters will choose whether to partially repeal a law enacted this year that allows the state to run a $10 million educational scholarship program for private school students.

The state’s highest court determined in September that the referendum can stay on the ballot.

State Sen. Dave Murman, a proponent of school choice who identifies as a Republican in the nonpartisan Nebraska legislature, said he’s disappointed that the referendum was allowed to proceed.

Murman said he expects the referendum vote to be close.

He postulated that public schools are “afraid of the competition. They are afraid they will lose students to private schools.” But he said he hopes public schools will improve in the face of competition.

But Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, which supports the referendum, said there is already competition among public schools.

“In 1989, Nebraska created ‘option enrollment’ that allows any family to attend any public school in the state as long as they are not at capacity,” he told Stateline.

He said the teachers union could have fought the law directly in the courts, but thought it would be better to put it on the ballot and let the voters decide. Teachers think parents and students are happy with the public school choices they have now, he said.

In Colorado, the ballot measure would enshrine a school choice option in the state constitution. It would add language saying that each “K-12 child has the right to school choice” and that “parents have the right to direct the education of their children.” School choice would explicitly include neighborhood schools, charter schools, private schools, homeschools, open enrollment options and future innovations in education.

Northern Kentucky developers, teachers unions fuel Amendment 2 money race

Conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado proposed?the amendment. Colorado already allows students to attend any public school — even outside their district — for free and has long had charter schools. Critics of the ballot measure say it would open the door to private school vouchers, though backers argue that’s not their intent and that it’s simply meant to protect charter schools. Some Colorado Democrats last year proposed tightening requirements on charter schools.

Ongoing disputes

States with existing school choice programs have encountered pushback this year.

The South Carolina Supreme Court last month threw out the state’s voucher program, leaving parents who already have received funds scrambling. State education officials and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster asked the court to reconsider the ruling, but the high court refused to rehear the case in early October, likely ending any possibility of resuming private tuition payments this year.

In Arizona, reports of misuse of funds to buy equipment not directly tied to a curriculum prompted the state attorney general to open an investigation. The state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program allows parents to use state money for various educational costs, including tuition and school supplies.

School voucher proponents spend big to overcome rural resistance

But after the school system clarified documentation requirements that purchases be tied to a curriculum, the Goldwater Institute, a conservative Arizona think tank, sued the state Department of Education over the requirements, on behalf of some homeschool parents. The institute called the verification requirements an “absurd new burden” on homeschooling parents that would prevent them from buying pencils, flash cards and other equipment not specifically called for in homeschool curricula.

The Grand Canyon Institute, a centrist think tank focused on economics, found in a report last month that Arizona’s voucher accounts had $360 million unspent by parents as of June.

“These parents have chosen not to spend the money on their children’s education,” Dave Wells, research director for the institute, said in a phone interview. “There’s no follow-up to see if the kids are doing well.”

The institute recommended that the state follow up on the money to see whether and where it is being spent.

Responding to the report, education department spokesperson Doug Nick told Arizona radio station KJZZ that the department administers the program as directed under state law.

“If the legislature makes changes to the law, we will comply with those changes,” he said.

This story is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Nancy Baker Curtis demonstrates using an adult-size changing table with son Charlie at a rest stop near Adair, Iowa. The table is motorized so it can be lowered when a person needs to get on, then raised for easy changing. (Tony Leys/KFF Health News)

ADAIR, Iowa — The blue-and-white highway sign for the eastbound rest stop near here displays more than the standard icon of a person in a wheelchair, indicating facilities are accessible to people who can’t walk. The sign also shows a person standing behind a horizontal rectangle, preparing to perform a task.

The second icon signals that this rest area along Interstate 80 in western Iowa has a bathroom equipped with a full-size changing table, making it an oasis for adults and older children who use diapers because of disabilities.

“It’s a beacon of hope,” said Nancy Baker Curtis, whose 9-year-old son, Charlie, has a disability that can leave him incontinent. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re finally there.’”

The white changing table is 6 feet long and can be lowered and raised with a handheld controller wired to an electric motor. When not in use, the table folds up against the wall.

The table was recently installed as part of a national effort to make public bathrooms more accessible in places like airports, parks, arenas, and gas stations. Without such options, people with disabilities often wind up being changed on bathroom floors, in cars, or even on the ground outside.

Many families hesitate to go out because of the lack of accessible restrooms. “We all know somebody who’s tethered to their home by bathroom needs,” Baker Curtis said. She doesn’t want her son’s life to be limited that way. “Charlie deserves to be out in the community.”

She said the need can be particularly acute when people are traveling in rural areas, where bathroom options are sparse.

Baker Curtis, who lives near Des Moines, leads the Iowa chapter of a national group called “Changing Spaces,” which advocates for adult-size changing tables. The group offers an online map showing scores of locations where they’ve been installed.

Advocates say such tables are not explicitly required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. But a new federal law will mandate them in many airports in coming years, and states can adopt building codes that call for them. California, for example, requires them in new or renovated auditoriums, arenas, amusement parks, and similar facilities with capacities of at least 2,500 people. Ohio requires them in some settings, including large public facilities and highway rest stops. Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Hampshire also have taken steps to require them in some public buildings.

Justin Boatner of Arlington, Virginia, advocates for more full-size changing tables in the Washington, D.C., area. Boatner, 26, uses a wheelchair because of a disability similar to muscular dystrophy. He uses diapers, which he often changes himself.

He can lower an adjustable changing table to the height of his wheelchair, then pull himself onto it. Doing that is much easier and more hygienic than getting down on the floor, changing himself, and then crawling back into the wheelchair, he said.

Boatner said it’s important to talk about incontinence, even though it can be embarrassing. “There’s so much stigma around it,” he said.

He said adult changing tables are still scarce, including in health care facilities, but he’s optimistic that more will be installed. Without them, he sometimes delays changing his diaper for hours until he can get home. That has led to serious rashes, he said. “It’s extremely uncomfortable.”

Iowa legislators in recent years have considered requiring adult changing tables in some public restrooms. They declined to pass such a bill, but the discussion made Iowa Department of Transportation leaders aware of the problem. “I’m sorry to say, it was one of those things we’d just never thought of,” said Michael Kennerly, director of the department’s design bureau.

Kennerly oversees planning for rest stops. He recalls an Iowan telling him about changing a family member outside in the rain, with only an umbrella for shelter. Others told him how they changed their loved ones on bathroom floors. “It was just appalling,” he said.

Iowa began installing adult changing tables in rest stops in 2022, and it has committed to including them in new or remodeled facilities. So far, nine have been installed or are in the process of being added. Nine others are planned, with more to come, Kennerly said. Iowa has 38 rest areas equipped with bathrooms.

Kennerly estimated it costs up to $14,000 to remodel an existing rest-stop bathroom to include a height-adjustable adult changing table. Incorporating adult changing tables into a new rest stop building should cost less than that, he said.

Several organizations offer portable changing tables, which can be set up at public events. Some are included in mobile, accessible bathrooms carried on trailers or trucks. Most permanent adult changing tables are set up in “family restrooms,” which have one toilet and are open to people of any gender. That’s good, because the act of changing an adult is “very intimate and private,” Baker Curtis said. It’s also important for the tables to be height-adjustable because it’s difficult to lift an adult onto a fixed-height table, she said.

Advocates hope adult changing tables will become nearly as common as infant changing tables, which once were rare in public bathrooms.

Jennifer Corcoran, who lives near Dayton, Ohio, has been advocating for adult changing tables for a decade and has seen interest rise in recent years.

Corcoran’s 24-year-old son, Matthew, was born with brain development issues. He uses a wheelchair and is unable to speak, but he accompanies her when she lobbies for improved services.

Corcoran said Ohio leaders this year designated $4.4 million in federal pandemic relief money to be distributed as grants for changing-table projects. The program has led to installations at Dayton’s airport and art museum, plus libraries and entertainment venues, she said.

Ohio also is adding adult changing tables to rest stops. Corcoran said those tables are priceless because they make it easier for people with disabilities to travel. “Matthew hasn’t been on a vacation outside of Ohio for more than five years,” she said.

Kaylan Dunlap serves on a committee that has worked to add changing-table requirements to the International Building Code, which state and local officials often use as a model for their rules.

Dunlap, who lives in Alabama, works for an architecture firm and reviews building projects to ensure they comply with access standards. She expects more public agencies and companies will voluntarily install changing tables. Maybe someday they will be a routine part of public bathrooms, she said. “But I think that’s a long way out in the future, unfortunately.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the federal agency charged with enforcing nursing home regulations. (Photo by Getty Images; logo courtesy of CMS)

Kentucky is joining 19 other states in challenging a Biden administration rule that sets minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes.

The nursing home industry has pushed back against the rule, saying it couldn’t afford to comply even if enough new staff could be found amid a widespread health care workforce shortage, Kentucky Health News previously reported.?

Kentucky nursing-home industry says Biden staffing mandate ‘impossible’ to meet

Twenty state attorneys general, including Kentucky’s Russell Coleman, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, seeking to overturn and reverse the new regulations.?

The Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule requires nursing homes that receive Medicare or Medicaid payments to provide 3.48 hours of direct nursing care per resident each day, including a defined number for registered nurses (0.55 per resident per day) and nurse aides (2.45 hours per resident per day).

About 211 Kentucky long-term care facilities do not meet staffing requirements, according to the lawsuit. To comply, they would need to hire 185 registered nurses and 1,336 nursing assistants, the lawsuit states.?

The 66-page court document criticizes the rule as an “existential threat to the nursing home industry” that will put some out of business and cause “irreparable” harm.?

“Senior citizens and other vulnerable members of society rely on nursing homes and similar facilities to meet their needs when family members cannot,” the lawsuit says. “Although the nursing home industry certainly has had its share of challenges, it fills a vital need in our communities that cannot be replaced. Instead of addressing the legitimate challenges nursing homes face, the defendants put forward a heavy-handed mandate.”?

“And the main victims,” the lawsuit says, “will be the patients who will have nowhere else to go.”?

The Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities said in a statement that it “appreciates the Attorney General’s support in the national effort to challenge the CMS staffing mandate, which, if fully implemented, could place an undue burden on long-term care providers.”

“We encourage the administration to collaborate with the long-term care community to develop regulations that prioritize sustainable, quality care for Kentuckians without jeopardizing the resources essential to achieving this goal,” the association said.

Kentucky has joined 12 other states and the District of Columbia in seeking monetary damages from TikTok for harm it has allegedly caused to youngsters. (Getty Images)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is suing TikTok, accusing the social media platform of exploiting minors and being “designed to addict and otherwise harm” them.

In filing the lawsuit Tuesday in Scott County, Coleman joins a dozen states and Washington D.C. in seeking payouts for what they describe as a pattern of knowingly hurting youth.

The other states that have sued are California, New York, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.

The Kentucky lawsuit says TikTok is “designed” to be “an addiction machine” that targets children.

Michael Hughes, a spokesperson for TikTok, said in a statement, “We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading.”

“We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product,” said Hughes.

What’s in the lawsuit?

Coleman’s lawsuit accuses the company of unfair and deceptive acts that violate Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act, failing to warn consumers of the potential dangers in consuming the platform’s media and more.

“Unlike other consumer products that have appealed to children for generations — like candy or soda—with social media platforms there is no natural break point where the consumer has finished the unit of consumption,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, social media platforms are a bottomless pit where users can spend an infinite amount of their time.”

TikTok’s Michael Hughes said the company does take steps to protect users.

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing and privacy by default for minors under 16,” Hughes said. “We’ve endeavored to work with the Attorneys General for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industry wide challenges.”

Speaking in Northern Kentucky Wednesday, Coleman promised to “force (TikTok) to answer for creating and pushing an app designed specifically to addict and harm Kentucky’s children.”

“TikTok is more than trendy dances or funny videos. It’s a specially crafted tool to suck in minors, leading to depression, anxiety, altered development, and more,” Coleman said.

“TikTok intentionally manipulates the release of dopamine in young users’ developing brains and causes them to use TikTok in an excessive, compulsive, and addictive manner that harms them both mentally and physically,” the Kentucky lawsuit says.

Forbes reported in 2022 that watching TikTok videos is like taking drugs, calling it a “pleasurable dopamine state” that is “almost hypnotic.”

Filed in Scott Circuit Court, the 125-page lawsuit contains frequent blocks of redacted material. Those include information from internal TikTok documents, that “for the time being remain subject to certain confidentiality agreements,” said Kevin Grout, a spokesman for Coleman’s office.

Coleman is seeking an injunction to halt TikTok’s “ongoing violations,” actual and punitive damages and penalties of up to $2,000 for each violation of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act.

TikTok also is fighting a federal law enacted by Congress earlier this year that would ban the app in the U.S. unless its owner, ByteDance, sells it to a non-Chinese company by Jan. 19.

What does research show?

In a 2023 report, the U.S. Surgeon General said social media use among youth can have both positive and negative effects. For example, youth may be able to find community and connection through social media that they otherwise lacked. But their mental health can decline with that use, and they can have increased anxiety and depression.

“Because adolescence is a vulnerable period of brain development, social media exposure during this period warrants additional scrutiny,” the surgeon general report said.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which advocates for children’s wellbeing, says tech companies need to:

• Ade-quate-ly and inde-pen-dent-ly assess- the impact of social media on chil-dren and adolescents.
• Pri-or-i-tiz-e user health and safe-ty when design-ing and devel-op-ing social media prod-ucts and services.
• For-mal-iz-e a strat-e-gy for inves-ti-gat-ing the requests and com-plaints of young peo-ple, fam-i-lies, edu-ca-tors and others.

Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, praised Coleman “for standing up against the social media giant – and standing up for Kentucky’s young people.”

“There is nothing more paramount than upholding our kids’ mental health and safety, especially as kids increasingly find themselves in digital spaces,” Brooks said. “The addictive nature of the social media platform TikTok can harm kids’ developing brain, expose them to unrealistic standards and unsafe situations, and put them at risk of sexually explicit content and exploitation.”

Read the complaint

Rep. Kim Banta says constituents tell her their kids are afraid to go to school because of the fear of gun violence. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

This story mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call or text the suicide prevention lifeline at 988.?

A Northern Kentucky Republican will file a bill in the 2025 legislative session to hold parents and guardians civilly accountable for gun violence or misuse carried out by minor children in their care.?

Rep. Kim Banta of Fort Mitchell, which is across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, thinks of the legislation as a “wake up call,” she told the Kentucky Lantern.??

“I have constituents that … tell me their kids are literally afraid to go to school,” she said. “We just need to start kind of zeroing in on: if you’re under 18, your parents are responsible for your behavior.”??

Under her bill, people who are hurt or threatened by a minor using a gun could sue the minor’s parents or guardians and be awarded monetary damages.?

Banta? believes such legislation could incentivize parents and guardians to properly store and secure weapons (or separate them from ammunition), which could in turn lower suicide rates among youth and curb school shootings — and the threat of them.?

In 2023, nearly 4% of Kentucky high school students reported they carried a weapon like a gun or knife on school property at least one day within the month before they were surveyed, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kentucky Department of Education. That number rose to around 6% for the year before they were surveyed, and excluded weapons carried for hunting or target sport purposes.?

That survey also found 11% of high school students had at least one day within the month before they were surveyed when they were absent from school because they felt unsafe at school.?

Finally, 8% of students in 2023 reported they were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property at least once during the year before the survey.?

The Kentucky Department of Education also reports 15% of high school students and 17% of middle school students in the state considered suicide “seriously” in the last year. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.?

In its annual report, Kentucky’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel found children were increasingly injuring and killing themselves with guns they had wrongful access to.?

Among those, the Lantern reported in February, was a 4-year-old who played with a loaded gun he found in a glove compartment of a car and fatally shot himself. Another instance involved a 14-year-old boy whose friend fatally shot him with a loaded gun found in a parents’ bedroom.?

The panel said at the time that the legislature should research national models and develop legislation to promote safe storage of firearms.

What’s in Banta’s bill??

Banta’s bill, which is being drafted during the interim, would combine the state statutes that hold parents accountable for vandalism their children commit and when parents sign their child’s driver’s license.?

“The proposal is that a parent is responsible, civilly, for any gun violence that their child under 18 years old would perpetrate,” said Banta.?

That includes threatening someone with a gun, shooting a neighbor’s dog or injuring or killing a person. People who were wronged would then have a legal opening to sue the parents or guardians of those minor children.?

Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, will be the primary co-sponsor.?

A draft of the two-page bill, provided to the Lantern, says guardians are civilly responsible for “any negligence or willful misconduct of a minor.”?

The bill draft says parents and other guardians would be considered responsible and subject to paying civil damages under any of these circumstances:?

• They permitted the minor to have the firearm.
• They know that the minor has previously been adjudicated delinquent of an offense that would be a felony if the minor had been an adult.
• They know that the minor has a propensity to commit violent acts.?
• They know or have reason to know that the minor intends to use the firearm for unlawful purposes.?

The bill excludes emancipated minors or government or private agencies or foster parents who, through court order, are assigned responsibility for a minor.?

“My key motivator is just trying to get people to recognize that even though we live in a society where it is perfectly legal to own and use guns, I just think we need to back up for a minute,” Banta said. “We need to say, ‘Okay, I’m a gun owner, but that is going to extend to me being responsible for my children’s use of the guns.’”?

She hopes to get the bill before the House Judiciary Committee as early as possible during the session. She’s confident it passes constitutional and Second Amendment muster, she said.?

“I’m not restricting guns. I’m not telling you you cannot buy your child a gun. But what I’m telling you is: just be aware that you are as responsible for that child with that gun as you are with a car,” Banta said. “So if they do some damage, or they … threaten people… you’re going to be responsible civilly for it.”?

Banta already — favorably — discussed her bill with Speaker of the House David Osborne, R-Prospect, she said, and believes there is appetite to pass such legislation.?

That’s because, she said, “parental responsibility” is “everything that the (National Rifle Association), everything that gun ownership preaches” just “reinforced” with statute.?

“It’s just a matter of being very, very responsible with your gun ownership,” Banta said.? “Rather than a Sandy Hook or a Georgia incident, I’m hoping that parents will say, ‘yeah, no, you’re 16. You’re not old enough to be … on your own with a gun, or where I don’t know where you are with a gun.’”?

“I’m not telling a parent you can’t let your child go hunting by themselves anymore, and he’s 15 or 16,” she added. “I’m just telling you that if he goes and he shoots at the neighbor and kills their cow, you’re responsible. You’re gonna pay for that cow. You are responsible.”?

Banta doesn’t anticipate any funding needs for the bill, calling it an “ink and paper” policy.

“I just want people to feel safer,” Banta said. “And I want to pass something that just … makes sense.”?

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams told lawmakers: “It is illegal to impersonate a peace officer, and for good reason. It should be equally illegal to impersonate a secretary of state or county clerk and put out false information in any format about our elections.”?He was speaking Tuesday to a task force studying artificial intelligence. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

Kentucky’s Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams told lawmakers it’s “too soon” to tell what effect artificial intelligence will have on elections but that it has “potential for significant impact,” and he urged them to consider making it a crime to impersonate an election official.

Adams appeared before the General Assembly’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force Tuesday to discuss AI, which has become a growing concern for possible influence in this year’s presidential election. A recent study from the Pew Research Center found 57% of U.S. adults were extremely or very concerned that people or groups seeking to influence the election would use AI to create fake or misleading information about presidential candidates and campaigns.?

“Should you take up AI legislation when you return in 2025, I would encourage you to consider prohibiting impersonation of election officials,” Adams told the task force. “It is illegal to impersonate a peace officer, and for good reason. It should be equally illegal to impersonate a secretary of state or county clerk and put out false information in any format about our elections.”?

Adams highlighted a bipartisan bill from Lexington legislators, Republican Sen. Amanda Mays Bledose and Democratic Caucus Chair Sen. Reggie Thomas, that would have limited the use of “deep fakes” or deceptive AI to influence elections in Kentucky. In the recent legislative session, the bill died in the House after gaining approval in the Senate.?

Adams gave an example of a political consultant receiving a fine of $6 million from the Federal Communications Commission for fake robocalls to New Hampshire voters that mimicked President Joe Biden. The calls encouraged voters to not vote in the state’s Democratic primary. Adams said the fine was for violating telecommunication law and New Hampshire brought criminal charges against the consultant because of a state law making it a crime to impersonate a candidate.?

“As you look to protect candidates and voters from such practices, I urge you to consider inclusion of election officials,” Adams said. “An impersonation of me or my deputy secretary or senior staff of the State Board of Elections or a county clerk actually could do more harm than impersonation of a candidate.”?

Adams noted that concerns of AI influence in elections is not just an American problem. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom and South Africa, will also have consequential elections this year. Thus, they face issues with AI interference in elections as well.?

Bledsoe, who is a co-chair of the task force, said that there is tension between legislation aimed at preventing misuse of AI to influence elections and free speech protections. Adams said in response that laws against voter suppression do exist.?

“I think that the process and distrust of what is actually being said is the greatest danger to a voter, and we want to protect (the voter) as much as possible,” Bledose said.?

Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Veron, the other co-chair of the task force, said what Adams was asking was “very reasonable.”?

“It’s something I know that we’ve debated internally,” Bray said. “We’ve had Senate bills filed, we’ve had House bills filed, and it’s very clear that this is something that’s going to be with us as the technology evolves.”?

Medication abortion has become the most common method of abortion since the 2022 Dobbs decision ended the federal right to abortion. (Getty Images)

Researchers whose anti-abortion-funded studies were used to argue for restrictions on medication abortion — and then were retracted on methodological grounds — are now taking legal action against academic publisher Sage, which pulled their papers in February.

Represented by conservative law firms Consovoy McCarthy and Alliance Defending Freedom, the latter of which sued the Food and Drug Administration over abortion drugs in 2022, the researchers claim Sage’s retractions were unjustified and politically motivated and have led to “enormous and incalculable harm” to their reputations. They asked the Ventura County Superior Court in California to compel Sage to arbitrate with the researchers.

“Sage punished these highly respected and credentialed scientists simply because they believe in preserving life from conception to natural death. These actions have caused irreparable harm to the authors of these articles, and we are urging Sage to come to the arbitration table — as it is legally bound to do — rescind the retractions and remedy the reputational damage the researchers have suffered at the hands of abortion lobbyists,” said ADF senior counsel Phil Sechler in the recent announcement.

A representative for Sage declined to comment on the pending litigation.

A representative for the anti-abortion think tank Charlotte Lozier Institute, which employs the petitioning researchers, declined to comment. The nonprofit serves as the research arm of the influential Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which works to elect federal and state anti-abortion lawmakers.

The three studies at the center of the dispute were published in the journal “Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology,” between 2019 and 2022. Two of them featured prominently in a federal lawsuit aimed at restricting abortion pills, which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected this summer but continues to make its way through the lower courts.

States Newsroom was the first to report last year that Sage had opened an investigation after pharmaceutical sciences professor Chris Adkins contacted the journal with concerns that the researchers had misrepresented their findings. In the 2021 paper, the researchers looked at Medicaid data in 17 states between 1999 and 2015 and tracked patients who had had a procedural or a medication abortion and counted each time they went to an emergency department in the 30 days following those abortions. Their finding that emergency room visits within 30 days following a medication abortion increased 500% from 2002 to 2015 was frequently cited by plaintiffs and judges in the FDA case and used to conclude that the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone is dangerous. But Adkins and other public health experts told States Newsroom that the researchers inflated their findings, and appeared to conflate all emergency department visits with adverse events.

These concerns prompted Sage to re-examine the peer review process and to identify that one of the initial peer reviewers was an associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute. The publisher then enlisted a statistician and two reproductive health experts to newly peer review all three articles.

“Following Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, we made this decision with the journal’s editor because of undeclared conflicts of interest and after expert reviewers found that the studies demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor that invalidates or renders unreliable the authors’ conclusions,” Sage said announcing the retractions, which notes that the experts found that the papers had “fundamental problems with the study design and methodology,” “unjustified or incorrect factual assumptions,” “material errors in the authors’ analysis of the data,” and “misleading presentations of the data.”

In a petition to compel arbitration filed late last week, the studies’ lead author James Studnicki and nine co-authors argue that Sage has delayed arbitration in violation of California contract law. They say they’ve had difficulty publishing new research since the retractions. As examples, the petition notes that in March a free online archive and distribution server for unpublished, non-peer-reviewed manuscripts refused to post one of the petitioners’ manuscripts and that in April a journal rejected the same manuscript, “citing similar pretextual reasons that HSRME used in its retraction.”

“These rejections are just the tip of the iceberg but reveal the enormous and incalculable harm that Sage’s retraction has inflicted on the Authors’ reputations and their ability to publish research and scholarship,” reads the court petition. “As scientists, the Authors’ credibility is their lifeblood, but Sage has destroyed the Authors’ hard-earned professional reputations.”

Studnicki, Charlotte Lozier’s vice president and director of data analytics, was on the editorial board of “Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology” until last fall, but the journal’s editor-in-chief dismissed him after the journal and Sage decided to retract the papers. The blog Retraction Watch reports that the journal is no longer accepting new submissions.

Medication abortion has become the most common method since the 2022 Dobbs decision ended the federal right to abortion.

Despite claims by the Charlotte Lozier Institute that medication abortion is unsafe, when administered at 9 weeks gestation or less, the FDA-approved regimen has a more than 99% completion rate, a 0.4% risk of major complications, and around 30 reported associated deaths over 22 years. Common symptoms include heavy bleeding and cramping, diarrhea, and nausea, and sometimes medical intervention is necessary to avoid infection. ProPublica recently reported on two women in Georgia who suffered rare complications of medication abortion, but whose deaths were ruled preventable and were attributed to the state’s near-total abortion ban.

An ultrasound machine sits next to an exam table in an examination room at a women’s health clinic in South Bend, Ind. A recent study shows that there was a spike in the number of women seeking sterilizations to prevent pregnancy in the months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the constitutional right to an abortion. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In the months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion, there was a spike in the number of women seeking sterilizations to prevent pregnancy, a recent study shows.

Researchers saw a 3% increase in tubal sterilizations per month between July and December 2022 in states with abortion bans, according to the study published in September in JAMA, a journal from the American Medical Association. The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

The study looked at the commercial health insurance claim records of 1.4 million people from 15 states with abortion bans (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming). The study also examined the records of about 1.5 million people living in states with some abortion restrictions and 1.8 million in states where abortion remains legal. The researchers excluded 14 states that didn’t have records available for 2022.

“It’s probably an indication of women [who] wanted to reduce uncertainty and protect themselves,” said lead author Xiao Xu, an associate professor of reproductive sciences at Columbia University. In the first month after the ruling, sterilizations saw a one-time increase across all states included in the study, Xu and her team found. Her team also found continued increases in states that limited abortion to a certain gestational age, but those were not statistically significant.

The researchers compared records for three groups: States with a total or near-total ban on abortion, including states where bans were temporarily blocked; states where laws explicitly recognized abortion rights; and limited states, where abortion was legal up to a certain gestational age.

While the study captures only the early months following the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, experts say it’s part of an increasing body of evidence that shows a growing urgency for sterilization procedures amid more limited access to abortions, reproductive health care and contraception. Other studies have shown increases in tubal sterilization (commonly known as “getting your tubes tied”) and vasectomy requests and procedures post-Dobbs.

Diana Greene Foster, a professor and research director in reproductive health at the University of California, San Francisco, said the results are not surprising, given the negative repercussions for women who seek to end their pregnancies but are not allowed to do so.

Foster led the landmark Turnaway Study, which for a decade followed women who received abortions and those who were denied abortions. It found that women forced to carry a pregnancy to term experienced financial hardship, health and delivery complications, and were more likely to raise the child alone.

“We have found that women are able to foresee the consequences of carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term,” Foster told Stateline. “The reasons people give for choosing an abortion — insufficient resources, poor relationships, the need to care for existing children — are the same negative outcomes we see when they cannot get an abortion.

“So it is not surprising that some people will respond to the lack of legal abortion by trying to avoid a pregnancy altogether.”

As abortion bans delay emergency medical care, this Georgia mother’s death was preventable

Few doctors and services

States with abortion bans and other restrictions also tend to have large swaths of maternal health care “deserts,” where there are too few OB-GYNs and labor and delivery facilities. That creates greater maternal health risks.

One such state is Georgia where abortion is banned after six weeks. Georgia’s abortion ban was temporarily lifted last week by a Fulton County judge, but on Monday the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the ban. Dr. LeThenia “Joy” Baker, an OB-GYN in rural Georgia, said she sees patients in their early 20s who have multiple children and are seeking sterilizations to prevent further pregnancies, or who have conditions that make pregnancy dangerous for them. Her state has one of the highest maternal death rates in the nation.

On Monday, a Georgia county judge struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, meaning that for now, women have access to the procedure up to about 22 weeks of pregnancy. The state is appealing the decision, and it’s expected to eventually be decided by the state Supreme Court.

The county judge’s ruling comes two weeks after ProPublica reported that two women in the state died after they couldn’t access legal in-state abortions and timely medical care for rare complications from abortion pills.

Black and Indigenous women disproportionately experience higher rates of complications, such as preeclampsia and hemorrhage, which contributes to their higher maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Baker said some of her patients say they want to avoid risking another pregnancy because of those previous complications.

“I have had quite a few patients, who were both pregnant and not pregnant, who inquire about sterilization,” she said. “I do think that patients are thinking a lot more about their reproductive life plan now, because there is very little margin.”

Along with the state’s abortion restrictions, Baker said women in her Bible Belt community feel social pressure that can push them toward sterilization.

‘Between rock, hard place:’ Will anyone ever have standing to challenge Kentucky’s abortion ban?

“It is definitely more socially acceptable to say, ‘I’m going to get my tubes tied or removed,’ than to say, ‘Hey, I want to find abortion care,’” Baker said.

In states where lawmakers have proposed restrictions on contraception, women might feel tubal sterilization to be the most surefire way to prevent pregnancy. Megan Kavanaugh, a contraception researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy research center that supports abortion rights, said the research doesn’t say whether women who seek sterilization would have preferred another form of contraception.

“We need to both understand which methods people are using and whether those methods are actually the methods they want to be using,” said Kavanaugh, whose team studied contraceptive access and use in Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey and Wisconsin. “It’s really important to be monitoring both use and preferences in terms of heading towards an ideal where those are aligned.”

Tubal sterilizations can still fail at preventing a pregnancy, Foster said. One recent study noted that up to 5% of patients who underwent a tubal sterilization got pregnant later.

“If people are choosing sterilization who would otherwise pick something less permanent, then that is another very sad outcome of these abortion bans,” she added.

Another recent study, by Jacqueline Ellison, a University of Pittsburgh assistant professor who researches health policy, found that more young patients — both women and men — sought permanent contraceptive procedures in the wake of the Dobbs decision. The study focused on people ages 18 to 30 — the age group most likely to seek an abortion and the ones who previous studies suggest are most likely to experience “sterilization regret,” Ellison said.

A troubled history

The issue also can’t be disentangled from the nation’s history of coercive sterilizations, Ellison and other experts said. In the 1960s and 1970s, federally funded nonconsensual sterilization procedures were performed on Indigenous, Black and Hispanic women, as well as people with disabilities.

“People feeling pressured to undergo permanent contraception and people being forced into using permanent contraception are just two sides of the idea of reproductive oppression in this country,” Ellison said. “They’re just manifested in different ways.”

Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, now has regulations designed to prevent coerced procedures. But the rules can have unintended consequences, said Dr. Sonya Borrero, an internal medicine physician and director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity.

The process includes a 30-day waiting period after a patient signs a sterilization procedure consent form, Borrero noted. But pregnant women who want the procedure done right after delivery might not reach the 30-day threshold if they go into early labor, she said. She added that some patients are confused by the form.

Borrero launched a tool called MyDecision/MiDecisión, an English and Spanish web-based tool that walks patients through their tubal ligation decision and dispels misinformation around the permanent procedure.

“The importance and the relevance of it right now is particularly pronounced,” she said.

This article is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Kentuckians will be voting this fall on two constitutional amendments. This is the view approaching the Sugar Maple Square polling site in Bowling Green, May 21, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

To help voters better understand Amendment 2, which would allow Kentucky’s legislature to steer public dollars into nonpublic schools, LINK nky and Educate NKY will host a Community Conversation next week.

The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 14? at the Erlanger branch of the Kenton County Public Library. RSVP for a free ticket to the in-person event here, or watch live on the Link nky Facebook page.

Evan Millward, who was previously an anchor and reporter with WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, will be moderating the event.?

Speakers will be:?

• Brigitte Blom, president and CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a public school advocacy group that has come out publicly against Amendment 2. Before coming to the Prichard Committee, Blom was director of public policy for United Way of Greater Cincinnati with a focus on early childhood policy. Blom has worked in policy, research, and advocacy on issues related to education, poverty, and state taxes and budgets – including work for universities in Ohio and Kentucky and for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
• Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, which is advocating for the passage of Amendment 2. Waters has been with the free-market public policy think tank since 2003.?
• Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform. In his two terms as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, Elorza worked to engage the state department of education to turn around the city’s school system. Democrats for Education Reform was created in 2007 to address education inequality in public schools across the country. Neither Elorza or Democrats for Education reform have taken a public stance on Amendment 2.
• Lauren Hodge, the director of foundational education at yes. every kid. foundation., whose mission is to promote education that empowers families, helps implement bottom-up solutions, and advances education freedoms across the country, according to its website. Hodge previously worked at EdChoice as a state director and on the Legal Defense in Education team. She also litigated for several years in the public sector in Indiana in both criminal and civil courts. Hodge and yes. every kid. foundation. have not taken a stance on Amendment 2.?

The Elkhorn Lake dam in Letcher County in late September after rains brought on by Hurricane Helene. It was ranked as the state's top priority for repairs in a recent report to the Kentucky legislature. (Photo courtesy of Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest)

FRANKFORT — Whenever a heavy rain falls, Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest can’t help but think back to a deadly disaster as he drives around his small, mountain town checking on its aging dam and bridges.?

The dam that created Elkhorn Lake, known locally as Jenkins Lake, was built 112 years ago to provide hydropower to nearby coal mines. It still provides Jenkins with water and is a popular fishing spot. The dam’s concrete slope is rocky and worn down exposing rusty steel rebar in places.?

When state inspectors looked it over in May 2023, they found water seeping through in spots and rated the dam in “unsatisfactory” condition, the worst rating, meaning it is considered unsafe and has issues that need an immediate fix.?

The mayor and other community members have been acutely aware of the dam’s deteriorating condition for years. DePriest’s concerns about the dam trace back to the Buffalo Creek mine disaster of 1972 when three coal slurry dams failed in West Virginia; the rush of more than 130 million gallons of black water destroyed hundreds of homes, killing 125 people and leaving thousands homeless.

“That’s always on my mind. Anytime we have a big rain or some big event,” DePriest said. “How do we make sure we’re not in that situation one day?”

Located in Southeastern Kentucky in Letcher County, the Elkhorn Lake dam is also considered a high hazard dam by state dam inspectors, meaning its failure could kill people or seriously damage homes, businesses and infrastructure downstream. In Jenkins, that would include the city’s water treatment plant, homes, a church and the post office.?

The Elkhorn Lake dam isn’t the only dam state officials say needs attention. Kentucky has dozens of high hazard dams in poor or worse condition needing repairs and rehabilitation, according to a list sent by the state Department for Environmental Protection to the Legislative Research Commission in late August. The Lantern obtained the letter through the Open Records Act. The Elkhorn Lake dam ranked as the highest priority.

While a few of the 71 high hazard dams listed in the report are owned by state agencies, most are owned by smaller cities, county fiscal courts, soil and water conservation districts and private organizations and individuals. One high hazard dam considered to be unsafe by dam inspectors is in a Boone County suburb, homes directly abutting it. Others serve as drinking water supplies or for recreational purposes. All the dams on the list are in at least poor condition.

Local officials who spoke with the Lantern say their governments don’t have near the funds to make needed repairs, often $1 million or more. And that’s after paying for engineers.

Another challenge is even finding a dam owner to hold responsible, something that’s sometimes turned into a legal ordeal for state officials.?

DePriest hopes grants from the state or federal governments will repair the dam in Jenkins, given the financial burden his city of fewer than 2,000 would face trying to handle it alone. A dam safety organization warns those grants can be hard to come by given the need to repair dams across the country. “How do you put pieces together from these different agencies in a way that gives you a goal of making it safe and still usable for what we need it for?” DePriest said.

‘Non-cooperative owners, incapable owners, and non-existent owners’

Dam inspectors in the Department for Environmental Protection have watched a number of high hazard dams deteriorate for years, conducting annual inspections, issuing notices of violations when owners haven’t fixed previously cited issues. When little to no action is taken, the Energy and Environment Cabinet has resorted to issuing fines and filing lawsuits.??

Cabinet spokesperson Robin Hartman in a statement said the cabinet pursues litigation only after “all administrative enforcement options are exhausted.”?

“This authority includes administrative enforcement action, litigation, and emergency authority to take control of structures and take whatever action necessary to render a dam safe from loss of life and property,” Hartman said. “Challenges to enforcing the dam safety requirements include non-cooperative owners, incapable owners, and non-existent owners.”?

One city hadn’t communicated with the cabinet for years about its high hazard dam in unsafe condition, despite state inspectors’ concerns.?The cabinet sent a letter to the mayor of Stanford, the Lincoln County seat, on Aug. 13 fining the city $5,500 and directing the city to drain Rice Lake. The reservoir created by Stanford’s high hazard dam is one of three lakes supplying the city’s water, according to the city.

Yearslong issues cited by inspectors, including a part of the earthen dam sliding down its slope, had gone unrepaired. The city hadn’t responded since February 2022 to cabinet enforcement officials with updates on how an agreed plan to fix the dam was progressing.?

Stanford Mayor Dalton Miller told the Lantern he wasn’t aware of the status of the dam, directing inquiries to Stanford’s drinking water utility director who didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday. A cabinet spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment about the Rice Lake dam.?

In another case, the cabinet sued a private dam owner in Boyle County over failing to finalize an action plan to fix a dam with seepage issues that had been “deteriorating for many years.” Overgrowth of weeds and other plants at the Tank Pond dam had prevented inspectors from determining its stability with dozens of residences potentially threatened downstream, according to a lawsuit complaint.?

A Boyle Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the cabinet in March because the dam owner failed to respond to the lawsuit, ordering the private dam owner to remove the Tank Pond dam and return the waterway to its original flow by the end of the year.

In Hopkins County, a court battle over who owns and has responsibility for another high hazard dam in unsafe condition has dragged on for over a year. A housing development? had been built in the 1980s around Otter Lake, but the dam holding back the lake hasn’t been properly maintained. The Energy and Environment Cabinet sued the county fiscal court and property owners near the dam in December 2022 seeking to determine ownership of the dam and get it repaired.?

The cabinet’s complaint states multiple property owners and interests have disputed their ownership of the dam for decades while its condition has worsened, spurring one home owner to sue an Owensboro couple for not disclosing the dam’s condition or disclosing responsibilities to maintain the dam.?

A judge ruled last year the Hopkins County Fiscal Court has at least partial ownership of the dam because of a nearby road, and the telecommunications company AT&T has also been looped in as a defendant because of alleged buried telecommunications lines nearby.?

Significant costs to prevent potential dam failures

The report on high hazard dams sent to the legislature acknowledges the high cost of repair and rehabilitation. Sarah Gaddis, director of the Kentucky Division of Water, writes that “engineering expertise, materials, and other items required for dam repair are extremely expensive.”?

The report notes that $25 million in state funds has been used to reconstruct two state-owned dams, the Bullock Pen Lake Dam in Boone County and the Scenic Lake Dam in Henderson County with two other state-funded dam repair projects in the works having price tags of $15 million to $30 million each.?

The report also noted only four of the 71 high hazard dams listed are eligible for an existing state-funded dam repair program. For dams owned by local governments and organizations or private individuals, the report stated,? other funding mechanisms include federal grant programs or local monies and state earmarks.?

Robin Hartman, the cabinet spokesperson, in a statement said civil works projects like dams are “inherently expensive” and require specific expertise in design and construction methods. She said dam owners are required to bring on the needed engineers themselves.?

“Construction and design of dams also carry significant risk and liability due the inherent risk of impounding water,” Hartman said.” This elevated liability and risk command higher design standards and tightly controlled construction processes, which in turn increase construction costs.”

Katelyn Riley, the communications director for the Lexington-based Association of Dam Safety Officials, in a statement said the millions of dollars of costs fall on dam owners that either can’t afford them or may not qualify for grants or loans. While $2.15 billion has been made available for dam repair through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, she said, it is “a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed.”

“Lack of funding for dam rehabilitation is a serious problem nationally and in Kentucky.” Riley said. “The likelihood of failure can be mitigated by keeping a dam well maintained and, for older dams, upgrading them to meet current engineering design standards.”?

The Association of Dam Safety Officials in a 2023 report estimated the cost to repair and rehabilitate Kentucky’s more than 1,000 dams at $2.91 billion, with the cost to rehabilitate just the state’s high hazard dams estimated at $1.19 billion.?

As dams have deteriorated, so has Kentucky’s inspection force. The state employs fewer staff with less allocated resources to oversee dam inspections than in 1999, according to another report by the dam safety association.?

But Kentucky isn’t the only state with a growing dam problem. Nine other states had estimates over $1 billion to repair high hazard dams. That includes North Carolina, where dams were feared to be close to failure after rainfall from Hurricane Helene inundated Appalachian communities.?

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has funded hundreds of millions of dollars more in grants to repair dams through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs, though only a small number of dams in Kentucky so far have benefited. State lawmakers in the 2022 executive branch budget allocated $5 million for matching funds for the USDA’s Watershed Rehabilitation Program.

Riley said some states offer financial assistance to dam owners for repair, rehabilitation or removal, something that could “directly improve the safety of dams in the state” along with investing more in the state’s dam safety regulators.?

Two key Republican legislative committee chairs didn’t commit to the idea of state earmarks for local dam repairs when asked recently about the idea. But the chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, told the Lantern he’d be willing to work with the cabinet on solutions.?

“I think we agree that we need to be proactive,” Gooch said. “We don’t do enough planning in advance sometimes to keep, prevent problems like this from happening.”?

Keeping a community’s identity

For the mayor of a small Western Kentucky city, trying to save the Loch Mary Reservoir is about protecting a community space he grew up with.?

Facing pressure from state officials to deal with the high hazard dam that inspectors considered unsafe, Earlington’s city council voted in June 2023 to allow Mayor Albert Jackson to pursue grants and other opportunities to repair the concrete and earthen dam.

The reservoir, adjacent to rows of homes, had cracks and seepage in its concrete and was deemed not hydraulically sound, meaning there’s a problem with its ability to hold or release water.?

But Jackson, 36, didn’t want to consider draining the lake. Working with its area development district, the city received a $490,000 grant from FEMA to begin design work on a reconstructed dam.?

Jackson said the effort would be “absolutely impossible” for his city of 1,200 to do on its own.

“It fell in our favor to get the grant money, but I feel for a lot of communities that aren’t able to secure grant money or grant funding,” Jackson said. “If you’re a small town there’s no way that you can, you know — $1.5 million, $2 million, $3 million for some places, there’s no way that you can come up with that money in 12 months.”?

Jackson argued that because the state government is flush with cash, lawmakers should invest more in repairing infrastructure, like local dams, while the money is there.?

“It’s important for us to maintain those things, maintain our natural resources, especially in a state like Kentucky, because if we don’t we lose a part of our identity,” Jackson said.

Kyle Rittenhouse during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on Nov. 5, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images)

This article is republished from the Northern Kentucky Tribune, a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism.

Controversial gun rights advocate Kyle Rittenhouse is to be the special guest of a campaign fundraiser Oct. 9 for state House candidate TJ Roberts of Burlington.

The event will mark Rittenhouse’s second appearance in Kentucky this year. His appearance last spring at an event at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green sparked several protests on campus.

Rittenhouse, 21, gained national attention at age 17 for shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, two fatally, in August 2020 during protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse had left his home in Antioch, Illinois, and joined a group of armed people in Kenosha who said they wanted to protect private property.

He was cleared of multiple charges, including homicide, after claiming self-defense. Two civil lawsuits against him are pending.

The prosecution of Rittenhouse made him a celebrity among American right-wing organizations and media, gaining him meetings with former president Donald Trump and political commentator Tucker Carlson.

Roberts said he first met Rittenhouse when they both worked for the National Association for Gun Rights.

The fundraiser was initially scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Metropolitan Club, a private business club in downtown Covington. A minimum donation of $150 to attend was urged.

The venue was changed because the club became concerned after a death threat emerged on social media aimed at Rittenhouse. The post, since removed, appeared on X, formerly Twitter, as a threat to show up at the event, scare Rittenhouse and then shoot him.

The Roberts campaign said Thursday afternoon that the venue had been changed to a barbecue restaurant in Florence because of what it called “intimidation from the far left and threats of violence.”

Roberts is not a member of the club, but a member reserved the space without disclosing the nature of the “political fundraiser.” According to a source close to the Metropolitan Club, its board was not comfortable with exposing members to even the threat of violence or a police presence for security.

In a release Roberts said, “I will always stand against the cancel culture tactics employed by the radical left” and said that despite arranging for armed security provided by the Covington Police, the venue “caved to the mob’s intimidation.”?

Roberts softened his criticism Thursday night, striking a more conciliatory tone. “I don’t blame the Metropolitan Club for what it did. Its board had to act accordingly after the death threat on social media,” he said.

Roberts said his fundraiser with Rittenhouse now will be held at Smokin’ This and That BBQ in Florence.

He said the owner of the restaurant “is a true American patriot who supports our First Amendment right to free speech and will not surrender to the pressures of those who seek to silence us. This is not just about our event — it’s a fight for the freedoms that make America great.”

Guy Cummins, owner of the barbecue restaurant, said he has held fundraisers for many organizations. “I’m a former Marine who tries to do what is right,” he said.

Cummins said he was “not very familiar” with Rittenhouse. Told a bit about him, Cummins said, “I understand that he was found not guilty. I expect everything will go just fine with this fundraiser.”

Three other Republican state legislators from the area are to be at the fundraiser: Savannah Maddox, Steven Doan and John Schickel.

Steve Rawlings, now state representative from District 66, is running for the state Senate to replace the retiring Schickel.

Peggy Nienaber of Burlington is the Democratic nominee running against Roberts in the general election ending Nov. 5.

Nienaber did not respond to an email, seeking comment about Roberts’ fundraiser.

But Jonathan Levin, the state Democratic Party’s communications director, said in an email, “TJ Roberts’ latest fundraiser with right-wing poster boy Kyle Rittenhouse is yet another reminder to voters that he’s an extremist with a disturbing view of the world that doesn’t belong in the General Assembly.?

“Whether it’s spewing antisemitism, making light of school shootings hours after the tragedy in Uvalde, or disparaging Martin Luther King, Jr., Roberts has shown all of us that he’s unfit for office.?

“Kentuckians deserve leaders who will address the real issues that matter most — like good-paying jobs and health care — instead of using their platforms to stoke fear.”

Roberts, in response, said, “There is nothing extreme or controversial about the right to self-defense. When the Democrats attempt to demonize and dehumanize Kyle Rittenhouse, they are attacking those who engage in self-defense, and making heroes out of rioters who attempt to murder law-abiding citizens.”

Amendment 2 would change Kentucky's Constitution to allow the General Assembly to spend tax dollars for educating students at private schools. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — With the general election next month, Kentucky’s top Democrats and Republicans are both criticizing what they say is misinformation about a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

Amendment 2, which Kentucky voters will decide, was a top priority for GOP lawmakers during this year’s legislative session; Democrats consistently opposed the idea. The partisan skirmish continues in the race to sway voters.

Speaking with reporters in Frankfort this week, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne, both Republicans, said unfounded speculation about what the amendment would do is an obstacle for its supporters to overcome.

Stivers and Osborne stressed that the amendment merely lowers constitutional barriers that in the past have blocked the legislature from expanding what its supporters call “school choice.”

Opponents warn that if Amendment 2 is approved, the Republican-controlled legislature would create a system of vouchers, as 10 states have done, to help families pay for private school tuition diverting funds from public schools.

“I think what some people are saying about the amendment is not accurate,” Stivers said. “There is nothing in the amendment except it would allow the legislature to go beyond what the constitutional definition of common schools are.”?

In the past, Stivers said, the focus of “school choice” legislation in Kentucky has been targeted “on failing school systems” but, he said, those laws were declared unconstitutional.?

In recent years, Kentucky courts have struck down the legislature’s attempts to authorize charter schools in the state and tax credits to help families pay private school tuition. Those bills narrowly passed over Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes.?

Amendment 2 would suspend or “notwithstand” seven sections of the state constitution but only to enable “the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools,” according to language approved by the legislature.

If voters approve the? amendment, the Republican leaders said, decisions about next steps would involve stakeholders and extensive debate by lawmakers — debate that Osborne predicted would be “contentious.”

“If you look at the history of the school choice debates in the legislature, they’ve been very contentious, and they’ve been very incremental in the things that they have done,” Osborne said. “I think to expect there to be sweeping legislation that’s going to happen the next day is clearly just not going to happen, but there’s really not been a tremendous amount of discussion about what that policy will look like.”?

Stivers predicted “we’re probably a year away from any type of legislation,” noting that the General Assembly next convenes in January in the middle of a school year. The Kentucky Department of Education, superintendents, teachers and families would also need to give input on any future legislation, he said.?

When lawmakers debated the amendment earlier this year, some Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the ballot measure, particularly those with a history in public education or who represent rural communities.

Meanwhile, Kentucky Democrats point to the lack of specifics in the amendment as a reason voters should defeat it.?

“Amendment 2 is really just a blank check for the Republicans in the General Assembly,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson of Lexington. “Do not let them convince you to write it.”?

Stevenson spoke during a news conference in the Capitol Rotunda last week, along with Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge.

Coleman, who has been traveling the state campaigning against the amendment,? said its supporters are putting out false information. She said she was aware of a recent campaign mailer saying that Gov. Andy Beshear supported it, which is not true.?

“There’s a lot of conversations that still need to be had,” Coleman said. “And it’s my hope that the folks who are tied in the most in our education communities — parents, teachers, volunteers, all of the folks who work in our schools — help to educate the people around them about what this really means.”?

Elridge argued “we don’t even know what the choice actually is” because Republican lawmakers have not shared what changes in policy and law they would pursue if the amendment passes.?

Stevenson called for supporting education by funding universal pre-K programs and pupil transportation along with finding ways to lower class sizes rather than supporting the amendment.?

When asked if it’s a challenge to persuade voters to support Amendment 2 without telling them more about what would come next, Osborne said that “makes it easier for people to distort it” but he thinks “the people of Kentucky are smart enough to figure this out.”?

“Most people do like to maintain status quo, and so that is an impact on any constitutional amendment,” Stivers said.?

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. In-person, excused absentee voting will be held Oct. 23, 24, 25, and Oct. 28, 29, 30. Early in-person, no excuse absentee voting will take place Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 31- Nov. 2. To find out times and locations of? early voting in your county, visit the State Board of Elections website at govote.ky.gov.

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during the Graves County Republican Party Breakfast, part of the Fancy Farm Picnic political festivities, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, . (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

FRANKFORT — While Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s new political action committee, In This Together, has yet to report donating to a Democratic legislative candidate, U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s old PAC has reported giving $200,000 to help Republicans running this fall for the Kentucky legislature and local offices.

In a report filed with the Federal Election Commission, McConnell’s Bluegrass Committee PAC reported giving $2,100 (the maximum allowed by state law) on Aug. 20 to each of 95 Republicans running in Kentucky. McConnell’s PAC gave to 90 Republican candidates for seats in the General Assembly, three candidates for Louisville Metro Council and two mayoral candidates. The PAC also reported giving $1,000 to the Kentucky Federation of Republican Women.

Follow the money

An occasional series of campaign finance notebooks

By Tom Loftus

?It was a lot of money, but a routine disgorgement from Bluegrass Committee, which for 35 years has been McConnell’s so-called leadership PAC — a major but under-the-radar force in helping fund Republicans running for office at all levels in Kentucky. It has also been a consistent donor to candidates supported by McConnell outside Kentucky.?

Although called a leadership PAC, there’s no leadership requirement to start one. Almost? all members of the U.S. Senate and House have one to collect and disperse political money.

Granted, being a leader in a legislative body, as McConnell has been for decades, helps raise money.?

A constant flow of dollars from the PACs of big corporations and associations has funded McConnell’s Bluegrass Committee. These PACs are limited to giving no more than $5,000 per year to a leadership PAC. And scores of them give $5,000 to Bluegrass Committee year after year.

In August, donors of $5,000 to Bluegrass Committee included PACs of Boeing, AT&T, McKesson, Union Pacific, National Beer Wholesalers and the National Automobile Dealers.

Since Jan. 1, 2023, FEC records show 91% of the $838,000 in contributions taken in by Bluegrass Committee during this political cycle has come from these PACs. Only 9% has been donated by individuals.

The donations not only allow McConnell to make big political contributions, they also help pay for folks who run his perpetual political operations.

For instance, in August the largest expense of Bluegrass Committee was $10,000 paid to Haney Consulting, the company owned by McConnell’s longtime fundraising consultant, Laura Haney. Since Jan. 1, 2023, Bluegrass Committee has paid Haney Consulting $200,000, FEC records show.

Beshear created In This Together in January to raise money he could use to support like-minded candidates in Kentucky and across the country. From January through August Beshear’s super PAC reported raising $897,500. Eric Hyers, a Beshear political strategist, said in July that the PAC would wait until fall to begin significant spending in support of candidates.

Hal Rogers’ leadership PAC

For many years 5th District U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky also maintained a leadership PAC, although it is understandably much smaller than Senate Republican Leader McConnell’s PAC.

Rogers’ PAC, called Help America’s Leaders PAC, or HALPAC, came under the scrutiny of Lexington Herald-Leader reporter John Cheves four years ago.

Cheves’ report revealed that HALPAC made very few political contributions to fellow Republicans, but spent? its money on other things, like a $3,000 a month salary to Rogers’ wife, Cynthia Rogers, for “PAC event planning.”

More recent reports show that HALPAC still gives very little to other Republican candidates — only $8,000 (or 2.3% of the PAC’s total spending since Jan. 1, 2023.)

But one thing has changed since that Herald-Leader story.

HALPAC no longer pays Cynthia Rogers $3,000 a? month for PAC event planning.

It pays her $4,000 a month for PAC event planning.

In fact, since Jan. 1, 2023 through August 2024 it has paid Cynthia Rogers $80,000, FEC records show. That’s 23% of the PAC’s spending during the period and 10 times the amount HALPAC has made in contributions to other Republican candidates.

Kentucky Lantern sent Rogers’ office questions in hopes of getting more details of the PAC’s spending. HALPAC replied with a statement late Thursday that said, “All expenditures are done in accordance with the purpose of the PAC and FEC regulations, including all event and personnel expenditures. There is not a more stalwart team player for the Republican Party than Hal Rogers. Over the years he has generously donated directly to countless candidates and to the National Republican Congressional Committee to help elect a Republican majority.”

RPK Building Fund still getting big more corporation contributions

Special interest corporation dollars are continuing to flow into the Republican Party of Kentucky’s Building Fund as groundbreaking for the expansion of the party’s headquarters took place late this summer.

According to a report filed by the RPK this week with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, the RPK’s building fund got $385,000 in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30 with the majority of that coming from a whopping $300,000 donation from Brown-Forman of Louisville.

Also during the quarter, the Boeing Co. PAC gave another $75,000. (It had previously given $100,000 to the building fund.) And Toyota Motor North America Inc. gave $10,000.

That brings the total raised so far for the project to $3.6 million; nearly all of that was donated by big corporations that lobby both Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. The largest donation of $1 million was made early in the fundraising drive by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., of New York. The second largest donor was a small Ohio gas distribution utility called NWO Resources. (The president and director of N.W.O Resources is James Neal Blue who is also chief executive and chairman of General Atomics Corp., a defense contractor that the Forbes website says is best known as the manufacturer of the Predator drone.)

The party headquarters is located in a house about four blocks down Capitol Avenue from the Kentucky Capitol. A sign out front identifies it as the “Mitch McConnell Building.” And the senator himself was on hand early last month when ground was broken for the expansion which will add 6,800 square feet of space for more offices, conference rooms and an auditorium.

The project was made possible by a 2017 law that — among other things — allowed state political parties to create building funds which could accept donations from corporations of unlimited amounts.

The building fund reported spending $133,600 during the recent quarter and that as of Sept. 30 it still had more than $3.2 million on hand.

Most of that spending was for an architect and a construction manager, but a lot of it — $20,000 — was paid to Haney Consulting, the business owned by McConnell’s fundraiser. Reports filed by the building fund with the election registry show that since Jan. 1, 2023 the building fund has paid Haney Consulting $120,000 to raise the corporation contributions for expanding the RPK headquarters.?

Democrat Adam Moore, left, and Republican Thomas Jefferson are running to represent House District 45 in the Kentucky General Assembly.

After his support for LGBTQ+ teens cost Republican Rep. Killian Timoney the primary, voters in his suburban Lexington district will choose between the Republican who defeated him and a Democrat who describes himself as more of a Libertarian.?

The candidates are Democrat Adam Moore, a military veteran and business owner, and Republican Thomas Jefferson, who has retired from finance and car sales. The election is a test of how culture war issues will play in the district.?

Moore and Jefferson are vying for a seat in the General Assembly in a district that encompasses southwestern areas of Fayette County and part of Jessamine County. They recently spoke to the Kentucky Lantern in separate interviews.?

House District 45 candidates

Thomas Jefferson

Party: Republican

City: Lexington

Raised for general election: $23,664.83

Website: www.tjforky.com

Adam Moore

Party: Democratic

City: Lexington

Raised for general election: $46,685.59

Website: www.kydeservesmoore.com

In the primary, the Jessamine County Republican Party endorsed Jefferson over Timoney, citing the incumbent’s votes against two GOP anti-transgender bills, 2023’s Senate Bill 150, which among other things banned gender-affirming care for transgender minors, and 2022’s Senate Bill 83, which prevents trans women and girls from competing on their schools’ female sports teams.?

Jefferson said that Timoney is a “very nice gentleman” and a good family man, but he disagreed with his voting record, particularly on those measures.

“I would never ever think of running against a fellow Republican unless I felt like they weren’t doing the job that I expected,” Jefferson said. “And unfortunately, Killian voted way differently than I would, and I believe differently than most of the 45th District would vote as well.”?

Moore, the Democrat, said Timoney was targeted by “a negative smear campaign” and said he expects to be likewise targeted heading into the general election. Mailers to primary voters from outside groups referred to Timoney as a “groomer” for voting against the anti-transgender bills.?

Moore too praised Timoney’s character, adding that while they may disagree on policies, at the end of the day Moore knew that Timoney cared about people.?

“I think the Thomas Jefferson defeat of Killian Timoney in the primary signals a shift in the Republican Party,” Moore said.?

The two legislative candidates have gone back and forth on participating in a debate or forum. Last week, Moore issued an invitation on social media to Jefferson for a public forum. Jefferson told the Lantern he would have to know more about the proposal before accepting it.?

“I’d be more than glad to debate anybody,” Jefferson said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, but it all depends on who is hosting the debate, who the moderators are,” Jefferson said. He then pointed to GOP criticism of the ABC presidential debate for the moderators’ live fact-checking of Republican former President Donald Trump.

Moore said in response that he’s open to having any “credible local journalist” moderate. He added that he believes it’s fair to fact check someone in a debate when something false is said.?

Adam Moore

Moore, a former Republican who interned for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, said that service has always been important to him. As an intern, he got experience responding to constituents’ concerns and in the Army, he learned lessons completing missions while facing hard days. Both experiences have prepared him for representing the 45th House District, he said.?

“Service has always been important to me,” Moore said. “It’s why I joined the Army, why I’m involved with local civic organizations, and the road that I’ve kind of traveled on, this is just the next logical step as well, being able to continue serving and to serve in a different way and serve in a way that I think I can really succeed at and do a good job at.”

Moore said he has never fit the model of stereotypical Republicans or Democrats. He added that he’s “always been more of a Libertarian,” in that he believes in avoiding excessive government spending while letting people live their lives as they wish socially.?

“As far as being a Democrat now, I’ve already said I’ve been pretty Libertarian in my leanings as far as the government should basically stay out of people’s lane if they can,” Moore said. “And what we see now is the Republican Party has been molded in this image of Donald Trump, which is not policies. It’s become more of a cult of personality.”?

If elected, Moore has some policies in mind that he would like to support, such as eliminating sales taxes on services and expanding on Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order that restored the right to vote to nonviolent felons. Moore said the order did not cover felons convicted in other states or charged with federal crimes.?

“I would like to extend that same thing and put that in law to anyone in Kentucky who is now a lawful citizen who has served their time,” Moore said. “We’ve all made mistakes, and of course, not all mistakes are the same, but once you’ve served your time, the bare minimum to be a part of our democracy is having your right to vote.”?

Additionally, Moore would? like to establish a veterans’ caucus. As for a couple recent policies passed by the Republican-controlled legislature, Moore said he is against a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools, Amendment 2, and an omnibus crime bill, House Bill 5. Both passed earlier this year.?

Moore took issue with a controversial part of the crime bill that created illegal street camping.?

“What you do is you, you identify the causes of homelessness, and all the causes of homelessness are also the causes of other crime that that bill is seeking to address, and homelessness is a part of that but that might also be battling with addiction, that might be systemic poverty. There are things to address that are not Band-Aid solutions, that is adding to our already overcrowded prison system.”?

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson worked in the car business for nearly four decades and retired three and a half years ago. While he’s “brand new to politics,” he’s finding that resonates with voters he meets. Jefferson said he decided to run for office after getting “tired of throwing rolled up socks at the TV.”

Jefferson said he believes his career experience will translate to working with others in the General Assembly.?

“One thing you find out in sales is you have to compromise and you have to negotiate. Politics is the same way,” Jefferson said. “To accomplish anything, you’re going to have to understand what the other people want to try to accomplish, put forth what you want to try to accomplish and come up with a compromise that everybody gets some of what they want.”?

Among lawmakers, Jefferson said he would be most aligned with Liberty Caucus members including Reps. Savannah Maddox, Candy Massaroni and Matt Lockett. The Kentucky Liberty Caucus’ website defines Liberty politicians as ones who are “more critical of government debt spending, corporate handouts, the influence of money and lobbyists in politics, and intrusion upon the rights of individuals than the establishment.”

Jefferson has also signed a term limit commitment. The commitment did not specify how many terms he would seek, Jefferson said, but added he would be open to three terms, or six years.??

“I want to serve for a few terms and do what I can to help our Commonwealth, and then pass the baton on to somebody else that can go ahead and have some fresh ideas. Besides that, I think that’s what our founding fathers really expected. It was supposed to be an honor to serve, but also a burden at the same time, and so they never expected to have career politicians out there.”?

Jefferson said he supports Amendment 2 and would “forward the opportunity for school choice” if elected this November. However, he added that he, his wife and daughters attended public schools.?

“We appreciate the jobs that they (public school teachers) do, and they’re unsung heroes in a lot of ways, but the public school system is not always a good fit for every child, and I would love to to empower average middle-class citizens like myself that don’t have the opportunity because of finances, to give their child a different avenue towards learning and help them succeed in life,” Jefferson said.??

Additionally, Jefferson said he supports greater transparency in government and schools. He would like to publish synopses of bills online and get input from constituents on legislation. He also supports parents having greater access to know what curriculum and books are taught in schools.?

Jefferson is a co-lead usher of Southland Christian Church and regularly volunteers with a mentor program through the church for elementary school kids.?

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, left, and House Speaker David Osborne are among the Republicans who declined to answer the Right to Life candidate survey this year. They conferred during the State of the Commonwealth address in the House chambers on Jan. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)

FRANKFORT — The top two Republicans in the Kentucky General Assembly laid out the process to remove a lawmaker in response to questions about allegations of inappropriate behavior against Louisville Democratic Rep. Daniel Grossberg.?

Speaking to reporters in the Capitol Annex Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker David Osborne said indications of impropriety within the chamber are taken seriously. Meanwhile, Senate President Robert Stivers said he sees a bipartisan appetite to review the matter.?

In the months following this year’s legislative session, the Lexington Herald-Leader revealed allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women by the freshman lawmaker, including text messages. The newspaper recently reported Grossberg received a lifetime ban from a Louisville strip club after inappropriately touching a dancer and that he offered another dancer $5,000 to have sex with him.?

Grossberg has repeatedly denied the allegations and has said he plans to seek treatment “to reduce my impulsive behavior.”?

Osborne said that while an ethics investigation is ongoing, “we have taken steps to, at the request of the minority (caucus) and their leadership, to make some changes.” The Herald-Leader has previously reported Grossberg is the subject of two investigations by the Legislative Research Commission and the Legislative Ethics Commission.

“Certainly, we take any indication of impropriety or inappropriate behavior very, very seriously in this workplace, and will continue to do so,” the speaker said. “There is a process for removing a member from the body and expelling the member from the body. So that certainly will be, I’m sure, a possibility. To my knowledge, those conversations are not ongoing at this point.”?

Kentucky legislators are not subject to the typical impeachment process, but rather can be removed by a two-thirds vote of their chamber, under the state Constitution.?

Democrats have largely unified in shunning Grossberg following the reports. Leading Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, have called on Grossberg to resign. House Democrats voted to expel Grossberg from their caucus. He’s been booted from his interim committee assignments.?

However, Grossberg appears to have little resistance in getting another term. He faces no opponent in the November general election for the 30th House District after narrowly winning his primary election by 50 votes.?

Stivers said that he had previously told Osborne he sees “a bipartisan request to look into this.”?

“It appears to be that there is a bipartisan sentiment to do something if it is proven,” Stivers said. “And if that happens in that way, the Senate will support their decision, even though we will not be able to impact that decision.”?

The Senate Democratic Caucus leadership has also joined Democrats in calling on Grossberg to resign.

When asked if a special session of the legislature to remove Grossberg was a possibility, Osborne said he anticipated the matter would wait until lawmakers convene for the regular session in January.?

In Kentucky, the governor must call the legislature into a special session. The General Assembly sought an amendment to give it that power in 2022. Beshear opposed it. Stivers said that perhaps if the governor had supported the amendment, “we could have already dealt with it.”?

Grossberg’s attorney, Anna Whites, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.?

Signs hoisted by the audience for an Amendment 2 debate at the Fancy Farm Picnic express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office sent a cease and desist notice to a public school district that took an online stance against a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.?

Augusta Independent Schools became the second public school district in the state to openly oppose Amendment 2 via Tuesday night posts on X and Facebook. The amendment has drawn ire from public school officials and Democrats who warn it would reduce dollars now allocated to public education.

The Ohio River school district said in its Facebook post that the amendment would “take public taxpayer dollars and give them to private schools, leaving our public schools with fewer resources.” Tuesday’s post was the first of the district’s “Be Informed Series,” which it said would continue twice a week until Election Day next month.?

“If you believe in strong, well-funded public schools for all students, vote NO on Amendment 2 this November 5th,” the post said. “Protect Kentucky’s Public Schools!”?

Christopher Thacker, general counsel for Coleman, wrote the Wednesday letter to Lisa McCane, the school district’s superintendent calling the anti-amendment posts “partisan political messages” and asked that they be removed.

“We certainly understand that individuals on both sides of the debate over Amendment 2 feel strongly about the issue,” Thacker wrote. “The Office of Attorney General also fully supports the First Amendment rights of all Kentuckians — including school officials — to express their views on this important ballot question. However, public officials may not commandeer public resources to promote their own partisan positions.

“Quite simply, messages that are appropriate for an individual social media account may not be permissible when posted on an official platform that purports to speak for the school district itself, rather than for any single individual or group of individuals.”?

McCane, the Augusta superintendent, was not immediately available for an interview Wednesday. The school district removed the posts Wednesday night and released a new statement online. The district said it intended to inform voters about how the amendment would affect public education and the amendment “would negatively impact the education and services we provide to our students in the Augusta Independent School District.”

Last month, Pulaski County Schools made similar posts on its social media accounts and websites but later removed them after backlash from Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie.?

At the time, Coleman issued an advisory “to remind those entrusted with the administration of tax dollars appropriated for public education that those resources must not be used to advocate for or against” proposed Constitutional Amendment 2. Thacker cited that advisory and the school district’s policy on political activities in his letter to the Augusta superintendent.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is also a former attorney general, questioned the original advisory and asked if it would have been issued in response to lawmakers using their official letterhead or social media accounts to campaign against the amendment.?

“If we are going to put out opinions like this, it has to be content neutral, and it has to apply to more than just a school district fighting for its funding,” the governor said.?

Speaking with reporters Wednesday at the Capitol Annex in Frankfort, Republican House Speaker David Osborne said Coleman has “been pretty clear that we don’t need to clarify” the law around schools issuing political messages.?

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers added that the law also applies to lawmakers. He said they have taken care to not use state resources to advocate for or against the amendment, but have said what the amendment’s language is.?

“That’s it. Not advocating for or against it using state dollars because state dollars shouldn’t be used for political advocacy,” Stivers said.?

At first, comments had been turned off on Augusta Independent’s posts, but were later turned on Wednesday afternoon.?

Augusta Independent had 294 students enrolled last school year, according to Kentucky Department of Education data. Located in Bracken County, the town is in Northern Kentucky.

This story was updated Thursday morning.?

Cease and desist letter to Augusta schools superintendent

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear walks onstage before speaking during the first night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Aug. 19, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was named to the TIME100 Next list for 2024 following his reelection in a red state and consideration as a running mate by Vice President Kamala Harris put him in the national spotlight.?

The list curated by Time Magazine recognizes emerging leaders from around the world. Beshear was highlighted for “his convincing portrayal of post-partisan leadership” during his 2023 campaign, particularly speaking of unity in the state and citing the Bible’s story of the Good?Samaritan.

“The scion of Kentucky Democrats’ most formidable family, he has managed to lead his conservative state even as a Republican supermajority at the statehouse routinely sends him veto-destined legislation, delivering on big ideas like legalizing medical marijuana and expanding Medicaid to cover vision and dental care,” Time wrote. “And his commitment to reproductive rights has been as steady as his presence during a slate of floods and tornadoes, making the 46-year-old Beshear a winner of praise well beyond -Kentucky.”?

While Harris ultimately picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Beshear has continued to act as a surrogate for her campaign, regularly appearing in national TV news. Beshear also addressed the Democratic National Convention last month where he renewed his message on overcoming political division and supporting reproductive freedom for a wider audience.?

“I’m honored to be included on the 2024 #Time100Next list with such phenomenal people,” Beshear said on his personal X account Wednesday morning. “This honor is a testament to the great work we’re doing in Kentucky and the rest of the world is noticing. Thank you, @TIME.”?

Others appearing on the list include CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins, pop singer Sabrina Carpenter and Olympian Ilona Maher.?

Daniel Cameron looks over the crowd after conceding defeat on election night, Nov 7, 2023, in Louisville. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s attorney general and two University of Louisville physicians waged a legal battle for more than a year that almost no one knew about —? even though it involved the Republican candidate for governor and an issue of intense public interest.

The secrecy around the case – from its outset in June of 2023 – is highly unusual. It ended Monday when the file was unsealed under a Franklin Circuit judge’s order. The Lantern first revealed the case’s existence and reported many of its details in August based on a Court of Appeals ruling and sources with knowledge of the situation.?

The newly unsealed file provides further insights into what happened when the powers of Kentucky’s top prosecutor intersected with abortion politics in an election year.

The dispute involved then-Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s efforts to pursue a criminal investigation against the two U of L physicians who, when it was still legal to do so, performed abortions and trained medical students and residents at EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. Cameron also was Kentucky Republicans’ nominee for governor last year.

Kentucky appeals court rejects AG’s efforts to get employment records in abortion case

After the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in the summer of 2022, the physicians testified in court against the near-total abortion ban that immediately took effect in Kentucky.

Cameron, whose office was defending the abortion ban, then sought the physicians’ pay, tax and other records from U of L through the civil discovery process. When that didn’t work he used a grand jury to subpoena the records as part of a criminal investigation that he said would discover whether public dollars had been misused.

In the end, the case turned on what two courts determined were Cameron’s misuse of the grand jury process and his lack of evidence of any crime.

Politics alleged

Lawyers for the physicians argued that Cameron’s actions were motivated by politics, that he was using abortion litigation “for political gain in his gubernatorial campaign” — a claim that Cameron’s office branded “offensive” and “slander.”?

The doctors’ lawyers said Cameron “apparently believes that depicting abortion providers as greedy profiteers advances his arguments that abortions should be outlawed.”?

It’s impossible to know how public knowledge of the case might have affected the 2023 race for governor. By September 2023 — less than two months before the gubernatorial election — the politics of abortion had changed in Kentucky.?

That month Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear began airing powerful commercials featuring a rape victim and a prosecutor criticizing Cameron for opposing exceptions for rape and incest in the abortion ban. And Cameron quickly modified his position, saying he would sign legislation creating exceptions for rape and incest if the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved it.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd tried to unseal the case at that time, but was thwarted by Cameron who immediately appealed the ruling to quash the subpoena and successfully pleaded to keep the case secret at least until the appeals court ruled on its merits.

Beshear defeated Cameron in the governor’s race by about 5 percentage points, and Cameron has since taken a job as executive director of a non-profit group called 1792 Exchange. (That group’s website says it works to? protect small businesses, other non-profits and philanthropic organizations from “woke” corporations.)

AG Coleman ends appeals

Cameron did not respond to an email from the Lantern sent to 1792 Exchange seeking comment on the outcome of his ill-fated investigation.

Current Attorney General Russell Coleman did not ask the Kentucky Supreme Court to review the August Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Shepherd’s decision to quash the subpoena. Rewa Zakharia, chief of the criminal division in Coleman’s office, declined comment on Friday after a court hearing when Shepherd ordered the case finally unsealed. Zakharia referred questions to the office spokesman Kevin Grout, who did not return phone messages from Kentucky Lantern.

One of the attorneys for the doctors, William Brammell, released a statement that said, “We appreciate the judge’s thoughtful handling of this case and ultimate decision to unseal it, making it available to the public.? In a functioning democracy, it’s critical that citizens know what their government is doing and the judge’s decision in this case balances that right to access with our client’s understandable personal privacy interests.”

On Aug. 9 a three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Shepherd’s quashing of the subpoena. Its order said the subpoena amounted to a “fishing expedition” and that Cameron’s premise that tax dollars may have been illegally spent on abortions was not supported by the facts of the case.

The appeals court sent the question of whether the case should be unsealed back to Shepherd. On Friday Shepherd unsealed the case with the exception of one document, and he released 177 pages of records Monday with the names of the physicians redacted.

The U of L physicians and another physician who practiced at EMW Women’s Surgical Center initiated the case on July 21, 2023, asking Franklin Circuit Court to quash a subpoena seeking payroll, personnel and other records

They argued that Cameron unsuccessfully sought the same records in the civil case challenging the constitutionality of Kentucky’s abortion ban and that the material sought was not relevant to any possible criminal charges. They suggested a political motive which Cameron hotly disputed.

“It has become clear that Mr. Cameron will use abortion litigation, against providers and others, for political gain in his gubernatorial campaign.”

Cameron said the subpoena was issued as part of his office’s responsibility to investigate “crimes involving the use of public funds.”

The plaintiffs filed the case under the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and John Row, and asked that the case be sealed to protect their privacy. Cameron offered no objection and Shepherd let the case initially proceed under seal.

As the case proceeded, Shepherd, over the objections of the doctors’ lawyers, gave Cameron the opportunity to present a confidential (“in camera”) written explanation “that will set forth the subject matter of the Attorney General’s investigation.”

Cameron did so. That record remains the only part of the file still sealed. But whatever is in it, it did not convince Shepherd.

Grand jury never asked for or asked for subpoena

The judge wrote a 16-page order quashing the subpoena. Shepherd agreed with nearly all points made by the physicians’ attorneys. He said even the confidential submission from the attorney general “provides no information which grants its office jurisdiction.”

Shepherd said the investigation was brought in the wrong county because the doctors work in Jefferson County. “There is no indication that any of the conduct under investigation took place in Franklin County. Nor is there any allegation that state funds were used directly in any manner that would violate the penal code,” he ruled.

Shepherd noted that while Cameron obtained the subpoena from the clerk of the Franklin Circuit Court, the grand jury never asked for the subpoena or voted to authorize it.

And because the subpoena sought the same records Cameron was unsuccessfully trying to get in the separate civil case, the judge concluded, “this subpoena appears to be a classic ‘fishing expedition.’”

He said the doctors had a right to be concerned the information might be used in a way that would “subject them to vilification or harassment by opponents of abortion.”

The judge also said he was inclined to open the case because the public should know what goes on in court. Shepherd issued a lengthy order in which he attempted to unseal the records. “The Court believes that the public has a right to know, and to decide for themselves, whether the Attorney General is wielding the authority granted to him appropriately and in accordance with the requirements of law.”

But Cameron filed an emergency request to keep the entire file sealed, which the appeals court granted.

In August, the Court of Appeals ruling against Cameron sent the case back to Shepherd to decide whether to unseal the case.

The Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media filed briefs asking that the case be opened.?

Abortion politics: A Kentucky timeline

2019 – Kentucky’s legislature votes along party lines to enact two anti-abortion laws: A ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. A ban on all abortions that would take effect only if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the so-called “trigger law.” Federal courts blocked the six-week ban.

Feb. 26, 2020 – The Family Foundation calls on Attorney General Daniel Cameron to investigate whether medical school faculty at the University of Louisville are violating state law through ties to what was then the state’s only abortion clinic, EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville.

U of L President Neeli Bendapudi firmly rejects the allegations, saying U of L and EMW are separate entities. Residents in obstetrics and gynecology, as part of their training, must learn all aspects of reproductive health care, and abortion provider EMW is the only place they can learn the procedure.

March 30, 2021 – General Assembly approves putting an anti-abortion amendment on the 2022 ballot. It would add a new section stating Kentucky’s Constitution does not secure or protect a right to or funding of abortion.

June 24, 2022 – U.S. Supreme Court ends the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe.

EMW and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville and Kentucky’s only abortion providers, stop performing abortions “out of an abundance of caution.”

June 27, 2022 – EMW and Planned Parenthood file suit in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking to block enforcement of the abortion ban.?

July 6, 2022 – Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry hears arguments from both sides with Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office defending the abortion ban. Among those testifying are two University of Louisville OB/GYNs who provide abortions at EMW and say abortion is essential to health care.

July 7, 2022 – Republican lawmakers in Frankfort grill U of L medical dean Toni Ganzel about whether public funds have been used to provide abortions. He tells them U of L does not pay physicians to perform abortions. Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, tells Ganzel,? “If university funds are used for abortion, the taxpayers ought to know, and the legislature should take that into account when we’re talking about funding the university and other things.”

July 30, 2022 – Judge Perry issues a temporary order allowing abortions to resume in Kentucky.?

Aug. 2, 2022 – Legal abortions stop after the Court of Appeals grants Cameron’s emergency request to reinstate the two laws banning almost all abortions in the state.?

Aug. 3, 2022 – Two U of L professors suspend their work at EMW. U of L pauses its residency training affiliation with EMW until “we can determine the future of the relationship.”

Nov. 8, 2022 – Kentucky voters defeat the anti-abortion constitutional amendment by almost 5 percentage points, 52.3%? to 47.7% or 742,232 votes to 675,634 votes.

Nov. 15, 2022 – Kentucky Supreme Court hears arguments in abortion providers’ challenge of abortion ban.

Feb. 16, 2023 – Kentucky Supreme Court leaves abortion ban in place, saying abortion providers lack standing to challenge the law on behalf of their patients, leaving unanswered questions about the ban’s constitutionality. Calling it a “significant victory,” Cameron says, “We will continue to stand up for the unborn by defending these laws.”

May 16, 2023 – Cameron wins primary, becomes Republican candidate for Kentucky governor, challenging incumbent Andy Beshear, who opposes Kentucky’s no-exceptions abortion ban, calling it “extreme.”

June 2023 – Cameron issues a Franklin County grand jury subpoena for payroll and personnel information for two unnamed U of L employees, seeking evidence that state funds may have been misused. All parties agree to seal the case.

July 2023 – Jane Does and Roe ask Franklin circuit judge to quash the subpoena.

Sept. 1, 2023 – Democrat Beshear’s campaign airs an ad featuring Jefferson County prosecutor Erin White attacking Cameron for opposing abortion ban exceptions, even for rape and incest victims. ?“Cameron believes rapists deserve more rights than their victims. That’s extreme. And it’s dangerous,” she says.

Sept. 18, 2023 – Cameron changes his position on abortion, saying he would sign legislation creating exceptions for rape and incest if the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved it. He later appears to soften that statement to reassure abortion opponents.

Sept. 20, 2023 – Beshear campaign airs ad in which Hadley Duvall says, “This is to you, Daniel Cameron. To tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable.”??

?September 2023 –? Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd quashes the subpoena and tries to unseal the case records. Cameron appeals. Court of Appeals grants his emergency request to keep the case sealed, pending a final outcome.

Oct. 4, 2023 – Russell Coleman, the Republican nominee for attorney general says he supports exceptions for rape and incest and will “call on the General Assembly to take a hard look at that issue.”

Nov. 5, 2023 – Beshear and Coleman win their races by comfortable margins.

Aug. 9, 2024 – Kentucky Court of Appeals rejects the attorney general’s subpoena as an improper “fishing expedition” and outside the scope of the Franklin County grand jury because the records sought by the attorney general are from another county. Returns case to Franklin Circuit Court to consider unsealing the file.

Sept. 20, 2024 – Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media file motion asking that records of the case be unsealed.

Sept. 27, 2024 – Shepherd orders the case unsealed with redactions and excluding an “in camera” filing.

A list of Kentuckians who have died because of domestic violence, ranging in age from 19 to 73. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.?

You can also contact any of Kentucky’s 15 domestic violence programs.?

FRANKFORT — Kentucky must examine its gun laws to make sure it’s doing all it can to protect survivors of domestic violence, Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday.?

His comments came after he signed a proclamation in the Capitol Rotunda making October 2024 Domestic Violence Awareness Month.?

He joined advocates from ZeroV (formerly known as the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence) and others to honor 26 lives lost in recent years to intimate partner violence — including Erica Riley, who was fatally shot outside the Hardin County Justice Center in August.

After 2 women die in ‘ambush’ outside Hardin courthouse, what can Kentucky do better?

Beshear said Kentucky needs to provide “real protection” for people leaving abusive situations.?

“We have sadly seen far too much violence after someone takes out (a protective order), and we’ve got to make sure that we are filling all of those holes,” Beshear told reporters. “We’ve got to look at transportation. We’ve got to look at ways to keep people’s current location from reaching their perpetrator, and we’ve got to look at how we navigate the judicial system to where that person doesn’t have to face their perpetrator … every so often in court.”?

Riley was at the courthouse on the morning of Aug. 19 for a hearing on her emergency protective order. Police say the man who she was seeking protection from shot her and her mother, Janet Rylee, in an “ambush” in the courthouse parking lot right before the hearing. They both died.?

“It’s important that we have that system that provides everyone their day in court,” Beshear said, “but at the same time, doesn’t make someone face their abuser face to face, over and over.”?

That could be accomplished virtually, he said, an idea supported by the head of the domestic violence shelter in Elizabethtown, where Riley died. He also said the state “ought to look at” how to uniformly provide court escorts to people headed into hearings for protective orders.?

“We know we had a shooting outside of one of our courthouses where someone should be safe,” Beshear said. “And so whether that’s looking at where the parking lots are, how it’s designed, whether we have other entrances for those involved in these types of cases, or whether an escort in and out would work, we don’t want it to happen again. So the most important thing is we figure out a way to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”?

Beshear also said Kentucky must have a cultural shift in how it views domestic and intimate partner violence.?

“We’ve got far too much toxic masculinity, far too many people speaking in violent terms,” he said. “We should show our families what being a responsible adult is, and that … committing acts of violence doesn’t make you a man, it makes you a monster.”?

Beshear has previously voiced support for a “red flag” law, which would allow temporary restrictions on gun possession by individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Coercive control

The gathering also heard a Kentucky lawmaker call for adding coercive control to Kentucky’s protective order law. Rep. Stephanie Dietz, R-Edgewood, said she will sponsor a bill to help survivors access “court assistance earlier in the process.”?

Dietz’s legislation is a key piece of policy advocates who work in violence prevention support.?

Currently, protective orders are available in Kentucky to people who have experienced physical violence or face immediate threat of physical violence. But some survivors face a more nuanced abuse, like loss of financial and medical autonomy, isolation, surveillance and more.?

“Most folks view domestic violence as that battering, that physical assault,” Angela Yannelli, the CEO of ZeroV, previously told the Lantern. “You’ll see the signs, the billboards, with the black eye … that happens. But what we think is happening a lot more, that we’re not able to see in the homes, are these controls.”?

Coercive control is a “huge indicator” of violence, Christy Burch, the CEO of the ION Center for violence prevention in Northern Kentucky, previously told the Lantern. In adding it to the emergency protective order (EPO) statute, she said, “we could save lives.”??

“Being able to recognize coercive control as a piece of intimate partner violence, or even a lead into intimate partner violence,” Burch said, “would be very important to getting ahead of this issue … not just responding after violence has already occurred.”

Not a ‘private issue’?

Andrea Robinson, president of the ZeroV board of directors, told the gathering that? Kentucky must break the “norm of silence” when it comes to domestic violence.?

“The current social norm of silence is based on the belief that intimate partner violence is a private issue, that it is between a couple, or … that it only affects those individuals in the relationship,” said Robinson. “The norm of silence only serves to hurt, isolate, shame and stigmatize survivors, making it harder for them to flee an abusive partner.”??

Breaking that can include checking on neighbors and loved ones, wearing purple to raise awareness of domestic violence and sharing resources with people who may need them, Robinson said.?

In 2022, about half of Kentucky women — 45.3% — and around 35.5% of men had experienced intimate partner violence — or threat of it — in their lifetimes, the Lantern has reported. ?

In 2023, that number decreased to 44.5% of women and 32.9% of men.?

Across the state in 2024, ZeroV programs provided emergency shelter to 2,788 people, including 1,120 children, and provided 336,145 total services, it says.?

“In Kentucky, we don’t tolerate domestic violence,” Beshear said. “It is every single one of our obligations to say something when we see it, to get over that thought that it’s private.”??

Mountains near Cumberland in Harlan County bear the scars of mining after the coal was stripped, August 24, 2019. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Kentucky’s Republican attorney general citing concerns from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration is trying to block a revamped federal complaint system that citizens have used for decades to report suspected dangers and hazards from the strip mining of coal.?

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, delegated authority to two dozen states including Kentucky to regulate the environmental impacts of mining and mine reclamation.?

The law gave citizens the right to report suspected violations not addressed by state authorities directly to the federal Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) to investigate.?

Federal regulators can then issue a notice with a 10-day deadline to state regulators to either fix the issue or explain why it hasn’t been fixed. After the 10-day deadline, federal regulators can order an inspection of the mine site if they’re not satisfied with the state’s response.?

But a Trump administration rule change in 2020 required federal regulators to gather additional evidence from state agencies before issuing a 10-day notice, something environmental advocates say has bogged down the process and significantly reduced the effectiveness of the oversight mechanism.?

The Biden administration is now seeking to largely restore the original system that allows OSMRE to issue notices without having to gather state input beforehand, a requirement that OSMRE said creates “undue delays.” Under the Biden rule, state feedback would be incorporated into the federal investigation after the 10-day notice has been issued.?

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and other Republican attorneys general have sued to block the revamped system, ?and a federal judge recently allowed advocacy groups that have utilized the complaint system to intervene in the case.

The Republican attorneys general cited in part concerns from Kentucky Department for Natural Resources Commissioner Gordon Slone, who wrote in a June 2023 public comment that records from federal regulators in determining whether to issue a 10-day notice were “insufficient” compared to records from state authorities.?

“[The department] believes that the OSMRE’s goal should be to ensure that [10-day notices] are only issued when available information — including information that the State regulator can easily provide upon request —? supports the existence of a violation,” Slone wrote.?

Slone also said his department received an average of nearly nine 10-day notices each year between 2010 and 2019. Under the Trump administration system, the number of annually issued notices “plummeted” to 0.6 notices a year.?

Slone argued increased collaboration and communication between federal and state regulators led to fewer notices issued, compared to the increased “administrative burden” he said states would face by having to deal with more 10-day notices under the Biden administration’s action.?

Willie Dodson, the coal impacts program coordinator for Appalachian Voices, one of the advocacy groups intervening in the case, isn’t convinced by those arguments.?

Dodson said he’s used the complaint system in recent years to get Kentucky regulators to address pollution by an Eastern Kentucky surface mine of a waterway that’s home to endangered or threatened aquatic life.?

He said federal regulators can choose not to issue a notice in response to a complaint. He asserted arguments opposing the Biden administration’s revamped system are “just a thinly veiled way of saying that the feds should let us do whatever we want.”

“It doesn’t in any way take away the fact that Kentucky is the primary organization issuing permits, issuing enforcement actions,” Dodson said. “If Kentucky fails to issue enforcement actions that they should be issuing and the community member catches that, the community member can bring the information to OSMRE who then has an oversight role.”?

Tom FitzGerald, counsel for the environmental legal group Kentucky Resources Council that’s representing the intervening advocacy groups in the court case, pointed to another example decades ago for why a robust complaint system is needed.?

In the 1980s, FitzGerald represented a retired Perry County educator who, the way he described it, worried about a hazardous sediment pond built above her home.?

Before Muriel Smith finalized a divorce in 1981 and took sole ownership of her property, her husband waived the law’s 300-foot buffer requirement and gave written permission to a coal company to conduct “surface mining operations” nearby. But she personally didn’t consent to it, and state coal mine regulators gave the coal company a permit for the pond. The company built it the following year less than a football field from her home.?

When she appealed to Kentucky regulators saying state law had been violated because the pond was built too near to her home and without her permission as the now-sole homeowner, they dismissed it as a “property rights” dispute. So, she turned to the federal complaint system established through SMCRA and appealed to OSMRE.

FitzGerald wrote in a Sept. 13 filing that without the federal? action in response to the complaint system, Smith would have endured years of “living directly below a high-hazard embankment sediment structure illegally located immediately uphill from her home, with the attendant risk of wash out or catastrophic failure of the structure, and the impairment of value and use of her land.”?

The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in 1986 that the state’s “hands off” approach toward Smith’s request for help was “seriously flawed” and ruled in her favor.?

Shawn "Mickey" Stines has resigned as Letcher County sheriff and faces a murder charge. (Leslie County Detention Center)

An Eastern Kentucky sheriff charged with murdering a judge earlier in September has retired from his elected office following a request from the governor to step down.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, resigned effective Monday, according to a letter from? Somerset attorney Jeremy Bartley to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s office.

The letter said Stines “had made the difficult decision to effect his retirement” but not as the result “of any ultimatum or in any way as a concession to any allegations” made by prosecutors.

“Rather, Sheriff Stines has made this decision to allow for a successor to continue to protect his beloved constituents while he addresses the legal process ahead of him,” Bartley wrote.?

An attorney for the governor’s office had sent Stines a letter requesting he step down from his elected office by Friday, Sept. 27, or face removal through a Kentucky law.?

Stines pleaded not guilty last week to a charge of murder for allegedly shooting and killing 54-year-old Letcher District Court Judge Kevin Mullins in the Letcher County courthouse.?

Voting is one of the duties and privileges of living in a democracy. You'll also get one of these stickers. The deadline to register to vote in Kentucky is Oct. 7. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

Kentucky’s deadline to register to vote ahead of the November general election is Monday, Oct. 7.?

Voters in the Bluegrass State will consider a ballot that includes the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, congressional races, a number of legislative races, two constitutional amendments and more. Some regional and local elections include a Supreme Court race in Central Kentucky and a Court of Appeals race in Western Kentucky.?

Registering can be completed online, via mail or by returning voter registration cards to your county clerk’s office. Registration ends at 4 p.m. local time on Monday.?

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Excused in-person voting is Oct. 23-25 and Oct. 28-30. No excuse in-person voting is Oct. 31-Nov. 2.?

Kentucky’s online absentee ballot request portal is open through Tuesday, Oct. 22.?

According to the State Board of Elections, the qualifications for voters to register in in Kentucky are:

• Be a U.S. citizen and a Kentucky resident for at least 28 days before the election. Non-U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals do not qualify.
• Be at least 18 years old by the general election.?
• Cannot be a convicted felon. For some with an expungement, executive pardon or executive order, the right to vote may be restored.?
• Cannot have been judged mentally incompetent in a court of law or have voting rights removed.
• Cannot claim the right to vote outside Kentucky.??

To complete a new or updated voter registration, request an absentee ballot or learn more information about voting in Kentucky, visit govote.ky.gov.?

Signs hoisted by the audience for an Amendment 2 debate at the Fancy Farm Picnic express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office has denied a Republican political strategist’s open records request and sided with Pulaski County Schools regarding communications about a proposed constitutional amendment that could affect school funding.

In the decision issued Friday, the attorney general’s office said the school district did not violate the state’s Open Records Act when it “denied the request as unreasonably burdensome” according to state law. Blake Gober, a GOP political strategist, had submitted a request for internal and external communications between school district board members and staff with references to “‘Education Opportunities Constitutional Amendment (Ballot Question 2)’; ‘Amendment 2’; ‘Question 2’; ‘Yes on 2’ or ‘No on 2.’”

A public agency may deny open records requests if producing the records would impose an unreasonable burden or if the records custodian “has reason to believe that repeated requests are intended to disrupt other essential functions of the public agency,” under Kentucky state law. However, the agency must provide evidence to demonstrate that.?

“The District explained that, as written, the request sought 18,473 emails from 2,123 District employees,” the open records decision said. “The District also stated that the requested records would need to be reviewed and redacted for exempt information before they could be produced. Finally, the District invited the Appellant to narrow the parameters of his request, stating it would work with him to fulfill such a subsequent request. This appeal followed.”?

TJ Roberts, an attorney representing Gober in the appeal, said the opinion “was a narrow ruling on the broad nature of the request.” Roberts said Gober plans to narrow his request. Roberts is a Republican candidate for the 66th House District in Northern Kentucky.?

Gober said in a Monday afternoon statement that while he was disappointed in the Attorney General’s office ruling, he was more disappointed by the school district. He said he would file a new request rather than seek an appeal in court to continue “seeking the answers the public deserves while seeking to alleviate the supposed ‘unreasonable burden’ that (the school district) claimed they were facing.”

“Their sole job is to educate but they have chosen to use their publicly funded resources to spread disinformation and lies about Amendment 2,” Gober said. “Rather than put students first, they have chosen to fight for the status quo that is failing so many students across our great Commonwealth.”

Last month, Republicans supporting Amendment 2 criticized Pulaski County Schools for posting messages on its websites and Facebook account advocating against the ballot measure. If it passes this November, the amendment gives the General Assembly the ability to fund nonpublic schools. The Attorney General’s office later published an advisory that warned school districts to not use tax dollars to advocate for or against a constitutional amendment.?

Amid the initial backlash, Pulaski County Schools said in a statement that school board members had received open records requests “for their private cell phone and devices for texts or emails discussing this issue.”?

Around that time, the Kentucky Lantern submitted an open records request to Pulaski County Schools for recent requests regarding Amendment 2. Gober’s request was disclosed in response, as well as a request from the Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity for communications with specific search terms, including “Amendment 2,” and a defined timeframe.

The AFP requester told the Lantern the school district provided documents Monday. AFP is a libertarian conservative advocacy group that is campaigning for Amendment 2 in Kentucky.

Pulaski County Superintendent Patrick Richardson did not immediately return a request for comment Monday morning.

This story was updated with additional comments Monday afternoon.?

A memorial in the parking lot of the Hardin County Justice Center, where Erica Riley and her mother Janet Rylee were killed on their way to a domestic violence hearing. Erica Riley was seeking protection from the man who shot them and later killed himself. The photo was taken Sept. 22, 2024 in Elizabethtown. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)

If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. You can also contact any of Kentucky’s 15 domestic violence programs.?

This story also discusses suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.?

Georgia Hensley feels like she’s been “screaming in a padded room” for too long about gaps in the way Kentucky protects survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence.?

Now that two women are dead in her town, “suddenly there’s two or three people at the tiny window on the door” listening to those concerns, said Hensley, the CEO of SpringHaven, which helps survivors of intimate partner violence in Kentucky’s Lincoln Trail District.?

“It truly has been like begging for help and no one was listening … and that’s abhorrent,” Hensley said. “It should not take the death of a woman and her mother and the severe injury of her father for all of us to begin talking about the issues that we needed to be discussing anyway.”?

A month after a woman and her mother were gunned down in the parking lot of the courthouse in Elizabethtown on the day of her emergency protective order (EPO) hearing, advocates who work to end intimate partner violence told the Lantern the state can and should do more to protect survivors.?

That includes, they say, passing a Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention Orders (CARR) bill, which would establish a process for temporarily removing guns from people at risk of hurting themselves or others. In other words, a “red flag” law.?

In 1994, Congress barred anyone who is subject to a domestic violence protective order — or who has been convicted of the crime of domestic violence — from possessing or buying a gun or ammunition. The United States Supreme Court upheld that law this year, saying it is constitutional to disarm a person in those circumstances.?

Kentucky is not among the 32 states that have enacted their own laws and protocols to separate domestic abusers from guns, even temporarily. As a result, protection for victims varies across the state, said Darlene Thomas, the executive director of GreenHouse17, a Fayette County-based nonprofit working to end intimate partner violence.?

The violent deaths in Elizabethtown, Hensley says, should spur action.?

“The community is enraged,” she said. “Citizens are enraged. And our officials need to be listening.”??

What happened in Elizabethtown???

In early August, Erica Riley asked the court system to protect her from a man with whom, police say, she’d had a relationship.?

A judge granted her request, issuing an emergency protective order (EPO) on Aug. 8 and scheduling a hearing to consider extending the order.?

On the morning of the hearing, Aug. 19, Riley arrived at the Elizabethtown courthouse, family by her side.?

The man in question, Christopher Elder, 46, was there too.?

Jeremy Thompson, the Elizabethtown police chief, said that Elder shot Riley and two others in an “ambush type style” in the parking lot right before 9 a.m., when the hearing was scheduled.?

Riley died there, police say, the day before she was to turn 38.?

Her mother, Janet, later died at the hospital, police say. Erica Riley’s father was also injured and hospitalized, but has since been released, according to a police spokesman.??

Within hours of the shooting, police publicly named Elder as their suspect. He led police on a multi-county, 100-mile car chase. After a standoff in a parking lot in Christian County with at least nine first responder agencies, he shot himself at 11:15 CST, according to Kentucky State Police.?

Elder was airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital and died that day.?

Domestic violence, guns a lethal combination

While the Elizabethtown shooting got widespread attention, the key details aren’t uncommon.?

The majority of murder-suicides (62%) in the United States have an intimate partner component, the nonprofit Violence Policy Center said in a 2023 report.?

Almost all of those — 95% — were a man killing a woman and 93% of those involved a gun.?

Most female homicide victims were killed by a current or former male partner, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine last year.?

That same research showed victims of intimate partner violence are five times more likely to die if their abuser has access to a gun — and 1 in 8 convicted perpetrators of intimate partner violence admit they used a gun to threaten someone.??

In 2022, about half of Kentucky women — 45.3% — and around 35.5% of men had experienced intimate partner violence — or threat of it — in their lifetimes, the Lantern has reported. ?In 2023, that number decreased to 44.5% of women and 32.9% of men.?

When police respond to a domestic violence or adjacent situation, they are required to file a form called a JC-3. Of the roughly 41,000 Kentucky JC-3s filed in 2023, 97 involved a gun.?

Hundreds more — 399 — involved terroristic threatening.

Research shows when abusive partners have access to guns, they’re more likely to kill. A 2023 paper published in the National Library of Medicine found victims were five times more likely to die when a firearm is involved.?

Advocates who work to end intimate partner violence told the Lantern that Kentucky needs a way to remove weapons from the hands of domestic violence? perpetrators.?

Unfunded mandate

Even though the Supreme Court says it’s constitutional to disarm people who are the subject of domestic violence protective orders, that’s basically an “unfunded mandate” in Kentucky, said Thomas with GreenHouse17.?

“Our systems throughout the commonwealth are having to figure out who gets them, who collects them, who stores them, who marks them for storage,” she explained. “How do people get them back? When do they get them back? What’s the process for people to get their weapons back when they’ve been removed?”?

There’s no funding in Kentucky to carry out the federal law, Thomas said, which results in an uneven application across the state.

“Some courts will sometimes ask the sheriffs to go confiscate the weapons. Sometimes they’ll tell a person, ‘you have to turn those weapons over to your attorney or to the sheriff’s department,’” she said. “All the systems are a little different by how they do it, but the federal law says they have authority to help see that weapons are not in the hands of abusers, right? How they go about doing that can look very different county to county, judge to judge, situation to situation.”?

Based on existing laws, any firearm Elder had “should have been removed from his possession at the time he was served,” said Hensley, who is also an attorney.

It’s unclear if the gun used in the August shooting was registered to the suspect. No official information about the gun and how it was obtained is available, a police spokesman told the Lantern.?

“The way that most sheriff’s departments serve those petitions and request for firearms is simply … they’ll knock on the door, (say), ‘Here you go, sir. Do you have any firearms in the house?’ And if the perpetrator says, ‘No,’ that’s it,” Hensley explained.?

Whether or not a police officer has the legal ability to enter the home and search for those weapons is a complicated question, Hensley said. “I would probably argue, as an attorney: no,” she said.?

One exception could be if the petitioner told authorities that the alleged perpetrator did have access to weapons.?

Still, she said: “truthfully, that’s an uphill legal battle. They would really need to obtain a warrant or see something.”?

Leaving is dangerous. It doesn’t need to happen alone.?

Leaving an abusive situation — when it’s often most dangerous for survivors — is difficult, but doesn’t have to happen alone.?

In Elizabethtown, Hensley organized a court escort volunteer service after Riley’s death.?

“I don’t have any faith in the legislature or in our leadership to get that done, so I’ve done it,” she said. “And is that something that a nonprofit should be forced to do? Probably not. But is it something that we’re going to do? Yeah, it is. It is because safety is the most important thing.”?

Still, survivors sometimes must enter a courthouse or go through a door at the same time as an abuser or sit together in a waiting area, advocates say.?

But there are simple — and inexpensive — solutions to those physical barriers, said Angela Yannelli, the CEO of ZeroV (formerly known as the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence), such as bringing in the parties at different times and through different entrances and having a designated space for petitioners to wait separate from respondents.?

It’s also currently up to a judge’s discretion if they hold domestic hearings over Zoom, Hensley said.?

But it’s a policy she says the General Assembly should codify.?

Doing so could lessen some of the physical stress of a hearing, she said. But, there are downsides.?

“These cases can often be difficult to determine, and so much of it is based on body language and … a determination of who you believe,” she said. “And some of that is very difficult to do via Zoom.”?

While there are safety gaps, the state has a lot working in its favor: a robust network of violence prevention programs and researched-backed primary prevention, which involves educating children and other community members about intimate partner violence, said Christy Burch, the CEO of the ION Center for violence prevention in Northern Kentucky.??

“There’s barriers to staying. There’s barriers to leaving,” Burch said. “When I think about that preparation to leaving or making a big change there, reach out to your local program. We are here. You don’t have to walk that journey alone.”

Could a red flag law help???

Sen. Whitney Westerfield, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sponsored CARR in 2024 but he’s leaving the Republican-controlled legislature after deciding not to run for reelection this year.?

His co-sponsors for CARR were all Democrats. One of them, Louisville Sen. David Yates, is “working to build support from colleagues in the Senate to carry the bill with him” in 2025, a Senate Democrats spokesman said.?

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that people dealing with suicidality are more likely to live if they lose access to guns and other “lethal means” temporarily, until intense feelings pass. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988.?

Aurora Vasquez, the vice president of State Policy & Engagement with Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit that works to end gun violence, said temporary removal is key to “defuse the situation.”

“It’s often painted as though CARR is producing a permanent loss of Second Amendment rights,” she said.?

But the goal with CARR, she said, is to “give people help in the moment they need it most, so that they don’t lose their Second Amendment rights.”?

“We can’t collectively as a society — and Kentucky certainly should not, given that it has a robust gun culture — should not look away from the fact that gun owners sometimes need help, and it’s okay,” Vasquez said. “As human beings, we all sometimes need help, right? Being a firearm owner does not exclude us from that.”??

There’s no way to know if CARR could have saved Erica Riley’s life, Yannelli said.

“What we do know is that getting firearms out of the hands of an abuser will save lives,” she said.??

Thomas with GreenHouse17 agreed.?

“Weapons escalate situations and not deescalate them,” she said. “I think CARR protections … would help our law enforcement and our communities feel a little safer with temporary gun removal for somebody that’s experiencing an episode of some kind.”

EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville is now closed but before the abortion ban was one of two abortion providers in Kentucky. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Deborah Yetter)

FRANKFORT — Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Friday he will make public nearly all of the records in a lawsuit stemming from former Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s attempt in June of 2023 to investigate two University of Louisville physicians who had performed abortions at EMW Women’s Surgical Center.

During a hearing on whether to unseal the case record, Shepherd said he will release an order early next week that will direct that documents in the case be released with the exception of one record filed with his office last year by Cameron. He also said names of the doctors would also remain confidential.

At issue is a sealed lawsuit brought by the doctors and an official of EMW to quash a subpoena issued by Cameron for payroll and personnel records of the doctors. Cameron sought the records in 2023, a year after almost all abortions had been outlawed in Kentucky and the state’s abortion clinics had closed.

A year ago Shepherd ruled in favor of the doctors, quashing the subpoena and ordering that most of the case file be unsealed. But Cameron blocked that order by immediately filing an appeal along with an emergency motion to keep the entire case a secret.

On Aug. 9 a three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Shepherd’s quashing of the subpoena. Its order said the subpoena amounted to a “fishing expedition” and that Cameron’s premise that tax dollars may have been illegally spent on abortions was not supported the facts of the case.

The appeals court ruling did not identify the physicians or U of L or EMW as their employers. Kentucky Lantern, based on information from knowledgeable sources and details in the appeals ruling, reported the case clearly involved the two U of L physicians and EMW, which was confirmed last week in a document filed by the parties in the case.

The case is now over. Current Attorney General Russell Coleman decided not to appeal the appeals court’s ruling.

But the appeals court referred back to Shepherd the matter of whether the file should remain sealed.

Shepherd scheduled Friday’s hearing to give the parties to the case – as well as the public and press – a chance to be heard on the matter. Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media intervened in the case to argue for opening the file.

Near the end of the hearing Shepherd said he would issue an order early next week that largely conforms with the position jointly taken by all parties to the original case (the doctors and the Attorney General) that the file be unsealed except for the names of the doctors and a document filed by the Attorney General last year for Shepherd’s “in camera” review that dealt with the? subject of its investigation.

Tom Miller, a Lexington attorney who represented Kentucky Lantern and Louisville Public Media, argued Friday that this one document may be vital and should also be disclosed.? “All we’re asking is that the attorney general be required to disclose what it was that they thought they were investigating,” Miller said.

But Shepherd said that other documents that will be released will satisfy that concern. “I think that when you see the rest of the file that all of the questions that you’re identifying are going to be fully answered,” Shepherd said.

Corrie Shull, the chairman of the JCPS Board of Education, left, speaks as Superintendent Marty Pollio listens during a Kentucky House Education Committee meeting at the Capitol in Frankfort, March 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio plans to retire from his post effective next summer.?

Pollio, who has led Kentucky’s largest public school district since 2017, sent a letter to JCPS employees announcing his plans to retire Friday. In recent years, Pollio’s tenure at the school district has been beset by increasing oversight from Republican lawmakers in Frankfort and criticism over transportation issues.?

Pollio said the “journey has not been an easy one,” pointing to the coronavirus pandemic and severe staffing shortages, but added that he was “extremely proud that we made the decision to make the most substantial changes in the history of JCPS despite many challenges.” His retirement is effect July 1, 2025.?

“I am proud that I have served the last eight years in this position given the immense challenges that public school districts face,” Pollio wrote. “If it weren’t for the amazing students of this district, I would not have had the strength and motivation to persevere. I have truly given them my all. I also could not have done this without the support of all the incredible educators and employees in this district and the positive words and encouragement from so many of you. Although not perfect, we have an incredible school district where all of you give so much to meet the needs of ALL children in this community. We need to stand together with pride in that fact.”?

Some of the “major accomplishments” Pollio highlighted in his letter included focusing on “racial equity to improve student outcomes for our historically underserved population,” establishing a facilities plan that includes construction of 24 schools building over the next decade and “successfully navigating through numerous audits and pushing back on attacks from Frankfort since 2017.”?

Earlier this year, Republicans in Frankfort passed a resolution creating a task force to review the governance of JCPS. At the time, Pollio called it another “attack on JCPS” and warned against consolidating the school district.?

Pollio began his career in JCPS as a social studies teacher at Shawnee High School in 1997. His other roles have included principal of Jeffersontown High School and Doss High School. Pollio said he was making his announcement early to give ample time to select his successor. He added that he hopes to “continue positively influencing public education moving forward in Kentucky and even at the national level.”?

“Once again, it has been the honor of my professional career to serve as your superintendent,” Pollio wrote. “I have given every ounce of myself to this role as I know so many of you do daily. Although there have been challenges over my tenure, no one can ever question my passion, fight, and love for Jefferson County Public Schools.”?

Helene is expected to stall out over Kentucky this weekend as a post-tropical depression.?(NOAA satellite image)

Gov. Andy Beshear warned Kentuckians to avoid traveling on roads Friday and to be ready for a risk of flooding and power outages as remnants of Hurricane Helene impact Kentucky.?

Beshear said in a Friday morning briefing that state employees were being sent home early to get ahead of expected peak wind gusts from the storm’s remnants expected to be 40- 60 miles per hour throughout much of Central and Eastern Kentucky, according to the National Weather Service.?

The governor said such wind gusts, expected to pick up in most of the state starting around noon Eastern Time, could make driving in higher profile vehicles including tractor trailers more hazardous, especially on roads that run north to south.?

“If you’re out in the middle of this, we need your 100% attention while you’re driving for your safety and for the safety of those around you,” Beshear said. “Certainly a chance for some minor flooding, a chance that we lose power, a chance that we have trees fall over roadways and create treacherous conditions.”?

He said the number of Kentuckians without power is expected to fluctuate throughout the day. Tens of thousands of people mostly in Eastern Kentucky are without power as of Friday morning, according to a website that tracks and compiles power outage numbers from utilities.

Most of Kentucky is also under a flood watch and has a slight risk for excessive rainfall leading to flash flooding. The National Weather Service in Jackson, Kentucky is warning that because soil is already saturated from previous rainfall, the incoming rain could runoff quickly.?

The National Hurricane Center’s latest report states Tropical Storm Helene is currently located over western North Carolina as of Friday morning and is expected to stall out over Kentucky this weekend as a post-tropical depression.?

“This is the remnants of a hurricane that’s hitting us, and I believe that we all ought to be humble enough to know that this forecast can change and that we may need to get additional information out there as it goes,” Beshear said.?

The 83-page court document says Express Scripts is “at the center of the opioid dispensing chain.” (Photo by Getty Images)

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has sued a pharmacy benefits manager he says played a “role in worsening the deadly opioid crisis in Kentucky.”?

The complaint, filed in Jessamine County Circuit Court Wednesday, names Express Scripts and affiliates as defendants and targets alleged practices over the last two decades.

“The opioid crisis was fueled and sustained by those involved in the supply chain of opioids, with manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and Pharmacy Benefit Managers …including Express Scripts, each playing a role,” Coleman wrote in the suit.?

The 83-page court document says Express Scripts is “at the center of the opioid dispensing chain.” It also accuses the company of “colluding with Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers in the deceptive marketing of opioids in order to alter perceptions of opioids and increase their sales,” among other things.?

It also accuses the company of:

• Colluding with Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers to restrict or eliminate utilization management tools on national formularies that would have limited opioid prescribing and/or dispensing.?
• Deciding not to act on the vast amount of data and other information they had about the epidemic in order to limit the overflow of opioids into communities throughout the United States, including in Kentucky.?
• Dispensing prescription opioids through their mail order pharmacies without effective controls against diversion, in violation of Kentucky law and federal law.?

A spokesperson for Express Scripts’ parent company, Evernorth, has not yet responded to a Lantern request for comment.?

The lawsuit says its purpose is to “abate public nuisance caused in substantial part by these Defendants’ unreasonable acts and omissions fueling the opioid epidemic.”?

“Express Scripts’ central role in the opioid crisis was facilitated by their unique combination of knowledge and power that provided them with the extraordinary ability to control the opioid supply throughout the United States.”

He is seeking a jury trial, among other relief.?

“The opioid-fueled drug crisis is the greatest tragedy of our lifetime. It has stolen loved ones, drained scarce public resources and inflicted generational harm on Kentucky communities large and small,” Coleman said in a statement. “Express Scripts and the other pharmacy benefit managers amassed an unprecedented level of power, using it to push opioid pills and conceal unlawful activity. They must be held to account for profiting off Kentucky families’ pain.”?

Read Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Express Scripts

Virginia Moore’s widow, Row Holloway, tears up as she taps a Virginia bobblehead sitting on Gov. Andy Beshear’s lectern. (Screenshot)

Kentuckians who are deaf or hard of hearing can get free radios designed to alert other senses about dangerous weather through a new program named after the late Virginia Moore.?

Moore died on Derby Day in 2023 at 61. Before that, she interpreted? in American Sign Language news of many deaths and announcements about COVID-19’s hold on Kentucky for Gov. Andy Beshear during the worst of the pandemic.?

Moore served as executive director of the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. People who knew her have described her as a fierce advocate for the hard of hearing community.?

Now, an emergency preparedness program called “Moore Safe Nights” will honor that legacy.?

The Kentucky Division of Emergency Management (KYEM) used federal grant money to buy 700 radios that have vibrating and bright spotlight attachments specifically for people with hearing impairments.?

The vibrating attachment can go under a person’s pillow and shake them during an alarm. The other can be attached to a bed frame and it will brightly flash in the dark. They will also display text of alerts from the National Weather Service.?

“As Kentuckians know all too well, severe weather can strike at any hour; the most dangerous time is when people are sleeping,” Beshear said during a Thursday press conference. “The deaf and hard of hearing community is particularly vulnerable during this time, since they cannot hear the various alarms and severe weather sirens upon which most of us rely.”?

Anita Dowd, who serves as the executive director for the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, called the radios a “game changer.”?

“As one of the 700,000 Kentuckians with hearing loss, and mama to two daughters with hearing loss, I can personally attest to how profound the impact will be from this program,” Dowd said. “For people like myself who can’t access information through auditory channels, we often depend on our other senses to keep us aware. In a way, our eyes become our ears, and when we close our eyes and go to sleep, that access to awareness is gone.”?

Kentucky sign language interpreters embody others’ words, are servants at heart

Moore’s widow, Row Holloway, teared up as she tapped a Virginia bobblehead sitting on Beshear’s lectern.?

“I’m glad that her memory is still alive as she continues to serve people in Kentucky,” Holloway said.?

How to get a free radio?

You must live in Kentucky and be hard of hearing to qualify for this program.?

Eligible Kentuckians can go to https://www.kcdhh.ky.gov/msn/ or call 800-372-2907 or 502-416-0607 to apply for a radio. They will be distributed on a first come, first served basis, Beshear said.?

To watch a video in American Sign Language about this program, visit this site.?

Funding for the initial 700 radios came from an emergency preparedness grant and Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program funds, Beshear said.

“While only 700 radios are available under this initial funding, KYEM and all of us will seek additional funds to try to make sure one of these is available for absolutely everyone who needs them,” Beshear said. “I hope we get all 700 out very quickly.”?

John Bowman, Kentucky campaign organizer for Dream.Org. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)

LOUISVILLE — Kentuckians in recovery say the state needs to better educate youth about addiction, digitize expungement for certain crimes and make harm reduction and community-based services more widely available to combat overdoses.?

About 30 people gathered at the Women’s Healing Place in the West End of Louisville Wednesday as part of a “Public Health is Public Safety” tour aimed at finding solutions to the opioid crisis and raising awareness about what addiction looks like person to person.?

That tour has made six stops across the state this year — in Ashland, London, Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, Lexington and, now, Louisville.?

John Bowman, Kentucky campaign organizer for Dream.Org, which organized Wednesday’s panels, said drug criminalization often drives people to harder substances.?

“We made all these laws on prescription opioids. Everybody went to heroin. We made stricter laws on heroin. Everybody went to fentanyl. We’re making stricter laws on fentanyl, and everybody’s going to xylazine,” he said. “The measures that we’ve got in place now are really, really making it hard for us to keep getting the overdose rates lower.”?

Bowman also worries a 2024 law that supporters called the “Safer Kentucky Act” and opponents said would criminalize homelessness could cause overdose deaths indirectly.?

Another provision of? House Bill 5 created a first degree manslaughter charge when a person “knowingly sells fentanyl or a fentanyl derivative to another person,” which results in that person’s death.?

“It’s kind of like a drug-induced homicide law,” Bowman said. “And it’s going to make folks scared to call 911.”?

Carson Justice, a 17-year-old from Eastern Kentucky who said addiction has affected her entire community, including her parents, said the state should invest in more harm reduction and less criminalization.?

“Instead of bad policies like House Bill 5, we could have prison after care, we could have harm reduction resources, we could have IDs, we could have all kinds of things,” she said.?

By focusing more on harm reduction, she said, “Not only could it save us thousands of dollars, it could save thousands of lives.”?

Lawmakers should also focus on revamping reentry programs, lowering what counts as “intent to distribute” and ensuring people can access a full range of treatment while incarcerated, Bowman said.?

Several panelists who discussed their treatment and recovery echoed that point, saying they did not have access to help while behind bars.?

Amanda Bourland, who has lived through addiction and incarceration and is now the vice president of mission advancement at Recovery Now, said “when I got out of prison, there were no resources for me.”?

“Four years in prison, in a row, and nobody said, ‘would you like to learn how to live a life in recovery?’ Nobody said, ‘do you think you have a problem with drugs and alcohol?’ Bourland said. “What they said was, ‘Chow ladies.’ ‘Lights out ladies.’ ‘Meds, ladies.’ That was it.”?

‘Trauma is the gateway’?

Over the course of three hours, two panels and a series of small group discussions at the women’s campus of The Healing Place, advocates and people in recovery emphasized that widespread access to harm reduction is key to lowering the number of Kentuckians dying from overdose.?

Harm reduction is anything that decreases the harm a person may experience — like wearing a seat belt when driving or brushing teeth to avoid cavities. In the context of substance use, harm reduction includes the use of the overdose-reversal Narcan, fentanyl test strips, syringe exchange programs and more. Harm reduction emphasizes engaging directly with people who use drugs to prevent overdose and infectious disease transmission, says the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration??

Stigma sometimes stands in the way of recovery, advocates said.?

“In this country, we still view substance use disorder as a moral failing,” said Tara Hyde, the CEO of People Advocating Recovery who is also in long-term recovery. “And until we, as a community, really gather together and really start to create more of an argument against that narrative, they’re going to continue with that, because that’s all that they know.”?

Stephanie Johnson with Vocal KY said the word “addiction” is still quite stigmatized — and asked the audience, “how many people would not move or have gotten dressed without a cup of coffee this morning?”?

“Changing the narrative,” she said, “is harm reduction.”?

Focusing on mental health for people in active addiction and recovery is also “huge,” Johnson said.?

“You can have a mental health issue without having a substance use issue,” she said. “You will not have a substance use issue without having any mental health issue. We have got to address mental health. Trauma is the gateway.”?

Youth education and recovery funding?

Lawmakers should codify a requirement for schools to have uniform education on mental health, Hyde told the Lantern. There are “quality” programs available, she said, but “there’s no requirement, so not every school gets that.”?

“This is a systemic problem. And we can’t just, (say) ‘oh well, this school has it, and this school doesn’t,’” she said. “You can’t just make it bounce like that; that’s a really big problem.”?

The state could also save itself money, Hyde said, by funding long-term recovery programs. Usually a person attempts recovery an average of six times before being successful, she said, meaning their treatment could cost around $180,000 by the end of those attempts, which are usually in short-term programs.?

Some research suggests longer programs are more effective, especially in dealing with severe cases.?

“A lot of that money is already being spent,” she said. “Medicaid is paying for each attempt — six on average.”?

Justice’s mother, Beckie Rose, shared a panel with her daughter.?

She’s from Pike County — from “coal mines and coal fields and mountains,” as she described it, as well as “ground zero” of the opioid epidemic.?

Rose is in long-term recovery now, and she advocates for a better future for her daughter and Eastern Kentucky community.?

“We have way more in common than we have differences,” Rose said. “And I would just like to see our communities and our families come together, and instead of incarcerating disease, start treating disease.”??

Cover art from "Kinship Across Kentucky: Recommendations from Caregiver Voices in 2024." Around 55,000 Kentucky children are being raised by a relative or fictive kin, according to the report. (Kentucky Youth Advocates)

Kentuckians who are raising a minor relative need better access to mental health care, housing and other basic support services, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, from Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky, is based on two online surveys and nine in-person listening sessions aimed at learning more about the challenges facing kinship caregivers.?

Most of the caregivers surveyed were white women. They reported needing assistance with food, clothing and school supplies. Participants also said they needed help with finances, housing, information technology, peer support, respite care, mental health care and legal assistance, according to the report. They also reported child care as one of the most difficult supports to access.?

Norma Hatfield, president of the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky, said during a Wednesday forum discussing the report that sometimes kinship caregivers like herself focus on caring for the youth in their charge and “don’t always take care of themselves.”?

“It’s pretty darn stressful,” she said. “You may need somebody, from a therapeutic perspective, to have some of those conversations, especially if the abuse is really bad and there’s a criminal case going on.”

Kinship caregivers may be caring for a grandchild, for example, who’d been abused by the grandparent’s child.?

“I look at it as: to kind of help me deal with my emotion, process that, and then step back and (see) how can I best help the child at the same time? And that’s hard. That’s why it’s challenging and confusing, because you also have yourself and how you feel, and you also have the child and the system.”?

Sometimes that mental health support may include medication or more intensive services, Hatfield said, but most of the time talk therapy addresses the need.?

Lesa Dennis, the commissioner for the Department of Community Based Services, spoke alongside Hatfield during the KYA forum and said kinship care in Kentucky is a “priority” for her department.?

“We still have a lot of work to do in this space, and we’re very committed to it,” Dennis said.?

During the 2024 legislative session, the General Assembly passed a law that allows relatives who take temporary custody of a child, when abuse or neglect is suspected, to later become eligible for foster care payments. However, a funding dispute that arose after the fact has left that help hanging, more than two months after the law went into effect.?

Policy recommendations?

The report makes numerous recommendations, including:

• Expand community-based mentorship opportunities for youth in kinship care and their caregivers.?
• Provide or facilitate comprehensive reunification services for kinship families to create opportunities for children to return safely to their birth families, when appropriate.?
• Provide judges a bench card related to kinship care utilization and needed supports
• Increase the frequency and accessibility of trainings on the unique experiences and needs of kinship families to DCBS staff, private foster care agency staff and community mental health providers.
• Provide comprehensive informational packets and educational materials for new kinship caregivers.?
• Utilize best practices to actively seek the most appropriate placement for the child when identifying kinship and fictive kin caregivers, including addressing disproportionality in the placement of children of color into foster care instead of kinship care.

• 

It’s not clear yet which of these policies, if any, would require legislation during the next session.?

“I think a lot of those things can be accomplished through working together with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Department for community based services,” said Shannon Moody, chief policy and strategy officer for the nonpartisan KYA. “We would definitely want to have some additional conversations to figure out what would need or require statutory change, but I don’t know if we anticipate any of those recommendations being moved forward for pursuit in the 2025 legislative session.”?

Around 55,000 Kentucky children are being raised by a relative or fictive kin, according to the Tuesday report. That includes both formal (the state is involved) and informal (the state is not involved) situations. In 2023, about 1,500 Kentucky children were placed in a relative or fictive kin home by the state.?

Kentucky’s known prevalence of kinship care is 6%, according to the report, making it twice as high as the national average.

Rep. Daniel Grossberg, D-Louisville. (LRC Public Information)

Leadership of the Kentucky Senate Democratic Caucus joined fellow party members in calling on Louisville Democrat Rep. Daniel Grossberg to resign amid allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women.?

The leaders said in a Wednesday statement that the Senate caucus “remains committed to the principles of respect, accountability, and justice in our efforts.”?

“As public officials, we must uphold the highest standards of conduct and integrity. The recent allegations involving Rep. Daniel Grossberg are deeply troubling,” the statement said. “No one should be subject to harassment or intimidation in any setting. Given the seriousness of these accusations, we call on Rep. Grossberg to relinquish his seat immediately.”?

Last week, prominent Kentucky Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, called on the freshman representative to resign following a Lexington Herald-Leader report about Grossberg getting a lifetime ban from a Louisville strip club after inappropriately touching a dancer and offering another dancer $5,000 to have sex with him. The House Democratic Caucus permanently expelled Grossberg Friday.?

Meanwhile, through comments shared by his attorney, Grossberg vowed to stay in office and denied the allegations. He faces no opponent in the general election for the 30th House District, which includes central parts of Jefferson County. Earlier this summer, the House Democratic Caucus had temporarily suspended Grossberg and asked the Legislative Ethics Commission to investigate allegations that he sent inappropriate text messages to women earlier this summer.

Shawn "Mickey" Stines has resigned as Letcher County sheriff and faces a murder charge. (Leslie County Detention Center)

The Eastern Kentucky sheriff charged with murdering a judge entered a not guilty plea Wednesday and was put on notice by Gov. Andy Beshear that if he does not resign by Friday the governor will act to remove him.?

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, appeared remotely for his first appearance since District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was gunned down Sept. 19 at? the Letcher County Courthouse. Stines surrendered to authorities at the courthouse and was charged with first degree murder.

Stines told Special Judge Rupert Wilhoit III he does not have a lawyer but was accompanied by attorney Josh Miller, director of the state Department of Public Advocacy’s capital trial branch.

Beshear’s office on Wednesday released a letter to Stines from its general counsel, C. Travis Mayo, sent in care of the Leslie County jailer. The letter asks Stines to tender his resignation by the end of Friday, and says that if he does not, Beshear will “move forward with removal” under a Kentucky law.

Stines is jailed at the Leslie County Detention Center.

Lexington attorney Erin Izzo, left, and Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Goodwine are running for Kentucky Supreme Court. (Photos provided)

Two women are vying in Central Kentucky for a seat on the state Supreme Court after the chief justice chose not to seek another term.

The candidates are Pamela Goodwine, deputy chief Kentucky Court of Appeals judge, and Erin Izzo, a partner at Lexington law firm Landrum and Shouse. While judicial elections are nonpartisan in Kentucky, political partisans are lining up on opposite sides of this race.?

Last year, Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter announced he would not be seeking reelection in the 5th Supreme Court district, which includes Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford counties. He will be succeeded as chief justice in January by Deputy Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert, who was chosen Monday by her colleagues.?

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is backing Goodwine saying she would be “a really great Supreme Court justice.” According to campaign finance reports, Goodwine’s donors also? include former Democratic Govs. Steve Beshear and Paul Patton, as well as Democratic state lawmakers. A political organization created this week and organized by the current governor’s top campaign adviser is supporting Goodwine.?

Meanwhile, Izzo has received GOP support — an endorsement from the Clark County Republican Party and donations from local Republican groups in Fayette and Madison counties.

Goodwine told the Kentucky Lantern that “it is critical for impartiality to be demonstrated and upheld in the role of judge and justice.” Judges have a role to fairly interpret the law while also maintaining ethics and integrity, she added.

Judicial watchdog criticizes Beshear’s involvement in Kentucky Supreme Court election

“I have been a registered independent since I became a judge and I am known for continually displaying a strong work ethic along with honesty and integrity to ensure justice for all,” Goodwine said. “My strong reputation for upholding these values along with my 25 years of dedicated service as a judge has earned me respect from all parties. I have staunch supporters from all parties and welcome and accept invitations from all parties to participate in their events.”?

Izzo said she too has attempted to go before a mix of groups that lean left and right or are neutral. She added it “would be dangerous for Kentucky” to open up judicial races to more partisanship in the future.?

“I think as a candidate, there’s not much I can do with my supporters in terms of who’s going to give endorsements and who’s not,” Izzo said. “It doesn’t surprise me, honestly, that Beshear came out and endorsed her given her political leanings. And it doesn’t surprise me that the Clark County Republicans came out and endorsed me because of their political leanings.”

Because of ethics guidelines, Kentucky judicial candidates must avoid indicating their decision in a particular case. Both Goodwine and Izzo discussed their legal philosophies and qualifications with the Kentucky Lantern.?

Justices serve eight-year terms. Both candidates said they intend to serve their full term on the court if elected.?

Goodwine promises ‘dedication to the rule of law and justice for all’

Goodwine said that her 25 years of judicial experience have “given me the vast array of experiences and responsibilities needed to best serve all Kentuckians on the Kentucky Supreme Court.” Goodwine was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals for the 5th Appellate District in 2018. Before that she served on the benches of Fayette County Circuit and District courts.?

Being part of the state appeals court prepared Goodwine to join the Supreme Court, she said in written responses to the Kentucky Lantern, as she interpreted complex legal issues and crafted opinions while managing a high caseload.?

“Upon election to the Kentucky Supreme Court, I will be the first woman and only the fifth person in history to serve at all levels of the judiciary in Kentucky,” Goodwine said. “And I pledge to bring to our state’s highest court not only the legal expertise, work ethic, preparedness and passion for the law that I have built my reputation as a judge, but also a commitment to approaching each case with a dedication to the rule of law and justice for all.”?

After moving to Lexington from her hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, in 1979, Goodwine began working as a court reporter before attending the University of Kentucky the following year. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1991 and UK College of Law in 1994. Early in life, Goodwine overcame challenges like the deaths of her parents by the age of 19 and and a life-threatening illness. She said those moments taught her to use “challenges as a springboard to grow and thrive” and accomplish her goals.?

Goodwine, 64, said she knew she wanted to be a judge as a teenager and that was later reaffirmed after her mother’s murder.?

“From the courtroom to community outreach, I’ve witnessed the real impact legal decisions have on people’s lives and that fuels my commitment to serving on the Kentucky Supreme Court,” Goodwine said.???

Goodwine said the Kentucky Supreme Court is “the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution, laws and rulings,” and handles lower court appeals and focuses typically on cases with “significant legal or constitutional decisions” and renders rulings with binding legal precedents.?

As an arbitrator, Izzo says, she does ‘a lot of the same things that judges do’

Izzo said her litigation experience across Kentucky makes her qualified for the state’s highest court. For 19 years, she’s worked on litigation, arbitration and mediations. She compared arbitration to working as a judge and said her philosophy is to interpret the law as it is written.?

“As an arbitrator, we do a lot of the same things that judges do,” Izzo said. “We look at cases. We have attorneys come before us. I hear arguments. I make decisions. I hear evidence. I preside over trials. It’s there. It’s just different that it’s here in a conference room, as opposed to the courthouse.”

Izzo, 46, completed her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth in 2000 and graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2005. Before joining Landrum and Shouse in 2011, Izzo’s career experience includes being an attorney at Fulkerson, Kinkel and Marrs in Lexington, working as an assistant Fayette County attorney and being a judicial staff attorney for the Family Division of the 50th Judicial Circuit. Before law school, she worked as a paralegal at New York City firm Seward and Kissel.?

Describing herself as a “constitutionalist” and not “an activist arbitrator” when it comes to applying law, Izzo said she looks at the intent behind how laws were written. She added that “if there’s something there that might be better socially, or might (be) something that I disagree with, it’s not my place to change.”?

“I look at how things are, what the intention of the founding fathers were with our Constitution, and that kind of carries over to what legislative intent was when a law was adopted,” Izzo said. “Because I think if you really want to understand what the legislature intended with the law, you want to know how things were when it was adopted, what was in effect, what was going on at the time, and so that can have an impact on what a statute means outside of the Constitution.”

Izzo was born in Tennessee and raised in a Portland, Oregon, suburb until the age of 7when her family moved to Louisville.?

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. In-person no-excuse early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 31.?

Shawn "Mickey" Stines has resigned as Letcher County sheriff and faces a murder charge. (Leslie County Detention Center)

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, charged with murdering a judge in his chambers last week, will face arraignment Wednesday morning in Carter County.

Stines is jailed in the Leslie County Detention Center.

And he’s still sheriff of Letcher County.

“He still is the sheriff until he would actually resign or be removed,”? said Jerry Wagner, executive director of the Kentucky Sheriffs’ Association. “Once you’re elected, you are elected through an election cycle.”?

Wagner said the situation facing Letcher County is unlike any he’s seen.

County sheriffs in Kentucky have wide-ranging powers to enforce the laws of the state along with carrying out a number of lesser-known but important duties, including tax collection, vehicle inspections and providing security for local court proceedings.?

Wagner, who served as Fleming County sheriff for nearly 20 years, said it was customary for a chief deputy to take over his duties when he was unable to perform them.

WHJL in Johnson City, Tennessee, reported a sign on the door of the Letcher County sheriff’s office said it would be closed until Oct. 1. The police chief for the county seat of Whitesburg told the TV station local law enforcement and Kentucky State Police were taking calls and responding to emergencies.

The Letcher County clerk’s office is open. The courts are set to reopen Monday, Sept. 30, with all court proceedings being rescheduled.?

Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart, public affairs officer for KSP Post 13 which serves Letcher County, told the Lantern it’s his understanding the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office is planning to install an interim head, though he didn’t know if an interim leader has been named. Attempts by the Lantern to reach the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office were unsuccessful.?

Asked what power Stines has as sheriff while in custody, Gayheart said it’s a hard question to answer. “His involvement with the actual office itself, I don’t know how much control or the influence he would have on them,” Gayheart said.

Stines, 43, will be arraigned remotely Wednesday.

He is charged with firing multiple shots and killing Letcher County District Court Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, after an argument at the Letcher County Courthouse on Sept. 19. Stines surrendered without incident at the courthouse. The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg has reported the shooting was recorded on video in the judge’s office.

Chief Regional Judge Rupert Wilhoit of Grayson was appointed as a special judge in the case by Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter. Wilhoit’s court is more than 100 miles north of Whitesburg.

Under Kentucky law, Gov. Andy Beshear has the power to remove a peace officer for “neglect of duty.” Alternatively, the Kentucky legislature has the power to impeach and convict elected officials to remove an official from office, which lawmakers did in 2023 with a former commonwealth’s attorney.?

Days before the alleged shooting, Stines gave an eight-hour deposition in a federal court case alleging a former Letcher County deputy forced a woman to have sex in lieu of paying court fees the woman couldn’t afford. Stines is a defendant in the suit for allegedly failing to properly supervise the deputy. It has been stayed in light of the criminal charge against Stines.?

The gravesite of Amber Thurman, at Rose Garden Cemetary in McDonough, Georgia on August, 13th 2024.

The Georgia hospital that failed to save Amber Thurman may have broken a federal law when doctors there waited 20 hours to perform a procedure criminalized by the state’s abortion ban, according to Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires hospitals to provide emergency care to stabilize patients who need it — or transfer them to a hospital that can. Passed nearly four decades ago, the law applies to any hospital with an emergency department and that accepts Medicare funding, which includes the one Thurman went to, Piedmont Henry in suburban Atlanta. The finance committee has authority over the regulatory agency that enforces the law.

In a letter sent Monday, Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, cites ProPublica’s investigation into Thurman’s death, which was found preventable by a state committee of maternal health experts. The senator’s letter asks Piedmont CEO David Kent whether the hospital has delayed or denied emergency care to pregnant patients since Georgia’s abortion ban went into effect. (Kent did not respond to requests for comment.)

“It is my duty to conduct oversight of potential violations of patients’ rights under these laws,” Wyden wrote. The senator asked for the hospital’s policies covering treatment of patients with emergencies that require abortion care. He also asked for a list of personnel involved in making those decisions. He gave the hospital a deadline of Oct. 24 to provide those and other requested records and answers.

Wyden sent the same letter citing ProPublica’s reporting on Thurman to seven hospitals in North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas. One letter seeks information from a Texas hospital where Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick died in 2022 from complications of pregnancy including hypertension, as reported by The New Yorker. Other letters seek information from hospitals where women have reportedly been turned away or experienced delayed care.

The hospitals’ answers could lead to proposed legislation or executive actions to strengthen compliance. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigates complaints and can take actions including levying fines against hospitals that violate EMTALA.

Wyden’s committee held a hearing Tuesday morning, saying in a news release it would “examine how Donald Trump’s successful overturn of Roe v. Wade and subsequent state abortion bans have threatened access to life-saving medical care for women nationwide.”

Piedmont did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment about Wyden’s letter or whether it is aware of an investigation into an EMTALA violation. Doctors who handled Thurman’s care have previously declined to explain their thinking and did not respond to questions from ProPublica.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the regulatory agency that enforces the law, said in an email: “No woman or her family should have to worry that she could be denied life-saving treatment. While we can’t comment on complaints or investigations, we are committed to ensuring that every woman gets the care she needs.”

But some hospitals in abortion-ban states continue to deny or delay emergency care to pregnant women.

A recent Associated Press review of federal investigations found that more than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or treated negligently since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Last year, a federal investigation found that hospitals in Missouri and Kansas involved in the care of a patient, Mylissa Farmer, violated the law.

Vice President Kamala Harris has singled out Thurman’s case as evidence that a national law is needed to restore the right to abortion. Harris’ office didn’t respond to ProPublica’s questions about what federal actions she might pursue as president apart from signing a law, which would have to be passed by a divided Congress.

Former President Donald Trump has bragged about appointing three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe. Project 2025, the controversial playbook and policy agenda for a right-wing presidential administration, calls for doing away with Biden administration guidance that EMTALA requires hospitals to provide abortion care in emergency situations, even in states that ban it, or transfer the patients to a hospital that can provide the needed care.

Trump’s campaign pointed to previous statements by the former president that Project 2025 does not represent his plans for a second term. Leavitt said the former president “has always supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, which Georgia’s law provides. With those exceptions in place, it’s unclear why doctors did not swiftly act to protect Amber Thurman’s life.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, too, has said his state’s six-week ban has clear exceptions to protect the “life of the mother.” In a statement, he blamed “partisan activists and so-called journalists” for spreading “misinformation and propaganda that fostered a culture of fear and confusion.”

But doctors have warned for years that these laws use language not rooted in science and begged for clearer exceptions. The confusion is apparent: In the wake of the bans, some hospitals have refused to even issue written policies informing doctors when and how to provide emergency abortions.

Legal reproductive rights scholars told ProPublica they believe Thurman’s treatment is a clear violation of EMTALA.

“It’s not even a question,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University health law and policy professor and former adviser to President Bill Clinton. She helped develop EMTALA while at the Children’s Defense Fund. “I think the hospital, like all hospitals in these situations, is caught between violating EMTALA and state prosecution,” she said.

Thurman was rushed to the hospital on Aug. 18, 2022, in need of immediate care. Days earlier, she had taken abortion medication to end her pregnancy but was facing a rare complication: Some of the tissue remained inside her body, causing a grave infection.

To clear the infected tissue, she needed a dilation and curettage, or D&C, a procedure used to empty the uterus for both abortions and routine miscarriage care. Medically speaking, Thurman’s pregnancy had already ended. But the state’s abortion ban had criminalized performing a D&C and threatened doctors with up to 10 years in prison if prosecutors decided they violated it.

Records obtained by ProPublica show doctors discussed the procedure at least twice as Thurman’s condition deteriorated over 20 hours. Experts on the state maternal mortality review committee agreed there was a “good chance” Thurman would have survived if the D&C was provided sooner.

After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, the federal government reminded hospitals and doctors they had to follow EMTALA and provide abortion procedures to patients if necessary in emergency situations, regardless of abortion bans. Some Republican officials have aggressively pushed back and said hospitals do not need to follow EMTALA, even for high-risk situations.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to prosecute a doctor for providing an emergency abortion to a woman with a high-risk pregnancy, whose fetus had a fatal anomaly and whose pregnancy threatened her health and future ability to have children.

He argued in court that she did not meet the state ban’s criteria. He also filed a lawsuit arguing the federal government cannot force Texas to follow the guidance on providing emergency abortions to patients.

In an opinion written by a Trump-appointed judge, a federal appeals panel agreed. That means enforcement of EMTALA in emergency abortion cases is barred in that state.

The Supreme Court last summer considered a lawsuit brought by the Biden administration challenging Idaho’s abortion ban, which lacks health exceptions and appears to conflict with EMTALA. A lawyer for the state acknowledged that Idaho’s abortion ban was written to prevent doctors from offering abortions even if the woman could suffer a serious medical complication like losing an organ.

Conservative justices in that case raised arguments about the rights of the fetus. The court issued a ruling that meant the case would be returned to a lower court, which upheld EMTALA while the case continues.

Rosenbaum said the federal government is not doing enough to require hospitals to follow EMTALA in states that banned abortion: “The federal government has no resources. It was only recently that the Biden administration has made it clear how to file complaints. The complaints go uninvestigated or poorly investigated.”

Wyden’s letters sum up the perilous landscape for patients and doctors.

“Across the country, there are reports that women are being turned away by emergency departments when they seek emergency reproductive health care, even in instances where medical professionals determine that, without such care, the patient is at risk of serious complications, infection, or even death. These women are caught between dangerous state laws that are in clear conflict with — and preempted by — EMTALA.”

On Tuesday, Thurman’s sister, Cjauna Williams, visited Thurman’s grave near Atlanta. She arrived to find fresh flowers and birthday balloons left there by people she and her family had never met. Thurman would have turned 31 the day before, and the story of her desperate wait for the medical care she needed had reverberated across the country.

“Hopefully her death won’t be in vain and something good can come of it,” Williams said.

Baptist Healthcare Corbin, above, and Westcare in Pike County are in line for federal funding to expand access to drug treatment. (Baptist Healthcare Corbin)

Two Eastern Kentucky health care providers have received $5.7 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to expand opioid treatment programs.?

Westcare Kentucky in Ashcamp and Baptist Healthcare System in Corbin received $3 million and $2.7 million, respectively. The grants will be spread over four years.?

They’ll use the funds to “create new or expand existing access points for treatment and recovery services, support the behavioral health workforce and collaborate with social services to ensure coordinated care and sustainable impact in rural communities,” according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).?

Westcare, part of a nonprofit network of behavioral health provicers, is located in Pike County, which was among the five Kentucky counties in 2023 with the most fentanyl and meth-related overdose deaths.?

In 2023, there were 1,984 fatal overdoses in Kentucky, down from 2,135 in 2022. Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, accounted for 1,570 of those — about 79% of the 2023 deaths. The 35-44 age group was most at risk, the report shows. Methamphetamine accounted for 55% of 2023’s overdose deaths.?

Despite the overall decrease, the number of Black Kentuckians who died from a drug overdose increased from 259 in 2022 to 264 in 2023.?

“We know that where you live should not determine your access to or the quality of the care that you receive,” Carole Johnson, the administrator of HRSA, said in a statement. “And, we are taking action to deliver for rural families by supporting high-quality substance use disorder treatment and by helping rural hospitals continue to serve their communities.”

Gov. Andy Beshear extends a handshake during a ceremonial groundbreaking for The Paddocks of Frankfort at Interstate 64 and U.S. 127. The ceremony was moved into the Capital Rotunda because of heavy rain the day before. (Gov. Andy Beshear, X account)

FRANKFORT — Developers of a large regional shopping center under construction in Frankfort gave $100,000 to Gov. Andy Beshear’s super PAC in August.

It amounts to the largest group of contributions ever reported by the super PAC — called In This Together — which Beshear created in January.

In early June Beshear was joined by the developers and local and state leaders in the Capitol Rotunda to ceremonially break ground on The Paddocks of Frankfort, a major retail development that will feature Target as an anchor tenant.

Beshear thanked developers and investors for making what he said was a $150 million investment that would “support” more than 1,000 jobs. Developers thanked the state and local officials – particularly the Beshear administration and legislature for funding major road improvements that made the long-planned project possible.

The state road plan includes funding to build a realigned interchange at I-64 and U.S. 127 and other improvements in access to the site.?

The Frankfort and Franklin County governments approved tax increment financing for other infrastructure to support the project.

On Friday, In This Together, filed a report with the Federal Election Commission that listed $100,000 in contributions on Aug. 8 from limited liability companies affiliated with the developers, Patrick Madden and Equity Management Group.

Specifically, the donors listed in the report are:

• TPOF Manager LLC, of Lexington, $50,000. This company was formed in February, according to records filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State. The records list no owners or officers of TPOF Manager LLC, but do list Equity Management Group, of Lexington, as its registered agent. Equity Management Group is one of the real estate companies handling the development according to a June press release from the governor’s office.
• Sir Barton Place LLC, of Lexington, $25,000. This is a real estate company managed by Madden.
• War Admiral Place LLC, of Lexington, $25,000. This is another real estate company managed by Madden.

Neither Madden nor Equity Management Group immediately returned phone calls from Kentucky Lantern seeking comment on the contributions.

Eric Hyers, the PAC’s political strategist who managed both of Beshear’s successful campaigns for governor, responded to questions from Kentucky Lantern in a statement: “This is an important economic development project for Frankfort that has been years in the making, and Mr. Madden has been a long-time supporter of Gov Beshear.”

?Hyers also said, “We are proud that ITT (In This Together) is raising money to help good people win in Kentucky and all over the country and that people are donating because of the proven leadership of Governor Beshear.”

Beshear, a Democrat, created In This Together in early January as a mechanism to raise contributions he would use to support like-minded political candidates both within Kentucky and across the country.

From January through August the super PAC has reported raising $897,500.

Before August, the largest contribution it reported was $25,000 from Freedom Senior Share LLC, of Louisville, which operates under the assumed name of Freedom Adult Day Healthcare.

In This Together reported raising a total of $187,900 in August. It reported spending $40,100 during the month and that it had $681,800 on hand as of Aug. 31.

Hyers said in July that the super PAC planned to wait until the fall before spending significant amounts to help candidates supported by Beshear. In August it reported making just one contribution – $6,600 to the campaign of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin.

Almost 8,000 holders of H2-A visas worked on Kentucky farms in fiscal 2023, including harvesting burley tobacco. (Getty Images)

Seven Kentucky farmers last week sued the U.S. Department of Labor to block new federal protections for foreign farmworkers who enter the country on H2-A temporary visas.

On Monday Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman joined them, saying the new rule would clear the way for farmworkers in Kentucky to unionize.

Also moving to intervene to block the new rule are Republican attorneys general in Alabama, Ohio and West Virginia, according to a release from Coleman’s office.

A federal judge in Georgia earlier this year blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the rule in 17 other states.

Announced in April, the rule expands protections to seasonal workers, including against employer retaliation, unsafe working conditions and illegal recruitment practices. It requires that vans used to transport workers have seat belts.

Coleman, a Republican, said the new regulation “would force Kentucky farmers to allow temporary foreign-migrant workers to form a union and engage in collective bargaining. It would add excessive new bureaucratic burdens to Kentucky agricultural employers, who are already struggling to make ends meet.”

The Labor Department issued H2-A visas to 378,000 temporary workers, most from Mexico, in fiscal year 2023, according to Rural Migration News. Almost 8,000 of the temporary workers were employed in Kentucky.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Kentucky’s Eastern District, also include organizations that help growers navigate the H2-A process, including the Lexington-based Agriculture Workforce Management Association, which says it is “owned and managed by agricultural employers.”

They argue that without authorization from Congress, the Labor Department lacks the authority to confer “certain new ‘rights’ on foreign agricultural workers who are employed temporarily in the United States on H-2A visas, as well as on American agricultural workers deemed to be engaged in ‘corresponding employment’ with the H-2A workers.”?

Federal law requires the Labor Department to determine U.S. workers won’t lose work or wages to foreign workers admitted under the temporary visas.

Unveiling the rule in a California vineyard, U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su said it “is meant to give H2-A workers more ability to advocate for themselves, to speak up when they experience labor law abuses.”?

Coleman said the rule “will force new burdens on our growers, making it harder to get their products to market and raising costs on families at the grocery store.”

The attorney who filed the suit, Joe Bilby, is a former general counsel in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Kentucky Supreme Court (front, from left) incoming Chief JuDebra Hembree Lambert, outgoing Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter, Michelle Keller. (Back row, from left) Christopher Shea Nickell, Kelly Thompson, Robert Conley, Angela McCormick Bisig. (AOC photo/Brian Bohannon)

State Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert will become the first woman to be Kentucky’s chief justice starting next year.?

Justices on the court selected Lambert to serve as the next chief justice on Monday. She will serve a four-year term starting Jan. 6, 2025, according to an announcement from the Administrative Office of the Courts.?

Lambert represents the 3rd Supreme Court District and was elected to the court in 2018. In a statement, she said she was “humbled and honored to have been elected by my colleagues” to serve as chief justice.?

“I know it is certainly no small task to lead the Judicial Branch of government,” Lambert said. “Our judges, clerks and administrative employees handle large dockets and special programs with great efficiency. While it may be notable that I will be the first woman to serve as chief justice in Kentucky, I am most proud to be a small-town kid from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky who has had a lot of support and encouragement along the way.”??

Lambert is a native of Bell County and now lives in Pulaski County with her husband, Joseph Sharpe. Lambert earned her degrees from Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky College of Law. She previously was married to former Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, who left the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2008.

Last year, Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter announced he would not be seeking reelection in the 5th Supreme Court district.?

“Chief Justice-elect Lambert is a hard-working, dedicated and experienced member of the Kentucky Court of Justice, having served as Family Court Judge, Court of Appeals Judge and Justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. Altogether, she has served as a judge or justice for more than 17 years,” VanMeter said. “I am confident that Chief Justice-elect Lambert will lead the Judicial Branch with integrity and ensure the efficient and fair administration of justice for this great commonwealth.”

Before joining the Supreme Court, Lambert was on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and was appointed as a family court circuit judge in the 28th Judicial Circuit by former Gov. Paul Patton in 1999. She practiced law in Mount Vernon as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney and city attorney.?

Lambert also leads the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health and volunteers as a certified suicide prevention trainer.

A 9 mm “ghost gun” pistol build kit with a commercial slide and barrel with a polymer frame is displayed in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C. More than a dozen states, including some battleground states, debated and enacted a variety of firearms regulations addressing storage requirements, gun-free zones, bans on firearm purchase tracking and permitless carry. (Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press)

The deadliest school shooting in Georgia history occurred earlier this month when a 14-year-old gunman, armed with a military-style rifle, killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, a city about an hour northeast of Atlanta.

And on Sunday, former President Donald Trump was the target of what the FBI described as an apparent assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida — just nine weeks after surviving another attempt on his life.

Gun policy has been a topic of debate in America for decades, and its prominence has increased as gun-related deaths and mass shootings have risen nearly every year since 2014, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence in the United States.

Many Americans despair of ever taming the epidemic, but a new report says certain laws can make a difference.

The report, published in July by Rand, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, found that minimum age requirements for purchasing firearms appear to reduce suicides among young people. Additionally, it indicated that laws aimed at reducing children’s access to stored guns may also lower rates of firearm suicides, unintentional shootings and firearm homicides among youth.

This is the fourth time that Rand has released the report, “The Science of Gun Policy,” since 2018. Earlier editions examined the effectiveness of other gun regulations, such as background checks and concealed carry laws, and their impact on outcomes such as crime and suicide.

The “Science of Gun Policy” report examines laws individually. But a separate Rand study published in July, this one in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, explores the combined effects of multiple state-level gun laws, including background checks, minimum age requirements, waiting periods, child access restrictions, concealed carry and stand your ground laws.

“We should try to be looking at policies jointly, because individually, each one may have a small effect, but if you start layering these restrictions on each other, they may start to really make a difference,” Terry Schell, the study’s lead author and a senior behavioral scientist at Rand, told Stateline. “That is worth thinking about.”

The study found that states with the most restrictive gun policies had a 20% lower firearm mortality rate compared with states with the most permissive laws, suggesting that comprehensive policy approaches may be more effective than individual policies in curbing gun violence.

“There should be some hope that there is a policy combination that could drive the firearm death rate down,” Schell said.

A deadly year so far

The Georgia school shooting marked the 30th mass killing in the United States this year, defined as an attack in which four or more people, excluding the perpetrator, are killed, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. At least 131 people have died in these killings so far.

Mass shootings that occur close to election seasons often have a significant impact on the public’s perception of guns, according to gun policy experts. But much of the discussion and debate surrounding firearms has been clouded by partisan rhetoric and money, said Warren Eller, an associate professor of public management at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“[Gun policy is] going to play a larger role, at least in the dialogue around it –– whether or not it’s meaningful dialogue, I think, is something very different,” Eller said in a phone interview with Stateline.

This year, more than a dozen states enacted a variety of new gun laws, including measures related to storage requirements, gun-free zones, bans on firearm purchase tracking and permitless carry.

Following the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School, both Republican and Democratic Georgia state lawmakers have proposed various measures to curb gun violence.

Georgia’s House speaker, Republican Rep. Jon Burns, wrote in a letter to the House Republican Caucus that lawmakers will consider new policies during the 2025 legislative session to promote student mental health, evaluate technologies to detect guns and encourage safe gun storage.

“While House Republicans have already made significant investments to strengthen security in our schools, increase access to mental healthcare, and keep our students safe, I am committed to not only continuing this work but pursuing additional policies to help ensure a tragedy like this never happens in our state again,” Burns wrote in the letter.

Burns’ proposals, however, fall short of Democratic demands for measures such as universal background checks and a red flag law, which would allow police or loved ones to petition a court to prevent an at-risk individual from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

In February, the Georgia House approved a bill to create a state income tax credit of up to $300 for purchasing gun safes, trigger locks, other security devices or instructional courses on safe firearm handling. This bill did not advance past the Senate, but a similar Senate bill that exempts gun safes and other safety devices from state sales tax went into effect in July.

Two other gun-related bills also took effect in July. The first law bans firearm purchase tracking, while the second law established a tax holiday for guns and related items.

A special panel of Georgia state senators also convened several times this year to explore potential laws aimed at safely locking up firearms and keeping them out of the hands of children.

Pushback against gun measures

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents much of the national firearm industry, argues that universal background checks are ineffective and that they don’t keep firearms from reaching criminals. The foundation also contends that universal background checks would require a national registry of gun owners, which they fear could lead to confiscation.

Many of the existing red flag laws, the group argues, lack sufficient due process protections. The group encourages safe firearm storage but opposes laws mandating specific storage requirements, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the justices ruled that trigger locks, which render firearms nonfunctional, violate the Second Amendment.

Above all, the group advocates for stricter enforcement of existing laws and emphasizes that mental health should be a primary focus in addressing gun violence.

“We can’t have no-bail policies. We can’t have ‘defund the police.’ … We need to hold people accountable for their criminal actions,” Lawrence Keane, the organization’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in an interview with Stateline. “We believe that a lot of these high-profile, tragic incidents are at bottom about mental health.”

Mental health is often cited as a major factor contributing to gun violence. Although it may play a significant role, aligning specific mental health diagnoses with policy solutions is difficult, according to Eller, of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Much of the gun violence in the United States stems from economic crime, Eller said in the interview, but many policy discussions focus narrowly on school shootings and assault weapons. Those issues should be addressed, he said, but they represent a small percentage of gun violence in this country.

Since 1982, there have been at least 24 mass shootings in U.S. schools, defined as incidents in which four or more people are killed, according to a database maintained by Mother Jones, a nonprofit news magazine. These school shootings account for about 16% of the 151 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. during this period.

This article?is republished from Stateline, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

The library on the former grounds of the Highlander Folk Center, in which Rev. Martin Luther King once lectured, is one of few buildings remaining on the Grundy County site closed by the state in 1961. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

This much is not in dispute:?? In 1961, the state of Tennessee took 200 acres of land from Highlander Folk School on Monteagle Mountain in Grundy County. Took, as in confiscated on bogus charges of alcohol sales without a license.

But the real reason for the confiscation stemmed from fears of civil rights and union activism after two decades of training now-icons such as Rosa Parks and Diane Nash at Highlander.

This much is also not in dispute: Five plots of that now subdivided land are owned by a nonprofit called the Tennessee Preservation Trust (TPT). The sale of those plots to Todd Mayo, the for-profit owner of The Caverns, a rural concert venue, is pending. And the current Highlander administration, which had its offer to buy the land rejected, is furious.

Everything else — what happened to TPT, whether they ever had plans to sell the land back to Highlander, what might happen to those plots now and the land next to them that TPT doesn’t own — well, the answers vary depending on whom you ask.

On the one hand, TPT preserved some historic buildings that might very well have been lost. On the other hand, the original (and some would say, still rightful) owner of those buildings has been shut out from determining what happens to them.

Still others question whether a group of white men are the right ones to tell the story of the storied civil rights training ground.

“It’s hard to understand what the motive would be for the Trust not to turn the land over to Highlander,” says Denis Marlowe, a longtime neighbor whose mother worked at Highlander before the state raid. “I can see it only one or two ways. Either you’re getting a chance to make some money in this situation, or you don’t agree with what Highlander might do with it.”

Backed by Eleanor Roosevelt, training civil rights leaders

Over three decades, the tiny Highlander Folk School had a huge, outsized impact on both Tennessee and American history. In 1932, Myles Horton, Don West and James Dombrowski launched the Highlander Folk School on land donated by Lillian Wyckoff Johnson, a progressive educator. Johnson had built and run a model rural school and community center named Kindred Company (KinCo) since 1915 and wanted others to continue her work after retirement.

Attempts to organize local workers quickly drew the ire of businessmen, both in Grundy County and across Tennessee. Although then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had endorsed the school, by 1941 the FBI had launched its first investigation into Highlander for alleged communist activities, surveillance that would continue for over two decades.

By the 1950s, Highlander had pivoted from labor to civil rights and became an instrumental part of the movement to fight segregation. Workshops led by activists Septima Clark, Esau Jenkins and Bernice Robinson taught Black citizens their rights, while other workshops taught white and Black adults together strategies to desegregate schools and businesses. (Parks famously attended a Highlander workshop four months before refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.)

Martin Luther King Jr. visited in 1957, speaking in the library. Horton’s wife Zliphia taught “We Shall Overcome” to Pete Seeger during a visit, who made it part of his repertoire, leading to its adoption as the unofficial civil rights anthem.

‘A story that hasn’t been told’

In 2013, in a splashy story in The Tennessean, historian David Currey announced big plans: The Tennessee Preservation Trust (TPT), of which he was then board chair, planned to buy 13.5 acres of the original 200-acre Highlander site with a $1 million national campaign.

“Trying to get our hands on this piece of property allows us to tell that story again in the context of this rural setting,” Currey told the paper at the time. “This place has the potential to tell a story that hasn’t been told.”

A national campaign never really happened, but local donors stepped up and helped TPT buy three parcels on Old Highlander Road in May 2014. One parcel included what was left of the historic one-room library. In 2015, TPT purchased another parcel, followed by a fifth parcel in 2019 — ultimately around 8.5 acres of land with three houses in addition to the library.

Two of the houses have been rentals for the past 10 years. The third house, a historic home used by Highlander, has been left empty. It has visible mold and other exterior damage — rotting floorboards on the porch, a gutter dangling, overgrown shrubbery trying to force its way inside.

Despite some renovations, the one-room library sits empty, too, paint already peeling off the cement blocks. That’s why the organization needs to sell now, says Phil Thomason, TPT board chair, who says the organization never intended to keep the property.

“Our intent when we purchased it in 2014 was to restore the building back to its original design listed in the National Register of Historic Places and then sell it to a person, a benefactor, or an entity that we felt would be a really good steward of the property,” says Thomason.

That steward, however, won’t just be Todd Mayo. It will also be Currey, via a separate nonprofit called Kindred Cooperative in a nod to the original land owner. Last summer, months before Mayo put an offer on the land, Currey’s TPT entered into a 99-year lease of the Highlander property with Kindred for a nominal annual rent. (Thomason says it’s “something like” $1 per year.)

Mayo says he was intrigued by the project when Currey approached him.

“David communicated to me that he borrowed money to save this [property] and put it in a trust through TPT, but that … it needed to be sold and put into his nonprofit to carry on doing things there,” Mayo says. “I said, ‘Man, I’d love to help’.”

The TPT board voted to approve the sale for $600,000 in December 2023. Highlander put forth a competing offer of $800,000 cash in June, but the board voted against it.

“The relationship that we had with Highlander was severed a couple of years ago by them … and they disparaged and had unkind words for my organization,” Thomason says. “[Before 2024] we always had the door open to them for an offer, but we never received anything in writing …. [This summer] as we looked at the offer that Highlander presented, the timeline and other considerations just made it imperative that we move forward with Todd’s offer.”

Per state law, the Tennessee attorney general’s office must approve any sale by a nonprofit of substantially all its assets to another entity. That review is currently underway, and if the AG’s office approves the sale, which Thomason seems confident will happen, Mayo will own the land by the end of the year.

The role of race in historic preservation

Ted Debro, a Black Birmingham businessman, worked with Currey to create an experience room in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church, examining the aftermath of the 1963 bombings that killed four Black girls.

“We were very pleased with the work that he did, and I found him to be a very open and caring individual and one who really understood the story and how to pull that together,” Debro says. “I didn’t find him to have a prejudice or a racist thought in his body.”

But several people, including Highlander’s current co-executive director, Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele, raised questions about whether an older white man is the right person to tell Highlander’s story, given its storied history in the Civil Rights Movement.

“As another white person, I’ve grown to understand that we’re all in recovery from the deepest, entrenched pools of white supremacy that we grew up in,” said Maxfield-Steele. “But the deals that he’s been willing to seemingly make without our consent and without our blessing and without transparency — that’s the issue. And some people do call that white supremacist business practice.”

This attitude is what enrages Currey.

“That’s what [Highlander staff] use when they don’t get what they want — if you don’t agree with them, then everybody’s a racist,” Currey says. “That’s not the case. I do a lot of work with a lot of African American communities around the South. Do you think if I was a racist they would want to do business with me?”

A simmering fight for years

This anger — of Currey and Thomason toward Highlander, of Highlander toward the TPT — first came to a head in 2022, but it had been simmering for years.

Highlander didn’t stop training activists when the center was forced off Monteagle. Now called the Highlander Research and Education Center, it’s been located in New Market, Tennessee, since 1971, after 10 years in Knoxville. The organization has continued to train grassroots organizers and work for social and economic justice, and if it ever ended up with the original land, they say that goal wouldn’t change. But Highlander now has resources they didn’t have in the 1950s — over 50 employees and an annual operating budget of around $9 million.

According to Maxfield-Steele, Highlander has been interested in reacquiring the site and has talked to Currey and TPT members multiple times over the past decade about making it happen.

“In 2014, what we said was that we can’t afford this now, but we believe this project is valuable, and our story is one that should be told by us,” says Maxfield-Steele, explaining that Highlander was in the middle of a capital campaign at the time and couldn’t afford any additional cost outlays. “That was not something that it seemed that they were interested in pursuing.”

Between 2014 and 2019, Highlander had occasional discussions with Currey about the site’s direction but never received any offers in writing. In 2019, Howell E. Adams Jr., a donor who helped TPT purchase the parcels, told Highlander about the Kindred proposal. Maxfield-Steele thought parts of it were ludicrous — both “historic Highlander” and the current iteration of the nonprofit have long worked to “help rural people” — but he agreed to work on a plan.

But after emails back and forth, Maxfield-Steele says they couldn’t get a commitment from Currey about what would happen with the land. The pandemic hit, and things quieted down until 2022, when TPT submitted an application to place the library building on the National Register of Historic Places without notifying Highlander.

“There were citations that were wrong,” Maxfield-Steele says. “And we had never given any legal permission to TPT to submit anything.”

The dispute made the news, but behind the scenes, Highlander made an offer to buy the land.

“We said, we could cut you a check today,” Maxfield-Steele says. “And we offered to compensate [Currey] for his time in 2022.”

Thomason says TPT never received an offer.

“The fact that they objected to [the Register nomination] just told my board that they were not serious and would never provide an offer,” Thomason says. “Were there some minor inaccuracies? That’s correct. And those were corrected.”

Since then, the two parties have not talked until Highlander learned this spring that Mayo had made an offer for the land. Staff drafted a counter-proposal and attached letters of support from prominent historians, activists and Grundy County neighbors, including Tennessee State Historian Carroll Van West. They also included information about partnering with MASS Design Group, the architectural firm that designed the National Memorial for Peace and Justice honoring victims of lynching in Montgomery, Alabama.

Highlander provided financial documents demonstrating that paying $800,000 cash for the site — again, $200,000 more than Mayo and much more than TPT originally paid for the land — was feasible. The board still voted against the plan.

“On paper, it looks weird that they would turn down a significantly higher dollar amount, but it also looks bad that they would reject an 87-page document that included Septima Clark’s family, MASS Design, Brent Leggs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Black Tennessee historians, and reputable folks from the region and outside the region,” Maxfield-Steele says.

Learotha Williams, a Tennessee State University professor and historian, was one of the supporters who submitted a letter, and he sees racism at play, whether intentional or not.

“The preservation space that we work in is largely dominated by white males who have access to all of the properties, all of the mechanisms for preserving stuff, determining what was going to be preserved, how it was going to be preserved — in other words, who could tell the stories,” Dr. Williams says. “I can see the shock and anger emerging out of [the Register dispute], but nonetheless, this act is an act to punish Highlander, the same way that the sheriff said, ‘We’re going to punish Highlander by not allowing them into this site.’

“I don’t see much difference between the two,” Williams says. “You don’t want them there, so we slap a padlock on it in the 1960s. You don’t want them back at the site now because they called you out for some nonsense, so we don’t wanna sell it to you no matter how much money you got.”

Tempers are unlikely to calm anytime soon. Currey expressed repeated outrage over being perceived as elitist and not knowing what’s best for the land. Meanwhile, Highlander did not know that TPT had entered into the 99-year lease months prior to Mayo’s offer until told by this reporter, and now feels even more betrayed.

“That TPT invited us to make an offer without disclosing a century-long lease which essentially voids ownership is deeply deceptive and only confirms what we feared all along — this was never a genuine invitation,” says Evelyn Lynn, special projects organizer at Highlander.

Thomason, Currey and one member who spoke on background were the only TPT board members who agreed to talk. None of the other eight current members, nor several past members, returned calls or messages.

Potential problems with Kindred and the appearance of a sweetheart deal

There are multiple problems with Kindred potentially running the site, at least as the nonprofit currently exists. The first appears to be a conflict of interest: Not only has Currey been an off-and-on member of the TPT board since 2010, but he also partners with Thomason professionally via his historic preservation firm, Thomason & Associates. The firm’s website states that Currey’s company, Encore Interpretive Design, has provided “planning and interpretation services” for multiple projects.

And Currey is still intimately involved in TPT. Since the 2017 reporting year, he has filed every annual report with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office and since the 2018 reporting year, his home address has been listed as TPT’s mailing and principal office address.

“It is [my address] because I filed their annual report for them, because I used to be on the board,” Currey says.

Currey’s home address is also listed on all of Kindred’s annual reports.

Both federal and state law say conflicts of interest should be avoided, but they are not technically prohibited.

“When an organization makes a decision that is clouded by conflict, there’s a reasonable concern that that decision was not made in the best interest of the general public,” says Eric Franklin Amarante, a professor and expert in nonprofit law at the University of Tennessee Knoxville who has consulted with Highlander. “If someone is still somewhat involved or maybe even intimately involved in the organization, but they don’t maintain the title, that’s still a concern.”

Then, there are questions about the nonprofit status of TPT and Kindred. Currey says he created Kindred to raise funds because TPT lost its nonprofit status during the COVID era.

“(TPT) didn’t file some tax returns, and their board chair passed away from cancer — I was not on the board at that time — so we created Kindred so that we could finish the [library renovation], says Currey.”

But his timeline is a little off. TPT did have its 501(c)(3) status revoked by the IRS in 2020 for failure to file an annual report for three years in a row, and it has not regained it. However, Currey filed to incorporate Kindred in 2017, and in July 2019, he announced that TPT planned to turn the site over to Kindred to manage.

In 2021, the IRS granted Kindred tax exempt status, but the nonprofit appears to have not been in compliance with state or federal law since 2017. According to the IRS, Kindred has yet to file the required Form 990 annual report for any year, possibly bringing it to the verge of also possibly having that status revoked. It also has not had a board of three people in place, as required both by state law and its own charter.

In annual reports filed with the state, Currey is listed as both the president and secretary of Kindred for 2017 and 2018. From 2019 through 2023, Nashville architect Brian Tibbs is listed as the board secretary. In a phone call, Currey said Tibbs is still on the board. Tibbs, however, says, “I haven’t had any involvement with Kindred.”

Thomason said he was unaware of Currey’s lapses and blamed it on his lack of time.

However, Amarante says none of this looks good.

“If I were counseling the client, I would say, ‘This is a big transaction, basically all of your assets.’ And I would want to make sure that the entire transaction was clean of any self-interest,” Amarante says. “I’ve seen conflict-of-interest policies where the relationship described would not be technically considered a conflict, but if I were working at the IRS or state AG’s office and I were reviewing it, I’d be like, ‘This just looks like a sweetheart deal.’”

The form required by the AG’s office to approve the sale requires a nonprofit to “provide sufficient documents to identify any possible conflict of interest, self-interest, or self-dealing of any board member, officer, or director in connection with the Transaction.”

The future of Highlander

Whether Kindred, Mayo or Highlander end up controlling the lots, one thing seems sure: It will likely take significantly more money and additional land purchases to create a destination landmark that draws tourists from outside the state.

Mayo says his current vision isn’t to change much: Have elementary school children occasionally come by for a field trip, but otherwise keep it a quiet residential street where everyone minds their own business. The sale includes a preservation easement, which limits what can be built on the property.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about that,” Mayo says when asked if additional purchases could follow in the years to come. “You’d have to look at it relative to the cost and the benefits. … I plan on keeping everything the way it is for right now.”

Mayo says that he would like to restore the dilapidated home if it’s financially feasible. He may look into buying the house just south of the library, which will likely be on the market next year. He also plans to let the tenants in the other houses stay, at least for now.

Although he hopes Highlander ultimately gets their land back, Marlowe has a pragmatic take.

“This whole thing has been almost like a fantasy, as far as having the property saved and preserved,” Marlowe says. “If we’ve learned anything in the last 70 years of fighting these fights it’s just the fact that you’re there fighting doesn’t necessarily mean that the earth’s going to be shook up and changed any time soon. What’s important is to not lose sight that they were fighting.”

Lynn puts it more succinctly.“David Currey won’t be here in 99 years,” Lynn says. “But the Highlander Center will.

This story is republished from the Tennessee Lookout, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

A pharmacist retrieves a a medication. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images.)

The owner of one of the three largest pharmacy middlemen in the United States last week filed suit to quash an attempt by the Federal Trade Commission to investigate industry practices. However, the suit relies on research that the health conglomerate helped pay for and was conducted by an economist who’s become wealthy arguing in support of huge mergers.

The FTC in July issued a scathing interim report saying that Cigna/Express Scripts, CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group appeared to be using their pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to inflate the price of drugs and consequently make patients sicker. In response, Cigna/Express Scripts sued, declaring that the FTC’s findings were “false and defamatory.”

The company is demanding that the U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri declare that the FTC’s interim report “is not in the public interest,” that the report be vacated, and it demands “FTC Chair Lina M. Khan’s recusal from all Commission actions pertaining to Express Scripts.”

Meanwhile, at the end of last week the FTC ?announced it is taking legal action against the three pharmacy benefit managers accusing them of inflating insulin prices and steering patients toward higher-cost insulin products to increase their profits. The complaint which is not yet public seeks to prohibit the PBMs from favoring medicines because they make them more money.

In its suit, Cigna/Express Scripts — the 16th-largest company by revenue in the United States — argued that it and the other big PBMs actually bring down drug costs. As evidence, it pointed to research by an economist who has been paid more than an estimated $100 million in a career of arguing in favor of mega-mergers.

Bill would save Kentucky consumers money, help independent pharmacies survive, says sponsor

The PBMs owned by the health care giants — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — control about 80% of their marketplace. They represent insurers in pharmacy transactions by determining which drugs are covered. They create pharmacy networks. And they use a secretive system to determine how much to reimburse pharmacies for the drugs they dispense.

For years their critics have accused them of having an inherent conflict of interest.

Each PBM owns a mail-order pharmacy and CVS Caremark’s parent owns the largest brick-and-mortar retailer. So they’re using secret price lists to decide how much to reimburse their own pharmacies for drugs — and those of their competitors.

As an example of the apparent arbitrariness of the PBMs’ pricing, a recent analysis of Medicare data showed that plans owned by CVS paid 501 different prices for the same drug.

Also controversial are the big PBMs’ practices concerning brand-name drugs, which tend to be under patent and considerably more expensive than generics. Because the middlemen control access to so many patients, makers of such drugs have powerful incentives to pay big rebates to PBMs in exchange for getting their products of lists of covered drugs, or formularies, and for their drugs to have the lowest copayments.

Reprieve for Kentucky’s independent pharmacies is saving Medicaid millions

Academic research has concluded that increases in often-secretive rebates correlate with even bigger increases in the list prices of drugs. There are also concerns that because the conglomerates increasingly own middlemen, pharmacies, health insurers and providers such as doctors’ offices, they’re using such “vertical integration” to unfairly advantage their various business units at the expense of their competitors.

The FTC’s interim report that is the object of the Express Scripts lawsuit said it appears that the health conglomerates are using both their size and their breadth to harm consumers.

In its suit, Express Scripts claimed that it and the other large PBM’s were actually helping consumers by using their heft to squeeze discounts out of drugmakers. They have “saved plan sponsors and their members tens of billions of dollars in drug costs over the past decade alone,” the suit asserts.

As evidence, it points to a 17-page report titled “An Economic Analysis of Criticisms Levied against Pharmacy Benefit Managers.”

The report disputes that rebates and other PBM practices are raising drug costs as critics say. Tellingly, though, it says the research is funded by the very people the FTC is investigating — Cigna/Express Scripts, United Group/OptumRx, and CVS/Caremark.

And it was done by an outfit, Compass Lexecon, that pays huge dollars to academics who have repeatedly written papers in favor of mega-mergers, a ProPublica investigation concluded in 2016.

In arguing that such mergers create “efficiencies” that benefit consumers, the authors have a conflict of interest, the investigation shows. The academics “reshaped their field through scholarly work showing that mergers create efficiencies of scale that benefit consumers,” the investigation said. “But they reap their most lucrative paydays by lending their academic authority to mergers their corporate clients propose.”

In the case of the study cited in the lawsuit filed against the FTC, the author was University of Chicago economist Dennis W. Carlton. The ProPublica investigation uncovered evidence that he charged at least $1,350 an hour for such work, and estimated that he’d earned more than $100 million in his career of supporting mergers. And that was as of eight years ago.

Meanwhile, the poor and disabled are finding it more difficult to find a pharmacy to go to.

“Amidst increasing vertical integration and concentration, these powerful middlemen may be profiting by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies,” an executive summary of the FTC report Express Scripts is suing to quash said.

Independent and small-chain pharmacies have been closing for years, with many citing the big PBMs’ practices as the reason. That created fears that pharmacy deserts could multiply, making it hard or impossible for people without transportation to see a medical professional and discuss their med and chronic conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

Those fears were amplified with this year’s announcement that Rite Aid and Walgreens are planning to close thousands of pharmacies — including hundreds in Ohio and Michigan. Dave Burke, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association, said the announcement of the Walgreens closures especially made him concerned that PBMs’ practices are making the business of pharmacy untenable.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal, a sister publication to the Kentucky Lantern and part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network.

Kentucky’s chief medical examiner and state crime lab staff have confirmed through a DNA analysis the body found near the site of the Interstate 75 shootings in Laurel County is the shooting suspect Joseph Couch.?

Chief Medical Examiner Bill Ralston in a Friday statement said DNA testing of the body’s soft tissue was inconclusive because of “extreme decomposition of the body,” but further tests of the body’s bone confirmed it was Couch. Ralston previously said the cause of death was consistent with a gunshot wound to the head. The official autopsy won’t be available until toxicology tests are finished.?

“I want to recognize the medical examiner’s office and KSP crime lab for working together and being diligent in obtaining positive identification so the commonwealth can move forward from this tragic situation,” Ralston said in his statement.?

The shooting along Interstate 75 in Laurel County wounded five people, who all survived their injuries, and led more than a dozen law enforcement agencies on a manhunt through rugged terrain that lasted nearly two weeks searching for Couch. A couple searching for Couch while live streaming on YouTube had originally found Couch’s body near the vicinity of the shooting.??

Naloxone for reversing opioid overdoses is available to the public at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department on Newtown Pike. (Lexington-Fayette County Health Department)

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department has issued an overdose alert for Lexington.

The health department reports a spike in suspected nonfatal drug overdoses with 24 reported in four days, Sept 17-20, according to information from the Overdose Detection Mapping Application System (ODMAP).

“This is an important time to carry naloxone, used to reverse opioid overdoses, especially if you or someone you know has substance use disorder,” said the department’s communications officer Kevin Hall in a news release Friday. “Fentanyl has been found in all types of regulated drugs, so naloxone may help regardless of the drug taken.”

The department’s Harm Reduction Program provides naloxone to anyone who needs it. Naloxone kits are available 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays, 3-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays in the Dr. Rice C. Leach Community Room at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, 650 Newtown Pike. People picking up the free naloxone also receive a 10-15-minute class in how to use it.?

The department recommends:

• Don’t use drugs alone
• If you or someone you know needs help with substance use disorder, visit https://findhelpnowky.org/ky to search for available treatment options (or call 1-833-859-4357 during business hours or 1-800-854-6813 after business hours)
• Check in on friends, family members, neighbors and others to share this information
• Call 911 if you suspect an overdose.

Gov. Andy Beshear, center, speaks to Ascend Elements CEO Michael O’Kronley after a ground-breaking ceremony at Commerce Park II in Hopkinsville in October 2022. (Hoptown Chronicle photo by Jennifer P. Brown)

The company behind a planned battery recycling plant in Western Kentucky is receiving another $125 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a part of a broader federal effort to boost battery production and recycling for electric vehicles (EVs) and the electric grid.?

Massachusetts-based Ascend Elements is receiving the federal award for a new battery recycling process at planned facilities in Hopkinsville in partnership with the Mexican company Orbia.?The companies plan to extract graphite from the recycled batteries, have it further processed and enhanced at a separate Louisiana facility owned by Orbia and then sell the new battery-grade graphite. The DOE is describing the effort as a “first-of-its-kind recycled graphite production” process.

White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi in a statement Friday about the funding — which awarded more than $3 billion to 25 battery-related projects across the country — said the funding is “helping support the technologies that we need in the market today, the components that we will need in the near future, and the innovative technologies we need to advance our vision for a circular domestic battery supply chain that positions the United States to continue leading the global effort on clean energy.”???

This latest funding for graphite recycling in Hopkinsville follows earlier large federal investments in other Ascend Elements manufacturing plants in the Western Kentucky city. Ascend Elements in partnership with South Korea-based SK ecoplant announced last year?a planned $65 million lithium-ion battery recycling plant, which would shred and recycle. 24,000 metric tons of EV batteries annually. Ascend Elements had previously stated the construction of that plant should be completed by January 2025.?

The Hoptown Chronicle has previously reported the recycled batteries will help supply another planned Ascend Elements plant, dubbed Apex 1, creating cathode active materials that constitute battery cells. The DOE has invested more than $480 million into the Apex 1 projects.?

Correction: This story previously misstated the $125 million in federal funding was for a planned battery recycling plant sponsored by SK ecoplant and Ascend Elements. The funding is instead for a new, separate effort in Hopkinsville to recycle graphite from batteries sponsored by Orbia and Ascend Elements.

Rep. Nima Kulkarni, D-Louisville, (LRC Public Information)

A three-judge Kentucky Court of Appeals panel denied a motion that sought to disqualify Louisville Rep. Nima Kulkarni from seeking election this fall.?

Kulkarni’s primary challenger, William Zeitz, and previous opponent, former Rep. Dennis Horlander, appealed a ruling out of Franklin County Circuit Court last week that allowed a vacancy in the 40th House District primary election to stand. Zeitz and Horlander plan to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court.?

“Because the Kentucky Secretary of State, Michael Adams, appears to have correctly applied the law to the particular circumstances presented, we find no substantial question on the merits of this case, and we deny the pending motion,” the Court of Appeals said in a published order.?

Adams, a Republican, declared the vacancy after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Kulkarni was disqualified from the May primary election because of problems in her filing papers. Adams invited the local political parties to nominate candidates for the general election. Democrats nominated Kulkarni and Republicans did not name a candidate.?

Kulkarni, by way of her attorney James Craig, said appreciated the appeals court “issuing a thorough and comprehensive opinion today.”?

“The two men who brought this challenge have lost repeatedly at the ballot box, and now their efforts to go around the election process have been denied,” Kulkarni said. “Those who were involved in going against the will of the people and hoping that a court would ignore the voters’ wishes — they also lost today. This was a win, not only for my constituents, but also for democracy.”

Steven Megerle, an attorney for Zeitz and Horlander, said “Kulkarni has not yet stolen this election” and that they would filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to determine when a vacancy occurs. Megerle reiterated that Zeitz was a bona fide candidate for the primary.?

“This case always appeared to be bound back to the state Supreme Court due to the quirky and peculiar posture that it’s had,” Megerle said.

Before issuing its denial, the Court of Appeals requested the Supreme Court review the appeal, but the high court denied the transfer. Judges Sara Walter Combs, Kelly Mark Easton and Jeff Taylor were on the appeals court panel.?

Zeitz and Horlander filed a lawsuit against election officials after Hornlander challenged the validity of Kulkarni’s nomination papers, as one of the two signatories was not a registered Democrat, as required by state law, at the time of signing.

Kulkarni defeated Horlander in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primaries for the 40th House District. In an unofficial vote count, Kulkarni received 78% of ballots cast in the May primary election. Zeitz received the remaining 22%.

The Court of Appeals said that the question around Kulkarni’s eligibility to be nominated would have been different had the Supreme Court not allowed votes to be cast for her before disqualification.

“Zeitz was not entitled to be declared the winner of an election that did not count and which he lost by a four-to-one margin,” the appeals court said. “Zeitz was not unopposed before the primary votes were cast.”?

The deadline to print ballots for the general election was Sept. 16, and they have been, according to Adams’ office.

“While our Office has stayed neutral in this dispute, we are pleased that the Court did not sow chaos in the election by undoing our work,” Adams said in a statement. “For the past four years, Kentucky has been nationally recognized for our accessible, secure and smooth elections, and we will keep it that way.”

This story has been updated with additional comments Friday afternoon.?

Rep. Daniel Grossberg, D-Louisville. (LRC Public Information)

Prominent Kentucky Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and House Democratic Caucus members, are calling for the resignation of Louisville Democratic Rep. Daniel Grossberg following new allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women. The caucus also voted to permanently expel Grossberg.??

Grossberg issued a statement late Friday afternoon saying he was seeking treatment “to reduce my impulsive behavior.” WHAS radio host Terry Meiners shared the statement from Grossberg. ?It said?the representative is “in treatment to help reduce my impulsive behavior going forward — and I will keep my head down and continue working to serve my constituents.”

Beshear addressed reporters at the Capitol Friday following a morning report from the Lexington Herald-Leader saying Grossberg received a lifetime ban from a Louisville strip club after inappropriately touching a dancer. The story also alleges Grossberg offered another dancer $5,000 to have sex with him.?

“I want to once again state clearly and unequivocally that Rep. Grossberg should resign,” Beshear said. “He should resign.”?

Beshear added that he and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman “stand united together” in believing that calling for Grossberg’s resignation “is the right thing to do.

“And I hope he hears it, and I hope he follows it,” Beshear said.?

Coleman said in her statement “enough is enough.”

“Women and girls in Kentucky deserve better and so do Rep. Grossberg’s constituents,” Coleman said. “He has had ample opportunity to do the right thing by stepping aside, and if I were him, I’d take it sooner rather than later.”

Grossberg’s attorney, Anna Whites, told the Kentucky Lantern Friday morning that Grossberg plans to continue in office and denied the allegations in the latest Herald-Leader report.?

As the governor’s press conference ended, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge released a statement calling Grossberg “unfit to serve” in office.?

“Every individual deserves to be held accountable for their own actions — particularly those who represent Kentuckians in the halls of our Capitol,” Eldrige said. “Representative Grossberg has repeatedly proven that he is unfit to serve and must resign from office.”

The House Democratic Caucus met Friday morning and “voiced strong support for the victims,” said leaders Reps. Derrick Graham, Cherlynn Stevenson and Rachel Roberts in a joint statement. Caucus members “are calling on Representative Grossberg to resign immediately,” they said.

“Our caucus does not believe Rep. Grossberg should hold office as he responds to these appalling matters,” caucus leaders said. “It has become abundantly clear to us that he cannot and should not represent his constituents and our commonwealth any longer.”

The caucus leaders sent an additional statement hours later that said caucus members “voted to expel him permanently as a caucus member.” Grossberg was notified of the change, they added.