The entire workforce at a new Kentucky electric battery plant is being laid off.

As new plans are made.

Kentucky's budget shortfall looks to be less than first predicted, a landslide result in a special election in Louisville brings a new senator to Frankfort.

What will the impact be of reclassifying marijuana here in Kentucky heading into Christmas week here in the Commonwealth?

Comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky.

A look back at and some analysis of the week's news in the Commonwealth and the guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are Liam Niemeyer, reporter for the Kentucky Lantern Isaiah Kim-Martinez, senior reporter for 11 in Louisville.

And joining us remotely is Alex Acquisto, politics and health reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

On this weekend leading to Christmas, there is uncertainty for some Kentuckians.

It comes as a Ford Motor Company subsidiary will lay off about 1500 workers at the battery plant in Hardin County.

Governor Beshear has reacted.

>> I also want to state that Team Kentucky is committed to making sure that all those affected by the switch from the Blue Oval ownership to Ford find either new opportunities with Ford or find other employment quickly.

So what we've got is we've got about 16 or 1700 current employees at Blue Oval.

They're going to be laid off because the Blue Oval Company will no longer exist.

Ford's eventually going to hire 2100 people, which is hundreds more than currently work at the facility.

>> This comes as Ford is canceling several electric vehicle models.

Liam, what is the back story here?

>> It's a big pivot by one of the country's most prominent automakers.

They've written off billions of dollars and their pivot away from electric vehicles.

They're getting rid of their Ford F-150 lightning, their electric Ford F-150, and changing it into extended range electric vehicle model.

But in Kentucky specifically, they're taking their battery plant, which was supposed to make batteries, of course, for EVs and turning it into a battery factory.

Battery factory for the electric grid.

Basically making batteries, say, for utilities to pair with power plants to pair with power intensive data centers so that these data centers have power available via the batteries when they need it.

It's it's a growing sector with the general rise in electricity demand fueled often fueled by data centers.

And we'll see how it works, given that it's, you know, the first time that automaker like like Ford or I guess specifically Ford has done something like this.

>> Is it a reaction to shifts in policy to some extent, or is it totally market driven.

>> A little bit, a little bit of both.

The CEO of Ford, Farley, you know, mentioned to reporters that it was a part of regulatory changes by the Trump administration.

You know, the Trump administration has, you know, repealed various regulations, targeted regulations that, you know, that favored the adoption of electric vehicles.

And then and then there's also just generally consumer sentiment with electric vehicles.

A lot of EVs remain very I mean, pretty expensive.

You know, the Ford F-150 lightning, you know, tens of thousands of dollars.

And that price tag is just too much to bear for, you know, a lot of people, including Kentucky.

>> Forget to the EV tax credits, right?

The $7,500 tax credits that essentially were rolled back.

Right, completely that according to Democrat's, they'll say that that is a huge reason why they are taking a step back.

And consumers saying, look, we want to get into the EV mindset.

The other side, the Republicans will tell you, like, Congressman Brett Guthrie, who I spoke to this week, is he believes the whole thing is a liberal pipe dream.

He believes the demand is not there, certainly not in this decade.

And they say ultimately people just do not want to pay 50, 60, $70,000, particularly to drive in a country where EV infrastructure, right, the charging stations across nationwide, some argue, are just not quite to the point where people feel confident.

>> So we're sort of at an intersection of of business and politics and policy here, right?

>> Certainly.

Yeah.

And they kind of go across party lines.

You have, you know, the governor who says, listen, people just need a little bit more time for us to bring the price down in Louisville.

Ford is actually prepared to launch this 2027 midsize pickup, all electric that they believe will be sort of the the they call it their next model T moment, a $35,000 EV.

But then you have folks, we had a Bullitt County viewer message us and say, it's not that I'm anti EV.

I'm not.

I'm just not myself ready to buy one.

And that's the reality for many.

>> Alex, come in with your observations.

>> I was just going to say Governor Beshear essentially, you know, in so many words laid blame at part of this at Republicans.

I mean, and the Trump administration, you know, the Blue Oval plan was announced when Biden was still president, when federal tax credits were in place to incentivize people to buy electric vehicles.

Now that those are being sunset, it is impacting demand.

And I think, you know, politics and the market is all wrapped up in this.

And at some point it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for Republicans to say, you know, see, people don't actually want electric vehicles.

But, you know, when you roll back those incentives to coax people to sort of step out of their comfort zone and invest in something like this and kind of replace them with policies that favor gas powered vehicles, of course, it's going to lessen demand.

>> Liam Kentucky had offered $250 million in public money for the Blue Oval operation, when there was talk of 5 or 6000 jobs.

Governor Beshear says that is all being renegotiated, correct?

>> Yeah, it's you know, with this, this individual plant, it was supposed to be two battery plants, you know, Ford and the South Korean company SK on that they partnered with, of course, are are separating.

But you know, under the original incentive agreement, they were supposed to to receive the public funding, they're supposed to meet employment targets by 2026.

And, you know, Beshear did mention that this money can be clawed back, potentially, but they're giving them a little bit of leeway to figure it out.

As the governor mentioned.

You know, once this battery storage operation is up and running, they plan to hire something.

Over 2000 workers there.

And, you know, they're they're trying to give, I guess, Ford in this case, a little bit more runway to see what is possible.

>> Well, governor said it may go from 1500 to what, about 2100?

Sure.

Exactly.

>> There's no guarantee that the same workers.

Sure.

That's kind of the big question.

>> And again, not the number we were talking a year ago or so, Isaiah.

Governor Beshear, you know, has made this a major story.

It's been a big part of it himself.

What are the political realities and optics for him as this unfolds?

>> Well, anytime I think anyone would say when your marquee accomplishment fizzles out, right, particularly if you're somebody who's potentially considering a run for president in just a couple of years, it is never good for momentum when you have, especially when this has been his sector, right?

Economic development, biggest economic project in Kentucky's history as far as investment, you could feel the urgency in his team Kentucky briefing.

He doesn't like to start those with bad news.

And it was the very first thing he said was, listen, this is dissolving.

You know, we already talked about that.

Here's the path forward.

And I don't know if you picked up on this too.

He specifically kind of gave an out for these 1600 workers.

He said if Ford chooses not to retain them, we're going to ensure that some other job that we've made over in recent years within, I think, he said, a 45 minute radius.

We're going to take care of them.

We're going to make sure they get those jobs.

That's someone who understands the stakes here, especially long term.

>> This whole storage of energy, it seems to be a major issue.

Liam, there's a new report that indicates Kentucky could be on its way to unaffordable energy.

Unless we do develop ways to to store energy and batteries.

In other words, fossil fuel production could become cost prohibitive in some decades, according to that report.

>> Yeah, it was a report that was commissioned by the Kentucky Resources Council and other groups, Kentucky Resources Resources Council, being a long standing environmental legal group in Kentucky, basically, the report said that if utilities in Kentucky, you know, don't diversify their electricity generation portfolio in the state, beyond beyond coal, beyond gas fired power, which utilities are investing heavily in, it could be more cost prohibitive.

Now, I will say that Kentucky state senators did put out a statement pushing back against that report this afternoon or Friday afternoon, basically, basically saying that, you know, that they stand by the laws that they passed, you know, fortifying and, you know, shoring up coal fired power generation and that Kentuckians need affordable, reliable energy in the future.

>> All right.

So ongoing dialog on all of that, Kentucky's budget shortfall will be less than first estimated.

The gap is now estimated at about $156 million.

And Alex, that's about half what the administration had said a few months ago.

It is some relief, but the administration is still making some cuts, right.

>> The I think the initial estimate was more than 300 million shortfall.

So it's, as you said, about half of that now depending or depending on how Republicans and Democrats decide to make up for that shortfall will be determined in the upcoming legislative session.

But there are already sort of differing opinions.

Governor Beshear was sort of quick to maybe not totally blame, but attribute somewhat of the cause to Republicans real priority in curbing the personal income tax, which obviously they've done in the last couple of years.

And as of January 1st, it'll go down to 3.5%.

But there is some sparring between parties on how to make up for that shortfall.

But it certainly is less than what was originally projected.

>> And Isaiah, some back and forth between the governor and some of the other constitutional officeholders.

>> Yeah.

He specifically said Bill in his team, Kentucky, that he he called out Mark Metcalfe, the treasurer, and then the state auditor, Alison Ball, for in his words, I'm paraphrasing here, just not being a part of that process or not being in the latest meeting with the consensus group.

And he said, listen, like they should have been there.

They should be a part of the process.

Of course, like Leah mentioned before, the show, you know, as per the budget bill, they don't technically, legally have to.

So it's more of a preference.

And we've heard the sparring back and forth.

I believe it was Senator McDaniel who came out and was unhappy with how early the governor sort of sounded the alarm on this, saying it was a little early to to say 305 million next year.

In fact, the Senate president took issue with that, too.

And now you're looking at it and it's more like 156, which the governor admits is more manageable.

So things look a lot different now, potentially than they did a couple months.

>> Auditor Ballard also said that the administration had not taken some suggestions for saving money that she had made.

>> She wasn't, I think, took exception specifically to the governor, saying that the way to address this deficit is to get rid of essentially jobs that are budgeted for but aren't being filled, so they're vacant.

He believes if all agencies do that cut, those were good.

And the auditor, I believe, just said that that is not how we want to approach this.

>> Yeah.

I mean, basically there was in the reporting that I did on this back and forth this week, there was lawyers that reviewed between state budget director John Hicks and Auditor Ball.

You know, basically Auditor Ball was was asserting that, you know, cuts to an office that she views as trying to hold the executive branch in their spending accountable seems counter-intuitive in the sense of, you know, she cited various examinations, reports that her office has done saying that, you know, asserting that the executive branch needs to get its I guess its ducks in a row in terms of spending before it comes to the auditor and asks the auditor's office to cut spending.

>> Because they've been trying to expand, to make a conscious effort.

>> Well, and it needs money for some of these school audits as well, I think.

>> JC County.

>> Yeah.

All right.

Democrats will keep control of a Louisville state Senate seat.

Union leader Gary Clemons won 72% of the vote in a special election Tuesday.

Republican Calvin Leach got about 25% of the vote in a libertarian candidate trailed in the race.

>> I know it's going to be hard.

Hard, you know, obviously I keep hearing we're outnumbered, but by God, everybody in this room has been outnumbered a time or two in our life.

So we can we'll prevail.

>> So, Isaiah, a strong victory for Clemons.

What gave him the momentum to pull that off?

>> There was a sense that that is a very union friendly district, one of the most union friendly, not just in Louisville, potentially across the state.

We do know that.

Interesting point here, though, too, as far as this has been a blue district for a while.

Senator David Yates, former senator, dominated that district in last year's general election, beat Calvin Leach, the same Republican challenger, by 20 points last year.

Get this Kamala Harris, at the time when she was running against Donald Trump last year, won it by 5%.

Now you have Gary Clemons, the Democrat, winning it by nearly 50%.

That's all to say, though, voter turnout was at 7%.

Just over 5000 voters.

Generally, when that happens, you have to take all results with a bit of a grain of salt.

>> Yeah, very committed people show up in those special elections.

All right.

David Yates, who's now serving as the Jefferson County clerk, as state senator, managed to find ways to pass bills.

Notably, he sponsored the porch pirate bill, made that a felony.

Does Clemens seem to know how to follow that path?

>> He says he does.

He says he's working as a union leader, that he typically reaches across the aisle.

I think it's interesting, though.

I think he's very aware with the issues that Republican leadership would see as potentially a target on his back.

And I asked him specifically about Dei, some of the efforts made, whether that has a place in the classroom, ask them about if he would fight specifically for LGBTQ rights, trans rights, and both of those answers he didn't appear to give.

At least it didn't appear to me like it was a strong conviction.

I will do X, Y, and Z, and it is plausible that he understands that those are the issues that could put him behind the eight ball before he even starts.

>> We'll talk more about the upcoming session in Frankfort in just a moment.

But tens of thousands of Kentuckians are among those who could see their health care premiums skyrocket if the enhanced ACA subsidy subsidies are not extended.

That's all in limbo in Frankfort right now, or in Washington, I should say, Alex, our Kentuckians preparing for the possibility of having to pay those higher premiums or in some cases, drop their insurance because they can't afford it.

>> Certainly.

And as you said, the ACA subsidies will automatically expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn't intervene.

You know, it's December 19th.

So that's a very real possibility.

But essentially, you know, projections look at increases to anybody who is on connect.

And Kentucky buys into the insurance through the ACA marketplace.

Their insurance could premiums could increase anywhere from, you know, $500 to a couple thousand dollars.

Louisville Public Media did an analysis at the end of October looking at the severity of these.

And, you know, for some people, you know, $500 increase in health insurance payments a month is enough to to drop health insurance just because people simply can't afford it.

And as you said, we're talking about 100,000 Kentuckians who this could impact.

>> Alex, do you see with the timing of all this, this potentially becoming a major issue in the in the U.S.

House and U.S.

Senate races here in Kentucky?

>> It has to.

Right?

People vote with their pocketbook.

If you are a family, especially if you have kids and you can no longer afford your health insurance, or even if your health insurance costs increase by 200 $400, you will feel that that that impact will trickle out in the rest of how you spend your money.

And you have to think that that will dictate how people approach the ballot box in the primary.

Right?

Because people will will feel that impact.

It will be substantial.

>> Isaiah, how are those primaries playing out in the in the US Senate race?

Now we see the Republican on the Republican side.

Andy Barr is now talking about endorsements.

Cameron has been announcing endorsements.

Morris, we understand, has made a trip that I think Liam can tell us more about it.

Yeah, yeah.

>> He's at I believe, a Turning Point USA affiliated speaking event.

We know that specifically, Nate Morris has been trying very hard to get the attention of some of the national players in the Republican Party.

We know some folks like Vivek Ramaswamy, some of the newest senators who are Trump endorsed have put their support behind him.

But then you have folks like Congressman Andy Barr who this week made news specifically, his team put out over 100 congressman members who he says have already put their support behind him, endorsed.

>> Him, 107.

>> 107 and then there was sort of some discussion.

There was some reporting of, well, we're they're a couple, apparently, who maybe hadn't announced their endorsement just yet, or maybe there was a jumping of the gun there.

One said, hey, I've never said this.

So I mean, at that point you're talking about 1 or 2.

But the bottom line is he is trying to preach the fact that, hey, I already have the support for those who are passing the president's agenda right now.

And then you have Daniel Cameron, who's interesting when you look at his list of endorsements, he has some maybe nine around that amount.

As far as state representatives, state senators currently in Frankfort.

But his biggest sort of strength right now is his endorsements.

Are those local jailers, those county attorneys, judge executives, sheriffs.

That's kind of where he's getting a lot of his support.

>> Well, his strength in the race has to be almost universal name recognition as well.

Which he.

>> Most will admit still leads in that category.

>> Here at the holiday store, owners are hoping for the best and also dealing with thieves.

Attorney General Russell Coleman has a new organized retail crime unit.

>> We're not talking about shoplifting.

This ain't about shoplifting.

What we're talking about is organized crime.

What we're talking about is violence.

We're talking about violence to our families as we come in stores, violence to employees of great stores like this, violence to law enforcement as they intervene.

What we're talking about is higher prices for all of us.

And what we're talking about is closed stores in areas not only of Louisville, but around the Commonwealth.

We're fighting organized crime.

>> So Liam was talking about draining gift cards that he mentions violence.

Apparently this is a problem as as thieves are working the retail circuit.

>> Yeah.

I mean, according to the Kentucky Retail Federation, you know, they they lost the state, lost $2 billion worth of worth of goods in a span of a year.

And that, you know, over a similar time frame, there was a 30% increase in organized retail crime.

And so, you know, Coleman is announcement he wants to form an organized retail crime unit to address the issue.

And he's asking the legislature for a little over $2 million to to build it up.

You know, there was some backing there at that press conference from from state lawmakers.

But, you know, with potentially more challenging budget upcoming this year, we'll see where that request fits.

>> All right.

Well, that moves perfectly into Kentucky's 60 day legislative session now a couple of weeks away.

Interesting that while we pause for the holidays, those issues are swirling and the dam is about to break on some big decisions.

Isaiah, the budget is the big issue.

Obviously have to have to get that done.

Are lawmakers going to be in a mood to do some one time spending, or is this going to be a hold back session?

>> They're certainly not giving any indication, at least not the questions I often ask are about Louisville investment.

I actually had Senate President Robert Stivers right before there or in the midst of their leadership retreat, and I asked him, how much could Louisville get this year?

And he says, it really just kind of depends.

It could be zero.

It could be 200 million.

That's quite the range.

Obviously.

I think bottom line here, you know, they got to get the Medicaid situation figured out, right, especially with some of those federal cuts in the big beautiful bill.

What are they going to do with the expansion population?

We have some understanding that there's going to be a bill where they look closer at eligibility for folks who are in that expansion population of Medicaid.

So I think that's going to kind of dictate a lot of these.

>> And so, Alex, some leading lawmakers have indicated the state cannot make up these for the federal cuts.

But won't there be some pressure to do that in some areas?

>> There will.

And I think it will be a big testament to see one if they decide to sort of acquiesce, and then two, what areas they come up with to decide to to cut.

I mean, that's that's the big question.

And we'll find out in less than a month.

>> Senate Bill 181 could get some tweaks.

That's the law that governs communication between students and teachers and staff.

And a lot of talk about that.

And Alex Kentucky Youth Advocates released its annual report.

Its kids count some progress in some areas, but it also notes that a lot of children face huge challenges in our state.

>> Yeah, this is a data book that this organization releases every year, and it provides a snapshot, basically, of the well-being of Kentucky kids, usually.

Maybe not a surprise to a lot of people.

Kentucky sort of health determinants with its children rank pretty low nationally.

As you mentioned, there were some increases, but 20% of Kentucky's kids live below the poverty line in eastern Kentucky.

That's more amplified.

21% of kids in Kentucky households are food insecure.

I mean, these are pretty significant numbers.

And while their nominal increases, like, you know, graduation rates were slightly better the last four years than they were four years previously, I think we can expect this organization to come to the General Assembly, the session and, and ask for some investment in some of these issues, because obviously they want to improve the outcome for Kentucky's children.

>> Ask you for a quick answer on this medical marijuana being reclassified by the president.

Any idea what impact that could have here?

>> I think it will have a big impact.

A lot of people are excited about it.

I saw Kentucky organization this week saying this is a necessary step toward this industry, and I think a lot of people are pleased with how this will impact the marketplace.

>> Isaiah.

The Kentucky Supreme Court made a couple of rulings this week.

One keeps London Mayor Randall Whittle on the job.

The other impacts Jefferson County Public Schools.

>> Right.

This was a Senate bill that was passed years ago, and it's been caught up in all these legal challenges, essentially would shift power from the GPS board, who many Republicans just loathe, for lack of a better term, to the JCPS superintendent.

Previously, the Supreme Court had voted to uphold that law.

But then when we had this new makeup of justices, including Pamela Goodwin, they ended up reversing it four three, striking it down, though Representative Jason Nemes assures me they will have a bill where they're going to tweak some language and they're going to try it again, because they really want to shift some of that responsibility away from the JCPS.

>> Kentucky's Department of Tourism, hoping for another record year.

It's $14.3 billion a year and impact.

The tourism commissioner, Mike Mangia, told me that if he can get them here once Liam, Kentuckians are warm enough and hospitable enough that we we keep them coming back and may even convince some of them to move here, which he says is something that's needed.

>> Yeah.

I mean, Kentucky has a lot of great state parks.

And, you know, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, you know, often cites a lackluster workforce participation rate.

So, you know, getting more people, more potential workers to Kentucky.

I mean, that that's an option.

>> Could be a good thing, right?

We hope you're enjoying this joyous season.

Comment won't air next week so that our panelists and the KET staff can enjoy the Christmas holidays.

We will return with a taped program on January 2nd.

We'll be talking about the legislative session ahead, and then we will return live on January 9th, which will come after the session starts and right after the filing deadline will have passed on that day.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

>> I'm glad we made it.

I got.

>> Three seconds of music, so.

>> We like that.

Absolutely.

>> Okay, Alex.

Thank you.

>> Yeah.

>> Sorry about that one question.

I just like.

>> The one where you asked me about areas that the General Assembly is going to.

I don't even know.

I wasn't even paying attentio