♪ >> If the snow wasn't tough enough, it's cold right now is going to get dangerously cold tonight and into tomorrow.

>> Eastern Kentucky braces for more winter weather.

Plus the push for tougher punishments for Kentucky's repeat drunk drivers.

Congress did not authorize money to go to.

>> A drag show here in Ecuador.

>> And Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr defends big cots to U.S. a I D. Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky edition on this snowy Wednesday, its February 19th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

We thank you for winding down your Wednesday with us.

>> Kentuckians are bundling up cleaning up and digging out as the commonwealth deals with cold snow and flooding all at once.

The official death toll is still 14 from the floods and the cold Governor Andy Beshear says the snow and eastern Kentucky has prevented crews from working on some roads that closed due to flooding.

The governor says the weather has caused damage to more than 18,000 structures.

Worth more than 1 billion dollars.

And that doesn't include damage to roads and other infrastructure.

And today he warned Kentuckians about the bitter cold that will stick around a couple of more days >> if the snow wasn't tough enough, it's cold right now is going to get dangerously cold tonight and into tomorrow.

So if we can show tonight's minimum temperature again, getting down in the teens or or the single digits in a number of parts of Kentucky.

A little bit warmer.

Thankfully in the east, it looks like the wind chills across much of Kentucky is going to be in the single digits or or the negatives.

>> The governor urged people to check online.

Go K why DOT K Y dot Gov to check out information about closed roads.

Bad weather and widespread illness often lead to school closures.

Parents and teachers have to figure out what to do with their kids.

But Kentucky lawmakers have to trouble shoot 2.

One lawmaker has an idea for how school districts could meet their required days of in-person instruction.

Our June Leffler has more as we begin tonight's a legislative update.

>> It's a key students have already had their fair share of C no days and non-traditional instruction or NTI days, but districts can only count so many remote learning days towards 170 day school year.

>> But I know as of yesterday over 40 districts had already used all 10 of their days.

So when you've used all 10 of your days and then you're hit with a flood.

What are you going to?

>> This lawmaker who happens to be an elementary school principal proposes some changes just for this school year.

House bill 241, would allow the state education commissioner to grant districts 5 extra NTI days come June of this year.

He can excuse another 5 days for severe weather districts can overhaul their school calendars if necessary, including making some school days longer.

>> I do not want our kids not in the building.

I promise you.

I want my kids are out there in the building each and every day.

As much as I can get on there.

But also now that when you're going to school in June.

That's that's that's not a good situation.

The kid's heart aren't there.

Parents aren't there.

There's vacations going on.

So we need to try to get them in the seats as much as possible between now and June to get as much instruction in as we can so that we can make sure that our kids are reading proficiency at the proficient level.

>> The House primary and secondary Education Committee advanced the measure with just one no vote.

The committee also approved a proposal to get wearable panic alert devices in every school.

>> You push the button on the back and it sends a signal to the local 9-1-1. call center the EMT first responders and the front office slash resource officer, depending on how many times you push the button.

The building will have been out and therefore law enforcement and first responders will know exactly where their help is needed.

Seconds matter in an emergency.

This is not only for an active shooter.

That would be our worst nightmare.

I've got 4 little grandkids.

That would be our worst nightmare.

But it can be used for medical emergencies for fights.

Excedrin House Bill 14 would be named after Alyssa death, a victim of the 2018 mass shooting at.

>> Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Alyssa's mom spoke to Kentucky lawmakers today.

>> The principal of Alyssa's law simple time equals life.

>> And we need to get our kids and teachers, the safety quickly and reduce response time.

First responders.

>> A Lexington Democrat explains the costs of this potentially life-saving equipment.

So the entire costs on the high end would be 6 million dollars on the low and it would be about 2 million dollars the way we set up the bill in the draft.

Here is a fifty-fifty match.

So the local school district would have some skin in the game as well as the General Assembly House Bill 14 becomes law.

The bill sponsors say the legislature would need to put up that money in the next budget session.

>> For Kentucky June Leffler.

>> Thank you.

June and other legislative news, a 3rd DUI offense in a decade could become a Class D felony and Kentucky.

That's of House Bill.

220, heard in committee today becomes law supporters say if you repeatedly drive impaired knowing the consequences you deserve to spend time behind bars.

Kentucky additions.

McKenzie spank has more.

>> Under current Kentucky state law, it's not until you're 4th DUI that you are charged with a felony.

Proponents of House Bill 220, say increasing the penalty to make your 3rd offense a felony would deter repeat offenders and make our roads safer.

>> I would tell you in my experiences of 14 years as a prosecutor and the most difficult and heart-wrenching conversations I have around with families who have had a loved one killed by an impaired driver or with people who have been seriously physically injured by an impaired driver.

Especially in situations where that person has prior convictions for driving under the influence.

People like the family of Breonna Bratcher.

If this bill is successful, I'd ask you want to consider naming this breonna's law.

Brianna went to live in Muhlenberg County and went over to allow county did spend the night with a friend.

And while in all county, she was killed by an impaired driver.

>> The driver had a 0, 2, 5, 6, sorry, 0, 2, 5, 3, blood, alcohol content.

He also had amphetamines and methamphetamines and THC in his system.

>> That impaired driver also had 3 prior convictions for driving under the influence grand jury.

Us look at me in these situations wondering and asking, how are these people not already in prison?

>> There are far more people driving impaired that don't get caught, then do get call.

So if you've been called for the 3rd fans, you've got a problem and you're endangering our families, our communities.

>> An opponent of the bill, Scott west of the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers agrees that repeat offenders have a problem but says making those offenders felons doesn't help them solve that problem.

He thinks the solution lies in escalating the penalties for the 3rd offense, but still keeping it a misdemeanor.

He can't get Section 8 housing.

You can't find a job.

It's hard to pull yourself back up once it's a felony and you can be just as hard jail wise and just as frustrated and requiring someone to get help.

Real hail.

If you make it a high jailtime misdemeanor, that is mandatory.

The response from the bill supporters is that a 3rd DUI offense deserves the harsher sentence because they know the risks.

>> If somebody thinks of the 3rd offense DUI within 10 years of what they've earned, a Tony, they've been in court twice before in red abilities and now they'll be in court every time reading those counties on the prior offenses.

If that makes sense.

>> This bill would also require a minimum jail sentence of 120 days for a 3rd offense House Bill.

220 passed unanimously out of committee and now heads to the House floor.

For Kentucky edition.

I'm MacKenzie Spank has come to order.

>> Thank you, McKenzie.

The House Judiciary Committee also passed House Bill 201, under that bill, it would be considered an act of theft to KET a piece of rental equipment beyond the agreed upon time since it would KET the owner from profiting off the equipment.

As we mentioned to you last night, the Republican dominated Senate advanced its second priority Bill Senate Bill 2, it keeps the state from paying for hormone therapy and other forms of gender affirming medical care for transgender inmates.

Senator and majority Whip Mike Wilson.

A Bowling Green is the bill sponsor.

He says according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, 467 inmates are currently receiving hormone medication.

And 67 of those inmates are receiving what he calls, quote, sex change hormones.

Senator Wilson and his Republican colleagues argue not only should taxpayers not be paying for this kind of care but that the department was trying to offer this care quote, he says under the cover of darkness, 6 of the 7 Democrats in the state Senate said the bill isn't needed because the state is not paying for gender reassignment surgeries for inmates.

They also called the bill unconstitutional.

>> We are called to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are spent.

In ways that benefit the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

And in my opinion and I'm sure the opinion of many other folks.

In this commonwealth, those are not services that benefit the Commonwealth of Kentucky are the citizens of Kentucky.

And I've been criticized that we are somehow being inhumane by taking these folks off of these cross sex hormones.

But I will tell you that in the bill we provide for that, physicians says that if it is something that would harm them by taking them off cold turkey.

They can cycle them off of these hormones.

>> This was not out of thin air.

The senator from Warren and I we saw this in the committee process.

The it was the intent.

Of the Department of Corrections to use Kentucky taxpayer dollars to perform gender assignment.

Surgeries.

And the senator from Warren.

Appears to think that that is the purview of the legislature and not the Department of Corrections.

I stand in support of this bill.

>> This bill is a priority in my opinion.

Because we're dealing with the issue of spending taxpayer dollars.

On issues that are.

Exacerbating a false reality for inmates.

It doesn't matter how many Harmon's you put them on which lead them eventually towards surgery.

And that is the goal.

They cannot change who they are.

They will always have those same chromosomes.

>> We are spending more standing here.

>> On the floor talking about this subject that we did in the last year.

One giving the 67 people their hormone replacement therapy.

We have lights in the state.

>> We have we'll serious issues.

>> And this is nothing.

>> But could she KET which act?

>> I believe we are wading into very clear precedent in our own circuit saying that this is clearly unconstitutional.

That's going to cap cost our taxpayers.

>> A lot of money to challenge something.

That quite frankly, these medications are prescribed to a few dozen dozen inmates and the surgeries that seem to be what people want to speak about politically and publicly are happening at all.

No one has ever shown me any evidence of anyone suggesting that they should.

>> This is all are.

Number 2 part.

Weve got schools and underfunded.

We've got a whirl hospitals going out of business we've got a serious problem with that.

Over 600,000 children on that.

Okay.

And this is our number 2 priority.

I would submit to the public today and to this body that our priorities are really out of whack.

We make.

Is that number to property?

All we're doing that.

Let's go to my seat is what the senator from just 26 see it.

Why the world is being eyed.

A bit of prodding just vilified.

The LGBTQ community.

>> The bill passed 31 to 6 with Democratic state Senator Robin Webb.

Grayson voting with Republicans.

Webb did say though she hope to see some changes to the bill when it's brought up in the House.

>> I'm Laura Rogers joined by Rylan Barton from National Public Radio and Rylan.

Let's begin with some legislation.

Before the General Assembly right now.

This would affect tenured professors at Kentucky colleges and universities allowing for some periodic reviews that could result in termination.

Tell us more about how this legislation would work.

>> Yeah, we would.

They would require performance of your views of professors, which but that's already go through.

But productivity reviews that pastors should have to go through, which that you're saying it could affect tenure where this idea where a professor and certain types of professorships at universities, they have that job for life.

Certainly that there are exceptions.

You know, here you can be fired for just cause.

But what this would do is create this productivity review every 4 years.

Where of it opens the possibility whether or not you're going to continue that job, which is not what tenure is.

This is a movement that's happened across the country.

The thing about 10 states in recent years have at least proposed bills like this, but not many have passed.

And so far this has been proposed in Kentucky.

The past Indiana passed a law like this last year, Florida implemented one in recent years and actually just went through its first round of these reviews and and some of the professors were eliminated through that will pay.

Supporters of this are arguing that this is how private companies from this is how the public members sector should run.

There's no there's no kind for life jobs like that in the private sector.

That professors should be treated in this way as well.

But the landscape of of higher education.

Folks are worried about this bill and there were 2 that's going to Kentucky less competitive with other states that it still have 10 year within its public universities and that Kentucky just going to be fighting with one hand behind its back with its right to attract professors and could go to other states like that in certain fields.

>> Something else I want to talk about is that flooding that hit Kentucky this weekend.

We know what devastation left behind and we are preparing for that federal response from FEMA.

So state lawmakers, particularly House Senate leadership, have expressed some concerns about FEMA's response in general, as we're also saying 7.

Criticism at the federal level.

President Trump saying he wants to reshape team has.

So what are we hearing from state lawmakers when it comes to federal response to natural disasters.

>> Yeah, it's not.

It's not a full-throated.

Get rid of the agency, but there is some skepticism of FEMA's ability to operate and really the slowness with which operates.

This is well documented, especially in Kentucky from the butts in 2022 that.

>> A lot of the of >> FEMA response or at least that is my current comes to individual seeking assistance, gets a very slow process is very complicated process, especially when people start getting involved.

It appeals the assistance provided is not exactly what they expected.

And but some legislative leaders are saying is that wasn't getting to the places where it needed to.

There isn't really a specific solution that they're providing here so far except that they would like the state to be more involved in doling out that federal assistance saying the state leaders know better how to handle that.

They actually went out of the way to compliment Democratic Governor Andy Beshear is of ministrations handling of emergencies like this team is a big, complicated process of tables, a lot of different kinds of disasters.

See something we saw for 2022.

Says flooding in places like Eastern Kentucky is so incredibly complicated and something that even the federal agency was really trying to figure out as it went along.

And we're going to have to see things move any quicker.

If people can get assistance any better this time around.

Along with that said, there's some discussion about my possibly having a special legislative session surrounded funding for helping folks out from the flooding, but also whether or not lawmakers could do that in the legislative session.

That's before them.

Now.

>> They're starting to consider that and whether or not they be able to send me aside like they did in 2022.

To help people out.

>> Certainly a lot of devastation there.

People displaced from their homes.

We've seen loss of life as well.

Want to take a long time to recover from yet another disaster in Kentucky.

Now something else that's been under the microscope in recent weeks and months, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

And we are seeing some Anti dei legislation come before the General Assembly.

What can you tell us about that?

>> It so some of it is it's it has echoes of an untidy.

I of bills that were proposed last year that didn't make it out of the legislature.

So one of these bills that specifically target higher education and would ban state universities from spending money on any sort of dei initiatives or programs.

This is something that some higher education institutions in Kentucky have already gotten their way to make sure to eliminate university Kentucky, northern Kentucky University to that.

And it's also, in fact, a couple years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that went into effect saying that diversity cannot be used to in terms of making admissions decisions.

University officials have kind of been getting a head of state legislatures that have started to.

I'm trying to chip away at these the programs and public institutions.

We've also obviously see that's the federal government since President Trump took office last month targeting the programs within the federal government itself.

But these bills don't really affect us that this is a huge movement.

It's even happening in the private industry.

The big private companies kind of getting ahead of what they see as a movement.

That's been a political movement, but also the teams increasing like a legal one.

We're worried about getting sued over having diversity programs in place.

>> Roland Martin was National Public Radio.

Thank you so much for checking in with us.

Always a good conversation with you.

>> A four-letter acronym connected to the Trump administration is stirring a lot of chatter.

Cheers and for some worry Doge which stands for the Department for Government efficiency.

Many conservatives are praising the bold moves to shrink the federal government en route out what is perceived as waste and abuse central Kentucky's 6th district Congressman Andy Barr, co-signed the actions taken by Dozier, especially when it comes to ID or the United States Agency for International Development, charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas.

Barr question, some of the agency's allocations to efforts.

He says run contrary to U.S. interests and even security more about this.

And a 3rd installment of My interview with Bar and our Congressional Update segment.

There's been a lot of the news made all of Elon Musk and him being over the Department of Government efficiency, which you are a member of a caucus of that of Doe's.

>> And there are some who are concerned about a non elected being allowed such great latitude to possibly come in and reshape government.

Are you comfortable with his role in this administration?

I am.

>> 77 million Americans voted for change.

They voted for Donald Trump because they recognize the country's on the wrong track.

One of the reasons why the country's on the wrong track as we have a 36 trillion dollar national debt I pointed this out to the Federal Reserve chairman the other day in our hearing.

We are right now, according to BlackRock, we are issuing 573 billion dollars in Treasury bonds.

Every single week in America.

Now, think about that 573 billion dollars in new issuance of treasuries.

Some of that's maturing, but some of its new debt issuance because we simply can't cover the bills in this country.

We have a 2 trillion dollar deficit annually.

We had this huge 5 trillion dollar blowout in spending over the last for years.

Partisan spending most mostly after COVID on top of all that the COVID money and as a result, we're simply in an unsustainable place right now.

I mean, we had a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee the other day, and I pointed out some of the waste coming out of the USA ID that Elon Musk has uncovered.

And I just I mean, just some of the stuff that's unbelievable.

2 million dollars to conduct sex change surgeries in Guatemala, through translator organizations you have here.

31 million dollars to provide U.S. 8 employees with resilience, wellness, work-life balance.

Should that taxpayers really be on the hook for that half a million dollars for Indonesian coffee companies to become more climate and gender friendly.

We had a a grant to Uganda that actually undermined our national security because it was promoting LGBT writes in a in a very socially conservative culture that up.

That pushed the Ugandan people who are fighting terrorists with the United States and Somalia towards a belt and road project for 4 with the with the Communist a 5 billion dollar East African oil pipeline that look, we may disagree as a culture with their preferences when it comes to LGBT rights.

But that's not the question.

The question is, what is the role of the State Department's diplomacy?

What is the role of us?

It?

And it undermines our national security by pushing would-be allies to our adversaries and empowering our adversaries.

It's not only wasteful spending.

It actually undermines our diplomatic and national security objectives.

>> There are some, though, who feel that if there's a pause that becomes permanent on USA ID, that that will embolden countries like China to fill in the void where America has been.

Do you want lending credence to that argument?

>> Well, as a member of the East Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, I recognize that's American soft power diplomacy and some foreign assistance can actually play a role in advancing American interests overseas.

But when we're giving 122 million dollars to organizations, according to the Middle East Forum organizations affiliated with radical Islamic terrorist organizations designated foreign terrorist organizations.

When we're giving money to the Taliban from American taxpayers.

When we're getting money, 2 terrorists in Yemen and Syria, we're giving money to Hamas in Gaza that our antisemites is this what American taxpayers should have their hard earned money go to?

I don't think so.

And I thank him this kind of review of wasteful spending is long overdue.

>> There are some who are puzzled all say by Congress is seemingly in action or resistance to act when there are pink slips given to federal employees shutting down of agencies and the stopping of funding that's been approved by Congress.

Part of your duties in article one of the Constitution is there not some concern within the Republican conference that the president, the chief executive officer of this nation is over, extending his authority on checked and abusing his power unchecked.

>> Well, no, I don't, because and I believe that the power of the purse, appropriations power for Congress is a very important power.

That's why I've been trying to get my colleagues.

To support my legislation called the the Tabs Act that taking account of bureaucrats spending act.

The Dodd-Frank law created this unaccountable agency called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is exempt from the congressional appropriations process that gets its funding to harass credit providers and small lenders across this country through the Federal Reserve system.

So totally outside of the appropriations process.

This means that this agencies on accountable to the American people through the power of the purse, that that's what makes our oversight meaningful.

So I'm a defender of congressional preparations.

Authority.

But remember, look at, for example, this U.S. A I D review this pass.

When we appropriate money to U.S. a I D. Congress did not authorize money to go to a drag show in Ecuador.

We didn't do that.

We gave us a ID a pot of money and we gave them a mission and we gave them parameters and they've gone beyond the mission that we gave them.

>> Congressman Barr says a wholesale review of many federal agencies from the Department of Education to the Social Security Administration is coming tomorrow night bar talks about tariff policies and how he says he'll work to protect one of Kentucky's signature industries.

Bourbon.

More on that tomorrow night 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central on Kentucky EDITION where we inform connect and inspire.

You can connect with us all the ways you see on your screen, Facebook X and Instagram and send us a story idea by email to public affairs at KET Dot Org and look for us on the PBS at that.

You can download on your smart devices and phones.

>> Thanks again for watching.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Take good care and stay warm.

We will see you right back here again tomorrow night.

So long.

♪ ♪