continue to face challenges from last month's brutal winter storm.

The Kentucky legislature works on the state budget and on passing some new laws of the land.

Senator Mitch McConnell, hospitalized this week as the race to succeed him, heats up in polling and fundraising.

Murray State University gets approval for a veterinary doctoral program.

Finally, a warm up is on the horizon and 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 Lucas Aulbach reporter for the Courier-Journal, Janet Patton reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and Mario Anderson, anchor and host of In Focus Kentucky on Spectrum News one.

Some Kentucky schools have not had in-person classes in two full weeks.

Some have gone back and had issues like Jefferson County, where a school bus slid off the road.

Lexington longtime city councilman, Chuck Ellinger, is expressing frustration at the efforts to clear the roads and get the schools open.

>> Think about how much revenue we have lost from from people that can't get to work from some somebody who lives on a paycheck to paycheck but now can't, can't live.

And how much that causes that individual about kids that aren't going to school.

I mean, there's so many other ramifications that happen by us not addressing this snow plan that really causes so many issues that we need to address.

>> I think we're all disappointed by the the city's response to this ice and snow event.

This is second one in a row that we should have seen better results.

And I think the mayor has said that and has taken responsibility.

>> That, of course, the governor also addressing the issues in Lexington, Janet, the Ice made the aftermath of this winter storm very challenging to deal with.

>> It did.

And the mayor, you know, has really taken it on the chin.

And she said today that there was a misunderstanding and that the city had not, in fact, turned down State help and that they've been having State help last week and this week.

And there's going to be more again this weekend, I think, coming out to to help clear the streets, finally of the ice.

It's just been extremely, extremely challenging, she said.

They used three times as much salt as normally in 12,000 gallons of beet heat.

They really have thrown everything at it, and they've done all the things that the state and other people are recommending.

But she is going to do more.

She says she's going to hire, look for and hire a contractor.

Additionally, to go at this and be their point person and conduct an after action review to to figure out what more they can do.

>> Which they did last year and then had issues again.

But in this case, it appears that this really has everybody's attention.

This has been a struggle.

>> Yeah, it really has.

I think a lot of people have been very frustrated.

If you've tried to clear your driveway, you know, it's not easy.

This is not something that can be plowed or even shoveled off.

It has taken pickaxes to get this ice.

And, you know, we're still going to be watching for inches of snow and two inches of ice melt for the whole rest of next week.

>> Some have said you can damage the road if you scrape it enough, you can.

Yeah, Louisville had challenges, but but got through it a little bit better.

It seems.

>> It wasn't baseball weather out there, you know, it wasn't beautiful, but it was.

They missed about a week of school.

I think some of these side streets were not treated as well as some people would have liked, but it was not.

It did not rise to the level of Lexington.

>> Janet, how difficult is it for working parents who have kids at home looking at you, who normally would be in school?

>> It's been very, very challenging.

Let me just say it's been very frustrating, in part because we only had enough work sent home, you know, enough preparation for four days of NTI.

So that meant the other six days.

They've just been, you know, sitting at home twiddling their thumbs.

And most of those days, whether it was because of the the roads or the weather itself, the school district canceled all the after school activities, too.

So, you know, all the things that normally the kids are involved in burning off some steam, some energy, those have been off the table as well.

>> Mario, you have your own experience.

>> Sure.

Do a lot of screen time at home and having to negotiate back and forth on putting the tablet away and doing something else.

>> Now districts have to figure out a way to to make this time up, and it looks like there will be a myriad of approaches to that.

Many are under pressure to try to preserve spring break.

They want to try to get through before June.

Will that be possible?

Missing this many days?

>> Well, time will tell.

We'll see.

You know, the Department of Education, you know, they authorize and allow all school districts to have at least ten NTI days that they can use over the course of the academic year.

But many school districts, 117, I believe, across the state have used many of those days.

But then they're also trying to navigate when to use traditional snow days to be able to do back and forth between those.

And then there's a lot of money on the line as well, because these school districts are utilizing grant money to offset certain costs, normal school operating days.

So again, time will tell.

But it's not.

It's different per district and per county.

On how they're dealing with it.

>> Yes, obviously some get compensation for meal programs as well.

>> Lexington has said they really don't want to use any more NTI days than they than they have to, because it costs them almost a quarter of $1 million every time they do it.

So they're already on the hook for more than a million.

And if they do it again, then that's money they don't have.

>> And Lucas, the closings are not uniform statewide.

Although, you know, most districts have had a lot of closings, but the state policy is uniform.

It limits the schools to ten NTI days, and the legislature does not appear to have any enthusiasm for granting additional nontraditional instructional days.

We remember the limits came after the remote learning of the Covid era, right?

>> Right.

Yeah.

We were chatting with Steve West a couple of days ago, the senator who chairs the Senate Education Committee, and he said extending that number of NTI days is not something that's come up so far this year.

And Frankfort so got a lot of other education bills they're focused on.

But NTI extension is not something on the radar right now.

>> So Mario, the options what Saturday schools longer days.

I mean what will these districts look at.

>> Yeah we may be seeing a school being extended into June in some parts.

Hopefully not.

Doesn't get as far out as 4th of July.

That would be a little too much I think, for many people.

>> Someone trying to go back in early August.

Right.

So short summer.

So we'll we'll see what happens with all of this.

>> We don't want any fireworks.

>> Extra fireworks.

Right.

Janet, I know you carefully watched Kentucky's restaurant industry as well, and the margins are often tight and many servers, most servers, depend on that tip income.

How difficult has the last couple of weeks been on them?

>> Yeah, January is already the hardest month for most restaurants because it's got the least business.

You're looking at dry January phenomenon, where people don't go out and drink and post holiday hangover.

They don't want to buy anything because their bills are still being paid off.

And then you add this weather on top of it.

Nobody's going out.

Nobody's buying anything.

Nobody's tipping any servers.

They're really hurting.

It's really struggle.

>> Lucas, there have been a disruptive ice chunks in the Ohio River.

Have you seen any of those?

>> I don't swim in the Ohio, so I skipped out on skating this time.

>> A good idea.

Okay, let's get to the news of the week.

Kentucky's longest serving senator ever, Mitch McConnell, has been hospitalized this week.

That much we know and little more.

Lucas McConnell apparently checked himself into the hospital.

The statement from his office said it was out of an abundance of caution.

>> Yeah, flu like symptoms is what they said, and the statement made it sound like he'll be back soon.

I checked in with a member of his team earlier, just to see if they had any kind of update, and kind of got a thanks, but we'll tell you now.

Senate President Robert Stivers was on the Senate floor the other day and told lawmakers he'd been texting with McConnell.

So, I mean, that's a sign that he's around and, you know, paying attention.

He'd been texting with McConnell about some of this federal funding that was sent to Kentucky through this funding bill that Trump signed earlier this week.

And, you know, it's upwards of $1 billion, which kind of brings up an interesting point of who's going to bring that money in when Senator McConnell is out.

He's got, you know, less than a year to go.

And obviously a very competitive Senate race to follow him.

So I think it's an interesting question hanging over the next several months.

>> Yeah, we'll talk about that race.

And Mario McConnell's obviously determined to finish his term.

>> He sure is.

His term ends, as Lucas was mentioning in January of 2027.

So he still has a lot of work to get done in Washington, DC on behalf of the Commonwealth, but also just the nation as a whole.

But yes, a lot of attention has been on his health status over the last few years.

He's 83 years old and has been documented on camera, seen in photos and videos, in braces, on his foot, but also in a wheelchair being chauffeured around kind of the the Capitol in Washington DC.

But then, you know, just a lot of other things going on that people are paying close attention to, mostly because of social media.

The access is there and but not a lot of answers to what truly is going on.

>> And they've never really talked much about his health.

And we, you know, watched him have I guess it was in 2023.

He had the episodes where he froze on camera.

And they kind of attributed that to maybe a concussion that he suffered in a fall earlier that year.

But there have been a lot of things like unexplained bruises and incidents like that.

They just don't talk about his private health.

>> All right.

We'll continue to provide updates as we get them.

On.

Senator McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and is not running again, as we've noted this year, the race to replace him is spirited on both sides.

Republicans hope to hold the seat.

They have a competitive primary season that's underway, and a new poll from Emerson College and Nexstar Media shows Congressman Andy Barr in the lead with 24%.

Former Attorney General Daniel Cameron at 21% and Nate Morris in the hunt at 14%.

Mario, your take away from that poll.

>> The big takeaway is that, you know, it was from January 30th 1st to February the 2nd.

They did some mixtures of text messaging with potential 1000 likely voters in the Republican primary.

And according to their data, their mythological information they've been sharing.

You know, Andy Barr, for the first time, making some headway in the lead, according to this poll.

But again, there's some skepticism out there.

This poll, again, was looking at some registered potential voters out there from Kentucky and Andy Barr.

The campaign is taking that and running with it.

But then Daniel Cameron, who is been perceived as the frontrunner, most name ID is calling it.

What was the quote that Daniel Cameron said?

>> Unserious and silly, I think is what he called the poll.

That's right.

That's his campaign manager.

>> And so again, it's each campaign in the last couple of weeks have all released their own internal polling showing that they are winning in various metrics.

So again, Emerson College, you know, they're partnering with the media outlet, but they're skewed towards Central Kentucky because that's where that viewership is.

But then there was a second poll, independent poll that was released as well from Qantas Insights.

And that wasn't attached with any, any, any affiliates, media outlets or anything like that standalone.

But those numbers also were similar as well, showing that Andy Barr had a slight edge in this primary.

>> And there was news this week in that Barr endorsed President Trump's choice in the fourth Congressional District race, al Gallrein over Congressman Thomas Massie Lucas.

That was interesting.

>> It was interesting.

He served they've served together in Congress for 13 years.

You don't necessarily see members of the same party who have served together for so long, endorsing a primary challenger, Representative Barr.

He said this is because he respects Ed Gallrein time as a veteran.

You know, his patriotism and things like that.

And he's just had a split with Mansi in recent years.

I think realistically, there's also, you know, you're trying to appease one person who might make a very critical endorsement in this race, one person who doesn't like Massie very much.

And it really shook up the race a lot.

You know, now, Nate Morris, I think less than 30 minutes later, he jumps in and says, hey, I'm also endorsing Ed Gallrein.

And Nate had been making some inroads or, you know, had kind of was a potential guy that some of these anti-establishment types who are not necessarily in the McConnell camp, some of them might have gravitated towards them.

A lot of them are rabidly fans of Representative Massie.

And I don't know that that message really landed with them.

And it's kind of interesting.

Daniel Cameron has gotten some of these endorsements before that might help him moving forward.

>> And some members of the state legislature have been speaking out, created quite the buzz on Friday from the early mornings to the evening of people responding, including Savannah Maddox.

She said that it was outrageous that two of our Republican Senate candidates have endorsed against Congressman Thomas Massie in his primary, and she's just one of many TJ Roberts, obviously state representative from northern Kentucky, weighing in as well.

>> Is it a play for President Trump's endorsement?

>> Time will tell.

>> He's no fan of Massie.

>> All right.

We also know that we have some numbers in on who has how much money.

And we'll put those up here in just a moment and what they have to spend, as you see, Andy Barr, with a considerable advantage there in what he has raised, Janet, Nate Morris we know, is also getting outside help in terms of the $10 million that went to his PAC.

>> That doesn't seem to be on the I guess that's on his pack.

But, you know, Cameron says money can't vote, which I guess is true.

And yeah, as you mentioned, Elon Musk has poured $10 million into Nate Morris and it's Musk's largest ever Senate campaign donation.

It will be really interesting to see where that steers things.

>> Mario, can Cameron wait for Barr and Morris to continue to attack each other and try to come through the middle by not fighting?

>> I think he can, according to some, mostly because he's been on the ballot statewide multiple times as attorney general, running in a primary, winning the general election, but then running for governor in 2023, again winning the primary and then again being the nominee in the general election, losing that year to Andy Beshear.

So he's got that name identification out there.

So he's banking on again, people know his name, but Andy Barr and Nate Morris are trying to introduce themselves to people across Kentucky, and they currently are going at each other on a regular basis, at least for sure through social media.

>> On the Democratic side, we'll have those numbers up.

Amy McGrath has the advantage as far as the fundraising, but the Emerson College poll shows Charles Booker in the lead in that race.

What's happening there?

>> He had a significant lead in that race.

You know, I think he had 30% compared to, I want to say, 19% for Amy McGrath.

So I think it's pretty clear we have two front runners in that race, one who, you know has a lead right now.

You know, that's encouraging results for Charles Booker, needless to say.

So I'm sure he's encouraged by that.

But I think whatever whichever Democrat comes out A will still have a fundraising disadvantage moving forward and just in general will have an uphill climb in a statewide race.

>> It was a busy week in the state legislature.

Several bills are moving at this point, and there's more discussion, of course, behind the scenes about the state budget.

Senate Bill three.

Moving along, it would force more transparency for school districts.

And it comes as Jefferson and Fayette County schools are facing financial issues.

Mario.

>> Yeah, it's been a long documented over this last year with Jefferson County Public Schools hiring a new superintendent, looking to figure out how to address more than $100 million deficit.

So concerns about oversight there.

But the state legislature is kind of giving the new superintendent some leeway to figure out how he's going to make the cuts.

But then in Fayette County, there's been, again, as you mentioned, transparency concerns.

There's internal audits.

The state auditor is doing an audit of the finances using public records.

And so, again, state legislature, they're kind of starting the process of looking into what's going on there and what they want to do from oversight perspective.

>> I thought it was interesting that Senator Reggie Thomas, who is a Democrat but from Lexington, also chimed in, and he is supporting that bill as well.

So there is that bipartisan support that you don't see that.

>> Often, he said, in the interest of transparency.

Yeah, yeah.

There are also bills to provide more support for new school principals.

And, you know, there are manuals, but that's not enough.

This would give support to those leading schools.

>> Yeah, I think there's a lot of a lot of different and really interesting school related bills coming through the legislature this year that are going to be following, I think, pretty closely.

>> And Janet House, Bill four is an anti grooming bill.

It has some traction.

It appears lawmakers have worked to define criminal conduct in that area.

>> Yeah.

What's interesting about this one to me is that it sets different standards based on the age of the perpetrator and the victim.

And then, you know, if the perpetrator has an official capacity, like as a teacher or something, that's what tips it over into being a felony.

I think we've seen a lot of that kind of conduct coming into play in recent years and getting a lot more attention from legislators and from, well, frankly, the news media, too.

>> Lucas, you said you talked to Senator West other education legislation that we should be watching.

>> Well, there's Senate Bill one, obviously, which, you know, number one is a priority.

That was a bill that would take some power.

Take a little bit of power away from the JCPS school board and a little bit more towards the superintendent, passed several years ago, got struck down.

You may have heard about that moving back through again.

That's a big one.

One that's kind of hanging out there right now is Senate Bill 114 from David Gibbons, the longtime senator, high ranking senator, which would put mayors in Louisville and Lexington in charge of appointing school board members instead of the voters, which I think if you see that one moving, it hasn't really moved yet, like SB one, SB, some of these other priority bills, I think you see that one moving, you might start to see some pushback.

So see what happens there.

>> Senate Bill nine would make it easier for cities and builders to construct roads and utilities for more housing.

Senator Robbie Mills is the sponsor.

>> And Senate Bill nine is really about giving local governments the tools that they need to work with developers in a partnership to try to get housing going in their in their communities, to try to get developers that are on the side sidelines in to the developing business.

>> Well, we know we have a housing shortage certainly out there.

And often there are barriers in the way of having developments for affordable housing.

>> Yeah, it was a big talking point throughout the interim session all summer last year was Housing Task Force.

What are we going to do about this in 2026?

We're starting to see some of these bills come forward, like Senator Mills.

I think that was kind of aimed at easing up some of these infrastructure red tape.

That's a priority bill.

That's one that you can expect to see moving soon.

And I would expect to see more bills coming in that relate to housing as well.

>> House Bill seven addresses school bus safety.

The sponsor, Representative David Hale, says there is a need to do something, but some have reservations.

>> Drivers in the state were asked to keep a running log and and some of them had people from the district actually on the busses with them to keep a running log of approximately how many violations that they could just take a quick notation of.

And in a one day span on their morning and evening route, they logged a little over 1100 violations.

>> Once we crossed this line, and we start allowing technology in the computer to replace the police, it's a very slippery slope and it goes downhill towards red light cameras and speed cameras and stoplight cameras and cameras and and that's why I have to vote no.

I absolutely understand and sympathize with the need for this and the egregious violations we see.

But there's got to be a better way to get this done.

>> Precious cargo on those busses.

>> Yeah, I have seen in my, you know, personal life, I've seen drivers do just exactly what he's talking about, going around school busses and run red lights in front of crossing guards.

And yeah, the issue is basically, as he said, that it would not necessarily target the appropriate people.

I think something needs to be done.

This is just too big a deal.

>> As the week started, State Representative Daniel Grossberg, a Democrat of Louisville, settled sexual harassment complaints with the Legislative Ethics Commission.

He agreed to pay two $1,000 fines and accepted a reprimand.

Mario.

Then some Democrats renewed their calls for Grossberg to resign.

>> That's right.

This has been a multi-year investigation that's been going on into the alleged misconduct.

And there were some of the complainants who were prepared to speak and testify in front of the Ethics Commission this past Monday, but just moments, minutes before that was supposed to be taking place, Daniel Goldberg, he agreed to accept the information from the Ethics Commission and the Kentucky Democratic Party.

They've issued statements still calling on him to resign.

Also, the Coleman Eldridge, who's with the Kentucky Democratic Party, also stepped in with that call.

The governor has weighed in earlier on this as well.

So but Daniel Grossberg, he is still planning on continuing as is and running for reelection this year.

>> Kentucky will apparently be getting a veterinary medicine program.

The Council on Post-secondary education approved a doctoral program for Murray State University, and some may be surprised to know Kentucky does not and has not had a veterinary school.

>> That's right.

We're such an agricultural state, it seems like it's something we should have.

And they've talked about having one, for instance, at the University of Kentucky, where the equine school is, and they've talked about having one in Woodford County where there's a UK has a big facility geared to beef cattle.

This is a first, and it's coming to Murray State, because right now they have the largest Pre-veterinary program in the state.

And I think they're going to have something like 50 to 70 students enrolling in the fall of 2028.

>> New polling out this week for Morning Consult pegged Governor Andy Beshear approval at 65%, unchanged from a year ago.

We also know he's now scheduled to go to New Hampshire next month.

An interesting destination.

Why would he go there?

>> Maybe something about an early presidential primary?

I don't know, just hypothesizing here.

No, the LA times, it was kind of their turn this week to have their big national profile of Governor Beshear.

And in it, he talked a little bit about Trump fatigue and how he expects in 2028 Americans to be ready to turn the page entirely.

You can tell he's kind of presenting himself as the antithesis to that.

You know, he's kind of trying to be composed where Trump is a little more erratic, kind of a more of a bridge builder than a always on offense.

So still kind of working to establish himself as a legit contender on the national scene.

He's, you know, obviously making a name for himself and going to New Hampshire is just, you know, the next step in a long walk.

>> Mario.

Senator Rand Paul also could be on that path, right?

>> He could be on that path.

We could have a Democrat, Andy Beshear, on one side and Rand Paul on the Republican side, gearing up campaigns in 2028.

And Rand Paul, you know, when he's asked about it, he's similar to Andy Beshear, saying he's focused on his current job, but he does admit that he wants to be a voice and a strong voice within his Republican Party in Washington, D.C.

and he's not afraid to steer out.

And as he says, stick to the Constitution and speak to what he thinks is the truth, even if it's different from the president's comments.

>> There was a big announcement for one of Kentucky's historic distilleries, Four Roses.

You watched the bourbon industry?

>> Yeah.

It sold for a record price for a Kentucky distillery of $775 million to E J Gallo Wine Company Winery.

>> And the restaurants are going to be having a summit next month.

Right?

>> Sort of.

That's right to Chef Michael and and Torgerson, they're going to have an entrepreneur summit to talk about being in the culinary business.

>> All right.

A former broadcaster, state senator and mayor of Henderson has died.

Henry Lackey also served as an official in the Kentucky Broadcasters Association over the years.

He was a member of the Kentucky Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Some called him the voice of Henderson.

Henry Lackey was 78.

Kentuckian filmmaker Elizabeth Barrett has passed away.

Barrett earned many awards during her career, was recognized at the Sundance Film Festival.

She is best known for directing stranger with a camera and for working 50 years at Apple Shop, documenting the region she loved so much.

Elizabeth Barrett was 74.

Kentucky's population is growing.

Some new census numbers show the state added about 100,000 residents between 2020 and 2025.

We invite you to be with KET on Monday night.

Renee Shaw will be here with Kentucky tonight.

She's joined by a panel of state lawmakers discussing public education legislation before the General Assembly that will be at eight eastern seven central Monday night.

That's comment.

Have a good week.