♪ >> I'm happy to report that we still do not have any reports.

No significant injuries and loss of life related to this storm.

>> But there's more cold and snow on the way to Kentucky.

>> We are right in the zone, so to speak and it's a mess across the commonwealth.

>> Find out what caused the mess.

♪ Has come to order.

And the snow didn't stop day one of the Kentucky General Assembly.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Tuesday, January, the 7th, I'm Renee Shaw.

Hope you are thawing out.

>> And staying warm.

Kentucky continues to clean up and dig out after snow and ice Sunday and Monday that closed schools caused accidents that left many people without electric power.

>> That big ends tonight.

Weather coverage.

>> Crews continue to clear roads all over the Commonwealth.

This is video of snow plows clearing interstate 64 in Shelby County, Governor Andy Beshear says he is pleased with the state's response to the winter weather.

>> I'm happy to report that we still do not have any reports of significant injuries or a loss of life related to this storm.

That's really great news because 8 plus inches of snow and most especially a half an inch of ice is very dangerous.

So Kentucky, thank you for hearing the warnings.

Thank you for listening to your news in your meteorologist.

Thank you for taking care of each other in especially yesterday and the day before.

Thank you for staying home because of that, at least our main roads or interstates are in pretty good shape today.

>> The governor says the next concern is the bitter cold we expect over the next few days.

He says Kentucky has 208 warming centers either open or expected to open.

Winter Storm.

Blair has moved out of Kentucky, but many in the state are still dealing with the aftermath.

Utility crews have been working around the clock to restore power more than 20,000 Kentuckians remain without power.

Kentucky Electric Cooperative says crews from Georgia and Tennessee are in Kentucky helping crews with the co-op turn the power back on for customers.

Even with the additional help it could be days before the power's back on.

For some.

>> It's been a rolling restoration rolling outage as we want because that ice storm began, you know, in the western portion of the state and even as power was being restored, you know it there.

It was still being the freezing rain was still marching its way all across the state to the east.

So now that we have the the all the crews here in place in some mutual aid crews in place.

That number is coming down quickly.

Not quickly enough to the people who are without power, but we're making good progress here on Tuesday.

>> Arnold one of the biggest challenges for crews, freezing freezing rain and ice.

He says even a small amount can cause widespread damage and power outages.

>> Freezing rain and ice is always the number one contributor to power outages.

When it comes to winter weather, we can handle snow for the most part, but that ice that accumulates on lines and on trees really causes.

The problem is as little as a quarter inch of ice can add several 100 pounds of this one span of line between one power pole in another a half inch of ice just compounds that when you tack on most of telephone wire on, that's that same span or there's a communications cable for a broadband are up for a cable company will do that.

All ice also hangs on there.

CF, thousands of pounds now that are pulling down on that or a play on the trees next to it.

Then you compound that with wind and the extra pressure that brings that because each of those those little drapes of ice coming off of the line, axis sale is more surface area.

So really, I says the is the worst possible winter precipitation for power outages.

>> According to Kentucky Electric Co-operatives customers along the Ohio River and in far western Kentuckyian parts of eastern Kentucky war affected most by power outages.

As the winter storm made its mark on the Commonwealth.

It set a record in Louisville.

Our Chris T-dot and talks with meteorologist Kevin Hart from Way 3 in Louisville to get a recap of winter Storm Blair and what we can expect this weekend.

>> It's been a long time since we've had a deal with snow like this.

And of course, snow is one thing.

But ice is the worst.

It's that glaze of ice that really causes the most impact.

So consequently, because we did see freezing rain across central Kentucky, we had a number of communities that lost power and that stretched all the way from West Kentucky to East Kentuckyian Louisville presidents.

It was a top 10 snowmaker for us.

When you look at the two-day total 9 inches on Sunday, an inch and a half on Monday.

That's 10.5 inches.

So that put us in the top 10 heaviest snowfalls on record.

Now looking ahead to Friday into Saturday.

Still some unknowns on this, but it is a snow maker.

That's what we know, Chris.

The south will be solidly in the cold air on this.

What we want to pull the rest of my hair out, trying to figure out if it's going to be sleet or freezing rain.

The question is how much will it be?

And that depends of the systems to the north and South Bays just before it reaches us or as it passes us.

And at this point are still some disagreement in the model data.

But it looks like we'll see an advisory level snow that would be between one to 4 inches in the forecast at the point in the game.

>> The storm has been an inconvenience and nuisance for most of us.

But for others simply staying warm indoors is not guaranteed shelters and even some businesses are expanding their services to bring more people inside.

>> So you can imagine with the snow in the winter storm coming in that that's really created some excitement in the area, especially for those who call the streets their home.

You know, they can spin this time out there and this frigid temperatures, you know, we've had to open up a little more than we normally do.

So we do have space, but it's a matter of having having cots and beds and then also been able to have security and be able to make sure that we can properly maintain order Daryn, Times like this, when people are excited, they're a little anxious.

They're a little concerned.

So we've been seeing about 100 to come into our base and when we normally see, you know, between 30 and 35 normally comes in.

So we've almost tripled our occupancy four-day center.

So that tells me that folks are trying to find some more warm and were awful.

Thankful that we got a place for them to come in, get some rest to get a hot meal getting out of the cold.

>> Louisville officials activated operation White flag over the weekend.

It's a notice to shelters to KET people inside.

Lexington got less snow than Louisville, but still enough to cause some problems.

>> Officially, the National Weather Service says almost 7 inches of snow fell over 2 days and parts of Lexington received a half an inch of ice coating cars, trees and almost everything else outside.

At one point about 8,000 Kentucky utility customers in Lexington, we're in the dark.

That number has since fallen.

Thank goodness to less than 200.

The situation and eastern Kentucky was a little different parts of the region.

There picked up more rain than snow.

Still everyone is getting in on the freezing temperatures.

We spoke with a meteorologist at Wy Mt TV and Hazard Kentucky about the what the region experienced.

>> We've been calling it the New Year's Winter Storm here and why Mt.

Basically, it was a very fast-moving storm.

I mean, not even a couple days before it was in the Pacific Ocean and it traveled.

>> Quite a way to get here.

And it really dumped a lot of snow here in eastern Kentuckyian ice starting on Sunday spent the night Sunday here at the studio into Monday morning, right for the morning newscast on the how Rodgers, you know, give or take a couple of miles above and below.

That's where our freezing line was.

So if you are above that and eastern Kentucky got more of that snow mixture and wintery mix.

And then as you go below that, you had that rain and a wintry mix and everything froze when that cold front came through.

So the farther north, you got the more inches of snow.

I know before the rain came here at Hazard, we had about 6 inches.

When we put me in the morning and Curry put a ruler and the guy we had 6 inches.

I know there are some reports in Morehead that we got that word about 6 inches, too.

So I mean, definitely a lot of snow.

And in terms of ice, it's been very, very depending on, you know, how far north or south you are of that.

How Rodgers?

But some places could get up to a quarter of an inch of ice, which is quite a lot on power lines.

We've been monitoring the outages in Kentucky.

I don't remember off the top my head, which counties, but there were some that had upwards of 1500 customers in a county that were out.

Thankfully, we've had a lot of good responders to this.

That of Don on to it as quick as they Rockcastle County was hit pretty quickly with the system and had a lot of power outages pretty instantly.

But they went out and fix things and within a couple hours, they got those numbers down.

Really quick.

We'll be seeing no, like little to no melting at all.

Especially here in Hazard.

I know that we're getting 27.

28 degrees.

Our high today.

26 tomorrow.

And 27 on Thursday.

So that freezing 0, 32, that there's not going to be any melting of that snow.

Here were still seeing that some roads haven't been cleared.

Some of these roads won't be clear for several days.

>> Now let's travel across the state to western Kentucky, which saw ice freezing temperatures and high winds.

Our Laura Rogers checks in with Person, chief meteorologist at WPSD local 6 and Paducah.

>> What was the initial impact there in the Paducah area?

>> Yeah, we had a pretty messy mix of some sleet and then freezing rain that moved in Saturday overnight.

By the time folks waking up on Sunday morning, we already had a fairly significant coating of ice on trees and power lines.

We ended up with about a quarter of an inch of ice total in the Paducah area for most of western Kentucky.

The biggest impacts develop during the daytime hours on Sunday.

Temperatures started to flirt with the freezing mark and warm up just slightly going into Sunday afternoon, which provided some relief for portions of our area, which we also have the gusty winds to deal with.

And so that actually led to a few scattered power outages across our area, really starting by about midday on Sunday.

>> And when you talk about these really frigid temperatures below freezing of force, that can be dangerous for people that are exposed to the elements for long periods of time.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

We have.

We saw temperatures dip below freezing here on Sunday night and they've yet to come back above freezing.

And you're right, that prolonged cold and that exposure that the folks that may not have access to a sufficient heat, that prolonged exposure can add up over time, especially for folks that have been dealing with some extended power outages.

That becomes a real concern.

>> It sure does.

And so do you know where they are with power outages now has much of that been restored.

>> For most of the extreme western Kentucky, those power outages have been restored.

We still have a few outages.

Farther up the Ohio River toward places like Marion, Kentucky, Crittendon County over toward union and Webster County.

Closer to the Henderson area.

But across the Paducah area, we are all good.

We've been good since Sunday night.

>> Alright, Chris and chief meteorologist for WPSD local 6.

We sure appreciate your time and also all of the heart of the park, the tireless coverage and to keeping people informed as to the weather conditions.

>> Sure, absolutely.

Thank you.

>> Yeah, big kudos to the meteorologists now.

Parts of northern Kentucky saw some of the highest snow totals over a course of a couple of days today.

I caught up with Canton Hornback with Lake Nky to see how the region is doing.

Well can't.

And thank you so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

I know that you and others are still digging out as we have been talking and discussing during today's program.

Tell us about what Winter Storm Blair did to northern Kentucky.

>> Well, Renee Winter Storm Blair hit the region pretty hard, especially up in Cincinnati and the northern Kentucky region.

I can tell you yesterday, according to the National Weather Service that a record snowfall of 4.2 inches was accumulated in Cincinnati just on Monday.

And that breaks the old record of 3 and a half inches.

That was that all the way.

Back in 1981.

Is so anecdotally, I can tell you that I'm based in Covington and walking around the streets this morning as well as yesterday, which I mean, it was pretty wild.

My car was completely covered and at least what seemed like 2 feet of snow.

People kind of struggling to get around.

But ultimately I think the snow removal service men and women did a really good job.

And the city's we're pretty well prepared, although it's how well-prepared can you be when you're getting record snowfall?

Yeah.

And our our gratitude to those crews that are out there, road crews and those who are dealing with utility lines mean that's dangerous work.

>> During this time you were there any incidents?

We know there's a lot of concern about those who are unhoused and shelters that were provided for them or >> any other instance like that where, you know, that might have been newsworthy about how the area was ensuring that people were kept safe.

>> Yes, so specifically to your point about the unhoused, I know the Campbell County Cold Shelter was opened yesterday as well as the northern Kentucky emergency shelter.

They were doing their best to KET their doors open and try to get people funneling in to stay out of the cold.

A couple counties, all 3 counties really all issued snow, emergency warnings.

It was a level 2 emergency warning which meant that roadways were considered, hasn't it hazardous with snow blowing and drifting about motorists were only advised to travel if absolutely necessary.

And like I said, anecdotally, I can tell you that the roads were pretty wild up here.

A lot of snowfall was still coming down yesterday as well as all of it that we got on a Sunday.

Another thing I think is noteworthy is that the Cincinnati, northern Kentucky International Airport to ground planes the other day and they are since back up and running.

But I thought that might be pretty noteworthy considering he's not too often.

That happens.

That's right.

Yeah.

Thank you for including that.

While best to use, stay warm, stay safe.

And if we need to will connect with you again on the other side of this.

But we're told will be other things we can talk about.

How with you can Harbeck.

Thank you so very much for your time.

We appreciate it.

>> Now for more on the science behind this storm, our Kris to DOT and spoke to John Gordon of the National Weather Service.

>> John Gordon from the National Weather Service here in Louisville.

A lot of us are digging out or de-icing from this winter storm.

How widespread was this storm and who will that impact?

What how Christie this one from Kansas to Washington, D.C.. >> I am part of the country.

Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, local, Cincinnati, DC very bad.

Lots of power outages.

Lots of snow, sleet, nice.

It's a winter wonderland.

How did this winter storm for meteor logically?

A typical way that comes off the Pacific.

United States cold air to the north, warm air to the south.

In our case, we had all this warm, moist air pushing up against this cold air.

We're right in the zone, so to speak.

And it's a mess across the commonwealth.

And we got a lot of snow.

A lot of people got a lot of snow word.

Where did all this moisture?

Well, as the moisture feed so Mexico was wide open, pushed up and over this this whole system again, that we were way above normal with the amount of vapor in the atmosphere and you need vapor to really produce.

And this was a wet snow initially.

And then we transition to the sleet, freezing rain and even thunder, sleet and thunder storm in the south.

Part of the state.

Very interesting for a leather purse point.

Not so much for the public has a deal with this nonsense.

So how was it able to gain so much drink to have that many impact?

>> Yeah, we had a lot of cold air.

We've got a lot of cold air feeding into a system and you have a lot of wind energy that pulls all the moisture up.

It's a pretty classic storm.

Well, forecast very well forecast, but the impacts are significant to the to the folks and it's going to be below 0 below.

32 for a week.

>> Yes, we're definitely going to be feeling the chill with that.

Now a lot of people have called as haven't called the storm Winter Storm Blair.

But now the National Weather Service is really have a part in that right word is that name come from.

>> The Weather Channel started that.

That's their thing.

Some people adopted.

Some people don't.

Usually weather service does things that all starts a national thing or from the World Meteorological Organization in Switzerland, the Weather Channel's done this.

We just called it a nasty winter storm.

Some people caught Blair.

It came.

It did its thing.

It's moved on.

>> Yeah.

Storm by any other name that still has the same impacts right?

And as we take a look ahead, we may be in for another round of weather over the weekend.

Thursday, right?

Yeah.

Thursday night into Friday is looking very complicated.

Looks very straight forward for Tennessee, northern Alabama, northern Mississippi.

>> Right now, my sense is south of the parkways is the greatest impact.

The southern part of Kentucky could have more snow.

Stay tune.

Bad fans.

We got more time.

We'll figure this out today and tomorrow.

>> Yes, we will be staying dune and staying aware.

Thank you so much for your time.

John.

By Tuesday.

♪ >> There freezing rain or sleet nor winter storm Blair prevented the Kentucky General Assembly from convening for Day one of this year's 30 day legislative session.

The start of the short session as it's called is routine and usually mild as each chamber welcomes new members, formalizes leadership and committee assignments introduces new bills and sets the rules by which each chamber will operate for the next 29 days.

The latter drew some debate in both chambers as Democrats criticize some new procedural rules by the Republican Super majority aimed at accelerating bill passage.

They perceive those changes as limiting transparency and public input in the legislative process.

GOP leadership fired back.

>> So what we're seeing present it in my view is an attempt by this chamber to cost the bait.

To the voice of those in the opposition.

Excluding the ability of committee chairs that have the ability to consider bills the city must Mr. President to gag the members.

This bot.

I think that's inappropriate.

I don't think we should ever allow that, too.

Could this change?

Our Constitution doesn't mandate that people have a right >> Or or or succeed on the issue.

>> Accustomed to does the man every legislator have a right.

I have a voice to express their opinion and we are stripping legislators of that voice.

My colleague, the senator from Fayette 13 has brought some questions.

I'd like to ease the minds of those that may be watching.

And and some colleagues here in the chamber.

>> It changes to the rules that are proposed in these are proposed until they're voting on.

These can be amended by any member of the body wishing to file an amendment to the rules, Mr. President and in course, in time during the course of this session.

So I encourage anyone with disappointments are grievances.

Bring your amendments, bring your rule changes.

We can vote them individually or collectively what you wish to go.

So for anyone concerned about a lack of transparency or lack of democracy.

I'm standing to speak in support of the rule changes.

I encourage all members to vote.

Yes on the resolution.

>> The Senate approved the chamber's rules by a voice vote.

House Democrats felt the same as they said, procedural rule changes in the lower chamber.

Quote, stifled minority voices.

House rules were adopted along party lines and a roll call vote while today was organizational as is typical policy discussions will begin tomorrow.

A raft of bills were introduced today among them a bill to lower the state income tax by another half percent.

That effort is embodied in House Bill.

One that was filed today and is slated for consideration.

And tomorrow morning's House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

It could see a House floor vote by the end of the week.

And you can watch that coverage online at KTVA Dot Org.

Now, as the General Assembly convenes for the 2025 legislative session, there are some new faces in the chambers among them, Kim Holloway, who unseated incumbent Republican Representative Richard Heath and Western Kentucky's second House district.

Our Laura Rodgers takes us to Holloway's home in Graves County Tamara, more about her priorities as a freshman legislator.

♪ >> Political office is something I had never ever contemplated in my life.

>> But that changed in 2020 when incoming Republican State House Representative Kam Holloway says she believes pandemic restrictions went too far.

>> And I waited and I waited for someone else to step up and say I'm going to.

To do what I can to fix this man ever did.

There was a gross overreach of government and a serious violation of basic human rights.

>> She says she was disappointed the state legislature's Republican super-majority didn't do more to limit those restrictions.

Very impulsively one night while everyone else was a football game, I just hit me out of nowhere.

I thought, you know, I could do this Holloway's candidacy and 2022 was disqualified due to a filing ever.

But she ran again in 2024, we knocked on every door that was on that primary list.

She defeated incumbent Richard Heath and office since 2012 and the Republican primary facing no opposition and the general election.

It was like when you open it, Jack, in the you're wanting that box deputy know it's going to pop out at you.

But when it does it still, it's still catches you by surprise.

Holloway and her family live on a farm and the Sedalia community of Graves County, less than 10 miles from Mayfield.

We just live a very private and quiet life here.

But it was important to me to start this journey in a field has been on a journey of recovery since devastating tornadoes 3 years ago that destroyed much of the city's infrastructure.

It has changed our town forever.

We are making progress.

Rebuilding efforts are underway, including a groundbreaking back in October on a new city hall and police department.

I think the priority for this community at this point is to continue to recover.

>> And to continue to be able to return to normalcy and to have all of those facilities intact.

>> As far as Holloway's priorities in Frankfort, she's an advocate for less taxation, calling yourself a, quote, small government percent.

I would say that my general philosophy on government as it should be so quiet.

>> And and involved if she didn't know was there, she says while she does support lowering the state income tax, she thinks legislation to do so has been deceptive.

>> Expanding taxes on other services.

There was no discussion about how to cut spending.

There was no discussion about how to eliminate the income tax without having to raise taxes elsewhere.

And that's something that I would like to address, especially because a lot of those sales taxes are really harmful for Kentuckians.

She signed your own example as a farm family now paying taxes on electricity for their bar.

>> Holloway, but also like to see more economic development and investment in Western Kentucky.

We have a lot of potential down here.

We have a lot of hidden gems.

A lot of resources.

>> That may not be effectively utilized.

You are right here on this.

I-69 corridor.

>> Which is a great benefit to us as a newcomer to state politics.

Holloway says she hopes to inspire other Kentucky ends to run for office and says she police term limits should be imposed.

That would invite new political talent by staying there forever.

You stifle you stifle some really good ideas during her campaign.

And since her election, Holloway says she's had many conversations with constituents.

I've had Democrats and Republicans and people from all walks of life or a chat about things that they're concerned about.

When you really get to listen to them, talking to them, we don't really disagree on a whole lot.

We might just have different ideas about how it is best to accomplish those things.

I want the government to do less and I want to do.

Moore has someone's neighbor.

This is Holloway now begins her first term as a state representative, a Kentucky edition.

I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you.

Laura Holloway's education and experiences and mental health.

And she tells us she's currently drafting education related legislation.

>> Her district covers part of McCracken and all of Graves County.

Well, tomorrow we'll talk politics with NPR's Rylan Barton.

And there's a new video tool in the fight against teen opioid abuse.

We'll tell you all about the University of Kentucky's project tomorrow night on Kentucky tonight, which we know that, you know, to join us for at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central where we inform connect and inspire.

You can connect with us all the ways you see on your screen, Facebook, X and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Sent us a story idea by email to public affairs at KET Dot Org.

Thanks so very much for watching tonight.

Stay safe and warm and I'll see you right back here again tomorrow.

Take care.

♪