music >> And in a one day span on their morning and evening route, they logged a little over 1300 violations.

>> Our more cameras.

The answer as drivers break traffic laws near school busses.

[MUSIC] >> They provided not just a road map, but they gave us GPS coordinates.

[MUSIC] >> Some Frankfort lawmakers try again to give the Jefferson County superintendent more power.

[MUSIC] >> I'm an individual who understands.

I think the party understands a lot of the values that we have here, and I understand Kentucky and the values that we have in our state.

>> A Central Kentucky congressional candidate talks about what sets him apart from the competition.

[MUSIC] .

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Tuesday, February 3rd.

I'm Kelsey Starks filling in for Renee Shaw.

Thanks for joining us.

School busses could soon have cameras installed to catch cars that pass when the stop arm is deployed.

This is a measure that has come close to passing in previous legislative sessions, but hasn't crossed the finish line yet.

This year, however, the proposal is House Bill seven making it priority legislation.

Mackenzie Spink tells us how it fared in tonight's legislative update.

[MUSIC] >> This bill has passed.

>> Sponsor of House Bill seven, Representative David Hale says stop arm violations are getting out of hand.

Citing a study in Kentucky where around 2500 school bus drivers were asked to keep track of how many violations they saw in a day.

>> A lot of our 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.

>> House Bill seven would allow for the use of camera monitoring systems on school busses, and the enforcement of a 3 to $500 penalty for cars that are recorded passing a school bus with a deployed stop arm.

Representative Bobby McCool has personal experience with the dangers of stop arm violations.

>> I am a blessed person because this happened to me when I was a young boy of nine years old.

I actually went in front of the school bus and behind the school bus.

Those they didn't go in front of the school bus, behind the school bus, and got hit by a truck and actually ended up fracturing my skull.

My whole left side of my skull, not my cross, did a lot of things, but I'm blessed to be here today.

I would hope any other child wouldn't have to go through that.

If there's provisions that we can do to prohibit that.

So thank you for bringing this forward.

I'm certainly supportive of this bill.

>> One committee member voted against the bill, concerned that a real law enforcement officer wasn't involved enough with the citation process.

>> 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.

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 as we as we found that solution a year ago with Representative Blanton's bill on work zone safety.

>> The work zone safety law Representative Hodgson referenced allows an officer to issue a citation at the time of the offense.

When someone is caught on camera speeding through a work zone.

Under this school bus safety bill, a law enforcement officer will review the camera footage after the fact and sign a sworn statement confirming the violation before the penalty is enforced.

>> There is a correct me if I'm wrong here, but there is a signed, sworn statement by an officer that they have reviewed the tape and reviewed it.

>> Yes, sir.

>> So it's not AI doing this or computers.

It is a physical person actually reviewing the tapes and signing off in a sworn statement that this violation did take place.

>> The bill passed the House Transportation Committee with one no vote, and will next head to the House floor for consideration.

For Kentucky edition, I'm McKenzie Spink.

>> Last year's Senate Bill 38 was essentially the same proposal, but with an amendment prohibiting autonomous vehicles from transporting students.

That bill died in the House.

This year's House Bill seven does not have that same language.

Yesterday in Frankfort, the Senate passed two bills, one of which would take away operational power from the Jefferson County School Board and give it to the superintendent.

Our Emily Sisk explains the debate over Senate Bill one.

>> Senate Bill one would take away day to day operational power from the Jefferson County Public School Board and give that power to its superintendent.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed a similar measure back in 2022, but the state Supreme Court ruled late last year the legislation was unconstitutional, unfairly targeting one school district.

But as this year's bill sponsor, Senator David Givens, said, that ruling didn't mean a similar bill was out of the picture.

>> In that finding that the Supreme Court found in December of 2025, they provided not just a roadmap, but they gave us GPS coordinates of how to fix the question of constitutionality.

In summary, if we gave more reasons for needing to treat this district differently, there would be no question on the constitutionality.

>> Givens pointed out that JCPS educates 15% of all Kentucky public school students, and the district receives 8% of the total money allocated to K through 12.

Education.

Republican lawmakers noted the historically poor academic performance of the district and explained the exact roles of the superintendent and school board.

Under Senate Bill one.

>> 41 of our 55 CSI schools are located in JCPS.

Now, that would not be a problem in general, but it is held steady over time.

That is not a new phenomenon.

It's year after year after year.

>> We're defining that the board should be in charge of strategic planning, budget approval, audit reviews, hiring, reviewing and firing.

The superintendent and the superintendent should be in charge of day to day operations.

>> Louisville Democrat Senator Gerald Neal admitted concerns with persistent issues within JCPS, but expressed confidence in new Superintendent Brian Yearwood to turn things around.

Neal said he believed the board and superintendent could work together and had yet to prove otherwise.

>> But there is nothing I have seen, I repeat or heard today that tells me.

The problem is that the board has gotten in the way of the superintendent, or prevented him from taking the actions necessary to improve the district.

In fact, quite the opposite.

>> For another Senate minority leader.

Democratically elected school boards are the essence of local decision making.

>> What are we saying?

We all should have more local control, not less.

But no Senate bill one goes in the opposite direction, says we want less public control.

>> The bill passed 29 to 7 with all Democrats, and Shepherdsville Republican Senator Michael Nemes, who represents part of Jefferson County, voting no.

For Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Sisk.

>> Last week, Jefferson County Superintendent Brian Yearwood testified in committee against the bill, saying he should not have that added authority.

As we mentioned, the Senate passed two pieces of priority legislation yesterday.

The other was Senate Bill three, which has to do with school district finances.

Sponsoring Republican Senator Lindsey Titchener explained the goal of the legislation on the Senate floor.

>> The goal is simple to ensure our education dollars are focused on student learning and student achievement.

Education money is ultimately for educating our students and when moneys are irresponsibly used elsewhere, once made transparent, a correction is needed.

Senate Bill three will set into place two different requirements.

First, a requirement for the budgeting process with full access to school board members and in public view, with the final working budget to be presented by the superintendent at a public meeting highlighting specific requirements.

Senate Bill three also will mandate our school districts post on their main web page for easy access to the public.

>> Senator Titchener said the bill was drafted in response to repeated examples of wasteful spending and serious financial mismanagement, including in the state's two largest school districts.

Both Senate Bills one and three now move to the House for consideration.

Kentucky lawmakers are looking for more space for affordable housing, possible partners with land and a mission to serve are religious organizations, says State Representative Michael Saag, who sponsored House Bill 333.

His bill would exempt churches from having to obtain their own land use permit.

>> The Sisters of Loretto, the Loretto motherhouse, a long standing Kentucky faith community, reached out to myself, Senator Higdon, and they shared how they took the initiative to renovate a structure that sat empty and provided short term housing.

The purpose of the House Bill 333 basically allows faith based organizations to build small scale affordable housing up to 24 units, with additional safeguards to prevent clustering or large scale development on properties.

While zoning review is streamlined, projects remain subject to ministerial review to ensure compliance with objective building, fire, health and safety standards.

So why does this matter?

Homelessness is real.

Affordable housing is needed.

Faith communities in Kentucky are eager to play a constructive role in addressing homelessness and housing affordability.

>> House Bill 333 requires churches to keep these units affordable under HUD guidelines for 15 years.

The bill also applies to churches opening shelters, including temporary warming centers.

The House Local Government Committee passed the bill unanimously, unanimously, and now heads to the House floor.

A 2023 report from the Kentucky Housing Corporation estimates Kentucky is short more than 200,000 houses and rental units.

Governor Andy Beshear was in Bowling Green today to promote his universal preschool initiative.

He was joined by other supporters of pre-K for all, including the superintendent of Warren County Public Schools and Metcalfe County Judge Executive, a Todd County company that employs 4000 people in Kentucky, says it's not just an education policy, but would also grow the state's workforce.

>> Right now, up to 70,000 Kentuckians are kept out of the workforce because they don't have access to childcare.

Barriers like this make it harder for companies like ours to hire, grow and retain and compete.

We have great infrastructure.

We have good people.

Expanded pre-K will attract and retain top talent.

It will keep Kentucky kids getting started off on the right foot.

It will keep money in pockets of our families.

Continue to boost local economies like bowling greens and Guthrie's, and be a major investment in keeping Kentucky competitive.

>> Pre-K for all would expand Kentucky's voluntary preschool program to include every four year old.

Today, less than 30% of children attend state funded pre-K, and they must qualify based on income or disabilities.

Beshear says it could be funded over the next decade by revenue from sports betting.

>> Well, there's a significant number of rank and file Republican House members and senators that are 100% on board.

There's a discussion between them about the method to get there.

But but both approaches that we've looked at are are valid and would be successful.

From some.

You hear the mention of cost, but we can pay for this 100% from sports betting revenue alone.

In other words, it will have no impact on the budget overall, and ultimately it could be funded from those dollars for about a decade.

And when we think about how we use lottery funds to help Kentucky kids go to college, using sports betting funds for the youngest learners just makes sense.

It's fueling our success as a state.

>> The governor says he believes there is support for the measure in the House Education Committee, leaders from nonprofits around the state were in Frankfort today to take part in Kentucky Nonprofit network's annual day of advocacy.

The message to lawmakers nonprofits need more help to help them better serve their communities.

>> For any organization that receives direct federal funding, it has been a year of stops and starts and funding cuts and inability to contact someone at government who was their contact.

And then that's also trickled down to dollars that may have been federal dollars that flow through state and or local governments.

So even for organizations who don't get those funds directly, they may be partners with those nonprofits.

So they feel it.

So when organizations don't have the resources, both financial and human, that they need, then people don't get the services that they need.

And if they're in a real pinch, folks don't get paid.

Vendors don't get paid.

So it has a real impact on the economy.

We have been holding this event every year to really help raise awareness and serve as a reminder to the legislature that nonprofits, charitable nonprofits are an incredible resource for them in drafting and implementing good policy.

And this year in particular, we are advocating on behalf of a couple bills.

Primary one is House Bill 480, which puts some recently created regulations around prompt payment for nonprofit grants and contracts with the state.

Our goal is to put those into law, into statute with this legislation.

And again, it's just education.

Nonprofits employ 1 in 10 Kentuckians.

We are the fourth largest private sector employer in the Commonwealth.

And so it's the quality of life and the programs non-profits deliver definitely important economic impact as important nonprofits are employing people, nonprofits are helping people participate in the workforce, transportation, housing, job training.

So we try to get to Frankfort at least once a year to be sure that legislators know we're here as a resource, we're here as a partner, and we're watching.

We want to see Kentucky community strong.

And when nonprofits are strong, our communities are strong.

>> Nonprofits are our backbones of Kentucky.

We appreciate all that you all do to step up and fill in the gaps that government doesn't.

Not only do you invest your time, your talent, your treasure, you also dedicate your life to making the world a better place in Kentucky, a better place.

>> As we reported yesterday, State Representative Daniel Grossberg of Louisville reached a settlement with the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission.

Some of his fellow Democrats say that hasn't changed their opinion of Grossberg.

Grossberg is accused of inappropriate interactions with women and trying to shut down a strip club after being banned from it.

With the settlement, Grossberg will pay two fines of $1,000 each.

House Democratic leadership issued a statement following yesterday's settlement.

It says Grossberg was, quote, removed from the House Democratic Caucus after his conduct violated our standards.

And today's agreement does not change that.

We call on Representative Grossberg to resign from his seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

The chair of the state Democratic Party feels the same way.

Coleman.

Eldridge.

Eldridge put out this statement saying, quote, Representative Grossberg is unfit to serve, and he should resign immediately.

And Republican leadership should remove him from his committee assignments instead of continuing to enable his behavior.

End quote.

[MUSIC] Former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in a House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Kentucky Congressman James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, says the depositions will be on February 26th and 27th.

The committee had been ready to move forward with criminal contempt of Congress charges after both Clintons initially defied a subpoena.

Charges that could come with hefty fines or jail time.

The Clinton's attorney emailed the committee last night saying they would comply.

Congressman comer says the committee looks forward to questioning the Clintons, quote, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors.

Well, we continue our Meet the Candidates series with a former state senator who made history as Kentucky's first Hispanic lawmaker.

In 2019, the Clark County Republican ran as lieutenant governor on the ticket with then Governor Matt Bevin.

Ralph Alvarado most recently served as Tennessee health commissioner.

He's now running for this nomination in the sixth Congressional District.

He stopped by our studios earlier today to talk with Renee Shaw about why he's running in this race.

>> Mr.

Alvarado, which sounds odd for me to say, since I've called you commissioner and senator before.

It's good to see you.

>> Likewise.

It's great to be with you here.

I appreciate you taking the time to interview me.

>> Absolutely.

So you just can't stay away from Kentucky politics?

>> Well, yeah.

I mean, I'm back in the political saddle, but it's, you know, Kentucky's home.

So we've been, you know, we've been in Kentucky the whole time.

So for us, it's just fun.

And it's.

Yeah, a lot of made a lot of friends over the years.

I enjoy public service.

I enjoy helping people out, solving problems.

>> What opportunity you see with the sixth Congressional District and what really prompted or motivated you to want to get in at this level of politics?

>> Back in March, I got a lot of phone calls from people nationally saying, listen, Andy Barr is running for Senate.

You're the natural person to fill this role.

We think you should run for it.

The next day, I got calls from doctors and people in the district saying, please come back, do this.

We want you to do this role.

Get back into the political cycle.

My wife and I prayed about it, which is something we've always done, is relied on prayer to guide us on things.

And it's an opportunity, I think, in a moment of transition in our country where the expertise that I have is going to be able to be applied well.

>> Had you wanted to work in the Trump administration and the Department of Health and Human Services with RFK Jr.

>> I had a chance to interact a lot with Secretary Kennedy in that role, and I was interviewed really for senior positions in HHS.

I got a chance to meet Doctor Oz and Secretary Kennedy, and we talked for about an hour, a lot of discussions.

I gave my opinions on a lot of things and how things could be done.

You know, and I think, again, a lot of the Make America Healthy Again movement is something that's crucial for our country that I think if we can focus on better foods, young moms feeding their children, if those comfort foods become fruits and vegetables, and preparing natural foods for them when they get older, the health of this country is going to improve drastically in the next 30 years.

So a lot of the discussions they did interview me for some senior positions.

They didn't select me, which is okay.

I know they interviewed a lot of folks, but I got a chance to meet Doctor Bhattacharyya, who's head of NIH.

McCarthy also, and the deputy secretary as well.

O'Neill.

So they were there that same day interviewing.

And I've had dinner with those guys and talked about a lot of health care policies and ideas and again, hoping to to use those relationships to advance a lot of good concepts on fixing health care.

>> And since you already have an in with the administration, are you already courting the endorsement of President Trump, or have you heard from the president or folks in his team that says they are willing to back you?

>> Yeah, we've had discussions.

Obviously, we've had a chance to meet with folks inside the white House.

And we've had, again, a lot of people that are close to the president.

We've had chances to interact with them.

You know, really I think the president typically when he endorses anybody, it's typically done.

You have to earn that role.

So it's not one of those things where it's just an automatic.

I think they're very they want to have people that are going to be working hard.

They want to see people that are raising money, people that are working in the community.

They want to see all that kind of effort.

I think we're the best positioned person right now in the race to earn that endorsement.

>> We know that there is a current state representative, Ryan Dodson, who I interviewed just a couple of weeks before, and when he was asked to describe who his main rival was and this primary, he said it was you.

And he said that he classified himself as the grassroots guy.

And you perhaps more currying favor with the elite.

>> Yeah.

I've never been called elite, you know, I've, you know, for me, I've taken care of a lot of patients over the years.

I've gotten to meet a lot of people.

So I consider, you know, politics is typically, you know, we can we can think about all the, the fancy stuff we see on TV and all the debates and all that.

It's ultimately about public service, about serving other people, and it's about helping people navigate a very complicated federal system and government and the state.

It's the same thing, very complicated state government system.

How do you get people connected to the resources that they need as a doctor?

I've done that for my entire career.

I continue to do that.

I've done it.

I've never stopped.

I've done it for 30 years.

Health care can be a very complicated system, and people are sometimes at their most vulnerable moments, at their worst moments, seeking the advice of that individual.

So I think really a lot of this is not about it's not about grassroots.

It's about trust and about proven results.

I'm an individual that when I was in serving in the in the state Senate, even when the divided government of Democrats controlling the House, Republicans controlling the Senate, I got a lot of bills through in that kind of a divided environment.

And when it was unified, I'm the only person who has that experience and has those proven results for things.

So I don't think I appeal.

I think I appeal to a lot of grassroots folks.

You know, for me, this is not a social division.

It's, you know, the person.

I think I've been a Republican my entire life, my entire voting life.

I'm an individual who understands.

I think the party understands a lot of the values that we have here.

And I understand Kentucky and the values that we have in our state.

So I don't I don't view it as that kind of a division.

And I've got a pretty good grassroots campaign ready to go too.

So I feel confident in what we can do.

>> So let's talk a little bit about the Trump administration, particularly as it comes to the immigration enforcement surge that we've seen in American cities, and particularly the lives that were claimed of two American citizens by Border Patrol or Ice federal agents, do you favor the approach that the Trump administration has taken up to this point?

Do you have any qualms with what you've seen in terms of messaging or actions or both?

Do you agree with what they're doing?

>> So you have to remember that they're doing these actions all over the country, and we're only seeing a lot of these problems in one city in particular, in one state.

I know for a fact the Memphis, the mayor there is a Democrat.

I've met him, interacted with him before.

A lot of these same interactions are occurring there, and they're occurring in a much different fashion because there's cooperation between law enforcement, between local officials and federal enforcement.

And some presidents have deported many more people than the Trump administration has.

I know there's some people who just despise the president.

And so we'll look at any action that he has and question it with that eye and say, this is being done.

And they're hoping to catch a moment that doesn't look good.

Obviously, on camera now, two people have lost their lives.

It's a tragedy, of course, and it's one of those things that I have a son and I have a daughter, and if they're upset about something, there's a way that you protest things and you voice your opinion.

It wouldn't be to take loaded weapons and to go into environments where the police are trying to do their work and hope that we have a good outcome from that.

You know, if local law enforcement was involved, I would argue probably it would not have had the same.

It would have been a separation.

You can protest actions that are there.

Now.

Some of the things we've seen, there's things we can learn from.

Obviously, if you know some of the actions in how they're being done and in the aggressive fashion they're being done, I don't think it's a good optic.

I don't think it treats people with some dignity.

So there's some things that could be learned from and improved there.

And I think those things are being reviewed by the Trump administration.

Now to say, hey, how do we need to approach this in a different angle?

But we are a country of law and order, and I think a lot of immigrants who have come to this country come because we have law and order and we have we follow our laws.

>> Renee we'll have more with Ralph Alvarado on tomorrow's edition of Kentucky edition.

Kentucky attorney General Russell Coleman is backing Trump administration efforts to cancel $20 billion in Biden area grants to fight greenhouse gas emissions Coleman is joining 23 other attorneys general in filing a brief of support with the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the D.C.

district, Coleman says the grants are wasteful and targeted.

Kentucky workers and Kentucky industries.

[MUSIC] And that's it for us tonight.

We hope you will join us again tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central for Kentucky edition, where we inform, connect and inspire.

You can find us on the PBS video app and your mobile device and your smart TV.

Thanks so much for joining us tonight.

[MUSIC] Have a great evening.