The 2023 session of the General Assembly heads into its final days with legislation both moving and stalling as the clock ticks.

Kentucky's longest-serving U.S.

Senator ever.

Mitch McConnell is hospitalized after a fall in Washington.

The first debate of the crowded Republican race for governor features 4 of the 12 candidates.

The U.S. Justice Department issues a very critical report of the Louisville Metro Police Department.

As we get ready to spring wintry feel sets them.

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 all of the week's news in the Commonwealth and the guests on our panel of Working Kentucky journalists tonight are Philip Bailey, Louisville, based national political correspondent for USA Today.

Mark Vanderhoff reporter for WLKY in Louisville and John Cheves reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

>> We took a very rare night off last Friday night when KET team made the decision to err on the side of safety for the staff and our panelists and cancel it.

Evenings lineup of local public affairs program.

So tonight we're catching up some and looking ahead, some to first to that historic, a wind storm.

Louisville and Lexington had all-time peak wind gust near 80 miles per hour.

Extremely low pressure in the area.

The results were tough.

5 deaths statewide and the damage that is still being totaled up.

At one point, more than a half million Kentuckians were without power.

A week later, the cleanup and the restoration efforts are still under way.

And mark, the other thing was that this was a more extreme weather, which unfortunately we're getting used to in Kentucky.

But this time it was not tornadoes.

It was not flooding just as unrelentingly.

And, you know, Bill, even though they issued a wind advisory.

>> I was still surprised at how much damage there wasn't, how widespread the power outages where and then the fact that was such a nice weekend such a weird contrast.

To what that Friday was like.

It was it was no news on that.

And, you know, you don't see wind on the radar.

I mean that the typical tools we use it.

So it was strange because that was the line of storms that moved through.

But sunlight was quick.

And then here came the wind.

And it was also what I thought was unusual was how?

The wind could cause so much damage on one block and then the next block over it was like it wasn't even there.

Yeah, John, the Bluegrass region was hit hard.

Lexington had a high peak gusts, 79 miles per hour.

Apparently the >> highest-ever app side.

A tornado and the utility restoration has taken quite a while.

>> And did so.

Yeah, this is hurricane force winds.

The Kentucky was dealing with him to turn on the ocean.

We're not used to it that we had more than a half million customers without power, the worst of it.

And I know some people who went 5 days without power here in Lexington, Governor Beshear issued a statement today saying we're now down to about 800 customers without power, which he says it was a typical day.

So we've seen the back to normal now.

But everywhere you look in part to conduct, you can still see the damage of trees down some vehicles and with the severe damage.

And the cleanup is going to be, you know, weeks or months.

It's a good thing to have those agreements in place where we reach out to other states and they come and they come in and help for the restoration because that front was key in all this.

>> The worst thing, of course, is the loss of We won't know the damage estimates for a while.

>> Likely that it will federal disaster declaration But this adds to a string mark a natural disasters the state has faced over the last couple years.

>> Yeah, and hopefully I don't think we're going to need multi-million dollar funds the way we did in eastern Kentuckyian western Kentucky.

But still that stuff adds up and only one thing I can say is at least we're not California with all the wildfires and giant lizards.

>> There's saving grace.

I guess Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion in the fall in Washington and is still in the hospital, recovering.

There have been bipartisan well wishes, including from President Biden who served with McConnell for many years in the Senate.

The 81 year-old McConnell is Kentucky's longest-serving U.S. senator ever and the longest-serving Senate leader have a party in American history.

obviously many people have a set aside politics and they're pulling for Senator McConnell's recovery.

Senator Chuck Schumer saying because counterpart on the Democratic side as majority leader had a prayer for.

>> Some call the Senate floor, other colleagues, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska set up for a speedy recovery center.

Ben Ray Lujan actually Mexico shared how what he had a stroke.

Tim McConnell reached out to people who know maybe some call the better one.

Other one is a family issue.

It's a personal tragedy is not the right personal handwritten notes, the folks and send them to them.

So it's nice to see that.

But that was returned in his situation with a concussion, getting some pretty encouraging report about to the senator apparently said to be starring about to walking and asking anybody who comes in with a hospital.

It on.

>> When can I leave?

So apparently wants to go home and that that's good news.

That's the same thing on the Santa Fe.

Exactly.

So that we hope is a recovery is Senator Lindsey Graham said he's a tough old Crow and I'd bet on him.

So we'll see when Senator McConnell is released from the hospital.

But certainly, John, as you noted, that he is 81 years old.

This a serious situation.

He is.

We were talking before the this has been a concern.

I mean, our government right now is led by somebody to be, you know, fair, some pretty old people.

The president, a former House Speaker Pelosi and many of the senators.

>> The people in their their 80's and a 30 year-old who falls and hits their might just get up and move on an 80 year-old falls and hits her head that it's a pretty big deal.

And there has been some Is it time for us to move on to another generation of leaders who are a little more young and vigorous?

And, you know, Senator McCain and governor of South Carolina home or some kind of Governor Nikki Haley actually made that a point in her campaign when she announced she was running for president.

>> She's taking a more so for President.

Donald Trump was also up there in age.

But making the point of what we need to have a new generation of leadership, we have some people who she actually suggest that we have a mental competency test for people of a certain age which got a little bit of blowback as well.

So yeah, John is right.

And we have older led government here.

And I think that was an issue that will certainly this recent poll by some kind of brings it to life.

And I think there was some reporting by the heel on among the Republicans in the Senate, the reflect the okay.

What do we do now?

Kind of >> McConnell does bring them together up there.

Well, I mean, look, we have this happen because you take a look at U.S..

Senators mean Senator Dianne Feinstein of California was recently in the hospital chain calls, right?

We have other centers with Patrick Leahy was still in the Senate.

You know, having basic slips and falls and because it was so tight with a 50, 50 split open, the previous Congress, it became an issue pretty frequently by for both sides where you have members who are missing because the basic elements.

All right.

Well, we will certainly KET watch on the Senator McConnell's the situation this week.

The U.S. Department of Justice delivered a tough report on the Louisville Metro Police Department, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland came to Kentucky to deliver the strongly worded report that outlined use of excessive force in valid warrant, unlawful stops.

>> And discrimination against black people.

>> This conduct is unacceptable.

It's heartbreaking.

It erodes community trust necessary for effective policing.

>> this comes after the death, obviously of Breonna Taylor and it pulls no punches, right.

As we come up with a 3 year Breonna Taylor's death at the hands of local police.

I think the attorney general's actually making might actually it's it's more than just a starling hits, not just the Roshan public trust eliminated a lot of cases here.

But I've had a chance to read the full report.

You have cases here which police are pursuing a someone via a car chase that they can't find the individual.

He applause goes into a home police approaches.

Black woman's home, banged on her door with a dog with guns drawn.

All right.

Person out, look for the house with flashlights and guns without asking permission right?

The suspect right in there, no disciplinary action to action taken.

You have a situation where the police a second dog on a 14 year-old child was laying in the grass.

We're not on his arm to.

The point is to go to the hospital right?

And then we have a situation is not a social justice activist and residents complaining there's a part in their report.

Bill, where black police officers in September 2019 to complain about why colleague was making all sorts of ugly comments.

They reported a Things done, right.

So again, this report shows that First Amendment rights, 4th Amendment rights, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

All being basically shred.

It.

Mayor Greg Greenberg has only been in office about 2 months as a major task on his hands here because now he has been left with this situation.

Sometimes these consent decrees last up to 10 years where there is no basic trust in the black community in this department.

>> Do you get the sense LMPD and people in Louisville a expected this?

There we heard rumblings, obviously in the allegations that during the protests in 2020, but this document a lot real things.

>> I've heard reactions on all ends of the spectrum from people who say, oh, there they go again, blaming the police to people who say this is not going far enough.

You heard Philip site a lot of examples.

The report is full of data and full of specific examples.

It also.

It also has 36 36 reform.

So when they do get into that a federal consent decree.

I'm not I'm not sure people realized how many reforms the Department of Justice was going to require of Louisville.

It's going to be a lot of work and a consent decree essentially would place a monitor over the police department, right?

That's right.

It would be an independent monitor and we were talking some of these things.

They last 10 years, Baltimore, 6 years in right now, right?

I mean, that could let back in last pretty much.

All a Greensburg start with let's say he is reelected.

>> And even into the mayor afternoon started again.

Reading this.

I would challenge anyone who reads this report, right?

Go through it.

The word search to replace the term black people with any other people in this community, right.

Catholic Jewish, you know, Muslim, why doesn't really matter like replacing those names with any of the group of people.

And then to what your reaction to the report this.

And that's what I think is the most disturbing part of this is that these are the folks who we trust to serve and protect.

We have cases here, Bill, where officers are going around throwing slushies on people.

You know, people reporting of officers calling by boy writing a book for mobile again from a black police officer talking about how no officers were referred to black women is Quito like this is from from a form of a commissioner because she's a single mother, right?

Referring Blackman is Jay is like a little so slang for drug dealer.

I mean, it is a litany of issues.

The HARP reported are documented.

There was a gentleman who apparently was in its home.

You're having a mental health episode or a drug episode.

Officers coming to his home yelling at him, which, by the way, mental health professionals say it's not the way to calm someone down and they take on the neck and his whole again, as attorney general said, mean, multiple examples of basic constitutional rights being trampled and shredded by the police part.

John had a question I think about what we were this going to end the Fraternal Order of Police of Louisville put out a statement saying they thought this was an unfair assessment of their record, which it kind of makes you skeptical been how seriously with the consent decree be taken by at least some of the police officers doesn't?

I think there's a lot of skepticism that the state, obviously the FOP.

>> But also in Green Bay, right?

There's a lot of questions about this.

He except the full ramifications this reporter, I know that, you know, he and others may be worried what will happen to 4 former soon-to-be former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot right?

There's a push from Joe Biden on down for Democrats too not be seen as soft on crime to push themselves away from the from the police movement.

But a lot of ways this is a Democratic issue in these big cities.

Everyone in the ground to a sign the bill from the prosecutor, 2 former police chief, the former Mayor, Greg Fischer to your current mayor.

All of them are Democrats.

This is an issue the Democrats are going to face an urban centers being tugged between these police forces and these activist groups.

Remember the days before the DOJ came here in the nation.

This blistering report there were calls from a Green beret to open up the negotiations between the city.

His administration and the FOP that he has been resisting.

So he gets up here, says we're in a new direction from a new mayor with a new sort of mentality when it comes to this before the DOJ was come came here, he had the exact same mentality.

The great fish that here's an opportunity to at least to address some of these things.

I think there's an opportunity to build in the community and you are going to see a conversation outside of public officials where there's going to be.

So the newfound, I think, effort post Breonna Taylor for groups that be more engaged, right when people engage with city government.

Now that I've ever seen in my years covering city hall covering little more, people are care about what the city does.

I mean, I've never seen so many people engaged in police contract negotiations, right?

And conversation than ever before.

I think that's the legacy of Brianna Taylor.

All right.

We'll see where it goes.

The 2023, Kentucky Legislative session is nearing its and it's going to be remembered for a lot of education related bills that have also delved into some divisive social issues and now toward the am.

There is a rush of other legislation, sports betting in green machines and other things that there are trying to get done.

John >> there been some real clashes legislation about parental discretion in schools, a transgender issues, a proposed ban on drag shows.

Is that what Kentuckians have heard the most about coming out of the session in front?

It seems like it.

I was joking today that this is going to be remembered as the drag Queen >> I don't know how many people in Kentucky really have been talking about.

Drag certainly outside of Lexington and Louisville.

I don't know how many people even have the opportunity to attend a drag show.

But the lawmakers here in 2023 and decided this is a a crisis they need to The Senate today passed a bill that would.

Band drag shows in a publicly owned venue or in a public place the children can see it.

It's not entirely clear to I suppose that would include a parade down Main It could some sort of public theater.

I think they're mostly a mean and that's the the book stores in the libraries, aren't they?

Were they?

They're concerned there could be reading the children's could be in attendance.

I don't know a little or Lexington of local police or prosecutors.

We really be enforcing it.

Tennessee to the south of us just passed a very similar bill.

So it's not like this happening in a vacuum.

A lot of the lawmakers around the country are trying to address this.

Well after some intense lobbying, the the House has voted to ban green machines as well.

>> They have.

So these are the gambling machines that have popped up in gas stations and restaurants and bars the last few years.

They decided to sort of it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

They just kind of install these machines.

There's some debate whether to regulate and tax them or to ban them in right now the move seems to be to ban them so that Bill is moving the racetracks, have their own gambling machines that have popped up on their premises.

The thought is allegedly the racetracks are behind the effort to ban them.

I couldn't tell you, but that's where we are with it.

All right.

Marcus Morris you know, the again time is taking, but there seems to be some momentum to get that bill to the right.

It's 7.

It's teed up.

>> To get a vote on the House floor on Monday.

And then the Senate Licensing Occupations Committee on its agenda.

It says pending referral that it will hear that sports betting bill on Tuesday.

I don't doubt it will get out of committee.

Not I'm not sure if he'll get out of committee, but I have questions about what how will do on the Senate floor just because the Senate president as such a strong opposition to it.

I don't know if he's twisting arms or if he's speaking to folks.

But, you know, it's a lot of pressure on how long they say is that there is no appetite in the caucuses.

Been what his previous stance has been.

That's a very diplomatic statement now.

All right, John, there's been a lot focus this session on juvenile justice.

>> And it appears some substantial changes will be made.

>> We've got 3 bills moving.

32 Senate bills in the House Lot of money, tens of millions of dollars to raise the salaries as Governor Beshear has has authorized its security improvements, mental health services in the detention centers, which is long overdue reopen a downtown detention center to KET the Jefferson County kids in Jefferson County on sending off to a dare county.

I had a story this week about one other problem that isn't being addressed, which who's been locked up in detention centers.

It's not always the dangerous criminals that Governor Beshear in the lawmakers talk 2022, a 240 of the cases were status offenders.

These are kids who committed truancy, runaway out of control.

These are minor offenses that are just, you they're they're kinda level crimes.

And they got stuck in detention centers for a week on average, sometimes up to a month.

Roughly 100 cases were words of the stadium, referred to social workers because they came from broken homes.

Often the social guys want to get him out of the detention centers because there's violence and neglect in places to be.

But there is no place to put them on.

John, you've reported that in some young Kentuckians replace those facilities because officials just don't know what else to do.

And it is sadly in Kentucky, we have a lot of kids and nobody seems to want to.

The kids are for lack of a better term and broken.

We don't know how to fix them and nobody seemed to care about their fate.

But the last place they need to be as a juvenile detention center.

We should mention, too, that House Bill 3 looks like it will probably get of the on Monday.

It's got the readings that it needs and >> House Bill 3 is one of the day.

Little bill that would justice bills that would reopen the a juvenile detention center downtown.

It would also any anyone under age 18 has been charged with a violent felony.

And that's right.

I'm I'm misdemeanors here.

We're talking about violent felony offenses.

It would require them to appear before a judge before they KET it was in juvenile court records for people for 3 years.

I believe now is the compromise for people convicted of a violent offense.

>> And jumping those facilities back to school student.

There's a student discipline.

students could be suspended up to 2 years.

>> And have to learn that's moving.

Yeah.

I've heard conflicting feelings about this.

On one I've been told by the sponsor that this was something that was asked for by superintendents.

And I've actually teachers say that.

>> Getting disruptive students out of the classroom helps everybody else in the classroom.

But on the other hand, moving these kids to remote learning some of the best students had trouble with remote learning during the pandemic.

I'm not sure how much success the students who this bill is that are going to have with remote learning will shale bill started being filled this weekend with the stuffing so to One from state Representative Savannah Maddox would.

>> Prevent public colleges and universities should be allowed to ban guns on their campuses.

There's been a lot of pushback from those campuses, including from a college and university presidents.

The police chiefs, even some of the students and faculty of them speaking out and contacting the folks in Frankfort.

Yeah, they're worried that this is going to lead to more violence on campus and you get to people with guns who get in the fight.

They pull out their guns.

You get somebody who's got mental health issues in a They've got access to guns.

>> But, you know, folks who support the Second Amendment pushed back on that.

Number one, it's their right.

To bear arms.

And number 2, they repeat that monitor that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun and it looks likely to make it doesn't think so.

>> All right.

The first debate in the crowded Republican field of candidates in the race for governor was this week.

Jefferson County Republican sponsored the event that was televised on spectrum Cable.

4 candidates took part Attorney General Daniel Cameron, AG Commissioner Ryan Quarles State Auditor, Mike Harmon and Somerset Mayor Alan the 4 were there.

They tried to KET their fire aimed at Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, and not attack each other.

An interesting night.

>> Yeah, I think there are a few little snow slides here and there.

But I think if anyone really elevated themselves in this loop, it was some said Mayor Alan Keyes, the fresh face Republican, a lot of folks don't know him.

He doesn't seem to have the money to get on TV a lot.

So he's the person who and even to the position that right saying that he does believe exemptions for abortion.

He often times seem to admonish his party for being too obsessed with the cultural issues, not talking about some of the bread and butter things.

The Kentuckyian the I think he and that's the ball for himself a little bit coming off and hurt himself as the presumed front runner.

Everyone else pretty much stay the same thing.

Again, the missing component here was where was Kelly craft?

>> It quickly, OK, Greg Rajan, to your point.

I mean, he woke is thrown around too the term.

You know, I heard a lot of people talk about Keke the next day that soon to be what everybody was talking about.

I can figure out if it's because people and this is the first time they've been exposed to him.

And they've already been talking about corals craft in Cameron or if it was just he had that big of an impact on.

All right now to the craft, the issue of of not being there.

Former UN Ambassador Kelly Craft was invited but did not take part in the debate is still upset about a political action committee that supports or DROP $600,000 on TV ads that attack Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

Cameron is no strong Kentucky conservatives with illegals and deadly fentanyl flowing across Biden's open borders.

Would we rather have leading can conservative grizzly bear, Kentucky, soft establishment Teddy bear.

>> So fill up.

The craft campaign makes a calculation can skip the this debate and maybe others in these ads are clearly designed to bring Cameron down from perceived front-runner status.

>> Right.

And this outside group is run and and she released a ad directly criticizing the attorney general basic saying he's not doing enough to take on Joe Biden.

Daniel Cameron, the attorney general has responded in kind of the first response to that ad, those right out of which McConnell playbook KET basting with on social media took a picture of a teddy with a sweater on and threw it on his road manager.

The things that same thing, by the way, the Mitch McConnell day when Donald Trump was calling the old Crow, his campaign put a bottle crow whiskey on his Twitter council.

Daniels taken from his political mentor there.

But look, Kelly, Kraft is go runs from the airways.

She has the money to do it.

She spent I don't know how many million millions of dollars thus far.

This is the campaign that she wants to run the risk that she's running, though.

And we've seen that the cameras kept respond today to that and that she put out directly is that she can be cast as that's all we're just going to fly right over Kentucky.

Are you meeting with actual Kentucky into that really of us?

Look at what point the Daniel Cameron his campaign made today about her use of a private jet.

So, look, it's 3 races going on here.

This the Cameron Craft battle is a little slighted between calls and kick, but the race is really happening here.

This primary.

It was the best person to take on Andy Beshear.

I think that's where Ryan Quarles.

He's clearly making a play for you today released another one of his idea.

Pat, let's face it and himself as the Louisville Republican candidate.

I'm going to add to the Louisville Republican vote, which is the most Republicans you have in the state.

So we have a pretty interesting primary here thus far by think craft here spent all this money and going after Cameron.

Let's see what the numbers are after these attacks are airy.

It is he going to so far as to name a Lieutenant Governor candidate from a removal?

Is and ahead of the primary, I think it would be a good may have.

I mean.

>> Crafted with Max Why can't he do it with somebody like Bill Dieruf, right?

Somebody who's popular with little Republicans.

>> Locks and locks and that block of votes.

>> Mike you know, Nice guy didn't do that.

This does at some point to give him some few.

>> See, I think the problem for Hart is that he does get lost in the shuffle it right because someone's got to play the role between crafting Cameron that Matt Bevin basically played between James Comer and Heiner back in 2015.

Right.

And the team brown of that.

You're going out with that one.

That's thanks to the weather will come to play back in the 1980's right?

But who's going to the person who's going to say, hey, let's separate beast, this food, 5 people, 2 kids, I'm going to be the adult in the room.

I think also setting himself up to be that way can certainly so who could could be that as well.

I don't know.

Partners want to take that route.

Didn't basically put the finger Cameron in craft, but we'll see as the Republicans fight it out.

Democratic Governor Andy Beshear schedule a fundraiser for the mountains for Monday night.

He'll be in Magoffin County.

>> you know, he was a highly visible up there during the flooding and so forth.

Is key for Yeah, I think the mountains we often county is right in the middle of that cluster of counties that that he won the last election.

>> Well, right, the Kentucky State University's Board of Regents has announced that its search committee is underway and search committee and chair and co-chair of the beginning.

Look for new president Stephen Mason, the former case you chief of staff chairs the committee.

>> And Region 10 minutes.

Okay.

Issue alone with experience an audit and compliance will be the co-chair they search committee will select 3 to 5 finalists for consideration.

And this is the weekend that we spring forward and start that daylight savings time.

Make sure you make the change.

So you're not late.

That's comment on Kentucky.

Thank you for joining us.

Have a good week ahead.

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