in the conflict in the Middle East.

The Kentucky Senate passes its version of the state budget that spares some cuts, including to colleges and universities.

An amendment is added to a bill that would change the size of, and how school boards are chosen in Jefferson and Fayette counties.

The major U.S.

Senate candidates from both parties take the debate stage on this first day of spring, and it feels like it.

Comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky.

[MUSIC] 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 Hannah Pinski, political reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Lucas Aulbach reporter for The Courier Journal, and Silvia Goodman, Capitol reporter for Kentucky Public Radio.

For the second week in a row, we begin with the loss of a Kentuckian and military action technical Sergeant Ashley B Pruitt was 34 years old and from Bardstown.

She was a part of the junior ROTC program at Nelson County and later in the ROTC program at the University of Louisville.

That was before she joined the U.S.

Air Force.

Ashley Pruitt died in the crash of a refueling plane that went down inside Iraq as a part of Operation Epic Fury.

So those who knew her here in Kentucky called the tech sergeant the epitome of a servant leader.

She knew early that she wanted to serve her country.

>> Right?

Like you said, she graduated from Nelson County High School, and we have a statement from them that says she served in 400 community service hours before she graduated.

So just really glowing things to say about her.

And like you said, she died in refueling air aircraft crash.

It was an accidental collision.

The the latest casualty from Kentucky in this Iran war.

>> Yeah.

And this week's dreadful news comes as funeral services will be this weekend for Sergeant Benjamin Pennington from Glendale and Hardin County.

There was a procession there this afternoon.

Pennington was killed earlier this month in an Iranian led attack on an air base in Saudi Arabia.

Lucas Kentucky certainly paying a price in this conflict, while people are also very proud of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

>> Yeah.

People notice when it's in your community, you know, people notice when it's somebody in your hometown who has died fighting in a war overseas.

And you know, there's more than that.

People are noticing now.

Gas prices are skyrocketing around the state.

I think they were 3.79 at every station on my way out here.

So, you know, there's just a lot of concern about where we go from here.

>> Yeah.

It's just, as we said, hitting home.

Yeah.

The military action in the Middle East was just one of the topics debated this week, when the Republican and Democratic candidates for the U.S.

Senate took part in separate televised debates.

Republicans went first in a debate held by DRB in Louisville.

Congressman Andy Barr, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron and businessman Nate Morris sparred in that debate.

>> I'm running for the Senate because I still believe that the American dream is worth fighting for, and Kentucky deserves someone with a proven track record of delivering results for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Now, this is very important.

I'm the only candidate on this stage who is actually working with President Trump right now to deliver on this America First agenda.

We want to ensure that this country lives up to the ideals of its founding, a country that is based on merit and opportunity and is not riven by the divisions that occur with DEI or diversity, equity and inclusion.

I tell people all the time that we don't need a country built on DEI.

We need a country that is built on Emmy, merit, excellence and intelligence.

I'm running for the United States Senate because I believe we need a senator to go to Washington who's going to understand that this is Donald Trump's Republican Party and votes accordingly.

You see, I don't come from the political class.

I didn't make my living in government like my opponents.

I'm here as a businessman, as an outsider.

>> Hannah this was the first chance for many to see these candidates side by side.

Were there any breakout moments?

>> Yeah, I think, you know, what we saw was no surprises for anyone.

It was kind of a culmination of, you know, the advertisements, the campaigns and the back and forth we've seen on social media for the past year or so.

I think two stick out moments is one is that Barr and Morris mainly focused on each other during the debate, while while Cameron stayed out of that fray, Morris had said, you know, he's not owned by big banks like he said Andy Barr is, and that he went as far as saying, you know, Barr lies with every breath that he takes.

Barak said about Morris that he embraced the Black Lives Matter movement and was a supporter of Dei efforts at his company.

So we saw a lot of back and forth going over there.

And then the second thing to point out is, I think Morris was a little less harsh on McConnell compared, you know, in the past year or so.

He even went as far as saying, you know, McConnell did some great things 20 or 30 years ago, but now he was very critical of him.

You know, not supporting President Donald Trump as well.

So we'll see if that's a strategy.

He keeps on going as we see more debates.

>> Lucas Morris is trying to turn his lack of political experience into an advantage and cast himself as an outsider.

Did he play that card effectively?

>> That's his lane.

That's that's Nate right there.

You know he is the he said it himself a million times.

He's the political outsider.

He's not a career politician.

He's the businessman who made a lot of money and was very successful in his own right, and wants to now come to Washington, DC and make that, you know, same change there.

So we'll see how it works.

But that's a lane.

That's a strategy.

That's a position that appeals to voters.

You know, there are a lot of people who aren't happy with the status quo and think somebody like that can come in and shake things up.

He also compared himself to Trump a few times.

Trump also ran with no real political experience.

So, you know, without an endorsement in the race, it's kind of another example of all these guys trying to tie themselves to the president.

>> And on the other hand, Barr is making the case that he's already working hard for President Trump as a member of the House.

And he also trained his fire on Morris several times.

>> Barr is kind of the yin to Nate's yang.

You know, he is the guy who's been in DC, and he's the guy who's gotten it done for a dozen years and who's going to go to the Senate and say, hey, I know how to, you know, be an effective leader in Congress.

So, you know, that's kind of his lane there.

Yeah.

And anybody who has turned on the TV in the past three, four months and has seen these ads between Nate and Representative Barr, I don't think anybody was surprised by that.

I think one's called the other one fully Woke.

I think the other one, there's there's just been some back and forth, let's say.

So anybody could have seen this coming.

And I think it was, you know, they were kind of probably chomping at the bit to get on stage with each other.

>> Silvia Daniel Cameron had to explain how he could win a Senate race when he lost as the Republican nominee for governor in 2023 in a statewide race.

But did he also take advantage of that?

That back and forth between Barr and Morris?

>> He definitely did.

And like you mentioned, that 2023 race got him national headlines, but not in a good way.

You know, he got national headlines for losing to a Democrat in Kentucky.

But at the same time, he is the only one among the three of them that has run a statewide race.

Who does have that name ID?

And like Lucas was talking about, there have been a lot of ads.

No one was surprised to see Barr Morris go at it on stage.

And I think Daniel Cameron came into that night knowing that that would be the tenor that was set by those closing arguments, by that, by the end of the debate.

And so he kind of ended on this note of these two are going to be going at each other.

I'm the one who cares most about serving you.

So he went in.

He closed with that argument.

But you also have to wonder, does being the the consensus candidate, the less aggressive candidate, win out in a primary election like this?

>> Henry your final observation on the Republican debate.

>> Yeah, I definitely agree with Silvia.

I think, you know, throughout Cameron's campaign, he's positioned himself, you know, as a family man, someone who has Kentucky values and will bring those values to DC.

And I think, you know, as we see the rhetoric kind of heat up in the political sphere, he's kind of he could potentially be thinking, you know, not being as harsh.

Could that be a breath of fresh air per se to Voters in this upcoming election?

>> All right.

We'll see May 19th on that primary as well as the Democratic primary, Democrats also debated this week that forum was aired on Spectrum News one.

Four of the leading candidates took the stage Charles Booker, Amy McGrath Dale Romans and Pamela Stephenson.

>> It is the honor of my lifetime to take the stand and run for United States Senate by your side.

Now, I know we've been through a lot, and I know you're hurting.

We're tired of the Mitch McConnell status quo that Donald Trump is pouring gasoline on.

But I'm here to tell you, because of the work we've done together, from the hood to the holler, we are uniquely positioned to not only win this race, but transform our future.

>> What we're seeing in our country today is dangerous and not normal.

The democracy that I swore to uphold and protect six times in my life is under attack.

We have a unique opportunity with this open Senate seat here, to have it be filled with a Senator who will be a voice for all of Kentucky.

>> I've spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill.

I spent a lot of time in Frankfurt, and I've lobbied and worked hard to try to change some of the rules and laws that affect horse racing.

That's when I decided it's time for something different.

Insanity.

The definition of insanity.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

We need different type of candidates, and that's why I'm running for U.S.

Senate.

>> What's happening now is horrible.

We took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, for the promise of America.

And you're part of that promise.

It should be available in every zip code.

That's what this fight is about.

Making sure that we get to America 2.0, and that every family in this country has food, water, clothing and shelter.

>> Lucas Booker kept calling himself the frontrunner, and some polling has indicated that he was the Democratic nominee, though, in 2022 and he lost to Rand Paul.

He makes the case that circumstances are different now.

>> Yeah, I talked to him a little bit earlier this week at a campaign stop with our friend, w h a s Isaiah Kim-Martinez.

Me and him were out there and bumped into Charles.

He said, I think kind of he's built campaigns in the past, so he has the experience now.

He's gotten his name out there.

You can see that in the polls.

And you know, this is an open seat this year.

This is not you're not running against Mitch McConnell, who's been in there for 40 years.

You're not running against Rand Paul, who's been there for however many.

16.

Is that right?

Yeah.

16 years.

So, you know, I think the blank slate, I think he sees that as an opportunity.

>> And then I also think, you know, Booker has said he believes the candidate with the boldest vision is going to win this Democrat this Democratic primary.

And he has argued he has a uniquely progressive approach to his campaign.

So, for example, he's called for universal basic income and Medicare for all.

And, you know, I think he could be looking at, you know, what's happening across the country.

So, for example, the mayoral race in New York, where now Marymount had, you know, a progressive platform and won that race, I think he could be potentially using that as inspiration to see if that's a similar strategy he could be bringing to Kentucky.

>> Again, different races in the primary and the general election.

So we'll see on that.

Hannah Amy McGrath ran a House race in 2018, narrowly lost to Andi Barr.

She lost by a wider margin to Senator McConnell in 2020.

But she tried to make the case that the times call for her to run again.

>> She did.

And there were two points that she brought up on that front.

I think one, she had referenced Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, his reelection in 2023.

As you know, there is an appetite still for Democrats here in Kentucky.

And I think the thing she also referenced is the growing concerns of Trump's presidency and some of the policies that he has, and it could pave the way for someone like her to win.

So, you know, she was saying that she believes the tariffs hurt the Kentucky bourbon industry.

They hurt the farmers.

And the lack of Affordable Care Act subsidies makes healthcare unaffordable for Kentuckians.

>> And Dale Romans casts himself as an independent Democrat and openly calls himself a moderate.

Is that a lane that is open to him.

>> To say, because you have two different sets of voters in the general election, in the primary election, the primary election won, significantly less people vote.

And two, they typically lean more to the left.

And if he wants to, you know, govern from the center, but he doesn't focus on issues that, you know, national Democrats and other candidates in this race are focusing on.

Is he alienating those primary voters in this upcoming election?

>> Sylvia?

Pamela Stephenson, obviously a gifted speaker and points out she's the only candidate in elected office now and holds a leadership position in the legislature.

Did she seem to make up any ground in the debate?

>> That's something that's yet to be seen.

I'm not sure yet.

She is the only candidate who's currently in elected office.

However, she did recently run a statewide campaign that for attorney general, and she lost by a pretty large margin to Attorney General Russell Coleman.

And yes, she is a leadership position in the state House, but it's a leadership leadership position over a relatively small pool of House Democrats here in Kentucky.

And it's been shrinking.

It has not grown in a long time.

So did she make up ground in that debate?

She certainly got her voice out to more voters.

She aligned herself, I would say, on the on the somewhat more progressive side of things.

So so we'll just have to see how voters are feeling.

And if she can really match that name I.D.

that Booker and McGrath.

>> Have again, the primary May 19th.

We expect several other debates and forums before that.

In Frankfort, the state budget has now been put forth from the state Senate, its version that $31 billion state spending plan took out some cuts proposed by the House, including to higher education.

>> Post-Secondary institutions are generally held harmless from any cuts in unfunded.

At the base level, however, we do increase general fund by 5 million in year one and 15 in year two for the performance Fund.

>> And come together in agreeing collectively and speaking in one voice is very important.

However, it's very important also to understand that not everybody is going to be satisfied by what we do here, and that includes myself, Lucas.

>> The colleges and universities made a strong case to the Senate that their success helps drive the state's economy.

>> Yeah, I would say they were satisfied with how this came out.

You know, in the House version, they were looking at very significant cuts in the Senate version, which just went through.

Now they have an extra percentage point in funding.

So I would say they're a little happier now than they were a couple weeks ago.

But you know, it's still the budget does not cross the finish line yet.

And there they went conference for the first time today to talk about it.

I think that's going to continue.

So we'll we'll see what happens.

>> And there are multiple education leaders across the state that are raising concerns about those proposed cuts in the House's budget.

So, for example, Aaron Thompson, the president of the Council of Post-Secondary Education, said colleges and universities could see a $42 million loss in 2026, 2027 and then a $73.5 million loss in 2027 and 20 through 2028.

If they went with the House's version.

And then you had president, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto, who said these cuts could affect, you know, the university's ability to provide some the same level of education research and other opportunities like financial aid.

So I really think that, you know, the legislators are listening to these concerns as they go through this process.

>> And, Sylvia, this is in no way done yet, right?

>> We are not at a done deal by any means.

Things change a lot from here.

So we have these two proposals now.

We usually see them meet in the middle a little bit.

We're going to see some things added, some things taken out and numbers will fluctuate quite a bit.

Like Lucas said, we're in conference committee now.

We usually would expect that to then progress to a free conference committee before we see that final version, and we'll have time to dig into it then.

>> All right.

Some other things that got our attention.

An amendment was added to Senate Bill four.

It was originally a bill to help develop school principals as leaders, but there's a new amendment that would change the size of, at least in the Fayette counties case.

And the way the boards are chosen in both Jefferson and Fayette counties, that is, who would choose the school boards potentially could change some.

And so.

>> These these kids are they still exist.

If they're expelled from school, they still exist.

And if they're causing mayhem in schools, it's very likely they're going to be causing mayhem in communities.

>> What is the role of education?

Is it to to fix all society's ills?

Or is it to teach reading, writing and arithmetic?

What do we expect our teachers to be?

>> Well, that's the next discussion we were going to have, obviously.

But let's go ahead and do that and then I'll get back to this.

The school board situation.

This is saying that there is no tolerance for students attacking teachers.

And yet there were some concerns voiced about the bill.

Silviah.

>> Right.

So this is a bill that would require school districts to take more action when a student has been involved in violence, there's a lot of concerns from teachers that students are being put back in the classrooms too soon, that students aren't taken out of the classroom when there's violence against teachers, and that it's causing people, teachers to leave the profession.

But we also have concerns, like you heard from Lisa Willner, that you shouldn't discourage those students from staying with the staying the course with their education, that they want to make sure that kids do get that full education and that they're not kicked out of the classroom too soon.

>> As we all heard the old permanent record when we were children.

Right?

Exactly.

Okay, so back to this amendment that was added on to this bill about principals.

Boards would be not totally chosen by voters under this provision.

>> Exactly.

So in Jefferson County, they already have a seven person school board.

So it would redraw the districts to be five and then add two that are elected selected by the treasurer versus in Fayette County, they all currently elect five.

So it wouldn't change their maps from my understanding.

But it would add to that our selected by the treasurer.

And it also makes another change that would really specifically affect Fayette County, which is that school board members cannot be teachers in districts outside of their school board either.

So it would affect Tyler Murphy, who is the chair of the Lexington County School Board, who has currently also facing a citizen impeachment petition.

So there's clearly a lot of frustration with him.

It would appear to be targeted at him.

And also, you know, there's constant frustration with our largest school districts from lawmakers, especially when it comes to fiscal concerns, how they spend their money.

So I think this is what this is targeting.

>> This would affect no other school districts.

Just those two.

A bill to allow 18 year olds to carry a concealed firearm is moving forward.

Right now the law is 21 to carry a concealed weapon.

And Representative Savannah Maddox, a Republican of Dry Ridge, says the law creates a dangerous inconsistency.

Silvia, you reported on House Bill 312.

>> Yes, I did, and so this bill would basically it doesn't fully lower the quote unquote constitutional carry to.

18 what it does is it creates a permit, a provisional license that 18, 19 and 20 year olds could get so that they can conceal carry so effectively the same.

But those 18, 19, 20 year olds would have to go through some basic training.

They would have to get a background check, things like that, in order to get this provisional license.

That 21 and up, they don't need.

This did pass the Senate and it's already passed the House.

So it's a done deal.

It goes to the governor.

>> Lucas, on the other hand, there's a bill that would increase the eligibility age for sports betting, taking that from 18 to 21.

>> Yeah.

Right.

In time for March Madness.

Representative Meredith.

He's bringing this one to the floor the other day, right when the cards were eking out that win over South Florida.

So I know yeah, it would change the betting age from 18 to 21.

Limit prop bets on Kentucky college athletes has some other provisions in it.

It's pretty lengthy, bill, like it would stop anyone who owes more than $1,000 in child support payments from making any sports bets, and put some taxes on these prediction markets that are kind of proliferating right now.

So first major change.

It would be the first major change to sports betting law since it was introduced.

So see what happens.

>> There's an unusual impeachment movement going on in the legislature.

It could result in the removal of Fayette Circuit Court Judge Julie Goodman.

There was an impeachment committee hearing and a vote in the House.

>> I could not be run by how the public would feel or how you all would feel.

I had to do what was right legally.

>> The ultimate end goal is that I think she's violated her duties and the trust enough that she no longer needs to sit on the bench.

>> So what is the update?

>> The update is the House voted on those five articles of impeachment, and they have passed them, and they're on to the Senate to try her.

And if they find her guilty, she would be convicted and removed from office.

So it's very serious matter we're talking about here.

Impeachments are incredibly rare in Kentucky, and usually they have involved a crime.

Now that's not the argument is that that's not required under the Constitution.

The wording in the Constitution is misdemeanors in office, which Jason Nemes, who chaired that impeachment committee and brought these articles, said has a different meaning than it does in a usual kind of criminal sense.

And he said that she misused the public trust by making rulings that she knew to be unlawful, different than just a bad ruling, a ruling she knew to be unlawful.

But Democrat's and most Democrats and one Republican said that that is not sufficient, that this is that impeachment is a higher bar than that and that they should not go forward.

But it is passed.

It's going to the Senate.

>> Hannah could this be a precedent setting?

>> You know, it depends on who you ask.

I think what Democrats had raised concern about is that this is precedent, precedent setting.

It is setting something that could potentially scare other judges.

It could potentially bring, you know, dozens of more impeachment petitions to the legislature.

But I had also spoken with Speaker Osborne after the vote, who had told me, you know, that he thinks it doesn't necessarily set a new precedent.

He said that they receive, you know, many petitions every year and that they are very careful and that they, in what they do decide to bring up.

So he saw this as an exception and doesn't think it does set a precedent.

>> Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which provides books for children under the age of five, is gaining some support in Frankfurt and then also a potential cut in another plank that's been presented.

Senator Cassie Chambers Armstrong sponsored a joint resolution.

>> Imagination library does amazing work trying to reach vulnerable families.

They work with family resource centers, churches, hospitals and public libraries throughout the Commonwealth.

Yet the cabinet is uniquely situated to help them reach these children, these vulnerable families, earlier and easier.

>> So it's not often that Dolly Parton becomes controversial in any way, and she's not.

But but, you know, this is under debate because of the funding level.

>> Exactly.

I think this resolution has moved forward pretty swiftly without a lot of argument.

However, funding is always going to be an issue in a budget year.

It's always going to be up for discussion.

And there is language in this Senate budget.

They have fully funded it at $2.5 million is my understanding.

But they chatted language that changed the formula of how much the local libraries would receive.

So they would get a third of the funding for the books.

Historically, they've gotten half of that funding since 2021.

Some libraries say that this would force them to kick a lot of kids off of their roles, that it would.

Some said it would force them basically to shut down.

So we'll see if that changes.

Obviously there is support for the library.

This resolution has moved pretty, pretty well through the legislature.

But do they want to fund it to that level?

>> Yeah.

And some are calling for people to call their lawmakers, you know, over that issue.

Lucas, you're watching a couple of other bills.

>> Yeah.

There's one from Representative John Hodgson House Bill 58 that has to do with flock cameras, which are kind of a thing in Louisville.

They've been in the headlines quite a bit.

This would kind of restrict their use a little bit, limit what they can do with the data, whether they sell it to anybody, you know, they can only retain it for 90 days.

So Bill has moved through the House, and it had a hearing in the Senate earlier this week and a Senate committee.

So we'll see what happens next.

>> In Washington this week, President Trump's choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, was approved, but not before there were these heated exchanges with the Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul.

Paul voted against the nomination.

Hannah Senate Majority Leader John Thune noted the personal tension between the two.

>> U.S.

Mullen and Paul kind of have a history with each other.

You know, during that hearing, Paul had claimed that Mullen had called justified a 2017 attack on him that left him with six broken ribs and a damaged lung.

And during that hearing, you know, Mullen had said did not necessarily apologize for his remarks and said he understood why the the reason for why the assault occurred.

And then Paul then went on to criticize Mullen as having a sheer lack of awareness.

So definitely some personal tensions there during the hearing.

>> I would really quickly note that while Markwayne Mullin passed a committee vote, it still needs to be voted on on the House floor.

>> On the.

>> Senate floor.

>> Excuse me.

>> So that's still.

>> Got through that that committee.

All right.

Quickly also, Lucas, today, federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the charges against two police officers who were involved in the Breonna Taylor shooting from 2020.

>> Yes, two former officers who had been accused of falsifying some of the information on the warrant that was used in the raid at her apartment.

They've been in court for several years now.

The DOJ, after Trump got back in office, had previously moved to dismiss or downgrade, I should say, some of the more serious charges.

Now they're pushing to dismiss it entirely without precedent, precedent, prejudice.

All right.

It's a tough one.

So I mean, there's there's some pushback from the NAACP and other advocates, but this is in line with other stance that the administration has taken.

>> Many in Kentucky remembering TV reporter Sean Bartell, who died on a visit to Argentina earlier this month, he had worked at w h a s TV in Louisville before settling in Washington, DC.

Friends remember his passion for storytelling, his humor and curiosity.

Shawn Bartell was 48.

That's common on Kentucky.

Have a good week ahead.