♪ >> Governor Andy Beshear makes use of the veto pen again this time turning a bill he says would allow Kentucky kids to be tortured.

You can't sugarcoat it.

We got what in the 2024 elections.

We've got to see why.

We go one-on-one with Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Louisville to find out what he's doing to help bolster the Democratic Party.

>> It's certainly have a lot of parks right now.

>> Our federal cuts could affect a popular Kentucky tourist attraction heading into the warmer months.

>> I assure you we are thinking very good.

No ideas off the table.

>> Plus, how one of the fastest growing cities in Kentucky is continuing its development.

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

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this brand new week.

It's Monday March.

24, I'm Renee Shaw and we thank you for winding down your Monday with us.

>> State lawmakers return to Frankfort later this week to close out the 2025 Kentucky General Assembly session as of today, Governor Andy Beshear has signed more than 40 bills into law.

He's also now vetoed 4 bills including House Bill 495.

It would prohibit Medicaid for paying for hormone therapy or gender affirming surgeries for transgender.

Kentuckians and 6 to overturn the governor's ban on conversion therapy.

The share explained his reasoning and a social media post over the weekend.

>> I just don't know the House bill that attempted to and then one conversion therapy conversion therapy is torture on our kids.

And no one should ever want to have to subject to kids to something like that to everybody out there.

You're perfect just the way you are.

You KET being you.

>> Governor Beshear has a couple of more days to act on legislation already sent to his desk.

He can sign veto or allow bills to go into law without his signature.

The Republican dominated Legislature will reconvene in Frankfort on Thursday and Friday for the final 2 days of this year.

Sesson session, they can vote to overturn any of the governor's vetoes and also pass additional legislation that can't be protected from the governor's veto pen.

Gender identity legislation was a frequent topic in Frankfort this past session and we'll discuss the governor's veto of House Bill 495.

Tonight on Kentucky tonight.

We'll also break down and abortion slash maternal health bill that passed.

This is part of a two-part one hour, Kentucky tonight that you don't want to miss.

That begins at 8 Eastern 7 central right here on KET.

♪ ♪ Nearly 1000 people gathered in central Kentucky over the weekend to deliver messages to Kentucky's 6th district.

Congressman Andy Barr, the group called gathering for Democracy, organized what it called a people's town hall at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, Congressman Barr declined to participate.

Instead, veterans, educators and cancer survivors took turns addressing an empty chair and a picture of the Republican congressman.

Some said they disapprove of bars backing of President Donald Trump.

Others say they are worried about cuts being made by Elon Musk.

Those.

>> I've always been proud in the United States that we are the leaders in the world in science and medical research.

And I want to know Congressman Barr, what are you going to do to prevent this from slipping and losing our Anderson leadership position?

>> In the party's policies and these actions by Elon Musk going to be a they'll kill you.

We have to be getting.

What about that?

We're not here for, you know, it is a divorced from reality.

We're here because people will die.

>> Barr who is considering running for U.S., Senator Mitch McConnell seat next year criticized the event on social media, quote, saying nice to see Saros.

Plus the left lighting money on fire.

No amount of manufactured outrage by paid activists will stop the mandate for total overhaul of DC end quote.

Congressman Barr is back in Washington, D.C., this weekend is hosting a telephone town hall this evening.

It begins at 07:30PM, Eastern Time and will be streamed on his Facebook page.

Kentucky's Lone Democrat in Washington says he's listening to voters during his town halls and elsewhere unnerved by recent actions by the Trump administration and answers criticism of his party's weakness and fighting back.

Louisville Congressman Morgan McGarvey admits Democrats have a PR problem but contends their policies are in sync with many voters.

And part 2 of my conversation with Congressman McGarvey.

We discuss that and the response of Congress overall to the president's actions.

Article one of the Constitution empowers the Congress to pull the purse strings to direct the funding to agencies and programs.

But yet Congress seems to be eerily silent during this time and to the disgruntled of some people who even voted for President Donald Trump wondering where is Congress?

>> And I would just change the question a little bit right now because I can tell you in the House Democrats, we are extremely vocal.

We are on every type of media, social media, YouTube, cable to local television everywhere talking about what Donald Trump is doing and how it is unconstitutional and how it's wrong.

Even if you agree with his policies.

No president can undo the Department of Education that established in law by Congress.

No president can suspend the spending.

This passed into law by Congress.

We've been saying this woman screaming it from the rooftops.

We have passed.

We propose legislation to stop some of what they're doing.

I co sponsored some of that legislation, whether it's, you know, stopping what they're doing in eliminating our veterans jobs in the V a or even just acquiring Elon Musk to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

So can actually see what they're doing and who's doing it.

I'm on the House Litigation Task Force where they're over 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration right now and they are losing in the courts.

We're pointing all this out.

So I would say where the Republicans in Congress.

Because say what you want to about Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell when Trump was president the first time the legislative branch Congress stood up for its power.

I tell people all the time.

So even if you like what Donald Trump is doing.

Would you like it?

If every president has that same amount of power.

Because our system was set up very clearly have 3 branches of government where no one person could be king.

And so if you like everything that Donald Trump is doing and how he is doing it, would you feel the same way Kamala Harris had been elected president and she was ignoring court orders and she was dismantling programs that were put in place by Republican Congress unilaterally whenever I ask people that is interesting.

The answer is always no.

Let's talk about Democrats.

>> And not just in Congress, but just the party in general.

Some people would say it's in shambles and there's not a unified, consistent message that is resonating perhaps you're doing that message, but it's not resonating.

We know that recent polling shows that there is low confidence and Democrats lower approval ratings.

What are you doing to help move the party and a more positive direction and to really communicate to voters and citizens that you're on their side and that you're working for the causes that you're espousing.

>> Yeah, look, I think the first part of any problem is admitting there's a problem and you can't sugarcoat it.

We got what in the 2024 elections.

And we've got to see why.

And I think that, you know, a lot of Democratic policies are popular.

We talked about what happened in Kentucky with the public education proposal on the ballot.

Look at Missouri, Missouri.

It's a conservative place.

My life for Missouri went to school there and 51% of Missourians voted to make sure a woman has a right to an abortion, a constitutional amendment.

I was just over.

55% of Missourians voted to increase the minimum wage and to have paid sick time.

At the same time they voted for Josh Hawley of Donald Trump.

In Florida over 50% of voters voted to legalize recreational marijuana.

You see these these measures all across Cuba and they voted for Donald Trump.

These are more Democratic policies that are popular.

But somehow Donald Trump was winning at the same time.

I think Democrats have to do a better job of of 2 things.

One missing.

Listening to what's important, making sure we are really and the people feel heard.

And then when we talk, I think sometimes we talk in fine print.

We talk in policy.

And that comes from a place of real caring.

It comes from an empathy and understanding that right now.

I mean, if you've got rent and you've got student loans or you've got childcare, you things are tough right now.

And I think, yeah, sometimes politicians they get they get too buttoned up and they're afraid to show people who they are, what they think are the guests, what they really love college sports.

They really love music or or hunting or whatever it is and connecting with people first instead of immediately talking in the fine print of government.

>> It reminds me what you're saying.

Reminds me some and I heard Paul Begala say recently that the Democrat and, you know, he is a Democratic strategist sympathizer and he said the problem is the Democratic Party.

He's has lost touch with the guy who has his name stitched on his shirt and more about the pronouns in the email signature.

Yeah.

Do you agree with that?

Let me goes back to what I was saying about that connecting and that emotion.

And I think, >> you know, rather than just trying to segment groups talk about these problems that so often unite and connect all of us.

And I do think Democrats can do a better job of that.

Do you think the party nationally is 2 left of left left of center.

You know, I think it was Will Rogers who once said I wanted to join in organized party, but instead I became a Democrat.

I think one of the thing about the Democratic Party is that we do have a multitude of use.

We have a lot of people in the party and that's okay.

It's sometimes it creates a little bit of tension.

But, you know, we have people across the spectrum.

But again, I think what what unites Democrats is that desire to make sure that every single person has a fair shot at the American dream.

Having a good job being able to have a family and to be able to make your kids a little better off than you are.

And that's what I think we've got to do.

A better job of explaining.

>> Tomorrow night, Congressman Garvey will discuss tariff policy and much more on Kentucky.

Addition tune in for that.

The Trump administration's federal workforce reductions includes thousands of probationary workers at several government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service.

Our Laura Rogers speaks with a journalist who has covered this story and its potential impact here in Kentucky.

>> Derek Carr and as a reporter and host of all things considered for WKU Public Radio and Erik, you filed a report earlier this month about those federal funding cuts at Mammoth Cave National Park.

We did see some layoffs there.

There are some new developments to this story, but let's begin set this up for us.

You interview to cave guide who had lost her job near the end of her probationary period.

Tell us more about her situation.

>> So Emily Wheat had been a kid, got a mammoth cave for about a year.

She received her prominent job offer in August of 2024.

But before that, she already been at the park Service.

You've been with Mammoth Cave for a little over 3 years before that in a few different roles issues.

There's a seasonal KET guy and started her job in the gift shop at the visitor center.

So she wasn't a stranger to the park service.

Her father has been a cave guide for about 27 years to says she was a legacy over there.

And yeah, like you said, shoes within 10 days of her probationary period, ending at her really being cemented at the park when she got an email telling her that her service was not vital to the park and that she's going to be fired.

>> And since then, a federal judge did issue that order that I think about 1000 of those workers who are fired would have to be reinstated.

Is Emily, one of those workers?

>> He is.

Emily.

Let me know that she does get to go back to being a cave guys.

Just go back to her dream career, which in the short term is a very happy ending, at least for a family in from an escape, their game in a really excellent cave guide.

And Emily, there is still a reduction in force order across the National Park Service that essentially get rid of 30% of the park's payroll.

That doesn't mean 30% of the personnel, but it does mean 30% of the payroll.

So anybody all the way from National Park superintendents down 2 maintenance workers are kind of still on the chopping block.

And it's really an certainly had a lot of parks right now.

There's a feeling of people not feeling very comfortable in their jobs and knowing that those probationary employees whose offers were rescinded, who were fired.

>> They were a part of that 30%.

And now that's going to need to be made of somewhere else in the park service.

>> And it's now officially spring in Kentucky, which means spring break.

And we know this is just gradually then rolling into tourism season, meaning that operations are going to be especially busy international park.

So is there some concern that this could affect how smoothly those operations are able to work.

>> Right now, I can tell everybody is taking this on a day-to-day basis.

They're doing what they can every day to make sure Park operations are running smoothly.

>> Even with those probationary employees were fired to leadership at at the parks.

Didn't know until that day that those orders were going to coming down so they can repair as much as they want to.

They can make sure that day-to-day operations are running smoothly.

Okay.

Guys like Emily are able to do their jobs that day.

But until those orders come down, the don't really have much to prepare for places of 30% payroll to decrease across the National Park Service.

So how hard Mammoth cave get hit by that?

We really are able to tell until that day hit.

>> The National Park Service has, of course, been inundated with media requests to know that you have reached out wanting more information.

You were able to talk with a contact at the National Park Conservation Association.

What can you tell us about what you learned from your conversation.

There.

>> Salute Kristen Brengle is the VP of government relations for the National Park Conservation Association.

She has kind of work hand in hand between the federal government and the National Park Service for over 20 years now.

And she tell me what you seeing right now really is unprecedented.

The she's worried about the protections of public land.

She's worried about protections for endangered species.

She worried about hunting regulations for parks out west.

She was able to enlighten me a lot.

I'm just a number of dollars that parks and bring it to communities within that she used the figure 60 miles within national parks.

That's around 70 million dollars annually kind of fluctuate year to year for communities like Bowling Green Case City Park City.

I was the Evanston County things like that where these communities build their entire identity on a mammoth cave National Park.

And if there's less personnel to bring people to that park, then that means that less dollars going into those communities.

>> They're a Parma, WKU Public Radio.

We appreciate your reporting and thank you for sharing some more perspective on this with us.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Are.

>> In fact, you are of the fate of some 16,000 probationary employees is still up in the air today the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a ruling ordering the federal workers be rehired.

The appeal plans.

The federal judge didn't have the authority to order employees back to work.

In other news, April is national Child Abuse Prevention Month at a Louisville rally last week, Kentucky lawmakers and advocates looked back at some of the legislation passed during the session to help protect children and young people.

And then looked ahead to what still needs to be done.

>> And Kentucky, about 15,000 children experience child abuse every year with the majority being under the age of 4 and the biggest group being those that are under the age of one.

And this affects every community, every demographic and every facet of their life.

Their homes are unsafe.

Sometimes their schools are unsafe and every single piece of their life is affected by this.

And so we need the people who are responsible for those parts of her life to all come together.

Some of this is medical interventions.

This is law enforcement that's investigating those cases as prosecutors that are bringing those things to trial.

And these are the the social service agencies across the community that are helping those kids then heal and recover and live the rest of their lives.

>> Sponsored Senate Bill, 73 that would criminalize sextortion has a felony sex crime and require education about sextortion in our schools and with our law enforcement agencies.

We know that sextortion has contributed to an alarming increase in the number of suicides among our children and teenagers.

And with the advancements in AI software, we know that the challenges with sextortion will remain for the foreseeable future.

I'm grateful that the governor did not delay in signing this bill as it was signed into law just last week on March 12 Senate Bill 26, which was filed by Senator Brandon Storm.

And I am the proud co-sponsor of that bill Senate Bill.

26 provides no pick provides parents, foster parents for relative caregiver can be to not placement of a child on the sole basis of a disability of the parent foster parent or relative caregiver.

This issue has been litigated all the way to the Supreme Court and this bill now clarifies the law and protecting the rights of those with disabilities.

While also ensuring the safe and proper placement of our vulnerable children.

We want to increase prevention and awareness.

Everybody in the community to be.

>> Eyes and ears on not just protecting children but helping children heal being being a support system for them, helping them in the next part of their process.

We indicted 214 specific specifically S P UK says 8 of them are ready.

Post conviction said the already done went to trial and we're also have an attorneys that were involved in 148 defendants sentencing hearings, 148 criminal defendants that have been held responsible for the wrongdoings and in 2024.

Also we have prosecutors said handled 10 rape and first-degree charges.

10 sodomy in the first-degree charges.

We have already closed case is still in with incest and 23 assault one charges.

And then it's just within the past 2 months.

Trust your instincts.

Pay attention.

Look at things like a person who wants to be along with children.

>> Look at the spaces that are occupying.

Ask yourself as a parent as a citizen as a neighbor.

What are you observing?

What can you do?

And if you suspect things, don't be afraid to report it.

But another thing that you can really do to help prevent child abuse is to be in a kid's life.

Children who experience abuse are more likely to be children who are isolated and who are alone.

And you don't have an adult in their life who was looking out for them to be that adult, be that adult, that that would stand in the way that would be their short of that would be their voice.

That makes them less likely to be targeted.

>> It's been called one of the fastest growing cities in the Commonwealth.

Florence, Kentucky is considered the gateway to greater Cincinnati and the Cvg International Airport.

The mayor of Florence gave a state of the city update last week.

We caught up with the mayor and the northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to talk about new and future developments, including the Florence Mall.

>> Florence is very different than the River City's.

We have more businesses and employment centers.

So people are coming here to work.

And then while they're here, they're also taking part in that came in and going out to restaurants.

I think.

>> People don't realize Boone, Kenton Kimmel County has 37 cities that border one another 400,000 people.

Florence is the second largest city in northern Kentucky.

But they have the most businesses by far about 8,000 businesses and being Kevin Campbell.

The point is 2500 of them.

And one of the things the mayor talked about are the amenities here.

We've got yes, world of golf in and turf way.

Park.

We've got a whole bunch of hotels and they have been doing really well and more and dreary hotels, which was highlighted during the presentation.

I will say it was amazing to see rain in our city to build a building of that.

>> Ice that require that and we had not had one before it in the city here.

And so just having that shows, a Florence has arrived.

We have a large scale development now.

So that leads us to the elephant in the room to Florence Mall.

And so at this point, I was kind of unique lake position and that the anchors are up for sale.

>> And them all may be willing to talk.

So we think this is a great time.

The mall vacancy rate continues to decline how?

>> Ever?

>> There are still people, a lot of people that shop at that mall and it still generates a lot of payroll tax dollars.

So it generates a lot of sales tax revenue for the state.

We know that malls are different shopping is different.

Retail is different.

People, stoning goods and services.

And so we are positioned 2 take advantage of.

The situation now where we have our anchors up for sale.

And so we know it's probably about 80.

>> Million dollar development redevelopment.

So we know that's a big ask.

And that's that might be a hard hurdle for some developments.

Developers to tack take on.

I assure you we are thinking very bid be no ideas off the table.

>> I do think that the future is really, really bright for our for a small red district.

We will thrive and be by Brent.

If we redevelop already district.

But we are already vibrant because we already have a very sound business community despite family because Florence's proximity to the airport.

In 75 in 71.

>> It's a great location for visitors to northern Kentucky while only 10% of the state's population is actually 20% of the tourism.

We just really are welcoming and we want people to come here find that it's a great place to.

>> Maybe go to a restaurant and then, hey, let's consider living here or even maybe getting a job here.

>> Our unemployment is usually one of the one of the best in the state as well.

So we do pretty good job here.

But we the more folks to come.

And so that is always a top focus from the chamber.

>> After last year's developments, Florence now has more than 30 hotels and has seen an increase in apartments and condos in the next year.

The city is focused on redeveloping local parks and bringing in new retailers.

♪ Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Edison and Duncan Hines are among the famous names with Kentucky Connections as our Toby Gibbs looks back at this week in Kentucky history.

♪ >> The U.S. Navy launched the USS Kentucky on March 24th 18.

98.

She saw no combat during her 20 years at sea.

She served in East Asia from 19.

0, 1, to 19.

0, 4, And in the Atlantic from 19, 0, 4, to 19.

0, 7, and later served as a training ship.

On March.

25th 18, 66 inventor Thomas Edison moved to Louisville to take a job operating at Telegraph for The Associated Press.

He also performed experiments while at work.

>> Its boss fired him for spilling sulfuric acid and Edison moved back to New Jersey.

Happy birthday to Duncan Hines, sporting Bowling Green on March, 26th 18, 80 as a salesman minds traveled America and compiled a list of restaurant ratings into a book.

And later a newspaper column.

He then began selling foods.

And so the use of his name to a line of cake mixes.

Charles Lindbergh landed in Lexington on March.

28 1928, 10 months after his famous solo flight across the Atlantic.

The 3,000 people showed up the next day to watch him take off.

Locals WHA as TV went on the air on 3/27/1950.

It was a CBS affiliate that became an ABC affiliate in 1990.

The Louisville Cardinals won the NCAA men's basketball championship on March 24th 1980, the team's first national title.

The Cardinals beat UCLA.

59 to 54 in Indianapolis.

And those are a few of the big events this week in Kentucky history.

I tell begins.

>> Thank youto be as always with Do it for us tonight.

But we hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition, we inform connect and inspire 2 men to Kentucky tonight.

You don't want to miss it at 8 following.

That's NewsHour.

I'm Renee Shaw and also a little later so long.

♪