the 2026 session as they work to finalize a state budget.

Other bills are considered as.

The state Senate also prepares for an impeachment trial.

Former Governor Matt Bevin found in contempt of court and moves to have the judge disqualified.

A major Eastern Kentucky coal producer declares bankruptcy as we see April on the horizon now.

Comment is next on k e t. Good evening.

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

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 McKenna Horsley politics reporter for the Kentucky Lantern Isaiah Kim Martinez, political reporter for w h a s 11 in Louisville.

And joining us remotely is Russ Cassidy, regional editor of Appalachian Newspapers.

Also tonight, Toyota celebrates 40 years for its Georgetown plant and announces an $800 million future expansion.

So we have a lot to talk about tonight and a lot of moving parts.

Let's get right to the legislature, where a state budget for the next two years is about to emerge.

And McKenna, we know the Senate wanted changes from the House version of the budget.

A conference committee has been trying to iron out those differences.

That is not in our ability to view exactly what's going on there, but we hear the final form is about to emerge Tuesday.

>> Right?

So senators and House members who are on that conference committee have been hashing out the budget this week, likely for unveiling sometime next week.

You know, one of I think the biggest differences that caught a lot of attention between the Senate and House version is that the Senate had added back in some cuts or added some cuts that the House had made to higher education in Kentucky to all the post-secondary institutions.

That would have been 4% in the first fiscal year, and then another 7% in the second fiscal year.

So it will be interesting to see how that is reconciled in this next version.

>> The university's got loud, certainly, yes.

When that those proposed cuts came.

Isaiah, the legislature, you know, makes its biggest political statement really with this budget because this reflects the priorities of lawmakers and where the resources will be directed.

>> Sure.

And you look at it from both sides, right?

You know that retirees, Wright, state government, retirees, we know hundreds of millions of dollars are going to be going toward health insurance benefits, one time adjustments for inflation into their pensions, that 13th check, so to speak.

We know that was a priority several days ago, but then there were sort of this looming Medicaid question, right?

What's funding going to be like for that with some of the federal cuts?

And it seemed like rollbacks were sort of inevitable.

It's just a question of how much.

And we're seeing that, at least in the Senate's version that we saw last before they met in conference and started that discussion, we saw that some of those rollbacks in Medicaid sort of present itself as well.

>> Ross, we know this budget process is obviously watched in every corner of the state.

What do you think people in Eastern Kentucky are keeping their eyes on closely?

>> There's a lot they're keeping their eyes on.

One of the things that came up this week was the administrative office of the court sent out a statement saying that the budget, as it exists right now would force them to make cuts, which would eliminate the specialty courts programs, which include drug courts, veterans courts, also the mental health courts, drug courts, obviously a big deal here in eastern Kentucky, where we've been fighting the opioid epidemic and then going into the methamphetamine epidemic, things of that nature.

So a lot of people are watching to see what happens there and seeing if those cuts will be reversed in the next few days or so.

You know, as one legislator reminded me today, it's not over yet.

The discussions are still going on.

>> Sure.

But those proposed cuts are substantial.

>> Yes.

The AOC said that the cut would be about 33 million to the state's judicial system.

So that's various courts in addition to the specialty courts.

That also puts into question about funding employees and other resources that are used as well.

>> How could that not have some impact?

>> Right.

And speaking on that, I texted a psychologist with the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition and she told me, I'm quoting here.

She said they have shown themselves, which is the funding for this to be real life savers and help people turn their lives around these specialty courts.

She goes on to say it is really not very smart to shortchange them, but like we talked a little bit about in the run through Wright is these are not constitutionally required.

So naturally in this process, it can be something that can be reduced.

>> There's so much to watch.

This is a separate bill.

This is the the judicial budget.

So it's it's like it's House Bill 504, I think.

And so there's a lot for people out there across the state to keep an eye on right now that is challenging.

>> Right.

And even one budget bill that we're waiting to even hear more details about is the one time spending bill that's in a conference committee.

The details weren't in the original budget.

It was about one page of a bill, but that will be hashed out and unveiled next week.

>> That's where cities like Louisville get a lot of their infrastructure funding.

>> Likely to be projects and so on.

So we'll wait on that.

Okay, so it looks like the budget is coming in a few days, and more than a thousand bills were introduced in the legislative session.

It appears only a fraction of them are going to make it into law.

McKenna.

It's interesting how bills can appear to have all kinds of momentum early in the session, and then just don't make it across the finish line.

>> That's absolutely true.

You know, one bill that I even discussed, I think on this program a couple of times was Senate Bill 26 from Senator Lindsey Titchener, and that aimed to eliminate DEI or diversity equity inclusion programs in the state's public K through 12 schools.

It was discussed heavily in the interim session in a committee meeting, and she was very passionate about it as well.

But that bill hasn't gotten a committee hearing.

And where we're at at this point, it looks like it won't pass this session.

>> And I say some say, you know, it's by design.

It's supposed to be difficult to make state laws, right?

>> Sure.

>> Especially when bills are sort of drastically changing at the last minute.

Right.

We talk about Senate Bill four, an education bill that started as a fairly docile bill about, you know, training new school principals in Kentucky, a five year training program to establish it.

Senator Stephen West, it passes easily, unanimously out of the Senate, goes to the House.

Then this new committee sub comes in.

All of a sudden, it adds this language that affects Jefferson County and Fayette County school boards.

And in Jefferson County's case, I can speak to just seven board members all of a sudden becomes five elected board members, plus two appointments, and all their terms suddenly end at the end of the year, if that were to pass.

Now, the Senate says, okay, hold up.

We got to go to a conference committee.

We got to meet on this.

What will the final version look like?

I don't know, but when those big dramatic changes happen, it just becomes that much harder.

>> At one point, the state treasurer was to appoint board members, I think, and they were to have financial experience.

>> It wouldn't be the Jefferson County voters.

>> Correct.

So this is where the Senate kicked back on that, Russ, one bill that did not make it across the finish line would prevent utility shutoffs during extreme weather situations.

House Bill 377 would have set new rules for those shutoffs.

>> Yeah.

And with this bill, you know, the utilities and others said, look, the utilities already have some of these provisions that are required of them under their tariffs that are approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

But the intent of this was to put that into law and say, you know, these cut offs can occur when the temperature drops below 32 degrees or above.

95 had some other provisions as well.

But the other concern is, let's say, utility sales to an outside company that doesn't have the the same outlook on these kinds of things, then they would have to be, you know, held to the same standard if it was law, but only if it was.

>> Okay.

Well, we'll watch on that and so many others that could again, reemerge and pass one, that there's questions as to whether it will pass.

State Senator Jimmy Higdon wanted that phone down.

Law in the state.

And at this point, we don't know the status of that.

Right.

>> The sort of the namesake of this bill.

Bill is a woman by the name of Alissa Burns, and it was her daughter who died in a tragic accident where the person driving the other car was deemed to have been distracted.

She texted me the other day and seemed to think that it is sort of like lost steam or ran out of time this session, so it might be a battle for another day.

If she's sort of the motivation behind this or sort of the front facing person, I would probably hold that word to high account.

I would believe that to be true.

>> Well, Higdon heads up the transportation there in the Senate and flock cameras are also getting attention in Frankfort House, Bill 58 would require law enforcement agencies to delete data after 90 days.

That has stirred debate.

>> The main purpose of this bill, Mr.

President, is to make sure that this information that's collected by these cameras and law enforcement and other folks is not sold.

>> Is there a surety to all of our constituents that this is an American company and not a company that's outside of our borders that could use this information somehow outside the scope of what we would wish.

>> So, Isaiah, flock cameras have been very effective in the information they get for police departments.

But then again, there's the information and it's being stored and concerns that it could be used for other purposes.

>> It's tough because Louisville Metro police, they love it.

They really tout how it has helped them in investigations, places they can't be all the time.

But then there are, of course, privacy concerns from some, especially when data is being shared across state lines.

So what this bill effectively would do would be, you know, it would have to be a part of an investigation and it would close at some very clear point in time, as opposed to what the fears would be from some, which would be that the information would be shared across state lines with other departments, and maybe just stay there for who knows how long.

>> All right.

Russ, by the way, are flock cameras in use in, in in more rural parts of the state?

>> Not so much.

Some parking cameras are starting to move in right now, but the flock cameras themselves are not a concern yet.

But we're watching because it's coming.

>> Yeah.

I'm sure.

All right.

There is a legislative lifeline for Kentucky State University.

And it comes with strings attached.

Senator Christian McDaniel revealed it's being considered as an alternative to closing KSU.

>> After taking a hard look at many of the things that have happened at Kentucky State under his leadership and after hearing his recognition of the great days of the past of Kentucky State and his vision for the future of the university, we became convinced that now was not the time to explore a closure of Kentucky State, but rather to be a partner in the redefinition of this institution and what it can mean for the Commonwealth.

>> McKenna.

Senate Bill 185 would mean major changes for the historically black institution.

It would also mean money.

But KSU would have a. And we'll get you to explain this term, a polytechnic mission going forward.

>> Right.

So the bill, if it passes through the General Assembly this session, would transition KSU into this new mission to focus on technical engineering and science education.

And that's definitely a big change for the university, which was once remodeled to focus on liberal arts education.

There are a lot of different components to this bill, but I think the key takeaways are that it continues to give the Council on Post-Secondary Education oversight of the financial activities of the institution, which has been in place for some time through other legislation.

But it also gives more power to the president of KSU, who is Doctor Kofi Kofi Expo.

The bill says that there must be a review of programs and jobs to align with this new mission.

And I think that's the thing that's gotten a lot of eyebrows raised on the campus.

One thing that the bill does is that it would give the president the ability, over the next five years to terminate university employees, including tenured faculty members and the faculty.

And the university must only retain the faculty and staff necessary to support the enrollment of 1000 students.

>> There was a protest at the state Capitol today, and we were hearing some students say, you know, they're very concerned about it affecting the culture of the campus and some who have a degree in progress as far as the the continuation of their programs.

>> Right.

And, you know, I think it makes sense for these students to speak out now because the bill, once it passes and becomes law, it will go into effect immediately.

So we'll start seeing review of these programs throughout the summer.

>> Other things we're watching the last couple of days of the session here.

>> I'm really interested in the one time spending.

I mean, to get away from the bills for a second.

I mean, they can just have monumental impacts on cities moving forward, both large and small.

And it will be really interesting to see which because everyone's sort of going to lobby for the for the big money projects in their town, I'll be interested to see who, who kind of comes out on top there.

>> One bill that I'm watching is House Bill 567.

It would allow public agencies to ask for photo IDs for Kentuckians who make open records requests.

That's kind of a different shift.

It did come out of a Senate committee this week, but a few Republicans on the committee voted in favor, but said they still had some questions about what that will look like and privacy concerns.

>> Former Senator Adrian Southworth came to the Capitol to speak against it.

>> She was in that committee and she testified against the bill because of some of those data privacy concerns.

>> Russ, what would you be watching in the closing days of the session?

>> Well, not to beat a dead horse, but the budget is the big thing right now.

I mean, really, I mean, the thing about the budget is, you know, the legislature has this income tax reduction plan.

But, you know, I'm wondering if we're going to start seeing that kind of the rubber meets the road of, you know, hey, I'll who doesn't want their taxes reduced?

But at the same time, if you can't get your road fixed, if drug courts are shut down, if whatever is being changed in your daily life, is it worth it?

And I'm wondering if some legislators in future sessions and going forward are going to have the same stomach for that as they've had over the past couple of years, right.

>> There's going to be a very unusual Senate impeachment trial for Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman after the articles of impeachment were referred by by the House.

>> Right.

And unprecedented in many ways for a circuit court judge.

And the question now will be right as it moves from a Senate committee and then sort of have that trial on the Senate floor.

Who will prosecute the case?

Will it be a group of senators who will be the jurors?

Who's going to oversee this?

It's going to basically be a courtroom.

I think it will be really interesting to see sort of how that plays out.

And I believe they will have to do it maybe in the veto period.

So how long does that take.

And ultimately, I mean this judge could lose be removed from the bench.

I mean that's that's major someone who's been reelected.

How many times it was it was several.

She's been there for a bit I think six times.

>> And this is very unusual as well.

>> Yes.

This is definitely unusual.

The last time the Senate held an impeachment trial was in 2023.

That wasn't contested by the person in that case.

But the Senate unanimously convicted a former prosecutor who had asked the defendant for nude images in exchange for prosecution.

Different kinds of favors and things like that.

And before that, the last trial was in 1888.

So this is definitely rare, but it's very easy to file an impeachment petition.

In the state of Kentucky.

The House impeachment Committee has had several before it, not just this one, this session.

>> And to that point, Russ, you know, you have to imagine there is a and there's a lot of discussion about precedent here.

If somebody has a problem with a judge, they they file an impeachment resolution.

>> Right.

Well, the separation of powers of the branches of government, anytime you start getting close to those guardrails, there's always going to have to be a high bar set to make sure that we're not improperly crossing and that that everything is in order.

So yeah, I mean, there's a reason why I think these it's rare for one to get to this point.

>> All right.

Apparently the decision has been taken.

The two other impeachment petitions will not be considered.

Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine and Fayette County School Board Chairman Tyler Murphy.

The indication is there will be no more meetings that impeachment committee.

Former Governor Matt Bevin back in the news this week.

He was held in contempt of court in Jefferson County for failing to provide a judge with financial information in a case involving his adopted son.

Now, Bevin has moved to have the judge disqualified.

McKenna.

This was attention getting because when Bevin.

There was a point this week where it appeared that he was either going to have to pay that $500 fee, contempt fee or go to jail, right.

>> And so there was supposed to be a hearing today, but that was canceled.

And the Kentucky Court of Appeals then sent down a ruling that said, because his warrant came after a motion that he had filed to dismiss the judge in this case, Judge Angela Johnson, for bias, that that series of events outweighed.

>> She wasn't supposed to to rule on anything.

After he had requested she be removed from the case.

So it's just a matter of the sequence of events.

And we know that, you know, some folks might ask, you know, why not just pay the $500 and sort of move on?

But we've seen the former governor in this case, dig his heels in from the financial documents on he believes there's a principle here.

And he has a case.

>> As a federal judge has dismissed the charges in the Breonna Taylor case today.

>> Yeah, we saw this coming.

I believe it was last Friday when the DOJ made the motion, which, you know, sort of getting to this quickly.

I mean, we had the change of the presidential administration, right?

And then that is what changed the Civil rights division of the DOJ immensely.

That's why these prosecutors who don't want to prosecute these police officers in the same way have basically said, let's drop these cases.

Brett Hankison was another one where they tried for a light sentence.

And the judge in this case has signed off on that.

So big picture, the Breonna Taylor case.

Of all the officers involved in this, only one was convicted and sentenced.

And even he, I don't believe is in prison right now awaiting appeal is not incarcerated.

>> All right.

Let's do some politics.

Governor Beshear was in Vice President JD Vance, his home area of Ohio last weekend.

Beshear had tough words for Vance, and then he doubled down in an interview with Isaiah.

>> He is their candidate.

I believe that he is both dangerous and arrogant and I believe should not be the next president of the United States.

So me being in my position or whatever I'm doing at that point, we need a Democratic governor elected so that we can fix the problems in this country.

We need next administration in DC.

That is not Donald Trump and is not JD Vance either.

>> Well, Isaiah, this could be a preview of the 2028 election cycle, right?

>> He says whatever he's doing in 2028.

I asked him if he would be willing to try to go against JD Vance.

He said, I have no announcement today.

Bottom line here, I mean, we know that these names have been floating around.

JD Vance seems to be the favorite, or at least a potential frontrunner on the GOP.

And Andy Beshear is trying to make a name for himself on the national stage.

It is interesting, though, real quick, he did mention, you know, the JD Vance Trump, you know, it's the Trump Vance administration.

Remember when Kamala Harris was at the top of the ticket?

How that was sort of the argument that Republicans were using against her?

Well, you know, it's the Biden-Harris administration.

You have to sort of take in maybe some of the drawbacks of his moves.

So we're seeing it on both sides.

>> And Russ, we know JD Vance has those Eastern.

Kentucky Roots.

We also know his mother was in Kentucky this week to attend a Operation UNITE event in Rockcastle County.

This this race in 2028 could have Kentucky all over, right.

Rand Paul, the senator Senator Paul may run as well.

>> Yeah, it could be the bluegrass brawl, I guess, or something along those lines.

I mean, you know, it would be very interesting.

And if you're looking at it from this time, I mean, it does look like it could shape up to be that if Beshear does commit and run.

I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that JD Vance at this moment is the chosen candidate or will be.

So yeah, it could be an incredibly interesting race for Kentucky, right?

>> The race to fill Senator Mitch McConnell's U.S.

Senate seat rages on on the Republican side, the back and forth between Congressman Andy Barr and Nate Morris and his supporters continues.

There was an ad this week in which Barr was depicted as amnesty.

Andy.

So in other words, immigration enforcement has become an issue in that race.

>> Even in the debate that we saw a couple weeks ago.

That is the really, really high intensity item right now is both Nate Morris and Andy Barr trying to accuse the other of being soft on immigration enforcement.

So be watching, though, because, you know, we've been told Daniel Cameron will be on the air at some point.

So it will be interesting to see kind of what he focuses on.

>> And we'll watch on the crowded primary and the Democratic side as well.

I mean, there is Charles Booker told me this week he's the frontrunner.

So we you know, we'll see how that all does play out this week.

Senate President Robert Stivers wants a statue of the outgoing Senator Mitch McConnell to be put in the Capitol Rotunda.

Here's what he said about that.

>> This resolution is a resolution to start the discussion about he being put in the rotunda, as when it opens, as one of the most influential political people of our time.

And for the state of Kentucky.

>> McKenna.

Not the first time a statue of Senator McConnell was mentioned.

>> No.

The.

The Courier-Journal reported that House Speaker David Osborne had previously floated the idea.

He's also filed a resolution today for this idea to put a statue of the Senator in.

Once the renovations are complete in the Capitol.

Even back in 24, U.S.

Congressman Andy Barr suggested the idea at a Republican Party headquarters.

Expansion that I covered.

He may feel differently about that now, given how the Senate is Senate primary is playing out, but it's definitely an idea that's been floated around for some time.

>> There was a major coal producer bankruptcy filing in Eastern Kentucky this week, and it will cost the area some jobs.

Russ, what can you tell us about that?

>> So on March 23rd, Clintwood j o d, which is based in Pike County, from what we can tell, has all of its operations in Pike County, declared chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

We've been hearing reports, no confirmations because there's no there's no official notification that they've already furloughed all their workers.

That would be about 300 workers, according to county statistics, and they would have been the largest employer in Pike County in the fourth quarter of the of 2025.

It's a major blow.

It's a loss of jobs.

It's a loss of tax revenue.

The spending by the employees, contractors, all of that.

On top of that, one of the company's largest creditors is the state's coal severance system, which it owes more than $3 million to, which, you know, obviously could be erased or reduced, you know, through the bankruptcy deal.

So, you know, this is a this is a major blow, and it kind of puts a fire under those who are pushing for a diversification of the of the area's economy and pushing for new jobs.

One local official, Pike County Judge Executive Ray Jones, told us, the only thing that's going to fix this is other jobs, not coal jobs.

>> Big Sandy community and technical college reporting some encouraging numbers.

Students are seeking a degree or more training up there.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, you know, and that's going to be a factor of the economy.

And you know, the coal jobs aren't there anymore.

So, you know, what they're saying is that they've got they've surpassed their enrollment goal by about 100 students.

The student count is up 6.5%.

It's second place in enrollment growth among the 16 colleges.

You know, again, it's not surprising.

The economy kind of dictates this.

People start thinking about their future and they start looking for jobs.

You know, the community and technical college system has a strong focus on jobs and also moving people on to the higher education opportunities.

I mean, it's really it is it's good.

And it's something I think is going to probably continue.

>> Toyota celebrated a milestone this week, 40 years at its Georgetown plant.

And Isaiah, they're going to invest $800 million in the plant for the future.

>> Yeah.

They're talking about EVs, Highlander EVs specifically.

Everyone's trying to make one that's profitable.

So we'll see kind of how that plays out.

But Toyota big presence in Kentucky.

>> All right.

Some talk up in Northern Kentucky about delivery.

Drones may be coming.

Some of the mayors are have some questions about that.

And as we enter April next week, Keeneland gets ready for its opening the Derby Festival event.

Start hopping in Louisville.

And Governor Beshear announced an event at the Old State Capitol to kick off Derby Week that will be held on Saturday, April 25th.

It will have music, food and food trucks, other entertainment.

That's a week before the Derby May 2nd.

[MUSIC] Spring is off and rolling.

That's common.

Have a good week ahead.

That's all I could jam in, right?

>> Hey you did.

You did fantastic.

I mean, it's great to get even a portion of that script in was fantastic.

>> Yeah.

>> It was a I do want to