♪ ♪ >> 3 years ago he called President Donald Trump's actions disgraceful.

Today Senator Mitch McConnell endorsed Donald Trump for President.

♪ The Bell tolls at the Kentucky Capitol as we remember, those lost to COVID beginning 4 years ago today.

>> Ran into people around town.

They're like, hey, congrats on that logo.

And I was like, wow, that's so cool to get to the recognizes artist in that way.

>> And make the artist helping Lexington celebrate birthday number 250.

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

♪ ♪ Good evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Wednesday March, the 6, I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you so much for spending some of your Wednesday night with us.

>> They've disagreed.

They have criticized each other.

But today U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell endorsed former President Donald Trump for the presidency.

The day after Trump won most of the Super Tuesday primary states.

In a statement, Senator McConnell said, quote, It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the represents support of Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States.

It should come as no surprise.

But as nominee, he will have my support, end quote.

Trump and McConnell have had a rocky relationship, though.

And McConnell blamed Trump for the 1/6/2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

>> There's no question Dunham.

Their President Trump is practically.

And morally responsible.

For provoking the about them.

The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes.

And instruction.

Their president.

And having not believe you.

Was a foreseeable consequence.

Of the growing crescendo.

Both also been.

Conspiracy theories.

Reckless cyber bullying.

Which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest mobile phone.

On the planet.

>> Despite that criticism, Senator McConnell voted against impeaching President Trump now jumping now from what's happening in Washington to what's happening in Frankfort, House and Senate Republicans in Frankfort today overrode Governor Andy Beshear's veto of a bill that blocks local governments from requiring landlords to rent to tenants who pay using federal housing vouchers like Section 8, Louisville and Lexington passed ordinances requiring landlords to accept those tenants House Bill 18 blocks.

Those ordinances Republican spoke after today's vote.

We have their comments as we begin tonight's Legislative update.

>> I find it quite interesting that there SIs narrative that we're doing something to hurt access to housing.

The reality.

The city of Louisville and the city of Lexington have a homeless problem directly related to their bad policies and that they passed.

And if they want to look at what is one of the problems for lack of housing, bad housing.

A lot of people in those 2 cities need to look in the mirror.

>> Nothing in this legislation preempts or goes against existing federal laws as it pertains to discrimination.

Those are protected classes.

Those have been the fair housing laws prevent that.

This is different.

This bill is different.

This is attacking a landlord's real estate, right?

The rights to their property.

That's a constitutionally protected right as well.

>> Now, earlier in the day, Democrats talked about why they backed the governor's veto.

>> House Bill 18 removes local control.

Hampers our ability to house our most vulnerable neighbors.

I think particularly of people with disabilities, people who are elderly families who are low income people who are escaping domestic violence, all of him may benefit from programs such as Section 8.

Buckley chosen ordinances like those in Lexington and Louisville do not.

And I think it's important to repeat this.

They do not force anyone to enter into a contract with the government.

And I'm concerned about us rolling back protections of affordable housing, particularly for our most vulnerable, the elderly.

And this is the disabled.

>> But I find it ironic in this body that we often speak about local control.

And here we are.

Resting local control away from the city of Louisville, which I represent, which had passed this ordinance.

25 to 0 just 4 years ago.

I have not heard a call from the people in Louisville saying that we need to override the will of the people locally and do so at the state level.

And I'm terribly concerned about the precedent we're going to set about rolling back other local ordinances that protect people and housing and employment discrimination.

And I am opposed to the veto override.

>> The House voted 76 to 19 to override the Senate vote was 31 to 7.

It will now become law.

Most of us were born in hospitals, but hundreds of Kentucky mothers each year give birth somewhere else as Kentucky additions.

June Leffler reports some state lawmakers say parents need more options on where to deliver their newborn.

>> On the day a baby is born.

Not every parent wants to be in the hospital.

My my wife is had natural births for all 4 of our kids.

Is more laboring in giving birth in in a more home-like environment.

>> Most planned home births go smoothly.

But an obstetrician says she provides emergency care for the worst home births in areas.

Women.

>> Saying I had no idea that could happen.

I had no idea.

I could him Ridge.

I had no idea.

I could get sepsis and end up in liver failure.

>> That's why some parents, when a delivery option outside their home, but not in the hospital, that could be a freestanding birthing center.

Something most states have but not Kentucky House bill.

One.

99 would exempt birthday and center's from having to get a certificate of need, which states that the care a medical provider wants to offer is actually needed in the community.

It serves.

That's a major barrier for anyone hoping to open one of the center's some Christian advocacy group support this change.

Kentucky hospitals do not the current House bill.

One 99 did.

>> Offer some of the changes we had recommended with the transfer agreements and the distance from the hospital.

But what it did not do is it did not add in the very important presidents of an obstetrician wife position to help oversee and work collaboratively with the midwives that are delivering at the freestanding birth centers.

But this isn't just about safety.

It's about the health care market.

Bill proponent suggest hospitals will stand in the way of birthing centers that could take away their patients.

>> What we know is that state too.

I'm right in supervisory don't have safer outcomes.

They just have fewer Burr centers.

>> Because the same people who oppose the bill then turn around and have control over who can open up or center it is very difficult as an out of hospital provider find supervision from people who are going to be your competitors.

The House Committee on licensing occupations and administrative regulations advance the bill.

>> For Kentucky edition of John Leffler.

Thank you.

June.

Almost half of all Kentucky counties are considered maternity care deserts.

>> According to the March of Dimes, that means these counties have no obstetricians or nurse midwives.

State government regulates industries like banking insurance, alcohol horse, racing, gambling and more one Republican lawmaker wants to add something to that list.

Adult oriented businesses like stores selling sexually explicit material.

The bill prohibits these businesses from operating within one city block of K through 12 schools, churches and other places where you find children and families.

Senate Bill one, 47 include sexually explicit drag shows, but the bill sponsor made a slight change on the Senate floor.

>> We have recently seen performances that historically have been in the adult entertainment space.

But yet have now moved into the public sector and advertised for all ages, specifically for children for this reason.

It is important for us to define these performances that include explicitly sexual conduct.

Include that variation among the definition of adult cabaret in order to distinguish between performances that are intended for adult audiences and those that are not Mister President, Senate floor Amendment 3 planes, that language in Section 3 of the bill and it removes the word dragged from the definition of adult cabaret while maintaining the definition.

Currently in the bill.

>> We want to make sure that miners are not going to strip clubs and those type of facility think is a positive.

My issue was that we specifically out performances.

They would otherwise layout that and drag.

We took out the word drag brother was laid out.

And to me, my concern is that there may be a free speech issue there.

There may be constitutional violations.

In fact, just going through some constitutional history.

The challenges it had been seen in so many other similar states where the Tennessee, Florida, Montana, Texas is cost their states lots of and as otherwise have been upheld is unconstitutional or been held up in federal court.

>> Some Kentucky drag performers have testified in Frankfort saying the bill is a direct attack and target on them.

Senate Bill one.

47 received bipartisan support and now moves to the state house.

It was a mixture of tears and laughter today in the Kentucky Capitol, as Kentuckians told their stories about how they dealt with COVID-19, today's day of compassion came exactly 4 years after Kentucky's first COVID case.

>> One of my favorite Bible passage is powerful in both its brevity and clarity.

Is Mike a chapter 6 per se, which reminds us.

And what does the lord require of you?

But to act justly to love tenderly and to walk humbly with the Lord, your God.

In a very real way, I think.

And I believe that we live this simple mission statement here in Kentucky during the height of the pandemic.

As a statewide community, we strove to act justly to save lives.

We were kind to each other during difficult times.

And we learned humility as we acknowledged, at least for a time that the pandemic was bigger than each of us alone.

And that only by coming together, would we overcome?

>> On September, the bill.

2020.

My sister had met with that due to complications with COVID.

If we lose, my sister was not devastating for me and my family.

4 months later COVID came for me in the worst kind of way.

On 1/8/2021, my me nonresponsive, you know, home.

I was taken in an analyst vehicle to regional hospital in Winchester.

We're due to my critical condition.

The dog made a decision they have made transported in an emergency.

MLS helicopter.

The University of Kentucky Hospital intensive care unit.

When I regained consciousness a couple of days later, the first thing my doctor told me was that I look better than I did when they first got me and that I had no time to spare.

When I arrived at the University of Kentucky hospital.

Those words would definitely.

Got my attention.

And I remember them forever.

>> I look forward 4 o'clock with a and B.

And Virginia.

And hurt.

>> Don't be doing And we'll get through this together.

Trying to teach us all a little bit.

>> that and the Amanda have a bourbon with Bashir T-shirts.

>> That that after hearing the bad news, it was kinda nice to have a little sip of Kentucky bourbon.

>> Almost 20,000 Kentuckians have died of COVID.

Awareness, inclusion and self-sufficiency where the main message is at an event also at the state Capitol today.

Those with developmental disabilities, their families and advocates gathered to mark Developmental Disabilities awareness Month.

One advocate says those with developmental disabilities don't want to be dependent on others that need to be given the right tools and support to be self-sufficient.

>> Individuals with disabilities deserve to have the same things that every other person deserves.

And that's a life where they can work can go out and drive where they can go to the grocery store.

They have their own apartments and they have their support, their their circle of friends.

So they deserve the same thing that we have.

So they worked for that.

So why not so we're here because they need that.

And they need us to help that advocate for themselves.

>> Advocates say one of the biggest challenges facing those with developmental disabilities is finding suitable housing.

♪ ♪ Time now for midweek check-in.

It's a major political developments this week so far with our friend Rylan Barton who is with NPR.

He's the senior editor there for the state's team.

Good to see or island.

Good to see today.

So some big news today, just a couple hours before we connected Senator Mitch McConnell who was made, maybe some would say a remarkable turnabout here and saying that he is endorsing Donald Trump.

Should he be the nominee for president for the Republican Party?

Is this a surprise or not?

>> It's a it's a little bit of a surprise or one part of it is, you know, McConnell also loyalties ultimately to the Republican Party and he wants them to win elections this year.

So a big part of that would be endorsing President Donald Trump and his efforts and with his winning the presidency since it is especially after Super Tuesday.

It's all but assured that he will be the Republican nominee this year.

But it's it's important to remember Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell's we haven't talked since December after the after the 2020 election after the January 6 insurrection, McCollum, please Trump for that.

and that really wouldn't comment about about Trump's role in anything to her?

Well, in this in these 2 years after that.

So I think he was really hoping for this for Trump to this kind of go along.

But the Republican Party did not release Republican voters about people long for Trump in the same way.

And you know, about policy.

Biden's and Trump's advisors have specially going talks for weeks in an event that Donald Trump win, you know, secure enough delegates up for this nomination.

And I think this is the timer.

I'm just excited to bring everybody together.

And so Republicans are at least this is a sign that Republicans are trying to unite under under one nominee going into the general election.

>> While his statement was rather Kurt that he issued, it says it's abundantly clear that former President Donald Trump has earned the requisite support a Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States.

>> Out of the textbook and what it takes to try to secure the delegates to be the nominee and that he said it should be no surprise to anyone that has nominee.

He will have my support, right?

It's it's very simple that that's right.

>> With interested in the long game of what he's thinking about by doing this.

Right.

And and coincidentally, we saw just yesterday on Twitter, I think Russell Coleman, the Republican attorneys general in Kentucky, it tweeted out this infographic of he Allison above the state auditor, Jonathan Shower, the agriculture commissioner and Mark Metcalf, the state treasurer for of the constitutional officers.

>> Talk about that.

A public That's right.

Who they were saying that they fully endorse Trump.

But Secretary of State Michael Adams is missing from that.

>> So yeah, yeah.

>> It's a very Adams, a law firm.

Also he supposedly did business with Nikki Haley's campaign, which she just suspended her presidential campaign today after only winning Vermont and the District of Columbia and the in the delegate contest.

So yeah, we'll see if an endorsement for coming.

But interesting, Michael.

>> Thanks, apartment.

Yeah, he's he's always going rogue.

And I think he takes pride in that right.

So let's move on to one piece of legislation that passed the Senate yesterday that Senate bill 2, which is this what they're calling guardian bill, where this kind of fills the gap for schools that don't have or Stitcher don't have a school resource officers or sro's.

His would-be volunteer former military and retired police officers.

Talk was about this bill.

>> Yeah.

So a few years ago there was of this bill that required every school in the state really school campus in the state to have a school resource officer armed school resource officer.

some schools and districts just haven't had the funding to make that happen or been able to secure the right people to be able to make that happen.

So this is one attempted to stop gap to to, to empower some veterans, retired police officers to patrol cases and and very guidance of personal safety this is not everybody is on the board for.

This are some Republicans who voted against this in the Senate and so I think there might be some more to figure out what this this this will be a big deal for a lot of schools that have to implement that.

It's going to be oversight here, especially when these people carrying guns around schools, whether they're you know, whether they're retired professionals are not going to be some some way to ensure it also probably liability issues as well.

Yeah.

>> So final topic, medical marijuana.

So we thought we were done with that last session, right the sponsor of the measure that passed last year is now saying, well, let's expand the conditions upon which medical marijuana would qualify.

Tell us about this move.

And the senator who's behind it.

>> Yeah, we're in a limbo right now in this period between when the legislature passes medical marijuana bill and implementation suspects take place and January 2025.

So that bill that passed last year had a very limited only allowed doctors prescribed a candidate, some cases of cancer, severe pain, epilepsy seizure disorders, a couple other conditions.

That's a pretty it under that version.

It's it's really the most restrictive medical legislation in the country.

And this expanded to several more conditions ranging from Omaha to Tennessee.

And there are a piece of Parkinson's disease, which of the list of conditions here actually lines up with what a Democratic governor, Andy Beshear and his administration propose expanding But this is a Republican proposal from a in 600, Stephen West parents who is the author of that medical Marijuana Bill last Will see this as a success is that will last year had the a lot of trouble getting across, though, ally, especially in the state Senate, which is traditionally been a lot more serve on this issue.

But it's a lot more that needs to happen for any of this policy to be implemented in 2025 regulations to improve sometime over the summer hasn't even been released yet.

So it could take a long time for businesses to get on to get to see them very unlikely that those will be even open, ready to sell by January.

The fight.

>> We'll KET our eye on that measure and see where that goes.

And Senate Bill 2 now that it's in the possession of the House with thank U Rylan's.

Always good to see you.

>> Banks can see today.

♪ ♪ >> Next year the city of Lexington will turn 250 years old as a celebration of that birthday, the city held a competition for artists to design a logo to commemorate the milestone.

Learn more about the designs that one and this week's Arts and Culture segment we call Tapestry.

>> So they gave me this T-shirt, which is super fun to see it printed for the first time.

And I also love that they chose the blue background because when I started the project, I KET it needed to show up on dark backgrounds on like backgrounds that's not the first things you got to think through in creating a logo is how's it going to be implemented and how's it going to show up on something really smaller?

Really big.

So I had a friend during the design.

Proms to my attention a few days before the due date.

And I didn't realize, but once I read and also saw what the price would be and how big of a project that was, I just got so excited and pretty much spent the entire weekend.

>> Working on the idea that I had kind of just popped into my head.

To be honest, I had read the prompts and, you know, there's so many cool historic things have happened in Lexington in the past 250 years.

But I decided to focus on the birthday part of I figured the more simple design would be more versatile wherever they want to use it.

And there are so many things to try to cram into a logo that I really just simplified it down as much as I could.

I'm keeping just their words to 50 lax and then added lots of fun, colors and shapes to it so that they could I use it to symbolize all of those things about Lexington that I love.

We first heard about the idea this was the sketch I and I have actually read it wrong.

It started doodling lax to 50 and I was really glad I caught that before submitted it.

>> I had a few different ideas going.

But like I said this, the curse of the letters with the fun colored shapes around that really popped into my head right away.

So that's what I decided to run list.

Lexington is going to have a whole year of especially focus in the month of June.

They're going to call it come home month.

So.

>> We can look forward to a whole year of So I kept that in mind as well as designing the logo because I wanted it to work in every season by keeping it really simple and also providing them with colors that word at their current branding.

I KET they'd be able to implemented throughout the whole year and that would serve them really well.

>> Remember when you can with money to go to the press release for the little girl, the Mommy, 200.

Yeah.

It was a special happy there with me.

I would've felt extremely honored that they wanted not only to get a logo out of this, but they wanted to celebrate the artists that made it.

>> It was just super cool for me to get to meet the to get to be on the news.

Just little things that graphic designers normally wouldn't get credit for.

I ran into people around town.

They're like, hey, congrats on that logo.

And I was like, wow, that's so cool to get to be recognized as artist in that way.

And Lexington's always been really good about Celebrating artists making space for them to hone their craft and share with the community.

So I've really enjoyed that.

Well.

Seems yeah.

A near miss special helper to write when I'm working.

>> You're really good helper.

And so >> I wasn't really quite sure what scale the project was going to be used.

But people the mayor's office just kept saying to me to know what a big deal this is like you're not going to turn down the street in Lexington and 2025.

Without senior artwork somewhere.

She's just crazy.

Cool to think about.

I'm really excited for that year to come about.

>> Crazy.

Cool indie.

Congrats to her.

The 2.50 LAX commission also opened applications for a permanent 3 D art piece to celebrate the birthday.

It's set to be the largest public artwork commissioned by the city.

Well, we've got a lot of great staff lined up for you tomorrow, including Mitch McConnell, who's been asked by reporters about his endorsement, a former President, Donald Trump for the presidency.

Again, we'll have that for you tomorrow when you join us at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition, we inform connect and inspire.

You can subscribe to our email newsletters and watch full episodes and clips at KET Dot Org.

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Addition on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV and send us a story idea at public affairs at KET Dot Org and of course, follow KET on Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram to stay in the Loop.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Until I see you again.

Take really good care.

Have a great night.

♪