>> The NTSB releases a preliminary report on the UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky.

Voter registration numbers keep coming in strong, indicating major interest in the 2026 elections.

New proposals are floated ahead of the upcoming legislative session, and an important report card is in for Kentucky students.

Grab some Thanksgiving leftovers and join us.

Comment is next on KET.

Good evening.

I'm Bill Bryant, and we welcome you to comment on Kentucky Tonight, a look ahead to the rest of 2025 and ahead to the New Year, and some analysis of all the news.

The guests on our panel of working Kentucky journalists tonight are Isaiah Kim Martinez, senior reporter for Whas 11 in Louisville, Phillip Bailey, Louisville based chief political correspondent for USA today.

And joining us remotely is Jess Clark, education reporter for the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

We taped this program on Friday, November 21st, so that our panelists and KET crew could enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend.

We'll catch up on the news we may have missed when we return live on December 5th, but we have a lot to discuss this evening, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville.

Isaiah.

That crash killed 14 people, and that report confirms 23 others were hurt on the ground.

>> And, Bill, there were some tragic details that came out of this preliminary report.

There was no initial cause that was revealed.

But if you look at that picture number four right there, you can see that left engine essentially fly over the fuselage of the plane.

That's the problem in this case is that engine.

We know the plane according to this report, didn't get higher than 30ft.

30ft.

That's not even as high as the traffic air traffic control tower.

So it was a tragedy, no doubt about it.

But I want to point to a specific detail in page nine, actually, of this 12 page report.

They said that in their examination of the left pylon, which basically connects the engine to the wing of the plane, they said that they examined and found evidence of fatigue, cracks and areas of overstress failure.

So that is really what everyone's keying in on right now and seeing what went wrong.

Could we don't believe it was a maintenance issue, like there wasn't enough maintenance.

But we know these planes have been grounded across the country.

So the investigation moves on.

>> Just as Isaiah was saying, there was a 12 page report and indications are that everything was normal until the plane started to try to lift off the ground.

>> Yeah, it was gaining speed.

Everything, you know, while it was, you know, going along the runway, it was all according to going according to plan.

And then as it tried to lift off, as Isaiah mentioned, that left engine detached from the wing, started a fire, flew over the wing and the highest the plane got was 30ft.

It cleared the airport fence but clipped several businesses and just never gained the altitude that it needed.

And it rolled left and then crashed in that fiery explosion that many of us saw on the news and online.

>> As it will be a while before, there's a full report with all the details, right?

>> These usually take a long time, several months, sometimes over a year.

I know the governor has said that he's been happy with some of the details that have been made public fairly quickly by the NTSB.

He credited them, and it's worth noting that they said that this preliminary findings would be issued within about 30 days of the crash, and it came out within 14 days of from November 4th or 16 days.

Excuse me.

So if that's any indication, they are taking this very, very seriously.

>> Some of the photos and video tell a lot of the story.

>> They do.

And it's a key detail here too.

And while it's visually very clear for everyone to see, oh my gosh, something went terribly wrong on the Ascension.

The report clearly says this, and others are experts have said this too.

The pilots did what they were supposed to be doing.

You cannot go back down after that.

You have to keep rising and it just didn't work, unfortunately.

>> Well, very difficult time and we await more details as further investigations come out.

Let's talk politics and Frankfort.

And the 2026 legislative session is quickly approaching.

There was a lot of work done by interim committees in recent weeks.

Folks now are unwinding for the holidays, of course, but lawmakers are getting ready to return to Frankfort on January 6th.

It is a 60 day session.

Lawmakers will be crafting a two year budget.

And Isaiah, we keep hearing rumblings that there may be a further cut in the income tax, despite the state budget director saying the Kentucky did not hit the triggers that was put in place by lawmakers themselves as guardrails.

As you reduce that income tax.

>> And bill, you mentioned this has been a big Republican priority right across the country and in Kentucky specifically over the last few years.

And Representative Jason Nemes, obviously, in state House leadership actually told this was in Louisville.

He said, I do not accept the premise that we didn't meet those requirements.

He believes that essentially they measured the trigger at the wrong time, and he believes that at least a quarter of a percent decrease.

So that would bring it down, I believe, to 3.25 should and will happen.

>> Philip, you know, this probably is the highest Kentucky Republican priority right now.

Right.

And so they're looking to continue down the path.

>> Well, I would think that it's the number one signature achievement for the Republican legislature.

Right.

Like as we face affordability and as it becomes, whether you're Zoon Mamdani, the democratic socialist candidate or mayor elect out of New York City or Donald Trump, right.

Affordability, the cost of living is going to be at the forefront in 2026.

And I think for Republicans, the easiest way to tackle affordability issues or cost of living issues is going to be tax reductions.

>> There's a lot of discussion about every dollar as they're putting it together, the state budget.

And yes, we have heard some key lawmakers say they have no interest in bailing out the state's two largest school districts, both of which have financial challenges.

We also know that state Auditor Alison Ball's team is looking into the finances of JCPS, as well as the Fayette County Public Schools.

>> Yes, Fayette County Public Schools, the second largest school district in the state, has a $16 million budget shortfall, and that became apparent, you know, during, you know, the last year, there is a lot of kind of tension between school board members and the leadership over just how that budget shortfall seemed to appear similar.

There's a similar dynamic in JCPS with the incoming new superintendent, Brian Yearwood.

He came in and under his leadership, the staff have said that there is a much larger budget shortfall than was previously predicted.

They're predicting $132 million budget shortfall next year.

So these are some major challenges for these two largest districts in the state.

And as you mentioned, Alison Ball, the state auditor, is looking into both of these districts.

She has an audit coming out of Fayette County Public Schools.

The timeline for that is the end of 2026.

So end of next year.

The JCPS audit is already underway, and she anticipates that being out by the end of the summer, next summer.

>> On the day that we tape this program, November 21st, the Jefferson County superintendent had a news conference where he proposed a possible solution to some of the financial challenges.

And even that is it strong medicine.

>> Certainly strong medicine for the folks who would be directly impacted.

So Yearwood has proposed closing or consolidating several schools in Jefferson County public schools.

Most of these are in school buildings that are under capacity that have facility issues.

So they have expensive upkeep and are in areas where the district says they do not see.

They don't they don't expect enrollment to grow.

And so they're looking at closing those schools or consolidating them to save money.

Now, we heard today from Yearwood that they're only expected to save $4 million by doing that.

And so that's a very small drop in the bucket when you're looking at $132 million budget shortfall.

Yearwood, in response to that criticism, said that it is these small pieces add up.

And so he is still looking at that moving forward.

>> Bill, when you have dozens of millions of dollars, sort of the elephant in the room is and just mentioned this as well.

Will there be layoffs?

Right.

And the superintendent hasn't ruled them out.

Who will get laid off?

Because we know there are hundreds of employees within the district who are making six figures, some of them fairly high, six figures.

Right.

And our community has constantly told us when there are money issues, let's get some of these folks, maybe possibly administrative administrative jobs and get them in the classroom where we obviously have a lot of vacancies in our district.

But until those positions are seriously looked at and the superintendent says they are looking at Central office, I think the 4 million here or 5 million there isn't really going to move the needle.

For many people who are paying close attention to this.

On what this means for the future of the district.

>> All right.

Well, that legislative session now just over a month away, and Senator Steve Rawlings of Burlington is sponsoring a bill that would make it a felony to use public resources to push any kind of political position that rolls out to 2024, when school districts use their resources to oppose amendment two.

Jess, that could have allowed tax dollars to go to private schools.

>> Yes.

So this legislation seems to go back to a social media post by, I believe it was Pulaski County schools that encouraged the public or said something like amendment two will harm our school district, and amendment two was the amendment that would have allowed the state to fund private schools.

And there was a lawsuit over this.

And so, you know, this legislation would strengthen a law that's already on the books to prevent tax dollars from being spent, to advocate for and against ballot questions.

But this legislation would actually make it a class D felony to do so.

And so people who would be, you know, charged with this could face five or 1 to 5 years in prison.

So it's a pretty steep penalty for, for for the, you know, the infraction that's being proposed here.

>> Politics and speech, Philip.

>> Right.

I mean, it also compares, I mean, by making it a class D felony, you're putting this in with third degree rape, you're putting this in with burglary.

You're putting this in with assault.

I would just point out to our viewers that this state senator, Senator Rollins, he had a similar bill doing the same exact thing, trying to make a class D felony for procuring or selling out abortion pills.

And that went nowhere fast in the legislature.

So this may just be a scare tactic, but I think look again, once again, when Republicans mess with teachers in this state, it doesn't turn out well for them, politically speaking.

>> Representative TJ Roberts plans to introduce a bill that would require local police departments to enter agreements to enforce federal immigration policies.

>> Isaiah and Bill, it's interesting, as we sort of seen this wave of similar legislation again across the state, Kentucky sort of following suit.

And this bill would be interesting because he makes it very clear in, you know, the Representative Roberts here that this would not be, in his words, a partnership where local law enforcement supersedes Ice or that they are go and they're leading immigration raids on their homes on their own.

He describes this as more of a situation where if there is a traffic, a traffic situation, right, that you pull somebody over and they already have outstanding warrants for arrests, or maybe that they have previous charges or current charges that they can put it upon themselves, they being local law enforcement to question them.

Right.

Hey, do you have these documents?

And he these are key words here.

He says if they deem there to be some sort of reason to believe that there there's a suspicion of something along those lines, which I thought was interesting.

I also asked him, I said, what are the biggest areas in the state where you believe there's need for this?

And he said, counties that border interstates and parkways are the most needed in areas that border other states as well.

>> Well, this is part of a larger debate though, right, Bill?

I mean, we see the Trump administration being very aggressive with particularly with local communities and sending in Ice.

But these 287 agreements, which is based upon and stems from the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act, we've already seen historic highs of these agreements.

I think there's at least 1000 of them that Ice has already entered into.

But there are already lawsuits across the country, particularly, like I would say, in New York with Nassau County, where they're challenging, where opponents of Trump administration on this are challenging, you know, working with and cooperating with Ice and immigration enforcement.

You're already seeing, for example, in California state law saying that, hey, you can't have masks and you have to early identify yourself if you're going to be doing immigration enforcement.

And we're seeing a similar situation like that pop up in Louisville.

I think it's Louisville Metro Councilman JP Leininger who's introducing that legislation.

>> Kind of a nexus of state and local and federal issues right there together.

>> Wasn't it struck down before Trump's executive order in the second term, I believe.

Yeah.

So I mean, that's it's in the front forefront.

>> All right.

We will watch that.

And more than 7000 new voters registered last month despite no regular elections here in Kentucky this year.

Philip, is that a clear indication, despite the fact that a lot of those were independent registration, by the way, we'll mention that.

But there seems to be robust interest in next year's elections.

>> Yeah.

Secretary of State Michael Adams says we have at least, I think, 100 plus people who've already filed mostly judicial candidates.

But, look, we're going to have an open seat.

You know, Senator Mitch McConnell stepping away, a massive leader like him stepping away for any state, I think would put that Senate seat in major debate.

I think we're also seeing and Secretary Adams has been at the forefront of this, a lot of misinformation is really dominating for these secretaries of state across the country.

So there's a lot of calls for more civic education.

But we are I mean, you and I remember when there was more of a Democratic leaning state and now Republicans have overtaken that.

But for the past few years, really for the past 4 or 5 years, we've seen independent voters really be the fastest growing group of voters in Kentucky.

And I think Secretary Adams and others have made the argument that, look, if you're going to run statewide, you're going to have to appeal to those independents.

I don't think anyone's ever done a study of who those folks actually are.

Are they more right leaning or are they more left leaning?

But as more of our ancestral Democrats become more of extinct and a small margin of our population, I think you are going to see independents, particularly in some of our county seats, have more sway than ever before.

>> And those independents are registering that way despite being barred from the primaries.

>> Right.

I think that's a clear sign, like as we get to more of this era of political experimentation and populism, what's interesting to me is will we see a third party or independent voter say, hey, look, other states are experimenting.

We've already seen it in this state.

Experimenting with our politics and our electoral process.

Should we do the same thing here in Kentucky?

>> This is our first program since the decision to release the Epstein files.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, who pressed hard for it, thanked the Epstein victims who came forward.

>> I want to start by thanking the survivors.

I mean, they're giving everybody hope in this country.

There are survivors of other sex crimes in this country wondering if they should come forward.

They're clouded with shame and concern that law enforcement will do nothing.

And these survivors have stepped forth taking that same risk, worried that they will be defamed themselves.

They have been defamed for stepping forward.

But we're going to get justice for them.

>> Philip, this was obviously a lot of hard work by Congressman Massie.

President Trump eventually supported the release.

Earlier, he had called it a Democratic hoax.

How determined is the president to defeat Massie in that fourth district GOP primary?

>> Well, look, I think if there's anyone who's in Donald Trump's crosshairs, it would be Thomas Massie.

But I think people should understand here what this remarkable situation we have and Congressman Massie being at the forefront of it.

Right.

You had the MAGA movement essentially bucked Donald Trump, who did not want to get on board with this at all.

And then this massive sort of change here led by Congressman Massie and, of course, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

So, look, there's been this effort by Donald Trump before to unseat Thomas Massie.

I think if there's a time to do it, it would be, you know, in the past, because now what we're seeing is with MAGA and particularly these survivors of Epstein coming forward, the MAGA movement, really looking at Donald Trump very differently.

And Thomas Massie, I think, will get a certain level of political protection as a result of that, that he maybe didn't have 4 or 5 years ago.

>> It's interesting, too, because prior to this, a lot of his no votes, so to speak, that has drawn the ire of Trump and other leaders in the party have been on sort of the fiscally conservative right, budget, hawk, fiscal hawk kind of decisions that we see Senator Paul do a lot.

This is the first issue, at least nationally, that we've seen Massie sort of separate himself almost out on his own, like we have gotten calls from Democratic viewers on our air who said, hey, I don't I wouldn't agree with this guy in most situations, but all of a sudden I agree with him here.

Maybe I'll vote for him here.

And maybe that's a stretch for most Democrats.

But the fact that that's even being uttered right now, I think, is showing that, you know, the issue of the Epstein files has sort of separated him beyond the party.

>> And because it was a bipartisan issue, I mean, as Thomas Massie, not just bucking Donald Trump and the MAGA movement doing that, but it's also him working with Ro Khanna of California, a Democrat, out of one of the more liberal parts of our country.

Right.

And I think for Thomas Massie, who is always associated with these no votes, his breakout moment being this really populist moment here, I think, separates him from any other Republican.

He even said that, look, these discharge petitions that we often do never really work, and it did in this case, and it did in a big way, where it got a unanimous vote, basically in the House, except for one lawmaker out of Louisiana and a unanimous consent in the Senate.

It's pretty unprecedented.

>> All right.

Well, we have these engaged political reporters here.

There will be races up and down the ballot.

The U.S.

Senate race will be at the top.

Kentuckians will be choosing a replacement for Senator Mitch McConnell, first elected in 1984.

Phillip McConnell won seven six year terms, the first time that many voters could ever even remember or can relate to McConnell not being on the ballot.

>> Yeah, I mean, Mitch McConnell, someone who changed not just national politics but changed Kentucky politics and really made the Kentucky Republican Party the powerhouse that it is.

There wouldn't be a Republican Party.

I think the modern way we think of it, there was a time long ago where Democrats dominated Kentucky, both in the legislature and at the national level, with presidential elections as well.

Mitch McConnell has certainly been a revolutionary in that regard.

But I think this is going to be a real test for where the MAGA movement is going to be and where Kentucky Republicans are going to be right in the future.

We have this sort of mixed up politics now that it's not the old Republican Party of George H.W.

Bush or even George W Bush, we saw the passing of former president Vice President Dick Cheney.

And I think now that Donald Trump has seized the Republican Party from Mitch McConnell and that old guard, what is now that party look like post Donald Trump.

>> We have a sound bite here from Congressman Andy Barr about his campaign and his support for President Trump.

>> We're surging in the polls.

We're the only campaign in the Republican primary where we're actually growing in the polls.

The other candidates are either stuck in the basement or declining in their support.

And the reason is that they recognize that and they appreciate the Republicans of Kentucky, appreciate the fact that I was chairman of President Trump's campaign in 2024 and Kentucky and that, you know, these other candidates like to talk about supporting President Trump.

I'm actually doing it.

>> He's in a primary that includes, of course, Daniel Cameron and Nate Morris.

Do the Republican candidates have to be in that no daylight position between themselves and President Trump?

>> It's only going to become more that way the closer we get to the primary.

I mean, they've obviously been jockeying hard for the endorsement.

The question is, does Trump give one?

Who does he give it to?

And we've seen, you know, so much of this outside influence too, particularly for Nate Morris that has been so public.

These people in DC out of state endorsing him, folks from Ohio from Indiana.

So I think it'd be really key to I mean, they haven't been able to really answer the McConnell question as far as how will you be different from McConnell?

They're focusing simply on how close they are with Trump as they seek his endorsement.

>> And look, morning consult did a poll here in Kentucky.

And Donald Trump has about a 57% approval rating in Kentucky.

The real question for Kentucky Republicans is going to be, what type of senator do you want?

You're losing a powerhouse like Mitch McConnell.

And this is where I think Andy Barr distinguishes himself.

He said, look, I'm already in leadership, in the pipeline of leadership in the House.

I'm already someone who is able to get major resources to this state.

I think the question for, and I think we're talking about it really now, is do does the MAGA movement have an answer to that?

If it's all about power and it's all about money and all about bringing resources back to Kentucky, does Nate Morris and the MAGA movement have someone who can do that?

Because Rand Paul is your senior senator?

Bill, I'll tell you, a lot of Republicans, county level Republicans, tell me that, look, what they're worried about.

Who's going to bring home that bacon for Kentucky the way Mitch McConnell did.

>> All right.

There's that crowded Democratic primary as well.

Amy McGrath announcement got attention.

Then you have horse trainer Dale Romans getting in.

Is it hard to keep recalibrating the Democratic primary?

>> I think Democrats have the opposite problem that Republicans have outside of Andy Beshear in 2019.

There is no bright spot for Democrats.

So in this race, it's really an open field, even though you have a lot of older candidates from previous races like Amy McGrath and maybe even Charles Booker will jump in that race.

So I think for Democrats, it's a different question than Republicans.

The question is, can you even still compete?

Right.

Statewide, I think there's a lot of disillusionment on the Democratic side that whoever wins this primary will even have a chance in November.

>> And that's why you hear Dale Romans really point out the fact in his campaign is I am the old Kentucky Democrat.

I'm the Wendell Ford kind of Democrat.

I'm the independent Democrat that Kentucky has sort of lost track of.

And when you're in that kind of wide open of a race on the Democratic side, why not try that?

>> We keep hearing Charles Booker may get in.

We'll wait on that.

Louisville will hold its first Nonpartizan city elections.

Mayor Craig Greenberg visible and unopposed right now.

>> Right.

It's the bully pulpit, right?

You get to any time there's a big event, right?

You're automatically, you know, in front of your community.

And he is campaigning hard and he has campaigning early.

And as far as other candidates in this, I'm hearing that really on the Republican side, we're not really seeing much of a conversation on who they might put up.

I don't think that they probably will.

And on the left, I mean, are you hearing anything to his far left?

Probably not.

>> Look, for all the folks who expressed dissatisfaction behind the scenes with Mayor Greenberg, you don't see anyone really jumping at the opportunity to take him on at this point.

Republicans were fearful that Booker or someone from the left would get in, and they were thinking maybe they would have to get behind.

Craig Greenberg.

I'm waiting for maybe a mainstream Democrat like a Steven Riley, or someone who has some money in their pocket to maybe give this a consideration, but right now everyone's just talking really good behind the scenes, doing nothing.

>> All right, tight on time here real quickly.

Who's more likely to run for president in 28?

Is it Andy Beshear or Rand Paul or both?

>> Oh, both.

I mean, when you look at the moves that they're making.

>> Rand Paul easy answer.

>> Yeah, both of them.

Both of them.

>> Kentucky's Department of Education released assessment and accountability data for the year.

Overall, the education commissioner said he is proud of Kentucky students.

>> And first of all, I want to start off by saying how proud I am of our students.

Our students have really done a great job in this past year on their assessments, and the results of this year show students perform better across several grade levels and subjects than they have in my recent memory as commissioner or as a as a superintendent or as a as a principal, as a matter of fact.

So again, it's very good to see our students perform at the levels that they're doing.

>> Yes, in a few seconds.

How rigorous is that testing?

What does it tend to show.

>> So the tests are the tests that students take every year in grades three through 12.

And overall, they show some mild improvement across most grade levels in most subjects.

So some slow progress out of kind of the dip that we saw both in Kentucky and nationally due to the pandemic and all the disruptions to learning.

>> All right.

And that testing is done on a regular basis and at certain grade levels.

Right?

>> Yes.

So it's grades three through eight and then grades, different subjects are tested in grades ten, 11 and 12.

But yeah, these are the tests that students take every spring.

And you know, nationally we saw this dip post Covid.

Kentucky is really kind of on par if you're looking at the national test scores, the national landscape Kentucky is kind of right on average, with the rest of the national average on most reading scores.

And so, you know, and other states are also starting to kind of come out of the pandemic dip.

So this kind of is on track with that as well.

>> Kentuckians are remembering long time Northern Kentucky lawmaker and former Secretary of State Ken Harper.

Harper served as secretary of state from 1971 to 72, and in the House of Representatives for many years.

Harper was 94.

We certainly hope you enjoy the holiday period ahead.

We thank you for joining us for comment on Kentucky and have a good week.

>> There you go.

>> You said Beshear Rand Paul.

>> Both of them.

I like that.

>> Actually, I like that.