Time now to do a mid-week check in of some major political news so far this week in Kentucky, where our good friend Roland Martin, who is an editor with NPR National Public Radio.

Good to see you.

Good to see you, too, Renee.

So let's talk about a big story that we actually got a chance to talk to Sylvia Goodman about last week.

It's a story that she helped break as part of Kentucky Public Radio.

Joe Sonko was also a part of that effort.

NPR ran this story on Friday.

I think it's one I heard it or Thursday of last week about Tick Tock and the dangers that that platform poses to teens in terms of mental health and all the other types of things that some internal communications revealed they had tried to keep secret.

But the sleuth that Sylvia is discovered it.

There has been some development since then and Washington is paying attention.

What do we know now about where this is going?

Yeah, so a pair, a bipartisan pair of U.S. senators is calling on a tick tock to turn over all documents and information that they have related to this, that that that tick tock knew that their, you know, wildly popular app could be a danger to kids and that they know that it is it is very addictive and so they specifically cited this reporting from Kentucky Public Radio and NPR.

And they this is something that both Congress and state legislatures around the country have been have been kind of ratcheting up the pressure on tick tock over the last year or so.

You know, one thing that we saw a lot in the headlines was four calls for tick tock to divest itself to sell off and make sure that is sold to, you know, U.S. based investors, but also, you know, calls for it to be more open about It's incredibly effective.

And as you know, it was alleged in here, addictive algorithm.

So much more to come on that to follow the Kentucky Supreme Court race.

District five, there is a vacancy on the Kentucky Supreme Court because the former chief justice, he still chief Justice Lawrence VanMeter, has announced that he would not seek reelection.

And now there are two women who are vying for this seat in central Kentucky.

It encompasses eight counties.

Tell us about those who are the two women who are vying for the seat and the dynamics in this race.

Yeah, Pamela Goodwin is facing Erin is over.

Pamela Goodwin is already a veteran member of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and she has a massive fundraising advantage over over his own this race.

Just over the last few weeks, she's raised $375,000, which also includes $200,000 from the Louisville Teachers Union.

But also the former New York mayor, Mike Bloomberg, contributed $150,000 to a political action committee that's supporting her efforts.

So it's a you know, there's as we've seen, I mean, over the years, Kentucky the Kentucky Supreme Court is the final arbiter on a lot of things that come on, a lot of things related to state law, things that passed out of the state legislature.

And I think especially as we can see a little bit from some of these donations, there's there's a lot of interest in what the how the court will rule on future cases related to public education and possibly public education funding this year.

Kentuckians will weigh in on Amendment two, which is would give the legislature the authority to pass laws that would that would send public dollars to nontraditional public schools to, say, charter schools or or even private school vouchers.

And I think that there's a lot of, you know, wonder if there's a lawsuit over that.

You know, how the Kentucky Supreme Court would end up ruling on that.

So far, the Supreme Court has, you know, has stood by what's, you know, this line in the Constitution that says that that public dollars will not be spent on nonpublic non common schools.

So, you know, we'll see if even a the court would be able to rule any differently if that amendment passes.

Yeah, there's still a lot to watch.

And we should say, of course, that just like any other judicial election, this is a non person race.

But of course you've got partiza Former President Donald Trump.

And this is a presidential note perhaps, but not so much about the race.

He's made some comments about the hurricane relief efforts that our Democratic governor, Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, have found inflammatory and wanted to set the record straight on tell us about this.

Yes, I think that Andy Beshear is using his his mantle as kind of this disaster, Governor, somebody who oversaw the response to historically terrible tornadoes and flooding in western Kentucky and eastern Kentucky, respectively.

And he was responding to some comments that the former president made, you know, claiming that the federal government and FEMA is only giving $750 to people who've lost their homes, that there's, quote, no helicopters or rescue coming to flooded areas in North Carolina.

It's just those are just untrue statements.

I mean, there are plenty of problems with FEMA and FEMA's response to to to these disasters.

But, you know, some of these specific things are just they're just wrong.

But the Democratic governor Beshear, you know, went out and criticized the former president for it.

And again, I think that this is this is something that has become a bit of his his tied to his character as a, you know, you know, possibly a rising national star in the Democratic Party.

And so I think he saw this as an opportunity to speak up on this issue that you know, he knows a lot about.

Well, speaking of governors already looking forward to the 2027 Kentucky governor's race, there is a possible contender.

We know that, of course, Andy Beshear is term limited.

And Kentucky Secretary of State Republican Michael Adams is term limited in the role he is now is the chief elections official.

He's looking ahead possibly to 2027 and run for governor.

Right.

And he's hinted at this a little bit before.

But, hey, here's the latest hint.

He in a profile with the Harvard Law Bulletin, he went to Harvard Law.

He he did say that he was considering considering possibly a run for governor.

He thinks that some of his bipartisan credentials especially make him a good possible candidate there.

You know, this he's he's really stood up for against some of the election election denialism that we've seen in recent years, especially since the 2020 election, which has made him, you know, a pariah among the more, you know, the the more conservative parts of the Republican Party.

So a little bit does.

And remain to be seen whether or not he could win, say, a Republican primary for governor.

But Kentucky's also shown that in statewide races it can be pretty purple.

I mean, it's elected a Democratic governor twice in a row.

But that, again, we can look to other statewide races in Kentucky.

And as you know, Kentucky will elect some pretty conservative Republicans on a statewide basis.

So, yeah, this is something we'll continue to watch over the years.

And it's interesting, you know, Adams is still kind of, I think, you know, putting some signals out there that he's interested in doing that and seeing if anybody will line up.

Yeah, we can't even get through one election cycle before we're talking about two ahead of us.

Right.

That's just how he makes up.

And basketball and politics, that's our claim to fame.

Those are our guidelines to fame.

Well, thank you, Islands.

Always good to see you.

Take good care.

Thanks, Renee.