For more on the major political news happening in and involving Kentucky, our Laura Rogers checks in with NPR's Ryland Barton.

Laura, thank you so much, Renee and Riley.

And we'll talk about the Democratic National Convention, which is underway this week in Chicago.

And, of course, Kentucky has a delegation there.

But aside from that, also a big stage presence at the DNC as well.

What's the big takeaway there?

Yeah, Governor Beshear was on the stage on Monday night, the same night the president, Joe Biden and also Jill Biden spoke of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke as well.

A big primetime spot.

He used it to largely talk about reproductive rights.

He invited he was introduced by Hadley Duvall, the young woman who campaigned a lot with Beshear last year during his reelection campaign.

She told the story of how she was raped by her stepfather.

She's used this story to highlight how, you know, how difficult a decision like this can be and how difficult it is to make decisions like that in a state that has abortion restrictions.

Granted, that took place before Kentucky's near-total ban on abortion went into effect.

But yeah, Kentucky had a really it's had a really prominent presence there.

Andy Beshear, you know, talked a lot about reproductive access and also, you know, called out, call out.

Donald Trump said that, you know, blamed him for appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court who ultimately decided against Roe v Wade.

So really trying to pin that on Trump, but at the same time trying to strike this tone that you know, the Harris campaign is trying to do of it's trying to strike this balance of both criticizing Trump while having this, you know, joyful, positive messaging at the same time.

So he was really trying to strike that balance as well.

It was something that Republican vice president candidate J.D.

Vance took issue with.

One thing Beshear said, where, you know, Beshear and criticized him for Vance's remarks against abortion access, saying that, you know, suggesting that, you know, that what would it be like if Vance had to experience something like that?

Vance took that as meaning that Beshear was suggesting, you know, that somebody in his family be raped.

It was.

So there's there's some there.

There's a lot of political fighting going over this as well.

Democrats are saying that they're misinterpreting Bashir's words there.

But yeah, so that's at least one of the back and forth that's happening after the Beshear speech on Monday.

A lot of fiery speeches.

And then, of course, the DNC continues this evening in Chicago.

And moving on now, the University of Kentucky making the decision and the announcement this week that it is disbanding its Office for Institutional Diversity.

And we know that the diversity, equity and inclusion was a big topic of conversation during the legislative session earlier this year.

However, no legislation passed.

Were you surprised that you went ahead and made this move?

And then also, what response are we getting to that decision?

Yeah, it seems like this is almost a preemptive move to so that the U.K. is doing this on their own instead of being forced by the legislature.

So U.K. President Eli CAPELOUTO said that nobody's going to lose their job through this change.

It's really just a restructuring.

But it's also you're doing away with, say, diversity statements in hiring applications.

You know, some of the criticism is worry that this is going to dilute or diminish the university's efforts, efforts to recruit and retain diverse students.

That's something that Senate Minority Leader Reggie Thomas is worried about and and and said he's hopeful that that U.K. is still going to do that and said, you know, they're still going to be recruiting black students and making sure that there are groups that are encouraging cultural affinity among themselves.

There's a lot of discussion about this still going on in the legislature and around the country.

This is something a lot of states are dealing with right now.

Ohio, for example, right now, is actually in the process of scrubbing through all of its any race based scholarships that are award awarded to students after an opinion released by their attorney general there.

So, you know, this also comes after the Supreme Court ruling last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year against affirmative action programs.

So Kentucky is just one of several states, and the UK is just one of several universities that's kind of trying to figure out what this what the landscape looks like going forward.

Of course, it's all happening as the news fall semester is getting under way at public universities across Kentucky.

And then also, I want to ask you about this continuing story that we've been following.

State Representative Daniel Boasberg, a Democrat from Louisville, accused of sexual harassment, some inappropriate text messages, more women have come forward.

And his attorney this week providing a statement to the Herald-Leader saying that while he does apologize if he's made anyone uncomfortable, he does still continue to refute those allegations.

So where are we in this investigation?

And then also, what are we hearing from Democrats about these allegations as well?

Yeah, Democrats seem to be pretty cautious in how they're talking about this, although there are some Democratic groups that have called for him to resign.

The Kentucky young, young Democrats did that.

But yeah, The Sun Herald, since the Herald-Leader reported first reported this in late July, there's 12 people who have alleged, you know, some form of harassment against Representative Grossberg.

Three more women came forward this week with very you know, with lots of details of interactions they had with them and also providing text messages to the Herald-Leader that the newspaper reviewed for the story and know indicating, you know, what what the you know, what staffers were saying was inappropriate behavior, creepy and weird text messages, but also instances where Grossberg would invite a staffer to the office and then, you know, essentially drink with them and ask inappropriate questions about their sexuality and their bodies.

Grossberg continues to say that this is he's being misled.

These situations are being misrepresented, and he didn't do anything inappropriate here.

But it is you know, the these stories are continuing to pile on and there are investigations ongoing or legislative ethics commission.

And so he says he's he's waiting for the outcome of those to take place.

He was also, you know, we talked previously that he had been suspended from the Democratic caucus meetings, and he says that this is part of a larger campaign against him after, you know, within the party, after a series of, you know, disagreements with the party on some issues.

All right.

Well, Rylan, good to get this midweek conversation with you, getting us caught up on some of the political news that's going on across Kentucky and the country.

And we appreciate your insight so much.

We'll talk to you again before too long.

Thanks, Laura.