At the state level, political dynamics haven’t shifted much in the last few years. Gov. Andy Beshear remains the Democratic leader of a state where Republicans hold control of nearly every other statewide office — both chambers of the General Assembly, attorney general, secretary of state, etc. But President Donald Trump’s second term has upended federal funding, shifted priorities and flipped economic agendas.
Kentucky Public Radio focused increasingly on the latest memos, lawsuits and guidance coming out of the Trump administration to understand the impacts on the state. Funds that school districts or local health departments had budgeted for have been frozen or pulled all together. Federal agendas, like Make America Healthy Again, have trickled into the legislature and local farmers have felt the sting of tariffs.
At the same time, the General Assembly has continued passing a slew of bills into law, with or without the governor’s signature. Kentucky Public Radio followed the ways lawmakers sped up the process and, in some cases, shut out the public and limited debate. We also continued to look into the implementation of major laws like the Safer Kentucky Act, which criminalized sleeping outside and has led to the citation of hundreds of homeless Kentuckians.
Potential effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill in Appalachia
Kentucky Public Radio traveled to southeastern Kentucky as Congress debated the giant tax and spending bill, dubbed by Trump as the One Big Beautiful Bill. We talked to health care providers, addiction recovery specialists and community health advocates about what the trillion dollar cut to Medicaid would mean for their communities. Now, those cuts have been signed into law, but they haven’t taken effect just yet. Providers say the cuts will mean fewer insured Kentuckians, worse health outcomes and more rural hospitals and clinics closing.
Similarly, we looked into how cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would impact Appalachian Kentucky while they were still being considered. Kentucky is going to be feeling some of the effects of the increased work requirements and the shifted cost of the program in the coming year. Many Kentuckians already saw what cut SNAP benefits would feel like when the federal government shutdown delayed benefits in November.
A contentious Senate race
The Senate primary race to fill Mitch McConnell’s open seat has put the longtime influential senator’s legacy up for debate and a laser focus on Trump’s immense political influence in the state. The top three GOP candidates have relentlessly campaigned for the president’s endorsement.
Meanwhile, the Democratic primary has become increasingly chaotic, yet familiar. While several political newcomers jumped in the race, several well-known faces are making a fresh bid for the Senate and setting up a repeat showdown: former Senate candidates Amy McGrath and Charles Booker.
Kicked off food assistance
An issue that has transcended administrations, Kentucky Public Radio reported that the state is one of the most aggressive in the country to disqualify people from food assistance benefits using an administrative process that has little transparency and is difficult to track.
In recent years, Kentucky judges have chastised the Beshear administration for using almost no proof to remove people from benefits, just trends the administration believes are in some way indicative of fraud. Using administrative hearing decisions, we found that many people had little to no proof beyond transactional data presented against them before a hearing officer kicked them off benefits.
Transparency in the General Assembly
As reporters, we see first hand how bills are passed — we sit on the House and Senate floors and in committee rooms to watch it happen. Many go through the usual slow and steady process that requires a committee hearing, three days of floor readings and a floor debate before going through it all again in the next chamber.
We’ve also seen giant never-before-seen substitutes, late-night committee votes and heavily limited debate. We saw several bills fast-tracked through the legislative process this year. That includes eleventh hour bills on restricting the use of public funds on gender-affirming transgender medical care and changes to Medicaid and the addition of work requirements.
We reported on lawmakers who, instead of going through the legislative process, pressured Louisville’s Metro Council to weaken its ordinances to mitigate lead exposure in rental properties with threats of more sweeping legislation should they refuse.
Criminalizing sleeping outside
We continued to closely follow 2024's House Bill 5, which Republican sponsors dubbed the Safer Kentucky Act. Along with a slew of increased penalties, the bill also made it illegal to camp or intend to sleep outside.
We rode along with homeless outreach workers and spoke to the people who are at constant risk of running afoul of police for sleeping outside.
After Kentucky Public Radio first reported the story of a homeless pregnant woman who was cited for sleeping outside while in labor in Dec. 2024, we also followed the outcome of her story. After her lawyers filed a complaint that aimed to overturn the ban entirely, prosecutors dismissed the charges in January. Louisville’s chief of police said “these things happen” while acknowledging that the office had erred when issuing the citation. Now, we’re following a new state constitutional challenge to the law — more on that soon.
P.S. If you need a moment of levity after reading all that, listen to a reporter (ok, it’s me) enjoying some of Kentucky’s beautiful native bee species.
