My Old Kentucky Podcast

This week on the show, Jazmin and Robert interviewed Richard Young and Adrian Paul Bryant, the Executive Director and Communications Strategist for CivicLex, a very unique civic education group in Lexington. They talked about the organization's roots, how it operates, and it's future. CivicLex is an important part of the civic fabric in Kentucky's second largest city, and we are thrilled to bring you such a robust interview. On the first part of the show, Jazmin runs down the mass of anti-trans legislation making it's way through the legislature, and Robert talks about Jamie Comer's very interesting 2023.

There were two recent stories about Kentucky's tornado relief efforts that we talked about this week: one about canceled checks that went out to people unaffected by the storm, and another about the under utilization of a fund the state sent to counties for use to meet unmet needs. We dig into these stories and discuss their impact on the 2023 election. Also this episode, plenty of quick hits.

Jason Bailey joined Robert and Jazmin this week to talk about 2023's HB 1, which is a tax cut. The conversation was specifically about that bill and the issues it could create for Kentucky's budget, but also about tax issues in general, and how KY Policy works with the legislature. Robert talked about the Greenberg administration's new plan to address homelessness, which includes several parts.

This week we welcomed Lauren Morgan Bratcher and Kristin Wilcox to talk about marijuana. Ms. Wilcox is one of the founders of Kentucky Moms for Medical Cannabis, and she shared about her experience raising a child with a disease which has a treatment that isn't allowed in Kentucky. We also spoke about the prospects for medical cannabis in this year's session and the role the issue might play in the fall elections this year. Before speaking with them, Jazmin and Robert spoke about several smaller stories, including about Jonathan Mattingly's appearance in Bowling Green, an update to the Department of Juvenile Justice story from last week, more info about the special election coming up, and many more.

This week Jazmin and Robert welcome David Lopez and Diana Duran of Nueva Fuerza on the show. They shared about the organization, including its purpose, its insights in Louisville's Latin American population, and its goals for the future. Jazmin spent most of the first part of the show talking about Kentucky's juvenile justice system, which has been plagued by very serious scandals for quite a while. We've talked around this issue several times on the show, but here we really dig into what is going on, why it's happening, and what solutions exist.

This week Robert and Jazmin talked about the 2023 filing deadline -- who is in, who is out, and what are the matchups in the primary and general elections this Spring and Fall. Then, the pair discuss the first week of the legislative session.

The legislature kicked off their 2023 session, and we talked about everything happened on Day 1. Jazmin also has details on an appeal of a lawsuit in which SCOKY ruled against Governor Beshear, plus updates about a special election and the swearing in of several officers in city government.

This week Robert and Jazmin discussed Buddy Wheatley running for Secretary of State, Savannah Maddox dropping out of the race for Governor, the death of Henry Berg-Brousseau, and Governor Beshear's visit to Eastern Kentucky.

What will the Kentucky legislature tackle in the short 2023 session? Robert and Jazmin dive into this question. Robert looks at the only guaranteed thing: a reduction in the income tax, and also looks into what else the legislature might do around tax reform. Jazmin talks about marijuana reform; a perennial topic in Frankfort, but will this be the year that a bill is actually passed? In addition, Robert and Jazmin discuss several other topics that are likely to come up such as bills attacking trans kids, bills about abortion, "gray machine" regulation, and more.

This week, Robert gives us the background story on Republican candidate Jonathan Shell, who is running for Agriculture Commissioner. Then, Jazmin tells us about last weekend in Bowling Green, where some folks showed up to ask for Emmitt Till's original accuser to be arrested, leading to threats against them, which in turn led to cancellations of all sorts of weekend activities in Warren County.

This week Robert and Jazmin interviewed Lisa Sobel, one of three Jewish women suing the state over abortion laws using a case based on Kentucky's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. We spoke to her about her experience, why she decided to become a plaintiff in this case, and much more. Aaron Kemper, one of the lawyers on the case, also joined us to talk about the legal ideas in the case. This was a very informative and very personal interview, we hope you listen. Two new candidates have entered the 2023 election recently: Pamela Stevenson on the Democratic side, who is running for Attorney General, and Alan Keck on the Republican side, who is running for Governor. Robert and Jazmin dug into their backgrounds and tell you what you need to know.

This week, Tres Watson joined Robert and Jazmin to talk about the 2023 primary from a Republican perspective. Tres is a major player in Republican politics in Kentucky, and has been for a very long time. He talked to us about his thoughts about the current candidates for Governor. Afterwards, Robert and Jazmin joined his show to talk about downballot races for Democrats in 2023, so check out that episode as well. Before speaking with Tres, Robert talked about the oral arguments in the abortion case last week, and Jazmin talked about Judge Wingate rejecting the redistricting lawsuit.

It was a mixed bag in 2022! Two (bad) constitutional amendments went down, several good judges won, and local elections in Louisville and Lexington went pretty well! But the State House is going to become even more Republican. We talked about it all!

Lexington-Fayette County Mayor Linda Gorton joined us this week to talk about her run for re-election and the things she's most proud of during her previous term as mayor. Jazmin and Robert did a long election preview this week, covering significant races for the state legislature, Louisville and Lexington Mayor, and judicial races throughout the state.

Two guests this week -- Maria Sorolis, who is the once and (hopefully!) future representative from House District 48 joined Robert and Jazmin to talk about her candidacy, plus Blair Haydon stopped by to talk about the Emerge Kentucky program. On the show, Jazmin talked about the increasing amount of partisanship in judicial races in Kentucky, and Robert discussed the role of standardized testing in Kentucky education policy.

It's a sports-centric MOKP this week, as Jazmin talks about Louisville's professional women's soccer team, which finds itself mired in an awful scandal involving a former coach, and Robert talked about UK Football coaches having their communications with Kelly Craft ORRed. Our interview this week is Daniel Grossberg, who is set to be elected in the 30th House District in East Central Louisville. He talked about being the first Jewish person elected to the House in half a century, as well as his previous work with the Democratic party, and what he hopes to accomplish in Frankfort.

David Kloiber, candidate for Mayor of Lexington, was our guest this week. He talked about how he decided to run for mayor this year, and how his approach to key issues would be different from the mayors of the past. Before that, Jazmin did a deep dive into Russell Coleman (GOP candidate for Attorney General) and Robert looked into Sen. Max Wise (Kelly Craft's pick to run for Lt. Governor).

This week Robert interviewed two candidates for State House from Louisville: Kate Turner in East Louisville (as well as some of Shelby County and most of South Oldham County -- where she lives) and Rachel Roarx, from South Louisville. They talked about why they are running, the issues they are passionate about, and how they plan to advocate for their communities. Kate Turner also stayed on with Robert to talk about some news, including several stories about abortion and also about Rand Paul's newest campaign ads.

This week Robert and Jazmin interviewed Tommy Adams, candidate for State House in District 73. Tommy is running in Winchester and southeast Lexington. He's an avid outdoorsman and educator. We were excited to bring him to our show! Due to unforeseen circumstances, we didn't record the rest of the show, but are looking forward to sharing our segments about two GOP candidates in 2023 soon!

This week, we discussed the West End TIF with three women who are part of the West End Neighborhood Assembly. They have been organizing in opposition to the TIF, and we talked about why they are doing that, their experiencing living in West Louisville, and their dreams for Louisville's future. Before that, Robert looked into the most recent campaign finance updates, and Jazmin talked about a crisis going on in Kentucky's Department of Juvenile Justice.