The Frankfort LINK

A national libertarian-leaning conservative group known for its connections to the Koch brothers and its “dark money” network is weighing in on the certificate of need debate expected to heat up in Kentucky over the ensuing months as some seek to repeal or reform the decades-long program.   Listen as politics and government reporter Mark Payne interviews Dean Clancy,  the senior health policy fell...

Business owner Kama Reed is still determining how much longer she'll own her business after a ban on skill games passed the Kentucky legislature in the spring and the law took effect on Thursday.  The manufacturer of the games, Pace-O-Matic sued the state over the ban, but the case is stuck in the court system with the next hearing in August. While the lawsuit plays out, businesses who have s...

Former Northern Kentucky Attorney Eric Deters said he's "99%" sure he'll run against Rep. Thomas Massie in the Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District in 2024.  Deters, fresh off running for the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor, sent out a Tweet and an email saying, "I will announce my decision to run against Thomas Massie at Patriot Freedom Fest Sept...

At his first general election campaign event in Northern Kentucky as the GOP gubernatorial nominee, Daniel Cameron ran through a list of campaign talking points similar to what he provided on the primary campaign trail.  Cameron talked about his fight as attorney general against the opioid scourge in the Commonwealth, his battle against Gov. Andy Beshear over the COVID-19 shutdowns, and his concer...

Northern Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie voted in favor of the debt limit bill that suspends the country’s borrowing limit until January 2025 and reduces the federal deficit but also showed support for spending cut provisions if Congress doesn’t pass mandatory appropriation bills.   Massie’s vote just days earlier in the House Rules Committee, however, proved crucial to the Fiscal Responsibilit...

In late June, the part of a bill that bans gender-affirming care for children will go into effect in Kentucky. On Wednesday, the NKY Pride center held a town hall in Covington in opposition of the recently passed senate bill 150. Bonnie Meyer co-chairs and helped open NKY Pride on Pike Street in 2021 after serving as the founding director of the northern Kentucky university’s office of LGBTQ progr...

On May 16,  Republican voters will decide their nominee to face Democrat incumbent Governor Andy Beshear in the general election.  Twelve candidates threw their hat in the ring for the republican nomination.  Attorney General Daniel Cameron and United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft have emerged as the frontrunners, according to a poll from emerson college. Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles is...

LINK nky, along with WCPO and the Kenton County Republican Party, hosted two Republican gubernatorial debates at the Lincoln Grant Scholar House in Covington on April 25 and 26. We will bring you those debates in podcast form in a two-part series.   Here is part two, which features candidates Eric Deters, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, State Auditor Mike Harmon, and Somerset Mayor Alan Kec...

LINK nky, along with WCPO, and the Kenton County Republican Party hosted two Republican gubernatorial debates at the Lincoln Grant Scholar House in Covington on April 25 and 26.  We will bring you those debates in podcast form in a two part series.  Here is part one, which features candidates Bob Devore, Jacob Clark, and David Cooper. 

Attorney General Daniel Cameron appeared in Northern Kentucky Thursday for a Meet and Greet to appeal to Republican voters why he should win the nomination and face Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in the general election. Cameron ran through numerous campaign talking points, such as his fight as attorney general against the opioid and fentanyl scourge in the Commonwealth, his fight against Gov....

The big news in the governor’s race this week is Former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft gained significant ground on Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican nominee in the Kentucky gubernatorial election, according to a poll conducted by Fox 56 and Emerson College.   The poll surveyed 900 “very likely” Republican voters.  Craft now sits just six points behind Cameron,...

On Wednesday, the legislature convenes for the last two days of the 2023 legislatures session.  They adjourned on March 16 for the 10 day veto period, where the governor vetoed multiple bills including the controversial Senate BIll 150, which will ban gender-affirming care for children.  The legislature will spend its last two days overriding any of the governor’s vetoes, and potentially could pas...

The Kentucky legislature passed a bill last week that will place a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for kids in Kentucky after the legislature snuck in language to another bill and then quickly passed it in an unannounced meeting before moving it through both chambers.  The legislation — which has switched to multiple bill numbers and took a dizzying number of different forms in its final 24...

Welcome back to another episode of the Frankfort LINK. I am Mark Payne, the politics and government reporter for LINK nky.  I am coming to you from Frankfort, Kentucky where I am covering the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly Legislative Session and bringing you the political news that matters most to Northern Kentucky.  On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the first Republican gubernatorial...

With tears in her eyes, northern Kentucky Rep. Kim Banta (R-Ft. Mitchell) said that she’s worked so hard to prevent conversion therapy in the LGBTQ community.   Just moments after the House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 470 — which would ban transition services for youth under 18 — Banta said she felt upset.   “I’m really upset for families right now. I’m upset because I feel like we denig...

Sports betting is alive in Kentucky’s statehouse after a legislator filed a bill on the final day for House bills to be introduced during the 2023 legislative session.  Rep. Michael Meredith (R-Oakland) filed the bill,which he said is different from last year’s legislation.  The new bill removes online poker, fantasy sports, and instead it focuses solely on sports wagering.  Last year, House Bill...

A bill that would make Kentucky a Second Amendment sanctuary passed the House Veterans, Military, and Public Protection Committee.  It isn’t the only pro-Second Amendment bill filed so far during the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly legislative session.  Filed by Rep. Josh Bray (R-Mount Vernon), House Bill 153 is a duplicate bill filed last year that would essentially prevent a federal ban on firear...

The Kentucky legislature reconvened for the second part of the 30-day legislative session, and they wasted no time tackling priority legislation for income tax reduction and education.   The Senate passed legislation to further reduce the income tax from 4.5 to 4%, and the bill will now head to the governor’s desk.   House Bill 1 codifies the income tax cuts outlined  in House Bill 8 — a bill pass...

Gov. Andy Beshear visited Northern Kentucky last week to talk to the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Government forum.  Speaking after the forum, Beshear wouldn’t say if he would veto House Bill 1, the income tax bill set to be taken up by the Senate this week when the Kentucky legislature reconvenes in Frankfort for the second part of the 30-day legislative session.  Beshear said he would...

Welcome back to another episode of the Frankfort LINK. I am Mark Payne, the politics and government reporter for LINK nky.  This week I am coming to you from Covington, Kentucky, home of LINK nky headquarters.  When I talked on the first episode of the new Frankfort LINK, I mentioned that some changes were afoot. One of those changes mentioned is that we won’t just talk about Frankfort — we will t...

Kentuckian David Royce lost his son to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, that’s killing Americans an alarming rate.  Speaking to the  House and Senate’s Health Services Committee last week, Royce said that Kentuckians don’t have to keep dieing and he challenged to continue to fight the epidemic.  As Kentucky continues to fight the opioid epidemic, the state is  is set to get $842 million in settlement...

This week, the Kentucky Supreme Court held its investiture services for its new justices and chief justice.  On Monday, new Chief Justice Laurence B. VanMeter was sworn in by former Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who held the position for 14 years. Gov. Andy Beshear, Senate President Robert Stivers, and Speaker of the House David W. Osborne spoke at the ceremony.  Elsewhere in the capitol, Gov....

On this episode of the Frankfort LINK, Politics and Government reporter Mark Payne talks about Gov. Andy Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address and the Republican response to the address. He interviews Sen. John Schickel (R-Union) and Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood) about President Joe Biden's visit to talk about $1.6 billion in funding for the new Brent Spence Bridge.