‘No Kings on Presidents Day’: Anti-Trump protestors rally at Kentucky Capitol

by Jamie Lucke, Kentucky Lantern
February 17, 2025

FRANKFORT — Bundled up against sub-freezing cold and hoisting homemade signs, more than 200 people gathered in front of the Kentucky Capitol Monday for the second anti-Trump rally in as many weeks.

The event was part of “No Kings on Presidents Day” protests around the country organized by the 50501 Movement which first held anti-Trump protests in all 50 states on Feb. 5. 

Victor Fain of Elizabethtown, who also attended the Feb. 5 rally in Frankfort, said the Monday gathering appeared to have attracted more people. Explaining why he was there, Fain said, “I feel like this administration is uniquely dangerous. Trump has radicalized me.”

Since taking office Jan. 20, Republican President Donald Trump has moved swiftly through executive orders and federal workforce reductions to remake the government. The president empowered billionaire Elon Musk to cut personnel and costs and make other changes in federal agencies via the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Trump’s actions are being challenged in multiple lawsuits, including one joined by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear challenging Trump’s freeze on federal payments, which Beshear said is affecting Medicaid, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Abandoned Mine Lands program in Kentucky. “We deserve to be able to rely on the agreements that a federal government has made, regardless of what party is in power,” Beshear said last week in announcing he had joined the suit filed by Democratic state attorneys general.

Sherman Fracher of Harrodsburg, who hoisted a sign that said “No Kings,” told the Lantern, “We  have to do something. We can’t just sit by and watch it crumble. They have to know we’re not just going to lie down and let them take the government.”

Between chants of “We will not let freedom die” and “This is what America looks like,” the crowd was urged by speakers to contact their representatives in Congress to register their opposition to the Trump agenda.

The Kentucky legislature was not in session Monday.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Senate Bill 89 sounds retreat on 75-year commitment to protecting Kentucky’s waterways

by Tom FitzGerald, Kentucky Lantern
February 18, 2025

“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”

Ben Franklin’s observation was never truer than when considering Senate Bill 89, which has passed the Kentucky Senate and could be considered this week by the state House. Ignoring that we all live downstream, the bill would narrow what waters are protected in Kentucky and will lower water quality and raise water treatment costs for downstream communities, farms and industries.

Kentucky’s Division of Water is charged with protecting “waters of the commonwealth” — an intentionally broad term including all “rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, marshes, and all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial.”

Kentucky law declares it is state policy to conserve the waters of the commonwealth for public water supplies; fish and wildlife; agricultural, industrial, recreational and other legitimate uses; to safeguard from pollution the uncontaminated waters; to prevent new pollution and abate existing pollution. It has been Kentucky’s stated policy for 75 years to safeguard these waters from pollution, and Kentucky’s businesses, farms and communities have all benefited from efforts to achieve that goal.

SB 89 would narrow protections to only those waters that are defined as “navigable waters” under the federal Clean Water Act, excluding all groundwater, as well as the upper reaches of stream and river systems in Kentucky. Federal law, because it only reaches waters affecting interstate commerce, was never intended to, and does not regulate the full range of discharges that can occur to land or water nor fully protect all waters in Kentucky that are important for drinking water, fish and wildlife, recreation, farming and industries.

If it passes, all protections of groundwater from pollution would be eliminated since groundwater — the source of drinking water for over 1.5 million Kentuckians through 185 public water systems and over 416,000 Kentuckians from wells and springs — is not protected under the federal Clean Water Act. 

Water pollution affecting off-stream constructed lakes, water storage reservoirs, and farm irrigation and stock watering ponds from other properties would be unregulated.

Dumping or discharging pollution into stream headwaters would no longer be limited or prohibited. Called “ephemeral streams,” the upper reaches of stream systems that carry rainwater and snowmelt runoff into Kentucky’s rivers and lakes are an essential part of the river systems, yet are mostly excluded from federal law protections and would lose all protections under state water laws. The Energy and Environment Cabinet would no longer be able to require permits, to impose limits on that water pollution or require sampling or reporting.

Discharging hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants into headwater streams would no longer be prohibited, and the cabinet would lack authority to require cleanup of releases of hazardous substances to groundwater or ephemeral streams. And downstream flooding, which has caused so much loss and tragedy for our brothers and sisters in Eastern Kentucky, would be worsened if the cabinet is prevented from controlling dumping of wastes into and destruction of headwater stream reaches by mining, since sediment loading and increased runoff rates may worsen flooding.

SB 89 will raise costs for water customers, businesses and industries. Public water systems rely on the ability of the state cabinet to control discharges of pollution into the streams and rivers from which they withdraw water for treatment and sale to customers. Lower water quality due to loss of pollution controls over headwater stream reaches could increase water treatment cost. As downstream water quality declines, more stringent limits are also likely for discharges for downstream permittees. 

Unclear about the impacts? Consider this: A business or industry dumps wastewater into a natural swale, ephemeral channel or constructed ditch that drains into a sinkhole linked to a karst flow system and contaminates the source of a public water system that draws water supply from that karst system. That discharge is currently regulated but would not be under SB 89 because groundwater is no longer protected.

Or this: In the past, brine water from oil and gas operations was often dumped into ephemeral stream channels, where it flowed into the Licking and Kentucky rivers and caused drinking water treatment problems for those communities. Under SB 89, the brine discharges to headwater ephemeral and possibly intermittent streams would not be regulated. And discharges from package sewage treatment plants from subdivisions into ephemeral or intermittent channels leading to larger streams and rivers would no longer be regulated by the state.

Kentucky’s Division of Water must have the ability to ask for a permit or to impose compliance obligations through enforcement actions for these and other activities causing pollution to any Kentucky waters. We all live downstream, and Kentuckians deserve clean water for drinking, irrigation,  recreation, fishing, and for industries and businesses. Now is not the time for Kentucky’s General Assembly to retreat from our 75-year commitment to safeguarding and protecting Kentucky’s waters from pollution, when we still have so much to do to reach the clean water goals set so many years ago.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Kentucky still in ‘search and rescue’ as death toll reaches 11, says Beshear

by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
February 17, 2025

Kentucky is still in the “search and rescue phase” following deadly statewide floods over the weekend, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday morning.

The governor said 11 Kentuckians have now been confirmed dead as a result of the weather. During a press conference at the Kentucky Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort, Beshear said the latest deaths include an adult man in Hardin County and another man in Floyd County. 

With some rivers still cresting, more severe weather is on the way for Kentucky Tuesday night into Wednesday night. Pooled water is at risk of freezing, leaving black ice on roads while the predicted snow would create challenges for transportation crews already working to clear roads, Beshear said.

Beshear expressed gratitude for local, state and national crews coming to Kentucky to help with emergency response efforts. He said the entire state has standing water in different areas and more than 300 roads were still impacted and closed. 

“We are still in the search and rescue phase of this emergency,” the governor said. “We still have multiple different missions that are underway. There are still people that are in harm’s way.” 

As of Monday morning, 175 National Guard soldiers and airmen were active in Kentucky, including members of the Indiana National Guard. Beshear said additional aviation crews from Indiana and Tennessee are bound for Kentucky. Federal urban search and rescue teams from Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee were also part of operations in Kentucky. 

Beshear said two National Guard trucks were overcome by high flood waters in separate missions. While it “got very dangerous for one set of guardsmen,” they are safe. One truck was still underwater and was unrecoverable until waters recede. 

Beshear said the state would apply for individual federal assistance on Monday. President Donald Trump had previously approved Beshear’s request for an emergency disaster declaration.

“We now believe that we have enough damage and evidence of enough damage to request that help for our people,” Beshear said. “If we secure it, it will open up immediate need and cleaning and sanitizing money that becomes available pretty quickly to our people.” 

After that, applications can open for further individual assistance up to $42,500, the governor said. 

While the flooding in Eastern Kentucky was not as devastating as in July 2022 when record rains caused flash flooding, Beshear said daily rainfall records were set in Frankfort, Paducah, Bowling Green, London and Jackson. 

“I think we know that climate change is making more weather events happen, but we keep getting hit over and over,” Beshear said in response to a question. “And while the ‘why’ is hard, I think we always see God in the response.

“Good people, brave people, doing the right thing, showing up for their neighbors, hopefully contributing to the Team Kentucky Storm Relief Fund. We’ve got to make sure we’re here for every victim and victim’s family of this storm, but also everybody who’s displaced. They deserve as much of our effort as those that were harmed after the tornadoes or that last set of flooding.” Beshear was referring to deadly tornadoes that tore through Kentucky in December 2021, killing 74 people.The flooding in Eastern Kentucky in 2022 took 45 lives.

Secretary of Transportation Jim Gray emphasized drivers should not enter high water. He said transportation workers are continuing to make road repairs, such as responding to a rockslide on I-69 in Caldwell County, but a “very high” number of road closures remain. To get up to date information about road closures, visit goky.ky.gov.

As of Monday morning, 14,672 people were without power, the governor said. 

Some state facilities were also impacted by the weather. Department of Juvenile Justice Community Services offices in Harlan, Pike and Clay counties have been “flooded and they’re inoperable,” Beshear said. The department is looking for temporary office locations. 

The main source of water for Breathitt County Juvenile Justice Center has been shut off, affecting the local juvenile detention center. The detention center is using bottled water and looking for portable showers, the governor said. The county expects to get the water back on within three days, “but we know that we’re going to need water a lot quicker than that.” 

Monday afternoon, Beshear will travel to Pikeville in Eastern Kentucky and provide another update on the emergency response. Depending on logistics, he may meet with families taking shelter at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park. Across four state parks, 143 people were taking shelter as of the morning update. 

Beshear reminded Kentuckians to call 911 only in situations where their life is threatened or are facing an emergency. For non-emergency situations, call 502-607-6665 or visit kyem.ky.gov. 

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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