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 fellow for Americans for Prosperity, and St. Elizabeth CEO Garren Colvin. 

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 skill games have been forced to shutter the machines until there’s final word. 

Reed, who owns BJ Novelty with her husband, Jeff, faces an unlikely future after the ban of the games — often seen in gas stations and bars — were banned. 

Listen to hear how Reed's take on the new law and how business in NKY are effected.

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 concern that top Democrats in Washington and Kentucky are causing friction with the values of average Kentuckians. 

Listen to hear an interview with a voter from Boone County on why he’s voting for Cameron, and how Cameron feels about the latest charges against former President Donald Trump and his connections to Sen. Mitch McConnell.

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 Responsibility Act moving to a House floor vote, where it passed Wednesday night. It then passed the Senate on Thursday.  

The 99-page bill suspends the $31.4 Trillion debt limit until January 2025. It cuts federal spending by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which includes $11 billion returned from COVID-19 pandemic funding.  

The Rules Committee voted 7-6 on a rule that governed debate over the debt bill, which ensured the bill reached the House and would pass the lower chamber — Massie’s ‘yes’ vote gave the rule a narrow margin that allowed the bill to pass by the June 5 deadline to avoid default.  

Listen to hear more on this week's episode.

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 programs and services.

She said it’s important for the community in NKY to have the conversation about the bill because northern Kentucky supports those in the LGBTQ+ community, and the bill doesn’t represent those in the region.

The town hall came amidst a busy week around politics and the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Kentucky over the bill. 

Listen to hear more about the bill and the town hall in NKY. 

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 polling in third place, former Northern Kentucky attorney Eric Deters in fourth, with Somerset Mayor Alan Keck and State Auditor Mike Harmon rounding out the top six. 

The race has got nasty in recent months with Cameron and Craft running attack ads on both tv and radio. According to medium buying, candidates in the Kentucky GOP primary race have spent more than 10 million on ads — with more than $4 million coming from the Craft campaign.  

Now republican voters must decide who they want to face beshear in November. The incumbent has been deemed the most popular democratic governor in the country according to morning consult, with 6 in 10 Kentucky voters approving of him. 

Joining us on this episode of the Frankfort LINK is y to talk about the republican race is Rick Robinson — an author, attorney, who also worked as the legislative director in the office of former Congressman Jim Bunning.

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 Keck.

Listen to part one here.