Kentucky
Bill seeks to move KY Fish and Wildlife control from Beshear to Department of Agriculture
By West Kentucky Star staff
Mar. 14, 2024 | 07:00 AM
| FRANKFORT
A Republican-backed Senate bill would take authority of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and put it under Republican Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell.
Senate Bill 3 sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, which passed out of committee Tuesday, is a priority bill for Senate Republicans.
The bill would move the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources from the tourism cabinet, overseen by Beshear, and attach it to the agriculture department overseen by Shell.
Proponents say the bill would limit political games being played with the commission. Opponents called it an unconstitutional power grab that diminishes the interests of sportsmen in favor of the farming community.
Sportsmen who spoke against the bill argued that the mission of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture was diametrically opposed to sportsmen because farmers would want to limit wildlife for the benefit of their crops.
The biggest change would be over appointment power to the board. As of now, licensed hunters and anglers from nine districts across the state nominate up to five people, then one is appointed by the governor. Under Senate Bill 3, the ag commissioner would appoint the members.
Unlike most other state agencies,Fish and Wildlife is essentially self-sustaining and operates mostly on revenue from fees it collects.
No representative from either the Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet or the Kentucky Department of Agriculture spoke at the committee hearing.
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — One person died and several others were injured when an EF-2 tornado tore through Washington County on May 30, 2025.
A year later, Emergency Management Services Director Kevin Devine is now reflecting on the scene left behind.
“It looked like a bomb went off in several houses,” Devine said.
The tornado left widespread destruction in its path.
Covering Kentucky
Community mourns Ron Hill, victim of Friday’s Washington County tornado
“It was just trees mangled, a house blew off, windshields, vehicles cracked and moved,” Devine said.
The tornado touched down on Long Run Road, a rural one-lane road. Crews used chainsaws to cut through debris to clear a path for ambulances.
Access to the area proved difficult for emergency responders.
“It had rained a lot so if you got off the road a little bit you had a chance of getting stuck,” Devine said.
Devine, who has served as director of Emergency Management Services for more than two decades, called the response his toughest experience in that role.
“It was a challenge getting in and out and getting people in and out because everybody’s trying to go both ways,” Devine said.
The search and rescue operation took nearly 100 volunteers from multiple counties.
Now, as the county plans for future severe weather events, Devine said he does not see Washington County adding to its six warning sirens already in place — outside of some additional communication efforts with neighboring communities.
“We’re such a rural county, we can’t really put them next to every house,” Devine said. “With the news the way it is you now can get your warnings on your phone pretty easily.”
At the site on the hill above Long Run Road, recovery has taken a personal shape. Tonya Orberson lost her fiancé, Ronnie Hill, in the tornado. According to Devine, she now has a new home, complete with a basement.
Devine credited the community for making that recovery possible.
“They really pitched in and helped,” Devine said.
Jim Obergefell talks LGBTQ+ rights 10 years after Supreme Court ruling
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide, looks back on its impact 10 years later.
Happy Pride Month!
About 9% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, and some places are safer for and more welcoming of those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Here’s how Kentucky ranks compared to other states.
How Kentucky ranks for being welcoming, safe for LGBTQ+ members
Kentucky ranks No. 35 out of 50 states for being welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Out Leadership’s State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index. While the commonwealth has climbed eight spots since 2019, it earned about 41 out of 100 possible points, receiving a B- grade.
The report comes as national scores continue to decline. The average state score has fallen for four consecutive years and now sits at 53.1, with 26 states scoring below 60, Out Leadership founder and CEO Todd Sears told USA TODAY.
The index suggests acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. has declined in recent years, reversing progress that once improved the well-being and safety of LGBTQ+ communities, Sears said.
“When we started this index eight years ago, the goal was to show Americans the issues that were still live but invisible — HIV criminalization, conversion therapy, where state legislators actually stood — because once marriage equality passed, a lot of people assumed the work was done. It wasn’t,” Sears said. “What we’ve documented since is a genuine regression.”
This year, Out Leadership added 12 new indicators measuring the effects of policies affecting LGBTQ+ people, including restrictions on bathroom access, pronoun and name use and gender-affirming care for adults. Sears said the additions were made to better capture policies that have increasingly affected LGBTQ+ residents and their families.
“For the last several years, we simply weren’t capturing forces that were already hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families,” Sears said.
SafeHome.org also ranks Kentucky on the lower side for LGBTQ+ safety. The state ranks No. 27 out of 51 jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., and received a score of 80.7 and a B- grade.
The rankings are based on a score that combines state laws affecting LGBTQ+ residents and hate crime data. Researchers evaluated laws across several policy areas using input from a survey of more than 1,000 LGBTQ+ people and paired the results with FBI hate crime statistics before calculating the final scores.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Network. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.
Kentucky got consecutive home runs from Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell to take a 9-6 lead over West Virginia. Chase Alderman and Nile Adcock combined to record five consecutive scoreless innings. The Bat Cats were three outs away from reaching — and hosting — a super regional.
West Virginia had other plans.
Free passes, a balk, and a three-run home run from Paul Schoenfield plated five runs in the ninth. It was absolute chaos in Kendrick Family Ballpark. Kentucky snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
That sets up one final game between the Wildcats and the Mountaineers again, but this one could sting for some time. Jeff Drummond and myself are reacting to the crushing loss by taking a look at what went wrong, how it got off the rails so quickly. and what could be on the horizon for tomorrow.
Smash that play button.
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