Author
Teri Carter
Some legacy
In an April 21 KET interview, GOP Senate leader Damon Thayer was asked to define the term “normal Republican.” “Someone who wants to help put the fire out that’s burning in America today,” he said, adding that he is “tired of the jokers,” only to add this minutes later: “I don’t think that President Trump […]
Undercurrent of racism propelled this legislative session
If there is a photo that defines Kentucky’s 2024 regular session, it is a smiling Secretary of State Michael Adams signing House Bill 5 — a sprawling, data-questionable, pro-incarceration bill with an unknown, sky’s-the-limit budget, overriding the governor’s veto — on the House steps, surrounded by more than two dozen applauding supporters and lawmakers. All […]
Taking stock one year after a bank staff meeting was turned into a bloodbath
April 10 marks one year since a mentally unstable 25-year-old walked into Old National Bank in Louisville and shot five people to death — Thomas Elliott, James Tutt Jr., Juliana Farmer, Joshua Barrick, Deana Eckert — and injured eight, including Nickolas Wilt, a young police officer who was shot in the head and miraculously survived. […]
What’s a girl to think?
A week before the end of this regular session, the Senate Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection — commonly known as VMAPP and chaired by Sen. Rick Girdler — met for 21 minutes. I attended this meeting. After the prayer, pledge of allegiance and roll call, Sen. Gex Williams kindly introduced a little […]
Kentucky supermajority can do anything it wants, so why not protect kids from gun violence?
Let’s start here: Republicans have an overwhelming supermajority in the Kentucky legislature. We also have a record surplus. If a Republican-sponsored bill is a priority, if leadership wants it, there is nothing to stop them from fully funding and passing that bill. In 2019, the year after the deadly Marshall County High School shooting, our […]
Rush is on to arm volunteer ‘guardians’ in schools while a bill that could protect kids languishes
According to research gathered by Sandy Hook Promise, “An estimated 4.6 million American children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked. These improperly stored weapons have contributed to school shootings, suicides and the deaths of family members, including infants and toddlers.” Senate Bill 56 — sponsored by Sen. […]
Here’s what hurts the most
On Feb. 9, Sen. Matthew Deneen, R-Hardin, sent out a press release that began, “It’s an unfortunate time here in the commonwealth as we must address a pressing issue, and that is gun violence …” Yes! I wanted to scream. Finally! But Deneen was not talking about the epidemic of gun violence that ends hundreds […]
GOP supermajority: Silly, unserious, unconcerned by Kentuckians’ real problems
On Jan. 31, I began my day reading a story that opened with a stunning sentence. “Some residents of a county in Kentucky are going on two weeks without running water, forcing them to use public toilets and catch rainwater to bathe.” As I was reading this news, a 7:31 a.m. tweet popped up from […]
‘Having a conversation is not an act of aggression.’ Especially when lives are at stake.
Kentucky’s 2024 regular session opened with lawmakers insisting leadership consider rules changes to make the legislative process more transparent. Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, was one of those lawmakers, saying, “Proposing rules changes, having a discussion in this body, having a conversation, is not an act of aggression.” She was right. And yet this is […]
Kentucky lawmakers should heed lesson from Louisville mass shooting
The day before he killed five people and injured several others, the Old National Bank shooter wrote, “OH MY GOD THIS IS SO EASY. Seriously, I knew it would be doable but this is ridiculous. Walked in and bought a gun, 4 mags, and 120 rounds for $700. Got some glasses and earplugs…” On April […]
Selling fear for profit
As we watched the aftermath of the mass shooting in Maine last week and listened to vacuous comments from newly-elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, my mind kept turning over the title of a famous Roxane Gay essay, “No one is coming to save us,” like a dystopian mantra. “The problem is the human heart, […]
Would Daniel Cameron really have rolled the dice with Kentuckians lives?
A month ago, on Sept. 17, I had a terrifying car accident in southern Illinois.? It was a sunny, Sunday afternoon. I was returning home to Kentucky following my 40-year high school reunion in Missouri. I was alone. And I was driving about 50 mph when a woman made an illegal turn in front of […]