Kevin Willis

News Director

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio.  He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition.  He is a broadcast journalism graduate of WKU, and has won numerous awards for his reporting and feature production.  Kevin grew up in Radcliff, Kentucky and currently lives in Glasgow.

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Politics
9:35 am
Tue March 12, 2013

Politico: Important Democratic Group Not Ready to Embrace Ashley Judd Candidacy

A report says Ashley Judd will announce plans to run for Senate around the time of the Kentucky Derby.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) isn't ready to throw its weight behind a possible Kentucky Senate run by actress Ashley Judd. Politico reports the group's executive director, Guy Cecil, called Judd just one in a "handful of quality candidates in Kentucky" who could take on U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Cecil, in a conference call with reporters Monday, refused to deny a separate report in the Louisville Eccentric Observer that said the DSCC is reevaluating Judd, while giving a second look at another possible Democratic Senate challenger: Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Citing a poll that shows 55 percent of Kentuckians view McConnell unfavorably, Cecil described the Louisville Republican as "one of the most unpopular senators in the country."

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman has reported Judd has told advisors that she plans to announce her Senate candidacy around the time of the Kentucky Derby, which is May 4.

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Sports
8:15 pm
Mon March 11, 2013

WKU Hilltoppers Are Again Headed to NCAA Big Dance After Winning Sun Belt Championship

Credit WKU Athletic Meda Relations

It wouldn't be a postseason without the WKU Hilltoppers winning four games in four days.

WKU pulled off the feat for the second straight season, beating Florida International Monday night 65-63 for the Sun Belt Conference Championship.

With the win, the Hilltoppers will make their second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Sophomore forward and Bowling Green native George Fant led the Toppers with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Jamal Crook also scored 17, including some clutch late-game free throws that helped seal the deal for WKU.

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Politics
1:00 pm
Wed March 6, 2013

Holder Tells Sen. Paul President Could Use Deadly Force Against Americans in U.S.

Update at 12:52 p.m.:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is filibustering the nomination of John Brennan as the next C.I.A director.

Paul, a Bowling Green Republican, is expressing his displeasure with Brennan's testimony on the issue of the possible use of drones by the U.S. government to attack citizens on American soil.

Paul is also upset with a letter sent to him by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. In the letter, Holder said the President had the right to order drone strikes against American citizens in the U.S.

Speaking on the floor of the Senate Wednesday, Paul said "no one person, no one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual. It goes against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country."

Original post:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is blasting Attorney General Eric Holder's statement that President Obama could order the use of deadly force against an American inside the United States. The claim came in a letter Holder sent to Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul that was released Tuesday.

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Sports
11:13 am
Wed March 6, 2013

WKU's Clark-Heard Named Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Gooch and Govan Earn First Team Honors

Credit WKU Athletics
WKU's Chastity Gooch is the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the All-Conference First Team.

WKU’s Michelle Clark-Heard has been named the Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year. Two of her players—sophomores Chastity Gooch and Alexis Govan—were named First Team All-Conference selections in a survey of the league’s coaches and media members.

Gooch was also named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year.

Voters recognized Coach Clark-Heard for turning the team around in her first season on the hill. The Lady Hilltoppers take a 20-9 record into this week’s conference championships. Last season, the team won only nine games.

Gooch has averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds this season. Govan averaged over 20 points a game, and hit more than 42-percent of her three-point attempts.

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Politics
9:48 am
Wed March 6, 2013

DeCesare Not Shocked by Look of Democratic-Favored Redistricting Maps

Credit Kentucky LRC
New redistricting maps would have a big impact on Warren County Rep. Jim DeCesare (right)

A Warren County lawmaker says he's not panicking yet about the new redistricting maps passed by a House committee Tuesday. If the maps became a reality, Republican Representative Jim DeCesare would find himself in a new district alongside two other House GOP colleagues--Mike Meredith of Brownsville and C.B Embry of Morgantown.

DeCesare told WKU Public Radio he wasn't shocked by the new maps.

"I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not,” said the Rockfield Republican. “It's kind of what they tried to do last year. Apparantly the House Democratic leadership is trying to eliminate three Republican members in one fail swoop."

Redistricting is often used as a tool by the majority party to protect their own, while modifying or eliminating districts friendly to the minority party. The new maps still have a long way to go before becoming law. They would have to pass the full House and Senate, and then be signed into law by Governor Beshear.

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