Some Kentucky lawmakers have been flocking to Bullitt County this week to speak in support of a proposal to build an electric vehicle factory in Shepherdsville.Offiicials with the company that makes the ZAP electric automobile say they would consider producing the three-wheeled vehicle in Bullitt County, but only if Kentucky law is amended to make them street legal.Right now they can't be licenced as cars in the Commonwealth.House Speaker Jody Richards visited the ZAP dealership in Shepherdsville Tuesday and pledged to help get the law changed. On Wednesday, state Senator Dan Seum was in town to announce that he's prefiled a bill that would permit the low-speed ZAPs on most thoroughfares."It would allow this particular vehicle to be driven on any street in the state of Kentucky with the exception of the interstate," Seum said.Seum also says he believes Governor Beshear could make the cars legal simply by issuing an executive order.Two Shepherdsville businessmen who want to build the plant say it could employ as many as one-thousand workers.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.