By Sheila Ash The University of Louisville will host a community forum today to discuss what some call the lack of civility in the political arena.The panel will include Congressman John Yarmuth, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson and U of L political science professor Jasmine Farrier. Yarmuth says they will talk about the tone of political dialogue in the country."(We'll be) addressing the issue of whether or not this is dangerous and whether we need to have any kind of national assessment of the dangers of extreme dialogue," he said. The event grew out of the recent rampage in Tucson that killed six and critically injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Both Yarmuth and Grayson are friends of Giffords and say she had suggested having discussions on political discourse just prior to the incident. The free event begins at noon at Bigelow Hall on the U of L Belknap Campus.
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.