[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 188 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6955-S6957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DEBORAH YETTER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, few things ensure honesty in State and 
local government as effectively as a tenacious local journalist. Though 
the ranks of our Nation's small and mid-sized newspapers have shrunk in 
recent years, these dogged reporters still stalk the halls of State 
capitol buildings and city halls, ready to pull back the curtain on 
government officials and bring harsh sunlight to murky backrooms.
  In Kentucky, the Louisville Courier-Journal's Deborah Yetter has been 
our consummate local journalist for nearly four decades, breaking news 
and exposing government scandals, all for the voters' benefit. Deborah 
retired from her role this November, earning praise and accolades from 
all around the Commonwealth. Today, I ask my Senate colleagues to join 
me in adding my voice to that chorus and congratulating Deborah on her 
retirement.
  Deborah has been reporting on Kentucky's government since she first 
graduated college, starting her career in eastern Kentucky and honing 
her skills at Harlan County's Tri-City News. At that weekly, she 
focused on conditions in local coal mines, reported on endemic 
unemployment and poverty in the area, and covered local officials. Her 
work attracted attention from Louisville, where she moved in 1984 to

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work for the Louisville Times. That paper merged with the Courier-
Journal in 1987, and Deborah has been with Kentucky's flagship 
newspaper ever since.
  Early on in her career, Deborah developed a deep well of 
understanding of the functions of State and local government, paying 
special attention to issues affecting Kentucky's most vulnerable. She 
covered abuses in the systems caring for the Commonwealth's children, 
elderly, and disabled, offering a voice to communities that often 
lacked one of their own. Through her stories, she moved public 
officials to improve Kentucky's juvenile detention centers, child 
protection system, facilities housing adults with intellectual 
disabilities, and mental health services. Often, her work ran up 
against obstinate public officials who were loath to release sensitive 
information to the public. She took them to court and won.
  First as a local official in Jefferson County and then as a Senator 
representing Kentuckians statewide, I have had several opportunities to 
work with Deborah over the past four decades. In our interactions she 
was always tough but fair, a standard she maintained throughout her 
career. That integrity won her recognition in Kentucky and beyond, 
including two Pulitzer Prizes, the University of Kentucky's James 
Madison Award for Service to the First Amendment, and induction into 
the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. When she made her retirement 
public, colleagues and advocates from around the Commonwealth offered 
praise for her 38 years of hard work. Vulnerable Kentuckians everywhere 
are better off because of her reporting on their behalf.
  Deborah plans to use her retirement to spend more time with her three 
children, who now all live out-of-state, and her new grandchild. She 
looks forward to dedicating more hours to volunteering at the YMCA, 
singing in the St. James Catholic Church choir, and working with 
children at the St. James School. Even after leaving the Courier-
Journal, she will continue to fight for good in Kentucky. On behalf of 
the entire Senate, I thank Deborah for her service to Kentucky and wish 
her well in the next chapter of her life.
  Mr. President, the Louisville Courier-Journal paid tribute to Deborah 
Yetter's retirement in a recent article. I ask unanimous consent that 
the article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, Nov. 15, 2022]

   Pulitzer-Winning Reporter Deborah Yetter, Protector of Kentucky's 
                           Children, Retires

       Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Yetter, whose 
     tenacious reporting on abuse, neglect and children's welfare 
     spurred greater protections for Kentucky's most vulnerable 
     residents, has retired after 38 years in the industry.
       Yetter's final day at The Courier Journal was Nov. 11.
       ``Debby has received many well-deserved honors, awards and 
     accolades during her almost four decades as a journalist, but 
     the Courier Journal family will miss her for so much more 
     than her stellar reporting,'' Executive Editor Mary Irby-
     Jones said.
       ``She is caring and compassionate, and many young 
     journalists in our newsroom have benefited from her wisdom,'' 
     Irby-Jones said. ``I have had the privilege of working with 
     some top-notch journalists, and Debby is among the best.''
       Yetter's longtime colleague, retired statehouse reporter 
     Tom Loftus, said Yetter ``was a rare reporter who, to sum it 
     up in one sentence, focused on the needy.''
       Indeed, Yetter's coverage of Kentucky's social services 
     gave voice to the most marginalized in society, including 
     children, the disabled and those with mental illnesses:
       Her stories on the appalling conditions in the state's 
     juvenile justice centers led to a federal civil rights 
     investigation and sweeping changes in the state system, 
     including a new emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation 
     instead of punishment and confinement.
       Her series called ``Preying on Seniors'' uncovered 
     horrendous cases of abuse, neglect and a poor system of state 
     care, leading to several changes in state law aimed at better 
     protecting seniors and prosecuting their abusers.
       Her stories examining the confidentiality of Kentucky's 
     child protection system--and her push to get The Courier 
     Journal to join litigation forcing the state to release 
     records of its actions in abuse cases--led to a major open-
     records victory.
       Now vital records about how well the state protects 
     children in abuse and neglect cases are accessible. These 
     stories also prompted the state to create an outside 
     oversight panel to review child deaths from abuse and 
     neglect.
       That panel has since provided critical oversight of cases 
     that likely would have escaped public notice, including the 
     case of a 16-year-old boy with autism who in 2014 suffered 
     two fractured femurs, a near-fatal injury, in a supposedly 
     safe restraint at a Jefferson County public school.
       Late Courier Journal editor David Hawpe called her ``a 
     shining light in state government reporting.''
       ``Her work has had a direct, powerful impact on the lives 
     of Kentuckians--especially defenseless children who suffer at 
     the hands of incompetent and irresponsible state 
     bureaucrats,'' he said in 2017 when Yetter was awarded the 
     James Madison Award for Service to the First Amendment by the 
     University of Kentucky.
       Yetter, a University of Louisville and Northwestern 
     University graduate, began her journalism career in Eastern 
     Kentucky, first as an instructor at Southeast Community 
     College and later as a freelance reporter for The Courier 
     Journal and as managing editor of the Tri-City News, a weekly 
     in Harlan County. During that time, she covered stories 
     ranging from coal mine strikes to poverty and unemployment 
     and local politics.
       The Louisville native joined The Louisville Times in April 
     1984, later moving to The Courier Journal in 1987 after it 
     merged with the Times.
       During her more than three decades at the Louisville 
     newspapers, Yetter covered transportation, county government, 
     federal courts, health, social services and the state 
     legislature. She also spent time as an editorial writer.
       In 1994, Yetter began a series of investigative stories 
     about horrid conditions in the state's centers for juvenile 
     offenders. Through her reporting on a largely unseen and 
     confidential system, she exposed poorly staffed facilities 
     where youths were routinely locked in isolation cells, beaten 
     by other youths and staff and denied adequate medical care 
     and mental health treatment.
       The stories triggered a civil rights investigation by the 
     U.S. Justice Department in 1995 and led to sweeping reforms 
     in the state system under a five-year federal consent decree.
       In 2009, she produced a three-day series called ``Children 
     in Crisis'' outlining how years of underfunding, poor 
     management and excessive confidentiality around child 
     protection had created a crisis in child welfare in Kentucky.
       Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO for Volunteers of 
     America Mid-States, said Yetter's departure will be felt 
     throughout the commonwealth.
       ``She has a uniquely skillful approach to covering the most 
     complex child welfare issues of our time,'' Hancock said.
       Yetter also spent time reporting on problems in the state's 
     system for vulnerable adults, including those with 
     intellectual disabilities. Yetter's coverage included 
     extensive reporting in 2006 and 2007 on Oakwood, a problem-
     ridden residential facility in rural Kentucky marked with 
     years of abuse and mistreatment of residents.
       Following Yetter's reporting, the state replaced the out-
     of-state management company running Oakwood with a Kentucky 
     nonprofit agency experienced in care of people with mental 
     illnesses and intellectual disabilities.
       Yetter was part of The Courier Journal team that earned a 
     Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Carrollton bus crash in 
     1988, when 27 people were killed after a collision with a 
     drunken driver. In 2020, she was again part of a Pulitzer 
     effort, this time for staff reporting on former Kentucky Gov. 
     Matt Bevin's flurry of criminal pardons during his last days 
     in office.
       Yetter in 2015 was awarded the Louisville Chapter of the 
     National Council of Jewish Women's ``Pathway to Justice'' 
     award for coverage of child abuse and neglect. Yetter also 
     won numerous other awards for her coverage of children, 
     elders and people with disabilities or mental illnesses.
       She was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame 
     in 2022, a recognition that her colleagues stressed was long 
     overdue.
       Yetter's departure ``leaves a tremendous void'' in Kentucky 
     journalism, said Bennie Ivory, Courier Journal executive 
     editor from 1997-2013. The depth of Yetter's knowledge about 
     the commonwealth's social services was ``unmatched,'' he 
     said.
       ``Political leaders knew Debby knew more about children's 
     welfare than they did, so they couldn't bull her,'' said 
     Terry Brooks, executive director for Kentucky Youth 
     Advocates.
       Yetter had a special knack for covering ``the peoples'' 
     stories, said Sheila Schuster, a mental health and disability 
     advocate.
       Schuster worked closely with Yetter in 2017 when then-Gov. 
     Bevin vetoed a bill known as ``Tim's Law.'' The bill, named 
     for a Lexington man who died after a long battle with mental 
     illness, was meant to stop the revolving door of jails, 
     hospitals and homelessness for the mentally ill, Yetter 
     reported at the time.
       Yetter's human-centered coverage of the issue led lawmakers 
     to override Bevin's veto, Schuster said.
       ``She was always, always willing to talk to the people 
     affected,'' Schuster said. ``She put a face to the problem, 
     so that people really understood the impact.''
       Yetter's tenacity made her work ``very, very important for 
     public opinion,'' said Jon

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     Fleischaker, a First Amendment attorney who represents The 
     Courier Journal.
       ``She's direct,'' he said. ``She goes right to the heart of 
     it, and she wouldn't take no for an answer.''
       Fleischaker represented The Courier Journal in the early 
     2000s when the paper, along with the Lexington Herald-Leader, 
     battled the Catholic Diocese of Lexington over its coverup of 
     clergy child abuse. The diocese tried--and failed--to hold 
     The Courier Journal in contempt for publishing Yetter's story 
     on the coverup.
       Fleischaker also worked closely with Yetter during former 
     Gov. Steve Beshear's administration, when the Cabinet for 
     Health and Family Services sought to withhold records about 
     severe child abuse in the state. The Courier Journal 
     ultimately won its cases, with a judge ordering the cabinet 
     to pay more than $1 million in attorneys fees and penalties, 
     Fleischaker said.
       Yetter's reporting on the contested records exposed 
     gruesome child fatalities, including those in the state's 
     care.
       Brooks saw Yetter's doggedness in that reporting firsthand, 
     when one morning he watched her sprint down a government 
     building hallway to get an interview with then-Cabinet 
     Secretary, Janie Miller.
       Miller eventually resigned.
       ``Kentucky's kids have had no clarion voice stronger than 
     Debby Yetter,'' Brooks said. ``She was as insightful as she 
     was persistent and often was the `canary in the coal mine,' 
     identifying issues before they were on anyone's radar.''
       ``The loss for Kentucky's kids is unfathomable,'' he added.
       Schuster agreed.
       ``Like so many, I'm happy for her and sad for the rest of 
     us.''
       Outside of work, Yetter is a longtime member of the YMCA 
     and served for several years on a member's committee to 
     review Y programs and services. She also has been a member of 
     St. James Catholic Church for more than 30 years. She sings 
     in the choir and has volunteered on parish committees and 
     projects including one to restore the historic church and 
     school. She also served on the St. James School committee and 
     volunteered at the school when her children were enrolled, 
     including working in the lunch room one day a week.
       Yetter said she is looking forward to visiting her three 
     children, each of whom live out of state, as well as her 1-
     year-old grandchild. She said she is ready for a break and to 
     ``not always be on a deadline.''
       ``I love what I do and I think it's important,'' Yetter 
     said. ``There's never going to be a good time to leave.''

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