From exclusive menu items to portion sizes, we wanted to find all the differences between the US and UK KFC menus in 2024 and see what's changed since 2020. This is "Food Wars."
FIRST ON FOX: Conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings is being privately and publicly encouraged to run for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s open Senate seat in 2026, sources, including a Republican operative familiar with the race, told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Some conservative personalities floated the possibility publicly on X. The pundit is known for his advocacy of the Trump administration on the airwaves, and he regularly goes viral for debating liberal pundits on the cable television network.
He served as a longtime advisor to the outgoing Kentucky senator and previously worked in the George W. Bush administration.
"Could I nominate [Scott Jennings] for the United States Senate from the Commonwealth of Kentucky? He'd be a hell of a McConnell replacement," pundit Erick Erickson tweeted.
"I would absolutely support my friend [Scott Jennings] for U.S. Senate. But he’d also make a fine governor for the great state of Kentucky as well," Republican strategist Dustin Grage tweeted.
As for McConnell, the former Senate majority leader said last week he would not seek another term, leaving the door wide open for contenders in 2026.
"Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate," McConnell, who first took office in 1985, said on the Senate floor while announcing his retirement.
"Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last," he added.
Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has already entered the race, and Rep. Andy Barr is also mulling a bid. Cameron ran for governor in 2023, but he narrowly lost to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
In a recent campaign video, Cameron mentioned McConnell by name for voting against the nominations of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"You should expect a senator from Kentucky to vote for those nominees to advance the ‘America first’ agenda," Cameron said.
Neither Trump nor McConnell have announced an endorsement in the race.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jennings but did not receive comment.
Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron on Thursday announced that he is running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the upper chamber of Congress.
Cameron, who was Kentucky's first Black attorney general, announced his Senate campaign just minutes after McConnell said he would not seek re-election in 2026.
"Kentucky, it's time for a new generation of leadership in the U.S. Senate. Let's do this," Cameron wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of himself, his wife and their children seen on the Daniel Cameron U.S. Senate campaign website.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cameron's campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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A seven-term senator, McConnell announced on his 83rd birthday that he would not seek re-election and would retire at the end of his term. McConnell recently voted against several of President Donald Trump's Cabinet picks: National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. McConnell voted in favor of Kash Patel, whom the Senate confirmed as Trump's FBI director on Thursday.
In a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said McConnell has "dedicated his life to public service and the state he loves" and "our country is grateful for his leadership and legacy of confirming conservative judges and justices, and safeguarding the Republican Senate Majority."
"Kentucky is a red state, so the NRSC is confident that our eventual nominee will be a principled, America First conservative who will join our Majority’s fight for our nation’s Golden Era," Scott said.
Cameron has long been groomed to become McConnell's replacement. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2023 against two-term Democrat Andy Beshear.
In his first year as attorney general, Cameron handled the investigation into Breonna Taylor's shooting death during a March 2020 Louisville police raid at a time when George Floyd-era protests and riots swept the nation.
His office ultimately declined to charge two officers who opened fire, but indicted a third on wanton endangerment over bullets that entered a neighbor's apartment. That officer was acquitted in a state trial, but the Justice Department brought federal charges against all three.
SEN MITCH MCCONNELL ANNOUNCES HE WILL NOT RUN FOR RE-ELECTION
Cameron, the current CEO of the 1792 Exchange, a non-profit that aims to hold companies accountable for pushing a "far-left ideology," might face GOP primary competition.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., reiterated Thursday that he is "considering running for Senate because Kentucky deserves a Senator who will fight for President Trump and the America First Agenda."
"I’ve done that every day in the House and would do so in the Senate," Barr said. "I’m encouraged by the outpouring of support and my family and I will be making a decision about our future soon."
Nate Morris, an entrepreneur serving as chairman and CEO of the Louisville-based Morris Industries, said last week he was still considering a run for McConnell's seat, while slamming other potential candidates waiting for McConnell to back out first.
"If you're asking for a permission slip to run for office here in Kentucky from Mitch McConnell, then you shouldn't be running in the first place," Morris said. "The last thing Kentucky needs is another puppet for Mitch McConnell running for office."
As for Democrats, Beshear's spokesman Eric Hyers said in a post on X that the governor would not be running to fill McConnell's seat.
Democratic state Rep. Pamela Stevenson of Louisville has long been fundraising to run for McConnell's seat, according to the Courier Journal.
Kentucky leans red in federal elections, such as Senate races, but has been more competitive during gubernatorial contests.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: Just after announcing his bid for former Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's seat, Daniel Cameron is being slammed for his electability, or lack thereof, by a potential GOP opponent.
"When President Trump and Andy Barr teamed up in his 2018 election, they won Kentucky’s toughest Congressional race against Amy McGrath and the Trump resistance," Tyler Staker, spokesperson for Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement.
"When President Trump endorsed Daniel Cameron for Governor, Daniel embarrassed the President and our party by losing in a state that President Trump won by over 30 points—including losing Andy Barr’s district by 19 points. We need proven winners, not folks who can’t win even with the support of the greatest President we’ve ever seen," he continued.
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Brandon Moody, Cameron's Senate campaign strategist, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Daniel Cameron is up 30 points on Andy Barr in the latest statewide public polling. So Andy is a little confused about electability. Probably too much wine last night from his hundredth lobbyist dinner of the month."
McConnell announced on Thursday that he would not be seeking re-election when his seat is up in 2026, opening up an opportunity for new candidates in red Kentucky.
"I’ve never liked calling too much attention to today’s date, February 20th. But I figured my birthday would be as good a day as any to share with our colleagues a decision I made last year about how I’ll approach the 119th Congress," the longtime Republican leader said on the Senate floor.
"My current term in the Senate will be my last," he revealed.
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Immediately following the news, Cameron announced his campaign for the seat. He notably served as Kentucky's attorney general before unsuccessfully running for governor, losing to Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky.
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., issued the following statement on Senator Mitch McConnell's retirement: "Senator Mitch McConnell dedicated his life to public service and the state he loves. Our country is grateful for his leadership and legacy of confirming conservative judges and justices, and safeguarding the Republican Senate Majority. Kentucky is a red state, so the NRSC is confident that our eventual nominee will be a principled, America First conservative who will join our Majority’s fight for our nation’s Golden Era."
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Barr did not say whether he would jump into the Senate race on Thursday, but he did write on X, "As I’ve said before this announcement, I am considering running for Senate because Kentucky deserves a Senator who will fight for President Trump and the America First Agenda. I’ve done that every day in the House and would do so in the Senate. I’m encouraged by the outpouring of support and my family and I will be making a decision about our future soon."
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, R-Ky., won't be running in the Senate race for McConnell's seat, however. Spokesperson Austin Hacker said in a statement, "Congressman Comer will not be running for Senate in 2026 but is strongly considering a run for Governor in 2027."
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Kentucky is strongly favored for Republicans in the 2026 Senate race, but Democrats are expected to put significant money and effort into making it competitive.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesman David Bergstein said in a statement, "Republicans were already facing a difficult Senate map and now another open seat has created an additional defensive headache for them."
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is cautiously optimistic about the future success of his Supreme Court gender case after he secured another legal win in Kentucky that will reverse the Biden administration's Title IX rewrite nationwide.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky Northern Division made the ruling in Cardona v. Tennessee on Thursday.
Skrmetti told Fox News Digital in a Tuesday interview, "Every win we get is another break in the wall of ensuring that the law means what the people who voted for it thought it meant."
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The ruling came months after the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that would have included protections from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX.
The sweeping rule was issued in April and clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covered discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions."
The rule took effect Aug. 1, 2024, and the law stated, for the first time, that discrimination based on sex includes conduct related to a person’s gender identity.
"The Title IX rule was the height of overreach, administrative overreach by the Biden administration, and we were very happy to be able to stop that," Skrmetti said on Tuesday.
Now, he is looking ahead to the court's highly anticipated decision in the United States v. Skrmetti case, which is expected by June.
The Supreme Court is weighing whether the equal protection clause, which guarantees equal treatment under the law for individuals in similar circumstances, prevents states from banning medical providers from offering puberty blockers and hormone treatments to children seeking transgender surgical procedures.
The lawsuit against Tennessee's law banning transgender treatment for minors was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several transgender minors and their parents. The families argue the law infringes on parental rights to make medical decisions for their kids and forces them to go out-of-state to receive transgender procedures.
"It seems like the momentum has really shifted almost culturally on these issues," Skrmetti said. "And when you see people trying to rewrite laws through creative judging, through creative regulating, that alienates the people from the laws that bind them, and it's bad for America."
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Skrmetti described the recent developments as part of a broader "vibe shift" in the country, noting that they reflect a "great data point" indicating a decline in efforts to reshape American law through "non-democratic" processes.
"We'll know what the Supreme Court does when the Supreme Court does it," he said.
Fox News Digital's Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: A Kentucky judge declined to immediately sign a police reform consent decree forged by the Justice Department and city of Louisville during a hearing one courtroom participant described as a hasty attempt by the Biden administration to hamstring President-elect Donald Trump.
The Monday hearing was one of at least three instances of ongoing litigation in which the Biden administration is seeking to enshrine progressive policing policies in their 11th hour in a difficult-to-reverse manner.
Federal Judge Benjamin Beaton refused to be a "rubber stamp" for a 240-page reform plan spurred by the 2020 police-involved shooting of Breonna Taylor, Oversight Project counsel Kyle Brosnan said in a Tuesday interview.
Taylor had been killed in a hail of police gunfire after Louisville officers sought to serve a drug warrant at her boyfriend Kenneth Walker’s house, when her beau fired a "warning shot" through the door and struck Officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
Brosnan noted a consent decree is different from other legal agreements — in that they cannot simply be reversed by presidential order or a change of heart by one of the parties involved.
Brosnan characterized the Kentucky decree's reforms as "woke," while his colleague, Oversight Project executive director Mike Howell, previously called them a "laundry list of BLM-type standards" the left has long called for.
The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund joined the amicus brief filed, as Brosnan noted LELDF’s leader Jason Johnson has "first-hand experience" with consent decrees following the Freddie Gray riots and ensuing investigation.
The consent decree alleged a pattern or practice of racial bias in Louisville policing, including in traffic stops, sexual assault probes or use-of-force.
"And the judge went through each of those topics and said, ‘OK, what is your basis for this?’," Brosnan recounted.
In court, DOJ attorney Paul Killebrew was asked for data on lethal force incidents to better understand patterns alleged in the consent decree.
Killebrew reportedly replied that the DOJ could not provide such information in order to "maintain leverage" in any future litigation.
That dynamic was a theme during the marathon hearing, according to Brosnan.
However, it was not the only opportunity for the DOJ and city to convince Beaton to sign their decree, as the judge gave until Friday for additional documents to be filed, but time is of the essence.
While Inauguration Day is not necessarily a deadline for the Biden DOJ to get the decree approved, it won’t be long after that they will likely run out of time, Brosnan said.
He compared the dynamic to how Trump — early in his first term — fired Obama-holdover acting DOJ chief Sally Yates for refusing to enforce his "Muslim ban."
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Outgoing administration officials at various levels will remain in "acting" roles until the Senate confirms incoming nominees.
Therefore, the Biden DOJ effectively has until Pamela Bondi as attorney general or Harmeet Dhillon as head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division are in office to get their decree across the finish line, the attorney said.
Brosnan said there are at least two other police reform consent decrees matriculating through the legal process: in Maryland and Minnesota.
On Jan. 6, the DOJ reached an agreement with Minneapolis — that still requires court approval — to reform the department’s "unconstitutional and unlawful practices" allegedly counter to the Americans With Disabilities Act and 14th Amendment.
In October 2024, the feds sued the Maryland Department of State Police alleging Civil Rights Act violations.
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"The United States claims MDSP violated Title VII when it used a certain physical fitness test and a certain written test to hire entry-level Troopers because the tests disqualified more female and African-American applicants than others and were not job related," a court document reads.
Maryland police dispute the allegations.
Monday’s petitioners noted how the last Trump administration began with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions reexamining Obama-era consent decrees.
"You are well within your power as judge to sort of pump the brakes and wait and see what the new administration has to say here," Brosnan characterized their testimony to Beaton.
"Trump has a right to sort of not be handcuffed by the Biden administration — he won by-and-large because of the crime problems of urban America."
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.
A federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine sex in Title IX as "gender identity," striking down the change nationwide.
The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky Northern Division made the ruling in Cardona v. Tennessee on Thursday.
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"Another massive win for TN and the country!" Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a post on X. "This morning, a federal court ruled in our favor and vacated the Biden admin's radical new Title IX rule nationwide.
"The court's order is resounding victory for the protection of girls' privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-accurate pronouns."
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., released a statement on the ruling.
"It is clear the Biden-Harris administration completely lost its way on Title IX. They betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls. Good to see this harmful regulation overturned," he said. "With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom."
The ruling came months after the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that would have included protections from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX.
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The sweeping rule was issued in April and clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions."
The rule took effect Aug. 1, and, for the first time, the law stated that discrimination based on sex includes conduct related to a person’s gender identity.
It led to more than two dozen attorneys general suing over the rule, arguing it would conflict with some of their state laws that block transgender students from participating in women’s sports.
"When Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female," the court’s opinion read. "As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.
"While Title IX sought to level the playing field between men and women, it is rife with exceptions that allow males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes."
Kristen Waggoner, president, CEO and general Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement the ruling was a "colossal win for women and girls" in the U.S.
"The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights," she added. "With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions. We are thankful for the leadership of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and other state attorneys general who challenged this blatant overreach alongside our courageous clients.
"This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country, including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. The U.S. Supreme Court can further protect girls like our client by granting cases brought by the ACLU against West Virginia and Idaho laws that protect women’s sports."
The decision came as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is set to push the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to the Senate Floor.
A procedural vote on it will happen on Friday.
Fox News' Julia Johnson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Kentucky’s legislature is primed to consider a bill in the new year that would make parents responsible for their juvenile child committing a crime involving the discharge of a firearm.
State Rep. Kim Banta, R-Erlanger, modeled her legislation after similar laws that hold parents accountable for property crimes and motor vehicle accidents.
In the Bluegrass State, parents are liable for up to $2,500 in cases where their kids deface property and the guardian who signed a minor’s driver's license application is "jointly and severally liable" for any findings of negligence or damage behind the wheel.
"The most important thing is that I am absolutely not trying to stop gun sales or enact gun control," Banta told Fox News Digital in a Friday interview.
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"I'm simply trying to make parents aware that whether it is driving a car or doing anything else their child does, they need to know what they’re doing, and they need to exercise caution."
Similar to the language in the car-crash law, Banta’s bill imputes "negligence or willful misconduct" of a minor on their parents/guardians for civil damages stemming from injuries to another person that are caused by a person with a gun.
Factors in determining parental liability include whether the elder allowed the child to have the gun, was aware of previous gun law violations or believes the minor to have the propensity to be violent, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
On Friday, Banta said there had been a recent case in Kentucky where several 15-year-olds got into a disagreement, purportedly over drugs, and one boy went home, retrieved a gun, and came back and shot the two other youths.
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"A 15-year-old does not have the mental ability to make snap decisions that adults do; not in anger, not in routine life, so a gun in their possession unsupervised is a little different than an adult with a gun," she said.
Foster parents, however, would be exempt from the law, according to Murray State University’s NPR affiliate.
The bill will be presented in January and Banta said if it makes it to a committee vote, there is a high likelihood it will make it to a full floor vote and be sent to Gov. Andrew Beshear’s desk.
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Fox News Digital reached out Beshear for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Both legislative chambers in Frankfort are held by Republican majorities, while Beshear is a Democrat.
EXCLUSIVE: A conservative legal watchdog is expected to file a brief with a Kentucky court to urge a judge against blessing a consent decree forged by Attorney General Merrick Garland and the city of Louisville and Jefferson County, Ky., that would reform police practices after the controversial 2020 death of Breonna Taylor.
The Oversight Project is placing its amicus brief on the docket of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Friday morning as a judge prepares a schedule to rule on activating the agreement.
Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell said the consent decree includes a "laundry list of BLM-type standards that have been argued for over the years since George Floyd['s death in 2020]" and the riots that followed.
"Louisville would be a sanctuary city for gangbangers," Howell warned, adding he hopes Friday’s addition to the docket gives the court pause before agreeing to any accelerated timeline for approval.
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Taylor was killed in a hail of police gunfire after Louisville officers sought to serve a drug warrant at her boyfriend Kenneth Walker’s house, when her beau fired a "warning shot" through the door and struck Officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
A hail of return fire followed, fatally wounding Taylor, and five officers were later involved in legal cases where one was found guilty of deprivation of rights under the color of law for reportedly firing blindly through a window amid the chaos.
Walker later alleged he mistook the police for intruders and did not hear them announce themselves. Louisville wound up paying Taylor’s family $12 million in a wrongful death settlement.
Last week, Garland announced the consent decree with Louisville, saying it will bring about needed systemic reforms to policing to prevent a repeat of what happened to Taylor.
Howell said, however, that the decree will only hamstring the police department and also defy the will of Kentucky voters who elected new Republicans on the Louisville council on the issue of law and order.
"[The decree] basically limits the ability for officers to react quickly and in a strong way. It's very heavy on the de-escalation techniques, particularly as it relates to this category of people who they call ‘behaviorally impaired’ or something to that effect," Howell said.
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Howell said there is concern over the spiking teenage murder rate – violence committed by suspects aged 11-17 – and that the decree wrongly imposes new standards for dealing with youth offenders as well as stop-and-frisk restrictions.
One of the most glaring issues with the agreement is the fact Louisville councilmen, Kentucky lawmakers and the general public will all be prevented from making further adjustments to policing policies for five years, if the judge signs the decree.
In a consent decree system, an official monitor appointed by the judge, and not the relevant legislature, is the arbiter of policies that fall under said agreement unless both parties that forged it agree to change them.
Howell said, in that regard, the Biden Justice Department and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat, appear to be rushing through the legal process to head off the likelihood a Trump Justice Department will balk at the agreement.
"The most basic responsibility of government is to keep our people safe while protecting constitutional rights and treating everyone fairly," Greenberg said in a statement about the decree. "As mayor, I promised to uphold that responsibility, and I have."
"The Department of Justice saw the action we’ve already taken and our commitment to aggressively implement police reform. As a result of these improvements, we have a consent decree unlike any other city in America."
Greenberg said any decree must build on reforms made in recent years, cannot "handcuff police as they work to prevent crime" and also be financially responsible and have a clear sunset date.
"I felt comfortable signing this because our officers will have clear guidance and goals to meet, the DOJ can’t move the goalposts, and our officers can focus on good police work, not paperwork," added Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey.
The Oversight Project’s amicus brief is backed by law enforcement advocacy leaders like Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.
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Johnson, whose group promotes constitutional policing and studies similar consent decrees, told Fox News Digital it's clear the Biden DOJ realizes such an agreement would be "D.O.A." when President-elect Donald Trump assumes the Oval Office.
"Most of these police consent decrees are more of an activist wish list than effective means to remedy constitutional violations by police agencies. The Justice Department is trying to impose burdensome rules that far exceed their authority under law," Johnson said.
He suggested that technical assistance letters, which aim to encourage reforms without imposing a judicial arbiter, are generally preferred in most cases.
"But, the activist lawyers in the Biden administration prefer to use a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel. This approach has proven counterproductive time and again — hurting public safety, police morale, and police-community relations more than it helps."
Meanwhile, Howell said he hopes the Kentucky judge will see that Greenberg and Garland are trying to "turn him into a legislature" when it comes to law enforcement practices.
Under the consent decree system, the policy changes will be untouchable by a more hawkish Trump DOJ for up to five years, rendering the new administration’s predicted actions in the law enforcement realm moot in Louisville.
Criminals will likely endorse the decree, he said, as they will use the encyclopedia of new policing standards to their benefit.
