>> So the more we understand this tech through this partnership and other partnerships like it, the better we can address those concerns and be on the forefront of it instead of behind it.

>> With AI still a bit of an unknown, a Kentucky university is taking advantage of a key partnership to grow its use and creation of artificial intelligence tools.

It's some federal relief on the way to Kentucky.

Soybean farmers hurt by tariffs.

>> What they will find on the other end is somebody willing to lend their hand out saying, I'm here.

How can I help you?

What do you need?

>> College is a time of major adjustment, how some campuses are responding to the needs of students in recovery.

>> Our kids are going to be the ones that are hired.

Our kids are going to be the ones with the higher success rates in school, because we're preparing them for that.

>> And find out how one county is helping prepare high school students for success in their next step.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition.

For this Monday, December the 8th start of a brand new week, I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for joining us from our Downtown Louisville studios this evening.

A major development today in the 2026 race for the U.S.

House in the Lexington area.

A Republican who was running for Congress in central Kentucky isn't running anymore.

State Representative Deanna Frazier Gordon says she is suspending her campaign for Congress in the sixth Congressional District.

She says instead, she'll file to run for reelection for the state House in district 81.

Gordon says the decision to end her campaign for Congress came after deep reflection on where her experience can make the biggest difference.

She put out this statement that says, quote, Kentucky needs principled leaders who can push back on Andy Beshear, strengthen our economy, protect families, and ensure government remains accountable.

While the path I am choosing doesn't take me to Washington to accomplish these goals, with continued support and hard work, it will put me back in Frankfort, where principled, conservative business leadership is sorely needed.

End quote.

State Representative Ryan Dodson and former State Senator Ralph Alvarado Alvarado, rather, are two prominent Republican candidates running in the sixth Congressional District race.

The candidate filing deadline is January 9th, which is one month from tomorrow.

As we've reported on Kentucky edition, Kentucky farmers, including soybean growers, have suffered because of the Trump administration's tariff war with China.

Now, President Donald Trump is proposing a $12 billion aid package for America's farmers.

Most of the aid, $11 billion, will go to crop farmers through One-Time payments under the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program.

China stopped importing all soybeans from the United States earlier in the year after the U.S.

levied tariffs on China.

Soybeans are Kentucky's top cash crop, accounting for more than $1 billion in sales annually.

Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Jefferson County is blasting President Donald Trump on another issue his immigration roundup.

Last week, McGarvey talked about how the Ice raids are scaring people and hurting people in his own district.

>> A year long tirade against immigrants in this country that has blown way past just targeting violent criminals at home in Louisville, we don't have the national troops in our backyard or Ice performing public raids, but it's the quiet, steady increase in arrests and profiling and detentions that has been devastating to our community.

So many louisvillians, regardless of status, are afraid of being profiled, attacked, or violently detained just because of how they look.

Masked agents are targeting parents in the pickup lines of their school.

They're dragging mothers out of their cars.

They're smashing windows to arrest old men, separating families in the middle of the night, zip tying children.

They're using immigration hearings and check ins as setups and defying court orders.

And then our neighbors are being shipped off to countries where they've never even been or held in detention centers with unspeakably inhumane conditions, with no due process, no access to attorneys, no path forward.

This is not immigration policy.

This is cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

Political theater with real life consequences.

>> Congressman McGarvey is also calling for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign or be fired over the Trump administration's boat bombing policy off the coast of Venezuela, he says, is breaking international law and putting our troops at risk.

In other news, how close is Kentucky to the sale of medical marijuana?

Last week, a reporter asked Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear about Kentucky's medical cannabis program and when sales begin.

>> I believe within the next couple of weeks that our first dispensary will have product on its shelf, that is the Ohio County dispensary that we think will be the first.

But we believe it's going to scale up very quickly from that first moment.

So right now, if you look at electronic practitioner certifications, 23,757 Kentuckians have certifications through the portal to be able to access medical marijuana.

We look at business licensing 80 total businesses licensed, 16 cultivators, ten processors, 40 dispensaries, six safety compliance facilities we look at practitioners, 506 now, so our latest update is on Monday.

Our Office of Medical Cannabis had staff in three different locations completing facility inspections.

So what that means is within one year of awarding cultivation licenses, we now have multiple cultivators with harvested product that are in the testing phase.

>> Another note about the governor.

He is chair of the Democratic Governors Association now.

It's now underway and in that role, the governor will work to elect other Democrats in 36 governors races in 2026.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan was elected vice chair at a meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend.

In a statement, Governor Beshear said, quote, Democratic governors are making life better for families across our country by staying laser focused on issues like lowering costs, creating jobs and improving public education.

In Kentucky, we've shown that when you focus on bringing people together and the real issues families are facing, Democrats can win anywhere.

And that's exactly what we're going to do in 2026.

End of his quote.

And State Representative Michael Meredith, a Republican, also has a new national position.

Meredith, a Republican from Oakland and Warren County in south central Kentucky, has been appointed vice chair of the banking, Financial Services and Insurance Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

That's a national group that supports state lawmakers and pushes for public policy and other news.

The state is looking out for a disease in disease in deer called chronic wasting disease in nine more Kentucky counties.

Now, you see those counties listed here.

That's after the detection of a case of chronic wasting disease in a deer found in Pulaski County.

It's a deadly disease found in deer and elk caused by an abnormal protein.

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission was already on the lookout for the disease in 14 other Kentucky counties, most of them in western Kentucky.

In education news, the University of Kentucky is partnering with Microsoft to collaborate on advancing the responsible use of artificial intelligence.

UK is one of the first institutions in the country to partner with Microsoft.

This way, our Mackenzie Spink tells us more.

>> University of Kentucky researchers will have access to powerful new AI tools through this partnership with Microsoft, UK says the potential for innovation in rural health is one of the reasons Microsoft chose Kentucky for this partnership.

>> For example, just take take medicine.

The pace of drug discovery, as we know, is a really long one.

I mean, we're talking 10 to 20 years to get through the process of molecule identification, mechanism of action, clinical testing, all of that work, the amount of data it takes to produce and to analyze that.

Now we can do in such an expedited manner with AI.

>> The new tech isn't just for the researchers at the school.

Students will also have the opportunity to work with powerful Microsoft technologies.

>> I'm also incredibly excited to think about students and how they get to have a part of something that will be a resource that will not just be the premium version, but will be maybe a little bit more in depth as it relates to the models that they'll have access to and the tools that they can leverage.

>> One of the big things will be students being ready for jobs and feeling like they were equipped with a level of understanding and fundamentals, and an awareness of AI ethics, those kinds of things, as they roll into the real world.

>> The university says it recognizes that AI is a powerful and controversial tool.

Faculty have already voiced some concerns.

>> A lot of our faculty are very concerned about this for for good reason.

We recognize those concerns and we're doing our best to address them.

What we do know is that if we don't understand this technology, it will not help us in addressing those concerns.

So the more we understand this tech through this partnership and other partnerships like it, the better we can address those concerns and be on the forefront of it instead of behind it.

>> This technology is undoubtedly transformational.

What ways human beings will make it transformational and positive ways.

I think universities are distinctively positioned to in our care for the state we represent, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky to play the right role and have the right discipline to bring resources to the table, because we know there's a lot of work in front.

But if we wait until we feel like we have all the answers, we miss the opportunity to create discussion and dialog.

>> I hope that, above all, that Kentucky can look back and say, we were ready, we were and we were resourced.

>> Microsoft is becoming a partner in the ICE Together Network, a statewide network that connects UC's research with partners to work together on creating opportunities and improvements in the state.

For Kentucky edition I'm Makenzie Spink.

>> Thank you Mackenzie.

The university will be providing an AI Learn hub to provide training and professional development on AI for faculty, staff, and students.

Western Kentucky University has laid the groundwork this semester for a resource center dedicated to recovery.

It will offer support for students dealing with addiction and mental health challenges.

Our Laura Rogers has more from Bowling Green.

>> There's a need.

There's a need in the state of Kentucky.

There's a need nationally.

>> That need is offering support for college students suffering from substance use disorder.

>> A lot of our first time students, they haven't been away from home like they have when they come to college.

And so there are a lot of opportunities to take some wrong steps when we're just leaving the house.

>> Q is one of five universities in Kentucky to receive a $78,000 grant from the Council on Postsecondary Education to begin or enhance services through a collegiate recovery resource Center.

>> And when someone walks into one of these resource centers, what they will find on the other end is somebody willing to lend their hand out saying, I'm here.

How can I help you?

What do you need?

>> Kentucky's Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission gave CPE the grant money, part of $980 million.

Kentucky is set to receive over the course of several years.

>> These resource centers are a new way to help expand the resources available to young adults at the university's.

>> Kentucky has been severely impacted by the opioid crisis.

>> Everybody knows someone or has a family member who is struggling.

>> It can impact college students who arrive on campus with active addiction, or who get hooked for the very first time.

>> Whether it's anxiety for being away from home for the very first time, or the struggle with fitting in to a social group for the first time.

Or maybe it's the stress of having really heavy academic demands that they've never had before.

>> Those stressors may cause anxiety that can lead students to cope with drugs and alcohol.

>> We have the age range of the highest use on our campus.

>> Doctor Whitney Harper and the WKU Department of Social Work is coordinator of the new Collegiate Recovery Resource Center.

>> I can provide academic support, advising, support, registration, support.

So they have, like the full continuum of services.

>> She has partners across campus, from health services to athletics and Greek Life, to refer students who may need recovery support.

>> We want to make sure that parents know that this is a safe space for their children when they're sending them off to college, and we also want students to feel like there's a place they can go.

They're not going to be judged, and we are going to be able to offer them real help, true help.

>> She also has community partners and journeypure and Life skills who offer rehabilitation, peer support and treatment programs.

>> What we wanted to make sure is that there was a no wrong door approach, and so students who might be struggling with substance use and anxiety, substance use issues and depression, that when they come and seek support, they get that wraparound care.

>> They hope this care will keep students at risk of dropping out of college, on the right track to graduation and career success.

>> Most of the time, it's not the academic challenges that cause them to drop out of school.

Most of the time, it's those social experiences of feeling like they don't fit in, that they don't belong, or that they don't have an ally.

>> The center aims to be that ally on their recovery journey.

For Kentucky Edition I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Thank you Laura.

The other schools that receive the grant include Bellarmine, Campbellsville, Morehead, and the University of Kentucky.

High schools throughout the state offer numerous opportunities for their students to prepare for the next step, whether it's college or a career that includes AP credits, work study options, or career and technical education programs.

Also known for short as CTE, the Jessamine College and Technology Center has 12 CTE program areas.

KET recently visited GTC for our upcoming Education Matters program, paths for success.

>> High school students don't know what they don't know.

They know what their parents do for a living.

They probably know what some aunts and uncles and grandparents do for a living, but the world is much larger than that, more than likely.

So by offering these opportunities, students can both early in their high school career get some exploration and determine what they think they might want to do.

Then, as they move through high school, they can specialize in that, potentially get some dual credit in that area.

They can earn some industry certifications in that area.

We offer articulated credit if they pass an end of pathway assessment.

Work based learning is also a key component of what we do.

So they can actually go get some job experience in that area that they might be interested in all before they're paying college tuition for it.

We want them to be prepared for whatever is next.

Sometimes, though, the best thing that we can do for a student is help them figure out what they don't want to do, because what we don't want is students to head on to that post-secondary level with a plan in mind, but no experience in that area, only to realize they've paid a lot of tuition for something that isn't actually their passion.

>> When I went through high school, we did not have these types of programs.

So I think for me, teaching these students that career and tech ed is important because it gives them the opportunity to explore different career paths before they have to really settle in on something.

It's also a safe environment for them to learn more about the career, to grow in the career, and to really see themselves after high school, being able to enter the workforce or to go post-secondary and get further education.

>> In college.

It's a lot of money to go through and do all of your different pathways.

It's a lot of money.

If you want to switch it, it's going to be a lot.

So being able to have like a choice in like what we want to do in high school and it's free.

Like you get to dabble in everything.

Like I also took Small animal tech.

I've also taken wildlife.

I'm taking equine science.

Next semester, I get to dabble in all of the other different things that would in college cost money for me to take.

So it's super cool, like getting to like, make sure that I know what I want to do here in high school.

Oh.

>> I know, I know, it's okay.

>> In the consisting program, it really we try to stair step into what they would be learning next.

So to assist in a surgery they don't need to know every vein or vessel that is in an animal's body.

But they do need to know some basic anatomy and physiology.

And so I think that preparing them and giving them a good foundation for those higher level skills that they would receive if they're going into a traditional four year program or they're going to go to graduate school to get their DVM, I think that that's essential.

Building that self-confidence early and giving those fundamental skills to them so that they are confident enough to take on the more difficult tasks.

>> In the classroom, were required to complete so many hours of lab or practice time, and then they go through competency on 25 skills.

So before we ever go to clinical, they learn 25 skills and they get checked off in the classroom to make sure they're competent to perform those.

And then when we go to clinical you have the added component of you actually have patient interaction.

So here in the lab, while we do practice with each other the mannequins, it's just a one way they're doing the skill.

We can simulate what would happen if this occurred.

But in the real world you're getting that real time feedback.

So the students get a lot of actual real time interaction.

How do you respond to people?

How are you kind to people?

How do you deal with things that aren't going the way the book says, but keep your composure, you know, keep your professionalism that you've learned here in the classroom?

>> I really like like the more that it's hands on, but also all the opportunities we get.

So like these, like with M&A, I'm going to be able to have my CNA license, and then the classes that we're about to add are going to be really beneficial for college because they're going to count as college classes.

So that means my college won't have to take so long.

>> We're at the scenes around the outside.

Why pressure?

Yeah, just like we do with our linens.

>> For people who really want to go into healthcare, this is a perfect stepping stone for them, and they'll be able to get their knowledge further because some some people don't have that.

And like, they go to college and they kind of have to learn it all there.

But we already have some knowledge that is set up for us and handed to us, so it's just easier.

>> I've had students be a part of murder cases.

I've had students be a part of high value civil cases in excess of 100,000 towards $1 million, and they're handling the paperwork for it.

I know that students coming out of this pathway are more prepared than any college graduate for law school, because they don't offer something like this in college.

They're going to have already explored, as a high school student, what's, you know, 20 year olds are just starting to explore in law school.

>> I definitely feel like I could walk into any starting position as a veterinary assistant in any of the clinics and just with a little bit of help, understand everything that needs to be done.

Because the basic information that I learned here.

>> It seems like every year we have a group of students that will come in once the first semester of college is over, they'll come back to visit and talk about how maybe they were the only person in their class that knew what some of the terminology meant, because the things they had done here, or they were the only student in their class that had this specific skill set that they learned with us.

And they were that they were prepared because they had been a part of our pathway.

>> Our kids are going to be the ones that are hired.

Our kids are going to be the ones with the higher success rates in school, because we're preparing them for that.

>> When you let go of this dial, you need to do it slower.

You're going really fast.

>> You can learn more about CTE programs and many of the different options for high school students by watching paths for success.

Education matters tonight at 9:00 eastern, 8:00 central right here on KET.

Now, an hour before that tonight on KET, we're focusing on the challenges of being a caregiver.

It's a role that can be physically, emotionally and financially demanding.

In Kentucky, nearly a million people are estimated to be caring for a family member.

So join us tonight as we learn more about the challenges facing caregivers, as well as some of the strategies that can help navigate the demanding role.

The caregiving experience at KET.

Special report premieres tonight at eight eastern seven central, right here on KET.

Plenty of ups and downs this week in the world of Kentucky sports, with its big loss last week to Gonzaga.

The University of Kentucky men's team fell out of the AP top 25.

Louisville dropped from sixth to 11th after losing to Arkansas.

The Kentucky women are 15th and the Louisville women are 22nd.

Turning to football, we now know the University of Louisville will play Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl in Boca Raton, Florida on December 23rd.

The two teams haven't played since 1981.

The UK volleyball team beat UCLA Friday to advance to the NCAA sweet 16.

The cats will play Cal Poly on Thursday.

In high school, the 2025 state football tournament was held over the weekend at Kroger Field in Lexington.

Trinity took home the title in class six A. The class five A winner was Owensboro.

Boyle County shut out Franklin County to win the class four A tournament.

Christian Academy, Louisville, Lexington Christian, and Kentucky Country Day were also tournament winners.

Congrats to all details tonight on Kentucky's first governor and the governor who kept cows at the governor's mansion.

You heard that right.

Our Toby Gibbs has those details and more.

And this look at this week in Kentucky history.

>> On December 9th, 1860, Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin tried to persuade his fellow southern governors not to secede from the Union after the election of President Abraham Lincoln.

11 of them would fail to heed Magoffin's advice.

Confederate forces burned the Trigg County Courthouse on December 13th, 1864.

Union troops managed to escape, leaving behind one man with smallpox.

Happy birthday to Kentucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby, born in Maryland on December 11th, 1750.

He became Kentucky's first governor in 1792 and its fifth governor in 1812.

And happy birthday to folk singer and songwriter Gene Ruth Ritchie.

Born in Perry County on December 8th, 1922.

She's credited with repopularizing the use of the Appalachian dulcimer.

William J. Fields became governor on December 11th, 1923.

Honest Bill from Olive Hill was known for increasing gas taxes to pay for roads, and for letting cows graze on the governor's mansion grounds.

Thomas Hunt Morgan, biologist and geneticist, became the first Kentuckian to win a Nobel Prize.

He won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on December 10th, 1933, for his work on chromosomes, role in heredity.

20 people from Asbury University crammed into a Volkswagen Beetle in Lexington on December 9th, 2010, breaking a record and bringing awareness to human trafficking.

And that's a look back at This Week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Thank you.

Toby Gibbs.

Well, that'll do it for us tonight.

But we do hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central for Kentucky Edition, where we inform, connect and inspire.

We hope that you'll connect with us all the way.

As you see on your screen the social media channels.

We also encourage you to look for us on the PBS app that you can download on your mobile device and smart TV.

And we encourage you to send us a story idea at the email address on your screen.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Renee Shaw and I will see you tomorrow in Lexington.

Have a good night.