American dream in every part of our state.

>> But how do we get there?

Highlights from the Governor's State of the Commonwealth and Budget address and the reaction.

>> It won't happen under my watch.

>> And ICE reaction from Kentucky's two U.S.

senators to presidential remarks about taking over Greenland.

>> So many agricultural enterprises are not profitable, and that's who we rely on.

The fetus.

>> For those asking, where's the beef?

The answer may be closer than you think, and it's helping some farmers turn more profits.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this Thursday, January the 8th, I'm Renee Shaw, and we thank you for spending some of your Thursday night with us.

Last night, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear delivered his state of the Commonwealth and Budget address at the Thomas D. Clark center for Kentucky History in downtown Frankfort.

He revealed his top priorities, including teacher salaries, Medicaid, and universal pre-K.

Our Emily Sisk has the details.

>> The single most effective way we succeed in this next budget is by funding pre-K for all.

>> Governor Andy Beshear proclaimed his top priority for the 2026 state budget to be universal pre-K.

The governor made the announcement during his 40 minute long state of the Commonwealth and Budget address last night.

The pre-K for all initiative has been foundational to the Beshear administration.

This summer, the governor established an advisory committee which hosted town halls across the state to gain support.

During last night's address, Beshear tied universal pre-K to economic success.

>> Pre-K saves parents thousands of dollars every year, and one study shows it boosts parents earnings by nearly $9,000 per year for at least six years.

Over time, pre-K is projected to grow Kentucky's workforce by up to 70,000 people, and studies show that for every $1 invested in pre-K, we get $10 cycled through our economy.

>> But one detail not included in the governor's address how much will universal pre-K cost?

Instead, Beshear spoke directly to state lawmakers, suggesting they can work together to make the pre-K initiative a reality.

>> And the members of the General Assembly, we're able to work together on medical marijuana to make sports betting legal, to protect horse racing and gaming and our horse industry.

Surely we can come together for four year olds.

>> The Republican supermajority in the General Assembly has yet to express any interest in adopting universal pre-K.

In response to the governor's address.

Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne released a joint statement saying in part, quote, Kentucky is well positioned because of the sound, fiscally responsible policies enacted by Republican supermajorities, often overriding gubernatorial vetoes to do so.

Our legislative focus will remain on protecting core investments, ensuring responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and avoiding commitments the Commonwealth cannot sustain.

End quote.

The governor gave additional proposals, including fully funding Medicaid, even with increased costs, and proposing mandatory raises for public school educators.

Beshear was also certain to include affordable housing in his budget proposal, as Kentucky faces a shortage of some 200,000 housing units.

>> I'm proposing a game changing $150 million investment in our Affordable Housing Trust fund, combined with private dollars that create $1 billion of new housing.

We must tackle the shortage in housing and we must do it now.

>> At the end of his address, Beshear listed two final priorities in addition to investments and jobs health care and housing.

He proposed $50 million for Kentucky food banks, as the state government may be forced to take on more of the cost of Snap benefits or food stamps.

The governor also recommended $75 million to help at risk Kentuckians pay their utility bills in response to these priorities.

Kentucky Youth Advocates released a statement saying, quote, there was good news in last night's address by Governor Andy Beshear as he joined with Republican legislative leaders and prioritizing basic needs like housing stability and food security for our kids and families.

Those two arenas are clearly common ground and are ripe for legislative action as this session unfolds.

End quote.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Emily Sisk.

>> Thank you.

Emily.

Last night's budget address was the last for Beshear, whose term as governor will wrap up at the end of 2027.

He joked it was his final budget address in this job, end quote, and he is rumored to be a potential nominee for the Democratic Party in the 2028 presidential election.

Today, we caught up with Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers to hear from them in person about the governor's speech.

>> Because we still don't really have a document to go on.

And, you know, speeches are great, but speeches are also just high level, you know, talking points.

So we don't really know the details yet.

>> This is the start of his seventh year.

And I would ask you all to ask him what bill he has proposed to the General Assembly that has changed the economic dynamics of this state.

I asked David Osborne the other day.

He said, I can't remember one.

So there's been no legislative or directional change.

This is what we've said from 16 on.

The economic dynamics.

When you start thinking about the ability to work, the infrastructure, the roads, getting our taxes and our fiscal house in order.

We've done that.

And he's just ridden the wave.

>> Last night, the Republican Party of Kentucky issued its own response to the governor's address, says, quote, since Andy Beshear first entered public office, kept afloat by his family name and low voter turnout, he has done little more than campaign for his next political ambition, and tonight was no exception.

He has spent his time riding the coattails of Republican Supermajorities, whose conservative, pro-growth policies built the economic foundation he now tries to take credit for.

End quote.

House Democrats unveiled their goals for the legislative session today, echoing the governor's funding priorities for rural health care, affordable housing and universal pre-K.

But as our June Leffler reports, House Democrats are also calling for an increased minimum wage and a progressive income tax.

>> Families are working hard.

They are still falling behind.

The price of everything is up.

The price of groceries, the price of health care, the price of utilities.

Everything has gone up and wages haven't kept pace.

We want a Kentucky where workers earn pay.

That reflects today's economic reality, and that's why we're fighting to increase the minimum wage through gradual, predictable steps to $17 an hour by 2029, with future increases tied to inflation.

So your wages always keep up with the cost of living.

>> House Democrats propose an alternative income tax policy.

>> Right now, the gap between everyday Kentuckians and the wealthiest 5% continues to widen.

Many families feel they are carrying the load, while those at the top are keeping all the breaks.

So we're asking the wealthiest 5% of Kentuckians whose average income is $650,000 a year, to contribute a bit more in income taxes, and they would be taxed at a rate of 6%.

Everyone else can still enjoy the march to zero.

>> The minority floor leader wants the General Assembly to budget for federal cuts to Snap.

>> With new federal requirements, shifting administrative burdens to the states.

We must be prepared to make sure that no Kentuckian goes hungry.

We've got to be prepared in the way we say you prepare is you put your money where your mouth is.

You put in the budget $66 million in 2027 to make sure that people get snap benefits and $50 million in 2026.

>> Members also propose financial protections regarding medical debt.

>> The bill that I filed for the second year in a row is House Bill 73.

It is related to medical debt and actually caps medical debt at 3% interest rate.

No one chooses to be sick.

And so making sure that we have boundaries on what is able to be built so that people can plan and pay those bills in a timely fashion is really important.

>> We used to have protections in that your medical debt did not have to show up on your credit report, and that didn't change just by legislation or what happened in D.C.

There was a federal court in Texas that struck down that protection, and several states already have protections in place they've put in there.

That's a good thing about having a state system that can come back those things up.

And we have the opportunity to do that here in Kentucky.

As Representative Roarx already said, when you get sick, you need to get yourself taken care of and you should not be penalized for that.

So what we're going to make sure is that we don't have any kind of compulsory reporting to the credit agencies that is going to be impacting your credit scores because you got sick or got into an accident.

You should still be able to afford a home.

You should still be able to start a business.

>> Democrats say this is one of a dozen measures with some Republican support for Kentucky Edition.

I'm June Leffler.

>> Thank you.

June Minority Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke is also proposing a medical privacy law for women seeking abortions out of state.

You'll hear more about that from her tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition.

Well, as you just heard, Democrats in both the House and the Senate, they want to raise the state minimum wage.

It's not getting much support from Republicans on Kentucky tonight.

Monday night, lawmakers talked about a minimum wage increase right here in the studio and its impact on the housing crisis and other issues.

>> One of the things we can.

>> Do is the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

That is like $290 a week, and most young people are paying over 30% of their income for rent.

So we need to look at how the programs that we are promoting and the legislation that we're passing and pass legislation that will allow them to earn more money because they are working, most of them are working, some of them are working two jobs.

We've got to support their efforts.

The other thing we have to do is look at our most vulnerable, that 10%, because of what's happening in Washington, 10% of our veterans are eligible for Snap.

How are you going to say, take my life to defend America, but I need food stamps.

We should be providing what they need.

So we need to look through a different lens and ask, what do people Kentuckians need to take care of their families?

>> Is there any appetite on this side of the table to raise the minimum wage from the current seven and a quarter that it's been for since 2009?

I believe.

>> We statutorily it's tied to the federal minimum wage.

Our state minimum wage is statutorily tied to the federal minimum wage.

And so let the market determine what allowable wage is.

And an unemployment rate a little below 4% here in Kentucky right now indicates that people are finding jobs.

People that want jobs are finding jobs.

We continue to have a workforce participation challenge, meaning there are more jobs out there than there are people seeking jobs.

>> You can see the full one hour conversation about the 2026 session online on demand at Keturah.

Johnny Nash KY.

Tonight, Governor Beshear is responding after an Ice agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis.

Here's what the governor said during his Thursday news conference.

>> When we look at what happened in Minnesota, it was foreseeable.

It's preventable, it's tragic.

And the response by this administration is grossly irresponsible.

This is a 38 year old single mother that leaves, I think, a six year old orphan who was killed in the middle of a subdivision in Minnesota.

And given that this is an officer involved shooting, what has happened in virtually every other scenario is we say we need to make sure we get through this investigation because each one has to be investigated by law enforcement.

But what do we see from this administration, including the ultimate boss of of of Ice, Kristi Noem, before any investigation had even started, she called this 38 year old single mom a domestic terrorist without getting the results from law enforcement.

>> Meanwhile, in Washington, both of Kentucky's U.S.

senators are reacting to President Donald Trump's stated desire to take over Greenland.

On CBS yesterday, Senator Rand Paul was especially concerned about the possibility of military action.

>> It won't happen under my watch.

I will do everything to stop any kind of military takeover of Greenland.

What I can tell you, though, is if you want to purchase Greenland, the best way would be to try to have goodwill with the people.

So first, it would probably require a vote of the people to be independent of Denmark, which I think the people of Greenland are inclined to do.

And then it would have to be some sort of offer of something that makes it better to be part of the United States.

We have acquired territory.

I mean, half the United States came to us through the Louisiana Purchase.

Alaska came to us through a purchase.

But you didn't get to those purchases, like any deal or diplomacy, by insulting your opponent, you get there by actually trying to please and get your opponent to agree to this, because it would have to be done voluntarily.

So I see no scenario in which militarily I or really for that matter, any of my colleagues in the Senate would support a military takeover of Greenland.

I think that's bluster.

And, Senator, when you say I don't think it's constructive.

>> When you say your colleagues.

The question is, of course, your Republican colleagues as well.

You believe?

>> Yeah.

Yeah, I think that quietly.

That's true.

Also, I think there's reticence as a nice way of putting it on the part of most in my party right now to speak out.

I think more of it needs to, because we need to try to project what is normal and acceptable.

But also I think it's counterproductive to talk about it if you really want to take Greenland.

And I had never thought about it, to tell you the truth.

But since it's been brought up and now it's been brought up, if you want to affect that, you don't do it by beating people up.

>> Now, Kentucky's senior senator, U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell, put out this statement that says, quote, threats and intimidation by U.S.

officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive.

And the use of force to seize the sovereign, democratic territory of one of America's most loyal and capable allies would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self harm to America and its global influence.

End quote.

Senators McConnell and Paul agree, though, on a resolution requiring congressional approval for future attacks on Venezuela.

As that resolution moved forward today in the U.S.

Senate, senators voted 52 to 47 to advance the resolution, meaning there could be a final vote next week.

Senator Paul was one of five Republicans joining Democrats to support the resolution.

Senator McConnell voted no.

In a statement, he said last weekend's mission to capture President Nicolas Maduro was no different than other presidential military orders of the past that lacked congressional approval.

President Trump's Venezuela policy is becoming an issue in the fourth district Republican primary here in Kentucky for Congress.

The incumbent Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, opposes the raid on Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro.

He says it's an act of war.

And he said this on CNN just yesterday.

>> He said we would put America first and there wouldn't be regime change.

There wouldn't be interventions.

But that's what's happening.

And I find it ironic that today at the conference, he said, we can't lose the majority.

If we do, he's going to get impeached.

But he's doing the exact things that would cause him to lose the majority.

He's causing his base to be disaffected and uninterested in the outcomes of these midterms.

>> His opponent in the fourth district, Republican Gallrein, is blasting Massie for criticizing the Venezuela raid.

Gallrein posted this on Facebook that says, quote, once again, Thomas Massie has shown his true colors.

Instead of standing with America's military and the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect this country, Massie chose to side with Democrats and the squad, criticizing our armed forces for while excusing criminals, tolerating the intolerable, and defending the indefensible.

That is not leadership, and it is not what the people of this district expect from a Republican.

End quote.

A former Kentucky state senator wants to return to Frankfort, but in the other chamber and Paducah lands an Energy Department project worth almost a $1 billion.

Our Toby Gibbs has details in this look at headlines across Kentucky.

>> Henderson County's fiscal court voted late last month in favor of a one year moratorium on new applications for battery energy storage systems, also known as Bess, while capping the number of acres used by solar farms.

The Henderson reports the moratorium will give the county a year to strengthen its Bess ordinance.

The fiscal court will limit solar farms to 6050 acres.

To Paducah.

The Department of Energy will pay general matter $900 million over a decade to enrich uranium for the nuclear industry.

This is to power nuclear reactors expected to go online in the next several years.

General matter will build a plant on 100 acres to produce uranium to fuel the reactors, which will power manufacturing facilities and AI data centers.

Radio reports highway 41 between Pembroke and Trenton in Todd County is now open after a train derailment December 30th.

31 cars derailed, spilling molten sulfur and forcing people to shelter in place until air quality tests came back clean.

No one was hurt in the derailment, and investigators are still looking for a cause.

Former state senator Johnny Ray Turner wants to return to Frankfort.

The Democrat filed to run for the House in the 95th district, covering Floyd County and part of Pike, the Floyd County Chronicle reports.

Two Republicans have also filed to run.

Willie Chris junior, and Tanner Hesterberg, Democratic state Representative Ashley Tackett Laferty, who currently holds the seat, is not seeking reelection.

The family of a rescued hiker thanked Russell County Search and Rescue EMT's during a reunion last month.

In November of 2024, EMT's rescued two people who'd fallen more than 100ft off a cliff in the Low Gap area of Lake Cumberland.

They had to scale the rock face to reach the victims.

The family wanted to meet the rescuers and personally thank them.

With headlines around Kentucky, I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> During the Covid pandemic, beef producers were on a six month waiting list to have a cow slaughtered.

In response, more meat processing plants are cropping up across Kentucky.

There are now more than 120 of them, averaging roughly one per county.

Our Laura Rogers has more from Taylor County and our farm focused segment we call rooted.

>> Doctor Randy Smoot grew up on a family farm in Bourbon County.

>> One of the benefits of being the dentist.

You can set your own schedule.

>> The Campbellsville dentist would later pursue a side hustle and Angus cattle farming.

>> And I'm getting ready to feed my cows and do my morning chores one Saturday.

And I'm thinking we have to become more profitable.

And the way I thought would work would be for us to start selling our own product.

>> The wheels started turning in 2017.

It would take about five years and a pandemic for that idea to come to fruition.

The latter proving how essential farmers are to the local food supply.

>> As we all remember, grocery sales were empty with supply chain issues.

Now we have the ability and the capacity to keep the shelves full with local product.

>> Randy Smoot and Tim Jeffries opened green River meats between Greensburg and Campbellsville, a 12,000 square foot meat processing facility and retail store.

>> Most years, livestock producers do not make money, and the reason is, is because they have limited marketing ability.

So by us engaging in the processing business, we've been able to increase our markets, whether it's through our retail stores, whether it's through our wholesale outlets, whether it's through some of the institutions that we provide meat for.

>> The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund has invested in 92 facilities like this one over the past 25 years, 60 of them since 2020.

Incentivizing local processors with low interest financing and grants to build new facilities or increase capacity at existing ones.

>> Because they realize the need for local beef that can help supplement the local farms.

>> In response to industry growth, the Kentucky Association of Meat Processors formed in 2022, they said in a statement.

Local processors give farmers options, consumers transparency and communities stability, and that's something worth protecting.

That means stronger rural economies and more resilient food supply chains.

>> We have a better infrastructure now in place within the state to supply the customers with their needs.

Tender US local butcher shops can fill that need.

>> A USDA inspector is on site daily to monitor safety procedures and protocols, which Jeffries describes as a well-documented process.

>> With us being USDA processing facility.

Humane handling is a huge deal for USDA, so all of our all of our employees are trained on the proper way to unload animals, to push them through the system, to get them across the scales, in their pens.

Every pen has water in it.

If they're here overnight, every animal gets fed.

>> He says they use a machine designed by animal scientist Temple Grandin to harvest the animal.

>> So we try to make it as easy and stress free as we can for the animal as they go through the process.

>> And easier for.

>> Farmers to get their product from the pasture.

Come on to the pallet for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Thank you for that, Laura.

Green River meats processes beef, goat, sheep and pork.

They will also process wild game for deer hunters.

Every year, the state's top legislative leaders and the governor gather to talk about important issues that face the state at the annual Kentucky Chamber Day dinner right here in Lexington.

KET is there for tonight's speeches from the governor and legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle, and we'll have coverage of it tomorrow night right here on Kentucky Edition.

And that's when we hope that you'll join us again at 630 eastern, 530 central for Kentucky Edition, where we inform, connect, and inspire.

We hope that you'll subscribe to our Kentucky Edition email newsletters, and watch full episodes and clips at Keturah.

And you can also find us on the PBS video app that you can download on your mobile device and smart TV.

And we always encourage you to send us a story idea or two to Public Affairs at Keturah.

That's by email, and follow us on the social media channels, Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop of what's happening here in Public Affairs Kentucky Edition and throughout the agency.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

We'll see you right back here again for Friday on Kentucky Edition.

In the meantime, take really good care.

Have a great night.