My advice to Senator Wise would be not to write one the night before he passes it.

Like a drunk college student banging out of paper.

The debate continues over the merits and the wording of Kentucky's new transgender law.

There's so much that we can do on our remote learning day that why do we have to always be in the building five days a week?

And one Kentucky school students may work from home one day a week?

If I was 25, 20 now by 25, 29 and we feed off the crowd just like an entertainer would get.

And we hear from some fast talkers how the next generation of auctioneers are training right here in Kentucky.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions, the Leonard Press, Endowment for Public Affairs and the ket Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this Tuesday, June the 20th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for spending some of your Tuesday night with us.

Hunter Biden, the president's son, has reached a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department after a lengthy investigation of his personal business dealings.

Biden will plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of failure to pay income taxes.

It's believed he'll avoid jail time and avoid prosecution for illegal possession of a gun by a convicted drug user.

Congressman James Comber of Kentucky's first District is chair of the House Oversight Committee.

That committee has been investigating the Bidens.

Comber tweeted, quote, Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist when growing evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee reveals the Bidens engaged in a pattern of corruption, influence peddling and possibly bribery.

These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the oversight committees investigation.

End quote.

And Kentucky politics now.

Senate Bill 150 has been on the books since March, but the debate continues.

Among other things, the bill includes a ban on gender affirming medical care for trans youth, and it lets teachers use a pronoun align with a student's biological sex, even if that goes against the student's wishes.

Last night's Kentucky tonight included two backers of the bill, including its legislative sponsor and two of the bill's critics.

It was a wide ranging discussion that focused on a lot of things, including the safety of transgender medical procedures.

There was news during the General Assembly session that there is a gender clinic for youth in Bowling Green that was opening up.

Vanderbilt, not very far from Bowling Green, has a gender clinic for youth.

They've closed recently because of the blowback as to what they were doing there.

That amounts to experimentation.

Untested experimentation lies on youth.

That's why Europe is rolling back.

You have, I believe it's Finland, Sweden, England.

They're putting a halt to gender transition surgery and puberty blockers for minors because of the problems.

We had testimony in the state legislature to that effect.

Miss Blankenship, respond.

So the idea that these treatments are experimental is an outright lie.

The first gender affirming surgery on a trans patient, as we understand it today, occurred in 1922, over 100 years ago.

Hormone replacement therapy began offered to translate to adults in the 1930s.

It was in the 1980s.

The trans youth began to receive puberty blockers and in the nineties that they became eligible for other forms of hormone replacement therapy.

When you characterize these treatments as experimental, you are ignoring decades, in fact, a century of data that proves that they are highly effective and safe.

And you are invalidating the life experiences of thousands of people, including Kentuckians, who have experienced these treatments and seen their lives improved as a result.

Our panelists also discussed why this has become such a big issue when only a tiny percentage of people are directly impacted by it.

The fact that they have been so fixated on this, such a small population in the amicus brief that was filed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, they estimate only about 140,000 LGBT or transgender kids under the age of 18 eligible for puberty, blocking therapy, hormone replacement therapy.

I mean, you could practically fit the entire population in Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, and yet they have acted like this is the most important and pressing issue in conservative politics.

Why the focus, the scrutiny on such a small population?

Is it simply to gain cheap political?

So I do want to ask Senator Max Wise, because there was a response that came in from a Lexington viewer that asked the question, why are we spending so much time and money on this when Kentucky faces much more serious problems?

I'll ask you to answer that question along with the response from comments from Mr. Hartman.

But once again, these are issues that have been in the legislature before.

If you look at everything in Senate Bill 150, the majority that were bills had been previously failed previous sessions before.

And this was just part of a session of where it became a forefront issue.

It was that across the entire country.

You know, we listen also to our districts.

We listened to our constituents.

We listened to our base.

And that's one of the things, you know, I look at I'm also a father of four children, two boys, two girls, and I'm going to tell you where I live.

And from the district I represent standing up for bathroom privacy, standing up for parental rights, standing up for curriculum, transparency and the things that are happening.

I hear that so much from so many.

And I think that's why you saw bipartisanship on the bill.

That's why you saw the numbers at the way it is.

Now, we also discussed the use of the word or instead of and and one part of Senate Bill 150 and the disagreement that's caused.

You can see more of last night's program online on demand at Katie dawgs K-Y tonight.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are suing over part of that sweeping anti LGBTQ measure.

The suit challenges sections that would ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth.

It didn't take aim at other sections dealing with school bathroom policies, guidance for teachers regarding student pronouns and rules on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation.

David Walls, Executive Director of the Family Foundation.

Very active on this issue, told us yesterday that LGBTQ activists are seeking to redefine personhood.

Well, we certainly were disappointed to see a lawsuit, but not surprised.

We fundamentally believe that, you know, in reading this lawsuit, Renee, it becomes Crystal clear the reason why these protections that are part of S.B.

150 that protect kids from from harmful, harmful, so-called gender transition surgeries and interventions, really better described as a chemical mutilation of children.

Unfortunately, in these contexts, this lawsuit really only reinforces why it was so vitally important for the legislature to take action.

And we're certainly thankful that they did look, the challenge that the ACLU is making here is not just a challenge that we believe is harmful to children.

It's actually harmful to our ability to communicate the English language, co-opting language.

You see in this lawsuit, you see efforts to really redefine what it means to be a person under the law.

There is a radical argument that undergirds this entire ideology that is saying that person should no longer really refer to men and women that we need to redefine our entire reality as it relates to personhood and say that people are either transgender or non transgender.

It becomes really clear in this lawsuit that we're dealing with a radical gender ideology that has implications in law.

It has implications as it relates to our children in the medical context.

And it and it's really just a radical concept that we're hopeful that at the end of the day will be rejected.

And we certainly believe it's completely appropriate constitutional for the state of Kentucky, really for any state to step in and say we're going to protect our children from from harm.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is defending the law now on such controversial matters surrounding transgender youth.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass has been publicly at odds with Republican lawmakers in recent months.

I talked with him last week about shattered relations with legislative powerbrokers and what's next for him.

We know that you have been on a job search.

What is the future of Jason Glass, the commissioner of the Department of Education in Kentucky?

Well, it's been an incredible honor to do this job in this state and to come back to my home state and get to serve in this role as a lifelong dream.

So I'm grateful.

I'm grateful for the experience and to reconnect with Kentuckians and my family here.

That's it's been a wonderful experience.

I don't have any any regrets about that.

And and this is the second time I've done this kind of role.

I also did it in Iowa.

I worked for a Republican governor in Iowa, but in here worked for the state board.

So I've had in total almost six years of doing this job.

That's a lot more than most people get.

So I'm grateful for that and I thank you.

You should take these kinds of roles knowing that things like this can happen.

And I certainly did.

And it has.

So that's that comes with the territory we saw with Commissioner Pruitt and Commissioner Lewis that Kentucky seems to be in kind of a turn now when it comes to state chiefs.

And I hope that that's something that we can get back on steadier ground because this ping pong back and forth is not good for schools, it's not good for kids and it's not good for the state.

How much longer will you remain as commissioner of the Department of Education?

Well, I have a contract until September of 2024.

After that, I need to stand for confirmation with the Senate.

If I were to continue, I'm looking at several different options right now.

I'm doing the job in Kentucky and loving that work for every minute that I get to do.

I really have loved all of the past three years, even the really hard times.

I've loved doing this work.

So I'm looking at several different options and we'll have to just see what happens.

Do you believe that your relationship with the Republican controlled legislature, particularly the leadership, is beyond repair?

I do.

I think it's irrevocably broken.

I think that we hold each other in mutual low regard.

Well, thank you, Commissioner Glass.

We appreciate your time.

Thank you.

And news from the governor's race.

Governor Andy Beshear, his campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party are returning more than $200,000 in campaign contributions.

That's according to veteran journalist Tom Loftis with the Kentucky Lantern.

His reporting shows six people associated with London Mayor Randall Weddle contributed $2,000 each to the Beshear campaign, but the contributions were made with a credit card and Warhol's name.

And Kentucky, It's illegal to make contributions of more than 20 $100 in the names of other people.

This year's campaign manager told the Kentucky lander on the campaign is returning $12,000 and the CDP is returning $202,000 for the same reason.

One Central Kentucky High School wants to use a hybrid learning schedule, letting students and teachers work from home one day a week.

The school hopes the move will attract and retain teachers, especially when a neighboring school system pays more.

We've learned a lot from COVID.

We learned that, yeah, COVID was unfortunate.

It sent us all to virtual.

Really weren't prepared for it.

We've since learned that we do have the infrastructure.

We do have the capabilities of learning, of learning remotely.

Now we just got to kind of fine tune things and make it to be more effective to the bone structure of the Remote Learning Plan is a four day in-person and a one day remote, with that one day being Wednesday.

We know there's a lot of benefits that we found in studies to that one remote learning day.

It's going to help with teacher stress levels.

Teachers, student mental health levels.

But also it's one of those things where there's so much that we can do on that remote learning day that why do we have to always be in the building five days a week?

Why can't our our math and our science and our core subjects post things online and have students the ability to Google, meet in and say, Hey, I need help, and you've got screens so you can see and you can work 1 to 1 there.

If kids need to come in, they can come in.

We're next to the second largest school district in the state, and they just proposed a new salary pay scale for the next school year that if you're a rank two teacher, it means you have a masters Year one there.

You start out making $58,000 a year.

If you're a rank two teacher in Bourbon County, after 30 years of teaching, you're ready to retire.

You making $60,000 a year.

So their starting it where we're ending.

And that's just going to continue to make it harder and harder and harder for us to find certified instructors to deliver content to our students.

We just can't compete with that drastic of a pay bump.

We've still got to get approval from Turkey Department of Education, because right now we're getting some draw back that that we're going to lose funding for attendance on that day and that it's not going to count.

And I struggle with the fact that we can we can send our kids we've got a virtual academy right now where students who are in five days a week virtually.

We've also got a five day in-person.

So you're telling me it's acceptable to send the kid five days virtual and it's acceptable to bring a kid to school five days, but we can't marry the two and we can't do a four day in-person with one day virtual.

I think for 85 to 90% of our kids, a remote day is something that they can be successful at.

For the 10 to 15%, if they need to be in the building, will accommodate that.

We'll have our doors open.

If somebody just needs food, we're going to try to figure that out.

We can come in the building.

We're not going to close our doors down on that Wednesday.

If this doesn't work, we've got a plan to go back to.

We know that there's always going to be a five day learning experience, so we just bring the kids back in.

And but I think even if this doesn't work, we've got to continue to try to push the envelope and find things that might work.

Principal Adkins said this is not a district wide proposal if approved by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Bourbon County High school students will start the school year with this new hybrid schedule.

Now we have some COVID news, a possible U.P.S.

strike, bear sightings and cake, and our Tuesday look at headlines around Kentucky.

NORTON Health care has lifted a rule requiring employees, volunteers, vendors and contractors to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Louisville Public Media reports the health care system said it changed the policy after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services withdrew employment regulations around COVID 19 vaccinations.

The US government ended its public health emergency declaration for COVID 19 in May.

Norton Health Care said it still recommends people get vaccinated.

It.

Thousands of UPS workers in Kentucky could walk off the job after voting to allow their contract negotiators to call a nationwide strike if a new contract isn't negotiated, according to Louisville Public Media.

Teamsters Local 89 announced that 99% of its UPS members voted in favor of authorizing a strike if needed.

Negotiators want UPS to create more full time jobs and end a two tier wage system where some UPS package drivers earn less than others.

Teamsters Local 89 represents more than 10,000 UPS workers in Louisville, the majority of whom work at World Port, the largest UPS air hub in the United States.

A nationwide strike at UPS would be the largest single employer work stoppage in U.S. history.

Floral County is becoming a hotbed of black bear activity, according to the Central Echo.

The newspaper reports there have been numerous bear sightings in the county over the last few weeks.

London City police posted on their Facebook page that it's not uncommon to see black bears in the city and that London has been in the normal migration pattern for black bears for a couple of decades now.

They go on to say that the bears generally pose no threat if left alone.

Bowling Green's inaugural Duncan Hines days really took the cake.

Bowling Green Daily News said the week of food, music and travel based events, all with ties to the city's restaurant curator turned baking mix giant, brought in more than $2 million to the area's economy.

The newspaper said the city estimates around 16,000 attended the Duncan Hines days events, with some traveling as far away as California and Idaho.

Duncan Hines days will return next June with headlines around Kentucky, I'm Toby Gibbs.

Today, the Kentucky Children's Hospital on the University of Kentucky campus celebrated the opening of a new behavioral health unit that will provide intensive mental health treatment for children.

Our Kacey Parker Bell takes us on a tour.

And tonight's look at medical news.

People are recognizing that there is a really important mental health needs in kids.

The new behavioral health unit at the Kentucky Children's Hospital is hoping to help meet those needs.

The new 17 bed facility replaces an older ten bed one.

The new space will now house patients ages 5 to 11.

Previously, only children 11 to 17 were eligible for the inpatient services that we want to give kids skills and coping early and that can help them throughout their life.

Elizabeth Fields works in the pediatric behavioral unit.

She says adding new services for younger kids may help prevent problems in the future.

We see kids from across the state and there are not nearly enough services or providers out there for to meet the need right now.

The new unit has rooms with two beds, small desks and a television are on the walls, and even the lighting are meant to make the rooms more peaceful.

Dr. Meadows says being closer to other services offered by the Kentucky Children's Hospital will also have advantages.

And that really helps us have an expanded ability to treat kids who may be medically complicated, to work with our pediatricians, and really to have a lot of access to different therapies that may not be at other hospitals.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Casey Parker Bell.

Thank you, Casey.

June is CPR and aid awareness Month.

Ed stands for Automated External Defibrillator.

It's a device that produces a small electrical charge that can reset a person's heart to a normal rhythm.

Our Christy Dutton has more on why more Kentuckians will soon have access to these lifesaving devices.

Automated external defibrillators.

It can be a crucial piece of equipment in saving someone's life who's in a cardiac event.

Joining us now is Ashley Christianson from the American Heart Association.

Thank you for being here.

Thanks for.

You're saying that we're going to be seeing a lot more of these around, right?

Why is that?

We are.

This past year, during the legislative session, we were able to pass House Bill 331, which will require that schools across the Commonwealth have what are called emergency response plans in place that are cardiac in nature.

So part of that legislation will require that they have aides and in place all over the high schools and and middle schools and elementary schools as money becomes available.

And as part of that legislation, there will be assigned put in place.

And that will be our job this coming session to have money flowing into that fund so that schools will be able to have these these good machines in place all over the schools.

Right.

Okay.

How did this come about?

Well, unfortunately, way too many families suffer the loss of loved ones, student athletes many times who are out on athletic fields and they collapse.

And, you know, staff there at the schools, you know, they respond and they do what they know to do, but they either don't have access to aides or they don't know how to use them.

And so these families who are amazing have asked for this legislation.

And so that's, you know, Representatives Palombo and Mosier, we're leading the charge there in Frankfort.

And we were standing beside them and asking for this wonderful.

Okay, so access is going to that.

That's going to be more available.

Yes.

So now we've got to learn how to use these or know when to use these.

So this is CPR and Aid Awareness Month.

So we know as soon as we see somebody and it's a safe to start CPR call called 911.

Start CPR, Get the aid, locate where it is, have somebody get it and bring it to you.

When do you start to use it?

Really, there's no wrong time.

If you see somebody that's unresponsive.

Go ahead and grab it.

Put it, it walks you through.

So once you turn it on, it will walk you through the steps.

You go ahead and attach the pads to their chest and it will not shock that person if there is still a heart rhythm detected.

So it really there's no wrong time.

You're not going to hurt the person by putting these pads on them.

Okay.

So as soon as it somebody brings it to you, as soon as it's available or you can grab it, go ahead and use it.

Absolutely.

Okay.

And that's wonderful.

So it's foolproof.

It will tell you what you need to know.

Yes.

That is fantastic.

Okay.

So because learning all the steps and then remembering them, the steps during a traumatic event can be difficult.

Absolutely.

And this this helps you walk through it.

It has a voice.

All of these machines, they may look a little different when you see them in different locations, but they all do the same function and they will talk you through the entire process.

Okay.

It's also important to know where they are, right?

Yes.

And that is part of these emergency response plans.

So hopefully with these response plans in schools, everyone will know where to find them.

Okay.

Ashley Christensen from the American Heart Association, thank you for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Back to you.

Thank you, Christi.

The National Institutes of Health estimate that bystander use of public aids saves about 1700 lives each year.

They sell it all from cars to livestock to houses and everything in between.

It takes many hours of training to learn how to do it right.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to the academy that's preparing people for the auction block.

These are batter, batter, batter, batter, batter or something.

We teach them some basic tongue twisters to teach rhythm and timing.

And it's much like singing a song.

It may all sound like gibberish.

Batter, batter.

So simple, but this is a warm up to this.

So $50.

The best part about being an auctioneer is how much money you make.

These students are enrolled in the Kentucky Auction Academy.

$20.

They're able to either be here to earn 80 hours of free licensing education.

If they're coming here to learn and to prep so that they then can go to their respective states, take an examination and enter into a licensed vocation called auctioneering.

But, you know, in about half of us states require auctioneer license training and Bowling Green.

Kentucky's centralized location draws people from all over.

We've had them as far as Utah and as far as Montana.

I absolutely love what I'm doing, and I most love training others to do the same things that future auctioneers learn the ins and outs of the trade.

SESAY Now, 71 years, everything from the law to business strategy.

There's a bunch of stuff that I didn't know about taxes that I learned here.

Madison Meadows is currently the youngest person enrolled in the class.

She's the teenage daughter of an auctioneer.

Is it right timing me that it was in my blood, so I figured I would just sign up and go.

Although she can't complete an apprenticeship until she's 18.

Meadows won a $500 grant through an FAA competition that gets her a head start on her training.

Cherry says the industry is always needing new talent.

I think the average age across our country is something like 62 years of age.

So we've got people that are retiring now and not as many coming in, which leads to a great opportunity for people who might consider becoming an auctioneer as a career.

3540 people from traditional on site auctions have enough wanting to get money in the U.S. because the newer trend of online bidding from a technological standpoint.

Auctioneers have got to be on the cutting edge, particularly if they're going to be involved in online only auctions.

The Academy aims to cover it all.

And many of them agree with learning.

The art of bid calling is the most challenging.

If even about a 50 year old look, you're going to graduate from this school, you're going to learn to bid call.

It is something you just practice over and over until you home.

That skill learning when he has already gave up on May 30 from a statement.

Now find a way to get to a suggestion rather than saying would you give we shorten that and it's witty w00t.

Why would he get five year able to buy at 3530 down or be down five if I'm able to buy at 35 and it goes on from there.

It's that rapid chat, that rhythmic chant that is pleasing and it has proven in the auction industry.

Pretty easy in concept, but it's a challenge, which is why it takes so many hours to learn.

In the end it's about bringing top dollar and also good entertainment.

At 95, I think it's really fun.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

And thank you, Laura Rogers.

I'm going to leave that to the experts.

The academy offers the school three times a year.

The next one is in October, and they are typically 15 to 25 people in a class.

The Bible talks about beating plowshares into swords.

A program in Louisville turns that idea inside out.

You'll meet some people turning guns into garden tools and more.

See how they're doing it and why.

Tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition, which we hope you'll see you for at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, connect and Inspire.

We want you to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips at Ket.org You can also check us out on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV.

Send us a story idea.

Public Affairs@KET.org And follow us all the way as you see on your screen, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

I'm Rene Shaw.

Thank you so much for watching us tonight.

And I hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night.

In the meantime, take good care.

Have a good night.