MUSIC >> I would just about fight somebody in the parking garage over this bill.

[MUSIC] >> The grandparents have the right to see their grandchildren.

State lawmakers debate the central issue of a failed bill that could be coming back in 2027.

[MUSIC] >> How do we manage that?

Trying to help that pregnant mom who's addicted, but then they're now released from jail?

[MUSIC] >> Kentucky scores high on the number of female inmates and low on maternal health.

[MUSIC] Does the intersection deserve a closer look?

[MUSIC] >> There's a lot of opportunity for investment here in Kentucky.

[MUSIC] >> Asking questions to get answers on growing Kentucky's economy.

[MUSIC] >> The woods can be kind of scary, especially if you're a little guy.

Little girl.

>> And at this place, taking a walk on the wild side is encouraged.

If you're a kid.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Wednesday, October 21st.

I'm Marvin Bartlett.

Thanks for joining us.

We are now less than two weeks from Election Day.

The 2026 general election is on Tuesday, November 3rd.

But you don't have to wait until then to vote.

Absentee voting is already underway.

Yesterday was the last day to request an absentee ballot by mail.

Officials are encouraging anyone voting by mail to return their ballots as soon as possible.

Ballots received after 6 p.m.

on Election Day will not be counted.

There will also be three days of early voting in Kentucky again this year.

That will happen during the final three days of October.

To find an early voting location in your area, visit go vote.ky.gov.

There you can also see a sample ballot to help you be prepared before heading to the polls.

And be sure to tune in to KET on election night for the latest results and analysis.

Our live program begins at 7:00 eastern six central, right here on KET.

One race garnering national attention is in Kentucky's sixth Congressional District.

Republican Ralph Alvarado is up against Democrat Zach Dembo.

The Kentucky Lantern reports political action committees, or PACs have so far spent more than $6 million in this race.

Reporter McKenna horsley broke down the numbers.

She says GOP PACs have spent about $1.7 million in favor of Alvarado and just slightly less attacking Dembo.

Meanwhile, Democratic PACs have spent less than a million in favor of Dembo and more than 2 million against Alvarado.

Meanwhile, candidates in Kentucky's U.S.

Senate race are crisscrossing the state as we.

Near Election Day.

Republican Congressman Andy Barr will be in Henderson County tomorrow.

Earlier this week, he was in northern Kentucky to announce endorsements by the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police and the Kentucky Professional Firefighters.

His Democratic challenger, Charles Booker, is meeting with voters tonight in Berea.

Booker plans to be in Hopkinsville and Bowling Green tomorrow.

Turning to state politics, what rights should grandparents have to visit their grandchildren?

That's the question facing state lawmakers.

Senate Bill 281 from the 2026 legislative session said judges could grant grandparents visitation rights if there was clear evidence it was in a child's best interest.

That bill didn't make it across the finish line.

But lawmakers planned to revisit the issue in 2027.

Clayton Dalton explains in tonight's legislative update.

[MUSIC] >> Kentucky law and a number of U.S.

Supreme Court cases make it clear that fit parents are presumed to act in the best interest of their child, even when denying a relationship between a child and their grandparents.

>> Still.

>> Senator Danny Carroll, the chair of the Senate Committee on Families and Children, says he thinks more needs to be done for grandparents.

>> In.

Throughout the entire United States.

We have put a lot of responsibility on grandparents, but I don't feel like we have protected them on the other side of that.

And in that, and it seems the the courts have been going more towards protecting the parents rights, which I get that I understand that.

But, you know, as society changes, sometimes interpretations need to account for that.

And I think grandparents should be afforded more, more, more visitation or more involvement in grandchildren.

And, and it shouldn't be something that's just optional.

>> A Kentucky Family Court judge weighed in on the complexity of cases when grandparents sue for visitation rights.

>> You know, I had a case one time where I absolutely had a grandparents who I felt like made such a compelling case.

And they were right there and they were present.

And for whatever reason, something snapped and it broke.

But I felt like the parents behavior, if I ordered that grandparent visitation would be so detrimental to their children that it would it would risk emotional injury to them that that in the end, I couldn't find that best interest.

And it was a heartbreaking case.

Absolutely.

>> State Senator Rick Girdler sponsored the legislation in 2026 that outlined the process for grandparents seeking visitation rights in court.

That bill passed the Senate unanimously but stalled in the House.

He plans to bring it again in 2027 and gave a passionate plea in support of the measure.

>> We as grandparents need to be able to be a part of that grandchild's life, and I want to give you and and and the attorneys the ability to be able to say, yes, we can look at this.

We're not asking to be able to raise the kids.

And that's all I'm wanting is to be able to have these grandparents, to be able to love on these children and their own blood and not be alienated by somebody else because of hate.

>> But not every legislator is on board.

>> I would just about fight somebody in the parking garage over this bill.

I don't support it for a second.

I think that it opens the door to significant levels of of abuse and continued disagreement in between parents and grandparents.

If a parent is fit to raise their own child, then they are fit to make whatever decisions they think are best for that child.

Even when a grandparent disagrees with that.

Again, I just want to reiterate, reiterate that the grandparents have had their chance to raise children.

God gave those children to those parents, and I am 100% in favor of the government staying out of those decisions as often as possible.

And I think this is one of them.

>> For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.

>> Senate Bill 281 also outlined a path for grandparents to get visitation rights for children in the care of non-family guardians.

Kentucky women are more likely to wind up in jail than those in most other states.

Kentucky ranked sixth in the rate of female incarceration, according to the Sentencing Project.

That's one reason why some lawmakers say more needs to be done to track pregnancies and prenatal care more closely in our jails and prisons.

Our June Leffler has more.

>> A Republican lawmaker from Jefferson County has drafted legislation to hopefully improve the health and well-being of incarcerated mothers and their kids.

>> So the baby in the womb, that's a reminder, is a gift of life.

And no matter where the mother is or how either one of them came to be where they are.

They are a gift.

>> The libertarian think tank, The Reason Foundation tied to the Reason magazine is also involved.

>> The data isn't public.

So what facility?

What facilities record about pregnancy care stays within their walls.

The data is also not comparable.

There's no shared standard across the 77 jails and prisons that are in the state of Kentucky.

And review isn't independent, so facilities check their own work and problems, then surface in things like court cases.

>> The group highlights a pending lawsuit from a woman once incarcerated in the Madison County Jail.

She claims the jail did not give her her prescribed methadone.

She later had a stillbirth.

>> We have put together this bill to follow the whole pregnancy.

So just not not just how it ended, but when the pregnancy was identified, whether the mother got prenatal visits, how quickly her complaints were answered, where and how the delivery happened, and what care that followed.

>> Louisville's jail has a process for handling pregnant inmates, including those with a substance use disorder, which often starts with detox.

>> Their mom's withdrawal symptoms are managed.

High risk pregnancy supervision and fetal monitoring is provided at a much higher level than we could do in the jail.

And since these women typically have had no prenatal care and they are very high risk pregnancies, we feel like this is a significant addition for for mom's well-being and the baby's.

>> State.

Representative Emily Calloway plans to file legislation so that jails in the state report and share information on pregnant inmates, medical care and postpartum outcomes.

>> How do we manage that?

Trying to help that pregnant mom who's addicted.

But then they're now released from jail, you know, waiting for their trial?

>> Yeah, that's a good question.

And I think the community wraparound services are important in that.

I think the the connections that they've made, the relationships they've made local in the community are really going to be imperative.

>> This is a great opportunity to not only improve the standards of care for these women, but to better coordinate the care.

If somebody enters the criminal justice system and they aren't there for very long.

Improve that connection to care on the outside.

>> Kentucky's maternal mortality rate is higher than the national average.

State data show less than a quarter of maternal deaths are caused by pregnancy complications.

Instead, most die months after giving birth, and substance use is a common culprit for Kentucky addition.

I'm June Leffler.

>> Governor Andy Beshear is calling on Kentucky universities to review their sexual assault and harassment policies.

The news comes in the wake of an investigation at Cornell University.

In that case, a woman is suing the university and seven fraternity members, claiming she was repeatedly assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024.

Governor Beshear says Kentucky's universities and colleges have 90 days to complete their review.

He's encouraging them to look at a number of issues, including awareness campaigns, reporting procedures, victim services and due process.

>> Cornell is certainly in the news, and that is a terrible situation where I ask myself every time I'm reading about it, how there wasn't at least one person who would say, stop and enough because there should have been.

But it's not just there.

You're seeing these reports across the country, and sadly, they're also not new.

I mean, I remember when I was attorney general, I had to sue two universities to, to because they were refusing to produce documents, not on students that would be protected, but on faculty that had been accused of or even found to have committed sexual harassment or sexual assault.

Now, thankfully, we won those lawsuits and that practice has changed.

But there is a culture, not just on university campuses, but across America.

In Kentucky, the statistics are nearly 1 in 2 Kentucky women will face some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.

That is wrong.

I'm a son.

I'm a husband.

I'm a dad of a 16 year old and none of them should be subject to a country where those statistics exist.

We've got to do more.

And I think having seen how how that case at Cornell in particular, but others that we're reading about have played out.

It's time to take a second look to be proactive in Kentucky.

We shouldn't wait until we learn that someone is harmed in the system didn't work.

We ought to be looking at that system itself.

So the universities will report in 90 days.

But listen, I think we're going to get good partnership from them.

I think that we're going to see people that are looking to meet the moment, and if they overcorrected in one way in the past, that we get these policies right so that we can protect our students on campuses.

But I also hope that we can learn something through this where we can protect more people off campuses and in everyday life as well.

>> The governor is also requesting that the Kentucky Council and Post-Secondary education ensure university boards are educated in sexual harassment policies and procedures.

[MUSIC] What does it take to build a business in Kentucky?

Those with personal experience are sharing their perspectives with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

The latest community engagement session was held Tuesday in Bowling Green.

Laura Rogers brings us more from Warren County.

>> Every single community county in the state of Kentucky has some great things going on.

>> And many of those great things start with entrepreneurial spirit.

>> I think there is always opportunity for entrepreneurial expansion in the state.

>> Peg Hayes is founder of Casey Jones Distillery in Christian County.

She's one of dozens of Western Kentucky entrepreneurs sharing the challenges and opportunities for business growth with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

>> How to make that happen, how to get people involved, keep them involved, stay involved.

>> We are having a lot of these conversations here locally in Bowling Green and Warren County about how to grow and nurture our entrepreneurial ecosystem.

And so it was interesting to hear that other parts of the Commonwealth are having the same discussions.

They experience some of the same challenges.

>> Access to capital is one of those challenges.

>> They're struggling a lot with finding folks who are based in Kentucky who are willing to invest in their companies, and so they're having to go out of state to attract a lot of investments.

>> The chamber plans to use what they learn at these community engagement sessions for a research report, much like they've done on tax reform, housing and child care.

>> Those reports have formed the foundations for major policy change in the state.

>> Business leaders also say hiring can be a challenge.

>> Nearly half of them pointed to access to talented and skilled labor as a barrier to their growth.

>> Where does it all start?

Where do these important leaders within our community, within our country, where do they begin?

It's young people.

>> James Soto is a high school senior in Glasgow with her own photography business.

>> My father passed away when I was young, and today some of the only things I have left of him are photographs.

>> She's also an ambassador for the Governor's School for entrepreneurs.

>> The youth of Kentucky is the future.

It can be scary investing in young people.

You may hire some people who may not take the job seriously, but then you may hire some people who absolutely take everything you give them, grasp it, and run with it.

>> Upon completing her college education, Soto wants to bring her passion and talents back home to Barron County.

>> I've seen the growth in my community, and I want to be a part of this community one day.

I want to help my town become something bigger.

>> The room included a diverse group of people from different backgrounds and businesses.

>> I'm the founder and CEO of Sunnyside Egg Company.

>> Patrick Samuels raises regenerative, pasteurized eggs in Christian County.

>> We use mobile chicken coops that we rotate around fresh pastures.

And so rather than destroying the land, we're actually improving the land, sequestering carbon from the environment.

>> He has scaled that business in a relatively short amount of time.

>> We started with 300 chickens in my backyard about a year and a half ago.

We have 25,000 across 12 partner farms now.

>> We think it's important that we get the perspective of both urban entrepreneurs, but also rural entrepreneurs in different parts of the state.

So that way, when we're thinking about solutions and how to make the state stronger for entrepreneurial ism, we can capture as many of those perspectives as possible.

>> These community engagement sessions are being held all across the state.

The next one planned for Eastern Kentucky.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

>> These sessions are part of the Kentucky Chambers initiative called Start Here, Grow Here, Strengthening Kentucky's Entrepreneurial Economy.

[MUSIC] Ever wonder what it's like to come face to face with some of Kentucky's wildest residents at the Woodlands Nature Station, visitors can get an up close look while learning about wildlife and conservation.

Our Emily Prince takes us back to land between the lakes.

>> Which can be kind of scary, especially if you're a little guy.

Little girl.

>> So the Woodlands Nature station at Land Between the Lakes wants to make that first introduction a little less scary.

Hopefully even fun for kids and their families.

The nature station is an environmental education center.

They have more than 20 different types of species to view on the property.

>> Our main goal here at the Woodlands Station is to get people out into the woods.

Whether there's hiking on a trail, fishing on a on one of our lakes, or kayaking, but also just kind of introducing people back into the woods.

And so we do a number of different family of programing.

We get close to 50,000 visitors per year.

Most of them are children.

So a lot of our programing is geared towards kids, especially small children.

>> John Peter is the lead naturalist at Woodlands Nature Station, he said, a favorite among kids is this blind possum violet, and there are also rare breeds, too, like American Red wolves.

>> The only two red wolves, American red wolves that you'll find here in the state of Kentucky are here at The Woodlands Nature Station, part of our captive breeding program, which we've had about 14 puppies born here and then placed in other breeding facilities all throughout the country.

>> So how do the animals wind up at the land between the lakes site?

>> We do a lot of adoption of animals and give them forever homes, the animals that cannot be released in a while.

They might have an injury that no longer allows them to fly.

Maybe they have lost their eyesight due to cars or some other accident, and or they've been orphaned and then become imprinted and no longer have the capability of surviving on the wild.

>> This here is Ferris.

This is our red tailed hawk.

I'll show off his beautiful red tail here.

Now, Ferris came to live with us for a much different reason than a lot of our other animals.

Ferris kind of imprinted on people like a duckling would.

So what happened to Ferris is, as a chick, he fell out of his nest and a couple that had very good intentions.

They took him in.

They did a pretty good job because they kept him alive, which is pretty hard for a wild bird.

Now, what they did that didn't help him very much was maybe let him sleep in their bed.

They walked around with mice in their pockets for him, and that doesn't really work out well for a wild animal.

Whenever they're growing up, they're trying to figure out how to survive.

>> Paul Peter said.

Through animals like Ferris or this bobcat named Barkley, they can teach children about conservation efforts, restoring habitats and appreciating wildlife.

And those lessons don't stop when the summer months are over, the nature station remains open through November, but the lead naturalist said visitors can see plenty of animals at land between the lakes and the winter season.

>> Second best time to go wildlife viewing is December, January and February.

Now that's not always great for us.

You know we don't like to be cold, but for the wildlife, many of the wildlife that's migrated from northern regions has come into the area.

>> And of the many animals cared for at Woodlands Nature Station, which ones captured the lead?

Naturalists fancy.

>> You would never want any of your guests at Thanksgiving to eat like a possum.

I've always been a mammal person, but it's hard when you care for these animals.

You care for them for the rest of your life.

If you talk to Barkley or you talk to the coyotes or the wolves, I think you'll find that they like me very much.

That's great.

>> In Trigg County for Kentucky edition, I'm Emily Prince.

>> Woodlands Nature Station is open seven days a week during October.

Admission is free for kids 15 and younger.

[MUSIC] The American Printing House for the blind is the largest nonprofit in the world dedicated to creating accessible learning materials for people who are blind and low vision.

It was established more than 160 years ago in Louisville, and it has been a pioneer of innovation ever since.

Kelsey Starks explores the history of the American Printing House on the next Inside Louisville.

>> The American Printing House for the blind was founded in 1858.

It was actually founded as a result of the work of a blind man from Mississippi.

His name was Dempsey.

Sherrod.

Louisville was chosen really, because at that time the waterway was important.

So Louisville, being the Ohio River, it had great access to the south and great access to the west.

And so it was chosen because of access.

And at that time.

And then the railroads came in and came in through Louisville.

So really it was about distribution.

It was actually at the Kentucky School for the blind, in a room in the basement.

That's where it was started, and that's where it stayed until 1883.

So in 1879, the act to promote the Education of the blind was passed.

And that set up a PHS appropriations amount that funded a p h yearly.

It was created to to give a p h an appropriation to create books and materials for the education of blind children in the United States and its territories.

And so once that happened, the demand came.

And so when the demand came, they quickly outgrew that one room in the basement, 1883.

That's when the first building for a p h was built on this property.

They needed to bind the books.

They needed to collate the books and things like that.

That's what's going on in the original building.

You would have saw people working on the embossing machines.

You would have saw people working, collating and getting the books in the right order.

You would have saw people running the the binding operation and then obviously packaging, getting ready for shipping, the expansions grew as the demand grew.

So as products expanded, the building expanded along with it.

As the number of students expanded, obviously the need for more inventory and more ability to ship and and service the entire United States and its territories.

Just every time a need came about, you know, the building expansion expanded to meet that need.

So in 1883, that one building was enough.

And as, as the population grew or as different product needs grew, it became necessary to, to put on a put in a studio.

So we put in a studio to do the talking books and then, you know, put in a bindery to be able to put the books together and then, you know, extending the shop floor because the capacity of a few machines wasn't enough.

So we needed more machines, more space.

So as the, the number of students that we serve grew, it was necessary to continue to expand the building in order to, to fulfill the mission.

Something that never changed here is the commitment to to the mission.

I mean, we're we're focused on the students that we serve, the community that we serve.

And that focus has never changed.

And, you know, doing what's right by those students means maybe we don't have as many people on the production floor because a move towards technology is the right thing for their education.

It is the thing to create that equitable education that we're all pursuing for the students that we serve, so that commitment to, to our mission has never changed.

>> Learn more about the history of APH and get a first look inside the Nulu dot Experience Museum opening October 30th.

On the next.

Inside Louisville this Sunday at noon 11 central.

Only on KET.

A new and unique resource center in Bullitt County has already served more than 300 homeless students.

>> People don't realize what a barrier that is for for children and students to be successful in school that they can have clean clothes and food and school supplies and hygiene so that they can show up even though their housing is unstable.

>> How a vacant house is set to be demolished, turned into the Hart home, and is now serving Bullitt County families need.

That's tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central on Kentucky edition, where we inform, connect and inspire.

[MUSIC] Subscribe to our Kentucky Edition email newsletters and watch full episodes and clips@ket.org.

You can also find Kentucky Edition on the PBS video app on your mobile device, and smart TV.

Send us a story idea at publicaffairs@ket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

To stay in the loop.

I'm Marvin Bartlett.

Thanks for joining us.

Have a good rest of your evening.

[MUSIC]