[music] >> People in Kentucky and people across the country are prepared to to work hard and to innovate.

[MUSIC] >> The free.

>> Enterprise Express hits the road.

See what Kentucky proud businesses it visited.

[MUSIC] >> But if he maybe throws his hat in the ring for president in 28 as an outside candidate, I think that's certainly possible.

>> What's Thomas Massey's future?

We'll talk about it in our reporter's notebook.

>> So we want to work with communities and we, you know, and with artists to do all that we can to support them.

[MUSIC] >> And a new state office looks to crank up the volume on Kentucky music.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Thursday, October 1st.

I'm Christy Duncan.

Thank you so much for joining us.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the NCAA over a policy regarding transgender athletes playing women's sports.

That policy was changed in 2025.

One of the plaintiffs is former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines.

Gaines and others sued after transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania Leah Thomas, competed in the 2022 national championship.

They argued the NCAA violated their title nine rights by allowing Thomas to compete.

Title nine is the federal law that prohibits sex based discrimination in education programs that receive federal financial assistance.

But Judge Tiffany Johnson ruled the NCAA isn't subject to title nine because it doesn't receive federal funding.

The website The Hill reports Gaines and her group will appeal the ruling to the U.S.

Supreme Court.

The NCAA changed its policy in February of 2025, and now limits competition in women's sports to athletes considered female at birth.

A Northern Kentucky senator says she'll be reintroducing a bill to crack down on illegal activity at massage parlors.

This comes as multiple massage parlors in Louisville were raided earlier this year in connection with a human trafficking investigation.

Our Emily Prince was in Frankfort today and explains what you need to know.

>> State Senator Shelley Mayer says she's heard of a massage parlor in northern Kentucky advertising sexual favors, and she's also heard further concerns.

>> There was a suggestion that there could be underage young ladies performing these massages and that these underage young ladies don't speak any English.

And they may, in fact, be be being sex trafficked.

>> Because of these allegations, Meyer says she'll be bringing back a piece of legislation aimed to deter this illegal activity.

Last year, the Republican filed Senate Bill 132, which would give local governments more authority over massage businesses.

>> The purpose of Senate Bill 132 is to provide stronger tools to address illegal operations in those exploiting individuals, not to punish victims who are being forced or coerced into illegal activity.

>> Meyer said in her experience looking into the massage parlor in Campbell County, she heard from local officials that it can be difficult to determine if massages are being given by licensed massage therapists.

Under the legislation, cities and counties would have control over inspections.

Occupational licenses, hours of operation and more.

Earlier this year, three massage parlors in Louisville were raided in connection with a human trafficking investigation.

Wlky reported.

The parlors were suspected of acting as fronts for sexual exploitation, and the case was tied to suspected illegal activity across other states.

Today in Frankfort, a presenter said this type of activity isn't just happening in big cities.

>> During session, we actually had a police chief from Lawrenceburg testify that similar circumstance of there was a massage parlor or a building holding themselves out to be a massage parlor directly across from the high school that were soliciting minors for sexual activity or paying for sexual services.

>> And Eastern Kentucky Republican questioned why the statutory change would be necessary.

>> Running a house of prostitution is a felony in Kentucky.

Trafficking minors is a felony in Kentucky, and probably federally as well.

I'm sure.

So what in this bill is not technically illegal right now, at this moment.

>> Right now, the statute is so preemptive on local governments being being able to go in and investigate or set standards on the front end, that a lot of times it's taking a criminal complaint of sexual assault, etcetera, to be able to go in and, and have a criminal charge on the back end.

We just are saying we don't want it to get that bad before the local government has the right to step in and investigate.

>> I get it, but I mean, I think they do have the right to get to go in and investigate.

Like I said, I support the intent of this bill.

You know, we keep putting additional laws on the books, and I'm all for being tough on crime.

But a lot of times I think it's the duty of the local prosecutor's office, you know, maybe go to the law books, figure out what's there.

And the officer to, to investigate and charge these people which which they can.

>> Under Senate Bill 132, performing massage therapy without a license would be considered a class A misdemeanor.

And each massage given without a license would count as a separate offense.

In Frankfort for Kentucky.

Edition, I'm Emily Prince.

>> The free Enterprise Express made its way through Kentucky this week.

The U.S.

Chamber of Commerce toured shops and spoke to business leaders.

Here's what they had to say about ways Washington can help Kentucky's economy.

>> Free enterprise is based on the idea that 340 million people across the country have better ideas than just politicians in Washington or in Frankfort.

And so some of the things we've heard about are, you know, how do we get prices down in communities?

Well, competition is the number one thing to do about that.

How do we get improve the workforce?

We need to do things to improve the quality of schools.

We need to do things to improve the quality of job training so that people are being prepared for the changing economy.

>> Our biggest challenge, which is the opportunity, is workforce.

And specifically in the skilled trades, the big help that we could seek is, you know, around policy with reentry of workforce and workers coming back into the workforce, no matter what their background is.

But working with the nonprofits is a big piece of what we're working on.

There's been a lot of retirement and knowledge that's retired out of the trades and out of the craft, and right now we've got to change the direction of that.

>> So the people who we assist usually will have a less than ideal background, and they're not in the labor force, but they would like to be in the labor force.

And of course, Kentucky needs them in the labor force because our labor force participation is always low.

So a strong economy fueled by strong business community is about the best thing that can happen to the people who we assist, because it means more opportunity for them.

It means more jobs, better benefits, better wages.

And it means employers are more willing to consider people who don't have a perfect background.

>> The number one thing that we can tell our representatives in Washington is that policy matters and that if you get the barriers to faster growth out of the way, that people in Kentucky and people across the country are prepared to, to work hard and to innovate.

>> Messer construction is a an employee owned company.

There is a piece of legislation in Washington House resolution 3105, which is promotion of more employee ownership, making the pathways to it more accessible for businesses.

Considering succession planning.

It is out there, and we are advocating for the bill so that we can bring more employee ownership to bear, because for us, me personally and my family.

It has created pathways to security for retirement is presented.

Opportunity.

>> You know, the diversity of American business is one of the really big, important things about what's happening here.

And what we're seeing during this bus tour.

You know, the reality is that you can't have a top down system that, as you know, only big business or only favored businesses get support from the government.

Instead, what you want to have is a system that allows for you and I or anyone else to, to innovate and to offer new solutions to compete, to solve problems for people.

And so that's really the heart of free enterprise.

And we're really excited to be highlighting that on this trip.

>> As seen in that story, the U.S.

chamber visited three Kentucky businesses Purnell's old Folks, Sausage and Simpsonville Country Boy Brewing in Georgetown and Bowers Candies in Lawrenceburg.

Northern Kentuckians will soon elect some new leaders after a handful of incumbent officials lost in the May primary.

One of those upsets was the defeat of fourth District Congressman Thomas Massie.

So what might come next in his political career?

Well, our Emily Prince discussed all this with a local journalist in part two of our reporter's notebook.

>> And I know that Lincoln KY is working on your super issue, where you get into all of the hyper local races and, you know, people that are going to be on the ballot.

And let's talk about any specific changes that might be coming.

On Election Day, specifically in Northern Kentucky.

What can we expect and what kind of new faces might we see?

>> Yeah, that's an interesting question.

There are three races I'm thinking about off the top of my head.

Now.

They are not competitive in the general, but they were very competitive in the primary.

So the first one I'm thinking of is obviously et Ryan versus Melissa Strange in the Kentucky fourth Congressional District race that will send a member to the House of Representatives, a newly minted member of the House of Representatives, by all polling accounts, it seems that Republican Ryan is likely to win on Election Day.

He faces Democrat Melissa Strange and also libertarian candidate Jeremy Todd, who's kind of running in the Massie Lane after Thomas Massie, who is kind of an ideological libertarian, lost the primary to Mister Ryan, another race.

I'm looking at locally in Boone County is the Boone County Judge executive race that will see Chet Hand versus Timothy Dean Johnson, who is a libertarian leaning, independent in the general election.

Chet Hand is a Boone County commissioner.

He's a Republican.

He's been on the Boone County Fiscal Court for the past three years.

He beat longtime incumbent Gary Moore, who had been in office since 1998.

He was really an institution in Boone County.

Republican Party.

He had an upset victory over Mr.

Moore, and he looks to win the general election this November.

It will be Boone County's first change at the judge's executive level since 1998.

So that's pretty wild.

Same thing in Campbell County, actually, Judge Steve Pendry, who had been there for a long time, actually lost to Republican Andy Schauble in May's primary.

Schauble is the mayor of Alexandria, a bedroom community of Cincinnati.

It's in central Campbell County.

He ran on an infrastructure focused platform and a change focused platform.

He defeated Mr.

Pendry, who had been, like Mr.

Moore and institution within his local Republican Party and local politics in general.

So if I had to identify three races to look out for, or three new faces, those would be it.

>> Okay, yes, those are big changes, right.

And very highly visible roles in Northern Kentucky.

So great examples there.

Let me throw in one more final curveball at you because we talked about the fourth congressional race.

What have you heard from your sources there in Northern Kentucky about what's next or what might be next for Thomas Massie?

>> That's interesting, because Thomas Massie right now is very involved in the national media.

He's certainly making the most out of his final months in Congress.

He's working on an Epstein Files Transparency Act two.

He's also been going on national media like CNN quite frequently.

He's been collaborating with Tucker Carlson, who is a very well-known podcaster.

So he's really establishing himself for a post congressional career, whatever that may be, whether he's running in for office.

Again, I don't think that will be in Kentucky.

Four.

But if he maybe throws his hat in the ring for president in 28 as an outside candidate, I think that's certainly possible.

But from what I've been hearing and this is all speculation on my part, is it's it's kind of quiet on this front.

I think people in Northern Kentucky are focused on the November general election, specifically about.

Mr.

Ryan.

I think now that the national media is not so focused on Kentucky, four people have kind of gone back to normal.

The general election doesn't carry as much intrigue.

And weight potentially as the primary election.

The Republican primary election in May.

So it's kind of been all quiet here.

I'm sure there are politicos and lobbyists in the background chatting about the future for Mr.

Massie and what it looks like for him.

I think from what I've been hearing, there hasn't been much on that front.

And I think Mr.

Massie has taken the football and kind of ran with it.

He's really trying to set himself up for a post-congressional career, whether that be in media or seeking political office once more in the future.

>> Yeah, well, we will stay tuned, right?

That's what we do in all these cases.

But changes, certainly coming from what we've discussed in Northern Kentucky.

And again, folks can look out for that super issue and that gets delivered to all residents right in Campbell, Kenton, Boone counties.

When will that come out?

Sit around maybe mid October.

>> Yeah.

Mid October, I believe.

October 16th.

But don't quote me on that.

>> Okay.

Well we will look for it.

Look for it in your mailboxes.

If you live in the region.

But Kenton Hornbeck, the Boone County reporter for Lincoln, KY.

Thank you so much for your reporting and coming here to break it down for us.

>> Thanks, Emily.

>> We talked earlier about laws concerning massage therapy, and now there's a complaint about the current law for massage therapists in Louisville.

Our Toby Gibbs has that story and more in this.

Look at headlines around Kentucky.

>> From the Kentucky Lantern, the Public Service Commission is limiting outside groups input as it audits Kentucky Power, a group of stakeholders filed a motion to intervene.

The group includes the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Mountain Association.

But the PSC says it will block them from filing testimony and offering evidence.

The PSC is investigating Kentucky Power's operation and management people in its 20 county service area pay some of the highest electric bills in Kentucky.

[MUSIC] Mercer County leaders have rejected proposed regulations that would have allowed data centers next to a coal fired power plant.

W EKU says the fiscal court vote was unanimous.

Judge.

[MUSIC] Executive Sarah Steele says the proposed regulations contain some protections for the community, but she says the regulations need more work.

Louisville will consider changes to a local anti-human trafficking law designed to fight criminals posing as massage therapists, but legitimate massage therapists say the regulations put a burden on them and intimidate clients.

Louisville Public Media says the Metro Council will consider changes to the law to ease the regulatory burden, while still allowing enforcement of the law.

[MUSIC] It's being called the biggest investment and job creation announcement in Owsley County history.

Speed Kentucky will open a $1.47 million facility and hire 60 people to work on final assembly and distribution of utility task vehicles.

[MUSIC] The Kentucky Lantern.

Quote.

Speed.

Kentucky co-founder Jimmy Lewis, who says his company looks forward to growing alongside this incredible community.

[MUSIC] Those are tonight's headlines around Kentucky.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

[MUSIC] >> Kentucky is proud of its musical heritage, from icons such as Bill Monroe and Loretta Lynn, and current hitmakers like Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers.

Now there's a new office to promote that legacy.

Last week, Governor Andy Beshear announced the creation of the new Governor's Office of Music.

Marvin Bartlett talked to the man who will head up the new office.

>> I'm here with Sebastian Kitchen, the deputy secretary of the tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, and now the executive director of the newly formed Governor's Office of Music.

Thanks for coming in, and congratulations on your new role.

>> Thank you very much, and thanks for having me and letting me come on and talk about the new office, which we're really excited about.

>> Yeah.

When this was announced last week, what was the immediate reaction?

>> The response has been great.

The governor announced it on stage at Bourbon and Beyond in front of the tens and thousands of people in between two of the bands and Danny Wimmer, who runs those two festivals, which over those two weekends in Louisville brought 400,000 people to Kentucky, and the response from the crowd there was really good.

And the response since then has been really good.

We, as part of the office, are going to have a music industry directory where artists can go on venues, festivals, music businesses, and they can go on and enter their information.

We've already had more than 130 come on and enter their information.

So communities can also become certified as a music friendly community.

We've already had a couple of counties that have submitted their information to do that, and a couple more who've gotten more information.

So the response has been really good and overwhelmingly positive.

They're really excited about the governor and the governor's actions and his announcement.

>> Yeah, we've always been proud of our music heritage and promoted.

How is this different from efforts in the past?

>> We are proud of our musical heritage and Bill Monroe and Loretta Lynn to Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson and some of those artists today, and all different types of genres to Bryson Tiller and Jack Harlow and what this is, is seeking to do.

And I think it's you know, there are very few states that are doing this in the way in Kentucky did so.

So so there's a lot of leadership by Governor Beshear, who's very, very supportive of the arts, and especially of music.

But it brings in several aspects that the governor did this to connect the music industry, to bring in all aspects of the music industry.

This directory, as I talked about, will allow people to register.

Again, a lot of artists have already reached out and really, really excited about that.

The music friendly designation I was talking about, a license plate sounds like home license plate that we've designed that will be available in clerk's offices soon.

And so we want to work with communities and we, you know, and with artists to do all that we can to support them because not only is it a big part of our cultural heritage, but it's also an economic engine and helps support a lot of jobs and economic activity.

The arts, including music, have a $6.9 billion annual economic impact and support over 51,000 jobs.

And if you look at information from the Kentucky chapter of the National Independent Venue Association, they're those independent venues have an economic impact of $570 million a year in support.

Over 4400 jobs.

And they serve over 2.1 million people which if you think of the population of Kentucky is a pretty remarkable number that those venues welcome and support.

>> Yeah.

If you're a musician it's all about getting noticed.

It's about finding places to play and practice your skills.

Houts this directory going to help these up and coming songwriters and musicians in our state.

>> I think that's one of the great parts is you can go on there and you.

We haven't uploaded that part yet.

We wanted to get a a good number on there and then we'll upload that.

And you also, when you allow people to submit information, you also want to make sure that you have good actors that they're submitting good accurate information.

So we want to verify that and be responsible.

But then once this information is up, it'll allow you, whether your venue looking for an artist or whether you're looking for a recording studio, if you know, if you know, again, if you're an artist and you're wanting to contact a venue, or if you're, you know, so depending on which part of the industry that you're in, you can go on there and you can look for that information.

>> You're new on the job.

So I don't know how many figures you have yet, but do you have any idea how many music festivals and music related events we have every year?

>> I don't know, it's a great question, but we have a lot of great festivals.

I know you all have them close to here.

You have Railbird and I mentioned a couple of the big ones, you know, Louder Than Life and Bourbon and Beyond.

They bring a lot of people, but you have great festivals in every corner of the state.

You have romp in Owensboro, the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, you have Appalachia, which has taken this year off, but you came to Kentucky for the first time last year, was in Boyd County and had a lot of people out there.

And so, you know, just so many great festivals.

You have Laurel Cove Festival, which is at one of our state parks out in Eastern Kentucky.

And so that's a great impact all the way around.

So you have so many festivals and so many different parts of the state.

And so we think sometimes about the big ones.

But for those communities, for Bell County, for some of these other Pulaski County, those are huge economic drivers for their local economy as well.

>> You talk about cities being able to be designated as music friendly communities.

How did they get that designation and what benefit would there be in that?

>> Well, they can go on to the website KY music.ky.gov.

There's a tab on there that will give you information about how you go through that process, but it allows a local official or local entity, city government, county government or tourism director, because we know in a lot of communities, that's who is at the forefront of marketing their communities and their venues and their festivals, and they know all these assets that they have.

But they'll they'll reach out, they'll fill out a form, they'll designate somebody to work with us through that process and just let us know what those, those musical assets are that, that either support our artists or that bring tourists and guests into their community.

>> And you mentioned the license plate you're working on.

We talk a little bit more about that.

I suspect that will be a fairly popular plate.

>> The response to that has been great.

It's not available quite yet, but it will be available very, very soon.

So those who are interested, you know, check in with your local clerk or go to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet website.

It was designed by a graphic artist in our cabinet who does a lot of great work.

And she did a great job.

And the response has been good to a person.

Everyone I've talked to.

In fact, when I went through the process to get this approved, one of the committee members on there said, it makes me want to pick up a guitar.

It makes me want to learn the guitar.

And so it's been a really exciting, positive response to that.

And so yeah, I encourage people, if you're music lover, music supporter to go on there and, and pick up those license plates when they're available here in the near future.

>> Do you expect some well known musicians to help promote this office?

>> We want to talk to them and do that.

We've at this point, we've heard from dozens of musicians, which is great.

And I know, you know, when the governor walked out on on Friday, he walked out to.

When he walked out to make his announcement, he went out to Universal Sound by Tyler Childers, which is a great Kentucky artist who has far reaching impact.

And the governor has a great relationship with him.

But that's just conversations that we'll have moving forward as we get the office up and off the ground.

But Michael Johnson, who does woodsongs on KET, I was on Michael's program on Monday night, and we talked about it, and he's incredibly supportive and he has a huge reach through the dozens of of PBS stations and NPR stations where his program is aired.

And Michael's supportive and talking about it.

So I think you'll have a lot of our Kentucky artists who want to be on board and be supportive.

They're they're proud to be from Kentucky.

>> For sure.

Well, we want people to go to your website to get more information.

And we know that's still a work in progress as well.

But let's mention that we'll show it on screen.

KY music dot ky.gov.

And that is going to be a good resource for folks, right?

>> Yes, sir.

Got a lot of information on there about all these pieces that we're talking about.

The directory and the designation and the license plates.

Got some great photos too.

So it shows some of the great musicians that we have here in Kentucky.

>> Well, we appreciate you coming in and thanks for telling us about the newly formed Kentucky's Office of Music.

>> Thanks for having me, and thanks for letting me talk about the office.

>> The other state with a similar music office is Texas, which served as a model for the Kentucky program.

[MUSIC] The National Institute for health says Alpha-gal syndrome is on the rise nationwide, meaning more people are seeking alternatives to beef, pork and other meat from mammals.

>> Tastes just like beef, looks like beef cooks like beef.

So it's really a direct replacement.

>> A farm in Danville is providing that alternative in the form of get this ostrich tomorrow on Kentucky edition, we'll hear from the farm owners about why ostrich meat is becoming more and more popular.

You're not going to want to miss that.

And we invite you to join us tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central for Kentucky edition, where we inform, connect and inspire you can subscribe to our Kentucky Edition email newsletter and watch full episodes@ket.org.

Have a great evening.>>