[music] You know what our responsibility is to be leaders that make hard decisions.

[MUSIC] And this is not leadership.

This is pandering.

>> How many cents makes sense?

Kentucky Republicans questioned the governor's gas tax freeze.

[MUSIC] >> The Secure Data Act is built on bipartisan state laws, just like the one we passed in Kentucky.

>> Congress looks to Kentucky as it considers new consumer protection measures.

[MUSIC] >> We recognize that the state's list of qualifying conditions can be a bit confusing.

>> 15 more medical conditions will now qualify for a medical cannabis card in Kentucky.

>> If you do not practice a skill, you're going to lose it.

And that is the same thing for all of us in every scenario.

>> And when students aren't in school, their education suffers.

What can be done to keep them learning during the summer break.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this Wednesday, June the 3rd.

I'm Renee Shaw, and we thank you for winding down your Wednesday with us.

The Fayette County School Board Chair, Tyler Murphy, is suing over a new state law that would prevent him from continuing to serve.

Murphy is suing over Senate Bill four, which was passed during the most recent legislative session.

It says anyone working full time for a school district can't serve on the board in Kentucky's two largest school districts, and that's Jefferson and Fayette County's.

Murphy is a teacher in the Boyle County school system and a candidate for reelection in November, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Murphy says he's the only person affected by the law, and he says the law was created just to remove him.

He says the law is unconstitutional, and he wants an injunction to stop it from going into effect.

Here's reaction from State Representative Matt Locket, a Republican.

He says, quote, this lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the disaster that Fayette County Public Schools is under.

During Tyler Murphy's leadership as board chair.

Under his watch, the district has spiraled into a financial crisis so severe that it's now seeking to borrow up to $110 million simply to keep the lights on and make it through the school year, unquote.

Republican state lawmakers also aren't happy with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear decision to freeze the gas tax.

They say the freeze isn't saving drivers that much money, but it's hurting Kentucky roads.

Our June Leffler explains.

>> Beshear issued an executive order last month reducing the tax drivers pay at Kentucky's gas pumps.

>> The $0.10 per gallon allows the average driver to realize about a $5 per month savings at the pump.

That's the.

That's the amount of gas tax that they would have otherwise paid without the reduction equivalent of $1.50 a week in gas tax.

>> That comes with a loss of dollars going towards public roads.

>> This reduces revenues by 25 million a month, which means about a 4.6 million loss per month for the counties and another 1.9 million loss for municipal road aid.

>> This year, the General Assembly allocated billions of dollars to fund road projects.

Republicans say every dollar they budgeted matters.

>> How much money does one save at the pump?

We heard for $5.

And then I started thinking about how much a new set of tires cost.

Do you know how much a new set of tires costs for anyone at the table?

Well, I hit a pothole in Frankfort last December, and I had the pleasure of spending $1,000 on four new tires.

And that's a lot of money for the $5 you would maybe save at the pump for the wear and tear that cars are going to see from your local levels of potholes and different damage that we're going to see if roads aren't getting paved.

>> Republicans on a transportation committee criticized the governor's move.

>> We are already working with an antiquated revenue system for our transportation cabinet, our road funds.

That needs to be updated.

We're not getting the funds we need now.

We don't need another $27 million a month cut from it.

For what?

Really and truly for what?

You know, what our responsibility is to be leaders that make hard decisions.

And this is not leadership, this is pandering.

If it was not an emergency in 2022, why is it now?

And I think we all know what the difference is.

It has to do with who was president, who is president, and who wants to be president.

>> A spokesperson for the governor sent a statement to KET, which reads in part, quote, Governor Beshear's action to lower soaring gas prices across the state helped families put more of their hard earned dollars back in their pockets.

The statement goes on to read, quote, please ask each of the Republicans if they believe Donald Trump is pandering or irresponsible in proposing a similar reduction of the federal gas tax, Beshear has suggested lawmakers dip into the rainy day fund to backfill the tax freeze.

The General Assembly did draw $230 million from that reserve fund for highway projects.

The reduction at the gas pump began on May 11th and ends June 10th, but local governments can request to extend that for Kentucky edition.

I'm June Leffler.

>> Many thanks June for that report.

Last month, the governor also ordered a decrease decrease in property taxes on newer vehicles.

In other news, the list of health conditions that qualify you for a medical marijuana card in Kentucky has been expanded.

Yesterday, Governor Beshear signed an executive order adding medical conditions that have symptoms already on the qualifying list, such as chronic pain or nausea.

Our Mackenzie Spink brings us more on what this means for Kentuckians looking for alternative pain management in the state.

>> With licensed dispensaries opening across the state.

Governor Beshear says his office has been getting calls from people confused over the conditions and symptoms that qualify someone for the medical marijuana program.

Under Kentucky law, if someone's illness causes chronic pain or nausea but is not on the list, do they still qualify?

>> Some of the conditions include chronic nausea, muscle spasms, and chronic pain, which are of themselves not a condition but an underlying symptom of other serious medical conditions like ALS, like Crohn's disease, like sickle cell, and some terminal illnesses.

These conditions might not be listed in the statute itself, but the underlying symptoms of them are right there in the wording.

>> Governor Beshear says his executive order to add 15 conditions to the existing law is a clarifying measure that aligns with the intent of the original language from the General Assembly.

Sickle cell anemia is one of the conditions added to the statute.

This disorder causes red blood cells to be crescent shaped instead of round, and creates painful blockages in the blood vessels.

The president of the Sickle Cell Association of Kentuckiana says Governor Beshear's action will change the lives of Kentuckians living with sickle cell.

>> The block blood flow causes sudden, excruciating pain in the chest, arms, legs anywhere where blood flows.

It can last for days, hours, weeks, sometimes even months.

Right now, in Kentucky and around the country, opiates are often prescribed to treat this serious chronic disease called sickle cell.

But when the legislature passed cannabis in Kentucky with the express purpose of reducing reliance on opioids, they left out sickle cell.

My daughter Jessica, like so many others in the state of Kentucky, suffer from sickle cell.

I want to thank Governor Beshear for taking this action, which gives her a more sickle cell patients, more medical options for their treatment, and to treat their pain in a way that is best for them.

>> A recent study shows that medical marijuana can help reduce opioid dependency.

>> Medical cannabis has been found to decrease dependency on dangerous opioids.

In fact, just days ago, researchers at the University of Kentucky published a first of its kind study that found a 15% reduction in opioid overdoses in areas near where medical cannabis dispensaries have opened.

That means where we open these dispensaries, we have fewer people dying across our state.

>> So far, more than 23,000 Kentuckians have been approved for medical cannabis cards.

Governor Beshear expects that number to grow because of the additional qualifying conditions added to the law for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Mackenzie Spink.

>> To Washington now this morning, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Ashley Watts testified before Congress in support of the Secure Data Act, a piece of federal legislation that would create a clear set of national rules for businesses that collect consumer data.

The Secure Data Act closely mirrors legislation already passed here in Kentucky.

Here's more from Kentucky Edition's Clayton Dalton.

>> In 2024, the Kentucky General Assembly unanimously passed House Bill 15, the Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act.

It established regulations for businesses that collect consumers personal data and outlined consumer rights, like the ability to opt out of targeted advertising and stop the sale of one's personal information.

Now, similar legislation sits before the U.S.

Congress.

This morning, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ashley Watts testified in support of the Secure Data Act.

>> The Secure Data Act is built on bipartisan state laws, just like the one we passed in Kentucky.

It provides consumers with strong privacy protections the right to access, correct, delete and import their data, opt out rights and opt in requirements for sensitive information.

>> Watts noted the strong bipartisan support the measure received in Kentucky.

>> Kentucky is a bit of a unique state.

We have a super majority Republican legislature and a Democratic governor, House Bill 15, which is very similar to the Secure Act, passed unanimously with strong bipartisan support and was signed into law by Governor Andy Beshear.

And it is a law that the Kentucky Chamber is proud of leaving leading the way.

>> Even though Kentucky has already acted.

Watts says a clear set of national rules is needed to help small businesses succeed.

>> We believe that federal action is urgent because when every state writes its own law, even good policy creates a patchwork.

The majority of our businesses at the Kentucky Chamber are small businesses, and no business, large or small, can realistically navigate 50 state legal strategy to comply with privacy expectations.

Small businesses, in particular, often lack in-house legal teams, chief privacy officers or large compliance budgets.

>> Although the measure got the stamp of approval from both sides of the aisle in Kentucky, Democrats in Congress weren't happy with the Secure Data Act, claiming it was weak legislation that did more to protect businesses than consumers.

>> I just think people deserve better.

They deserve to to have their privacy protected and not constantly mined and surveilled and then sold, and I'll end it there.

>> For Kentucky edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

>> Thank you so much.

Clayton.

Kentucky's second district Congressman Brett Guthrie, the chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the Secure Data Act legislation in April of this year.

The race for Congress is getting more crowded in northern Kentucky.

Ed Gallrein beat incumbent Thomas Massie in the Republican primary last month.

Melissa Strange won the Democratic primary, but they won't be the only two candidates on the ballot there, because two new candidates entered the race just this week.

The Kentucky Lantern reports libertarian Jeremy Todd collected the necessary 400 signatures to go on the November ballot, and there's another candidate, Mohammad Ahmad, from the Kentucky party.

[MUSIC] Kentucky students are now on summer break and they are saying whoopee.

But when they're not in class, though, and they're not studying, they're not doing homework, they can experience learning loss.

And some even call it the summer slide.

But there are things that can be done to stop that slide.

And that's the focus of a KET forum or education matters called preventing the Summer slide that airs next Monday night.

As part of that program, our Emily Prince sat down with Doctor Lauren Gilbert, CEO of Bell Excel program.

More about this in tonight's Education Matters report.

>> Joining us now is Doctor Lauren Gilbert, the CEO of Bell Excel.

Thank you so much for joining us.

>> Thank you for having me here.

I'm excited to have this conversation.

>> Yeah we're happy to have you.

So if you don't care just open us up.

Tell us a little bit about Bell Excel and what you all do.

>> Well, we have been in existence for over 35 years, and our main focus has been on young people and what happens during the summer and how we can expand their learning so that they don't have an experience that what's really called a forgetting curve.

So what happens during the summer?

It just like in anything, if you don't keep practicing something, you lose it.

And so what we've done is a lot of research into what mitigates that so that we can have young people who have show up at the start of school year with their best version of themselves.

>> Yeah, excellent.

And that's exactly what this program is all about, is all about summer learning loss.

And, you know, you gave a great intro to it there.

But from your opinion, why do you think that so many students experience this summer slide?

Some people call it.

>> Yeah, because we all do.

Right.

You know, my nephew is in the National Guard.

And if you think of the National Guard, they have that great motto where they have a weekend, a month, and then a couple of weeks during the summer.

And the reason they do that is because they know that if you do not practice a skill, you're going to lose it.

And that is the same thing for all of us in every scenario.

Same thing for young people over the summer.

It is a research type of phenomenon that we all experience no matter what we're doing.

If you don't practice something, you'll lose it.

But it only takes a little bit to interrupt that forgetting curve.

So if we can disrupt that in the summer by giving them some great experiences, whether that's some quick reading or a really powerful program, doing something just like the National Guard does, to interrupt that curve so that you can flatten it out and they can come back to the start of the school year well prepared to start fresh in August, September.

>> Yeah.

And that's exactly what we want to see.

So for this summer learning loss, why is it so problematic for both students but also teachers as well.

>> Absolutely.

So if you think about it too young, you know, the end of the school year, you are at your pinnacle.

You have been learning all year.

We test our young people, then we know exactly where they're at.

And then at the start of the school year, what do we also all know?

Curriculum.

Even creators know that there is so much learning loss that you don't actually start introducing new skills to about October.

Think of all those weeks that we're losing on a regular basis during the school year, and teachers are under such pressure to get results now.

Right?

And we're already dealing with just this cycle of repeating at the beginning, because we've accepted that loss is just going to happen.

But we can do something about that.

And it doesn't take much.

And it puts a lot of pressure on these young people, who are also asked to perform at a level that we have not seen.

And so how do we keep pushing ourselves to we know the solution.

Let's do something about it.

Let's put in some mitigating factors so that we're not losing that additional time on top of what we're already losing for the summer.

>> And in your opinion, have we seen an increase in summer learning loss as the years have gone on?

And if so, why is that?

>> It's complex if it's necessarily gotten worse.

But what does happen is that it compounds on each other.

So when you're starting out and you're in kindergarten, kindergartners actually lose the least because they don't have as much to lose as they haven't learned as much.

But what does happen is as years go on and on, you start seeing that loss increase year after year after year.

So by the time the children are middle school, high school, the loss is even more profound.

And especially the middle school and start of high school years where they're not quite that really heavy analytic stage.

They're still learning new things, you know, and new concepts, not applying it complete to like something complex like chemistry.

You really see that compounded.

And that's when you see gaps get even wider.

And so it becomes even more important for those grades to really have something that they're doing with those summer months that are challenging and activating their brains in ways that they do all school year.

>> And now, maybe for the most important part, what can we do to mitigate this?

When we talk about all different categories of folks, so from the students and teachers, but also parents who might be watching, what can they do to help bridge the gap of that summer learning loss?

>> Well, first of all, the best thing to do is try to find a summer program.

But that can be really hard.

There are some amazing ones out there, and higher income families have always known this.

This is why they have long put their children into summer programs.

But there are amazing programs out there.

If you find them, like the YMCA of Central Kentucky is just doing an amazing job.

We've been partnering with them for years and they have been getting off the charts results quietly disrupting the cycle that I don't think even folks know.

But if you can't find that program, and I get that as a mom, I know it can be really difficult, you know, is the things that we already know actively reading with your child.

But it's not just reading with them, it is actually trying to ask them really good comprehension questions, really good math questions.

When you're at a restaurant, let's talk through, you know, what was the Bill little things like that just keeps that brain going, keeps activating those pieces that have been alive during the school year.

Keep doing that.

And then for teachers, you know, helping families with some of those, like if we all get those summer reading lists right, attaching it with some good comprehension questions is essential.

You know, I'm an educator by trade.

And sometimes when I'm reading, I'm like, what's the right question?

It was so awesome when teachers actually say, here's some three simple questions you can ask when you're reading this text, right?

And then there's amazing online programs that you can also find to help families with, with this so that they can do all that they can during the summer to keep their families activated.

And finally, for the policy makers, this is a huge win.

I don't care what party you are, 90% of families in every party agrees we should be spending more on summer learning for young people.

They think it's a worthwhile investment and relative to so many other things, it's a it's a low cost.

You know, out of the billions of dollars we spend on education, only 1% one is spent on out-of-school time learning.

If we up that just a little, the impact and growth we could see in young people could be pretty profound.

And it's just it's a win.

It's a win for young people.

And it's a win for policy makers.

And it's a win for families.

>> Doctor Gilbert, thank you so much for sharing all this with us.

These are great tips and thanks for everyone who's watching students, parents, teachers everyone.

Thank you so much for sharing with us.

>> Thank you so much and families.

Enjoy your summer with your young people and find great things for them to do.

And thank you for paying attention to this issue.

I really appreciate it.

>> And there's more on this important topic on preventing the summer slide.

Education Matters.

It airs this coming Monday at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central right here on KET.

[MUSIC] Hundreds of high school students will be participating in Kentucky Zone Shark Tank like pitch program in a few weeks.

It's part of the Governor's School for entrepreneurs.

Our Kelsey Starks has more.

In this week's inside Louisville.

>> Kentucky was one of the first states in the country to create a governor's school for entrepreneurs.

We've been around about 13 years, and some of your viewers are probably familiar with a couple of the other governor's schools, the Governor's School for the Arts and the Governor's Scholars Program, which have been around for decades.

And so we're all independent nonprofits.

We are not government agencies.

And so we operate independently, but we're all about improving the quality of life here in Kentucky.

And for us in particular, with our focus on entrepreneurship, we look to identify and inspire and empower Kentucky's future innovators and business leaders and support them every step of the way to make their business dreams come true here in Kentucky.

>> That's amazing.

So explain the difference.

There's the high school startup program, and then there's the collegiate program.

Explain the differences.

>> Yes.

So our high school program, the summer startup program, is, was the first program that we had when, when the GSC was launched.

And for three weeks in the summer, we have high school students from across all of Kentucky come and live on a college campus, will be at the University of Kentucky these next couple summers at least.

And we.

It's like a shark tank for high school students.

That's sort of the quick shorthand when I say that people are like, okay, I get it now.

Yeah, yeah.

So over those three weeks, as far as the business, the instruction part of it, we are teaching them to identify problems and come up with solutions and create a business as a team with people they've never met before they got there.

And then they practice pitching their business.

And then there is the competition at the end, the big pitch fest that takes place, which is an amazing two days.

And over the course of these three weeks, not only is there the skill development of entrepreneurial skills, learning to fail without fear, conflict resolution, and everything else that goes into creating a successful business.

There's also that that development on the personal side, where we are very conscious in the decisions we make about mixing students together who would never have had a chance to meet one another before from different parts of the state, different backgrounds, and really working to break down barriers and stereotypes and build those bridges and those networks across the state.

And the students tell us, the high school students tell us that is one of the greatest benefits of their experience with GSE is the networks, the lasting relationships that they develop with like minded students, you know, across the state that not only, you know, in terms of their personal life, but professional life too, that network is so important in the business world.

>> You can learn more about the free program and the collegiate pitch program on the next Inside Louisville with Kelsey Starks.

That's Sunday at noon, 11 a.m.

central only on KET, and you'll meet some outstanding young entrepreneurs as well.

So make sure you check that out on Sunday.

You know, with summer less than three weeks away, you're probably already mowing your lawn every week.

But you're probably also not setting a world record.

But there is a Kentuckian who is more on the world grass cutting champ.

Never heard of that, have you?

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

Even when it's about mowing the yard.

You can also connect with us if you subscribe to our Kentucky Edition, email newsletters, and watch full episodes and clips online on demand@ket.org.

You can find us on the PBS video app that you can download on your smart device and your TV, and you can send us a story idea by email at public affairs@ket.org.

And of course, follow us on the socials.

Facebook.

X. Formerly known as Twitter and Instagram.

To stay in the loop, I'm Renee Shaw.

I think I'm going to go mow the yard until I see you again.

Have a really good night and take good care.

[MUSIC] So long.