♪ ♪ >> A Democrat in the Kentucky House gets a promotion.

>> A Kentucky INS were surveyed on their civic knowledge in past.

>> What can be done to teach Kentuckians the ABC's of Government.

>> Folks were 2 for these.

Used cooking oil down the drain.

It will hurt the plumbing at home.

And also at the city sewer system.

>> And the University of Kentucky project that's taking used cooking oil out of the drain and putting it into the field today.

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

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Friday.

It's November.

The 22nd.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for starting off your weekend with us.

>> State House Democrats will be under new leadership when Kentucky's lawmaking session begins in January.

Democrats voted yesterday for this new leadership team.

Representative Pamela Stephenson of Louisville is the House Democrats, new floor leader Al Gentry also of Louisville will be caucus chair and Lindsey Burke of Lexington will serve as caucus whip.

The 3 will replace the House.

Democrats, current leadership team of Gary Graham, Cherilyn Stephenson and Rachel Roberts, Graham and Roberts decided not to seek re-election.

Stevenson did run again, but it was defeated in the November 5th election.

Wednesday.

The League of Women Voters of Kentucky, a self-described a bipartisan group urged the Kentucky General Assembly to change some of its procedures to allow the public to play a bigger role.

>> Before legislation is passed, the leagues report said too many bills are, quote, fast tracked in a way that didn't allow the public to react or comment.

It says Bills were often changed at the last minute and that committee meetings or sometimes held at odd times or not at all.

Yesterday a reporter asked Governor Andy Beshear about how he feels about the league's report.

>> The League of Women Voters are 100% right now.

100 1% right to be concerned in recent years, there has been less and less and less transparency and in fact, more secrecy in the way that bills that moved through the process, that those are just facts.

They used to be pre-filed bill.

So people could know what could come up during the session.

Those got eliminated.

Used to know significantly in advance what when a bill would be heard, the use of Shell Bill seems to increase bills that are filed with just one word or 2 words.

And then overnight they're transformed the use of committee substitutes that may change every single word of legislation is is used.

You know, if you're doing the right thing, you can be transparent about it.

You can let people know what's going on in government is supposed to be open to input from the citizens that they serve.

So my hope is that the General Assembly will look at the suggestions and will take as many of them as as possible.

You know, government the works best works directly with their citizens.

>> Kentucky Edition also reached out to Republican leaders of the Kentucky General Assembly for their response to the league's recommendations.

We have not heard from them yet.

CNN is reporting that President elect Donald Trump will name Kelly Loeffler as former U.S.

Senator, a former U.S. senator from Georgia as his nominee for secretary of agriculture.

There had been media reports that Trump was considering Kentucky's 4th district.

Congressman Thomas Massie for that job in the Bush era is ongoing.

Secretary of State Michael Adams of Kentucky told an audience in Frankfort how well he thinks Kentuckyian understand and participate in their government.

He says simply put it could be better.

That's why Adams is once again pushing for mandatory civics classes in Kentucky.

Public schools as our June Leffler reports, some social studies, teachers like the idea.

More on that in tonight's Education Matters.

Report.

>> Downtown Frankfort is home to the old Capitol building.

>> Bill, in 18, 30, this building served as the Kentucky State Capitol until 1910.

You are in the House chambers here.

Kentucky's top elections official goes over.

Results from his office is 2023 Civics Health survey.

>> Relative to the rest of the country, Kentuckyian seemed to be more accepting about their viewpoints.

Our assessment found that 75% of Kentuckyian say they are friends with people who have opposing viewpoints.

>> And 61% think it is better for politicians to compromise, then to constantly bigger.

Okay.

That was the good news.

Here's the bad news.

A Kentucky INS were surveyed on their civic knowledge.

They didn't pass the test.

Just half could name the 3 branches of government.

Under has could name a single official.

That number dropped further been asked to name a legislator or a constitutional officer.

>> That's why he is proposing all Kentucky public schools teach one full year of civics.

Kentucky's high schoolers must take 3 social studies courses.

Civics.

Is it required by state law?

But many schools do teach it.

>> So we have to start from scratch.

And we're teaching government basics at first.

And then we make sure kids understand their rights.

We make sure they understand how to advocate for the world.

They want to see him get engaged.

>> Adam's proposed a mandatory civics course to lawmakers last session.

They didn't bite to a crowd of teachers, boaters and some young people.

Adams makes the case that a healthy democracy starts in the classroom.

Records of our legislative and constitutional debates over public education in the 19th Century.

>> Show that the goal of advocates for Universal education was to ensure that we have a citizenry capable of self government.

The purpose of schools was to create not workers, but Citizens.

>> Adams understands the resistance from the state house.

He says lawmakers don't have an appetite for civics education like they do for say election integrity and he doesn't want to overburden teachers.

But this social studies teacher says the secretary's words just prove how important her job is.

>> It makes me is an educator.

Feel like I have value in the classroom even more because a politician is looking at this and saying we need to be bipartisan.

We need to compromise.

One thing that we teach students and I say the students a lot is that Iran has enough complainers.

We need problem solvers.

We need people with solutions.

And so I feel like he's proposing a solution or he's proposing a way to be better.

>> The secretary also push for a new civics exam for high school graduation.

This one already.

But Adam says it could be more robust for Kentucky edition.

I'm Jen Leffler.

>> Thank you, Jen.

The Kentucky Historical Society hosted the event.

The society is gearing up for the 200 and 50th anniversary of our nation's founding.

Now will save you from doing the math.

That's in 2026.

The society is encouraging everyone to get involved and you can find out how online at history DOT K Y dot Gov.

♪ Well, time now to talk about politics of the week, but we're going to take a little turn today and really talk about civics and helping us all understand.

>> The presidential appointment process and confirmation process.

And so we have with us.

Doctor Stephen Voss is an associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky.

Good to have you.

running.

Well, we always talk to you.

Don't Fancy Farm and other times, but we felt it was important for us to really kind of help people understand what they're saying in the news right now.

We know that there are about 1200 to 4,000 positions to be filled by President-elect Donald Trump that have to have Senate confirmation.

Why is it this way and what is required for all the regular jobs within the bureaucracy, their civil service.

They're not filled by the president, but >> at the top layer, their political jobs.

3rd of the way the president when he comes in or she comes in can influence the direction of policy and government, but they can just pick whomever they like.

There has to be some level of scrutiny.

The Constitution gives the U.S. Senate the ability to decide whether each of those nominees gets confirmed, whether they give their consent for that person to take the job.

The Senate usually except a president's appointees.

Usually the first to the president so that the president of the administration, he wants, but not always right.

>> And we're seeing some a pushback are a lot of scrutiny happening right now.

But before we talk about that Senate confirmation process, the vetting process that is supposed to happen right by the transition team that is getting together.

These field of candidates to propose to the president and the president announces the recommendation is that typical and his do you see that playing out right now?

Presidents have hit the ground running.

You know, we talk about what they accomplished in their first 100 days.

Yes, 1, 100's and arbitrary number.

>> But if the president doesn't get something done in those first 100 days, members of Congress are looking to their next election already.

So you need to move quickly and that means getting most of the scrutiny of the people who will fill the administration done before the president can start getting them, put into the job.

>> That's right.

And so that would be January 20th, which is that I'm not your ration de right.

Congress goes back to January.

3rd.

So we'll see how all of that all of that goes.

What we have also seen is that the recess appointment conversations.

So lots of chatter about what that is.

What does it mean and does a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2014 have any impact on what the president could do during a recess.

>> So originally the idea was, if the government, if Congress has gone home, but the government has to operate and someone important, it's lost.

The president was supposed to be able to fill that position temporarily to KET the work of government moving until the Senate got back.

No, that ability to make these appointments during a recess of Congress.

He's almost entirely gone away.

It's still in the Constitution.

But Congress doesn't take long breaks like that anymore, right?

They're basically aren't officially in recess long enough for the president to use this power.

President Barack Obama tried to use the recess appointment power to make some appointments.

He ended up getting rebuff.

The Supreme Court tossed out his Labor Relations board appointees.

So the these days pretty sharp limits around a president who tries to stuff people in the government without Senate approval.

Well, Congress is on recess right?

>> I understand Article 2 of the Constitution allows the president to adjourn one or both chambers of Congress under certain circumstances, including the House and Senate when they disagree about when to be in session.

So could a President Trump say, well, I can use that to my advantage.

The Senate usually moderates what presidents try to do.

The House tends to be more ideological roots of the Senate does not play ball with Donald Trump.

It's possible the House could called adjourn.

I disagree with the Senate about when to adjourn and then the president comes in and says, OK, you have to adjourn for more than 10 days into their journey for more than 10 days.

>> Recess appointments become possible but understand the House Republican majority is very small.

The odds that you can get all of those Republicans on board to have a constitutional crisis like that fighting with the Chamber of Congress.

I'm not concerned that a very likely outcome.

But, you know, the law and Siri would allow that kind of maneuver.

So President Trump could just stuff people into jobs.

>> Yeah, we've heard they're like 4, 5 senators who that's just a nonstarter, that that that would be hard sell for them to go along with that.

>> But the Senate is not likely to voluntarily take that long recess to allow Donald Trump to do it.

Whether the house where, of course, this crash a little less obvious.

And but still seems to be like, yeah.

>> The thread of exercising this recess appointment power for the lack of a better word could come into play for these more controversy or similarly problematic nominees like P fun and Robert Kennedy Junior, right.

I mean, if you want to get those people through, this would be the time to do it.

>> That would be one way.

But the different ways, the soft power, the the Republicans in the Senate really can't afford to clash with the Republican president too many times.

They have to pick their battles picked of the worst of his appointees.

Maybe try to stop those.

Usually what you'll see is that the Senate gives more deference in what's called the outer Cabinet.

The cabinet positions that aren't as essential as secretary of state.

Secretary of defense.

Right.

Kennedy and a health post, that's something that might be more likely to defer to Donald Trump.

Then we're likely to see something like defense or secretary of state.

>> And there's been a lot of questions about whether or not some of these potential candidates have the actual expertise and the offices they might assume.

And they point to someone like, well, now he has withdrawn from consideration.

The attorney general pick of Donald Trump, which was a former congressman from Florida.

Matt Gaetz.

People wondered whether or not he had practiced law enough to have been attorney general.

You hearing a lot of that with other nominees to the questions about some of the other nominees qualifications and if they end up not getting the job, the way it's likely to play out is like what we saw.

>> With case it's been a long time since it up presidential nominee went up for an actual vote and got voted down.

Usually that can see the writing on the wall and they with straw also run by a long time talking to John Tower back when I was in college to what every president has, though, is usually one, maybe 2 nominations.

They're not flying people could count the votes and they withdraw the way we saw just right.

>> And we know that that they go back to Obama.

He had 2 of those instances where a couple of his had withdrawn and even Clinton others.

So and Bush well, this has been really good to kind of have this primer on what we're seeing in the news to contextualize.

What are you working on right now?

What are you looking forward as we get ready for a second Trump administration?

>> Well, I have a ton of projects going right now, but maybe the one most important here is I'm quoting a book on Kentucky politics with Jim Clear Murray State University Scott Wisely and Joel Turner at Western Kentucky.

Yeah.

That will bring people up to date on what's going on in the state's politics.

Once it comes up.

>> I we want to KET our eye on that.

All of those names I've heard of unknown and interviewed.

And so I'm looking forward to getting my copy of that book Sen also, John, Okay, thank you, Dr Abbas, as always, we appreciate you think you are.

We've got an hour-long discussion planned about national and state politics Monday night on Kentucky.

Tonight our panel will discuss the aftermath of the 2024 election and the print and the nomination process.

And in Kentucky will talk about what's happening there as it concerns the leadership changes in the Kentucky General Assembly and the priority issues lawmakers could address in the 30 day session that begins in January.

All of that will talk about Monday night at 8 Eastern 7 central on KET, Kentucky tonight.

♪ Now some economic news, Kentucky's unemployment rate went up and 118 of the state's 120 counties from October of 2023 to October of this year, the rate stayed the same in Todd County and went down in Christian County.

It went up everywhere else.

The state's highest jobless rate is in Martin County at 10.6%.

Cumberland County's unemployment rate is 3.5%.

That's the lowest in Kentucky.

Jefferson County Public Schools cut the ribbon this week on a new warehouse stocked with clothing and other items for students and their families.

The JCPS Clothing Assistance program or cap for short opened the new 2400 square-foot facility on Monday.

Cap has been around for 53 years and is a partnership between the 15th district parent Teacher Association and the JCPS Diversity equity, poverty Programs.

The program allows JCPS families to come in twice a year by appointment.

And so what clothes shoes and accessories along with toys and other items, volunteers assist the families by serving as personal shoppers.

>> This program helps KET students warm with Winter jackets.

Sometimes it might be the first time that a student has even seen snow.

But what I want to say, most of all about all of this is the cap isn't just a handout.

As has been laid out its about our community coming together and pull in our collective resources.

>> The call think assistant programs helps.

And many always not just with close, they help support our families.

With that, they're hit with natural disasters and fires and everything.

They can come here, get what they need.

They can call us and get what they need.

And they just been a blessing.

>> Gap also assist families with getting vouchers for students to receive eye exams and glasses.

>> A Thanksgiving by product that would normally end up down the drain or in a landfill is getting a second life.

Thanks to an annual event held by the University of Kentucky for more than a decade.

People have brought their used cooking oil to a collection site during the gobble grease toss.

The oil is then turned over to UK researchers who turn it into bio-fuel feel.

We spoke to one of the researchers about the process.

>> Boyle's have been converted into fuels for decades now.

Obviously the first cases is patrolling of oil.

We mainly work converting fats, oils and greases into sustainable renewable fuels.

And so we do this.

We catalyst, which are materials that accelerate chemical reactions.

We take these fats oils and greases or fall for short and we with the use of these got a list, convert them into renewable diesel or sustainable aviation fuel.

For over 10 years.

Now, we have been trying to improve an existing technology, 2 dedicated to specifically for the East peace talks.

We rather work with some will want something that is more away street.

So something that is going to be say disposed off landfill in a landfill.

These materials would generate methane, which is an even more powerful greenhouse gas than Co 2.

So we can diverted away from the landfill and produce a renewable fuel out.

If folks were 2 for these.

Used cooking oil down the drain.

It will hurt the plumbing at home and also at the city sewer system.

If you Google something like that, birds just like I spear, but with fats instead of ice, you will buying these monsters in the sewer system that can clog the entire sewer and cause the long haul problems that are expensive to fix and that's taxpayer dollars.

So the very best thing that they can do, it's something that this collection says that would completely avoid all of those problems for 15 years.

Now that we've been doing this, we probably can't.

Several 1000 gallons of this waste stream out of the sewer system and away from the left.

>> UK researchers estimate almost 500 gallons of used cooking oil has been collected in the last 15 years since the event has been held.

Today is the last day of the annual Big Blue Crush Blood Drive.

As of last night, Kentucky continue to lead Tennessee and donations.

1954 to 16 91.

The goal is to KET both blood centers well stocked with blood through the Thanksgiving holiday.

And we'll have the final numbers for you on Kentucky edition on Monday.

Go Big Blue.

♪ ♪ We the annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards were given to several recipients at the Ali Center last week, including Louisville, zoned on G you made on know her from decades as a broadcast journalist in Louisville, but she was 9 Kentucky humanitarian of the year for her nonprofit a recipe to end Hunger.

>> If you have heard.

The call to do something.

And you have not.

It is not going to go away is not.

You've got to do it.

The world needs exactly what it is that you have whatever idiots.

You may not think that it is important, but it is needed.

Someone.

Somewhere needs you.

>> This week on inside Louisville, our Kelsey Starks sits down for a candid discussion with the broadcast legend to learn the story behind the creation of her foundation and what motivates her to continue giving back to her community.

>> You've been honored.

>> Many, many ways for it.

How you giving back to this community.

And I appreciate that so much.

Most recently, though, and they Kentucky humanitarian of the Year award.

Muhammad Ali, Humanitarian of the Year award in Kentucky.

Where does that mean to you?

I'm just trying to figure that out.

>> Like its one of those kind of moments when your stomach comes right almost out of your mouth.

And then it lets me know I better KET working.

And that better KET working hard because there's still so much to do.

What's next for you?

I don't I don't know.

It depends on what se moves.

From what I say.

That's certainly a recipe to end.

Hunger will KET working until hunger is gone.

It depends on what I see.

It depends on what people tell me needs to be done.

I mean, that's how that's how it moves.

I move for the need is and it seems like we're not going to stop.

And I know that I'm going to add on love.

We have got to us.

We have got to stop this violence and this hate and I figure.

>> If you can hate me for no reason that I can love you for no reason.

>> And we've got to learn to love.

We have got to learn to love as loud S people hate.

We've got to.

What he's got to be.

Let out.

We've got to love as loud as people hate.

Love is usually fairly quiet.

>> You know, so so quiet and so polite.

>> We've got to learn how to love and be right there and love people who are different and stop judging.

>> You can see the full discussion on this week's inside Louisville.

A candidate talked with Don G Sunday at 12 noon 11:00AM Central time right here on KET.

Thanksgiving is next week.

You know it.

But you have plenty of Christmas themed entertainment options all over Kentucky.

Our Joe Gibbs tells us more in tonight's look at what's happening around the Commonwealth.

♪ >> There's nothing quite like a Christmas parade to usher in the holiday season.

Davis County doesn't it?

Don't miss the Owensboro.

Davis County Christmas Parade tomorrow.

After that, the floats the music and the candy put you in the festive food.

But the community is what makes this Christmas event.

Magical.

If you wish you could go back in time to celebrate Christmas, check out the merry and bright Christmas tours at my old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown.

As you move through the rooms of this beautiful, all you'll find yourself in different eras of holiday history from colonial times to the Roaring 20's, learn about Christmas.

Customs gone by on this great tour.

We'll have to rein in your excitement for this next event.

The old-fashioned all for Strachan.

Christmas parade is Sunday in Dawson Springs.

These holiday horses will be tried in Maryland across town in the afternoon.

Then the town's tree lighting ceremony will be later that evening at Veterans Park.

Don't miss out.

Next Sunday and Mount Washington is an event featuring a totally different Christmas creature.

Second chances Wildlife Center is hosting a holiday armadillo sip and shop drink hot chocolate, Peru's the unique goods in the gift shop and meet Allen.

The license education armadillo all proceeds fund the center's wildlife rehabilitation efforts.

Joined the staff, the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park tomorrow for a holiday spectacular.

Enjoy the holiday buffet.

Take a stroll to the North Pole and make some special ornaments to take home.

Plus roast marshmallows with Santa and his elves are a very cozy Christmas event.

Attending a performance of The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition for many families.

And if you've never seen the ballet chances coming up next Saturday, the African American Ballet troupe is performing the Ebony Nutcracker at Transylvania University in Lexington.

Enjoy this classic Christmas tale in a new way.

Tickets go fast.

Make sure to grab your purse.

And that's what's happening around the commonwealth.

I'm told he gets.

>> Thank you to be gives.

We've been telling you about it for weeks.

Monday is Kentucky's medical cannabis dispensary lottery for most of the state, we'll know who's able to dispense medical marijuana starting in January.

Much more on that Monday night on Kentucky Edition, which, you know, is at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central run, we inform connect and inspire.

Thank you so much for being with us this week.

We hope you have a grand weekend to come getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Have a great one and we'll see you Monday night.

Take good care.

♪ ♪