>> I mean, I would almost think from the time that those new children come into the world, a case file needs to be opened.

>> A state lawmaker speaks out about Kentucky's system for removing children from their home.

>> In about a week.

If the shutdown continues, we'll get another batch of people getting even less of the paychecks they would have expected.

>> The layoffs began what the federal government shutdown means for workers wallets.

>> You only want to borrow what you need.

>> And what's changed about the program that helps Kentucky students pay for college.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this Friday, October the 10th, I'm Renee Shaw.

We thank you for joining us and kicking off your weekend with us this evening.

How do social workers decide to remove children from the home because of abuse or neglect?

Well, that was the question at yesterday's Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee meeting in Frankfort.

Some state lawmakers raised concerns about new tools used by the Department for Community Based Services.

Our Emily Sisk explains in tonight's legislative update.

>> In Kentucky, nearly 46,000 youth were in the foster care system from 2021 to 2023, 55,000 children were being raised by a relative.

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has implemented new risk assessment tools that can advise social workers on if children should be removed from the home.

But as the Commissioner for Community Based Services explained, sometimes workers override the tools recommendation.

>> Sometimes they are.

There are factors in a case that's never going to change.

So if an individual has a prior CPS history, they're always going to have a prior CPS history.

The same thing if you have a prior, you know, history of with mental health, substance misuse, criminal record, etc.

that's always going to raise your risk score.

But it does not necessarily mean that there's a current safety threat or issue.

>> Commissioner Dennis said sometimes the risk assessment tool recommends services or support resources for families, rather than removing children from the home.

Senator Philip Wheeler, who works as an attorney, said he hears ongoing complaints from those in the court system about how child removal cases are handled.

>> When it suddenly becomes a five alarm fire and it shows up in the court and they get the entire file on them, it's, you know, this high with about 20 incidents in there that they said this should have been done two years ago.

>> Wheeler said he sees many instances where parents have newborn children soon after their previous children were removed due to abuse or neglect.

>> I mean, I would almost think from the time that those new children come into the world, a case file needs to be opened.

People like that.

Well, frankly, I don't even think they should be having children.

But secondly, I mean, there's no way that even a minor child is safe with people like that.

Is this tool being utilized in such a manner as to proactively defend these, these children that are either newborn or adolescents against these types of parents that are, you know, frankly, not much better than animals.

>> Safety is always front and center with everything that we do.

We are ongoing, continually reevaluating safety.

>> The commissioner said they take parents prior history into consideration when assessing safety for Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Sisk.

>> Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina machado has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

She's fought for free elections and has faced threats to her life.

Congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky says President Donald Trump should have won the prize for his work trying to end the war between Israel and Hamas and other diplomatic efforts during his presidency.

In a letter to the Nobel committee yesterday, Congressman Barr said the president's diplomacy has saved lives, adding, quote, I therefore urge you to bestow upon President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his tireless pursuit of peace and his transformative impact on the world stage.

End quote.

The Trump administration has canceled a $100 million grant to the Ascend Elements battery plant in Christian County in western Kentucky, and there are reports the administration will cut other energy projects in Kentucky, including a $50 million project helping Mitsubishi Electric repurpose a manufacturing plant in Maysville.

Yesterday, Governor Andy Beshear said these moves will hurt Kentucky and hurt voters who backed President Donald Trump.

>> I'd be very disappointed if this is going to move forward, because Ascend Elements is an enormous project in Hopkinsville.

If I were in a room, I'd remind the president and the administration that that county voted overwhelmingly for the president.

He's about to cut a ton of jobs there.

If this is is accurate, you look at the one in Maysville, they're changing the product that they make.

They are reshoring something that is not currently made in the United States, which the Trump administration or not made enough in the United States, which the Trump administration says it wants.

If it cuts this funding, it's going to kill that project.

>> The governor also repeated his opposition to the president ordering National Guard troops into American cities.

Beshear called it silly, quote unquote, but also said scary and dangerous.

He said Trump is claiming the troops are needed to stop insurrections when no insurrections are taking place.

Beshear has joined other Democratic governors in a legal brief backing Oregon's court challenge to Trump's actions.

A former fighter pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan running again for the U.S.

Senate, blasted the Trump administration's federalization of National Guard troops in American cities.

Amy McGrath, a Democrat running to replace retiring U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell, calls the move a distraction from the focus on real threats posed by foreign adversaries.

McGrath's reaction begins our Friday Inside Kentucky Politics segment.

>> Well, one, I think we all want to tackle crime.

Okay.

I'm the mother of three kids.

I have public servants, police officers in my family.

I'm very much want to support them.

To tackle crime, you need better policing and you need to not cut funding for policing, which is exactly what these guys in Washington just did.

And then they turn around and use the National Guard in our cities under this guise of crime.

Look, our military should not be used to police the cities of America.

Most Americans get that.

We do not want our military policing our streets like we're some third world country.

It's just not who we are.

And the military exists to train and fight wars.

We are trained for war.

>> And the president says this is a good training ground for that, right?

>> Well, and that's why I've been so critical of that, of what's going on.

Because it's just outrageous to say to our military, oh, we should be using our cities as, as your training grounds, that is that is not what we want.

By the way, we have enough training areas.

Any of us have been in the military know this.

We have lots of bases, including urban training areas.

But to say that is just outrageous.

>> And other political developments this week it is day ten of the federal government shutdown, and the Trump administration is making good on threats to fire federal workers.

This the day after dueling funding bills were rejected for the seventh time, Russ Vote, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social media site X that the riffs have begun.

That's referring to reduction in force plans aimed at shrinking the size of the federal government.

University of Kentucky political science professor Stephen Voss talked with us earlier today about the legality of those firings and the potential political fallout.

>> Well, we don't know the legal standing of the layoffs yet, so I guess we'll find out how wise it was.

After we see how it plays out.

It may have very limited impact.

It may, on the other hand, result in the federal government having to pay people a lot of money.

And so I really I think it's too early to know how that will play out.

We do know though, also that's kicking in as we record this, is that people are not getting their full paychecks.

And in about a week, if the shutdown continues, we'll get another batch of people getting even less of the paychecks they would have expected.

And those implications we know will kick in.

>> Right.

And we know that there are people who have been working without pay.

And.

ET cetera.

The Congressional Budget Office said back in 2018, 2019, the shutdown cost the U.S.

economy $11 billion.

Now, some of that is because of those payroll issues there.

But that's a lot of money.

And that that shutdown was what 35 days.

>> Yeah.

And we could see that again.

We've had two fairly lengthy shutdowns in modern times.

We some were shorter, but we had a big one under Trump's last presidency.

And then we had the big one with Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich standing off back in the 90s.

And those were both very expensive.

They both had fairly widespread political implications.

>> Such as.

>> Well, the sort of conventional wisdom, and I think it's backed up by data, is that the Republicans paid for the shutdown in the 90s, that Bill Clinton just won that clash little less clear.

Who won when it was Trump versus the Democrats.

But again, it looks as though the Republicans came out on the downside of that government shutdown, which raises a puzzle, right?

Why would the Republicans pay, regardless of whether they're the ones in the white House or not, in the white House?

And one explanation is that since they're seen as the anti-government party, that when the government shuts down, the voters just kind of assume, you know, without any other information, probably the Republicans did it.

>> Right?

Right.

Even though they have some pretty strong messaging, Professor Vos, about how they are blaming the Democrats and about how this Affordable Health Care Act, you know, they can talk about that later.

So the Democrats are the ones who they say are shutting the government down for these prolonged times.

>> Well, sure.

But every time there's been that back and forth, I think what we forget is people who monitor public affairs is that that doesn't reach a lot of voters, including the people who tend to be swing voters.

What they know is, you know, I go to an office, it's not open.

I try to download something.

The web page isn't giving me data.

I've got relatives who aren't getting their paychecks, and they sort of make quick judgments or quick decisions of who's to blame, and they'll go with the stereotype government shutdown.

Republicans don't like government.

I'll blame them.

>> The shutdown will extend into next week, as the Senate is expected to reconvene until Tuesday.

The House GOP leadership is extending the lower chambers break until at least October the 20th, and our final political note of the week.

A Lexington Republican legislator wants to stop school districts from hiring lobbyists and plans to push a bill through the Kentucky General Assembly next year to do just that.

State Representative Vanessa Grasso's motivation stems from Fayette County Public Schools hiring of a local lobbying firm for tens of thousands of dollars their job, promote a contentious tax hike plan as a remedy to a $16 million projected budget deficit.

Grosso says her intent is to ensure taxpayer dollars are poured into classroom learning and not lining the pockets of outside lobbyists.

>> I feel like it's a bit of the haves and the have nots, and we have some of our most wealthy school districts who can hire lobbyists doing so, and it's not a good look.

It really kind of undermines the work of those education advocates that come to Frankfort and ask for more funding for education.

And, you know, we need to let the taxpayers know that when we do appropriate funds for education, they're going towards student learning and educating our future workforce.

And so, yeah, this would be pretty narrow.

It would really only impact the way I see it.

Fayette and possibly Bullitt County at this juncture.

It would also include education, development cooperatives.

So okay, the only one that I know of at the moment that has a lobbyist is the Ohio Valley Education Cooperative.

And again, it represents some of those urban districts Shelby, Jefferson, Bullitt, and so forth.

And so I feel like if we don't limit them as well, then the districts still have the ability to pull their money together and hire a lobbyist through their education co-op.

And so this is just a way to close that loophole and really tell the taxpayers that we're serious about this, and we want to ensure that students and teachers get what they need for their classrooms.

>> And this would only apply for K through 12.

We're not talking about higher education because we know that's a different ball game, and they do have lobbyists or government relations folks who work on their behalf.

>> Yeah.

You're right.

I mean, I think that this bill that I intend to file is the floor and not the ceiling on this issue.

Some of my colleagues in Frankfort have had more comprehensive bills that would go as far as to include city and county governments and anyone really who receives state dollars.

At this point, I'm trying to address the issue that my constituents have brought to me.

No state has been successful in banning taxpayer, taxpayer funded lobbyists across the board.

I know it's been a big priority of Governor Abbott in Texas, but he still hasn't gotten it across the line.

States like Florida, though, have done kind of what I'm proposing to do.

And they did include those universities and those lobbyists.

>> Yeah.

And do you think that maybe the temperature is just not quite right in Kentucky to go wholesale like that, that maybe it's incremental, as you are proposing and breaking away from larger proposals that include all city or state government entities, which would include higher ed.

>> Yeah.

You know, I like to really look at a problem and try to solve that problem.

It would take more meaningful discussion and really examination to see how far.

And, you know, we should go with this.

I'm supportive of eliminating taxpayer funded lobbyists more broadly.

However, I don't plan to include that as part of the bill, but I'll support my colleagues if they go in that direction.

>> Had all of this came about because of the controversial proposal on increasing the occupational tax right, and some defense of the superintendent, had that occupational tax not come into play here, would you even have been filing this bill?

>> Probably not.

But I will say this.

As soon as we started learning about the budget shortfall, you know, the $16 million projected, Superintendent Liggins came to meet with me in Frankfort, and he was with a member of the lobbying team.

And one of the things I said to him was, look at you.

You are here with a lobbyist.

I grew up in rural eastern Kentucky, and, you know, my mom was a school superintendent, and I know that she struggled trying to find funds to give bus drivers and custodians and cooks and teachers raises, you know, just trying to literally find the money in her budget.

She knew that they were very deserving of those raises.

And to be able to spend on frivolous things like this, it just felt really unreal.

But I also wanted to to deliver the message to him that I'm approachable.

I said, here's my cell phone number.

It's on my business card, you know, and let's have a relationship.

You don't have to feel like you need to bring a team in.

We can just talk.

>> For those, perhaps even in the business community, that would say we really don't want Frankfort meddling in our local school district matters.

What would you say to them?

>> Well, these are public dollars and it's our job to to be a good steward of them.

And so I think if you're a, you know, if you're a private entity, you're a private business, feel free.

You know, go hire your lobbyist.

If you're a private school and you want to do that, it's not using state taxpayer dollars.

But in this regard, I think we're doing the right thing.

>> Representative Grosso says she'll introduce the bill for consideration by the Kentucky General Assembly session that begins on in January.

She adds that it is not directed at advocacy groups like the Kia, the Kentucky Education Association and other news.

Another Kentucky school district has denied an application from a faith based group that wanted to teach students about the Bible during school hours, the Oldham era reports.

The school board unanimously voted against a proposal from Lifewise Academy.

Earlier this year.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 19, which allows students to leave school one hour early for district approved, quote, moral instruction.

The school board's decision comes after they asked for a legal opinion from Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman to help clarify the new law.

Oldham County is at least the second district to deny Lifeways Academy.

Lifewise Academy, that is, the Warren County School Board did that same thing last month.

Lifewise Academy is seeking approval from several school boards across Kentucky.

There are some changes on the way when it comes to student loans.

There are also some options when it comes to paying for college.

Our Kristi Dutton sat down with Joe Carroll Ellis, executive director of Kia, which stands for the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, to help explain what to expect, what.

>> Changes are happening at the federal level, really, regarding student loans.

>> Okay, so the one big Beautiful Bill act did make some changes to the federal student loan program.

Probably two of the most significant changes are it eliminated a program called Grad Plus.

And this is a federal loan program that is really there to fill the gap for graduate school expenses not covered by other aid or the regular direct student loan program.

We think, you know, there may be some students, especially in the professional schools, who will be looking for other, other ways to finance their education.

With the elimination of grad Plus program, we do offer a an alternative private student loan at Advantage education.com that does offer very good rates, fixed interest rates and no fees.

So we encourage families to check out Advantage education.com if they are looking for additional financing.

>> Okay.

And for a senior in high school who may be considering borrowing for higher education, would this help them or what would you advise them to do.

>> So the first thing they always want to do is fill out the Fafsa.

Okay?

So go to Studentaid.gov and fill out the Fafsa because then you'll find out if you qualify for any need based grants or scholarships.

And also if you qualify for what's called subsidized student loans, meaning that the federal government pays the interest on those loans while you are in school.

And so you'll know, here's what I can get.

Here's what I have left to finance.

Then what you want to do is you only want to borrow what you need.

Do not borrow more than you need to cover that cost of education.

And keep in mind that student loans are loans that do accrue interest and do have to be repaid.

I would also encourage families, whether they're looking for additional financing, like I mentioned before, or if parents are looking to borrow to check out Advantage Education Loan.

Com, we do offer better rates than some of the federal loans to see if that can help fill the gap.

>> Okay, all this is great information.

Joe Carroll Ellis, thank you so much for being here and sharing your expertise with us.

>> Thank you so much for having me.

>> Loans are just one option when it comes to paying for college.

We offer more helpful tips by experts and our program paying for College 2026 Education Matters.

You can tune in to that Monday night at 9 p.m.

8 p.m.

Central Time, right here on KET.

Get outside and enjoy some cooler weather this weekend.

Our Toby Gibbs looks at what Kentucky has to offer, and tonight's Around the Commonwealth segment.

>> Grab your favorite ladle and head to the Burgoo capital of the world Lawrenceburg this weekend for the 31st annual Burgoo Festival.

In addition to steaming bowls of this traditional Kentucky dish, there will be local vendors, live music, a ghost walk, and a race to see who's the fastest kid in Anderson County.

The event kicks off tonight.

Get into the Halloween spirit by going underground at Carter Caves State Resort Park this weekend.

The park is hosting stories in the shadows here, hair raising stories and legends from park storytellers while making your way through Cascade Cave after hours.

And if you can't make it this Saturday, the tour is being offered next Saturday as well.

It's Oktoberfest with a Kentucky kick at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as it brings back romp tober.

It's two days of live bluegrass music workshops, square dancing, beer and wine tastings, food, arts and crafts vendors and family friendly activities.

Read any good books lately?

You'll find plenty of new chapters to explore at the 2025 Louisville Book Festival.

This daylong celebration of literacy and the written word will turn the page on inspiration.

With more than 150 authors and exhibitors, plus panels, workshops and live readings.

The traditional music of the Appalachian region takes center stage at Berea College, with the 52nd Annual Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music.

The event pays homage to the homemade music passed on through the generations with concerts, gospel sings, jam sessions and workshops.

Traditional dance and kids activities are also part of the festivities, which go on through Sunday.

The City of Hazard is putting its own spin on Oktoberfest.

The sixth annual North Fork Oktoberfest brings all the fun of the traditional fest with some hometown flavor like Appalachian Mountain wrestling, wiener dog races, and a stein holding contest for kids and adults.

The family friendly event includes food and drink vendors, plus live music.

Muhlenberg County is ready for prime time with the third annual Pruyn Park Birthday Bash.

The celebration of legendary singer songwriter John Prine features an open mic music session, birthday goodies, a silent auction, and food trucks.

The party takes place at the John Prine Memorial Park at Rochester Dam.

It's bacon, meats, bacon at the Trigg County Country Ham Festival, where they're firing up a ten foot oven to bake Kentucky's largest country ham and biscuit.

There will be several food trucks on site with other dishes to pig out on live music, carnival rides, games, arts and crafts vendors, and a petting zoo.

Round out the fun at this free event.

One of the oldest and most famous choirs in the world, the Vienna Boys Choir is bringing its world renowned harmonies to the bluegrass.

The group will perform next Friday at the Grand Theater in Frankfort, showcasing a diverse mix of vocal music for audiences of all ages.

The choir is scheduled to make another stop in Kentucky, performing in Madisonville on Saturday, October 18th.

Step back in time at the annual Salt Festival, taking place at Big Bone Lick State Historic Site.

The festival features demonstrations of pioneer living and frontier skills, including salt making, archery, spear and tomahawk throwing, blacksmithing, and knife making.

Enjoy traditional native dances and storytelling, along with live music, crafts and food.

The three day event is free and kicks off next Friday.

Check out America's River Roots Festival this year.

The event celebrates America's 250th birthday.

The festival takes place along the banks of Newport, Covington and Cincinnati and features music, food, riverboat races, sightseeing cruises and other activities.

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

I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Thank you, Toby Gibbs.

Make it a great weekend to come, and we will see you right back here