Creek Don’t Rise Coalition wants greater transparency and accountability in decisions that affect people.

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Residents share their opinions at a fiscal court meeting.

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by BRITAINY BESHEAR
Kentucky First Lady

On Saturday, Feb. 7, Kentuckians have the opportunity to participate in Shop & Share – a one-day drive to provide Kentucky’s regional domestic violence shelters with much-needed items. I’m proud to partner with ZeroV for this donation drive every year.

As First Lady, my number one goal is to make our commonwealth a safer place for all our families.

Sadly, in Kentucky, more than 45% of women and 35% of men experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetime. These are not just numbers. They are our neighbors – from every community in our state.

My faith teaches that we are called to protect the most vulnerable.

Organizations like ZeroV, and each of our regional domestic violence shelters, are there for domestic violence survivors as they begin to heal and move forward.

In 2025, Kentucky’s domestic violence shelters housed more than 2,300 people.

And through Shop & Share, we can ensure that survivors and their families, when they arrive at a shelter, have everyday essentials. Because we know that, more often than not, families fleeing for their lives don’t have much more than the clothes on their backs.

Last year, I met a survivor who told me her story: Through donations like these, she received gift cards that she was able to use for gas and food. It was enough to get her and her family away from an abusive situation and find help.

This truly shows that every action, every donation, no matter how big or small, can change a life for the better – quite possibly, even save one.

And there are so many other stories like this one.

In 2025, Shop & Share raised over $349,000 in cash and in-kind donations. And since the event was started in 2008 by Andy’s mom and former First Lady, Jane Beshear, more than $6 million has been donated to help the lives of thousands of survivors.

Together, we can make sure survivors have the resources they need to heal.

Shop & Share is this Saturday, Feb. 7. It’s easy to get involved. While you’re shopping, you can get what you need and then pick up a few extra items to donate.

Volunteers will be on site to help – and they’ll have lists of what supplies are needed most, such as food, diapers and other essentials. Once you check out, those items are left with the volunteers who will deliver them to the local domestic violence shelter.

This year, you have more options than ever. Kroger has been our key partner for this event for many years, and they’ve stepped up again. We also have many other stores participating in 2026, including some Family Dollar, Food City, IGA, Pennington’s Foodfair, Save A Lot and Walmart locations, as well as local grocery stores. You can find the full list of participating stores at ZeroV.org/ShopandShare.

At most locations, Kentuckians can donate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time.

To the survivors out there who may be listening: I want you to know that there is help. You are brave. And your courage will get you and your family to better days. And we’re here to support you.

Let’s do what we do best in Kentucky: support our neighbors.

Thank you to everyone at ZeroV and Kroger who helps make this event a success every year.

Let’s make sure this is the most successful Shop & Share yet. I know Team Kentucky can do it.

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Customers shared how they’ve already been affected by high rates in many aspects of their daily finances.

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by JENNIFER A. JACKSON, M.D.
President, League of Women Voters of Kentucky

Our representative democracy rests on a fundamental principle: We, the people, have a right to participate in decisions that affect us.

In two prior reports, the League of Women Voters of Kentucky described how Kentucky’s General Assembly, in its 60-day legislative sessions, has increasingly fast-tracked legislation in ways that weaken that principle.

In our newest report, “How Can They Do That: 2025 Challenges to Transparency and Citizen Participation in Kentucky’s Legislative Process,” we show that fast-tracking also occurred in 30-day legislative sessions. These fast-track maneuvers are often combined with other undemocratic tactics to create a negative, compounding effect on public participation. It is not uncommon for a bill to follow a process like this:

A “shell bill” is filed with a vague title and little or no substantive language, creating the opportunity for substantial changes to be inserted at the last minute.

The bill is given “readings” on the chamber floor before the committee discusses the bill. The public may not notice that this has happened, but the maneuver creates the opportunity to rush the bill to a floor vote after the committee approves it.

The committee calls a meeting outside its regularly scheduled meeting time to consider the bill, with short notice to the public that it is meeting at a different time.

At the committee hearing, the original bill is replaced with a substitute version that the public has not seen and cannot access prior to the committee discussion.

The committee approves the substitute bill and sends it to the full House or Senate for a vote that very day, allowing the public only a couple of hours to contact their legislators about the bill.

No minutes of the committee meeting are posted, leaving no public record of committee discussions and public testimony on the bill.

Senate Bill 202, passed in the 2025 session, was one of many bills that used these tactics. The bill was introduced as a five-page shell bill filed on the bill filing deadline. It made two minor wording changes to existing law: changing e-mail to email and Web site to website. In its final form, the bill expanded to 28 pages that added new rules on a substantive issue (the distribution and sale of cannabis-infused beverages). These changes were accomplished by pulling the bill for floor readings before committees discussed the bill, then introducing substitute versions of the bill and moving it to floor votes within 24 hours. No minutes of these committee meetings were posted, leaving no record of committee discussion or public testimony. This process left little time for those affected by the new language to understand and give input on the bill.

As in our prior reports, the 2025 report recommends to the General Assembly specific ways to give the people time to understand and give input on bills before they vote on those bills. Those recommendations include posting draft legislation before each session, limiting the use of shell bills, allowing time for the public to review changes made to bills before a vote is taken, transacting most committee business during regularly scheduled meetings, and posting timely records of legislative proceedings.

The League of Women Voters of Kentucky supports informed and active citizen participation in government. We remind our elected officials that they work for the people, were elected to represent the people, and must give the people opportunities to understand and give input on legislation that affects us.

Jennifer A. Jackson is president of the League of Women Voters of Kentucky, a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government. She can be reached at info@lwvky.org.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. As a nonpartisan body, the League takes action on issues but does not support or oppose candidates or parties. The League supports diversity, equity and inclusion in membership and programming.

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by JONATHAN SHARP

Long after the last asbestos plant closed its doors and the military stopped using asbestos in its ships and bases, Kentucky’s veterans, workers, and their families continued to pay the price for their exposure. From factories to the former shipyards that employed thousands of Kentuckians, the toxic legacy of asbestos exposure lives on in the lungs, medical files, and death certificates.

Yet, despite decades of evidence that link asbestos exposure to mesothelioma and other chronic conditions, America still operates in the dark. Instead of clear, documented records, we have a “shadow registry of exposure” — a hidden, fragmented network of asbestos records buried in trust funds, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) files, and sealed settlements. For over fifty years, the very people who built, served, and cared for this country have lived and died within this shadow system, their illnesses recorded but never connected. It’s time to bring those records into the light.

The Uncomfortable Truth

A real registry would expose both government and corporate negligence, quantifying deaths and linking them to specific federal and industrial sites. It would show how many Kentuckians were poisoned at factories, in military bases such as Fort Campbell, or in naval shipyards along the coast.

Between 1999 and 2017, Kentucky recorded more than 3,100 asbestos-related deaths, with nearly 580 linked directly to mesothelioma and 237 connected to asbestosis. In the small community of Pike County, there were 38 asbestos-related deaths, further underlining the importance of tracking the at-risk veterans.

Today, the asbestos trust fund system functions as a kind of secret registry. These funds, created to compensate victims, hold hundreds of thousands of records, but they are closed to the public, designed for legal settlements rather than public health. The information that could save lives remains locked behind confidential agreements. And without national tracking, those responsible remain protected.

The Shadow Registry of Exposure

For decades, the U.S. maintained a shadow registry of exposure scattered across settlements, VA archives, and corporate records. The data already exists, but the political will to connect it is missing.

More than 60 asbestos trust funds currently contain invaluable data about where and when Americans were exposed, yet all remain sealed. Meanwhile, the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) possess medical files and service records documenting thousands of mesothelioma deaths among veterans, but they failed to establish a centralized database to track them. Even the CDC’s studies on secondary exposure, such as washing asbestos-contaminated uniforms, have never evolved into actionable data systems.

This lack of transparency means Kentuckians who were exposed during their military service, working at TVA plants, in construction, or in manufacturing remain invisible in the public record.

The Ones Who Were Left Out

Roughly 30 percent of all mesothelioma cases involve veterans, and Kentucky’s veteran population has been hit hard. From those who served on asbestos-laden Navy vessels to those stationed on bases where asbestos was used as a building block for all their infrastructure, countless veterans were exposed. Yet, the VA – which built registries for Agent Orange and burn pits exposure – has never created one for asbestos. A Mesothelioma Registry under the VA and DoD collaboration could finally ensure early screenings, accurate diagnosis, and fair compensation for the affected veterans.

Kentucky’s economy was built on industries that relied heavily on asbestos, such as power plants, auto manufacturing, and construction. OSHA may have regulated asbestos exposure since 1972, but it never tracked legacy exposure. As a result, millions of workers remain uncounted in any federal health record. A National Occupational Exposure Registry under the CDC could finally document these histories, preserving data that could help identify high-risk populations.

The damage didn’t stop at the gates of factories or military bases. The families of workers and military personnel were exposed indirectly through laundry covered in asbestos dust or through contaminated base housing. Spouses who developed mesothelioma or peritoneal cancers from secondary asbestos exposure are rarely recognized as victims. A Secondary Exposure Module within the CDC’s surveillance programs could correct that injustice.

The Path Forward

We don’t need to build a new bureaucracy because these registries already exist, hidden across the VA, the CDC, and the DoD. All we need is the courage and accountancy to connect the dots.

Creating a Mesothelioma Registry under VA-DoD collaboration, alongside a National Occupational Asbestos Exposure Registry operated by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), would finally bring the truth into daylight. Moreover,

by allowing companies and federal contractors to release historical employment rosters without penalty, the government could finally verify decades of exposure that are now hidden.

Banning asbestos protects the future, but unless we track those already exposed, the past will keep killing silently. Our veterans, workers, and their families deserve better than a shadow registry. They deserve recognition, accountability, and a fighting chance at life.

Jonathan Sharp is the CFO of the Environmental Litigation Group P.C., a law firm in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides legal services to victims exposed to toxic chemicals.

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Area leaders were invited to share their experiences at a panel at the University of Pikeville on Friday, October 17, 2025.

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October is City Government Month

by J.D. CHANEY
Kentucky League of Cities

October is City Government Month in Kentucky. At the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), we use this time each year to recognize and celebrate the many actions city governments take to improve the quality of life in the commonwealth. With most cities in Kentucky classified as small cities, local government in Kentucky is truly close to the people it serves. The deep personal nature of city government in our state is one of its many strengths. It is where leadership and service make a direct difference in people’s lives.

Cities are unique in that they are not created by the state or by counties but are born out of citizen initiative. Citizens come together, decide to incorporate, and form a city government because they want to enhance their quality of life. They want services, infrastructure, and protections that might not otherwise exist without a local governing body. In Kentucky, the purpose of cities has always been to provide enhanced services that promote the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens.

The Kentucky General Assembly has further recognized the importance of local leadership by adopting home rule authority. This allows cities the flexibility to make most decisions for themselves, without constantly seeking state permission, except in areas where the legislature has enacted comprehensive regulations or specific preemptions. In short, the state has affirmed that the people who live and work in our communities are best equipped to make decisions for their communities. That’s not just good policy — it’s good democracy. We are grateful to our state leaders for trusting cities with this responsibility, and we believe citizens should be, too.

Cities are where life happens. They are the places where record-setting economic development projects are announced, where small businesses open their doors, and where people invest most of their hard-earned dollars. Cities are home to vibrant downtowns that shape a community’s identity. They are the hosts of civic festivals, concerts, parades, and holiday events that bring neighbors and strangers together. In every corner of Kentucky, city governments are helping create stronger bonds of community.

Whether large or small, cities deliver an impressive range of services, including essentials such as law enforcement, fire protection, street and sidewalk maintenance, trash collection, and cemetery upkeep. Many cities also operate utilities that provide clean drinking water, treat wastewater, and supply electricity, gas, or broadband service. Cities maintain parks and recreation programs where children play ball, families gather for picnics, and senior citizens find opportunities to stay active and engaged. These services, big and small, combine to make daily life safer, healthier, and more enjoyable.

Behind all these efforts are the men and women who choose to serve in city government. Your elected mayors and city legislative body members, as well as countless appointed staff and employees, work every day to make sure the quality of life in their community is as high as possible. Most do it for modest pay and little recognition. They often juggle their roles in public service with full-time jobs and family responsibilities. Yet they remain dedicated to helping their cities thrive.

That is why October’s designation as City Government Month matters. It is more than a celebration — it is a reminder. Local government is the level of government closest to you. It is the most direct example of representative democracy in action. And it only works as well as the people who support and engage with it.

So this month, don’t just recognize your city government; get involved with it. Attend a city council or commission meeting — volunteer for a local board, committee, or neighborhood project. Lend your time to community events, park cleanups, or youth programs. Reach out to your elected city officials and share your ideas. Simply saying “thank you” to a city employee or elected official can mean more than you realize. These small steps build stronger partnerships between citizens and the people who serve them.

Strong cities make a strong Kentucky, but that strength is not automatic. It is built, day by day, by citizens who care about their communities and by leaders who dedicate themselves to service. This October, let’s commit not just to celebrating city government but to strengthening it — together.

J.D. Chaney is executive director/CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC), a membership organization dedicated to strengthening and empowering cities and promoting a higher quality of life for all Kentuckians. KLC represents more than 380 cities across Kentucky and provides advocacy, education, and resources to help local governments operate effectively and efficiently.

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by The Heritage Foundation

To vote for a continuing resolution (CR), the Senate Democrats are demanding in part that Congress resume Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act premium subsidy policies that open the door for illegal aliens to receive government benefits. These loopholes were terminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law this July. The OBBBA limited eligibility for health benefits to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and lawful residents under the Compact of Free Association, thereby stopping eligibility for illegal aliens and other aliens here on a temporary basis. The Senate Democrats’ CR bill would repeal these changes made by the OBBBA.

Key Provisions

Division B, Subtitle E, Sec. 2141 of S.2882, the Democrat CR, would repeal these key sections in Subtitle B of Title VII in the OBBBA that directly curbed access to government health care benefits:

• Sec. 71109, Alien Medicaid Eligibility. This provision changed immigration terminology that is used to determine whether an individual is eligible for Medicaid benefits. The change narrowed eligibility to U.S citizens, lawful permanent residents, certain Cubans/Haitians in the U.S., and residents via the Compact of Free Association (Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands). Previously, benefits were available to a broader set of “qualified aliens,” including immigration parolees and asylees.
• Sec. 71110, Expansion of Federal Medicaid Match Rate (FMAP) for Emergency Medicaid. This provision reduced the FMAP for emergency services provided to unlawfully present aliens in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from a federal enhanced match rate of 90 percent to the standard federal match rate for each state.
• Sec. 71201, Limiting Medicare Coverage of Certain Individuals. This provision applied the same Medicaid eligibility restrictions to the Medicare program, again narrowing Medicare eligibility to “lawfully permanent residents” rather than the previous, broader category of “qualified aliens.”
• Sec. 71301/71302, Permitting Premium Tax Credit Only for Certain Individuals and Disallowing Premium Tax Credit During Periods of Medicaid Ineligibility Due to Alien Status. Similar to the Medicaid and Medicare changes, these provisions narrowed eligibility for the ACA premium tax credits to those who are lawfully present and would prohibit an alien who is found to be ineligible for Medicaid from also qualifying for a premium tax credit.

Other Provisions

Other provisions in OBBA that Democrats want to repeal would strengthen and improve Medicaid’s eligibility and enforcement rules by:

• Rolling back Biden-era rules that encouraged continuous coverage (Sec. 71101/71102); requiring states to cross-check for duplicative enrollment (Sec. 71103);
• Requiring states to conduct more frequent eligibility redeterminations (Sec. 71107);
• Adding work requirements to Medicaid (Sec. 71119);
• Strengthening income verification for premium tax credits, including immigration status (Sec. 71303); and
• Disallowing certain special enrollment periods (Sec. 71304).

These provisions, aimed at ensuring that only those who qualify for the program are enrolled, might not be directly linked to immigration status but have the potential to capture ineligible immigration populations as well.

Conclusion

Such welfare and other benefits given to illegal aliens facilitate and prolong illegal immigration in the U.S. at great cost to the American taxpayer. The OBBBA properly limited the health benefit eligibility to those who are here lawfully and more permanently. These changes should not be repealed.

Reprinted from https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/yes-senate-democrats-have-shut-down-the-government-over-giving-health

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Health care costs are about to skyrocket for working Americans, but GOP lawmakers are prioritizing tax breaks for the wealthy.

by Karen Dolan
OtherWords

Health care access in this country is in grave danger — and your wallet could be, too. Those facts are key to understanding the latest government shutdown.

“My kids have health care through Medicaid — which is especially important for my daughter with autism,” Alexis Cortes, a mom of four, told me. But “the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ calls for massive cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and early childhood education programs,” she warns.

Also at issue are the 24 million Americans who benefit from the soon-to-expire tax credits that help them afford their health coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. When Republicans passed their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations in this summer’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, they intentionally left out renewing this credit that helps regular people afford health care.

As a result, according to KFF Health, not only could the 24 million ACA users see a doubling of their premium costs, but most Americans could see their premiums rise if this tax credit isn’t renewed.

Coupled with the over $1 trillion that the GOP bill gutted from Medicaid in order to fund those massive tax giveaways to billionaires, Americans are about to experience significant reductions in their access to health coverage, long-term care, nursing home care, and hospital care, especially in rural areas.

This is what’s at stake with the current government shutdown on Capitol Hill.

The Republican majority is trying to pass a stop-gap spending measure that sustains President Trump’s mass firings of public servants, maintains his freeze on nearly half a trillion dollars meant for our communities, and keeps their cuts to everything from education to health care, food assistance, student loans, and even cancer research.

Some lawmakers want to stop this calamity from happening.

The Democrats have a counterproposal to fund the government that restores this health care funding, keeps costs under control for families already grappling with high costs of living, and prohibits illegally freezing appropriated funds. But with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats’ proposal hasn’t been able to pass.

Nearly 80 percent of Americans — including most Trump supporters — agree with Alexis, telling pollsters they want lawmakers to restore those expiring ACA credits.

Unfortunately, President Trump is disingenuously claiming that Democrats aren’t agreeing to the massive health care cuts because they want to spend taxpayer dollars on undocumented immigrants instead.

This is untrue. Undocumented immigrants pay taxes but aren’t allowed to get government health care benefits. Period. The president and his allies are telling this lie in an effort to gut your health care.

Trump is also vowing to use the government shutdown as an opportunity to enact mass federal worker firings and to deny funds to states that voted against him. That means “blue states” — including plenty of red and purple communities inside them — are being denied funds for projects like building roads and bridges as a form of punishment.

Trump also instructed that the email signatures of government employees blame Democrats for the government shutdown. The administration has posted similar false and partisan messages on some executive branch agency websites.

Together, these measures may violate at least four federal laws against misappropriating or freezing federal funds, or spending them on partisan activity — including the Anti-Deficiency Act, the Hatch Act, the Anti-Lobbying Act, and the Impoundment Control Act.

Meanwhile, families like Alexis’s are scared and struggling, wondering how they will be able to care for their families when their health coverage vanishes or becomes unaffordable.

The 80 percent of us who object to defunding our families and communities just so the rich can get richer need to make our voices heard. The sooner we do, the sooner the government can reopen and our families can receive the care and services we need.

Karen Dolan directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.

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