Tag: kentucky

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear Wants All ICE Agents Taken Out of Cities and ‘Fully Retrained’

Kentucky’s Democrat Governor Andy Beshear went on CNN this week and said that he wants ICE agents pulled out of cities and ‘fully retrained.’

According to the governor, ICE agents are ‘operating with aggressive tactics.’ Of course, he says nothing about the mobs of left wing radicals attacking these agents wherever they go.

Democrats only see one side of the equation. They have a total blind spot for the people who are assaulting ICE because those are their voters.

Breitbart News reported:

Beshear: ‘Every Single’ ICE Officer Should Be Taken Out of Cities, Re-Trained

On Monday’s “CNN News Central,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) stated that, when it comes to ICE, we should “demand that they pull these officers out of all of our cities and that they fully retrain every single one of them.”

Co-host Kate Bolduan asked, “Once he leaves there, what are you going to do if and when a massive ICE operation is launched in Kentucky?”

Beshear answered, “Well, the first thing we have to do is demand that they pull these officers out of all of our cities and that they fully retrain every single one of them. They are operating with aggressive tactics that are not appropriate for law enforcement. They are not following our Constitution and giving people their rights.

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Kentucky Launches Mobile ID App Amid Broader Push for Digital Identity and Age Verification Law

Kentucky has introduced a new Mobile ID app that allows residents to carry a state-issued digital ID on their smartphones.

The credential can currently be used at TSA checkpoints in select airports and is described as a voluntary digital version of a driver’s license or state ID for limited verification purposes.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which is overseeing the rollout, says the program is part of the state’s adoption of mobile driver’s license technology.

The digital ID is stored securely on the user’s phone and relies on encrypted Bluetooth connections for verification, removing the need to hand over a physical card.

At this stage, the credential is accepted only for TSA identity checks. The state has not indicated when or if it will expand to other uses such as traffic stops, public service access, or age-restricted purchases.

Kentucky officials have also stated that the app is not meant to serve as a full digital wallet but as a narrowly defined identification tool.

Governor Andy Beshear described the Mobile ID as “a secure and convenient option” for residents who wish to use it.

Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray noted that the digital version “reduces exposure of personal information” compared with showing a physical license.

The state has published detailed guidance explaining how to enroll, verify, and use the credential during airport screenings.

Kentucky’s Mobile ID app is not an isolated gadget for airport lines. It fits into a broader state effort to rethink how identity and age are confirmed in both physical and online settings.

This comes at a time when Kentucky lawmakers are actively expanding legal frameworks around age verification and digital identity across multiple fronts.

The Mobile ID lets residents carry a secure digital version of their driver’s license or state ID on a smartphone, currently usable at TSA checkpoints in participating airports.

The app’s design stores credentials locally on the device and uses encrypted Bluetooth to transmit only the necessary details for a verification task.

At the same time that the state is embracing mobile identity technology, lawmakers have enacted age verification legislation that applies to online activity.

Under House Bill 278, websites hosting adult content must verify that users are at least 18 years old before allowing access, which in practice has led some major adult sites to block access for Kentucky users rather than collect ID data online.

This law took effect in mid-2024 and reflects a legislative move to enforce age checks on digital platforms.

Kentucky’s digital identity initiative and its age verification law point toward a future where proving age and identity electronically may become more common in many contexts.

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Court orders Kentucky to release records in driver’s license fraud investigation

A court ruled the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet violated the state’s open records laws by withholding documents tied to an investigation into immigrants illegally obtaining Kentucky driver’s licenses in Louisville, ordering more than 2,300 records released to WDRB.

The ruling marks a major development in WDRB’s ongoing investigation into claims that non-citizens were able to buy Kentucky driver’s licenses under the table, often without proper documentation, Homeland Security screening or required driving tests.

For former licensing clerk Melissa Moorman, the court order brings both validation and frustration.

“I would just like this to be resolved and over so this dark cloud can be removed from my head,” Moorman said.

Moorman said she reported what she believed was widespread fraud at the Nia Center driver’s license branch in west Louisville, only to lose her job after sounding the alarm. She worked as a clerk at the branch through Quantum Solutions, a staffing service contracted by the commonwealth to supplement personnel at regional offices.

She said she was training for a supervisor position, which would have made her a state employee.

“It really did destroy my life,” she said.

Moorman told investigators and WDRB fraudulent documents were accepted, required screenings — including the drivers’ tests — were bypassed, and customers paid about $200 in cash per license under the table.

“There were documents that were being provided that weren’t legit,” Moorman said. “There were employees that were using my login as part of this scam.”

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Confessed Child Killer, Freed for Good Behavior After Serving Half His Sentence, Arrested Again

An Indiana man released only 10 years into a 20-year-sentence after confessing to the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Kentucky boy during a home invasion was released from prison in October only to be arrested weeks later for violating his parole.

More striking, convicted felon Ronald Exantus, 42, is due to be released again in 2026, this time with no parole restrictions, the New York Post reported.

Despite confessing to killing young Logan Tipton in his Versailles home, about 15 miles west of Lexington, Exantus was found not guilty by reason of insanity at trial, according to news reports.

Instead, the jury found him guilty of assaults against other family members during the break-in.

Exantus’s parole in October came after he accumulated credits that allowed him to reduce his prison time. With the heinous homicide of a child involved, the early release even got the attention of the White House.

“Something needs to be changed because it cannot be that easy,” Logan’s sister Kora Tipton told the Post. “You’ve committed a very heinous crime, and it’s just given to you.”

Logan’s family blasted the ordeal as they prepared to commemorate what would have been the slain boy’s 16th birthday over this weekend and expressed shock that his confessed killer might be returned to the streets next year.

“There’s no reason for any of us to have to walk down the street, and possibly see our son’s murderer,” father George Tipton told Lex 18 news.

After his release, Exantus moved to Marion County, Florida, but was arrested eight days later for failing to register as a convicted felon with the local sheriff’s office within 48 hours of arriving, according to the Post.

Exantus was able to reduce his sentence “five years … for following the rules, two years for exceptional meritorious service and 10 months for educational programs he completed,” according to the Post.

Ronnie Bowling, top prosecutor in Whitley and McCreary counties and president of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association, told the Lexington news outlet inmates know how to work the prison good time system.

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States Are Already Rebelling Against Trump’s New Hemp THC Ban

Last week, High Times broke down how Congress ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and, in the process, scheduled the recriminalization of most hemp-derived products. The deal President Donald Trump signed caps legal hemp at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, bans synthetic or chemically converted cannabinoids and gives the industry one year before most hemp products (including drinks, gummies and vapes) are treated as Schedule I marijuana.

On paper, the ban is national and absolute. In reality, it’s already turning into a state-by-state fight over who actually controls cannabis policy.

Paper Law vs. Real-World Enforcement

Technically, cannabis has been federally illegal the whole time, yet a $32 billion marijuana industry operates in dozens of states. Now, a $28.3 billion hemp sector is being shoved into the same contradiction.

Law professor Jonathan Adler told MJBizDaily: “While marijuana is illegal for purposes of federal law, the federal government doesn’t have the resources, doesn’t have the personnel to go after individual retailers, individual buyers, let alone individual users.” If that is true for state-licensed cannabis, it is even more true for hemp seltzers in grocery stores.

In Ohio, for instance, this tension is already out in the open. Governor Mike DeWine issued an executive order to ban hemp-derived THC at the state level, but a judge put the order on hold. Now, lawmakers are talking about pulling hemp THC into the state’s cannabis regime instead of treating it as pure contraband. According to ABC-5, House Speaker Matt Huffman, who supports stricter rules, still asked: “Now, are we going to go around and start cuffing 17-year-old clerks at gas stations? No, but we’ve got to get this thing in shape.”

Texas and Kentucky Push Back

Texas now sits in direct conflict with the new federal definition. Economist Robin Goldstein writes in the Houston Chronicle that the state’s “THC hemp business” represents “a $4.5 billion industry that supports thousands of businesses, most of them small and independent.” He credits Governor Greg Abbott with taking “courageous action to save Texas hemp” by vetoing a state ban and issuing an executive order that kept intoxicating hemp products legal under HB 1325.

Under Abbott’s order and HB 1325, Goldstein notes: “THC hemp products have already been explicitly legalized under Texas law.” Now the shutdown deal makes those products illegal again at the federal level, but state law “is therefore now in conflict with U.S. federal law.” In his words, “recreational intoxicating hemp is just as legal in Texas as recreational intoxicating cannabis is in California,” and “Texas and its THC industry simply join the conflicts-with-federal law club.” His bottom line: “I see no more reason that THC hemp businesses should stop operating in Texas than that THC cannabis businesses should stop operating in California.”

In Kentucky, the governor is sending a similar signal, albeit in softer tones. When asked about the federal hemp language, Governor Andy Beshear said at a press briefing that “hemp is an important industry in Kentucky,” and that “we should have appropriate safety regulations around it, but we should make those regulations here in Kentucky —talking to the industry and making sure that we get that balance right.”

The Governor added: “I think that we can protect our kids. I think that we can do the right thing to protect all of our people while not handicapping an industry that supports a lot of people.” Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul tried to strip the hemp ban from the bill and warned leadership it would devastate the hemp sector, while Senator Mitch McConnell, who pushed hemp legalization in 2018, led the effort to close the so-called loophole.

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Kentucky Governor Says Hemp Is An ‘Important Industry’ That Should Be Regulated At The State Level, Not Federally Banned

The Democratic governor of Kentucky says the hemp industry is an “important” part of the economy that deserves to be regulated at the state level—rather than federally prohibited, as Congress has moved to do under a spending bill President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was asked whether he agrees with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that the hemp language that advanced through the appropriations legislation poses an existential threat to the cannabis market that’s emerged since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

“I haven’t had a chance to review the language on hemp, but hemp is an important industry in Kentucky,” Beshear said. “We should have appropriate safety regulations around it, but we should make those regulations here in Kentucky—talking to the industry and making sure that we get that balance right.”

“I think that we can protect our kids. I think that we can do the right thing to protect all of our people while not handicapping an industry that supports a lot of people,” the governor said.

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Kentucky Man Jailed Over Halloween Decorations That Depicted Local Public Officials Being Hanged

A Kentucky man was arrested over the weekend after placing Halloween decorations in his front yard that depicted fake bodies labeled with titles of local government officials.

According to WKYT-TV, a 58-year-old Powell County man named Stephan Marcum was taken into custody Saturday after being accused of terroristic threatening.

People passing by the man’s home in the community of Stanton saw a Halloween display they found rather haunting.

Commonwealth Attorney Miranda King reported the scene to the Kentucky State Police.

The decorations included body bags marked with the titles of local officials, although no names were on the effigies.

According to an arrest citation, Marcum was taken into custody not long after.

“This is something you just don’t see every day,” Powell County Judge Executive Eddie Barnes, whose title was on one of the bags, told WKYT.

Even though Barnes was not named in the display, he said he was bothered.

“At first I didn’t know what to think about it because I actually drove by and [saw] it in his yard and I’m thinking, you know, ‘Wow, you know, that’s kinda harsh,’” Barnes said.

Barnes said he has known Marcum for decades.

The judge told WKYT he views Marcum as someone who can be “a good person,” and was confused by the Halloween display.

University of Kentucky Political Science Associate Professor Stephen Voss told WKYT that Marcum’s display was not protected by the First Amendment.

“If you’re actively threatening someone in a terrorizing way, that may not be covered by the general right to free expression,” Voss said.

“I think we’re seeing a little bit less tolerance for violent communication or violent imagery because there seems to be a greater risk people will enact it or carry it out,” he added.

WKYT reported that Marcum was held at the Powell County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond.

Police said the Halloween decorations were collected and taken to a nearby Kentucky State Police station.

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Kentucky AG sues Roblox after Charlie Kirk ‘assassination simulators’ found on platform

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging the company failed to protect minors from sexual predators and explicit material, including violent simulations depicting the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Filed on Monday, the suit accuses the California gaming platform of operating as a “playground for pedophiles” by neglecting to implement any meaningful age verification, moderation, or parental safeguards. Roblox, which reports more than 111 million active monthly users, is used by roughly two-thirds of American children aged 9 to 12.

According to the complaint, predators frequently create fake accounts posing as children to contact and groom minors. “Roblox is designed to allow predators easy access to children,” prosecutors wrote, alleging that the company’s inaction has resulted in “harassment, kidnapping, trafficking, violence, and sexual assault.”

The lawsuit also highlights the appearance of “Charlie Kirk assassination simulators” following the Turning Point USA founder’s assassination at Utah Valley University last month. Prosecutors said the user-created games allowed children “as young as five” to view animated depictions of the September 10 shooting.

At a press conference, Coleman called on Roblox to implement stronger parental controls, improved content filters, and more stringent verification procedures. Kentucky mother of three Courtney Norris joined him, saying she had once considered Roblox a safe option for her children. “I came to realize, later than I would like to admit, that it actually is the ‘Wild West’ of the internet, targeted at children,” she said, according to the New York Post.

Kentucky’s legal action follows similar cases in Louisiana, Iowa, and North Carolina, where parents allege their children were exploited through the platform. In one instance, a 13-year-old girl was reportedly trafficked across several states and raped after meeting a predator on Roblox.

In a statement, Roblox said it maintains “rigorous safety measures” including artificial intelligence monitoring, 24/7 moderation, and age-estimation technology. “No system is perfect, and our work on safety is never done,” the company said.

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Nation Stunned After Child’s Killer Freed

The White House is looking into the case of a convicted killer who stabbed a 6-year-old to death in 2015 and is now walking free because of supposed good behavior since he plead not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Ronald Exantus broke into a family’s home, stole a kitchen knife and used it to stab sleeping Logan Tipton, who was sleeping, to death. 

White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that the White House is looking into this case. 

“I can confirm the White House is looking into this. It’s wholly unacceptable for a child killer to walk free after just several years in prison.”

A viral video shows Kentucky father Dean Tipton said he will kill the man if the two cross path. 

“I’ve had my talks with God ’cause I’m not afraid to tell you what I told the court,” his father, Dean Tipton, told WLKY-TV. “If I ever cross paths with him, I will kill the man. I will kill him where he stands.”

Matt Walsh previously posted a video on X. 

“This case should be getting A LOT more attention. Should be massively viral. We need the White House on it. A man who broke into a house and stabbed a child to death is now walking free. One of the most heinous miscarriages of justice in American history.”

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EMS team under fire for treating man with antivenom after he was bitten by a mamba snake

An EMS team in Kentucky is in hot water after they treated a man who had been bitten by a mamba snake with antivenom.

James Harrison, the director of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, was bitten by a highly venomous Jameson’s mamba while on the job in May.

Harrison got the antivenom he needed to live at the zoo, but he spent days recovering in the ICU.

The first responders who helped administer the antivenom are now in trouble.

Powell County Judge-Executive Eddie Barnes said he and another EMS worker were called to help Harrison after he was bitten.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think it’s ridiculous,” Barnes said.

Barnes said they first received directions from Harrison on what to do.

“The victim had told us that we needed to administer the antivenom as soon as possible, and if not, the first stage is paralysis, the second stage is respiratory arrest, the third stage is cardiac arrest, then he said, ‘I’m going to die,’” Barnes said.

Barnes said they were unable to reach their EMS director, but they did speak with medical staff at Clark Regional Medical Center.

While they were waiting for a helicopter to take Harrison to a UK hospital, they gave him the antivenom.

The decision is one that Harrison’s wife, Kristen Wiley, is thankful for.

“Every physician that we’ve talked to about it, and about the course of the bite, agrees that they were heroes and did what needed to be done to save him. That’s who I want working on me in an emergency,” Wiley said.

The Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services, or KBEMS, may think otherwise.

Barnes said he later learned KBEMS’ policy changed two years ago, and that only wilderness paramedics can administer antivenom now.

“If we had sat there and let him die, then we would have been morally and ethically responsible, and we could have been criminally charged for his death,” Barnes said.

Now, Barnes, who has his paramedic’s license, along with other EMS workers, will go up before KBEMS to argue why they should keep their licenses.

“If it came down today, I would do the same thing. You cannot put a price on a person’s life,” Barnes said.

Their hearing is expected to take place on Sept. 30.

KBEMS has not yet responded to a request for comment.

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