News from the South - Kentucky News Feed

Significant rollback of Kentucky’s regulation of water pollution becomes law

Published

3 weeks ago

March 27, 2025

Staff Editor

kentuckylantern.com – Liam Niemeyer – 2025-03-27 23:43:00

by Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern
March 28, 2025

A controversial bill that would significantly roll back Kentucky’s ability to regulate water pollution will become law after the GOP-controlled legislature on Thursday overrode its veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

Senate Bill 89, sponsored by Sen. Scott Madon, R-Pineville, would considerably narrow the definition of state waters that are regulated by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. Madon, with the backing of the Kentucky Coal Association, has touted the bill as a move to relieve industries from housing construction to coal mining of bureaucratic barriers.

Environmental groups have lambasted the bill as potentially opening the state’s water resources to pollution, threatening the groundwater of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians who rely on rural public water utilities and private wells.

Rebecca Goodman, the secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet, had previously said she had “grave concerns” with the bill. Beshear in his veto message wrote SB 89 by “failing to protect all water sources” would result in “pollution, sickness and more dangerous flooding.”

Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, on the Senate floor said he believed changes to the bill made as it advanced through the legislature, after hearing concerns about groundwater pollution, helped improve the legislation.

“We protected our (coal) operators from overreach of the agency, and after listening to constituents, after listening to comments on this floor, provisions to protect groundwater were put back in,” West said.

Environmental groups and the cabinet have said the changes made to SB 89 don’t go nearly far enough to protect groundwater resources across the state. Democrats opposing the bill referenced a letter from Goodman, the cabinet secretary, who wrote Kentucky would be the only state in the country to cede its authority to regulate water to the federal government.

Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, who voted against overriding the veto, said the “compromise” made to change the bill did not “go far enough.”

“The origination of this measure arose from agency overreach, but the pendulum now has swung far to the other end,” said Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, who voted. “I have utilities in my district that rely on groundwater sources. I represent sportsmen and women across this country in the state that have reached out.”

Kentucky Waterways Alliance executive director Michael Washburn — in a statement also representing leaders from the Kentucky chapter of the Sierra Club, the Kentucky Resources Council and the Kentucky Conservation Committee — said the legislature sided “with polluters over Kentucky’s people and the industries that rely on clean, safe water.”

“This decision gives coal companies greater freedom to pollute our headwater streams, at the expense of the tens of thousands of homes, farms and businesses that depend on groundwater from private wells in rural Kentucky,” Washburn said. “To the polluters who championed this bill: we are watching. We have built a resilient, determined coalition — and we are ready to act.”

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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News from the South - Kentucky News Feed

U.S. Supreme Court pauses deportations under wartime law

Published

1 day ago

April 19, 2025

Staff Editor

kentuckylantern.com – Ashley Murray – 2025-04-19 10:06:00

by Ashley Murray, Kentucky Lantern
April 19, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court early Saturday temporarily blocked a new round of deportations under the wartime Alien Enemies Act until the high court considers the case of several migrants in Texas whose lawyers say are at risk for “imminent removal.”

The justices issued the one-page order just after 1 a.m. Eastern, directing the government “not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court.”

The order was unsigned and noted conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The rare overnight order followed a flurry of activity Friday after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the migrants’ appeal for a temporary restraining order.

A federal judge in the Northern District of Texas on Thursday denied the petitioners were at “imminent risk of summary removal” because immigration officials said in a previous court filing they would not deport the migrants until the district court resolved allegations that the removals are illegal.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Supreme Court to take up the matter Friday after the group said their clients were “loaded on to buses, presumably headed to the airport,” violating an earlier ruling from the justices.

The attorneys for Venezuelan men held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, “learned that officers at Bluebonnet have distributed notices under the Alien Enemies Act, in English only, that designate Venezuelan men for removal under the AEA, and have told the men that the removals are imminent and will happen today.”

“These removals could therefore occur at any moment,” the ACLU wrote in its application.

President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in mid-March to trigger the removals of the Venezuelans age 14 and up whom the administration suspected had ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.

The deportation flights sparked a legal challenge separately winding through the federal courts. Family members of many of the Venezuelan men say they have no gang ties and have been illegally deported without due process.

Last updated 11:09 a.m., Apr. 19, 2025

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News from the South - Kentucky News Feed

Trump administration revokes Murray State international student’s visa

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2025

Staff Editor

kentuckylantern.com – McKenna Horsley – 2025-04-18 16:59:00

by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
April 18, 2025

Another international student’s visa has been revoked in Kentucky, this time at Murray State University.

According to local news reports, Murray State shared information about the student’s visa being revoked by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday. A university spokesperson declined to give further information to protect the student’s privacy.

The news comes amid Trump administration efforts to ramp up deportations. Inside Higher Ed reported that as of Friday, more than 1,550 international students and recent graduates have had their legal status changed by the U.S. State Department.

Murray State College Democrats penned an open letter criticizing the university administration for not alerting students sooner to the visa revocation and asking for clearer information about the university’s response. “To be clear, we are not asking that personal information be released, just notification of when law enforcement is present and/or actively targeting students on campuses,” the letter says.

The College Democrats said students and their families choose colleges like Murray because they trust they will be safe there and that Murray “boasts about having international students from over 50 different countries.”

“Every student that seeks to learn at MSU has the right to do so without fear of persecution,” the letter reads. “Actions taken by administration are the only way to prove that the university cares about and will protect those rights.”

A Murray spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Earlier this month, the University of Kentucky reported a “small number” of graduate students had their visas revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. Officials from private Campbellsville University told Inside Higher Ed that some of its’ international students had their visas revoked but declined to say how many.

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News from the South - Kentucky News Feed

Get the Facts: Is ICE partnering with Kentucky agencies to help with deportations?

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2025

Staff Editor

Get the Facts: Is ICE partnering with Kentucky agencies to help with deportations?

www.youtube.com – WLKY News Louisville – 2025-04-17 18:34:08

SUMMARY: ICE is collaborating with several Kentucky counties to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants as part of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. While Jefferson County does not partner with ICE, counties like Bullitt, Davis, Grayson, and Oldham are involved in a program that allows local officers to serve warrants for potential illegal immigrants in jails. These counties receive compensation for housing federal detainees, and ICE conducts regular inspections. Concerns about aggressive tactics and community fear are voiced by activists, particularly regarding the impact on local Hispanic populations. Some sheriffs acknowledge community worries while maintaining support for their partnerships with ICE.