News from the South - Kentucky News Feed
This military mom in KY is suing Trump’s Pentagon to defend her kids’ ‘right to learn’
by Sarah Ladd, Kentucky Lantern
April 16, 2025
Jessica Henninger wants to protect her children from the political climate that briefly closed their school library at Fort Campbell and led to books being removed from the shelves.
“There’s a very fine line between having your children be aware of what’s going on in the world around them, and not burdening them with adult things,” Henninger said. “But … when (Black History Month) projects are canceled after you’ve completed them … they notice that stuff.”
Citing her husband’s military service and their joint devotion to the U.S. Constitution, Henninger has joined a federal lawsuit on behalf of her children, citing First Amendment concerns and asking the courts to block President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders in schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA). Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a defendant.
Book purges at Fort Campbell, other schools run by Defense Department challenged as unconstitutional
Henninger has five children: two have graduated from DODEA schools and three are still students, named in the lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union filed Tuesday. That suit challenges U.S. Department of Defense policies that led to schools at Fort Campbell and other military bases removing books about slavery and civil rights.
Henninger, whose husband is in the military and is stationed at Fort Campbell, has lived in Kentucky since October.
Before that, in all their travels, “I can’t recall a time in our years at DODEA where my children’s curriculum was affected by anything that was going on in the presidency,” Henninger told a small group of reporters over Zoom on Wednesday.
“We owe our children to be honest,” she said. “I’m very fearful that these actions (are) trying to take away my children’s opportunities to learn about integral parts of our history, our American history … and different cultures. That’s what makes education — and life — rich. It’s all of those differences. My younger children … they deserve the right to learn about that stuff.”
The lawsuit: ‘Books shouldn’t be banned’
Via executive order Trump directed schools receiving federal funding to not teach “ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals;” he also told the Armed Forces to dissolve DEI offices and directed all federal agencies to recognize only cisgender male and female identities.
In February, Clarksville Now, a news outlet in Clarksville, Tennessee, reported Fort Campbell librarians were busy “scrubbing for books that contain references to slavery, the civil rights movement and anything else related to diversity, equity and inclusion” in compliance with Trump’s orders.
Fort Campbell is an Army base that spans the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville and Clarksville.
Fort Campbell schools also had to remove “bulletin boards that reference Black History Month and Black leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks,” according to Clarksville Now.
Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said Wednesday he hopes for a preliminary injunction to “get some relief sooner rather than later from the court.”
“We’re still evaluating exactly the timing on next steps and building that out,” he said.
He also wants to see more transparency around which books are removed from shelves, and where those books go.
But, he asserted: “none of these books should be taken out.”
“To some extent, it doesn’t really matter whether we have a list or sort of engage in a debate on which individual book is the appropriate thing,” Shapiro said. “The issue here is that books shouldn’t be banned from school libraries. Kids should have an opportunity to have access to all the books in the school library without fear that somebody in the Department of Defense is going to determine that it shouldn’t be there based on an executive order regarding a ban on certain types of viewpoints.”
‘I could not abide’
Soon after the executive orders, Henninger “started getting emails from the kids’ teachers, basically that just made me think that there was something going on.”
She got “notifications that assignments were being canceled, then that the library just unexpectedly closed down.”
She immediately started investigating, contacted the ACLU to help and ultimately joined the multi-state federal lawsuit in an attempt to block the Trump administration from carrying out the anti-DEI orders.
“I have a very strong belief that children should have access to books,” said Henninger, who is herself a “voracious reader.”
“When I was a child, I read. That’s how I learned about the world around me. It’s how I learned about other people and life experiences outside of my own,” she said. “And I feel like that is an important part of being able to understand other people. And to have those options taken away from my children was something that I have never experienced before.”
All her children, too, love books, she said.
“We’ve never had an administration come in and interfere in this way with our children’s education,” she said. “My husband fights for our constitutional rights and our freedoms in this country, and to see those rights being taken away from my children was just absolutely something that I could not abide.”
After the lawsuit was filed, Michael O’Day, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense Education Activity, said he couldn’t comment on an active lawsuit but offered praise for the agency’s “dedication to providing an exceptional educational experience for every student.” More than 67,000 students worldwide are enrolled in schools run by the DODEA.
“Our curriculum, rigorously aligned with DoDEA’s proven standards, has earned us the distinction of being the top-ranked school system in the United States for four consecutive years, based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Nation’s Report Card,” O’Day said in a statement. “These standards promote academic excellence, critical thinking, and a learning environment that empowers all military-connected students to excel.”
Henninger attributes the success in part to the diversity of the student body.
“I think part of this strength is our diversity — the diversity of people that come together and we learn from each other, and that’s part of our strength,” she said. “And so to see that potentially being taken away from my younger children? That’s harmful.”
She believes the executive orders are politically motivated and cited the Trump administration’s deportations of immigrants, saying his presidential campaign was “propped on” immigration issues.
“And then when you see them coming into the libraries and removing those items … common sense would dictate that two plus two equals four. That’s definitely politically motivated,” she said.
‘We can’t whitewash’ history
For military families like Henninger’s, DODEA schools are often the only option, though that can vary based on where a soldier is stationed. Private education is expensive. Henninger’s best path was to fight back within the DODEA system, she said.
Other plaintiffs represented by the ACLU are enrolled in Defense Department schools in Virginia, Italy and Japan.
“We don’t have a lot of the same recourses that that families have in the public education system. We can’t just go to our school board and and say, ‘This is unacceptable.’ We very much have to worry about retaliation and retribution. And so there’s a lot of stress and anxiety around that for a lot of people, which is understandable,” Henninger said.
She and her husband talked about the risks of joining such a lawsuit and ultimately decided she had to.
“Basically what it boiled down to (for my husband) was: ‘I joined the military to defend the Constitution, and if I can’t defend our children’s constitutional rights, then what am I doing as a soldier?’”
Her children “have their First Amendment rights just like everybody else. It’s not fair to them just because their father is a soldier that they shouldn’t be able to have the same rights as everybody else.”
She wants her children to learn about the full history of their country, including the “not so pretty parts: the Trail of Tears and slavery and the fight for civil rights.”
“It is our true history,” she said. “And we can’t whitewash that away.”
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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
FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines with new restrictions and limits for healthy children
SUMMARY: The FDA approved updated Covid-19 vaccines for fall 2025 but limited them to higher-risk groups, including children over 6 months with health conditions, reducing access for healthy kids. Moderna’s vaccine is approved for children 6 months and older, Pfizer’s for 5+, and Novavax for 12+, all targeting new variants. The CDC no longer routinely recommends vaccines for healthy children 6 months to 17 years, diverging from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which supports vaccination for all children whose parents want it. These conflicting guidelines and supply issues may cause confusion and reduce vaccination rates among vulnerable children. Families should consult pediatricians for guidance.
Read the full article
The post FDA approves updated Covid-19 vaccines with new restrictions and limits for healthy children appeared first on lexingtonky.news
News from the South - Kentucky News Feed
Longtime Kentucky Senate Republican to not seek reelection in 2026
by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
September 2, 2025
The chair of the Senate Transportation Committee will not seek reelection after his term ends next year.
Sen. Jimmy Higdon, a Lebanon Republican, will retire from the Kentucky General Assembly in December 2026. He was elected to the Senate in 2009. Before that, he was in the House beginning in 2003.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of the 14th District,” Higdon said in a Tuesday morning press release. “The greatest privilege of this job is getting to help people every single day. I’ve always tried to treat it as a calling, not just a position, and I am deeply thankful for the opportunity.”
Higdon’s Senate district includes the counties of LaRue, Marion, Nelson, Spencer and Washington.
The senator said that he is “at the peak of my legislative career” and that “I have seen too many colleagues stay too long.” Spending more time with family was a key factor in his decision to not seek reelection.
“I am 72 now. If I ran again, I’d be almost 78 at the end of another term,” Higdon said. “It’s the right time. My wife Jane, who has been by my side in marriage for 51 years, and my family deserve more of me. We’ve made a lot of sacrifices together to make this work, and I could not have done any of it without them.”
In addition to chairing the Senate Transportation Committee, Higdon is a member of the committees on Education; Licensing and Occupations; Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection. He was Senate majority whip from 2015 to 2018 and Senate president pro tempore from January 2018 to 2019.
The 2026 legislative session will be Higdon’s final session in office. Republicans will continue to hold a supermajority in the Senate. Currently, the GOP has 32 of 38 seats in the chamber.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said in the press release that Higdon “will leave a lasting legislative legacy deeply woven into the fabric of this commonwealth.”
“What stands out most about Jimmy is the way he has always put people first. He approaches every challenge with humility and common sense,” Stivers continued. “His voice will be deeply missed in our chamber by our caucus members and by our staff, who have enjoyed working with him. We are grateful to have one more session with him and to celebrate a career of service that he and Jane can be incredibly proud of.”
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.
The post Longtime Kentucky Senate Republican to not seek reelection in 2026 appeared first on kentuckylantern.com
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content presents a straightforward and factual account of Senator Jimmy Higdon’s decision to retire, without expressing overt political opinions or divisive language. It provides background on his career, his reasons for retiring, and includes positive but neutral remarks from a fellow Republican senator. The focus is on biographical and procedural information, reflecting a balanced and neutral tone that does not lean toward any particular political ideology.
News from the South - Kentucky News Feed
WKU VB: WKU Falls to Drake in Five Sets
SUMMARY: WKU Volleyball lost a close 3-2 match against Drake after pushing them to five sets. Freshman Kaira Knox led offensively with 21 kills and was named WKU Invitational MVP, while junior Gabby Weihe dominated defensively with a career-high eight blocks in the match. The Hilltoppers excelled in sets one and three but fell short in sets two, four, and the decisive fifth. Defensive specialist Tayler Baron added 16 digs and earned all-tournament honors alongside Knox. WKU improves to 2-1 overall and will next compete at Marquette, facing Marquette, #24 Dayton, and Buffalo on the road.
The post WKU VB: WKU Falls to Drake in Five Sets appeared first on www.wnky.com
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