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We’ll get back to the music on 120 Minutes in just a moment, but first, it’s 12:30 and it’s time to check the news.

The Kentucky Kernel reported on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration, concluded that UK violated Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act, apparently for discriminating against white people by spending just $5,000 annually to support The PhD Project, a nonprofit organization that provides minority students with easier access to graduate business programs.

Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford said Thursday that UK already cut ties with The PhD Project in March of 2025, and says it will now look at any other groups it supports that need to be shut down. She expects “a lot of student support will disappear. UK is already complying in advance in lots of other ways: No more funding for Pride or other organizations that support some students. It apparently also takes marching orders from accounts like Libs of TikTok, after it suspended an employee for a Facebook comment on Charlie Kirk’s death. But UK is in a terrible situation, caught between the Trump administration and a GOP supermajority in the Kentucky General Assembly that largely supports Trump’s goals,” she said.

Blackford also reported on Thursday that 9 other universities were told by the Trump administration to sign a “compact” in order to continue to get federal funding. “The new compact requires a stringent loyalty oath to Trump’s agenda, including capping international student enrollment, creating strict definitions of gender, and changing governance structures to prohibit anything that goes against conservative ideas. In return, federal research funding would not be cut off. This compact is expected to be expanded to many more schools. Because UK has already been flagged by the Trump administration, I fear it will be on that list, too,” Blackford said on Thursday.

Tech news website The Verge reports that institutions, organizations, and companies that comply in advance with the Trump administration’s unconstitutional demands have not saved themselves from being targeted, and have in fact remained the subject of further extortion attempts.

Also this week, the U.S. federal government shut down on Wednesday after failing to pass a continuing budget resolution. For its part, UK said that healthcare and current research will continue, but new federal grants will be paused. In the meantime, however, student loans will still be due, and financial aid will continue to be available. Congress is not expected to return for further negotiations until October 14th.

In other news, on our last show 2 weeks ago, we told you about the firestorm surrounding the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after threats made by FCC chairman Brendan Carr. Since then, Kimmel’s broadcast has resumed on all major ABC affiliates, including those owned by Nexstar and Sinclair, two media companies that had previously vowed to keep his show off the air.

Finally tonight, in his most recent program on Sunday, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver addressed the topic of free speech, saying the following: “At some point you’re going to have to draw a line. So I’d argue, why not draw it right here? And when they come to you with ridiculous demands, picking fights that you know you could win in court, instead of rolling over, why not stand up and use four key words? Not, “OK, you’re the boss.” Not, “Whatever you say goes.” But instead, the only phrase that can genuinely make a bully go away. And that is, “F you. Make me.”

And that’s… the news.