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The content you hear on this program has not been reviewed by WRFL prior to broadcast and is produced under the discretion of its host DJs, and does not reflect the views of the University of Kentucky, WRFL, or its underwriters.

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, for this week, November 8th.

The Kentucky Kernel reported Tuesday that a group called Peaceful Bluegrass Resistance led a walk through campus earlier this week and said they were in protest against the University of Kentucky’s restrictions on free speech and constitutional rights. The organization vocalizes its support to UK faculty, staff and students who feel “pressured by UK’s administration to remain silent,” according to the Kernel. Its founder told the Kernel that UK’s actions are a “bend to the knee” toward the Trump administration and Project 2025 and go against the image and values that Kentucky should portray. Over the past year, UK has taken a litany of anti-diversity and anti-speech actions in what its administration says is an effort to comply with federal and state laws, most recently freezing the accounts of what it calls “identity-based” student organizations that are primarily run by minorities and preventing preferred name and gender updates on student records, as the Kernel reported last month.

In other news, elections were held across the country this week on Tuesday. As reported by the New York Times, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City. Democrats were also elected as the governors of New Jersey and Virginia by wide margins over Republicans whose campaigns focused on anti-trans attack ads, and California’s proposition 50, which will redistrict the state with up to 5 extra seats in Congress for Democrats to counter against gerrymandering by Texas and other states, passed in a 2-to-1 landslide. These election results come on the heels of a new Washington Post poll out this week that shows Trump is underwater with the public on nearly every major issue. In commentary Tuesday night on MSNBC, anchor Chris Hayes expressed surprise at how he says major institutions and corporations continue to be compliant and surrender to a president that is unpopular and only won his own election by 1 1/2 percentage points last year.

New York Times columnist M. Gessen wrote on Friday about the Supreme Court this week allowing Trump’s executive order to go into effect that requires U.S. passports to list the earliest assigned sex at birth of the person rather than their current or accurate sex or gender. Gessen said, “But if the new rule weakens passports’ manifest function, it greatly strengthens their other function: as a tool to enforce a gendered social hierarchy and to punish those who do not conform to it.”

In media news, The Guardian reported last week that the widely respected CBS News anchor John Dickerson is leaving the network after 16 years. His departure follows the recent appointment of right-leaning contrarian Bari Weiss as the new editor-in-chief of CBS News by David Ellison, the new billionaire CEO of Paramount Skydance. CBS News also laid off 100 employees last week in what The Guardian refers to as a bloodbath.

Here at home, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford wrote on Wednesday that the federal government shutdown for the past month has restricted access to SNAP, the most basic aid to help people buy groceries. The temporary closure has sparked lawsuits, strained local food banks, and put 600,000 of Kentucky’s most vulnerable citizens at more risk of hunger and malnutrition, Blackford said. She also reported that the Center for Economic Policy estimates as many as 114,000 Kentuckians could lose SNAP benefits altogether soon thanks to Trump’s 2025 budget bill. Last year, Trump got 64% of the vote in Kentucky.

Finally tonight, ABC News reported Friday that the death toll has now risen to 13 after a UPS plane departing the Louisville airport crashed and went up in flames earlier this week. Although unrelated, this comes at the same time that the Federal Aviation Administration is gradually reducing air traffic at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports by 10%. NPR reported on Friday that Thanksgiving air travel, which can be a headache any year, it says, is “one big question mark as the shutdown stretches on.”

And that’s… the news.

The content you hear on this program has not been reviewed by WRFL prior to broadcast and is produced under the discretion of its host DJs, and does not reflect the views of the University of Kentucky, WRFL, or its underwriters.

We’ll get back to the music on 120 Minutes in just a moment, but first, it’s 12:30 and it’s time once again to check the news, for this week, October 18th.

The Kentucky Kernel reports Friday that the University of Kentucky has quietly pulled support from identity-based student organizations, eliminated gender-inclusive housing, and halted preferred name and gender updates on student records—all without formal announcement. Students discovered the changes only after their organizations’ bank accounts were frozen and their housing and name and gender update requests were denied.

The Kernel cites a recent meeting of engineering students where minority groups were told they’d lose access to funding, faculty advisors, and dedicated space. UK says these moves are due to Kentucky House Bill 4 and federal guidance, but students say the cuts disproportionately target and eliminate minority-led groups.

Trans and nonbinary students at UK who relied on gender-inclusive housing now face uncertainty—and in some cases, potentially unsafe living situations, where they’ll be housed only by assigned sex at birth, even if their physiology or identity has changed.

UK’s registrar has also stopped allowing preferred name or gender updates in student records and class rosters, forcing students to be outed to professors and classmates unless they’ve completed an exhaustive legal process, which most younger students have not. Students who tried to make changes after Friday, October 10th were denied.

Despite the sweeping impact, UK has yet to publish any policy or notify students directly. Faculty say students are overwhelmed and confused while calling for basic clarity, the Kernel reported. A joint statement from affected student organizations is reportedly in the works.

In other news, the Indiana Daily Student reported Wednesday that Indiana University in Bloomington abruptly shut down its physical paper this week, which had been in print since 1867. It started Tuesday when IU fired its director of student media after he refused a demand from the administration to stop printing news that doesn’t directly promote university events. IU then ended all printing of the Daily Student after 158 years. Student editors called it unlawful censorship and said, “To cut print entirely is a clear, blatant reaction to our protests.”

Also this week, The Wrap reported Wednesday that NBC News laid off its reporters who covered news affecting minority groups—Black, Asian, Latino, and LGBTQ communities. 150 employees were laid off, and the editorial teams for those verticals were dissolved.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that dozens of reporters from major news outlets turned in their access badges and walked out of the Pentagon, refusing new restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. This effectively removes journalists who cover the U.S. military from the seat of its power.

The New York Times reported Friday that MIT and Brown—2 of 9 universities targeted by Trump to sign a compact securing federal funding—rejected the proposal, which would have required them to abolish units that go against conservative ideas.

Finally tonight, in an op-ed Thursday for the Lexington Herald Leader, Georgetown professor Robert Curran addressed the current situation, saying, “An administration that lives by violence and intimidation is no longer making even a token effort to disguise their ultimate goal – to make America white again by whatever means it takes.” There will be another series of No Kings protests held across the country on Saturday, that’s later today. Lexington’s protest will be held downtown at the Courthouse Plaza, on the corner of Limestone and Main Street, starting at 1pm.

And that’s… the news.

The content you hear on this program has not been reviewed by WRFL prior to broadcast and is produced under the discretion of its host DJs, and does not reflect the views of the University of Kentucky, WRFL, or its underwriters.

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.