Kayden is an energetic five year old—though he’ll tell you he’s actually five-and-a-half. He lives in Russellville with his sister, Kaleigh, their grandmother, and her husband.

Kayden and Kaleigh are just two of the estimated 96,000 Kentucky kids living with a non-parental relative or a close-family friend--known as “fictive kin”--in the last three years. The KIDS COUNT Data Center estimates nine percent of Kentucky children has been under kinship or fictive care since 2016.

The two went to live with their grandmother, Kim Guffy, four years ago after an emergency protective order violation.

Fentanyl is now the drug most frequently involved in overdose deaths in the U.S., according to a National Vital Statistics System report published Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report sheds a bright light on the changing nature of America's drug landscape — and the devastating number of overdose deaths that have occurred in the U.S. in recent years.

The Ohio House has passed a bill, SB51, full of projects the lawmakers wanted approved before the end of the year. The so-called “Christmas Tree” bill, includes millions of dollars for different repairs and developments. 

The Ohio Senate passed the controversial “Heartbeat Bill” on Wednesday, setting up a potential veto fight between Republican legislative leaders and outgoing Gov. John Kasich.