Southeast
Kentucky teacher adopts his student and the boy's three siblings: 'Our lives are complete'
As a Kentucky teacher counts the new students who will be entering his classroom this fall, he’s also counting his blessings, which includes the thriving family of six that became his when he adopted a student and his siblings.
“Our lives are complete,” Justin Padgett of Danville, Kentucky, told Fox News Digital.
“We have left it all up to God to put us where we need to be at the right time. I feel fulfilled.”
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The journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2021.
Padgett, who was teaching fifth grade at Highland Elementary School in Lincoln County, Kentucky, was finally able to teach his students in person during the final nine weeks of school.
A judge makes it official: Kasey Padgett (second from left) and Justin Padgett (far right) officially adopted their children Jayden, Hailey, Alexis and Jase in March 2022. (Kasey Padgett)
One of his students, Jayden, had fallen behind on some of his schoolwork — as many kids did during COVID.
“I was helping tutor him, one-on-one with reading and social studies,” Padgett said.
“We were just trying to help support his academics. That’s when he called me over to his computer one day and just said, ‘I have to be adopted.’”
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The boy had typed the same words on his computer — so Padgett pulled him into the hall to talk.
The fifth grader said that his current foster parents couldn’t adopt him — and his three siblings — and that his birth family had lost their rights.
The Padgett family gets dressed up for Halloween in Waynesburg, Kentucky. (Kasey Padgett)
So he and his siblings had to be adopted, he said — and he hoped it could be done by his teacher.
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“He was nice to me, and he always helps me,” Jayden himself told Fox News Digital.
“He was a really loving person, so I just wanted him to love me and my family.”
Padgett called Kayden’s foster mom — then went home to speak with his wife, Kasey.
“We love telling our story. It’s a blessing to us to be able to share and to see the response that people have toward us.”
“I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a kiddo in my class that needs to be adopted, and he’s got three siblings,” Padgett said.
“I asked her, ‘What are your thoughts about that? How would you feel about that?’”
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The couple, who married in 2018, had been hoping for a child of their own.
But “that just wasn’t in the cards for us,” Kasey Padgett said.
She desperately wanted to be a mom, but the doctors told her to give it time.
The Padgett family is pictured during a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. (Kasey Padgett)
“I really started praying about it,” Kasey Padgett said.
“I thought, ‘There’s got to be a way,’” she added. “I have a couple of friends and family members who are foster parents, and they kept encouraging us and telling us we would be great foster parents.”
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The couple started classes to prepare them for fostering a child.
They were near the end of their training and waiting for a home study when Jayden made his plea.
“I really started praying about it.”
“That really expedited [things],” Justin Padgett said.
In April 2021, they began the process.
Keeping the 4 siblings together
“The kids were part of a program called Wendy’s Wonderful Kids,” Justin Padgett said of The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit dedicated to finding families for the 108,000-plus children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the U.S.
The foundation played a big role in keeping the four siblings together.
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“We started making connections with their social worker and she kind of vetted us to make sure we knew what we were signing up for. And then we started [the] visits.”
The Padgetts started by taking the kids — Jayden, Hailey, Alexis and Jase — to church, where they served as youth leaders.
“We started picking them up in the church van,” Justin Padgett said, “and they started going to church with us.”
The Padgett family has a lot of travel firsts they’re hoping to cross off their bucket list. Recently, they visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (Kasey Padgett)
The Padgetts did not share with the kids that they might be adopted.
“Life can happen, and, you know, we could back out or something could change in the court system,” said Justin Padgett. “They ended up finding out, but we were already having weekend visits at that point and getting their rooms ready.”
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At the end of July 2021, the kids moved in with their new foster family.
“I really liked it because we didn’t have to get split up and be with someone else,” Alexis, 12, told Fox News Digital.
The Padgetts lived in a small farmhouse when it was just the two of them. So they moved into a three-bedroom house — which they quickly outgrew.
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The family has since moved to Danville, where Justin Padgett now works for the Kentucky School for the Deaf.
The family of six stopped at the Gettysburg National Military Park while visiting Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (Kasey Padgett)
The adoption became official on March 3, 2022.
“We’re very religious, so we’ve seen them spiritually grow, which has been amazing for us. They’ve grown so much,” said Justin Padgett.
The parents said they hope people will think of teenage kids — not just little ones — when considering adoption.
“At that age, they’ve been through so much trauma — being removed from their home, going through foster care — that they really need special love and attention,” Kasey Padgett said.
“It’s not all sunshine or rainbows, but we persevere through the hard times and we work together.”
“And they are going to need resources for mental health, as well as guidance and assistance getting into college or trade school or wherever they go in life,” she added.
Kasey Padgett said she and her husband are considering trying to have a child naturally, or adopting another child.
“The doors are open for whatever God has for us,” she said.
Justin Padgett and his wife quickly became a family of six. They said they hope their story encourages someone else to consider fostering or adoption. (Kasey Padgett)
The Padgetts said they hope their story encourages someone else to consider fostering or adoption — even a teacher.
“It’s a calling. You are in place of the parent when [the kids are] at school. You’re in charge of keeping them safe, and there are those bonds and connections that form,” said Justin Padgett.
“It’s very easy for a teacher to segue into being in charge of a kid at school and then possibly being able to take them into foster care or adoption.”
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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.
The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
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Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
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Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)
In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.
The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.
Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
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A Florida man is behind bars after allegedly killing a woman and leaving her body on a popular beach the day after Christmas.
Brandon Ward McCray, 28, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and Hollywood Police Department on Dec. 30, 2025 and charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital.
Authorities responded to a call regarding a body on the sand of Hollywood Beach – located approximately 15 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach – at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 26, 2025, according to WPLG. The victim, later identified as 56-year-old Heather Asendorf, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Brandon Ward McCray is charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation in Broward County, Florida, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Witnesses later told NBC Miami the body was wrapped in a white blanket and had blood trailing from the remains.
Officials did not release details regarding Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected.
Additionally, detectives believe McCray and Asendorf knew each other prior to the alleged murder, according to WSVN.
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Authorities reportedly allege Brandon Ward McCray murdered 56-year-old Heather Asendorf after her body was found on Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 26, 2025. (iStock)
“This case remains an active criminal investigation,” Hollywood police said in a news release. “There is no indication of a broader threat to the community.”
McCray was previously charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2023 after allegedly brandishing a gun at a tow truck driver as his vehicle was being repossessed, according to NBC Miami.
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Officials reportedly did not release details regarding Heather Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. (iStock)
He was taken into custody at his nearby home and booked into the Broward County Main Jail on $770,000 bond, WPLG reported.
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The Hollywood Police Department and McCray’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Experts warn of biggest ‘scandal in litigation system’ if SCOTUS doesn’t nix landmark energy pollution case
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FIRST ON FOX: A landmark Supreme Court case set to decide whether Big Oil entities can move coastal erosion suits out of local and state courts and cement them in federal courts, as localities continue to seek billions from domestic oil companies, will have far-reaching repercussions, experts said.
Last year, a jury in coastal Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, ordered Chevron to pay more than $740 million for wetlands damage linked to operations by its former subsidiary Texaco in the mid-20th century.
While the Supreme Court case does not seek to overturn the fine and was filed before the Louisiana ruling, a decision by the high court could carry multibillion-dollar implications, several legal experts said.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
As Chevron argues the suits it is facing in certain Gulf Coast communities — where critics claim some local and state officials are in cahoots against them and aligned with friendly attorneys for the municipalities — many damage claims stem from World War II-era fuel production carried out under federal contract. The companies say that the link to the federal government, along with alleged local bias, means future cases must be heard at the federal level.
Plaquemines Parish argued the claims involve environmental harm that is beyond the control of Washington — meaning that the high court’s decision could reshape where massive suits against Big Oil can be heard; as many companies also seek to ramp up production in line with President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance agenda.”
“There is thus no denying that these petitioners are being sued in state court for production activities undertaken to fulfill their federal refining contracts,” a brief filed by Chevron and ExxonMobil said, in part.
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Prominent NYU law professor Richard Epstein said Wednesday that Plaquemines Parish has pointed to massive erosion dating back to the 1920s amid increased wartime operations, while also citing hurricanes’ devastating impact on the bayou’s already fragile landscape.
Companies used the area to produce “AvGas” for wartime aircraft, and that Louisiana officials calculated the erosion in the billions of gallons, but added that comparisons made to the BP Oil Spill were different because “pollution is very different than erosion.”
“Nobody wishes to deny it, but it had nothing to do with it. So what you do is you have the Supreme Court dealing with a very technical question,” he said.
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“Local bias issue is extremely powerful, which is why you have that statute. It’s the same reason why we have diversity jurisdiction; the home court advantage is really huge and there’s no place where it’s worse than in Louisiana — so you get the bias, you get these jury verdicts, which are completely wacko as far as I can tell,” he said.
He faulted Louisiana officials for siding with plaintiff’s lawyers in the fine-related case to oppose “anything that they bring into court” on such matters, calling it an “outright mischarge of duty” that requires high court intervention.
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Epstein said he is “reasonably confident” that the court will reverse a lower court’s ruling that the parish is the proper legal jurisdiction, warning that if not “it’s a bigger scandal than I think we’ve ever seen in terms of the litigation system.”
Mike Fragoso, an attorney at former Attorney General Bill Barr’s firm Torridon Law, said that there are more than 40 cases filed that allege oil and gas companies have caused erosion through exploration activities in the Gulf; totaling billions of dollars in claims.
Those hefty figures should be a warning against so-called “hometowning” — or the dynamic in which local juries tend to side with their neighbor plaintiffs and against “outsider” companies, Fragoso said.
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“The idea is to prevent local judges and juries from hometowning federal officials as they’re doing the work of the federal government,” he said.
“And Chevron’s view is that because they were in the AvGas business, at the direction of the federal government in World War II, they belong in federal court. The state of Louisiana and the plaintiffs disagree.”
While a supporter of U.S. energy development, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry sided with Plaquemines as attorney general when the saga began.
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Current AG Liz Murrill said in a statement that “virtually every federal court has rejected Chevron’s attempt to avoid liability for knowingly and intentionally violating state law.”
“I’ll fight Chevron in state or federal court — either way, they will not win,” she added.
John Carmouche, an attorney behind the Chevron case and other pending suits, said the appeal to the high bench doesn’t focus on the merits of the dispute itself.
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“It’s more delay, they’re going to fight till the end, and we’re going to continue to fight as well,” he told The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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