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Kentucky teacher adopts his student and the boy's three siblings: 'Our lives are complete'

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Kentucky teacher adopts his student and the boy's three siblings: 'Our lives are complete'

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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. 

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“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)

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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. 

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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. 

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“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.”

— Justin Padgett

“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)

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“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.

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“I really started praying about it.”

— Kasey Padgett

“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)

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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.

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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.

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“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.”

— Justin Padgett

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“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.

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“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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Southeast

GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.

“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.

The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted. 

“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.

The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.

“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.

Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021. 

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She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original. 

“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.

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 “It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.

Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.

In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”

“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.

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“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.

The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.

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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said. 

Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.  (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)

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Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day. 

He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later. 

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing. 

A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding. 

In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported. 

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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia.  (Fairfax County Police Department)

Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”

“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said. 

“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”

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Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia.  (Provided)

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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person. 

“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states. 

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