Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦

Husband, dad, wonk with @kypolicy & runner, preferably on trails. Trying to bring Shalom to the commonwealth. The plural of anecdote is not data.

[Chris Bailey @Kentuckyweather]

The 114mph wind gust from Mason County is legit and has been verified. #kywx

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

I am once again reminding you that on a vexillological level, the Juneteenth flag is objectively cool.

Also freeing enslaved people is also objectively cool.

[Kentucky Mesonet @kymesonet]

🧵🌬️One of the strongest maximum wind gusts ever recorded at our sites was measured at our Mason County station during the predawn hours.

[KY Center for Statistics @kystats]

Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary May 2026 unemployment rate was 4.5%, according to the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), an agency within the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet.

Link: https://t.co/JFB3ld9tww

[KyPolicy @KyPolicy]

NEW: 42,870 Kentuckians have lost SNAP benefits since the implementation of the Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1) last fall.

That includes 11,168 children.

[Jason Bailey @jbaileyky]

NEW: 42,870 Kentuckians have lost SNAP benefits since the implementation of the Big Beautiful Bill's (H.R. 1) new eligibility rules last fall.

That includes 11,168 children.

[KyPolicy @KyPolicy]

Deep cuts in the state budget are causing major service disruptions at the state-owned Lee Specialty Clinic, which provides care to 1,300 patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This is the latest example of how state budget cuts affect the lives of KYians.

[Heather Long @byHeatherLong]

Inflation is so high that it's erasing all wage gains.

Inflation: 4.2% in May for the past year
Wage growth: 3.4% in May for the past year.

Americans are getting squeezed financially. This isn't just "bad vibes" about the economy. There is real pain, especially for middle-class and lower-income households. It's tough because so many basic items are seeing sizable price increases: gas, electricity, food, medical care.

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

They've been building this since the 1880s. Its really astounding.

[La Sagrada Família @sagradafamilia]

Tomorrow, 10th June, will be a historic day for the Basilica of the Sagrada Família, and you can follow it live on our social media channels, from 745 p.m. (Instagram, Youtube and TikTok)📲 Don’t miss the solemn mass on the centenary of Gaudí’s death, officiated by Pope Leo XIV, and the blessing and inauguration of the tower of Jesus Christ, with a performance created especially for the occasion, which will illuminate the tower of Jesus Christ and Barcelona’s sky in a visual homage to Gaudí’s creativity and vision.

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

@KyWhitney @NintendoAmerica This game (on my original N64) was how I introduced my first son to videogames. Its absolutely the best game made.

[Tahra Hoops @TahraHoops]

As if the disastrous cuts to Medicaid in the OBBB weren't bad enough, CMS's implementation is making it worse, 7.5M people losing coverage just became the floor, w/ $515B in additional cuts, work requirements harder to prove than the law requires, and rural hospitals absorbing the hit.

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

And you can read about how @KyDCBS is left with nothing but terrible options for how to enact the General Assembly's budget cuts here:
https://t.co/HunPaglYCA

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

Now seems like a good time to remind people that the legislature did cut @KyDCBS's base budget, and the executive branch was left to decide how to implement those cuts. We said this would happen back during the budget debate, and now its happening.

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

You can read about how the general assembly cut many agency base budgets, including DCBS here:
https://t.co/6Fbfx8crE9

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

The same trend is true for kids on Medicaid/CHIP. The implementation of OBBBA/HR1 from last summer has been a disaster for America's kids.

Poverty sucks, and now the federal government has made it worse for children.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

We know that the number of children receiving SNAP has fallen by more than 700,000 since H.R. 1 was enacted last summer because 12 state agencies publicly report the number of kids receiving benefits each month. That's not spin, it's just data.

https://t.co/GHJlzazTTM

[Joan Alker @JoanAlker1]

Our updated @georgetownccf tracker finds that 16 months into President Trump’s 2nd term, Medicaid is covering 2 million fewer children.

This is very bad news b/c the child uninsured rate is likely going up as a result.

And this is before HR 1 Medicaid cuts kick in.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Can't be stated enough that *eligible* low-income Arizonans are losing their SNAP benefits.

They just can't get through the process to demonstrate their eligibility because Arizona's response to federal SNAP cuts is pushing its understaffed state agency to its breaking point.

[Dustin Pugel 🇺🇦 @dpugel]

Clearly this is a man who has never personally applied for public benefits.

Also he may not be aware of how the federal budget works either. You could fully eliminate all forms of public assistance and still not balance the federal budget, let alone scale back public benefits.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Miller: The way most welfare works in most states and most places is we take your word for it. If you say your kids are hungry, you are going to get food stamps. We don't check if you even have kids. You will just start getting the checks.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Yeah...that's not at all how it works.

Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood SNAP policy analyst

[KyPolicy @KyPolicy]

Kentucky's population is getting older and we're not prepared for the challenges that come with that.

But as our newest op-ed explains, we can get prepared by embracing a few key policies.