>> We believe that giving people in the home is one of the most important says they have no real bit rebuild their lives.

>> Our program is giving some western Kentucky tornado survivors, a place to call their own.

>> Scientists are getting really close to understanding why tornadoes form and what differentiates these storms.

His hometown was hit by a deadly tornado.

He wanted to learn more about severe storms.

>> Plus, it's a capital day for a trailblazing Kentucky judge.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part.

But the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky.

Addition for Tuesday, December 6th.

I'm your host Casey Parker Bell filling in for Renee Shaw.

We might finally have a winner in the Kentucky legislative race.

Democratic Representative Cherilyn Stephenson and House district 88.

We're seeing just 35 votes more than her Republican challenger, Jim Coleman, following last month's general election state law requires a recount.

When the results are that close House district 88 covers parts of Scott and Fayette counties.

The Scott County Clerk's office says its recount found 3 additional ballots.

They were jammed and voting machines.

2 of the ballots were cast for Stephenson and one went for Coleman.

The Fayette County Clerk's office says its recount found no changes to the number of votes cast for Stephenson.

And that Coleman actually lost one vote.

That means Stevenson now leads by a total of 37 votes.

The secretary of state's office confirmed the recount results today.

The final step is for the state Board of elections to certify the results.

There's something new at the state Capitol in Frankfort, a portrait of former Supreme Court Justice James Stumbo.

The court honored Stumbo today by hanging her portrait in the quarter of the capital second floor.

Stumbo is the second woman ever elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the first to be elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court without being appointed to it.

First, she retired in 2017 after 26 years of service.

As we told you last night, the House passed the Kara Left a bill from Congressman Andy Barr honoring his late wife who died of Alveolar heart disease in 2020 the below case.

28 million dollars for research into the disease.

It has already passed the U.S. Senate.

Both Congressman Barr and U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell discuss the bill in Congress this week.

At a young age, Carol was diagnosed with an underlying condition called mitral valve prolapse.

>> Or floppy Bow Syndrome.

A typically benign condition that results in sudden cardiac death and only point 2% of cases.

And we were told that this was no big deal.

There was no cause for alarm for for most of her adult We KET about her condition, but it was not cause for alarm and even her doctors.

We're not alarmed by the condition because of the very low incidence of sudden cardiac death with this.

But, you know, her the end of her life didn't define her and I want to just share a little bit.

I mean, obviously, this is a picture of her.

She was beautiful inside and out.

She had an amazing smile.

She was smart shoes.

She was fun.

She was accomplished professionally.

Ironically, she was in pharmaceutical sales and she was in the cardiovascular space.

And and a lot of it probably had to do her motivation and her willingness to give back to the American Heart Association and charity.

A lot of that had to do with the fact that she was aware that she had this underlying preexisting heart condition.

>> The legislation bodies, Carol Barr's, you manager and spirit.

It will encourage new research and movable or heart disease and greater awareness of the illness.

8 million Americans live with this visit is many without any apparent symptoms.

Approximately 25,000 of our fellow citizens lose their lives every year, often suddenly.

The car a lot is dedicated to spare other families.

The tragedy it hit the bars.

It is a fitting tribute to Carroll bars.

Wonderful life and legacy.

And it's an important piece of legislation and it's all right.

>> With House and Senate approval, the bill now moves to President Biden's desk.

Senator McConnell took part today in a Congressional gold medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol honoring officer serving at the Capitol during the January 6 riot.

But not everyone was happy to see him.

Video of that ceremony shows the family of Fallen Officer Brian Sicknick.

They shake hands with Senator Chuck Schumer.

But walk past Senator McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the man who could become the next speaker of the House.

On Kentucky tonight.

Last night our panel discussed Senator McConnell's relationship with former President Donald Trump among other political topics, Mike Ward, a former Democratic congressman from the Louisville area, criticize McCall for lacking the courage to fully denounce Trump.

Republican strategists Ellen Williams said McConnell is right to focus on the Senate's work and avoid a diversified.

But the former president.

>> And I think that's the Mitch McConnell.

He he is about making a difference not making headlines.

He can make a lot of headlines by getting into a verbal warfare with Donald Trump.

But it serves no purpose and it divides his caucus because he has quite a few members that that are big Trump supporter.

So why would he engage?

And I think his focus is to do what needs to be done for the Kauai.

>> I give you a point of comparison when Richard Nixon release the Smoking gun tapes, which showed that he had covered up Watergate lied about it for a year and a half.

You know who got him finally to resign?

Was the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate.

You know why?

Because they were leaders because Mitch McConnell loves being called the leader.

Well, there are times in our lives when you have to lead, even if it's a risk, even if you take the chance of losing an election.

And this is the time to be the leader to do what the Republican leadership in the Senate did in the 70's when Senator McConnell was up there in turning are working as a staff member a member of the Senate.

He saw it firsthand and it's it's frankly, a >> Well, we'll agree to disagree on that because I think he will lead on it.

But but Mitch McConnell, if nothing is about timing, focus discipline.

And his focus right now is on the lame duck, Georgia.

Tomorrow, CNN.

What happens and then the committee structure and what what?

What?

What can he do the next 30 days or 25 days before they swear new Congress n?

>> Today Senator McConnell was critical of President Trump's statement that he should be reinstated as president because of fraud in the 2020 election.

Even if that means terminating the Constitution.

McConnell said anyone put those views, quote, But have a very hard time being sworn in as president of the United States.

The panel also discussed a runoff election in Georgia.

The role Congressman James Comer will play as the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee next year's governor's race in Kentuckyian much more see that full show at KET Dot Org.

Slash came by tonight.

The family of an autistic child is suing the state and the children's home after that child drowned in the Ohio River.

James and Rondo, Brian have filed a federal lawsuit saying the children's home of northern Kentucky was negligent after their 9 year-old grandson fled the home on June.

4th.

Police say he was found dead in the river a few hours later.

The home says it's cooperating with investigators as they look into the drowning.

The deadly tornado outbreak in Western Kentucky cut a devastating path right through the heart of Mayfield, Graves, County leveling businesses and homes and leaving hundreds displaced among those hit.

The hardest were renters.

After a new program through the Mayfield Graves County Long Term Recovery Group.

It's giving former renters a chance down home.

It's an ambitious program with the goal of driving.

25 families, a new place to call home by Christmas.

>> When you were impacted and lost everything.

And the only thing that you did was just happened to live on the wrong street.

When the tornado came through.

That's hard to deal with traditionally in after all disasters runners are the hardest group to recover.

The tornado could not have.

You could not have drawn a worse path to the community to where it impacted runners.

70% of homes where rental just completely destroyed.

We believe that getting people in a home is one of the most important steps to help in a real bit rebuild their life as we're working with survivors.

For those who were renters, we're trying to determine.

You want to continue.

Really.

We started doing financial assessments with them and having discussions with them.

And many of them had the potential within a year 2 or 3 years to become homeowners.

>> They didn't realize that because they always run it or maybe even their extended family.

They always run it.

They didn't realize that was an opportunity for them.

So we developed a program called home for the holidays, were looking at going in-person renovating homes to move survivors in by Christmas.

>> There are so many renters who didn't have a viable option going forward.

And we realize that.

6.12, months down the road, there are still going to be the same situation.

And so when this program, Sarah popped up.

And we said, hey, we can get our hands dirty as a church like my people are like, this is awesome.

A lot of the work done on the local level is actually being done through churches and they're adopting these homes the great thing is a lot of these homes are close to their churches.

So they're coming in their neighborhood and they've been the blighted homes or they've been the vacant homes.

And, you know, they're actually able to kind of have put put their fingerprints on some ministry to the neighborhood that surrounds them to help improve that.

I am a student at Derby.

Kcdc in Paducah.

>> our teacher got us this opportunity come through here and to volunteer, do volunteer work and help churches and help different ministries rebuild houses and give them to families.

A lot of these houses, they've been demolished and a lot of people don't necessarily have insurance nor the money to fix up their house is one of the things we know is.

>> It's going to be another told 18 months.

Still some of those properties that were completely leveled.

money hits and rental properties could even be rebuilt.

12, 18 months.

That's a long time to live in a camper.

I don't want to do it.

And so this house is sitting here.

Nobody was living in it.

Why don't we do something since?

>> We're able to do that through donations and through volunteer work.

After they leased the home for a year and complete the classes and the informational sessions that will have them attend and they they proven they can.

They have financial sustainability.

They made their payments just a fun time watching.

Give them an option to buy the home for what we purchase it for originally so they can buy a home that might have a market value.

60 $75,000 for $30,000.

The automatically have some equity in the home.

And we really feel like this is going to give them a which they desperately needed for a long time.

>> To know that some family or or some person is going to get this house it's very inspirational.

It's a win win.

The House gets renovated.

The neighborhood a facelift on some parts and somebody gets to come back to a place where they want to live.

>> So far, 36 applicants of qualified for the program.

Ryan Drain says the long-term recovery plans to extend the program through next year.

Rebranding it a new lease on life.

As we soon mark the anniversary of Kentucky's deadly tornado outbreak.

We not only reflect but look ahead.

How are forecasters learning more about storms that produced tornadoes and increasing public safety?

I'm meteorologist for Mayfield spent time this summer with a special research team in Nebraska working to gain knowledge that will save lives.

>> When a tornado said I was actually in Utah here during the Masters.

But of course, my family living only 2 miles south of Mayfield.

I was watching the storms all that evening.

>> We have a super cell here.

>> One of the things you look for is like the hook echo the supercell and roads.

The velocity signature.

From that, you have a pretty good idea for the tornadoes located.

>> I was able to tell my family it was going north.

Whatever you do, don't drive north of our house because I was going to be right in the path of the tornado.

>> With a family thing, 2 miles south of Mayfield.

They said they didn't even start the leaves on the front porch, which is pretty amazing how local laws the tornado damage can be.

For the next week is pretty devastating.

Saying on international news, hometown Love so much.

Just being totally destroyed.

>> His big motivation to do the Phil campaign last summer and to really try to learn everything I could because I know that later my career forecasting tornadoes and super cells and large hail and damaging winds is going to be very important.

Taurus was the she'll campaign I did last summer as for the targeted observations by radar.

And so super cells over the Great Plains.

We travel 9,000 miles.

And the idea the whole campaign was too study the supercell thunderstorms that produce tornadoes with clause radars and also unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

>> To try to understand which storms and tornadoes and which don't and why that happens.

From the conferences I've attended.

>> I think the scientists are getting really close to understanding why tornadoes form and what differentiates these storms.

There's still more work to do.

But we advance.

A lot in the last 10 years.

And a lot of that's come from our high-resolution weather modeling.

But the advance of computer power so we can model the storms to even more local level, understand them to be even better.

During the Mayfield tornado the pick of the National Weather Service.

Send out the whole time.

>> But safe, you know, temples lives.

So I want to be a part of that, too, huh?

Continue that mission of protecting life and property.

>> When Dallas Mckinnie finishes his education at the University of Utah, he says he will come home to Kentucky with plants work for the National Weather Service.

A shortage of school bus drivers in Kentucky has left parents scrambling to find a way to get their child to and from school and Bullet County, a partnership between the school district and the local YMCA is giving an option to families impacted by bus route outages.

>> We have a long time are working relationship with YMCA program with an after school program that the signed up for.

and then, of course, our administration part of a attempting this.

>> this is a proud program.

25 for a month.

You know, see, not see if it works and really how it is.

If we do not have bus service available on a particular route, the parents can not that that they get the announcement that their buses out of service.

I think that the amounts month with a 01:00PM ET that they can sign up for our that these clear before or after school or ball them.

We can show those students the Knot YMCA program site.

It's not at the school that they need to that will sell them over to the proper school.

It's entry still does at this point we have 39 men, preschools and Bullock on have want programs.

5 of them do not the 5.

Not we are direct them to the next nearest program and they get at the proper time for schools, start that they have the option to sign up or before school care and after-school care.

So that that particular.

Obviously, if there is a one C a site at their school, that is to just go the classroom.

The YMCA And if there is not one of their school that we want to of the school to the school, whether the YMCA site, you know, the past can pick them up again up until 6 o'clock in the room.

It looks like it's going help with attendants.

It's going to some parents gives them one more option.

>> The program launched on Monday.

The Bullet County YMCA says so far 37 families have signed up.

♪ ♪ Kentucky's COVID positivity rate is now 8.14%, which is up from 7% a week ago as we told you last Friday, 10 counties are now in the high category for COVID activity.

Time counties in western Kentucky.

Plus, Robertson County.

We currently are 3 counties have been in the red.

All of them.

We're in eastern Kentucky.

The mayor-elect of Louisville says he will name an interim police chief soon.

Last month, Mayor elect Craig Greenberg announced the current police chief Erika Shields will leave the job as soon as he takes office last week.

Shields told WDRB TV in Louisville that she felt she was asked to leave purely for political reasons.

Greenberg told WDRB Today, quote, What I'm looking for in both an interim police chief and also a permanent police chief.

As someone who is focused on transparency, he's going to work to rebuild the trust of the entire community, but who is also going to have the trust of the officers had LMPD unquote shields will remain as chief until January.

2nd.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was in Louisville today.

He toured the UPS World Port Buttigieg said he was there to get a firsthand look and how shipping operations are keeping up with the busy holiday shopping season.

The peak shipping season for UPS runs through Mid-January.

An estimated 4 million packages a day come through Louisville during that time.

The Kentucky Horse Park wants to exclude new employees from the state's merit system and it would like to receive money from the local bedroom tax.

The Kentucky Lantern reports State representative Phil Pratt of Georgetown will file legislation for the upcoming session to make those things happen.

Mayor workers are hired and promoted based on qualifications and performance.

They're supposed to be nonpolitical.

The horse park believe staffing will be more flexible if new hires are not part of the merit system.

The park also thinks it has access to money from the local bedroom tax, which is a tax on hotel and motel visits.

It would be able to lower fees and they might be able to get by with a smaller appropriation from the state, even if the General Assembly approved that Fayette and Scott counties would also have to agree.

The campaign is underway to rename a Kentucky State park after Loretta Lynn, the late country music star who died earlier this year.

More than 16,000 people have already signed an online petition to rename paints full Lake State Park as the Loretta Lynn State Park.

That's in Johnson County, Lynn's Home County, Carla Engel, who calls herself a lifelong Loretta Lynn fan started the petition.

She's been endorsed by one of Lynn's daughters.

The way.

♪ ♪ For so many of us this time of year means big holiday meals and extra time with family.

But for too many in our community, food is a real struggle.

Kelsey Starks sat down with the folks at the dare to care Food Bank in Louisville to find out why they need your help.

Now, more than ever.

>> Well, dare to care.

Serves Jefferson and surrounding counties in Kentuckyian Indiana providing food to those in need.

Alexis Richardson is joining us now.

A lot people might not know about dare to care how it came to be.

It's really a story of hope coming from an awful tragedy.

Yes, so dare to care.

Actually started over 50 years ago when a 9 year-old boy named Bobby Ellis actually passed away at Mount Attrition, his home on Thanksgiving Eve.

>> And it was a terrible story and something that we hope never happens again.

It actually is.

How dare to care started a bunch of local pastors and the community came together and said let's provide food to ensure this never happens again in our community each and every year.

You will hold that vigil to recognize that time.

Yes, we just annual to recognize Bobby Ellis, his sister actually spoke at the event and she reminded us all to just check in on our neighbors.

She said that we really are brothers keepers and that's something that I hope everyone can take away like just check on your friends.

Check on your family.

Check on the old lady who lives next to you because you never know what people are going through.

That's right.

And now more than ever, we've all experienced the rising price of food.

We know it's a little harder to feed our families and you guys, I'm sure feeling that pain.

Absolutely.

We've had about 50% increase in some of our larger pantry.

So that means 50% from where we were last year.

So the lines are getting longer and more people are coming.

We have a pandemic which there are a lot of benefits, panic time.

So that way, child tax credits, emergency snap benefits.

All of us have ended for people.

So families in need and then rising inflation hasn't helped either.

So the same time that people are losing those benefits, gas prices are going to get food prices are going up.

So we're really seeing longer lines, my people.

And we're just trying to be creative in how we can better serve the community.

So really this time is even more difficult.

And during the pandemic for salute Li, Yeah, absolutely.

So since the pandemic we actually saw shorter lines since those pandemic era benefits have ended was the longer lines.

Yeah.

Will one of that particular things will do is serving children nearly one in every for children in the U.S. live in food, insecure households.

Tell us little bit about some of the programs you all do.

I know you do so much in this community for children.

Yeah.

And actually here in Kentucky, one in 6 children are experiencing food insecurity.

Just terrible.

We saved about 19.6 million.

Those last year and 6 million of that was children.

So we have kids cafes, which are after-school programs.

So if you think about your wine cea's or your boys and girls clubs, those are the afterschool programs are feeding kids and feeding their families as well.

And so that that's just the area that we feel really passionate about.

Kids and seniors as well.

A really big areas where food and security is high.

And so we're trying to meet the needs.

We have a community kitchen and on 28th in Virginia.

And so my kitchen, we actually prepare hot meals to go out to those kids cafes.

That is a wonderful way for you all to serve the community and what is the best way for >> us as a community to get involved?

Do you need more?

You know, you need it all day.

mean, what?

What is the most needy need volunteer time, Jeanne, more donations?

How can we help?

Yeah, right now we're actually booked for volunteers, which is an amazing time.

You have.

So I just ask that you think about us after the holidays.

We love that volunteers in January and February as well.

>> And then the other the few stresses financial donations.

A lot of times we get a few jobs that their foods that we can serve.

So if it's been opened, if didn't can we can serve those foods a lot of times the donations that we kids were not have.

Let us air.

So we're asking that people actually donate funding so that we're able to purchase more foods to get people healthier foods as well.

Because we're also seeing more people donating like cereal and kind of unhealthy options.

And we want to get more fresh produce out there to please a need.

wonderful mission for you all.

Thank you so much for being And then.

>> Again, if you or someone you know, may be in need, you can go to their website and find exactly the food pantries closest to you.

And that to get the help that you need.

>> Dare to care.

Serves Jefferson, Oldham, Trimble Bullet Spencer Shelby, Henry and Carroll counties in Kentucky and more in southern Indiana.

They've served 19.6 million meals in the last year, including 6 million to children.

♪ Tomorrow on Kentucky Edition our usual Wednesday check of politics with Rylan Barton of Kentucky, Public Radio and Ohio Valley Resource.

And a hat can be more than just a way to cover your head.

A Kentucky artists creates hats to express memories, moods and moments and his work is now on display.

We'll tell you more Wednesday on Kentucky Edition.

Flags at all state office buildings will be lowered to half-staff tomorrow.

It's an observance of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day more than 2400 Americans died in the surprise attack on the U.S.

Naval Fleet Pearl Harbor on December, 7th, 1941.

Governor Beshear is encouraging individuals, businesses and organizations to join in tomorrow's tribute.

We hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition, we inform connect and inspire subscribe to our weekly Kentucky Edition email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips a K E T Dot Org.

You can also find Kentucky Edition on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV.

>> And follow KET on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

I'm Casey Parker Bell filling in for Renee Shaw.

Have a good night.

♪