It wasn't just rain yesterday.

Parts of western Kentucky had to deal with this.

The bones were good and the history was there reviving an Owensboro legacy.

Where it all began more than a century ago.

You know, I love dance, obviously, but it's more about the people.

And meet the woman who keeps Owensboro on its toes.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the Cate Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky edition for this Wednesday, July the 10th.

I'm Rene Shaw.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We're enjoying starting views of the Ohio River at downtown Owensboro Riverfront, where there are walking paths that create an open environment for all to enjoy and for the kids to play.

And the scenic riverfront is decorated with memorials that pay tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country.

We'll have more from Owensboro in just a few minutes.

But first, the National Weather Service is in this part of Kentucky today assessing damage from a tornado.

This video was taken last night in Union County.

It may have been the same tornado that was visible from neighboring Henderson County.

The storm caused a lot of damage, but fortunately, no injuries have been reported.

In other news, there is a growing conflict between Kentucky's auditor and the Bashir administration over access to a state database.

And it comes just days after a reorganization of state government.

Our Clayton Dalton explains.

Senate Bill 48 was passed during the 2023 legislative session.

One of its provisions was moving the Ombudsman's office, which was in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services as of July 1st of this year.

It's now under the newly created Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman, which is in the auditor's office.

On Tuesday, Auditor Alison Ball, a Republican, sent a letter to Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, and to Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander.

In the letter.

Ball demanded full access to the Equis database, which contains information about child abuse and neglect cases in Kentucky and how they've been handled by the Cabinet.

She says, quote, Without full, direct and real time access to AI twist, it is impossible for the ombudsman to see if the Cabinet is efficiently serving Kentucky's children.

Pushing back, the Beshear administration said current state law prohibits full access to the system by the auditor's office.

Quote, The cabinet supports changing the applicable laws in the next session to provide full access.

In the meantime, we've been working with the auditor's office to provide them with the maximum access allowed under the current law, but they have refused.

See, HFS is Kentucky's largest executive branch cabinet.

The Ombudsman's office used to be attached to the cabinet before lawmakers transferred it to the auditor's office last year.

With the changeover taking effect last week, supporters said the shift would help guarantee independent oversight of the Cabinet.

Auditor Ball says access to the Equis database was available to the Ombudsman staff prior to the switchover.

State Senator Steven Meredith, a Republican from Litchfield who sponsored the 2023 legislation, praised Ball's efforts.

In a statement, he said the bill's clear intent was for the Ombudsman's office to have access to the database, calling it a, quote, common sense reform to end the practice of the cabinet investigating itself in quote.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.

Thank you, Clayton.

As if it'll take the dispute to court, auditor ball's office said it will continue to work to get access to the database through any necessary channels.

The governor, a lieutenant governor and both of Kentucky's U.S. senators are invited to speak during this year's fancy farm picnic in western Kentucky, August the third.

Their participation is described, though, as, quote, pending according to a speakers lineup that was just released today.

All of Kentucky's constitutional officers are also invited and discussions are under way with surrogates from the presidential campaigns.

As we've reported earlier, a father, John Cisco or Jim Cisco will be this year's emcee.

And you can see fancy farm coverage as always, as it happens live right here on E.T.

that first weekend in August.

The US Department of Justice has begun listening to Kentuckians concerned about the state's Department of Juvenile Justice.

The DOJ held its first listening session via Zoom on Monday.

During the meeting, WKYC quotes DOJ investigator Sophie Vick as saying, quote, Locking children up for even short periods of time causes real harm, end quote.

This investigation comes two months after the federal government announced it's looking into reports of civil rights abuses at Kentucky's eight youth detention centers and one youth development center.

And it follows years of reported issues with Kentucky's deejay system, including sexual assaults and a number of violent riots.

The DOJ says its investigation will likely take more than a year to complete.

It's day two for us here in Owensboro.

Owensboro and its neighbor, Henderson, both have rich histories.

Our Toby Gibbs has more on how they were founded, their farms and their famous faces as we go on the road.

Present day Davis and Henderson County were once home to indigenous people.

It's believed their history in Davis County stretches back 12,000 years.

The last Shawnee tribes were forced to leave Davis County at the end of the 18th century.

Henderson County was also home to U.S. and Cherokee tribes.

European settlers, led by a man known as both William Smithers and William Smothers, arrived in Davis County in 1797 and called the area yellow banks after the color of some of the land near the Ohio River.

The town of Owensboro, founded in 1817, was named for Colonel Abraham Owen.

The lengthier spelling of Owens Borough lasted until 1893, when it was shortened.

Major Joseph Hamilton Davis was the namesake for what would become Davis County.

As for Henderson County and the town of Henderson, pioneer and land speculator Richard Henderson formed the town of Red Banks in the 1770s.

Plans for the town of Henderson took shape in 1797.

The first post office went up in 1808.

It wouldn't become an official city until 1840.

Both counties became known for tobacco and whiskey.

Henderson County is one of Kentucky's top three counties for corn, soybeans and coal.

The counties have their share of celebrities.

Owensboro was home to Governor and long time U.S.

Senator Wendell Ford, although he is known for living in verse Sayles Governor ab Happy Chandler was born in Henderson County.

Naturalist John James Audubon lived in Henderson from 1810 to 1819, and teacher Mary Toles, promoter of Mother's Day, was born in Henderson in 1864, Kentucky Edition.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, Toby Gibbs.

For more than 40 years, the Owensboro Dance Theater has shared performance art with hundreds of thousands of people in the region.

But it all started with a girl named Joy who loved to dance and still does.

Owensboro native our Kelcey Starks of Inside Louisville and News Quiz fame takes us inside the Owensboro Dance Theater and dance fun improv to see it when Joy Johnson first moved to Owensboro from Indianapolis in the late 1970s.

She planned to continue her budding career as a dance teacher in Devon, and one good.

What she didn't plan was to create one of the most impactful nonprofit organizations in the region.

I had no idea that this would be what it is.

No, I never would have thought I was a dance teacher.

You know, I teach dance.

She expected around 25 kids to show up for her dance classes and that first year of Johnson's dance studio.

But 100 signed up instead than more joined the next year.

In 1982, the Owensboro Dance Theater was created.

The only nonprofit pre-professional dance company with a studio in the region.

Today, they perform three annual shows with staff in every school district, reaching 35,000 people every year.

And we've gotten to where we are able finance annually.

We have guest artists, professional dancers come in.

We have four for Nutcracker and then are in concert.

We have three.

And that gives them a look at, oh, wow, they can do that.

I can do that.

And I never would have thought, we're paying thousands of dollars to have professionals come in here.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Kim Ramirez Johnson was in the very first company of the Owensboro Dance Theater in 1982 and went on to dance professionally in Chicago and Colorado.

At a very young age.

I had open heart surgery and my mom wanted a way for me to get stronger and healthier.

And so the doctor said, Put her in dance.

And so that's what she did.

And I've been dancing all my life and half as many people here do.

Kim returned to her Owensboro roots.

Now she teaches at Johnson's dance studio and serves as an outreach coordinator, bringing much more than just dance classes to area schools at Jonesboro Dance Theater.

I do outreach to into the schools, and so what I do is I go in and teach dance, and then I'm a certified health coach.

And so we go in and I do health and wellness with dance.

And then we're also we get grant money to be bring in it's called the Tower Garden.

And it's a garden that we grow and the kids, it's got math science to back it up so they can do lesson plans.

We have lesson plans that help them grow.

And then we add dance to it.

So they get that variety of health and wellness and nutrition and just moving their bodies.

The Owensboro Dance Theater outreach program now serves over 65 area schools and community centers across 16 Kentucky counties, all free of charge.

You know, it's a small town, but one small dance theater.

And Johnson's dance studio has so much to offer.

I mean, you know, in terms of when I would go to different places to live or whatever, you didn't have this community that you have here in Winnsboro.

Among the alumni gracing these walls are professional dancers, teachers, Radio City Rockettes.

And in fact, now every single teacher at Johnson's dance studio was once a student here.

There's a lot of people that they come here to raise children.

I think it's a small community and they back what they have and they always have for all.

And they've been very good to the arts.

But there are thousands of other alumni who didn't go on to become professional dancers or teachers.

But the impact of finding dance discipline and confidence at a young age is something that lasts forever.

Like this reporter whose picture still hangs on these walls.

Just the people I know and would never have known.

And then, like you kids that grew up and it's just like it does, it makes me very proud and very humble.

I try to be very humble about it, but, you know, it's so proud of me.

Come back through the door.

You know, I love dance, obviously, but it's more about the people.

For Kentucky Edition On the Road in Owensboro, I'm Chelsea Star.

Thank you, Kelsey.

That's a great story.

Great program.

Now to a comeback story dating back to the 1800s.

Green River Distilling Company once made one of the world's most popular burdens before sitting dormant for many years.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to the historic property and Owensboro, where whiskey now flows once again.

Owensboro used to be a mecca for distilleries.

The city was home to about 22 of them Pre-Prohibition, including Green River Distilling Company.

It was started in 1885 by J.W.

McCulloch.

It is the 10th oldest distillery licensed in Kentucky.

Still to this day, the most expensive bourbon ever sold was Green River.

They traded 20 barrels of Green River whiskey for a share of a Colorado gold mine called the Forest Queen.

That mine panned out.

Making Green River like solid gold.

And we make very good whiskey.

It was once among the most popular and widely advertised bourbons in the world.

Before Prohibition, they went with whiskey without a headache, which, of course, they had to change because you can't say that their slogan would become the Whiskey without regrets.

But misfortune would strike the distillery burning to the ground in 1918.

Prohibition happens.

Bourbon falls out of favor.

And it kind of went away there for a while.

And then in 2020, Green River was brought back home after over 130 years of being absent.

Today, they produce more than 100,000 barrels a year on the original property where it was made more than a century ago.

As some people like to say, were on hallowed ground.

It's true.

American history.

That's true Kentucky history.

There are five rec houses on the grounds, 27 in total, storing close to half a million barrels of bourbon.

The one that we're currently standing in is is called the clay Tile Rick House.

It's four stories tall and it holds 20,000 barrels.

The full proof, that's latest release, five varieties.

We consider ourselves the Western Gateway to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

They launched their first product, have the revival in February of 2022.

We were a big splash and it went over very well.

The operative word Kentucky's water and soil make it ideal for distilling.

Along with the climate, we need all four seasons.

We get the harsh cold.

We get the warm summers, green rivers.

The revitalization has been a big boost to Owensboro tourism along with barbecue and bluegrass.

I call it a big little city.

It's just a fun place to come sitting right on the Ohio River.

Everything that we have here is authentic with a storied past.

Being here in Owensboro, we just make some really, really good whiskey.

Green River Distilling Company is in good spirits about its future.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thanks so much, Laura.

Even though we are in Owensboro this week, we do want to showcase more than just a single town.

About 30 minutes west of here is another of Kentucky's vibrant river cities.

Here again is our Clayton Dalton to show you around the city of Henderson and all it has to offer.

I think the river really sets the backdrop to everyday life here in Henderson.

A really cool way to experience that, because I think there's so much tranquility in just walking along the river, watching it move.

Spotting a train go across the bridge is pretty cool.

So if you walk along the river walk, you can experience the river up close, which is really, really a neat thing.

We're all right on the edge of Indiana, and so we share a lot of commonalities with southern Indiana and western Kentucky.

Well, one thing that separates Henderson from a lot of cities in Kentucky and beyond is the amount of things that are going on over the last 5 to 10 years for Henderson.

For starters, we have a revitalized downtown.

So back in 2016, our occupancy rate was probably closer to 65% in terms of the businesses that we have.

And today we're somewhere in the nineties.

We've had an influx of young people who have come in and invested a lot of money in restaurants and places to stay and places to live.

And so all of those things, coupled with a smattering of new businesses and retail that are coming in, have really grown our city over the last couple of years, and we'll continue to grow it on into the future.

And so we're seeing a lot of interest from young families that we haven't seen in a long time who are who are coming to Henderson and staying here.

We've had a couple of new industries locate in Henderson as well that are bringing high paying jobs.

We've got a couple of new housing developments that are starting.

So Henderson is one of those places that is growing, but it still remains and has that feeling at home.

Henderson is on the river and had a life many years ago of River Commerce, one of the highest per capita net incomes in the whole country at one time because of all the dart, barley, tobacco that made its way to Henderson, we had tens, tens, if not 30 of warehouses, tobacco warehouses that lined the riverfront and stored up tobacco and made its way to England and France.

So we've got a great history of industry, of agriculture.

What we don't always realize as Kentuckians, and I think this happens everywhere.

We have such incredible treasures in our own backyard and just driving a couple hours down a really beautiful Backroad can take you to a place where the culture is a little different.

Maybe the flavors are a little different, the landscapes are different, and you can have a whole different experience than what what you would have, you know, just a few hours east or west of here.

So often the folks that come here are so pleasantly surprised that they keep coming back and sometimes even decide to make this their new home.

Thank you, Clayton.

Owensboro is home to four postsecondary education institutions at Kentucky Wesleyan College.

There is new leadership.

This morning, I sat down with the college's new president at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum to learn about his vision for the campus and community.

Dr. James Cousins, it's a pleasure to sit down with you here at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Pleasure to be with you.

Thanks for having me.

Well, first of all, I should say congratulations to you because of as July 1st, you became the 36th president of Kentucky Wesleyan College.

So congratulations.

Thank you so much for that.

Very exciting.

But that just because you're newly minted in this role, does it mean that you have a short history or no history with Kentucky Wesleyan?

I was provost here for three years prior to that.

I was from here, from Western Michigan University, where as a history professor, and then I was in the dean's office there, but been in town for for going on four years now.

Love Owensboro.

I love the school, the mission is so unique.

It's a special place.

Yeah.

Tell us about the school.

Some people across the state may not know what the mission of Kentucky Wesleyan is, and it is tied to the United Methodist Church.

How does that give rise to a new student experience and academic offerings even?

Well, we offer you several things that are truly unique, and one is that kind of that faith based background and our our Methodist heritage that we lean into and that paired with our athletic accomplishments, what we do in the classroom presents a really unique opportunity for our students is that that faith connection now undergirds and supports the mission of the institution.

You see that throughout campus with our students.

It's bolstered, of course, by campus ministries.

It has a really strong presence on campus.

But, you know, a lot of indefinable ways, the ways that students come into campus, how they carry themselves.

They you know, they're they're they're brought in with certain assumptions of their their how they're going to build their character and how they're going to comport themselves both on campus and in the community.

And those are really special, unique value adds, again, mixed with these other qualities of of stronger, you know, really larger institutions.

And we're we're exceptionally well placed, I think, in the community and in higher education to make a real, real bring real benefit to not just Owensboro and Davis County, but to the region.

Right.

And it is interesting because, you know, you are 40 minutes east of Evansville, 2 hours north of Nashville, 2 hours west of Louisville, 4 hours east of Saint Louis.

Right.

And I think what is so special is that your student to faculty ratio is 13 to 1.

And not too many higher ed institutions can boast that low student to professor or faculty.

And it's important to remember these are full time faculty, terminal degreed faculty.

So, you know, the number of we don't have graduate programs.

So this is these are all full time faculty.

Our freshmen, sophomores, seniors, juniors and seniors will interact with and engage with experts in their disciplines scholars, well-renowned educators who have been in practice for four decades.

And there's enormous value in that experience or, you know, to the freshmen level to come in and engage with someone, you know, either a clinical practitioner or, you know, someone who's been in the field for 30 years is phenomenal.

And that's so unique.

Yeah, Yeah.

As you mentioned, you were provost and you were vice president of academic affairs since 2021.

You're probably still doing that job as well.

Right.

And I understand that really you have helped boost student retention and online education.

Talk about why that was so important to have those goals and what do you see as president that will change or will you add on to.

Well, I think we're going to magnify both, honestly.

But both are just so important to not just Kentucky West and I think the state of higher education.

So in general, our our retention is a that's you know, that's the end result of a really well functioning institution.

Everything from admissions to alumni engagement, everything is working.

Everything is really sync up appropriately.

So your student support services, your faculty are getting the supports they need or there are athletics and our extracurricular co-curricular activities are working and harmonizing in the right way.

So very proud of what the that not that I accomplished, but what the institution accomplished during that time.

And and you know, again, every every part of campus really needs to be joined in that common effort.

Online education serves a real niche in the community are college going rate in Owensboro is about half what it is in the larger metropolitan areas in Kentucky.

So you know our online it's degree completion is our focus.

This is these are folks with some college credit, but no college degree.

And we have we're very competitively priced in the market, but we bring that special value and students can complete courses online or they can come to our campus, but they'll still get that same level that 13 to 1 that those small class sizes, the emphasis on values that they would get on campus.

And and so our our online population is small, growing but small but it always be small because we need to maintain those those connections.

So we don't we won't bring this to the scale of, you know, gigantic institutions of higher education, because that's that's not really our point of emphasis.

Our strength is in our size.

Typical enrollment numbers.

Mm hmm.

What are they Oh, for online?

Yes.

Or for overall student.

So we're we're around 800, and that's a kind of a sweet spot for us.

Honestly, We can keep things small and manageable.

There's, you know, we have dorms on campus, can can fit about 500 students, but and we're resourced in in a number of areas that are of of high need and high importance.

We do exceptionally well in and programs that are kind of common and some that are uncommon such as.

So accounting we we are phenomenal.

We have a phenomenal accounting team and program and it's hard to encounter an accountant in the western part of the state that doesn't have a background or knowledge of or a graduate of Kentucky Western College.

So it's a and then all the way to Z, we have zoology.

Oh yeah.

Which and we have some just exceptional zoologists on campus and that's, that's a point of pride and point of emphasis for a lot of the students that are coming in to be a zoology major is it's a self-selected group and it's a it's an intense curriculum.

It's a competitive field.

Very proud, very proud of what we have accomplished there.

But throughout our programs, we're very adaptable to what Owensboro needs and what the needs of our region are.

And you know what?

The business the business community relies on us.

But the the I say the scientific community as well.

And you'd be hard pressed to go into either a distillery or, you know, k bio and not find people with connections, again, alumni, graduates or people that that, you know, that interact with our scholars and our researchers here.

They don't have a Kentucky Wesleyan College connection, and it's a phenomenal thing.

Yeah.

Before I beg you to do I should mention alum David Hawker, who passed away recently the class of 1959.

Of course, he was a trustee emeritus and a lifelong Kentucky Wesleyan supporter.

And I know that you all still mourn his passing, and our thoughts are with the community as you grieve his passing.

Thank you.

He's a special man and we love and honor him.

And his passing, you know, affected us deeply.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Well, and I know you'll continue the legacy for which he worked to maintain it well and make him very proud.

Well, thank you, Dr. Cousins.

It's been a pleasure to sit with you.

Pleasure's mine.

Have a great academic year.

Thank you.

So we've had a great time here in Owensboro, and we keep it going.

And we have served you up some bluegrass music, some bourbon.

But tomorrow we've got a healthy portion of barbecue.

So you want to tune in for that tomorrow at 630 Eastern, 530 Central right here on Kentucky Edition, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

Connect with us all the way as you see on your screen there through Facebook and Instagram until I see you again tomorrow.

Take really good care.

Have a great night.