The best indicator of future performance is past performance.

Governor Andy Beshear says experience matters and the race for the state's CEO.

A lot of times veterans don't think they deserve benefits for their service.

Veterans are getting more access to mental health care, but are they getting the help they need?

When you come into our downtown area, you know that you're in Russellville and you really see the beauty in it.

And we visit a small Kentucky town with big plans when it comes to growth.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions, the Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this Monday, July 17th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for spending some of your Monday night with us.

As we reported on Friday, Kentucky's ban on gender affirming care for transgender youth has been restored by a federal judge.

The judge lifted an injunction he issued last month that temporarily blocked the restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapies for minors.

The judge's reversal of his own order comes nearly a week after the U.S. sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a similar temporary injunction halting enforcement of a similar law in Tennessee.

Today, I spoke with Rebecca Blankenship with the group called Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, to get her reaction to the ruling.

But first, an interview with David Walls from the Family Foundation, who said the ruling is a win for Kentucky's youth.

We were encouraged by the decision on Friday.

We believe it's a big win for protecting children in Kentucky.

We're excited to see S.B.

150 common sense protections go into effect that we believe truly prioritize the health and safety and welfare of children.

Look, these experimental interventions, so-called gender transitions, the puberty blockers, the cross-sex hormones, they have very real, immediate and irreversible harms to children and that are just simply not acceptable for these types of medical experiments to be to be happening here in Kentucky on children.

And so we're we're thankful that those protections are going to be able to go into place while this case continues to play out at the Sixth Circuit.

Very thankful for the strong job that our attorney general is doing in defending S.B.

150.

And these provisions.

And I continue to be optimistic at the Sixth Circuit that we're going to ultimately see this law completely upheld.

And we're going to shortly see an end to these barbaric medical experiments on children.

My hope, my desire, is that anyone struggling with gender dysphoria, especially if we're talking about the context of kids, gets the the mental health treatment that that that is needed in a in a loving way that affirms that finds a child in the in the truth of who they were created to be.

And is allowed to go through puberty, which is a healthy part of of how we are designed to develop from from children to to adolescents and to healthy adults.

And so I would just, frankly reject the premise of of saying that it is in the best interest of the health interest of children to put them on chemicals that chemically mutilate their bodies and and sets them up for sometimes physically mutilating their bodies.

We just reject outright the idea that healthy bodies need to be mutilated in the name of in the name of a radical gender ideology.

Well, it's a stressful time for families.

You know, I hate to say this was not that surprising of a decision.

The Sixth Circuit ruled, of course, just recently on Tennessee's similar suit.

You know, their problems are not with gender affirming care.

They've not, you know, argued with any of the findings of facts the lower courts have made that these treatments are safe and healthy and very needed for many people.

You know, their only questions are legal in nature.

Whether the equal protection clause and the right to privacy in themselves can encompass gender affirming care.

So what I hope is that we'll find a legal argument that is suitable to some of these more conservative judges.

But the facts remain clear.

Gender affirming care is safe.

Why is this such an important issue?

You know, when I was 16 years old and first discovering my trans identity, I was so desperate and felt that I had so few options that I ordered dangerous puberty blockers online from New Zealand without a doctor's prescription or oversight.

There's no telling what I was actually obtaining were putting into my body.

You know what I worry is that kids who don't feel that they have these options of safe and effective medical care may turn to these kinds of methods in order to avoid the trauma of growing up in a body that is alien to them.

You know, I think it's really, really grim what position a lot of these families are going to be put into as they try to navigate sort of the new in our moment of care that, as I've said before, really takes options away from families with trans kids and doesn't give anything to replace the options.

The case involving Kentucky's ban on gender affirming care has been consolidated with Tennessee's case.

Both are now being expedited through the court process.

It is unclear when a decision could be announced.

In other news, Governor Andy Beshear says his leadership has brought jobs and progress to Kentucky, and he says that will continue in a second term.

The governor campaigned Friday and Saturday in Shelbyville, Bardstown, Bowling Green, Richmond, Lexington and Georgetown, and Bowling Green Friday.

He disputed the Republican claim that his opponent, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, would work more effectively with the Republican General Assembly.

I'm the governor that was able to pass medical marijuana and the governor was able to pass sports betting things that they said were impossible and would never be passed while I was governor.

Every thing on my agenda we have gotten passed in some form.

We just want to do more of it.

The fact is this administration often gets results.

And this attorney general has been absent the last four years when he could have been pushing for any of these things.

He now claims he believes the lesson the best indicator of future performance is past performance.

We've shown up.

We've created jobs.

We've pushed for the right types of changes.

We've been there for law enforcement.

We've been there for students.

We've been there for educators.

And we are on a historic economic roll, the likes of which we have never seen.

We've got to keep that going.

The governor was asked about a possible strike involving UPS workers, including thousands in Kentucky, UPS and the Teamsters Union haven't been able to reach an agreement on a new contract, meaning a strike is possible at the end of the month.

Well, my hope is that U.P.S.

and the Teamsters can come to an agreement.

UPS is a really important employer.

Huge number of jobs.

Teamsters are an and crazy and amazing organization that represents so many good people that deserve good wages, that deserve good benefits, that deserve security moving forward, especially with what they do.

It would be a win win to come to a long term agreement that's there.

And I believe both sides are working.

I just hope that they can work faster and get it done.

It would be a major disruption for the United States.

It would also be painful in Kentucky for so many families.

And so I encourage you go a little further.

I encourage Teamsters stay at the table.

These are two amazing organizations here in Kentucky that I think both want a long term agreement to provide security for workers and everybody expecting those packages all across America.

Governor Bashir's campaign swing came days after Attorney General Cameron announced his 12 part public safety plan.

And on Friday, Cameron joined 12 other Republican attorneys general, signing a letter to Fortune 100 CEOs demanding they stop using race as a hiring consideration.

More oversight, more training, better monitoring of staff and improved tracking of offenders.

Those are just some of the 30 recommendations made in a new report examining Kentucky's juvenile justice system.

The Legislative Research Commission authored their report and discussed their findings with lawmakers Friday and Frankfort.

It's the result of a nine month investigation into the state's regional juvenile detention centers following violent outbreaks at two centers last year.

Members of the Legislative Oversight and Investigation Science Committee voted unanimously to adopt the report.

Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Kerry Harvey said the cabinet agrees with most of the committee's recommendations.

Most of the recommendations, we agree with a third very few things in the report that we don't agree with.

The few items that where we might have an issue, at least in my view, are not core fundamental items.

Lawmakers also questioned Harvey about some of his statements.

Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Rocky Adams, a Republican from Louisville, cited concerns about staffing problems within detention facilities.

Are we going to just accept the fact that we have staffing challenges, particularly as they relate to Jefferson, or are we going to have some creative approaches to how we solve those staffing changes?

No, ma'am.

We're not going to accept that, nor have we.

And let me just take you back to two or three years ago in Jefferson County and all of these other places, a front line detention worker's starting salary was about $30,000 a year.

Would be a surprise to no one that you could not hire an adequate workforce for $30,000 a year.

So the first thing that happened, I think in December of I want to say 21.

I get my years mixed up.

But the governor worked with us and approved a 10% salary increase for all the corrections officers across the system.

We didn't see much movement out of that.

Then the General Assembly enacted very generous raises across the board for state employees of 8%.

As all of you all remember, we didn't see a lot of movement out of that the following October because we were not accepting where we were.

We got together and we got some really smart h.r.

And budget people and we figured out ways to reprogram some dollars and we provided some additional money and we got the starting pay up to somewhere in the low forties probably.

And we started to see at least improvements in retention and a little more interest in some of these jobs.

And then last january or February, the governor raised the starting pay to 50,000.

The legislature very generously supported that with an appropriation.

And so we are seeing increasing interest in these jobs across the whole state.

But I mean, obviously every market is different.

And it's not a surprise that northern Kentucky and Louisville are the toughest labor markets.

And I've said before, I said when I was with you all a couple of weeks ago, that we have to continue to work at this.

And I think what we have to do is not know.

But most of you all will embrace this.

We have to just sort of deal with the free market.

Shouldn't how free markets work?

You know, I think what I said before is you can't you can't go in to try to buy a Cadillac with Chevrolet money.

And so so the way we have to approach this, Senator, I agree with you that we have to use every creative tool we can think of to recruit in colleges, to recruit in high schools.

And we're doing that.

Overhauling the state's juvenile justice system was one of the overriding issues of the 2023 legislative session, with lawmakers passing two bills aimed at addressing those issues.

Senate Bill 162 appropriated more than $25 million for a J.J. staff, raises security upgrades and more.

It also set standards for emergency responses at juvenile facilities and allowed the state to enter contracts with third party organizations that provide mental health services.

House Bill three appropriated almost $20 million to reopen a youth detention center in downtown Louisville, a state road and Bell County is now known as the Greg Paige Memorial Highway.

The road honors the memory of Greg Page, who was one of the first black football players to sign with a Southeastern Conference school.

The Middlesboro native saw his dream to play for the University of Kentucky cut short following a paralyzing neck injury during practice in 1967.

He died six weeks later.

Last week, Page's family was on hand as Kentucky 2129 was renamed in his honor.

Kentucky is known for coal, but you're seeing more and more solar panels in Kentucky.

What's the future of nuclear energy in the Bluegrass State?

We'll talk about Kentucky's energy needs today and in the future.

This evening on Kentucky tonight.

Hear from our panel and send us your questions and comments.

That's tonight on Kentucky tonight at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

Funny sign, the horse who became a fan favorite after winning the Kentucky Derby in 2003 has died from complications of colic.

He was 23.

The Tucky Horse Park, where Funny Cide lived for his final 15 years, confirmed the thoroughbred died yesterday.

Funny Cide was undefeated at it as a two year old.

The following year, he lost his first three starts but won the Derby and Preakness before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes this past January.

Veterans saw their mental health benefits expanded the expansion of services as part of the Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care and Treatment or Compact Act, an effort to prevent veteran suicide.

Under the expansion, veterans can get free emergency care at any VA and non VA health care facility if they're in a mental health crisis.

Veterans can receive inpatient care for up to 30 days and outpatient care for up to 90 days.

Get caught up with the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs to see what kind of impact that expansion has had six months later.

It's very possible that a lot of people do not know that that this is possible.

And I think we need to get the word out because it is is is needed because these people don't otherwise have.

Some of them may not have other insurance.

So and they don't they do not have the VA connection.

So it would be very helpful.

So we're seeing a lot of a lot of movement with veterans.

One of the systemic problems is, is that a lot of times veterans don't think they deserve benefits for their service.

According to the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health.

The Commonwealth lost 589 veterans to suicide from 2017 to 2021.

While Dr. Silas Sessions believes that mental health care and the stigma surrounding it is getting better for veterans, he said that there is still a void surrounding it.

It's still a void.

Yes, it's more open.

It's more accepted.

But as far as walking in the door and sitting in the chair and filling out the paperwork and answering questions, the execution is still not up to par.

There are some mental health providers that may not fully understand the veteran, appropriately so, even though, as I went to get the help, if the person who's supposed to help me is not treating me properly, that's going to cause a problem because I may not come back or I may not be as open as I as I need to be.

We have miles to go before we sleep.

We're making advances.

We're we're doing things and we're having open dialog.

This, you know, a lot of folks say, you know, it's changed since COVID.

We've been fighting this battle for years.

COVID just kind of, you know, exposed it and helped help the discussion along.

But we've been fighting this for years.

And the 2022 fiscal year, Kentucky's community mental health centers treated 2372 veterans or active duty service members, according to the Veteran's Administration.

Over 9 million veterans are not currently enrolled with the VA. And weather related news.

New research suggests that three Kentucky counties could see 100 year floods every decade.

Our Christy Dutton explores why more frequent flooding is becoming the new normal.

Fore Street Foundation released its findings that three counties in Kentucky have severely underestimated the risk of flooding from the National Weather Service in Louisville.

John Gordon is here.

John, so tell us what these three counties are and what it means to have that elevated flood risk.

Well, those are in Oldham, Trimble and Carroll Counties.

And folks, when you have that much of an increase in the threat of life threatening flash flooding moving up to around the ten year point, it is a big deal.

And we want folks to have a better preparedness plan.

County officials, emergency management officials have a better plan, better mitigation, and do things they can in their counties because the heavy rain is not far away in the next disaster in Kentucky.

Yeah.

So tell us, what does it mean?

What does a 100 year flood mean and what does it mean for these counties to go from having a 100 year flood about every ten years except 100 year flood?

That's one of the most misunderstood things of all.

So 100 year flood is a threat of getting one of those catastrophic, life threatening flood events like you saw like in the Northeast recently or you saw last year in eastern Kentucky.

People seem to think, well, it's every hundred years.

No, it is not.

It's a statistical probability.

It's like getting a one eyed jack in poker.

It's the same thing.

It can happen next year and the year after in the year after.

Okay.

So that's a misnomer right there.

Secondly, for you to get this designation of of flash flooding threat, danger of the historic flood every ten years from 20 years, that is an unbelievable increase.

And flash flooding is the number one killer in the state of Kentucky.

What's the worst thing that can happen?

Flash flood in Kentucky.

Yeah, you get a tornado here and there.

But what really kills people and people making bad poor decisions and flooding.

So one of the things this study can do, Kristie, is to really show where counties can spend a little money, whether it's drainage, better roads, better culverts, better sewers, things of that nature, and spend some infrastructure before the next one comes.

Okay.

That is good.

I'm sure a lot of this information is a very high importance to engineers, but for us, a lot of us are wondering, well, why in just almost 20 years did this flood risk increase so much?

Because it's not just in Kentucky.

We're seeing this nationally.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So I always try to tell people straight on climate change that people get very emotional and that we are in a warming trend.

We're in a warming trend.

A warming trend.

When you're warmer, you can hold more water vapor than you are in a cooling trend.

That's just a fact.

Okay.

Thank you so much for breaking down these numbers for us and for this information by Christy.

So today we begin a new series called Mondays on Maine, featuring downtown revitalization efforts in communities all across Kentucky.

Our Laura Rogers starts us off with a trip to Russellville, the seat of Logan County and a city that celebrates its 225th birthday this year.

We're on a summer stroll on Main Street in downtown Russellville.

I kind of compare it to Mayberry.

Mayor Mark Stratton as a lifelong resident.

My dad had a business here back in the sixties, and so I can remember when downtown was booming every day.

It was a big outing.

It was a big outing for us kids and other kids.

And when it got to come to the big city of Russellville, things may look a little different these days, but Russellville is still home to lots of activity, including boutiques, restaurants and bed and breakfasts.

When there's a good pattern of being able to eat and shop and visit and entertain all in the same area, I think that just creates a whole atmosphere.

And that's that's really what we're hoping to be able to accomplish as an atmosphere.

Part of that atmosphere revolves around the historic nature of the city here in Russellville, very rich in a lot of history that we want to preserve.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, downtown is home to more than 200 businesses.

Since the pandemic, I would say there's been a huge trend for that shop local and the small business here at the chamber, we're really trying to emphasize that.

We say, put your money where your heart is and there's room for more merchants to invest in the community.

The Logan Economic Alliance for Development is looking for new tenants to take over old buildings.

So we have been able to highlight about 11 properties that are downtown that we would really love to see some activity.

And we've already started to see a little activity on one end of our square.

And we have an investor there that is interested in helping us achieve our goal and is already looking into bringing possibly a restaurant, maybe some office space.

And we're really hoping that that starts to move us forward in the right direction.

City leaders say there's been renewed interest in recent years for downtown revitalization.

I think downtown Russell has evolved over the years.

Like all downtowns and 2021, a group came together with the common goal of attracting more commerce and foot traffic.

There were a new committee was formed and that stands for revitalize, encourage and nurture, energize and welcome.

So those are our goals for what we're trying to do to our downtown area here in Russellville and actually all over Logan County.

We've got a well rounded group of individuals that all have likeminded interest in just seeing improvement in the county in the city specifically.

It's not just Main Street seeing more enterprise, but intersecting Fourth Street.

A small grocery store was purchased by new new owner and they completely revitalized it.

We've had an old home that's been purchased and revitalized, and they're about to open as a new restaurant.

We have the loft, which has made huge renovations to their venue.

It's an event venue.

Steenburgen says while she looks forward to seeing more progress, she's proud of the work already accomplished.

When you come into our downtown area, you know that you're in Russellville and you really see the beauty in it.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

More great stories like that coming your way on Monday.

Thank you, Laura.

Louisville TV and radio fans.

We're about to tell you what W stands for.

Our Toby Gibbs has that and a trio of interesting sports items in tonight's Look at this week in Kentucky History.

Many Kentuckians have served on the US Supreme Court.

You may not know the name Wiley Rutledge.

He was born July 20th, 1894, in Clover Port in Breckinridge County.

Rutledge was serving on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia when President Franklin D Roosevelt appointed him to the High Court in 1943.

He was FDR, his last Supreme Court appointment.

He wasn't there for long.

Rutledge died of a stroke in 1949.

Radio signed on for the first time on July 18th, 1922, making it Kentucky's first commercial radio station.

The Louisville Courier-Journal and Louisville Times owned it.

There's a claim that W HHS is an acronym for.

We have a signal a baseball game played July 19th, 1865, in Louisville, is believed to be the first baseball game played with standard rules.

West of the Alleghenies.

The Louisville Grays hosted and beat the Nashville Cumberland.

Turning to basketball, the American Basketball Association's Kentucky colonels based in Louisville officially folded on July 17th, 1976.

The NBA agreed to add four teams from the collapsing ABA, but the colonels were not one of them.

Also in Louisville, 20 years later, the Louisville Slugger Museum opened on July 17th, 1996.

It celebrates the history of the bats used by countless major League Baseball players since the 1880s.

It includes the world's largest bat at 120 feet long.

The museum was named one of the most beautiful in the world in 2015.

And that's a look at what was happening this week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, Toby.

And that'll do it for us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Take good care and I'll see you right back here again tomorrow night.