Five days later, the big rain in western Kentucky is still causing problems.

Every year we hear from the principals and teachers and superintendents that the list of children that need supplies is just so extensive.

Easing the back to school financial burden for Eastern Kentucky families impacted by last year's catastrophic floods.

I've never supported gender reassignment surgery for kids.

Governor Andy Beshear criticizes a TV ad that criticizes him.

And are we closer to saying the champ on a stamp?

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 24th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for winding down your Monday night with us.

Five days after record setting rainfall in western Kentucky, the high waters have receded in most places, but the flooding is still causing problems.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet reports that 11 roads were still closed and Ballard Carlisle, Fulton Graves and Hickman counties as of 9 a.m. this morning.

W CLTV reports some roads were washed out, some were blocked by falling trees.

Parts of western Kentucky received 11 inches of rain and 24 hours last Wednesday, setting a state record.

Students will soon be headed back to school.

But for families in eastern Kentucky still dealing with the damage caused by last year's flood, even small purchases like school supplies can be a financial hardship.

One organization is trying to ease that burden.

All of the communities that we serve have extensive needs right now.

The the needs are.

Back to school items to help families as well as we need financial assistance to help the region.

We work with many schools throughout eastern Kentucky on an ongoing basis, and every year we hear from the principals and teachers and superintend is that the list of children that need supplies is just so extensive and our teachers need help too for their classrooms.

So it's important for us that we help little kiddos with markers and crayons and high school students that need scientific calculators and all the kids need all the basic supplies anyway.

And our teachers need things like Lysol and wipes and paper towels for their classroom.

So every little bit does add up and truly helps the region.

We've basically lost everything, so we're in the rebuilding process right now.

We're hoping to get back in our house in the next month or two.

So a year ago, historic flooding went through eastern Kentucky and devastated many of the communities that we serve.

And over the past year, we have been working with families throughout the region to rebuild their lives and homes.

So many families now have huge expenses like the cost of construction.

HVAC units apply sciences.

So we figured families needed extra assistance with getting their kiddos back to school this fall.

So it may seem small buying things like markers and crayons, but every little bit helps these families that are experiencing inflation just like all of us are in our everyday lives.

I've been employed with IRH for almost 14 years now.

They have been so supportive not only with my work and free building, but offering to assistance and financial assistance and mattresses have always been such a person to jump in and try to help people at this time.

It humbled me because I couldn't do that.

But I think this is the way through.

I h that I feel like I'm a part of helping other people and I couldn't do it.

My normal way.

I think all the activities moving forward with the flood is so important because it keeps hope alive for our flood survivors.

I think, you know, a lot of people may feel like it's come to an end, but it's far from over.

There's so many things still in our community that needs rebuilt and so many people need support.

And it's easy when disaster happens for everyone to jump in.

But a year later, it feels almost like you're forgotten.

And it's just so nice when organizations and people come in to still help.

The school supply drive is happening in Lexington and Hazard through Friday, which marks the one year anniversary of the flood in the wake of several natural disasters in the Commonwealth.

Kentucky Humanities and the National Endowment for Humanities have come together with a handful of state and national groups to help art and cultural institutions prepare for the worst.

Eastern Kentucky institutions like Apple Shop and the Hindman Settlement School both took heavy losses during last year's flooding.

Organizers behind these courses hope to give instruction on the preservation and protection of priceless historical items and artworks.

We have four webinars in total and we built them around the 4 hours of disaster recovery and response.

So we have readiness, we have response, so we have recovery and we have resilience.

So readiness is obviously building that initial disaster plan, knowing who to call and knowing who to reach out to and being ready for when the disaster strikes.

We have response, which is the first 48 hours, kind of a checklist of the first things you need to do, who you need to be reaching out to, that kind of thing.

We have recovery, which is more of the six months to a year kind of time frame because recovery can take a while.

So you need to make sure that you're ready for the long haul.

And then we have resilience, which, as we've talked about, is kind of mitigating those future disasters and preparing your institution for what's coming down the line.

The workshops begin on August 1st.

They are free and will take place online.

Interested parties can register to join them on the Kentucky Humanities website.

Appharvest has filed for bankruptcy.

The Kentucky based company runs a series of high tech indoor farms and Morehead, Richmond, Berea and Somerset.

Today's filing comes less than two weeks after Appharvest announced the company's founder, Jonathan Webb, was stepping down as CEO.

Last month, we reported that Appharvest owned a creditor of more than $60 million, which could lead to foreclosure of the Richmond facility at Harvest says today's bankruptcy filing will give it time to look at restructuring the company and that operations at its four farms are continuing.

Negotiations are expected to resume tomorrow between UPS and the Teamsters Union to prevent a strike that could start one week from today.

It's a strike that would affect thousands of people in Kentucky.

Talks broke off over the 4th of July weekend.

The two sides say they agree on 95% of the issues on the table.

But the main sticking point appears to be pay for part time workers.

If a deal isn't reached this week, a strike could start at midnight on July 31st.

There are fears this will slow deliveries and disrupt the U.S. supply chain.

The Teamsters Union represents 340,000 UPS workers across the country.

About 10,000 of those are in the Louisville area.

If an agreement is reached before July 31st, it would take about three weeks for the Teamsters to ratify the deal.

The union members would continue working during that time.

We told you last week about a new state crime report that shows a decline in several violent crime categories, including homicide, assault, robbery and sex related crimes.

Today, the Kentucky State Police Commissioner, Phillip Barnett Junior, testified to the Interim Joint Committee on Health Services in Frankfort, who tell the committee that support for police helped make those improved numbers possible.

You know, with the you know, with the raises that was administered to Kentucky State Police and also other, you know, aspects to help our agency, it's really warded off retirements and resignations.

It's dramatically increased.

Our recruitment has increased our numbers.

When I was here two years ago, we were hovering around in the seven hundreds with the class Kentucky State police sworn all three that will be graduating August 11th will be up around 940.

And we plan on starting another class in January.

And right now we already have in excess of 500 applications.

That's that.

Those numbers are phenomenal for us.

And Commissioner Barnett talked about the recent success in stopping fentanyl and meth.

Our number one arrest, our illegal drugs.

We've really expanded our criminal interdiction teams and some of the illegal drug seizures that we have across this state are phenomenal.

Huge seizures of fentanyl, methamphetamine, illegal firearms, those type things.

They're working every day to ensure that if they do come into this state, that we're taking them off our streets and out of our communities.

Commissioner Barnett told lawmakers that tougher laws plus treatment are both needed to help fight Kentucky's drug problem.

Tonight, in a forum, we'll take a deep dive into Kentucky's and the nation's drug epidemic.

One of the stories will highlight is of Kongo, Jonah.

He's in recovery from alcohol.

Meth and heroin.

And his addiction changed the path of his life after graduating from law school.

Now, seven years in recovery, he's working to help others with substance use disorders.

Our Kacey Parker Belle tells his story.

The war on drugs is a failed war.

It is a war really, on people.

And in particular, black and brown people.

We have 50 years of a war on drugs.

And yet here we sit today talking about addiction and recovery.

It's not working.

Kongo, Njuguna has a personal relationship with the war on drugs.

He's in his seventh year in recovery.

When I was in my addiction, I wasn't, nor have I ever been an enemy combatant of the Commonwealth or this nation.

I was a sick person trying to get well.

And I found my medicine and recovery.

Congo says his relationship with drugs and alcohol began young at 13 and that it spiraled out of control after taking a job in Louisville at the county attorney's office.

While I was here as a county attorney, my addiction really spiraled out of control.

I eventually became I got arrested.

I fired myself from this job and things really spiraled out of control.

I was on the news.

I was on the newspaper.

After that, I distance myself from my family and my friends.

And I ended up, you know, my addiction got worse.

To heroin and Matt, his addiction led to a freefall of his professional career and his personal life.

He was suspended from the bar.

He separated himself from family and friends.

He spent time homeless.

The system gave me incarcerations and fines and fees I couldn't pay.

What I needed was help.

I needed a mental health bed.

I needed a detox bed.

I needed to go to recovery.

Now Kongo can see what people in recovery need.

You know, we have a cell, a jail cell for someone, but we don't have a detox bed, mental health bed.

That's what we need.

This is a health crisis, not a criminal legal crisis.

Kongo got help through his brother, who is also in recovery.

Then he found the bed and the help he needed at the healing place.

Eventually, though, I found my way to 10th and market the healing place.

I went through there long term recovery program was there for about nine months.

And once sober, the community, his community picked him up and helped him get a job.

You know, one of the great things about this community is, especially the legal community, I had some friends.

And when they found out I was getting sober, they were like, hey, I got a job for you.

So I was able to find work, got my license back, was practicing law for a little bit, and then a job opened up at the ACLU of Kentucky.

And so I eventually moved there.

Now, Congo is working to help others like himself struggling with addiction, but looking for help.

As a policy analyst at the ACLU of Kentucky Congo is working to get legislation passed that will change the path for people who live similar experiences and need help just like him.

I've been through some things addiction took everything from me.

And recovery has given it all back.

Plus more.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Casey Parker, Belle.

We'll have much more about disrupting addiction.

That's coming up in about 75 minutes.

You'll hear from drug recovery advocates, those in recovery providers and policymakers about how Kentucky is battling the opioid epidemic.

That and more on disrupting addiction.

A forum tonight at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET now.

Turning to politics, you've probably seen TV ads criticizing Governor Andy Beshear for supporting gender reassignment surgeries for minors.

Governor Beshear is out with a new ad responding to that.

Here's part of that commercial.

I've never supported gender reassignment surgery for kids.

And those procedures don't happen here in Kentucky.

We're not.

Beshear campaign manager Eric Hires put out a statement saying, quote, Daniel Cameron and his allies are pushing a blatantly false attack because they know they can't win.

Talking about Cameron's record and quote a new poll from Morning Consult shows Governor Beshear with a 64% approval rating in Kentucky.

He's tied with Hawaii Governor Josh Green as the most popular Democratic governor in the nation.

The poll says the governor's approval rating among Democrats is 90% and it's 49% among Republicans.

Beshear.

Disapproval rating is 32%.

Well, can you believe it?

We're now less than two weeks away from the annual fancy farm picnic in Western Kentucky.

That's on that first Saturday in August, August the fifth.

Governor Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron will be among the speakers.

We'll preview Fancy Farm on Kentucky tonight, one week from tonight, Monday, July 31st.

And you'll see the speeches live here uninterrupted on that Saturday on KCET.

Another honor for the dean of the U.S. House.

Hal Rogers of Kentucky's fifth Congressional District has served in the House longer than any other current member.

He was elected in 1980.

The Kentucky Army National Guard Armory in Monticello was today named after a Congressman Rogers Rogers once served in the Kentucky Army National Guard.

Kentucky Adjutant General General Hal Lamberton praised Rogers spirit of service and leadership.

Affordable housing remains a topic of discussion in Lexington today.

Leaders cut the ribbon on a half dozen new affordable housing units in the city's east in the homes rebuilt by the Lexington Housing Authority.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gordon says partnerships are key to solving the affordable housing crisis in the city.

I'm glad to see Commerce Lexington here today in hopes that it is a signal of growing support within the private sector for development of affordable housing throughout our city.

We all know affordable housing is a growing challenge and we will need partners as we work to meet the demands of the future.

This is a $1.6 million project to add race and third streets that began in May of 2022.

The six townhouses are slightly larger than 1300 square feet apiece.

Kentucky's population is rising, but not due to birth numbers.

In fact, according to the Kentucky Center for Statistics, the number of youth in the state is down from 2010 to 2020.

Kentucky saw an overall population boost of more than 160,000.

However, during that same time period, Kentucky's youth population dropped just 7000.

Representative Killian Timoney of Nicholas Vale, a state representative, noted that the population increase could be the result of economic development in the Commonwealth.

As a geography teacher, I used to talk about push, push factors and pull factors.

So obviously economically we are you could derive from your data that if they're not kids being born, but our population is increasing, it's for economic reasons.

The data on that is pretty limited right now though, so we need to work more closely with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics also noted that their data showed an increase in Kentuckians median income.

It now sits at just over $55,000 a year, even after racial integration of schools became law in the U.S., students and their families struggled with contentious, contentious and even violent confrontations when they attempted to put that law into practice.

Here is the story of James Van Lear, a brave young man from Madisonville who fought for his right to a fair and equal education.

The Brown versus Board of Education story is usually oversimplified in textbooks and in basic history classes or films.

You'll get the basic understanding of the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling.

And we know about the Little Rock Nine and some of the national standoffs.

But just what was it like to start attending school together in Madisonville and Hopkins County?

There was a effort to integrate the schools there by a handful of people and a local family, the Van Lear family and the Elliott family.

And so in early summer of 1956, about 20 plaintiffs filed suit against the Hopkins County School Board.

Some of these parents of these students lost their jobs.

Some of them were harassed and several of them started dropping off with the lawsuit.

And when school started in September of 1957, James Van Lear, I believe he was nine years old, was the only student who actually withstood a lot of that hate and actually entered what was called Walworth Avenue or Wattle Elementary School.

Willie May, his aunt, was president of the NAACP.

Also, his mother, Elizabeth Elliott.

Van Lear was president of the NAACP.

They were very active in the community.

They talk with James about what he might encounter.

I later learned that after we were in college together, James did not tell them a lot of the things that happened to him, such as some of the name calling.

He told them some, but not all of it.

He kept a lot of that to himself.

He didn't tell them sometimes of the shoving and pushing and things that happened to him at school.

So he knew that what he was doing was important and he knew it was important that it be successful.

We talked about that.

So therefore, some of the things that most children would have shared with the parents, he did not.

Integration progressed slowly each year a little, a few more women and a few more.

And I think that's how it went.

Up until 1966, when the doors were finally closed at the all black institution.

So I believe that him starting into school in 1957 as the first Negro to enter in school, put a fire to him that continued all the way through college.

It continued all the way through college, probably continued after college.

He stood by those things that are right, and I believe in his heart.

He began to realize that discrimination and segregation and racial issues all of that was because of the lack of understanding of love.

Love covers all of that.

James and his experience can lead us to a more perfect union.

If we will just take what he did and learn from it.

And I think there are a lot of James is probably throughout the South in this country.

It will just take time to find their stories.

You can see more great stories like that on Kentucky Life every Saturday at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

Well, work continues to get Former heavyweight boxing champ and Louisville native, the late Muhammad Ali, on a postage stamp.

Congressman Morgan McGarvey, who serves the Louisville area, visited the Ali Center Friday.

It's a slow process.

Sometimes it can take up to three years to arrange a stamp in someone's honor.

McGarvey tweeted a quote from Ali, I should be on a postage stamp because that's the only way I'll ever get licked.

McGarvie went on to say, We're working to honor his legacy and make that stamp a reality.

Stamp for the Champ Kentucky Start First, a state fair, the Elvis Presley concert.

That almost didn't happen.

And a famous face at Fancy Farm.

Our Toby Gibbs has more.

And tonight's look at this week in Kentucky history.

Future U.S.

Senator and Vice President Alvin Barkley spoke at the fancy Farm picnic on July 23rd, 1923.

He was a candidate for governor at the time.

He had a very successful political career but lost that race.

Governor Edwin Morrow of Kentucky had an interesting trip to New York City in 1923.

On July 28th, while staying at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the governor caught a thief who was leaving one of the rooms.

The Korean War ended July 27th, 1953.

866 Kentuckians died in the three years of fighting.

Colonel Lewis Sanders, no relation to Colonel Harland Sanders, invited people to bring their best cattle, sheep, hogs and horses to a get together with prizes just north of Lexington on July 25th, 1816.

This is considered to be the first Kentucky State Fair, one of the first state fairs in America.

On July 29th, 1977, 65, Elvis Presley fans camped out at Rupp Arena for tickets to an Elvis concert scheduled a few weeks after that.

But they didn't see the King.

The concert was planned for August 23rd.

He died August 16th.

And that's a look at some of the big events this week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, as always, Toby Gibbs.

Congratulations to the Eastern Little League based in Lexington.

The team won the 12 year old state championship last week.

Here's the moment of victory.

We love that unbridled excitement.

Eastern defeated Warren County, South 7 to 2 to take the title and it's not the first time.

Eastern also won at all in 2017.

As we told you last week, voting is underway to pick the best looking state police cruisers in America.

You can vote at the survey Monkey website.

Kentucky State Police have won this competition two years in a row, so KSP is going for the three peat.

The winner ends up on the cover of the American Association of State Troopers calendar.

As of Friday, Kentucky was in the lead, just barely ahead of California.

The voting ends next Monday, July 31st at noon.

So let's get voting.

Don't forget to join us for disrupting addiction.

Addiction to form one hour from now at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

And with just a few weeks to go before the start of school, there are changes coming to the Jefferson County School system that will help students get to and from school.

What's happening on the school busses?

Find out tomorrow on Kentucky edition, which we hope to see you for at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, connect and Inspire.

You can subscribe to our weekly e-mail newsletter and watch full episodes and clips of KET.org Find us on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV.

Send us a story idea at Public Affairs at KET.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thank you so much for watching.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Take really good care and I'll see you soon.