Teachers go the this field for altruistic reasons.

For the most part, they want to serve their communities.

They want to work with young people.

They want to be connected to the future.

>> But they also want a professional and livable wage.

>> Kentucky's education commissioner testifies about what it will take to keep teachers on the job.

We must fights to regain our freedoms and liberties.

We must fight to change the trajectory of our government.

>> And we must fight to this great nation.

>> Liberty Conservative hopes her message will take her to the governor's mansion.

♪ If you live and drive off with 3 bridges, expect to pay more.

We'll tell you about a toll increase and how much it will cost.

>> The biggest surprise is now every year.

Just engage my students.

It never fails to the spire kids, the artistic.

That's what's special about it.

To me.

>> Some work and pay some work in clay.

Wait until you see how this artist's works.

His magic.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the Kaye E T and down the Kentucky productions.

Leonard Preston Down for Public Affairs and the Kaye E Team Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ Welcome to Kentucky EDITION.

Today is Tuesday, June 7th.

I'm your host, Renee Shaw.

We appreciate you joining us this evening.

>> Let's get right to the headlines.

>> Kentucky's Republican contest for governor now has 4 candidates who currently hold elected office.

State Representative Savannah Maddox entered the race yesterday.

She announced her candidacy in northern Kentucky were 3 liberty candidates like Mattox beat State House incumbents in the May primary.

The Republican from Dry Ridge touted her conservative credentials and took shots at the other Republican candidates.

>> I just saw to elect leaders who will make good on the promises that they've made to you.

Well, Republican with a proven track record of fighting for you in Frankfurt.

Actually, it is hot time to leave full day for conservative values and to stop caving to liberal influences that are destroying our country with it.

The Kentucky that I grew up in is not thus a Kentucky that my children are grown up in.

>> Matic says as governor, she would work to make Kentucky the most pro-life and pro-gun state in the nation.

The Jefferson County School board is suing the state over a new law limiting the board's authority Senate bill.

One pastor in the session earlier this year.

And it shifts authority from the board to the superintendent and limits the board 2 meeting once every 4 weeks.

The board's chair, Diane Porter told the Courier Journal the elected board of the state's largest school district shouldn't be subject to special legislative overreach.

Governor Andy Beshear vetoed Senate Bill one, but the Republican led General Assembly overrode the veto.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass says about 72% of Kentucky teachers are at risk of leaving the profession either because they are eligible to retire or have less than 5 years on the job.

Kentucky has added a number of different career pathways over the years to get more educators in the classroom.

But he says traditional teacher education programs at colleges are producing over 80% of the workforce.

Our Casey Parker-bell explains some potential new options to recruit and retain teachers.

>> Kentucky schools are looking to boost retention and recruitment of teachers, education Commissioner Jason Glass presented ideas to lawmakers today that would include enticing current students with scholarships and providing school districts with grant opportunities class as educators were caught up in the politics over COVID restrictions.

And that may have drove some away from the profession.

>> Teaching has been under a lot of scrutiny and criticism for a number of years.

And that honestly is hurting us when it comes to recruiting teachers into the profession so we can intentionally take efforts to lift up the teaching profession, make people aware of what life is a teacher might the like teachers go the this feel for altruistic reasons.

For the most part, they want to serve their communities.

They want to work with young people.

They want to be connected to the future, but they also want to professional and livable wage.

They want to have access to a middle-class life and they want to retire with dignity.

So we need to attract people into the teaching profession who are willing to devote the years the years that it takes of their lives to master the art and science of teaching teaching.

>> Glass as reimbursement for teacher licensing exams, allowing alternate ways to certified teachers and providing stipends for student teachers are potential recruitment tools.

He also wants the state to increase funding for teachers pursued National Board certification where Kentucky is a national leader.

Class also wants to help teachers offset professional development costs.

>> Longer term, we could think about creating additional teacher pathways.

One of the challenges that we have is that.

Great work for a few years and then they get swept into administration because they see that is the only viable career option for them.

So could we look at different career pathways where we take great teachers and keep them connected to teaching whether mentoring supporting other teachers designing professional learning working with specialized groups of students who need additional support.

So they're different ideas about how we can increase compensation, create different career path ways other than just administration for teachers.

>> In addition to teacher recruitment and retention ideas, reading interventions or also talked about in today's Education Committee meeting to see more of that.

Check out our website at KETK Dot Org.

>> Negotiations continue as Sherwin-Williams strike continues in Bowling Green, Teamsters, local 7.83 went on strike last Thursday night.

Workers tell last they have several workplace concerns.

They want addressed 60 union members are on the picket lines.

The union tells us conversation started back on April, the 12th and now 2 months into proposals later, there is still no agreement.

>> The spirit on the struck line has been fantastic.

My people, the morale is very high either, and there, but the resolute on the issues that we have on the table.

We've only had one pass today.

We're still working to try and find some common ground makes a move.

But I'm encouraging that we're able to get together and talk.

>> Gary Francisco says the local plant manager, human resources manager, negotiator from the corporate office in Cleveland, Ohio, are involved in the talks.

We reached out to Sherwin-Williams for comment says Sherwin-Williams continues to be available to meet regularly with the international Brotherhood of Teamsters, local 7.83.

The company has engaged in good faith bargaining since negotiations started in mid April and remains committed to reaching a satisfactory agreement for both parties.

>> Soon it will cost more to use 3 Louisville Bridges.

Riverlink is raising tolls on the Lincoln Bridge, the Kennedy Bridge and the Lewis and Clark Bridge for people with a riverlink a count.

The costs will go from $2.

And $0.21 to at least $2.40 people without a riverlink account will pay $4.80.

The price increase kicks end on July.

1st tolls increase almost every year but are going up even more than usual this year because of inflation.

Credit card thieves are hitting businesses and 8 states in Kentucky is one of them.

The FBI says people are using stolen credit card numbers to make big purchases over the phone.

They've hit more than 100 tires, furniture and appliance stores in Kentucky and 7 other southern states.

4 Roses.

Distillery says it will build 17 new warehouses and Cox Creek and Bullet County.

The expansion will cost 23 million dollars and be complete in 2024, the company says the 17 warehouses will total 776,000 Square feet and is necessary because of the increased demand for 4 roses bourbon throughout the U.S.. ♪ ♪ All week.

We're catching up with the people of Western Kentucky to see how they're doing.

6 months after the devastating deadly tornadoes.

>> State Representative Patty Mentor represents House district 20 in Bowling Green.

Many of her constituents were in the line of the tornadoes, some losing their lives and many losing their homes.

17 people died in Bowling green and hundreds of houses were destroyed or damaged.

The Moss Meadows neighborhood was among the hardest hit.

Mentor says 6 months later, Bowling Green is still very much in recovery mode.

I have houses in my district.

>> Where they still have tarps on the roofs.

I have some.

They're still caved.

And from where a tree landed on them and I have others that are will framed out and families may be back in those homes when we hit the one year anniversary of the tornadoes.

So it really is a mixed bag.

And getting people back into their homes if they can get back into them, getting people who lost their homes into a home in helping people deal with affordable housing issues.

Those are the things that keep me up at night.

>> Representative mentor says she is concerned about the quality of building materials that were used on the homes that were damaged.

The most.

She says she hopes lessons were learned as the neighborhood rebuilt and that the new houses going up will be sturdier and safer.

We'll hear much more from Representative Patty Mentor on Bowling Green's recovery and rebuilding efforts later this week on Kentucky EDITION.

Among those going through the rebuilding process, the Basham family in Bowling Green when the tornado hit a massive oak tree came crashing down onto their house.

Now restoration is underway to get them back home.

♪ >> I cried.

Because it was only just live their life.

And then.

>> It just kind of turned upside down that limits.

It went to the ground.

You can get through the roof through the ceiling through the cause that this is all the way to the floor all the way into the ground.

And this is what that's where we were.

That's where we here.

Court Basham.

>> I have lived in Bowling Green for 96 Bennett WKU since then as a student or faculty member, my family has lived for their team.

>> Soon as we got to the head.

Our phone alarms went off.

And, you know, raise up out of bad.

He We're running at the kids and we get to the cause.

It.

>> You sort of felt the all the telltale signs that you hear about, like the pressure in my ears and the sound of a train like all of that is, you know, consistent with what people experience.

And the next thing we know is a.

>> A massive crash, our dog, Teddy.

He was in this cause it with us and the chief on the house.

He was like just a scared as we were sailing dust kind of raining on our.

>> Head the draw for the cause of it is coming on against my daughters back.

You know, everybody's kind of scream in and we go out.

There's a huge slam.

Impaling our bed where we had just been a few minutes before.

>> Well, we lost everything in these this issue to readjust everything in these hearings.

>> We lost a lot, but we were able to get a lot of our close a lot of our books.

A lot of we love books.

So we've got several out, but we've lost a lot.

All of our COVID.

I call it our COVID We had kind of outdated a couple of rooms with.

We've just gotten.

>> The couches, other things that was right in the middle of the house where the tree fell.

All of that was was ruined.

>> Right?

Right with his place to my wife's parents in Glasgow for about 11 days.

>> And then we had a really great set up where a friend of a was able their their building.

>> Tons of apartment out of that some family style units they put all after the put a ton of people on trying to get those ready and the families and have fun out there.

There's others, you know, beyond as well.

So we've been there for a while.

>> You have to do normal life things.

To send a different setting.

So it's strange.

>> It took 103 days to get work started.

I mean, the tree was off and all that kind of happened.

But to get work started 203 days.

I think where they won 60 something and that progress has been unbelievably fast since then.

And it looks like, you know, another 4 to 6 months.

So we're still tracking for fall.

I got to be honest, like initially out, if you told me like follow the regional timeline, I that I know like costs are high.

Labor is is tight like a lot.

And we have this community has a lot of pressure.

The existing run situation is tied in any way.

This only made it, you know, tighter and demand for labor materials and all that is I so it's going to be slow.

But I can say it's been slower than expected.

And that's not been a source of frustration for us.

This was crashed in the front office for the Christmas tree was in the tree.

Came in this way.

>> But the tree was kind of resting on this and they want.

>> It's been a little slow in the beginning, but I think it's just so many people need help, you know, in our area, we're not the only ones and some people have been much, much worse than we did.

So we you know, that's just something to keep in perspective when we when we think about but once you know, insurance kind of got sort it out and we got builders lined up in that kind of thing.

It's it's been pretty steady progress.

You know, you just have to wait for those workers to be ready today.

The next step is kind of like a dominant thing.

So you just have to wait and we have in place so far, very pleased with the progress.

People at baseline want to help.

I I >> just couldn't be more encouraged and had my faith in humanity restored the way we've been treated my mind if we're in by Christmas.

I think that's that's that's a win.

So will the state?

>> Definitely, like gives me hope is to see that.

I mean, I know it will never like look the same like the the same.

But I think it'll come pretty close.

Like when something gets >> court Basham has been posting and journaling about his family's tornado displacement ordeal on Facebook.

He says his family has come a long way and processing the trauma of what happened 6 months ago.

And he's talking about their experience has provided some sense of healing.

We will have more on the recovery efforts in Bowling Green and the other western Kentucky cities that were impacted by the December tornadoes.

And as special addition of Kentucky, addition is called Western Kentucky Hope Rising that airs Friday this Friday at 7 at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central.

♪ ♪ >> Water is where it's at for Berea College.

The college has the distinction of being the first higher education institution in the U.S. to build a hydroelectric generating plant.

It partnered with Appalachian Hydro Associates on the project that turned an abandoned lock and dam in Estill County and to a source of energy for hundreds living in eastern Kentucky.

>> Hydroelectric projects don't get done very often at all.

That a college is doing pretty well.

>> This project came about because we got to know a group of engineers who are working on hydro projects on the river and they were interested in possibly partnering with Brea College for continued work.

>> The pitch is quite simple.

We took him down Char lock 7 plant and said this is possible here on the Kentucky River.

What we're using here is an abandoned law change.

We will never be used again.

And it wasn't going to our plan to just be tumbling over that dam and no ad getting the use of it.

How does a hydroelectric plant work to create 2 pools of water?

What we call the head water and that a lot.

And there's a difference in elevation and that difference in elevation is water rushed.

>> In between the 2, we put a purple.

>> And the water pressure pushes on that propeller and turns it.

>> And then we put a generator on top of that and make electricity.

>> One of the things hydroelectric, gay in all, really, really all renewable energy project says they're very capital intensive.

>> Meaning that once you build them, it cost very little to operate them.

But across the whole bunch of money to build them in the first place.

And that's really not a good model for >> Corporations and banks they're looking for next quarter's profits.

So we started looking for an institution that had a long-term view.

We thought we should do it because it fits with our mission.

We have a mission of sustainability.

>> We have a mission of being connected to Appalachia where we are right now.

So this project made a lot of sense for us.

If we have to start by building the dam first, that would have made the project unfeasible financially.

What made this work is that the dam was already here and being maintained that need it.

>> In order to protect the water supplies and do some flight control for these areas.

We think that at the end of the day, after all the financial dust settles.

>> We'll have under 3 million dollars of capital in this project.

The Appalachian Hydro Associates did most of the work.

We cheer them on and got the text.

>> This is the first hydroelectric plant in Kentucky to use the most fervent jet.

Well, this is the first.

Hybrid electric plant built in the United States.

>> We use variable speed technology to increase the efficiency were able to use this technology to slow the Turban Scout.

>> Keep them and their prime top efficiency no matter what the water level sky.

Lot of confidence in the Appalachian Hydro Associates.

And but it was a wonderful feeling.

>> When we put the switch and started generating electricity to power, we sell into Jackson County at the Jackson Electric Co-operative.

So >> what we're doing is we're providing a lower cost electricity customers in Jackson County.

>> And we see educational benefits for this 2 for our students.

They come on that if you put your resources together, find a clever project to do.

>> You can offset 11,000 tons of carbon going into the year.

>> That's the main reason you would do any kind of renewable energy project to reduce the use of fossil fuels and thereby the the amount of carbon that's going to the people say, well, you're against the colon.

Sure.

I'm not against the coal industry.

>> But I remind them that Hydro is a Kentucky resource.

Also and wind and solar.

>> Our Kentucky resources to we've got to use all of these souls.

>> These are the technologies which are going to lead us to into a clean future as far as energy.

>> Fortunately, there are a number of other Dems just like this with abandon locks so we can we can.

We demonstrated that this works.

Now we can go and do it 3 or 4 more times.

Kentucky has been marked many years as sort of being last or near the bottom in everything.

But when it comes to small hydro Power, Kentucky is the first in the country.

>> We're using technologies here that are going to be adopted across the rest.

The United States rest of the >> we're college is building on the success of the lock and dam in Ravenna.

The college recently announced it would once again be partnering with Appalachian Hydro Associates to both a second Hydro power plant.

35 miles upstream at Lock and Dam 14 and Lee County.

♪ >> I'm Doug Flynn.

And here's a story from this season of Kentucky.

Life.

♪ ♪ >> I've always been interested in art, but I've never been good at it.

Until I picked up the style as an artist to begin the Pixel art.

But I use lots of different mediums.

You know, the post.

It notes that's not big.

One.

The bottle caps.

Use beams a anything that's a little bit different.

I've always been a fan of live video games.

It was just blocked off art.

That was really interesting to me.

I like to create large.

Mural is made out of Post-it notes.

What started in my living room, you know, the lawful come said, what are you doing?

And and from that point, I never knew that it would be this big.

>> This my biggest campus behind me, the biggest surprise is how every year just engage my students.

It never fails to dent the spire kids, the artistic.

That's what's special about it.

To me.

>> Good job.

I'm a math teacher and let your elementary school taking the pixel art.

The post.

It notes the design process that has turned into a creek alum for mask for them to see their man.

How it plays into art and then how it comes to laugh.

And there's kind of grows over social media, you know, kind of like overnight they get so excited.

And perimeter and these projects estimation.

I use it.

I mean, I have to use it to make these designs.

And when the students say how I use it, they get involved.

They get their hands dirty.

How many packages of red will it take to satisfy this project?

And then they're going to an area and perimeter in the form of an outright winner.

And he's like one of the greatest visuals and math understand multiplication for 3rd and 4th grade.

So when they use these arrays to tie an estimation.

To help them reach the goal of multiplication and real-life situation.

It's pretty cool when I come back to school and tell them about it like a look.

How getting to the end.

The bill I helped with that part.

And that's what it's all about.

So it's all of our because it gives me a chance to do something big for my community, trying to call my projects something that everyone can relate to.

The city of Augsburg really backed me on a lot of these projects.

And and I was happy to do it for them because, you know, it's kind of where I grew up that, but that's where the creativity had a chance to grow.

You had a chance to mess up and fix it and get better.

Take my time.

Not feel rushed.

Early challenges was probably finding the shades of Post-it notes to use Black.

Austin notes were almost impossible to find.

One of my first big project in Watts per day.

It was a very, very small Grinch.

And the next thing, you know, it was getting media coverage from Good Morning America, CBS this morning and that your Christmas, we've got a package in the middle school from 3 m and they sent me a ton of Post-it notes just sidelines.

There's no way that I could do any of this without the 3 m Plant Cynthiana Kentucky.

Well, my daughter a while as she loves the courage.

I mean, that's her favorite book.

That's your favorite cartoon to Christmas.

And I try to let her inspire me a little bit on the designs as much as she can.

You know that she has a little ownership in it.

For this mural.

I used around.

I'm almost positive.

It was 0.7 8 thousand.

You know what?

The mural added some shading into the shading.

You would put to post it notes together to create a darker spot on the mural.

Like you say this mural behind us is about 22 feet tall.

But the hardest part is I want to always put something new out there.

Keep people guessing.

Definitely no duplicate, not just in that town or city, but to the whole idea of what I'm doing.

The Post-it note, Art, I want want to keep it fresh for.

They will follow me for the kids to check a lot of sense for anybody who's interested in it out with a steamy starting something I want to say this is something we haven't seen before.

The Census start to really take off.

I just hope that it continues to put me in positions to our action news man.

To inspire my students to get excited about that and to tie together with art and say that my is it just out of room.

We're solving for X that you can literally take that to do anything that you want to do with it.

So what I've learned throughout the whole process is around with that.

The designs, you know, you just got to trust them.

You know, he got a good game plan from the beginning.

Got it all the way up to the end.

Don't give up on it.

And that's how these designs are.

A lot of the times there's times where it might not look like anything.

You don't have to come off of it, have to walk away and look at it from a different angle and just stay patient until the end and see how it turns out.

Yeah, it's pretty special.

♪ >> Yeah.

Pretty special.

Indeed.

What an artist is terrific.

You can see Kentucky life every Saturday at 08:00PM Eastern 07:00PM Central right here on KATC.

You can also see episodes by going to KITV Dot org and streaming those live on demand.

Our western Kentucky Hope Rising Series continues tomorrow on Kentucky edition.

We're going to visit, can't graves.

It started out White after the storm helping people deal with their immediate housing needs.

But now the mission has changed.

And we'll tell you how tomorrow night.

We do hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky edition where we inform connect and inspire subscribe to our weekly Kentucky addition email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips of KETK Dot Org.

You can also find Kentucky addition on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV and follow KT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thank you so much for watching tonight.

I will see you tomorrow.

And in the meantime, take really good care.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪