[music] >> If a child is in a stable, economically thriving home, they are going to have better outcomes.

>> How are Kentucky kids doing when it comes to health and education?

What new numbers say about where Kentucky is doing better and doing worse?

[MUSIC] How to stop the summer slide and keep students learning when they're not in school.

[MUSIC] >> Older adults are a key indicator of community health.

It's kind of the canary in the coal mine.

>> And a new report on senior health shows Kentucky lagging behind other states.

[MUSIC] >> Production of Kentucky edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this brand new week.

It is Monday, June the 8th.

I'm Renee Shaw, joining you from the KET Studios in downtown Louisville.

And we thank you for spending some of your Monday night with us.

How are Kentucky kids doing?

Well, every year a national report looks at children's well-being in 16 categories related to education, economics, health, family, and community.

The 2026 Kids Count Data book is now out, and this year's report is a mixed bag.

And in Kentucky, there are improvements in some areas and declines in others.

>> What I think is very notable in this report is our education outcomes and the rankings that we see when it comes to the percent of young children who are not in school.

We saw another decrease there with 63% of children ages three and four not in school.

We also saw, unfortunately, fourth graders who scored below proficient reading levels at 67%.

So more than two thirds of our fourth graders are not reading at proficiency.

And oddly, we are ranked 10th in the nation for that.

But that also just means that other states are struggling with that fourth grade reading level.

And then also when it looks when it comes to eighth grade and math eighth graders who scored below proficient in math, there were 76%.

So over three fourths of our eighth graders are not scoring proficient or above in math, compared to 71% in 2019.

So we're seeing a continued decrease there.

Some other areas of note include child and youth death rates.

We have seen a worsening in this regard.

So 31 per 100,000 children and teens ages 1 to 19 died in that time frame, compared to 29 per 100,000 in 2019.

So what we know is that there are definite needs when it comes to prevention and programing, especially for preventing youth deaths, because the the causation for those are very preventable, whether it be suicide or ingestion of substances, whether illicit or prescription.

There are a lot of ways that we can keep kids safe and healthy and, and opportunities there to address issues.

When it comes to child and teen deaths, we are seeing a a lot of conversation around health outcomes, obesity, and children experiencing, whether it's obesity or being overweight.

We did see a decrease in that.

Now we are still ranked 41st in the nation, but that just means that all states are kind of moving in the right direction on this.

So teens ages 10 to 17 who are overweight or obese in Kentucky is at 33%, so about 1 in 3, but that is compared to 37% in 2018, 2019.

So we're moving in the right direction.

What we know is that oftentimes access to nutritional programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Snap, formerly known as food stamps, as well as school meals, can heavily contribute to access to healthy foods and address the obesity and and overweight data that we see, and especially when we attribute those programs in early childhood, one of the things that we know is if a child is in a stable, economically thriving home, they are going to have better outcomes.

We know that.

So economic opportunities for our families are vital when we're talking about how our kids are faring.

Things on the policy side, like the state and earned income tax credit, that is a clear opportunity in Kentucky that we don't have here yet, but could create more money in the pockets of our Kentucky families, which then result in better outcomes for our kids.

>> Add it all up.

And Kentucky was 36th overall among the 50 states for overall child well-being.

That's the same ranking as last year.

Today is the 59th anniversary of an Israeli attack on a U.S.

Navy ship, the liberty, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The attack was described as a case of mistaken identity, as Israel fought its Arab neighbors during the so-called Six Days War.

Today, on the U.S.

House floor, Congressman Thomas Massie of the Fourth District of Kentucky described the attack and questioned whether it was an accident.

>> They shot rockets.

They shot 30 millimeter cannons into the hull and into the ship.

They even dropped napalm on the bridge of the ship.

This was an effort to kill everybody on board.

There was no intention of taking prisoners.

After the 25 grueling minutes of attack on this virtually unarmed ship, and they thought things were over and they could recover, the torpedo boats showed up three torpedo boats.

They launched four torpedoes.

One of them hit the hull of the USS liberty and killed 25 people.

Instantly.

It blew a 40 foot by 40 foot hole in the side of this ship.

They were intent on sinking it, but they were also intent on not having a single survivor.

According to eyewitness accounts, the Israelis machine gunned the lifeboats that they put down.

They machine gunned the firefighters who were on the deck.

The official reports say that it was a case of mistaken identity.

But if you listen to Dean Rusk, former Secretary of State Richard Helms, CIA director Bobby Ray Inman, head of the NSA, captain Ward Boston, who was the chief counsel of the Court of Inquiry.

If you listen to Admiral Moore, who served in Pearl Harbor, midway commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet and was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

None of these distinguished men think this was an accident.

They think it was intentional murder by the country of Israel, either as a false flag operation or because they simply didn't want anybody observing what they were doing that day.

>> The attack killed 34 crew members and wounded 171 more.

Turning now to some sad news in Kentucky concerning some former state lawmakers.

A longtime member of the Kentucky State Senate has died.

Dennis Parrott served the 10th Senate district that's in Hardin County from 2011 to 2023.

He served for a time as Democratic Senate whip.

The Kentucky Senate Democratic Caucus put out a statement praising Parrott for his leadership on farming issues and for helping to lead a bipartisan effort to create the Sonny Page program, giving children with disabilities the chance to participate in the legislative process.

Mr.

Parrott was 66 years old.

Also of note, Charlie Huffman has died.

He was a member of the Kentucky House from 1997 to 2011, representing parts of Fayette, Owen and Scott counties in the 62nd House district.

And he spent one term as Democratic caucus chair.

He was eventually defeated by Ryan Quarles, who would go on to serve as Kentucky agriculture commissioner.

Mr.

Hoffman was 70.

>> I'm Emily Prince, and joining us now for our reporter's notebook segment is Kenton Hornbeck of Lincoln KY.

Kenton, thanks so much for being with us.

>> Thanks for having me.

>> Absolutely.

It's always a pleasure.

So the big news, political news as of late is in Kentucky's fourth Congressional District race.

A couple of third party candidates have jumped into that race.

Of course, Ed Gallrein is the Republican primary winner there.

And then Melissa Strange will be the Democratic nominee.

But you've done extensive reporting about this race and now these new third party candidates.

What can you tell us about them?

>> Right.

So the two new candidates are Jeremy Todd representing the Libertarian Party, and Muhammad Ahmad representing the Kentucky Party.

So first, I'll talk a little bit about the libertarian candidate.

Jeremy Todd is based out of Northern Kentucky.

And in the wake of Thomas Massie's loss in the Kentucky fourth Congressional District GOP primary to Ed Gallrein, there was some appetite among libertarians to put up another candidate to challenge Ed Gallrein in the fall election.

So essentially, they felt dissatisfied with a lot of Ed Gallrein and the broader Republican Party's policy positions, specifically as it relates to the war in Iran, foreign influence, etc.

So they're kind of putting up a protest challenger to siphon votes away from Ed Gallrein in November, or at least that is the thought process.

Provide libertarians with an alternative to the Republican Party, because generally, libertarians tend to vote with the Republican Party more often than not.

And Thomas Massie had a very strong libertarian ideological bent.

The other candidate, Muhammad Ahmad, is a pro-Palestinian activist based out of Northern Kentucky.

He's very critical of Zionism and the Israeli government, and he has an organization called the Northern Kentucky for Palestine Coalition.

Muhammad himself is a Palestinian American, and he jumped into this race to protest the United States and Israeli government's involvement in the Iranian war.

He wants to see America go in a different foreign policy direction.

So that's kind of his rationale for joining into the race.

Both of them were supporters of Thomas Massie during the GOP primary.

As we know, Thomas Massie lost.

>> Great points there.

And so just so folks know, what does it take for a third party candidate to get in the race and actually have their name appear on the ballot?

>> Right.

So you need 400 signatures on a petition by a certain date.

Both candidates fielded enough signatures to be able to be put on the ballot.

Now, because they're not associated with either major political party Republicans and Democrats, they did not need to go through the traditional primary process.

So essentially, as long as they got enough signatures according to Kentucky state law, they will appear on the November ballot.

>> It was an interesting point that you had made in one of your recent reports, like you mentioned earlier, that was pretty calculated, right?

Because the petition effort to get Jeremy Todd on the ballot came just one day after Thomas Massie's loss.

Right?

>> That's right.

So immediately after the May 19th primary loss, the Libertarian Party infrastructure in the state went full force into creating a challenger for Mr.

Gallrein.

So they had this, I believe, in the back of their minds.

Before Thomas Massie's election results were even announced.

As far as Mr.

Ahmad goes, I'm not sure as much about his calculus, but I do believe the libertarians had something cooking in the works.

If the primary did not work out the way they wanted it to.

>> We'll definitely keep our eyes out to see if what kind of traction these third party candidates get.

But I want to jump now to another topic, the Brant Spence Bridge.

It's been something that we've all been covering for quite some time now, and construction is getting closer to being underway for that corridor between Covington and Cincinnati.

There was some video that circulated just a few days ago showing a barge coming down the Ohio River with equipment to get that project underway.

So what kind of updates can you provide for us?

What do we know about any developments with this project?

>> Well, a barge floating down the Ohio River, the most Kentucky seen of all time.

It's good to have it back.

Well, a barge and other barges have, you know, entered the Greater Cincinnati River zones in the past couple days, carrying construction equipment for the Brant Spence Bridge Corridor project, which is, you know, projected to be one of the largest American infrastructure projects going on in the next couple of years.

It's going to cost $3 billion plus, at minimum.

So I've noticed, just as a resident of Covington, that there's already starting to be work done along the interstate for the expansion of the highway, you can see that construction crews are starting to post up along the highway, start clearing stuff, whether that be brush or other foliage.

You've seen some traffic slowdowns a little bit.

And actually on June 8th, many of the major exits from the interstate going into the city of Covington will be closed down for a period of time.

I know 12th Street or Martin Luther King Boulevard exits will be closed.

So it's something to keep an eye on.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced that the other day.

So this is really after the past couple of years of announcements coming out.

The actual construction is finally starting to ramp up, and I think that will be impacting the daily lives of people traveling to and from Kentucky, people in the greater Cincinnati area for at least the next couple years.

>> Absolutely.

And we know that's a pretty common commute, right, for most northern Kentuckians to go across the river.

So it will be interesting to see the pain points that come there for residents, but also for the city, which kind of leads us into maybe our final topic is about the city of Covington.

Of course, that's Northern Kentucky's largest city.

They just proposed their budget for the fiscal 27 year, and I believe it was about $84 million worth of expenses from the city's general fund.

It looked like, from what I saw, that there is going to be an increase in projected revenue, but also expenses.

Anything that stood out to you from what you saw of that proposed budget.

>> Wright two?

So I guess to provide some context, the city of Covington had a massive budget shortfall just in 2023, kind of in the back half of the Covid 19 pandemic, because one of the major employers in the city, the fidelity investment firm, which is located in South Covington, had a lot of its workers on remote work, and they weren't directly paying taxes to the city of Covington.

Nathan Granger, my colleague, did a lot more reporting on that.

But over the past couple of years, it's been a recovery of budgetary revenues.

But with that, the city of Covington has a lot of in-house services, is expensive to run.

So there's also been a simultaneous increase in expenses.

And you're seeing that laid out in the budget.

City manager, in a press release from the city of Covington, said that there's going to be $2.2 million dedicated to road infrastructure improvements, which I know is a big key, especially as we mentioned earlier, the Brant Spence Bridge is going to happen.

So they want to shore up that road infrastructure to help residents in the wake of that construction project.

They want the core functions of the city to go off without a hitch and make life easier for the residents.

>> Yes, there's certainly a lot happening in Covington, like we said, with the Brant Spence Bridge, but so many other developments too.

So a lot going on in that city.

Kenton, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us.

It's always such a pleasure to talk with you.

>> Thanks for having me.

Like usual.

>> Tonight at 8:00 eastern seven Central KET will host an educator Education Matters program about preventing the summer slide.

Oftentimes, in the summer, students will forget some of the things they learned during the school year, but there are places to help kids retain that knowledge.

KET Christie Dutton went to one of those places and tells us more.

>> Summer break is usually.

>> A time when kids hit pause on school, but here at neighborhood House, the learning doesn't stop.

It just looks a little different.

>> I call it the spinach and the smoothie approach.

We're trying to show them a really good time this summer, but there's a whole lot of good stuff around social emotional learning and future planning that's packed in there.

>> Executive director Jenny Jean Davidson says while the fun may be loud at the neighborhood house, the students are quietly sharpening the same skills they'll need when they head back to the class next fall.

>> Welcome.

>> What we're doing is providing a enriching environment every day where kids can come and be safe, but where they are also learning how learning skills like emotional regulation, naming their emotions, exercising leadership with their peers, conflict resolution.

>> But no lectures or homework here.

>> It's better than sitting at a desk.

It's like you get to play around in the gym outside, so we get to play around with different friends.

We do like full matches, basketball, football.

>> Jalen green has been coming to neighborhood House for years.

He's high school bound in the fall, but first he's looking forward to another summer here.

>> It's fun.

It's like more active.

You get to learn more and be with nature.

>> More, and it's more fun to learn about nature when you're in it.

>> We get to go fishing, we get to play outside, we get to we can eat on the balcony and stuff like that.

>> And they come back muddy, sweaty, exhausted.

But they've been having an actual like actual field education and conservation biology just by virtue of the fact that they have been out there talking about the natural world and getting to experience it.

>> Experiencing the world around and their place in it.

>> What would it look like to have a big dream for your future, and what does it take to put that in place?

>> Programs like the ones here at neighborhood House, they're more than just about education.

They're about possibility taking the students from where they are now to where they're capable of going.

For KET, I'm Christy Dutton.

>> Thank you so much, Christy.

We hope you'll join us tonight for preventing the summer slide.

Host Kelsey Starks and experts talk about the summer slide and what parents, teachers and students can do to help prevent it.

That's tonight at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central right here on KET.

[MUSIC] A new report on the overall health of seniors in the state puts Kentucky at the bottom of the pack, compared to other states ranking 48th.

Kentucky has a high prevalence of seniors who smoke cigarettes and live with multiple chronic conditions.

Here's a breakdown of why Kentucky ranks so low and how we can improve.

>> An in-depth look at senior health in the state shows multiple areas for improvement.

Some of the health issues facing seniors that led to Kentucky's low ranking include social isolation, insufficient sleep, physical inactivity, depression and anxiety, and teeth extractions.

Doctor Christian Davis Furman, a geriatrician with UofL Health, says these issues aren't new and they aren't just facing Kentucky.

>> All the states that had these these low scores are in the same region, and it's a little bit of the South, you know, and the South has had this for generations.

The same issues.

And a lot of it is obesity.

And when you're overweight, then you do have heart disease.

You do have lung disease.

And a lot of it is the smoking and then it leads to cancer and things.

So it's a combination of things.

>> Furman says education is a big part of the solution.

>> Older adults are a key indicator of community health, right?

It's kind of the canary in the coal mine.

And so if you see this report, it it helps us fix things across the board.

And you have to start early.

The research shows that if people are educated, just educated at school, just regular education, a high school education, there's less risk of being in prison, there's less risk of having cancer, there's less risk of having heart disease.

There's less risk of being overweight just because they understand and they have.

Education is not just a, B, C one, two, three.

It teaches you how to be socialized.

You know, it teaches you how to get along with people, which teaches you how to use your community to stay healthy.

It all kind of builds on each other.

>> Kentucky seniors may not be able to turn back the clock, but there are still steps they can take to get healthier.

It starts at the doctor's office.

>> You need to go to your primary care physician and our provider.

Sometimes it's a nurse practitioner and ask for an annual wellness visit because it's very specific Medicare.

It's like, we've already figured this out.

We don't have to recreate the wheel.

Medicare has already said, these are the things that we need to do, and it's not because they just came up with it.

They came up with it based on evidence over years.

Part of the annual wellness visit is the shots.

Did you get your flu shot?

Did you get your Covid shot?

Did you get your pneumonia shot?

Did you get your shingles shot?

There's a whole RSV shot.

There's all these shots that keep you healthy.

Did you get all your screenings?

Did you get your colonoscopy?

Did you get your mammogram?

And then they ask you questions like, have you fallen?

And so falls a big risk factor for death.

And so, you know, we want to just not wait.

Something bad happens.

We want to do some preventative stuff.

>> Fortunately for seniors in the Bluegrass State, a high number of primary care providers was one of Kentucky's strengths.

Cited in the report for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

>> Thank you so much, Clayton.

Although there are many areas for improvement, Kentucky did perform well in flu vaccination rates for seniors.

[MUSIC] It's another historic win for Golden Tempo.

More about this in tonight's Sports News.

The Kentucky Derby winner and Kentucky born horse surged from the back of the pack to win the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Trainer Shari Davao is now the first woman to win multiple Triple Crown races.

Golden tempo is the second horse and as many years to win the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont.

After not running in the Preakness, a Confederate raid into Kentucky ended with half a town burned down.

And.

Learn more about the first Triple Crown winner and also the most famous.

Our Toby Gibbs has a look at all of this in tonight's look at This Week in Kentucky history.

>> Happy birthday to Charles Anderson Wickliffe.

Born in Washington County on June 8th, 1788, he would serve as a congressman, lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S.

Postmaster general under President John Tyler.

In early June of 1864, General John Hunt Morgan led his Confederate cavalry on a raid into Kentucky that included a skirmish with Union forces in Mount Sterling on June 8th, before his forces moved on to Winchester and Lexington.

His forces went on to attack Cynthiana.

On June 11th.

[MUSIC] He ended up burning down about half the town.

[MUSIC] The Lexington Public Library opened June 13th, 1905, thanks to funding from tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

Kentucky University changed its name to Transylvania University on June 12th, 1908.

[MUSIC] Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes on June 11th, 1919, making him the first horse to win the Triple Crown.

Though that term wasn't in use at the time, Secretariat won the Belmont and with it the Triple Crown on June 9th, 1973, he was the ninth Triple Crown winner, and that's what was going on this week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Thank you so much.

Toby Gibbs.

Kentucky has an official state tree, a state flower and state bird, but we're about to get a state dog.

After the passage of Senate Bill 37 by the Kentucky General Assembly earlier this year.

We'll tell you all about the state dog and what else the bill does when we see you again tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition at 630 eastern, 530 central, where we inform, connect and inspire.

We hope that you'll connect with us all the ways you see on your screen, which includes you streaming content on ket.org, downloading us on the PBS video app, on your mobile device, and smart TV.

Send us a story idea at the email address on your screen.

And of course, we're on the social media channels, Facebook and Instagram, where you can stay in the loop.

I'm Renee Shaw, thank you so much for joining us.

I'll be back in Lexington tomorrow.

And until I see you again, have a really good night.

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