MUSIC >> The president has endorsed me.

I'm proud of that endorsement.

His photo is still on my website, so if people don't see it, they haven't looked.

[MUSIC] >> A congressional contender is doubling down on his support for President Trump.

>> Maybe they voted for Trump.

Maybe they've never voted before.

We're saying this campaign is for you.

>> About two months before the midterms, Kentucky Democrats campaigned for change.

>> More people are reaching out for access to services.

They're reaching out for help.

[MUSIC] >> But it's getting a little more difficult for supply to meet demand.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Monday, August 31st.

I'm Kelsey Starks here in our KET Studios in Louisville.

Thanks so much for joining us this evening.

As the sixth District Congressional race draws more attention, Republican nominee Ralph Alvarado stopped in Frankfort today to accept a major endorsement, and he talked about his support for President Donald Trump, which has been questioned in the last week.

Our Emily Prince explains.

>> I am proud to say that I have earned the endorsement of the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police.

That endorsement means something because these aren't people who simply read about law enforcement.

They live it.

>> Doctor Ralph Alvarado, the Republican nominee in the sixth Congressional District, stood beside Attorney General Russell Coleman and law enforcement officers as he accepted the Fraternal Order of Police endorsement.

>> We need a congressman who wants to see our officers well equipped, well trained and well supported.

Not just happy talk from the podium, but real advocacy for the men and women of Kentucky law enforcement.

>> Alvarado, who formerly served as a state senator and commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Health, is up against Democrat Zach Dembo.

Last week, Dimbo unveiled his anti-corruption plan, seeking to ban corporate PAC donations and stock trading for members of Congress.

The Democratic nominee and former federal prosecutor called Alvarado a career politician and accused him of corruption during his time as a state lawmaker, specifically with a 2017 Bill Alvarado sponsored to reform medical malpractice claims.

Alvarado responded during today's announcement.

>> I can tell you that when you're a legislator, you don't have overwhelming power.

You have to talk to other members of the of your delegation, of people that are in the state Senate and members of the state House to pass laws.

And I didn't commit any corruption.

I tried to get laws passed that helped improve things for our state.

I've got an opponent who's been a lifelong bureaucrat who hasn't lived in Kentucky for very long.

He's been here for about seven years as an adult.

>> President Donald Trump endorsed Alvarado ahead of the primary election.

The Republican candidate touted his support for the president on his campaign website, but some questioned if he's walking back that support, as NBC news reported last week that Alvarado changed his website, removing his photo with Trump from the main page and changing his message from, quote, America First fighter to independent leadership.

Alvarado called the headlines phony news.

>> The president has endorsed me.

I'm proud of that endorsement.

His photo is still on my website, so if people don't see it, they haven't looked.

It's always been there all along.

So I think this is a phony story.

And again, it's a sign of, of, of another campaign.

Who's looking for attention and somebody who really is trying to draw attention nationally for it.

>> There was another law enforcement officer at today's announcement who shared his experience with Dimbo.

Derek Leavitt, a Whitley County native, was a Kentucky State Police officer.

He was federally indicted for using excessive force while making an arrest in 2020, and was later found not guilty.

Leavitt said Dimbo was the assistant prosecutor on the case and refused to hear his side of the story.

>> He wanted to do what I call a hug the thug movement.

He wanted to believe the convicted criminal who had been convicted of trafficking methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, receiving stolen property of vehicles that's who he wanted to believe.

He didn't want to believe the officers in the troopers that were sworn under oath.

I think it's important for someone to have a voice for law enforcement, because I didn't have a voice, and Mr.

Dimbo wouldn't let me speak up for myself.

During the time.

>> Alvarado said he believes many voters may still be undecided in the race.

The general election takes place on November 3rd in Frankfort for Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Prince.

>> Well, we reached out to demos campaign for comment on this story.

His campaign manager sent us a statement about the case involving state troopers.

It reads in part, in this case, a grand jury found that a man was beaten aggressively to the point of having his face broken in.

A judge agreed there was sufficient evidence to take this to court, and Zach does not think anyone is above the law.

Well, Democrats are outnumbered 7 to 1 in the Kentucky congressional delegation.

Now, they want to change that.

Several congressional candidates vying to flip U.S.

House and Senate seats spoke to voters Saturday in Frankfort.

Our June Leffler has more on that.

>> Drew Williams is a construction worker hoping to unseat James Comer.

>> I'm going to fight to make sure we ban individual stock trades for politicians in office, that we end dark money politics across this system, that we put a moratorium and firm regulations on data centers going forward, that we fight for a $100,000 federal tax exemption on income tax.

>> Williams has campaigned for more than a year.

He's shown up as an outnumbered Democrat at Fancy Farm and other events throughout Kentucky's first district.

>> I've been trying to make sure that I've been a member of all of our communities, so I've been to all 35 of my counties at least three times.

>> Williams and other Democrats say they have to persuade disillusioned Trump voters.

>> I'm running into a lot of people who are much more open to a conversation about policy and issues, affordability than than ever before.

>> This Northern Kentucky Democrat hopes to win over supporters of Republican Thomas Massie, who lost his primary election.

>> I may have disagreed with Mr.

Massie on a lot of things, but I do agree that what happened to him in the primary was wrong.

It's not the way our government and our democracy is supposed to work.

When a few very wealthy people can essentially try to buy a seat in the primary, lifelong Republicans come up to me and say, you know what?

I'm fed up.

I can't do this.

I'm willing to consider an alternative.

>> Charles Booker has the most people to impress in Kentucky's only statewide election this year.

>> What I'm calling for, I know you might conclude, oh, that's a little extreme.

Charles do you really think we can make sure everyone has high quality health care and the wealthiest country in the world?

Do you really think we can make sure veterans aren't sleeping on the street and children aren't going hungry?

Do you really think that we can stand up for organized labor and invest in our teachers, and make sure that our children are safe in their schools and in the streets?

We're making noise to not just turn out in the areas where we have strongholds, but to show up in the communities that have been ignored.

And maybe they voted for Trump, maybe they've never voted before.

We're saying this campaign is for you.

>> At this outdoor rally in Frankfort, Beshear and members of his cabinet look to next year's governor's race.

>> But what we are for is carrying on the momentum that Governor Andy Beshear has built, and I have been honored to be his senior advisor.

>> No matter what happens in 2026, the only thing standing between us and a Republican trifecta in Kentucky is the governor's race.

In 2027.

>> We have beaten Donald Trump's endorsed candidates in two straight gubernatorial elections, and when I'm done, we're going to elect another Democratic governor here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

>> Kentucky's two Democratic contenders for the governor's mansion, Rocky Adkins and Jacqueline Coleman, both took the stage Saturday, but neither Slided or even mentioned their primary challenger for Kentucky Edition.

I'm June Leffler.

>> You can hear from the candidates yourself when KET hosts a series of candidate forums that starts right here on October the 5th.

Well, you just heard from Charles Booker.

His Senate opponent, Congressman Andy Barr, joined U.S.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner at Transylvania University in Lexington to discuss affordable housing, as our Mackenzie Spink reports.

Turner and Barr praised the university's affordable housing initiative and described their work at the federal level to improve the cost of housing.

>> Two years ago, Transylvania University announced that its former baseball field would become 12.5 acres of diverse, affordable housing units.

The project was made possible by a group of local banks coming together to purchase the land.

Secretary Scott Turner, who heads the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, praises the community buy in and hopes to see similar projects across the country.

>> It is a tremendous example of local community banks coming together, people that are on a normal basis.

They compete, you know, for equity.

They compete for these loans, they compete for clients.

But because they want to bring a a solution, they came together.

And I think that's something that can be and should be replicated.

>> As a member of the U.S.

House Committee on Financial Services, representative Barr helped to pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which became law this July.

This bipartisan measure reduces red tape for developers and supports community and rural banks with the hope of building more affordable homes faster.

>> Through this legislation, we're streamlining regulations, reducing regulations, we're liberating community financial institutions to provide more capital, to provide for more construction.

We're making it easier for modular and manufacturing housing in rural America.

>> Representative Barr has also sponsored the Housing Plus Act, which would reform HUD's current Housing First model, which prioritizes housing solutions for the homeless that don't require employment or addiction treatment.

Barr says the Housing First strategy hasn't worked.

>> In the final year of the Biden administration in 2024, homelessness hit an all time high.

So after 15 years of housing First, we know that that model failed.

>> The Housing Plus Act would require 30% of continuum of care funds to be directed to providers that offer wraparound services like job training or addiction treatment.

>> This is not just putting a roof over someone's head, it is identifying the underlying causes of homelessness and getting at that, whether that's mental health treatment, whether it is addiction recovery, whether it is job training and job skills.

We know that homelessness is not just the absence of a roof over someone's head.

It is that we have to give wraparound services to these individuals, meet them where they are, so that we can give them the tools to succeed, not just have a free apartment.

>> However, Barr says one housing initiative that doesn't get enough attention is reducing the national debt.

>> So often we hear from Washington and some of my colleagues in the Congress say, well, the answer is Moore section eight housing.

The answer is more federal spending.

The answer is just more tax.

Just shovel more tax dollars at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and it is not often remembered that the 30 year fixed rate mortgage.

And the reason why interest rates are high the way they are higher than they were, why mortgage rates are where they are, is because we have a $40 trillion national debt.

The ten year Treasury is what drives the 30 year fixed rate mortgage.

If you want to lower the cost of mortgages in this country, reduce the deficit.

>> For Kentucky edition.

I'm McKenzie Spink.

>> The National Low Income Housing Coalition and National Alliance to End Homelessness oppose Congressman Barr's Housing Plus act.

They say it is an attempt to siphon away funds from housing models that have been proven to be effective.

Kentucky's attorney general, Russell Coleman, is joining 24 other attorneys general to ask the U.S.

Supreme Court to strike down a Biden era EPA clean air regulation.

Now, Coleman claims the regulation is unnecessary, raises costs and blocks job creation.

Coleman says when President Trump's second term began, the EPA changed its position on the law.

Now Coleman wants that law repealed.

The law in question is often referred to as the soot law.

It tightens standards for small particles produced from carbon fired power plants, oil refineries and combustion engines.

The EPA argued that the tighter standards would prevent about 4500 premature deaths, reduce asthma cases and save thousands of dollars in lost work time.

Coleman and the other Republican attorneys general argue the federal government overstepped its authority by creating the regulation.

President Donald Trump is defending data centers at a time when many Kentuckians say they don't want them in their communities.

Here's what the president said in a Truth Social post.

Quote, the only reason that communities throughout the U. S A should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.

If we kill the golden goose, you will only have yourself to blame, end quote.

Now, State Representative Adam Moore, a Democrat, blasted the president for that quote, saying, quote, today, President Donald Trump called local communities concerned about data centers backward and poor, attacking Kentuckians who are simply asking for transparency and a fair deal.

Kentucky's Republican supermajority passed tax breaks to attract data centers, and now their party leader is insulting our people for having the audacity to voice concerns about how these massive projects affect their communities, end quote.

Now, a Republican in the General Assembly is also being critical.

This is from State Representative Savannah Maddox saying, quote, President Trump wouldn't be president without the rural voters who inhabit America's heartland.

It is not wrong of us to question the sudden and wide scale effort to convert arable land into data centers, end quote.

Well, we are just days away from the start of the UK and Louisville football seasons, and a good time to discuss the impact, name, image and likeness policies or NIL are having on college sports.

And that is our topic of discussion tonight on Kentucky tonight with host Chip Polston.

Guests include the UK and U of L Athletics directors.

It will be an interesting discussion.

It's all coming up at 8:00 eastern seven central right here on KET.

[MUSIC] Kentucky is coping with increased numbers of domestic violence.

Last year, law enforcement responded to more than 33,700 incidents.

That's nearly 1000 more calls than the year before.

It comes as services are already being stretched thin.

Laura Rogers has more on that from Bowling Green.

>> People reach out to our crisis line because they are reaching out in hope.

>> Tori Henninger is CEO of barren River Area Safe Space or brass, one of 14 regional domestic violence shelter programs in Kentucky.

>> The time a person decides to flee is usually the most dangerous time in the cycle of violence.

It's incredibly scary to have to call and ask for assistance, and to shine a light on the internal atrocities that are occurring inside a person's home.

>> Brass provides emergency shelter and services for their ten county region, but sometimes they simply don't have enough space to accommodate.

>> We've actually been at or above our capacity about 99% of the year for the last six years in a row.

>> It comes as brass is temporarily serving an additional three counties since the provider serving the Lincoln Trail Area Development District closed over the summer.

That's meant an additional 7 to 10 families to support since July 1st.

>> There's an increase in numbers because there's an increase in requests for services.

The unfortunate reality is that it also means that there is an increase in the lack of available services.

>> Manager says.

Brass says 15 to 17 families in shelter every night, up to 37 people, and they sometimes have to resort to hotel rooms when they run out of beds.

>> While it is not ideal for us to put survivors in a hotel, it is certainly better than the alternative.

>> Which would be to turn people away.

>> We know that we need more shelter beds, and we know that we need more private space that allows a person to heal with dignity and grace.

>> While brass is considering a capital campaign to grow, they are also more frequently asking the community for help through fundraisers and events.

>> Traditional funding sources through federal and state grants are becoming more and more limited and more and more restricted.

>> She cites federal funding programs like VOCA, the Victims of Crime Act and VAwA, the Violence Against Women.

>> Act, but those are underfunded at the federal level.

And so even if we're meeting all of our metrics and we're doing everything that we can, we're still receiving less money year after year because there's not enough in the federal pot.

>> Henninger says much of the strain on resources boils down to a lack of affordable housing, which means survivors must stay longer in temporary shelter.

>> Our average length of stay in shelter has jumped from about 21 days to over 60 days for an individual, and over 75 for someone who has one child at least.

>> She points out the devastation left behind by the 2021 tornado that hit Bowling Green as it wiped out hundreds of homes, exacerbating the affordable housing shortage.

>> A lot of those locations, when people are rebuilding, they're rebuilding at a higher price point.

And so our affordable housing crisis is even greater now.

>> And housing is just one piece of the puzzle to help a survivor become self-sufficient.

>> Once they have fled that abusive relationship, whether they're coming into shelter or they're going to a friend or family member's home, the next steps have to come in where we start providing case management services.

Our end goal is always for a survivor to not just survive, but instead thrive.

>> Helping them meet basic needs while preparing for a healthier, happier future.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Zero V is the statewide coalition that sets standards and regulations for domestic violence shelter programs.

Services are free and confidential in all 120 counties.

[MUSIC] A global summit bringing together Kentucky business owners and trade officials is back in Kentucky.

The summit, hosted by the World Trade Center Kentucky, hasn't been held since 2019 due to Covid 19 and a change in leadership.

But they met last week, and we talked with officials about trade issues and economic impact.

>> Historically, trade policy used to be focused on quotas.

And, you know, in the 80s, we limited the number of foreign cars that were allowed to come into the state of Kentucky.

This resulted in very positive news for the state of Kentucky, where companies like Toyota have established their manufacturing sites here.

And a lot of foreign manufacturers, most recently, the most important thing that everyone is talking about is tariffs.

And the current administration has put tariffs on many different countries and many different products.

As a result of that, we in the World Trade Center, Kentucky, has been sort of fortunate because this is the work that we do, and everyone really wants to talk to us on how they can mitigate some of these tariffs.

The idea of doing international trade is not limited anymore to a product.

It can be a product and we want to support that.

But actually, you know, academia is exporting its education across the world.

World service industry has been growing.

And when it comes to international development, we want to make sure everyone is involved in it in some shape or form.

And that's why it needs to be a diverse group of people.

>> The U.S.

Foreign Trade Zone program was established by Congress in 1934, and there are over 300 foreign trade zones in the program.

We are foreign trade zone number 29.

And what a foreign trade zone is, is a geographic location that's designated to be outside the commerce of the United States for the purposes of Customs and Border Protection.

So it essentially that means is that entities that are within a foreign trade zone can bring their goods into the foreign trade zone before they have to be admitted into the economy of the United States by Customs and Border Protection, which means they don't have to pay duties on those goods as they come into the foreign trade zone.

>> Our numbers have been looking great.

You know, the the volume of exports that have been happening out of the state of Kentucky have been phenomenal.

You know, growing year after year.

Most recently, it reached $51 billion.

>> Foreign trade zone 29 is responsible for over 25,000 direct jobs in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

So in addition to those direct jobs, there's obviously a lot of indirect employment that those direct jobs generate through truck deliveries and subsidiary suppliers and things like that.

But 25,000 jobs there.

We were talking earlier in the session about the exports that Kentucky generates near over 50, over 50 billion this year or last year, almost 5% of that came from foreign trade zone 29.

>> The bottom line is, you know, the idea of trade policy gives an opportunity for countries to protect certain industries, and we have to use that at times.

But we also need to look at the positive side to understand where that trade policy has in the short term, maybe a negative impact, but in the long term, a positive impact because we are trying to protect our global position as a country, we're trying to protect our industries, and we're trying to protect our jobs.

And all of this is important.

And you cannot deny that the United States is the number one market in in the world.

And we need to continue to sustain that to be the number one market.

>> In the group also regularly hosts global executive forums, where leaders across business and politics talk trade opportunities and strategy.

[MUSIC] Lexington was in Confederate hands for a few months during the Civil War, and who was the first baseball player to endorse the Louisville Slugger?

Our Toby Gibbs has all of that and more in this look back at this week in Kentucky history.

>> With the Confederate Army approaching, the Kentucky General Assembly left Frankfort on August 31st, 1862.

[MUSIC] Lawmakers would reconvene in Louisville three days later.

On September 3rd, 1862, 11,000 Confederate troops entered Lexington following their victory at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky.

Rebel forces would leave the city in October after the Battle of Perryville.

[MUSIC] On September 1st, 1905, Pittsburgh Pirates baseball superstar Honus Wagner became the first player to allow his signature on a Louisville Slugger baseball bat.

For years, the Wagner signed bat would be the nation's best selling bat.

President Franklin D Roosevelt visited Kentucky on September 2nd and third, 1940, FDR stopped in Corbin, Winchester, Olive Hill mountaintop, and Ashland.

Roosevelt was on his way back to Washington, DC after dedicating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a dam both in Tennessee.

Muhammad Ali, then called Cassius Clay, won boxing's light heavyweight gold medal at the Rome Olympics on September 5th, 1960.

Bowling Green's National Corvette Museum opened September 2nd, 1994.

[MUSIC] It typically has more than 200,000 visitors a year, and that's what was happening this week in Kentucky history.

[MUSIC] I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> A rare, fatal childhood cancer has seen an increase in cases in eastern Kentucky recently.

Tomorrow here on Kentucky edition, we'll talk with experts at the University of Kentucky about what this devastating cancer is, and more into the investigation into why more children in Appalachia are being diagnosed.

That is coming up right here on Kentucky edition tomorrow.

And I do hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central for Kentucky Edition, where we inform, connect and inspire.

You can subscribe to our Email Newsletters watch full episodes.

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