[MUSIC] We will not be sorry.

>> We will not be silenced as.

>> Fayette County School board members meet inside calls for accountability.

Echo outside.

[MUSIC] Plus, meet two candidates for Congress taking on long serving incumbents.

[MUSIC] >> We just want them to feel like this is a breath of fresh air.

I'm loved and supported as I am, and that brings me joy.

>> And helping children find joy on horseback.

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

[MUSIC] >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this Tuesday, May the 12th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

We thank you for spending some of your Tuesday night with us.

We are now two days away from early voting and one week away from primary Election Day in Kentucky.

As Kentuckians pick nominees for the U.S.

Senate, U.S.

House and some contested seats in the Kentucky General Assembly and local offices, our series of candidate conversations concluded last night with candidates for Congress in the second and fifth congressional districts.

In the second district, incumbent Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie declined our invitation to appear on Kentucky tonight.

We heard from one of his challengers, Shay Perry Edelman, who describes herself as, quote, a Thomas Massie Republican.

[MUSIC] >> Massie is really the inspiration for not just me, but several of us that are running on the Republican ticket this primary.

We saw the writing on the wall when it came to the files, the Epstein files in particular, and the fact that we weren't getting we weren't getting the transparency and what the Constitution calls for.

The Constitution was not being followed, and the victims were not being respected in how the files were being released.

And it was just a big quagmire.

Quagmire, quagmire.

And there were several of us that stood behind him because he would stand up to the the current leadership and do what was right, what he felt was right.

And we said, you know, he needs some support out here.

He can't do this alone.

So we're kind of like the reinforcements, if you will.

But, you know, I'm a libertarian, probably more than anything, I'm independent.

I've been I've been a Democrat before.

I like to vote in the primaries.

I've run for office because I like to be part of the solution.

I've been I've run as a Democrat.

But when it comes to criticism of either party, I'm an equal opportunity critic.

I want people to know that I am not a Trump loyalist.

I'm not a boot licker.

If I agree with him, I will say so.

If I disagree with him, I will say so because I want to be.

I want to make Kentucky Republicans proud.

>> Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky's fifth district declined our invitation to appear.

One of his Republican challengers, Kevin Smith, talked about President Donald Trump's so-called big beautiful bill and whether cuts to Medicaid would hurt his district.

>> There's no doubt about it that our people in the Fifth Congressional District, we need to make sure that we have access to rural hospitals.

That is critical.

I have a lot of family that live in Clay County, and a lot of them are older, and they ask questions about if something happened.

Would I be able to get to a hospital in time?

Those are real concerns.

What do you tell them?

>> What do you tell them?

>> Yeah, I am there that we need to be able to make sure that rural hospitals, their access to them, that we have physicians available across our district to work with them, that we that we make sure that their physicians and patients are able to speak with one another and work together and that their access to them, and that's what I'll be fighting for, is greater access.

>> So what does that look like?

How do you get greater access if the access is already been undone?

Partly through the big beautiful bill?

>> Well, I think there's going to be a lot of conversations moving forward in Congress about how we direct impact rural hospitals and patients going forward.

And I would like I look forward to being a part of those conversations.

But part of that, too, is driven by economics and driven by reimbursement rates as well.

And how can we do that on a much better level, whether that is block grants to the states and allow that to work more closely on a more local level?

There are better ways that this can be done, and I think those conversations are coming up, and I would love to be a part of that.

>> You can see the full interviews with both candidates and their answers about the war on Iran, the budget, gas prices and much more.

Online on demand at ket.org/ky tonight.

Now, next Monday on Kentucky tonight, on the eve of the May 19th primary, a panel of Kentucky political pundits and operatives will weigh in about the key races.

You can see that discussion live Monday at eight eastern, seven central right here on KET.

Effective and fully transparent.

Those are the findings of an investigation looking into Kentucky's medical cannabis program.

The investigation by Kentucky's office of the Inspector General was prompted by Auditor Alison Ball, who said her office received complaints about the lottery process used to award medical cannabis business licenses.

The Beshear administration partnered with the Kentucky Lottery Corporation to create the lottery system.

The new report by Kentucky's OIG found the process was, quote, thorough, fair and fully transparent and reasonably assured.

The goal to get medical cannabis to Kentuckians who need it safely and expeditiously, end quote.

We reached out to the auditor's office for comment.

They told us, quote, the Beshear administration having its own inspector general review its own process and then declaring no issues only proves why our investigation must continue.

In education news, tensions between Fayette County Public Schools and concerned teachers and families continue to rise as the district deals with fallout from over a decade of financial mismanagement.

At last night's school board meeting, officials made it clear the district would need to take out a $110 million loan to pay staff in July.

As our Clayton Dalton reports, protesters gathered at the Central Office Building to share their frustrations.

>> Person.

Tyler here I listen.

>> Tyler hear our cries.

>> Last night, the Fayette County Board of Education met to discuss the district's ongoing financial crisis and propose a budget for the upcoming school year.

Before the meeting, protesters gathered outside to share their grievances, particularly regarding layoffs and pay cuts.

>> The way that they chose to go about fixing an issue is by cutting our rank and file staff.

Our custodians have been cut days, our cafeteria managers have been cut, days we've had entire departments that our librarians depend on, removed, done away with.

So what we're seeing is, you know, an effort by the district to try to solve money issues that they have created, in my opinion, because, you know, the buck stops with them.

So we have a lot of people who are trying to figure out how they're going to make it.

Now, with having days cut and this economy, no one, no one should have to have to take a pay cut.

There's been just a real feeling of fear and uncertainty, uncertainty and sadness.

>> Last month, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins announced the district had much less money than previously thought due to poor accounting practices dating back to at least 2008.

But many of the protesters feel the burden is falling on the wrong people.

>> First of all, this should have never happened.

This should have never happened.

Second of all, you know, taking it off of the backs of people who can't afford $50 less a month when other people can, and other positions at this level, we feel like should have been looked at first.

>> Members of Kentucky 120 United, a statewide union for teachers, say they're asking for a seat at the table.

>> Our union has been coming to board meetings for at least the last two years.

Every month, just just to stay tapped in for our members.

We've spoken up several times.

We've asked for a legally binding collective bargaining agreement several times from the board.

And unfortunately, the board chair, Tyler Murphy, has refused to put it on the agenda.

And the only thing that we can think of is they they they don't want to put that on the agenda because then they would have to open up their financials.

We ascertain that as rank and file, as the people who are doing the work in the classrooms every day at the busses, every day.

We deserve a legally binding collective bargaining agreement so that we truly can have a seat at the table.

So far, we've been silenced.

The superintendent refuses to meet with leadership of our union.

He is yet to tell us why.

So again, it's a lot of a lack of transparency, a lot a lot of lack of professionalism.

If I refuse to meet with a parent, you know that that would be on me.

There are things that they've done in this building that I would have lost my job for a long time ago, and that's sad.

>> Hey, hey, ho ho!

These union busters got to go.

>> For Kentucky edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

>> Thank you.

Clayton.

The board is proposing an $880 million budget for the upcoming school year.

Up almost $50 million from this year's budget.

That includes revenue from the potential sale of three properties including two school campuses.

The board must adopt a tentative budget by May the 30th.

Now moving on to the federal budget, U.S.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says he doubts taxpayer money will be used to pay for President Donald Trump's proposed white House ballroom.

Paul is chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

His committee will look at part of a budget bill dealing with immigration enforcement.

The billion dollars for the ballroom is part of that funding because it includes security enhancements to the ballroom.

Paul thinks the money will be removed from the bill.

Paul opposes taxpayer money for the ballroom, but says he supports raising and spending private money for it.

U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had some tough words today for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as he testified about the Trump administration's defense budget request for fiscal year 2027.

McConnell questioned the administration's spending priorities and for past statements about NATO that have worried America's European allies.

>> The 27 requests failed to make room in the base budget for some of the military's top priorities.

So, Mr.

Secretary, you've been outspoken about the pace of America's armed forces as the most powerful, most lethal, and most prepared military on the planet.

I'm as committed as you are to sustaining that role.

But that's precisely why I'm confused by the administration's failure to prioritize key systems in the year on year base budget spending.

Basically, it seems to me that a lot of European countries think that we're reducing our influence there.

They're sort of on their own, and somehow American leadership is not essential to NATO going forward.

>> Senator, I appreciate the question, and I think.

>> Hegseth responded by saying no administration had done more to make sure that our allies understand they need to step up the type of plane involved in a deadly crash at Louisville's airport last year is back in the air.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it approved Boeing's proposed fix for the MD 11 cargo aircraft.

Fedex resumed using the planes on Sunday, and MD 11 operated by UPS crashed shortly after taking off in November after an after an engine fell off and sparked a fire.

Three pilots and 12 people on the ground were killed.

All MD 11 were grounded after the crash, and UPS retired its entire fleet of aircraft.

Fedex says it plans to eventually do the same.

Not all Kentuckians are hooked up to city wastewater services.

That's the case for residents of Hazel green, a small eastern Kentucky town in Wolfe County.

But as our June Leffler reports, that's about to change.

>> It's a celebration in Hazel green.

The town secured money for its first wastewater treatment plant, meaning businesses in the near future won't have to dispose of their own dirty water like this meat processing plant.

>> You can imagine this process is requires a lot of water.

There's a lot of sterilization, a lot of cleaning.

Everything's done under USDA guidelines.

So there is a huge expense related to disposing of that wastewater properly.

And having this infrastructure will help mitigate that expense and could help us grow.

We can do more for this community.

>> Another company that makes firefighting gear will reap the same benefits.

>> You know, we're making gear to save people's lives every day.

And that's we take a lot of pride in what we do.

>> 500 people work at Eastern Kentucky plants.

These companies bring in many more workers to Hazel green than the number of full time residents at roughly 30.

>> Wolfe County is one of the poorest counties in the nation.

And so we're excited about with this infrastructure that we'll have more people move in the possibility for more economic development and raise the standard of living for everyone in the community.

>> Businesses and schools like Red River Valley Elementary have their sewage pumped on site one to several times a week.

It's costly and emits a certain smell.

Officials say businesses want an alternative.

>> When they come for site visits.

You know, is is sewer readily available?

Is water readily available?

And when it's not in those areas, they'll move on to somewhere else where it is.

>> For the people of Hazel green, there's now a future where they could ditch their septic tanks and tap into the public system.

>> To flush their toilets, and it just takes it away, and they don't ever have to worry about having a system ever again.

>> Ideally, your septic system isn't that old and you have the money to pay a professional to pump it.

>> It's surprising how little information is like, say, passed on.

When you buy a house, you don't necessarily know where your septic system is or if you have a septic system or when it was last pumped out.

So, you know, there's this all this personal responsibility that you don't really get a handbook on.

>> The Kentucky Waters Way Alliance educates people on how to maintain their septic system, in part because when they fail, these systems become a public health concern.

>> When you start talking about wastewater, people really mostly want to talk about drinking water.

And I'm just like, these two go together because where your wastewater discharge goes is also the same source that your drinking water is coming from.

If I have a septic system that hasn't been pumped in 30 years and is potentially overflowing, and I also have a well right next to that, then I could potentially be contaminating my own drinking water source.

>> The local health department does get complaints of wastewater being dumped into streams and the Red River.

>> Yes.

Yeah.

We have failing septic systems and sewage that is going into the river.

We get reports of straight pipes from time to time, and so we go out and investigate those at the health department, and we work with the property owner to make sure that that's addressed appropriately.

But, you know, you have sometimes people that just can't afford to fix that.

So we work with them with the best option we can and try to repair an aged system.

And sometimes it's a challenge.

>> This is all possible with state dollars and federal grants.

Small and poorer towns do not have the tax base to do this on their own.

>> It's unfortunate that we're disadvantaged, but at the same point in time, by being disadvantaged, we do qualify for a lot of grants, which will hopefully someday make us not disadvantaged.

And that's the goal.

>> This state senator fought for the funding in Frankfort.

>> Funny that in this day and age that we're still fighting for water and sewer projects.

I mean, I have to say, that's to me just seems far fetched.

>> One state fund for poorer communities water Needs received 150 project applications last year.

Just 11% got the money, much of it going toward severe needs.

In Morgan County.

It took Hazel green 12 years to secure its funding.

>> But it's just that simple time.

You know, I've had projects.

I've got one in Letcher that's been 26 years, and it's not for lack of need.

It's just sometimes there might be a better project.

Even though this project is a fantastic project.

So you just have to keep trying and you keep trying and you never give up.

>> It could take two, three or more years to build the wastewater treatment plant and connect to customers who will likely pay some monthly service fee.

Officials say it will be worth the wait for Kentucky edition.

I'm June Leffler.

>> Thank you, Jen, for that report.

A 2025 report on America's infrastructure says nationwide, 20% of Americans depend on septic tanks, not centralized wastewater systems.

[MUSIC] A budget cut prompts criticism at Eastern Kentucky University and a group of Canoers plan an old fashioned trip with shades of Lewis and Clark.

Our Toby Gibbs explains, and this look at headlines around Kentucky.

>> A lawsuit is moving forward in Simpson County over who should have the power to regulate a proposed data center.

Ten KY Land Co wants to bring a data center to the town of Franklin.

According to the Franklin favorite, the Simpson County Fiscal Court believes it can place planning and zoning restrictions on the data center, even though the proposed site is within Franklin City limits.

Ten KY argues the county lacks that authority.

[MUSIC] From the Richmond register.

The Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents Finance Committee approved a fiscal 2027 budget last week.

That's despite criticism from the faculty representative, Lynnette Noblitt, who questions a $3 million cut to academic affairs funding.

President David McFadden told her it's because the overall budget is flat.

She then questioned why EKU spent $21 million in athletics in fiscal year 2025, while only taking in 5 million.

[MUSIC] The Georgetown News graphic reports three counties and Berea are starting work on the 300 acre Triple Crown Business Park.

Leaders from Scott Madison and Fayette County and the city of Berea broke ground on the site in Berea, May 7th.

[MUSIC] The four make up the Central Kentucky Business Park Authority.

Construction should start this fall.

It's expected that the land will become home to 14 businesses, meaning about 700 jobs.

[MUSIC] An old school trip down the Ohio River is bringing attention to river communities.

A volunteer crew of paddlers is traveling from Ashland to Evansville, Indiana.

A 488 mile journey that will take 23 days.

This is the sixth year for the trip organized by the Ohio River way, a nonprofit.

[MUSIC] The Daily Independent says travelers in two canoes will travel 15 to 35 miles each day, stopping to camp by the riverbank every night.

They're also raising funds and conducting research, and the trip will be filmed for a documentary in partnership with the National Park Service.

[MUSIC] And those are tonight's headlines around Kentucky.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Creating a space for relaxation, comfort, and even joy for children with developmental disabilities and mental health disorders is the mission of what's called Justin's Place.

It's where participants can enjoy horseback riding and interacting with animals on a farm in Wilmore, Kentucky.

>> Justin King was a young man that passed away in a car accident in 2017, and his family approached me in 2020 saying that they wanted to share his contagious joy with their community by starting a therapeutic riding farm.

So they did not have a tangible.

They just had an idea.

So we serve children ages 3 to 13 with a diagnosis of a disability or a disorder.

So that's a really wide range of disabilities.

We originally started specifically for autism because that was kind of at the heart of our mission.

And that's really what we still feel like we specialize in is kiddos that are on the spectrum.

But since then, we've really branched out.

We serve a wide variety of disabilities, and we also have a program that's specifically for kids who have had early developmental trauma, who have been through foster care.

The therapeutic nature of a horse is so special, and what we know about them is their heart rate is low, and they have this powerful electromagnetic field that just kind of brings our energy down and helps us regulate and ground.

And that is what so many of our kids need that we serve.

It's just that grounding energy.

And so I love that we're able to hold space for kids while they're on the horse and just be quiet and back off and just breathe and let them lay on the horse and pet the horse and get that just deep relaxation and connection with another sentient being.

>> Adelaide has cerebral palsy and she also has epilepsy, so she struggles quite a bit with motor skills speech.

And she has some intellectual disability.

I just feel like this place is calming to her, even if she is in a bad mood and isn't very cooperative.

As soon as she gets on the horse, even if she's not smiling, you can just tell she's calm.

The other thing is like just her motor skills, and she has a really hard time using her left hand and using the reins and having to hold both of them and learning to steer.

All of that has just been really good for her as far as, you know, getting that left hand involved and working on that.

>> Our core program is called Barn Buddies and that is our bread and butter.

We love that program because it's tailored for each kid.

So it includes an adaptive riding lesson, but it also includes whatever they want.

So it can be petting a goat, doing an art project, playing in the sand at the core of Justin's place.

It's very unique because we are unlike all other services, in my opinion, because our priority is joy and fun.

So there are many services that serve children with disabilities and disorders and who are struggling, but usually it's to get them to reach a goal or to advance a skill, or to meet a mold or a standard, or pass a test.

At Justin's place, we just want them to feel like this is a breath of fresh air.

I'm loved and supported as I am, and that brings me joy.

>> Having a place where she feels welcome and comfortable is really, really helpful as a parent because you don't have.

I don't have to worry about when she comes here if she's going to, you know, be judged or.

And that's a huge thing for me because other places aren't as welcoming to children who have differences.

She loves being around the animals and they just make her happy.

>> A place of joy, indeed.

Justin's Place also has a mentorship program for students who are adopted, have been in foster care or experienced early developmental trauma to work on life skills through equine assisted learning.

[MUSIC] Candidates for the U.S.

Senate are crisscrossing Kentucky looking for votes just before voting gets underway.

We'll catch up with Republicans Andy Barr and Daniel Cameron and have the rest of the day's campaign news tomorrow night on Kentucky edition, which we hope you'll join us again for at 630 eastern, 530 central, where we inform, connect and inspire.

We hope that you'll connect with us.

You can subscribe to our Kentucky edition, email newsletters, and watch full episodes and clips@ket.org.

Look for us on the PBS app that you can download on your smart devices.

Send us a story idea by email to Public affairs@ket.org.

And of course, we are on the socials.

Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram, where you can stay in the loop and see some great pics along the way.

Thank you so much for watching Kentucky Edition tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw and I hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night.

Have a great one.