♪ ♪ >> Today we're not in the capital.

>> Why the governor took his show on the road.

♪ The University of Kentucky prepares for the worst case scenario.

Betty Crocker.

She's made up what Duncan was real.

It was really the eyes and ears of America that are traveling across the country.

Celebrating the man behind the cake mix who was born right here in Kentucky, how his home town is honoring his legacy.

>> The world is it's your horizon.

You can go chief that.

>> Hope you enjoyed the ride to space.

Have a great trip and dragon.

>> And meet a small-town boy whose big dream came true and he's helping students in his Kentucky hometown.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION for this Thursday.

May the 30th I'm Kristi done filling in for Renee Shaw.

Thank you so much for joining us.

About 90 minutes ago, a New York jury found former President Donald Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial.

We'll have Kentucky reaction tomorrow on Kentucky edition and making news today.

It's been almost 2 years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade putting the issue of abortion back into state houses across the country.

Following that decision, Kentucky enacted one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country permitting abortions only to save a pregnant mother from death or permanent disability.

A left-leaning medical organization says there are more than just legal ramifications from these laws.

And Kentucky is seeing a decrease in Reston see applications from medical school.

Graduates.

Here's more.

>> What we found both last year and this year was a disproportionate drop in applications across specialties from these U.S. medical graduates who are applying to residency training in states where there were either essentially a complete elimination of availability of abortion or severe restrictions.

And in terms just a shuttle limits.

So it looks like U.S. medical school graduates are disproportionately avoiding those states like Kentucky where reproductive health care is restricted in some ways.

And that is seen again, not Justin Specialties like obstetrics and gynecology where you think that yes, that might a significant effect.

But really in all specialties across the board.

So we saw a natural drop-off in the number of applications that were submitted this year compared to last year with that translates out of the state level as the average state saw about a 10% drop off and the number of unique applicants this year compared to the year before for all the specialties and all the programs in their states in Kentucky.

That was about 50% greater at a 15% drop off.

So that looks significant.

And I will say that individuals specialties like obstetrics and gynecology over the last 2 years, you've seen probably closer to a 25% decrease in the New U.S. empty graduates that are applying for OBGYN programs and Kentucky itself.

A lot of states like Kentucky have found that if you want to attract physicians to underserved communities.

Your best bet to doing that is by taking people who are from those communities, those kind of communities within that state and keeping them in the state for college for Medical School or residency training.

But what you may be seeing now and I think anecdotally from the stories we're hearing from these new positions were graduating from medical school is, hey, I would love to stay here in Kentucky or West Virginia.

I went to med school here.

My family's from here.

I want to serve these patients but can't practice medicine in the way that I believe is in the best interest of my patients.

The purpose of of these papers is really not to say.

We think that states policymakers should be doing X, Y or Z.

What we want people to understand that the local and state policy level is you may have very specific goals for health care in your communities like attracting people to the state track and then to rural and underserved communities.

These laws that are being passed that restrict reproductive health care may be working against the very policy goals that the states have laid out for decades.

And so I think each state needs to consider the ramifications of this was not just around.

What's the impact on care?

2 women of reproductive age.

But also what is the potential impact on the ability of the entire state's population to receive much-needed appropriate health care?

>> During this year's legislative session, there were efforts by both Democrats and Republicans to expand abortion access in Kentucky.

None made it to final passage.

Kentucky said a tourism record in 2022.

But today Governor Andy Beshear announced we topped it.

>> 2023 was officially the best year in Kentucky's history or tourism's economic impact.

♪ ♪ We're going to give you some numbers.

The new tourism economics study report that last year tourism generated more than 13.8 billion dollars in economic impact.

♪ That is a huge brand-new record that we ought to see is a challenge because we're already in the midst of 2024. and even better.

Kentucky's tourism industry.

So staying 95,000, 222 Kentucky jobs.

>> Visitor volume, increased 4.5%.

And that is over our best year ever.

Kentucky.

Welcome.

79.3 million travelers.

That is 3.4 million more in our previous best year.

Jefferson County reached 4.2 billion dollars in economic impact generating more than 27,200 jobs.

>> Fayette County.

I counted hit 1.6 billion dollars in economic impact with 11,500 jobs, Warren County.

Warren County brought in 477 million dollars in economic impact.

More than 4,000 jobs.

McCracken County Duncan, I'm doing this for you.

390 million dollars in economic impact.

More than 2400 jobs.

And combined Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties and the roughly 1000 cities that are within those 3 counties.

2.1 billion dollars in economic impact 12,800 jobs.

>> Those number numbers demonstrate just how important tourism is to our economy and the impact created by local operators and businesses.

Tourism is economic development, creating jobs investment in improving the quality of life for all of our citizens.

As a 13 billion dollar industry tourism serves as a major economic engine.

We're are rural and urban communities.

The governor's mansion.

Thank you to our partners.

Then behind us.

And their many contributions, their work on our behalf.

Local tourism every day, all day.

Every day is critical to the overall success.

We celebrate that.

Let's show them our appreciation.

>> Today's announcement came at the castle in Key Distillery in Frankfort.

During his news conference today.

The governor also provide an update on Sunday severe weather.

The death toll is still at 5.

The governor again praised Kentuckians for their response to the tornadoes, hail and wind damage.

>> Like after all of them, we make the same promise.

We will get everyone back up on their feet and that we will rebuild.

Remember if a national disaster takes out 10 homes.

We're 1000 for each of those families.

The impact is the same.

And our response needs to help them all.

Sadly, we can report that we did lose by Kentucky INS in the storms.

That's 5 Kentucky families who are experienced arctic and devastation.

And I'll announce today that we're going to work to raise the funds to pay for each of those funerals.

Just like we did after the 2021.

Tornadoes, the 2022 floods, the Kentucky Distillers Association has already offered $10,000 to help pay for the first one of those funerals.

Thank you.

Chair Gregory and the whole group.

>> The governor says the number of people without power is now down to 9,000.

That number was greater than 250,000.

At one point.

26 counties and 12 cities have to cleared states of emergency.

Governor Beshear also joined U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell at Kentucky National Guard hangar in Frankfort today this year and the state's adjutant general.

Thank McConnell for helping to secure federal funds for several military projects in the Commonwealth.

During his remarks, Senator McConnell said the U.S. needs to stand up to Russia and China.

He and he compared current complex conflicts to the years leading up to World War.

2.

>> I think that the American.

The public is not yet.

>> Fully aware.

>> The show just what we have in the world that.

It's reminiscent of that period before.

World War.

2, what we've got to play.

>> It would all go away if we >> That's clearly.

>> Not going to happen again.

at least without making, you know.

>> I'm sure argument.

>> Senator McConnell also thank the Kentucky National Guard for their sacrifice.

Us last fall.

Iran-backed forces attacked a U.S. base in Jordan.

That attack killed 3 soldiers and injured several others, including Kentuckians.

♪ ♪ ♪ It is now clear who want to Kentucky primary races.

Secretary of state Michael Adams says his office has completed the recanvass a primary election results in 2 contests in the GOP primary for Senate District.

7 air Henry defeated and all rain by 118 votes.

Secretary Adams as the recanvass found no change in the vote.

Total.

Meaning Reid will be the Republican nominee in November.

Both men earned more votes than incumbent state Sen Adrienne Southworth.

It was a tighter race in the Democratic primary in House District.

36, which covers part of Jefferson County.

What these Orange defeated Colin McDowell by just 5 votes.

Secretary Adams as a recanvass of the race also found no change in the vote.

Total.

In a separate announcement, Kentucky Attorney General Russel Coleman randomly selected 12 counties for post-election audits.

The process is routine in occurs after every election.

You can see the county selected this time here on this map.

They are bell Caldwell, Campbell Carlisle, Graves, Hancock Henry, not Montgomery Pulaski, Taylor and Trigg counties.

The attorney general also said there are 3 open investigations into election law violations.

His office refused to give any additional information, including the locations.

We do know the attorney general's office feel the 98 calls to its election violation hotline this year.

A woman who's been in the news for the last week or so has a Kentucky connection.

This is a picture of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha Ann Justice Alito has been criticized for an upside down American flag seen at his Virginia home and a flag at his summer home with ties to the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

He says his wife is responsible for those flags.

Turns out Martha and Alito is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports she graduated from UK in 1975.

With a degree in comparative literature and that she looked for a while in Floyd County.

♪ ♪ It looked real but an emergency at the University of Kentucky this morning was just a drill as an assortment of first responders and volunteer forces gathered to act out a full-scale training exercise for an active shooter scenario.

The exercise with pro was performed down to the smallest details.

Police barricades and fire department vehicles surrounded the White Hall classroom building where the training took place.

Some volunteer survivors even had fake injuries.

According to University of Kentucky Police Chief James Monroe.

The level of realism is important for training.

>> We feel like it's important to be able to understand what our capabilities are.

What appears to route one 2 responsible, real world.

>> This actually puts the players in the in the air spot, smoke in the field.

So you get to test everything.

Test Wi-Fi test year.

A new cases able to test your equipment.

>> We've done everything from a response.

As well as our communications plan in our testing.

Are you seeing as well as our hospital, mass casualty plan?

So this was a very loose.

It here.

A long process to design this exercise.

What this exercise was able to help us identify.

What are your is for improvement?

What are the areas of and what can we do better?

>> The training session included more than 140 participants.

The University of Kentucky partnered with Texas and Engineering Extension Services or takes for the exercise takes organizes immersive training courses for various disaster.

Some areas.

♪ >> The city of Bowling Green will honor a native son next week.

Duncan Hines Days observes the legacy of the well-known.

>> Author and food critic who was born in Bowling Green in the year 18, 80.

This is the second year the city has paid tribute to Heinz its name with a week-long festival.

>> Organizers say it will celebrate Bowling Green food, fun and adventure.

He was a traveling salesman back in his day.

And at that time before the creation of the car.

>> He actually rode the trains and went by horseback traveling all over the country, selling for a company out of Chicago.

And he kept a diary of all the places that he would eat and sleep in and stay overnight and then use that diary to recommend places where his friends and family to go whenever they travel or to remind him where to go back.

That diary was later published and called Adventures in.

Good Evening.

It would lead to more books on travel and lodging.

>> Before Michelin guides or before Yelp or anything like that.

He was the person that you can turn to and find out where quality food, quality safe places to stay.

We're so at that time he became an American icon for these kinds of things.

>> More than 50 groups will host at least 15 events throughout each week throughout the week, including special menu items at restaurants and food trucks and a free concert next Saturday featuring Grammy winner and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Sam Bush, 6,000 boxes of Duncan Hines Cake Mix will be handed out at various events.

Get the full schedule online at Duncan Hines days Dot com.

Louisville's Cultural Pass program kicks off this weekend.

It's a physical passport.

Families can get at any library branch with more than 50 ways to explore cultural attractions in their own communities.

On a recent episode of Inside Louisville, Kelsey Starks spoke with Torre Parker with fun for the arts who explains the partnership.

>> So Cultural Pass is a partnership Louisville Metro government.

It was a mayoral initiative initially back 10 now 11 years ago are celebrating our 11th year cultural past fun for the arts, the Arts and Culture Alliance end of the Louisville Free Public Library.

So that called for pass is a literal Right now that anyone ages 0 to.

21, you can pick up at their local library.

It has over 50 arts and culture venues on and that really spans the gamut.

You everything from you can go to Kentucky Shakespeare and get your pest and you can go to the zoo.

The science Center, the Filson Historical Society, all these arts and culture venues that offer free programming opportunities to really combat summer learning loss.

So you can go pick up your pass on June.

First, when culture past kicks off.

So right when school and get a big kick off at the library branch, the main branch downtown.

And you can sign up for summer reading and get your cultural pass and go see all of those incredible venues.

Absolutely.

For free.

That's incredible.

Incredible.

And you can get a prize at the end of the summer.

If you go see 5 different venues.

And so if you we really want to encourage you to explore some things, both in Louisville and some in Indiana, a lot of southern Indiana venues as well.

Yeah, that's a great way to get kids involved, too, because they sure love getting that passed.

>> Who love the team in the past and and an an adult gets in for free as well.

You know, we want to make it accessible for everybody.

Everyone deserves to be a part of their skin.

And what a great thing for our community.

>> Cultural past begins at Louisville Free Public Library summer reading kickoff event on June.

First at the library's main branch on York Street in downtown families can pick up their cultural past.

Sign up for summer reading and enjoy performances with local arts and culture vendors.

♪ >> Well, today is National Mint Julep Day in celebration of the drink.

Many associate with the Kentucky Derby and Mint Julep is usually a combination of bourbon, shaved ice, simple syrup, them.

It usually experiment.

It's believed to have started in Virginia in the 18th century sent Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky is often credited with introducing it to Washington, D.C., We're chill down.

Started promoting the mint julep in connection to the Kentucky Derby or be starting in 1938. in 2009 race fans strength 120,000 mint juleps during the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks.

John Shoffner grew up in Bell County for him.

The space program felt like it was a million miles away.

But with years of hard work blasting off into space, went from science fiction to science.

And he hasn't forgotten the future.

Astronauts in his hometown.

Here's his story as told on KET Kentucky Life.

>> 9 just because I grew up here in the mountains.

I never really felt like that was limiting for me.

>> 2 years of work or >> when you get down to that last one, second to >> one D arms opening up now it's not a blast off.

Just touch him to live.

>> That didn't last long.

>> Them.

I grew up in Middlesborough Kentucky.

We're far away from anything related to space.

But in the early 1960's us was beginning its space program.

The actual for space race had just begun.

>> Ignition think I was 8 years old, several of us started a little astronauts in the most for we meet on Saturdays and we would >> have cardboard boxes too.

Pretend to be Gemini.

Pilots.

Those were role models.

They became people that we followed in since they were real people.

It was easy for us to understand that space is really happening.

And it was a place that we can learn about.

>> I think that is crucial.

To have someone in your life like that.

Who is that person?

And I use the phrase a lot of that.

You can't be it unless you see it.

The most important that we all have goes and then we have to have something to personify the goal to, to make it feel real and inaccessible.

>> Sometimes that can be a coach.

I can be a teacher, whatever shape that takes.

It is important that someone has some one in their life that says you can be more than what you think that you can be.

>> I truly believe that at that point in everyone's life, 8, 10, 12, 14 years old.

We do you have something that you're primarily interested, that one really, really big thing that you always look forward to doing that.

It's who you are.

It's the core what you believe yourself to be so acting on that we're having a system or way for that voice to come out and then help Lehman student into more of that.

Put more of that into that student.

>> new scenes.

>> On camera.

♪ >> Keeps that student to bring that voice out early and, you know, make it happen.

>> What we would consider stamped high interest when he when he was a child.

But there was really no at letter Avenue.

For here in Middlesboro at the time.

>> I went to school here in Middlesborough.

Small town were off in the corner of the state.

Sometimes overlooked.

We well, the students that have lots of desires of their own.

>> He want to be able to create outlets that.

They could pursue, engage those interest that they have much like he had when he was a child out of that desire to give he he wanted to to fund a STEM program.

>> Beyond the creator was a slogan that Middlesboro created for itself.

I asked community to continue to drive that idea that we are not limited because we come from an area in the mountains.

>> We have a lot of students who, unfortunately.

They never get the opportunity to travel outside of our mountains.

And we've taken various field trips where we've we've crossed 33 bridge going close to knock Swink in kids.

It passes the ocean.

It really puts in perspective the lack of exposures that our kids have.

So when we think about the term of beyond the crater, you know, for them that that's a huge deal.

>> I wore a yellow jackets patch that was designed by students, you know, at the middle or high school and that represented the beginning.

What we now are trying to develop best full STEM program.

>> They have been ecstatic to see this emblem come through videos that, you know, NASA has shared the image itself had been a rallying point that our community is used has been on posters, its ban on business windows.

It was so need as John entered the space station itself as they dog and he entered for the first time me he rolled to his right.

>> Shoulder came into view and there was the patch.

And I know that I just had to be such a surreal moment for for those 3 students that crafted the design.

We have 2 students from the middle or high school that are part of an MIT program called Beaver Works.

>> And I really believe what we've done there in those 2 examples as we change the course of 2 lives already at the very beginning of this program.

There are a world of things behind the S T E AM.

>> Whether it is a coal miner, whether it is an astronaut, whether it's biology, medical things are research in any degree engineering development, aerospace.

>> Someone says they don't feel like they can do it because they come from in the area.

We've we've had so many comments >> of that guys from here, a girl in the middle school during one of our first engagement said.

If he can do that, then I can do that.

That's what it's all about.

>> Achieving something bigger than themselves is is not limited because we're come from an area here in the mountains, you know, don't consider any limitation because of geographic existence.

>> The world is this.

Your horizon?

You can go chief that.

>> Hope you enjoyed the ride to space.

Have a great trip and dragon.

>> Wow.

See more great stories like that one.

When you watch Kentucky life with Chip Polston every Saturday night at 8 Eastern 7 central right here on KET.

We hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition where we inform connect and inspire.

Send us a story.

I did a public affairs akt Dot org and follow KET on Facebook.

>> X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram to stay in the Loop.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Have a wonderful evening.

♪