He led the Louisville Cardinals to two national championships.

More on the passing of coach Denny Crum just ahead.

If I were in the legislature, that's what I would say.

I would say, look, you know what?

This has been going on for too long.

Hear from Kentucky State University's interim president on cases, money problems that my opponents are out there saying that the pillow guy was right, that China has hacked into our machines and they're manipulating millions of votes around.

That's crazy.

That didn't happen.

Secretary of State Michael Adams is seeking a second term.

How he feels about the vote fraud claims so commonplace in his own party.

We had our own little astronauts club when I was eight, nine years old in Middlesboro.

We slid around in cardboard boxes, but that stayed with me my entire life.

And Kentuckians dream of space travel is about to become a reality.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions, the Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for this Tuesday, May the ninth.

Thank you so much for spending some of your Tuesday night with us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

I Kentucky sports legend is gone.

Denny Crum has died.

Crum coached the University of Louisville Men's Basketball Cardinals for 30 years before he retired in 2001.

He had 675 victories.

His team won the NCAA title in 1980 and in 1986, the university announced his death today but did not state a cause.

Here is reaction from Kenny Payne, the Cardinals current coach who once played for Crum.

It says in part.

Today is a sad day for me personally, as well as the basketball world.

My thoughts go through all the lessons that he taught not just to me, but every player he ever came in contact with.

Those lessons are still relevant today.

We were so blessed to have him in our lives.

He was a true treasure who gave so much to the university and the community.

US Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also reacted to today's news.

He said, quote, The Cardinal community loved their coach and will miss his calm leadership both on and off the court.

Nicknamed Cool Hand Luke because of his calm sideline demeanor, Crum was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Sportscaster Dick Gabriel says fans have come to thank for the UK U of L rivalry.

Well, Denny Crum was a vital part of the history of college basketball in the state of Kentucky, and a guy who came from UCLA was a right hand man to John Wooden played for John Wooden, and immediately when he got there, he stirred the pot.

He talked about one of his first recruiting classes being better than the one that Kentucky had just landed, and that was a UK class that was much heralded as being one of, if not the best in the country.

And Denny Crum said, I'd take my guys over their guys at any time.

And from that point it was on.

And of course, as we all know, he lobbied endlessly to play Kentucky in the national media, took up his cause.

And then when they won the national title in 1980, it seemed like it was just a matter of when.

I thought one of the important things that Denny did and you do well was recruit local players jobI did as well.

Everybody's recruiting nationally now, but there were Kentucky kids on Danny's roster and not just kids from Louisville.

So I really think that helped him ingratiate himself with fans.

The other thing too, was Denny Crum was the coach at Louisville when Kentucky was just beginning to recruit African-American players.

And so the fan base at Yeovil was a lot more diverse.

Thank you, Dick Gabriel.

Denny Crum was 86 years old.

A funeral arrangements are pending.

Tomorrow marks one month since the old National Bat Bank mass shooting in Louisville.

And tonight, we have more good news about Officer Nicholas Wilt, who was shot in the head while responding.

The Louisville Metro Police Foundation says Wilt is now off the ventilator and quote, on the correct path to recovery.

He's also able to follow some commands.

Now, he still has pneumonia, which is described as being common for patients on a ventilator.

According to the Courier Journal, Wilt could be moved to rehab in the next week.

Five people died in the April 10th mass shooting.

Wilt was shot as police responded.

His partner, Officer Corey Galloway, shot and killed the gunman.

Kentucky's March 33rd when storm that killed four people cost the Commonwealth more than $1,000,000,000, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It's the fourth weather emergency in Kentucky to top $1,000,000,000 in cost and just over two years.

The other three are the ice storms of February 20, 21, the western Kentucky tornado outbreak in December of 21 and the flooding in eastern Kentucky in July of 22.

We talked to Ron Stephen from the National Weather Service in Louisville about the historical windstorm and how to be ready for more severe weather events in the future.

Well, we did have some really strong winds that day.

Both Louisville International and Bowman Field had 79 mile per hour wind gusts that afternoon, and there are widespread gusts over 60 and even 70 miles an hour across a lot of Kentucky that day.

And what we saw happen with that is a lot of trees came down, a lot of roof damage, both from just, you know, shingles being taken off to trees falling on them.

And that that adds up when you start talking about clearing trees and fixing roofs.

Oh, we had going on was a very deep, low pressure system that tracked right up the Ohio Valley and Louisville and several other stations actually set record low pressures on that day.

We have had four high wind warning days and 14 wind advisory days just since the first of the year.

And I've been in Louisville 12 years, and that's more than I have seen since I've been here.

Well, one thing that happens with these with these billion dollar disasters is that as our population grows, we're starting to see more people and more property in harm's way.

But I also can't deny that we we are in a we're in a warmer climate and a wetter climate.

We've had 11 of our 14 warmest years and four of our five wettest years just in the last 20 years here in Louisville.

More news about the Commonwealth's recovery from natural disasters.

Kentucky will receive federal aid for the severe storms that hit parts of the state in February.

President Joe Biden signed a disaster declaration for recovery from the storms that caused damage from high winds, flooding and mudslides.

The declaration will provide funds for repair work and 22 counties.

Now turning to politics, Kentucky's primary election is just one week from today.

Voters had another chance to hear from some of the candidates in the GOP governor's race last night.

But the two apparent frontrunners were absent.

W.K.

White said Daniel Cameron and Kelly Craft did not accept an invitation to its debate at Transylvania University.

Ryan calls Mike Harmon and Erick Datas did.

They were in agreement on most issues, including abortion and gun control.

MODERATOR Bill Bryant also asked each candidate how the legislature should handle the historic budget surplus.

So my question is, is Kentucky spending too much?

I think it would be appropriate to have some one time injections into our $40 billion pension obligation.

I also think it's important that we protect and help extend benefits for those who chose in public service.

This is public service week across Kentucky.

We have over around 30,000 employees that work for the state of Kentucky.

Let's make sure that it's a competitive place.

And also there's retention, but also I think it's important that we continue to cut taxes and help us get down to a 0% income tax.

And I'm somebody who is for getting rid of the income tax completely.

And this is some real relief that we need those who are veterans, those who are fully disabled, those who are senior citizens who have to pay these annual automobile taxes.

They get license to death.

They get income tax to death.

They get sales tax to death.

We have the corporate tax, the death tax, its tax tax, tax.

We need a complete tax overhaul.

I think we need to continue to work to eliminate state income tax.

I think that will provide an additional incentives for our economy as well.

And I appreciate the good work of our General Assembly in doing this lowering of the income tax incrementally.

I think we probably do need to return as much as we can to the taxpayers.

I was one of the first it didn't get passed to file a Tax and Expenditure Limitation Act when I was in the House for 13 years and it didn't get passed.

But that would allow us to return money back to when we hit a certain threshold.

Skipping last night's debate, Kelly Craft instead held a virtual town hall during which she said, quote, We will not have transgenders in our school system, end quote.

If she is elected governor.

That's according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

In the past, Craft has said she's against transgender athletes competing in women's sports.

And her running mate, State Senator Max.

Why sponsored Senate Bill 150, which critics call one of the most anti-trans bills in America.

West and Floyd Kraft's communications director says Kraft was not talking about transgender students themselves.

He says, quote, Of course, Kelly Kraft was referring to the woke ideologies being pushed in our schools.

She's been advocating for the best of all children This entire campaign, in quote, you're saying plenty of campaign commercials now doubt.

So who's spending the most among the Republicans running for governor?

According to media, buying a group that monitors advertising buys.

It's Kelly Kraft and the Political Action Committee spending on her behalf.

Between them, they spent more than six and a half million dollars so far.

Daniel Cameron and Pro Cameron PAC have spent 2.75 million.

Ryan Corales and a pro Corales PAC have spent $675,000.

And they're still a long way to go before the primary.

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams is running for a second term.

He appeared on last night's Kentucky Tonight right here on Getty, his two Republican primary opponents did not meet our criteria to appear.

I asked Secretary Adams a question on the minds of many Republicans in Kentucky and across America.

Do you believe that President Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States?

Do you believe he won it fair and square in 2020?

I do believe he's a legitimate president of the United States.

I also think that there was vote fraud in some other states.

We have seen criminal indictments and convictions coming out of the 2020 election, not here, but in other states.

But we're talking about a pretty modest number of votes impacted.

We've not seen the sort of millions of votes that would have to have been moved around to to sway a national election for president.

Typical of what a normal election may have produced, would you say?

Yeah, I think we're going to have fraud in an election or maybe not election, but some elections.

You know, certainly if you've got 50 states and other states, rules aren't too strict as ours are.

Now, you can have some fraud.

But the notion that you and I won't make this important point that my opponents are out there saying that the pillow guy was right, that China has hacked into our machines and they're manipulating millions of votes around.

That's crazy.

That didn't happen.

Secretary Adams predicted 10% voter turnout in the May 16th primary next week based on absentee ballots requests so far.

This was the third and last of our candidate conversation programs on Kentucky tonight.

You can see all three, including our May 1st show featuring five Republican candidates for governor, including Craft and Cameron.

Online on demand at Katie Dawgs slash K-Y.

Tonight.

A reminder, you can start voting later this week.

Early voting begins Thursday, May 11th, and last through Saturday, May 13th.

Get in touch with your county clerk's office to find out the early voting location in your county.

The primary, of course, as we keep saying, is a week from tomorrow, May 16th.

You can vote then from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.. Finalists for the next president of Kentucky's only publicly funded historically black university were named last week.

I talked with the interim president, Ronald Johnson, today about the job cut out for the future leader of Kentucky State University.

After headline grabbing reports of chronic financial mismanagement.

So these are your selections.

The one on the very far left is the current president of the Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

You're not in the running for it, so let's make a quick answer on that.

Yes or no?

You did not want this job.

Well, as other I don't want this job.

I have a job.

That job is to come here and help save this institution.

And that's what I've been doing.

So the the presidential search, where it is now, you have three finalists.

When do you hope to have someone appointed?

And in the position and in the role as a permanent successor to you?

Well, as the interim, I have not been involved in the search at all.

My name is not in there and I'm not involved.

That's a board decision, as far as I know.

The board is looking forward to the end of May.

I think the 25th or so is when they they plan to make an announcement.

I do know Kofi.

He's a good guy.

I don't know the other people.

Do you have any influence in the decision?

No, None.

None?

No.

And I think it should be that way that the board is a governing body.

I work for the board and all the other people in that campus work for the president, And so that's why we work.

So are they really pressing through the financials of these three finalists to make sure that they don't come with the baggage that the previous president came with it, their previous institution?

And are there being thorough checks done?

And do you even know about how much of a food fishery one of these three gentlemen would be for Kentucky State University?

Well, I would say this that that the chair is Tammie Dukes.

She's an auditor.

Okay.

And one thing that what it is, is that that they will turn over the last leaf.

So I have a tremendous amount of confidence in her and her leadership.

And so I don't think that the the the be quiet on this error that was made in the last search will be there this time.

In terms of a person that just did not know not to right fit for the role.

The stakes are higher this time around for the stakeholder as you just mentioned, for the funding future for the for the university.

It has to be right this time.

Would you agree?

Absolutely.

I mean, if I were in the legislature, that's what I would say.

I would say, look, you know, this has been going on for too long and again, because I'm a fiduciary and I believe in and making sure that other people's money is spent properly, I would then say, look, this is a demand notice.

So I understand that I've spent time in the Capitol talking to senators as well as representatives on both sides of the aisle.

And I clearly understand their frustration.

And I also understand what needs to happen on the campus.

And so that's what we've been doing.

We've laid this plan out and and we're going to give this plan.

So it's not just that we're just responding to stuff.

We're giving the plan.

The board already has the plan.

So now the question is, take it or support the individual and let them run down the field with the ball.

You can say my full interview with the interim KSU president, Ronald Johnson, this Sunday, or Johnson, rather, this Sunday on my conversation series Connections at 12 noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central, right here on Katie.

Some environmental groups want the U.S. Forest Service to stop removing trees in a Kentucky forest hit by tornadoes.

And they're not student athletes, but several high schoolers in Western Kentucky recently participated in a signing day ceremony.

We have details on those stories and more as we look at headlines around Kentucky.

A leaky pipe believed to be partly to blame for a critical water shortage in Marion has been repaired.

WKMG reports the leak was drawing water and sludge into the city's main water source, Old City Lake.

Marion's mayor is quoted as saying the pipe leak combined with a sinkhole at the bottom of the dam, likely caused damage to the Lake George Levee.

The Lake George levee had to be breached and drained, leading to a monthslong water shortage in Marion.

W CMS is also reporting that several environmental groups want U.S. Forest Service tornado salvage projects in the land between the Lakes National Recreation Area to cease.

It said that the Kentucky Resources Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and Tennessee Heartwood, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture outlining why projects are initially aimed at clearing trees that were downed and damaged during the 2021 tornado outbreak.

Are harmful for the recreation area and the species that inhabit it.

Debbie CMS said the groups accused the U.S. Forest Service of expanding the salvage projects far beyond the necessary scope to illegally log at the recreation area.

The groups also told WKMG that the biological assessment conducted for the projects was, quote, sloppy and inadequate and left out several species that would be harmed by the projects.

The Forest Service told WKRN it had not received the letter and could not comment, but did release a statement that said in part, quote, The Forest Service believes all life is interdependent and that includes the communities of people that depend on land between the lakes.

As always, we welcome the thoughts and ideas individuals have about how we manage LaBelle's lands and waters, unquote.

The East Kentucky Leadership Foundation handed out awards at its annual conference in Hazard to those who stepped up to help after last year's catastrophic flooding.

Neighbors, heroes and leaders is how the recipients of the East Kentucky Leadership Awards were described, according to the Rural Blog.

Among the recipients, Kate Clemons, who organized free food distribution in not county.

Whitesburg firefighter Charles Red Colwell, who rescued 14 people from floodwaters.

Scott McReynolds and the Housing Development Alliance, which helped preserve and repair homes and placed families in new homes.

And Jerry role in the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, which has raised more than $7 million for flood relief and has written more than 8000 checks to those in need, according to the Rural blog.

Russell said in accepting the award, quote, We're here for you.

We are you.

You are us.

That's what community is.

And quote, Some high schoolers in Warren County have hit pay dirt.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports six high schoolers from both Warren County Public schools and Bowling Green and Dependent Schools signed contracts with local construction companies at the Warren County Area Technology Center.

In an inaugural ceremony that looked more like an athletic signing.

The newspaper said the students signed on the dotted line and got to shake hands with their future bosses.

They are the first crop of students to complete Warren County's Heavy machinery program launched last year as a collaboration between the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, the South Central Workforce Development Board, South Central Kentucky Community and Technical College, the ATC and both local school districts.

The program allows students to earn certifications in heavy machinery, visit construction sites for hands on learning experiences, and get used to a variety of vehicles on a set of simulators.

A statue of a massive stalk of wheat has sprouted up in downtown Hopkinsville.

The Kentucky new era, said the town's newest artistic edition is titled Thank a Farmer.

It was there to showcase the new hours of operation for the city's farmers market.

With headlines around Kentucky, I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you.

Toby Gibbs, We told you yesterday about the passing of Virginia Moore, the sign language interpreter best known for her work during Governor Andy Beshear, has covered news briefings.

She died Saturday.

The governor's office has retweeted the video of Ms.. Moore and Governor Beshear trading places so she could teach Kentuckians the sign language version of one of the governor's familiar phrases.

And what you say every day is we and that's everyone.

That includes that's a circle.

That includes everyone.

We will get through it.

This is a point.

And you go right through it together.

These are individuals and they're together and you will circle it together.

So we will get through it together over time.

One more time we will get through it together.

Thank you.

So as we go through this, we'll learn a little bit each and every day so that all of us can better communicate with all of our brothers and sisters here in the Commonwealth.

She will be missed.

Moore announced she had uterine cancer in October of 2020.

She had a hysterectomy and returned to work about a month later.

The Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is suggesting people make donations and Moore's name to the Kentucky School for the Deaf, Jacobs Hall Museum and the Knowledge Center on Deafness for nearly his entire life.

John Shoffner has wanted to go to space.

That dream is about to come true as the Middlesboro native will be taking the reins of the Dragon capsule as part of Axiom Space's upcoming voyage to the International Space Station as born on an Air Force base.

My dad flew 39 scorpions on the dew line, but I grew up primarily after that in Middlesboro, Kentucky.

I spent my entire adult life there.

It's home.

Most of my family is still there.

They grew up loving space.

We had our own Little Astronauts club when I was eight, nine years old in Middlesboro.

We sit around in cardboard boxes, but that stayed with me my entire life, and I lived close to an airport, so I was always hanging out at the airport and had access to people that flew.

So it was kind of a natural thing extension for me to expect to fly.

And I did.

I started flying when I was 15 and then got my pilot's license.

The moment I was eligible.

I like to joke that I trained in a cardboard box, but now I've upgraded to the Dragon capsule, so it's quite an amazing leap.

Of course, the exposure I had and expectations in spaceflight were what I saw in Gemini and Apollo.

And of course, then the shuttle with 1 million switches and all sorts of things.

The dragon's much different.

It's a very systematic it's all touch screen, it's a completely glass cockpit.

This trip is, is organized by Axiom Space.

They're building the next space station, which will replace the ISIS in eight years or so or six years when the ISIS decommissioned.

We have a really, really tremendous payload of experiments, actual research work by researchers on the ground that need to do orbital microgravity research for stem cells, RNA tissue growth.

We're doing things for brain neurology to understand brain blood flow in the brain, in microgravity.

These are things that will help us not only improve life on earth with science and drugs and different medical procedures, but also how humans can exist long term in space.

We're also demonstrating and testing new technologies for the Axiom Station and for NASA that help us understand how we can operate more efficiently in space.

I'm using the large part of this mission for me to support STEM educational activities so that we can engage the eight, nine, ten year olds like I used to be.

I was a ten year old once.

That love space.

Let's let's teach to that.

Let's help them speak that louder and take their interest in any direction that they want to go.

Shoffner will be the third Kentucky astronaut alongside Story Musgrave and Terence W Wilcox, a Kentuckian, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Barbara Kingsolver grew up in Carlisle and Nicholas County.

She just won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Demon Copperhead.

The Pulitzer committee called the book, quote, a masterful recasting of neighbor David Copperfield set in Appalachia.

And it's a fantastic read.

A Northern Kentucky museum is dedicated entirely to dummies.

Find out more about the world's only ventriloquism museum.

That's tomorrow on Kentucky edition, which we hope to see you for at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

Subscribe to our email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips at KET.org You can find us on the PBS video app on your mobile device on smart TV and send us a story idea.

Public Affairs.

KET.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thank you so very much for joining us tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Take really good care and I'll see you right back here tomorrow night.