♪ ♪ >> The worst is past us.

There was damage, but the storms weren't as bad as they could have been.

>> It's a great gift for me and a wonderful opportunity to get to take people on this trail.

>> It's one of the most famous pilgrimage is in the world.

A young man assumed I'd others on an international journey of endurance and spiritual restoration.

>> I would have never believed what came next.

Things that only happen in dreams.

When I continued walking insolvent glint of gold.

>> Kentucky farmer was looking for arrowheads and found millions of dollars and civil war gold.

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

♪ ♪ Good evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Thursday.

May 9, 1, day to the weekend.

>> Thank you for joining us tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw no deaths, no injuries in Kentucky storms the last 2 days of cause some damage, but they weren't as bad as many feared.

We showed you some of these pictures yesterday of damage at Natural Bridge State Park in Powell County.

There was some damage and other places.

Here's Governor Andy Beshear from earlier today.

>> The worst is past us.

We had 2 days where the National Weather Service described it as the worst forecast that they see during the entire course of the year.

And all in all, we in Kentucky got off pretty lucky.

Well, we did see some damage from the storm.

There were no reports of injuries or fatalities, which is great news.

It's one of the reasons send people early the last 2 days.

It's one of the reasons that we ask everybody to stay.

So weather aware because we made it through a lot of tough weather in the last year.

And we lost one life in the round of 24.

22 to 24 tornadoes in that first week of April.

It could have been a lot worse than it could have been a lot worse last night.

So thank you to Kentucky answer being weather aware.

Thank you to all our meteorologist and weather teams and news teams that are out there on the television on the radio and helping to KET people safe.

>> The governor says 7 counties received at least 3 inches of rain.

He says there were water rescues and 3 counties.

Marion Logan and some sun flash floods washed out a water main in Litchfield in Grayson County that left about 7,000 customers without water.

The city of Litchfield was under a state of emergency today because of weather damage in his news conference.

This afternoon, Governor Beshear said people had to be evacuated from a hospital in Litchfield because of the lack of water.

We called the mayor of Litchfield today who said that was not the case.

>> I'm not sure how they got started.

We did not do any evacuations or 13th inning to get to that point.

We need them to cancel school today because we have a couple schools in the city limits here that use city water, but they didn't cancel school.

We never there were no more evacuations or anything like that.

Well, right now we're back up and we're taking some time to get the water.

I feel back to the tanks, of course.

But at about 9, 30 10 this morning, we did get to the location and the league take.

We're moving in the right direction right now.

We did a tractor trailer load.

Water came in today which said about our fire grounds and people came and get water course.

We have the more water advisory going on hand.

People want something a little mention that they need to make the coffee, you know, so, but right now we're in pretty good shape.

But you say where we get to the be prepared great right now.

There have been several reports of property damage and reeling from the flooding.

But as for injuries, I'm not aware of any mainly we have Alice Barr down the road from the city, about 10 minutes out in the community called in at a at a lightning strike, indeed, a considerable damage to their home, that's the only thing I'm worried that we had any any problem.

We did have some trees across roads and things like that.

But those are are mostly cleared up a good point.

>> Mayor Miller hopes the state of emergency can be lifted by the end of the day.

A popular car made in Kentucky takes another step toward going electric.

Toyota says the new 2025 Camry will be a hybrid.

The company has made the Camry now in its 9th generation at its Georgetown Kentucky plant since 1988 WDRB Business reporter Chris Otts extensively covers the transition of the States auto industry to electric vehicles.

>> And says the news did not come as a surprise.

>> If you think of EVs as being synonymous with Tesla?

Well, when it comes to gas, electric, hybrids, Toyota is really the leader in that space.

You know, more than a 3rd of their cars have these small batteries in them.

And they've been leaning more and more into that.

They have a net commitment to reduce their carbon emissions.

So this is part of that.

Toyota has always said that they're going to be wherever consumers are, wherever the market is, 4 car.

So if that's hybrids, they'll be there.

If that TV's they're going to start making those as well.

And they said that they're not fully ruling out, you know, making regular gas cars anymore.

But it's clear that, you know, most of Toyota's lineup is going to at least we have some kind of small battery in the car.

>> It says the new Camry will still primarily rely on a gas engine but gets good gas mileage of 40 to 50 miles a gallon.

The sedan top several lists as the best-selling car in America.

Lobbyists spent more than ever during the 2024.

Kentucky General Assembly, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports lobbyist spent 9.7 million dollars during the session from January.

First to March 31st.

That tops the old record by $400,000 leading the way utility companies, the Kentucky Association of Electric Co-operative spent $119,000 LG any and Kentucky utilities spent 106,000 Duke energy spent more than 86,000 and East.

Kentucky Power Cooperative, spend more than $79,000.

We have political news tonight from the nation's capital.

Mike Johnson is still the speaker of the House.

As we've reported, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky's 4th district joined Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor, Greene of Georgia to support a motion for Johnson to vacate the speakership.

They accuse him of being too co-operative with Democrats on foreign aid and overall spending grain called for a vote in a surprise move yesterday afternoon, the vote was overwhelming to table that motion, meaning it didn't take place.

Only 11 Republicans voted to consider the motion.

Congressman Massie was one of the 11 Massey posted this after yesterday's vote.

Quote, vacating Kevin McCarthy was a huge mistake.

Every Democrat voted to vacate him because he fought them tooth and nail keeping.

My Johnson has even bigger mistake and overwhelming majority of Democrats, but it to KET him because he's given them everything they want, unquote.

Some homegrown talent is headed to the University of Kentucky men's basketball team coach Mark Pope says Harlan County's Trent NOAA has committed to the Wildcats.

Noah is number 5 on the top scorers list.

Some on Kentucky High school players with more than 3700 total points.

He averaged almost 30 points a game during his senior season.

Harlan County was runner-up and this year's boys basketball tournament, no one had originally committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks.

♪ ♪ Kentucky nonprofit just hosted a free webinar about what some call the immunization crisis.

Speakers at the foundation for a healthy Kentucky's event discussed vaccine hesitancy, how it's affecting immunization rates and how medical professionals and advocates can address it.

When we talk >> The vaccine crisis, you know, what are we talking about?

How and how are we doing in Kentucky?

Well, this is not just the Kentucky issue.

Obviously, this is something that is going on nationwide.

It's really something that's affecting everybody from coast to coast.

And it's not going to take long before we see the effects of falling rates and immunizations.

We're seeing some decrease across the board.

We are significantly below the national average.

We usually come out around 30 between 39 and 46 on most measures.

We used to be a little bit better than the national average and where we're struggling.

Some as far as our written eyes personalized versatile opportunites.

>> We have to continue beating the drum on routine immunization schedules and we can't look away from COVID.

It has to continue to be talked about those personal conversations with that is our opportunity to identify someone's personal battles.

But maybe they have diabetes.

Maybe they're afraid of needles.

The first ties we must integrate trauma, informed care and culturally competent approaches in everything we do opportune ice while we have to be patient with ourselves and each other, we still have to be persistent and consistent.

>> According to the American Academy of Pediatrics as of November 2023, 90% of Kentucky's kindergartners have the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

95% is needed for herd immunity.

Now here's more health news.

The governor's mansion was blue last night.

It was to promote lung cancer awareness.

Lung cancer is the number one type of cancer related deaths in Kentucky.

The University of Louisville says in 2022 Kentucky had the highest death rate from lung cancer in the U.S. experts urge everyone to get regular screenings because an early diagnosis can save lives.

Are you dreaming of a summer vacation?

Plenty of people are including me.

Expedia says searches for summer flights are up.

25% from last year.

And a new federal rule hopes to make flying just a bit less stressful.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is requiring more price transparency and quicker refunds for passengers.

If your flight is significantly delayed or canceled, the airlines will have to promptly refund UN cash instead of offering you vouchers.

Airlines will also have to disclose hidden costs like baggage fees you might pay check in.

We asked Triple-A what all this means for you.

>> If you're just going like.

Really built to Chicago for a business meeting, get maybe you don't want all the tough rules of what could be included in that line ticket.

If you're going for pleasure, really built to California, maybe you do want to check a bag and you want to take a personal item or and you want to see the assignment and such.

But I mean, that's where you'll we'll get to that.

That the traveler that travels a lot.

It's going to notice the difference for the everyday vacation traveler.

I don't think it's going to impact them very much.

>> The federal government says its ruling is a big win for consumers.

Airline lobbyists have said detailing all the costs of a flight will make purchasing a ticket.

More confusing.

♪ >> Last July, a Kentucky Bay Story gained national attention.

A farmer found almost 4 million dollars and gold coins.

It became known as the Great Kentucky Hoard.

KET is airing a special episode of Kentucky Life this Saturday looking exclusively at this story.

Here's a short clip.

>> I initially found the 18 56 seeded liberty, half dollar, probably 20 to 30 feet from where the Ford was located.

I would have never believed what came next.

Things that only happen in dreams.

When I continued walking and saw the glint of gold and Vic Reid had when I pulled the coin from the ground, I was astonished when I realized I was holding a $20 double eagle from the 18 60's.

After I flip the first clump of dirt over the next 45 minutes to an hour.

The coins kept coming.

>> Wow, the coins kept coming.

I'm now joined with the star of Kentucky life to Polston tip.

I know you worked on the story for nearly a year.

You tell me like last July last year when the work on this when this opened up last July that this is tailor made for our show.

Yeah, it couldn't be more perfect.

But it was clear that it was going to be something that was going to take some time because that the principals involved in this.

>> It really wasn't a firestorm of media where they were hearing from New York Times Washington Post, CNN and FOX all the way to the National Enquirer was reaching out to her.

And so I have been fortunate in my previous job.

I had worked with people who had suddenly come into a lot of So I kind of had a feeling how this is going to evolve and needed to wait a little bit.

A little bit of the air come out of the balloon.

So they didn't this vortex.

If they were around with calm down a little bit.

So reached out to a couple the principals involved in an overtime kind of establish their trust.

To the point that now all these months later, we finally get to tell the story.

>> That is awesome.

Or there's 2 main characters.

And the story as the farmer, right?

And then there's the coin dealer.

The record, the sale.

So tell us about them.

And they have not talked publicly.

That's her for even though there was national attention like this from the Enquirer ball source.

Right?

So Jeff Garrett is a coin dealer here in Lexington, who is very much kind of an under the radar guy.

I think it goes of what he does for a living.

But >> he's amazing.

He literally wrote the Encyclopedia of Civil War era Gold coins.

He sits on the board of directors for the Smithsonian Institute.

He's even been on the TV show Pawn stars about a half a dozen times.

Wow.

And Jeff was the first person we reached out to and when Jeff, when he called Jeff that day, he said I've said no to everybody, but I want to talk to you because I trust KET and I know you all will do a good job with this.

So I have over a couple of months, we got him to the point where he was comfortable sitting down and talking to us.

And we really had finished the story probably in October or November.

But I reached back out to him and said, look, the story's pretty well done, but we're missing a big part here.

And that's the farmer.

Yeah, everybody wants to hear from him.

What would it take for us to be able to have contact with he was going to sit down for an interview, tried to see if I could get him on the phone to talk to me for a do want to do And so it went back and forth about what he respond to written questions and it was it was a tap dance.

He was in.

He was out.

He was in.

He was out and finally got to the beginning of January and we haven't heard back from him.

And I said to Jeff, you know, we're going to move on.

We've got the story, but we're just going to move on.

Told him that about noon.

3 o'clock that afternoon.

I get an email from Jeff, the title line of check this out, open it up.

And there's 3 pages of written responses from the farmer all and gave us that the into the story that we really.

>> And of course, we understand to protect his anonymity, right?

I mean, what kind of high stakes and not only is it a big deal because he's just suddenly come into almost 4 million dollars as a result of the sale.

This apart.

I hadn't thought about that, Jeff.

The coin dealer pointed out to me was not only did he want to stay quiet because of the money.

He also didn't want on a Saturday morning to open up his front lines and they're be 70 people with metal detectors and shovels in the U.S..

So, you know there there were a lot of reasons for the person to want to remain quiet, but it would with the conversations as Jeff Related to Timmy Heat, he kept telling the farmer this is something your grandkids can watch some day.

Yeah, your grandkids will be able to learn the story of how this happened to you on K E T because, you know, they'll do a good job telling it.

And it's a remarkable story that and I'm just so excited.

We found.

And so these coins were found in his backyard in his farm field.

So I'm going to tell the story of him going out and walking around.

This was a generational thing for him as we found out, he remembers going out with his grandmother and walking creek beds, finding arrowheads.

They've always walking around looking for things and they had found broken pottery and different things that related back to the civil war on the ground there before.

But never this and the field have been plowed.

And as you heard in that he was out walking.

He saw something that caught his eye picked up a gold coin, started digging in 700 more gold coins.

I mean, that's amazing to first unite.

Get the in tuition like this is not just something sparkling.

That's not worth anything right.

And to KET digging.

And it did the coins just KET calm.

And then to have the where with all, as you saw in the clip to police cell phone out, yeah, and start filming himself and we should say that that was him doing that.

>> Actual video.

You'll see this a couple places in the story.

Actual video of him digging through the dirt and gold coins spilling out and for more, I mean, it's remarkable that one you got the trust to do this when so many others and other realms of our industry could not.

But it speaks to the credibility of UN to Kentucky life.

It says a lot about KET as well.

And again, when I did the initial outreach, they KET that we would do a good job, telling the story.

We were there to sensationalize it.

I didn't want to know where the farmer was really did right.

That was a secondary part of the story to me.

I just wanted the story of what it was like when he made this discovery.

And another part that was interesting that you're here in the story.

He and Jeff here at the coin dealer in the farmer flew to Florida with the coins to get them graded in appraised and ready for sale.

And I ask us and putting to talk about when you're on an when you're carrying almost 4 million dollars in gold coins with you and Jeff got very serious and said we don't talk.

He said we sit in different parts of the plane.

We never acknowledge each other.

There's a lot of security that goes into transporting then.

But that's part of the story that we look at is how this whole thing came to got is cool.

We'll have the coins get in the ground to begin with.

There is a lot of speculation about One of the stories that we tell in the episode of Kentucky Life looks at a group Cole, Morgan's Raiders.

This was a group during the Civil War that really cut a swath of destruction through Ohio, Kentuckyian Indiana.

The data on the coins aligned with win.

Morgan's Raiders were sweeping through Kentucky.

So there is a school of thought that may have been somebody who heard they were coming right and wanted to bury it or this could have been left behind by Morgan's Raiders.

They stole so much stuff.

Yeah, they couldn't carry it so they would bury things as they went.

There are guy we introduce you to 3 guys called the dirt nerds.

They go out looking for buried, treasure and weekend.

They go out and look for caches that Morgan's Raiders left around the state that they have heard rumors out.

This could be tied back to their.

There's a lot of theories on how it ends up in the ground.

And we cover a lot of those show.

What else could be discovered, right?

That's the thing.

Yeah.

And the dirt nerds.

It was fascinating and going out with him because we went out with them when they were looking for treasure one weekend.

And as we were shooting with them, they found a pair of civil war cuff links.

It was remarkable to see them pull this out of the ground.

But what they were telling us was when they go to a house and they start looking around the first thing they asked the property owner is where was the main bedroom and they try to find out where that was.

And then look to where windows were and look out from there.

And that's where they start.

Because once people would bury these things, if they heard something in the middle of the night, they want to get us to be able to look at the blinds and see if there was anybody out there.

So that's where they start, Tristan.

Yeah, it's pass one.

The stories that are connected to the rationale for why these things happen.

That should happen.

That is just as interesting as the actual find itself, right?

The amount of coins that were found there was the equivalent of a yearly salary of 9 certain civil war soldiers.

It was a lot of money that I'm on is a lot of money.

So that tends to lead more credence to the bank robbery.

Yes, Siri of this so bad that there's we at the last part of the story.

We talked to 5 people connected with it.

All 5 have different theories on how it into that.

And this is the whole show, right?

The entire show is that is this about this more in particular thing that we've come across?

We tell you how the coin how we think that point got the ground.

We talked to a great historian at UK about how the banking system in the U.S. really had collapsed at this So it was safer to maybe so your money into your clothing.

She said that's what a lot of people did.

This was so much money was too much to be able to.

So when and and it does so many things that kind of lined up to be able to put him to make the perfect storm for those coins to go in the ground, somebody either forget where they were or maybe it was one of Morgan's Raiders that got killed in a subsequent action that they sat there undisturbed until last year.

This is fascinating.

Chip and kudos to you.

You're now a part of our This this is a fun story to tell and is broke last year.

>> It was tailor made for our show and really wanted to get it for him.

Really happy to their well.

And we're so happy that you've done this work and that you can see this special episode of Kentucky Life this Saturday at 8 Eastern 7 central right here on KET.

And after that, it will live online at KET Dot Org slash Kentucky life.

♪ For centuries people have traveled the Camino De Santiago or the way of Saint James.

It's a legendary Pilger to make pilgrimage across Spain that draws people from all over the world, including right here in Kentucky, Bowling Green College student will lead a group on the route this summer.

Our Laura Rogers caught up with them to learn what makes it so special.

>> I understand at 21 years old that I'm in such a time of learning.

>> John Kline will be a senior this fall at Maryville University and St. Louis.

>> It's really incredible to get to share what I know and share this experience.

>> His summer job, is it like that of most college student and total?

I spent about 50 to 60 days on the Camino.

about that coming on a bomb on the Camino.

I'm as close to God as I ever.

>> And 2021 John and his dad, Dan Klein, a Bowling Green, completed the Camino de Santiago.

This is the most.

>> I have always been very outdoors and adventurous.

Always up for new things.

And so when my dad came, the man was okay.

Let's walk across the entire country of Spain.

I was like.

>> Timing up.

We're going to see John Com or through the months she spent 36 days hiking 550 miles of physical, emotional and spiritual journey.

That leads to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela when Jesus and his disciples out.

Saint James went to Spain.

And he's buried and Santiago.

And so people across Europe will leave from their doorstep and make a pilgrimage out to his tomb and something on.

>> John went back the next year and this summer he will do so again.

Leading a group of 8 others on the journey going on.

This is more of.

>> Kind of a welcome talents like an adventure.

The minimalist approach, just a backpack, WKU associate professor Heather Strode and her son Tucker will join John's group on the Camino.

Don has been a wealth of knowledge and the trip will be even more special by the fact that John Tucker and Evan, another young man on the journey are lifelong friends.

They played Little League Baseball together as children.

Sometimes.

I think we're afraid to do things that.

>> Kind of scare us a little bit for the unknown.

The unknown taking place some 4,000 miles from home described as a transformative adventure.

That's a different experience for everyone.

>> Saying 100 different people 100 different coming out of so some people may 10, the entire Camino were staying and a mix of our days in hospitals.

>> Crossroads of cultures connecting people from around the globe to you as reflected in one of John's favorite photographs.

There are a group of pilgrims along too.

>> Big dinner tables.

And just in that picture, there's over 12 countries represent.

>> We can just pick up there and KET going making connections with people from all over the world walking, getting to share just parts of their lives, learning about each other's cultures.

I'm so excited to bring that back.

Heather already thinking about going back this time.

She and her son will be on the track for 2 weeks covering 150 miles, but hoping Monday to return to complete the journey.

Time is something that you can ever get back.

And that's why they want to wait on this trip.

I wanted to go in and experience and it's easy to say I'll do it some other time.

But I didn't want to wait on this one for Kentucky edition called upon us.

Yeah, I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Thank you, Laura.

The group leased for Spain tomorrow.

Once on the Camino, they'll cover a half marathon a day for a couple of weeks with just a backpack.

You can KET up with their journey on Facebook.

So travels to them now they can make you itch and they can make you sick.

>> It seems like too much becoming more and more common in Kentucky.

>> We've got some TikTok tomorrow and how you can KET them off of you.

Tomorrow night on Kentucky edition, which we hope you'll see you for at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central where we inform connect and inspire.

You can connect with us all the ways you see on your screen there, Facebook, X and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Some U.S. a story idea and public affairs at KET Dot Org and look for us on the PBS app that you can download on your smart device and foam.

Thanks again for joining us.

We got inside Kentucky politics tomorrow night.

Casey Parker Bell will be here instead of me.

I hope you have a great weekend to comment.

I will see you Monday night.

Take care.

♪ ♪