The state sees record breaking turnout for early voting.

We'll tell you how many Kentuckians cast their ballots before Election Day and which party had the highest turnout.

For our family, that meant we had to basically go home, make memories.

A Kentucky family trying to bring others hope by sharing their painful journey through pediatric cancer.

The vision of this mission is expansion.

A homeless shelter in northern Kentucky marks 40 years of service.

The changes it's planning and the years ahead.

The experience of helping the kids with a holiday by providing gifts is terrific.

And a local nonprofit is looking to bring some holiday cheer to some Fayette County children.

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

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this brand new week.

It's a monday, November, the fourth day before Election Day.

I'm Rene Shaw.

Thank you for spending some of your Monday night with us.

Election day is tomorrow, but the polls will be or could be less crowded.

After hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians took advantage of early voting on Sunday, Secretary of State Michael Adams posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that close to 800,000 Kentuckians have already voted in the 2024 general election.

He says that includes the absentee ballots received so far, along with in-person excused absentee voting and early voting.

Friday saw the highest number of early voters with almost 230,000 turning out to cast their ballots.

Thursday had the second highest, with more than 225,000, and Saturday numbers dropped to 200,000.

More than three and a half million Kentuckians are eligible to vote in the general election, according to the Kentucky State Board of Elections.

Of those who voted early, Adams posted, 52% were Republicans, 40% Democrats, and 7% were registered independents.

Adams also congratulated Anderson County, saying it topped all counties in early voting, with 41% of its registered voters casting their ballots.

Second place went to Bullitt County with 34%.

A robust early voting turnout could signal a better than usual overall voter turnout, says Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.

He talked about his expectations for tomorrow when he visited our studios at the end of last week.

So it's a little early to predict, but my gut is that we'll have about 5% absentee, about 30% early and about 65% Election Day.

So I think the lines will be longer in terms of more people voting on Election Day relative to 2020 and 2020.

27%, roughly, of the electorate voted on Election Day.

The rest voted absentee or early.

But to put that in perspective, we only had a few hundred voting locations on Election Day 2020 because of COVID.

Now we have most of our precincts open.

I think they're all open in Jefferson.

They're open in Fayette, They're largely open elsewhere.

We have voting centers, so we have a much better array of places for people to vote.

So the lines shouldn't be problematic, is my expectation.

What is your expectation for overall turnout for this general election cycle?

I think it will be a tick above where we were in 2020.

Nationally, 2020 was the highest turnout since 1908 was pretty, pretty significant.

I think it'll be higher national I'm not ready to make a projection yet, but I think we'll be higher than we were.

We had 2.1 million voters vote at that time.

I think will be higher than that.

Talk about the registration numbers that you often put out about where we are trending when it comes to Republican, Democrat or independent, which seems to be a pretty fast growing population when it comes to the electorate.

Well, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters pretty consistently.

There are occasional months where they might muster a net gain of a few hundred here or there, but otherwise they lose hundreds or thousands every single month.

Republicans consistently grow by a pretty good clip, but the biggest growth is with the independents and others, especially among the youngest voters.

The first time voters.

They don't want to belong to either party.

And so we've got two parties and they're very much different from each other.

But really, neither is growing.

It's people in the middle who are growing.

Now the state is taking proactive steps to make sure everything goes smoothly as Kentuckians vote tomorrow.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talked about that during his news conference last Thursday as your governor.

My duty is to ensure that every Kentuckian feel secure in casting their vote free from fear or worry.

To that end, we're going to take an extra step this year in that Kentucky Emergency Management will activate our state Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, November 5th, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Now, let me emphasize this is not because we foresee issues in Kentucky.

Rather, it's we want to be fully prepared and ready.

That's our job day in and day out.

This is a step many states across the nation are taking.

And it's just a shared commitment for a safe and secure election.

So after the polls close tomorrow, join us for a complete election returns and analysis from a panel of longtime Kentucky election experts and political pundits.

Our coverage begins at eight Eastern, seven Central on Katie two.

Later tonight, we'll discuss the 2024 campaign and what to expect tomorrow with a panel of veteran political observers from both parties.

You'll see that tonight on Kentucky tonight, which, of course, is at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

There is last minute campaigning going on in the race to replace long time Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Senate Republicans will vote on November 13th to pick McConnell successor after he announced earlier this year he'll be stepping aside as GOP leader.

McConnell held the post for almost two decades.

The Republicans looking to take his spot.

South Dakota's John Thune, who is the Senate minority whip, John Cornyn of Texas and Florida Senator Rick Scott, have been campaigning mostly behind closed doors.

Thune and Cornyn are considered the front runners, though most senators have not said who they are backing.

During an appearance last month in Bowling Green, Senator McConnell commented on the two top contenders vying to replace him.

We've got a vigorous contest between two of our outstanding members, and I think the competition will be just fine no matter which one with the winner could be the next Senate majority leader.

If Republicans win back the Senate in tomorrow's election.

A federal jury has convicted a former Kentucky detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor the night she was shot to death by police officers in 2020.

The 12 member jury returned the verdict late Friday night after clearing Brett Hankinson earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors.

Taylor was fatally shot by other officers.

A separate jury deadlocked on similar charges last year, forcing a mistrial.

It was the first conviction of a Louisville police officer involved in the deadly raid.

The death of Taylor sparked racial injustice, protests nationwide.

The conviction against Hankinson carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

He'll be sentenced in March of next year.

Kentucky State police are investigating the death of a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife trainee.

State police say 24 year old William Tex Bailey died on Friday during a training exercise at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Game Warden Academy in Barron County.

State police say a preliminary investigator indicated Bailey suffered a medical emergency.

Bailey was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, where he played football for four years.

Over the weekend, a procession that included Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama Fish and Wildlife game wardens helped transport Bailey's body from Louisville to his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama.

More trouble for Kentucky's largest addiction recovery provider.

The Kentucky Lantern reports that a RC, which stands for Addiction Recovery Care, laid off more than 100 employees last week.

That brings the total number of workers let go since September to more than 320.

The company says the layoffs are due to cuts in Medicaid, reimbursements for addiction and mental health services.

Meanwhile, the FBI continues to investigate HRC for a possible Medicaid fraud.

HRC has not been charged and says it's cooperating with the investigation.

Fairhaven Rescue Mission in Covington is a Christian homeless shelter for men in the greater Cincinnati area.

This year, the organization is celebrating four decades of service.

Its leaders say there has been a lot of change and a lot of growth over the years.

But their mission of loving others, steadfast.

So in the last 40 years.

The mission historically has been a men only organization where we would help homeless, destitute men, you know, by feeding them and providing overnight shelter and a long term recovery program.

So the our greatest growth here of late have been the fact that we we now offer dinner to the community seven nights, 365 men, women, kids, families.

We have changed recently to to a full service case management program that is a two part program where the first six months is job skills training, walking alongside with with training, education.

And the second part of that, we assist with funding career oriented jobs.

And at the end of that second six months, we we are heavily involved in assisting them with finding permanent sustainable housing.

I was homeless.

That's the reason I'm in this organization.

But it's the second organization like this that I was in and a I completed the 12 months and now I'm going to do 12 months a year.

I've been here probably about maybe over 30 days, and I started let me come in and help.

And that really I love coming in and help set the tables up for the homeless people.

The vision of this mission is expansion.

We do receive calls for assistance for women with children with no place to go, and even men with children with no place to go.

And at this point we can provide case management for them.

But we do not have facilities for for overnight care or a long term residential recovery program.

And I believe that's that's the future.

That's where it's going, that we will be able to help women and help women with kids and men with children to keep families together.

I recommend anybody come in here.

I've learned so much and I'm not hurt and I'm done that much.

But what I'm around and exposed to, I love the staff.

There's not a staff member that I don't love here.

I mean, I just and it just seems like we're all one big family.

We all tell each other, you know, hey, and and just respect one another.

And I like that environment.

Homelessness is nondiscriminatory.

It can happen to anyone.

So having that realization and coming in and maybe getting to know some names and to hear some stories in the walks that people have walked.

It touches the heart and it touches the lives of other members of the community as well.

Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God with with everything you have.

And the second one is just to love people as you love yourself.

So the legacy of this mission is to love people.

And in loving people, we spread the message of Jesus Johnson says.

Fairhaven Rescue Mission also provides case management management services for non residents.

A Lexington nonprofit is hoping to bring some Christmas cheer to children and Fayad County's family court system, CASA of Lexington's Angel Tree event gives community members a chance to send gifts to children who may not otherwise get any.

For our 21st year of the Casa Angel Tree kickoff in partnership with McBrayer.

I mean, a lot of things don't happen for 21 years.

I think that's worth some applause.

So many of you know, we are here to light the plaza angel tree that's behind me and to bring some much needed light and happiness to the children that we serve through CASA.

Many of them have suffered more in a few short years of life than many of us will ever experience in our lifetimes.

So Carson stands for court appointed special Advocate, and we use train and supervise volunteers known as Casas to advocate for abused, neglected children in the court system.

My year volunteering with CASA has been terrific.

It has provided me an opportunity to help a young man grow.

Gives me a chance to try to help another person.

So here in Fayette County, every year over 8000 children enter the system that have substantiated cases of abuse and neglect.

That means they made it to court and it's met the court criteria to actually be abuse and neglect and that every year.

So at any given time, there's probably close to 3000 children in Fayette County alone that are victims of abuse and neglect.

And in the court system, CASA of Lexington serves a seven county area, Fayette Bourbon, Woodford, Scott, Jasmine Garrett and Lincoln Casa Angel Tree Kickoff.

It's an opportunity for community members to come and select a child that is a class-A advocated child from the tree and inside that child has listed some of their needs.

Maybe it's a winter coat, maybe it's underwear, maybe it's pants.

As we head into the winter season.

But also, they get to list some of their wishes.

So that could be a bicycle or a Barbie doll or a football.

You know, the experience of helping the kids with a holiday by providing gifts is terrific.

And it allows the volunteer to go out and think about that child.

It's to gives them a chance to provide something directly that that kid is specifically asked for.

It's it's a wonderful thing for someone.

And I strongly encourage anyone to volunteer to help these CASA kids by providing gifts.

They can do that here in Lexington or around central Kentucky.

According to CASA, almost 2500 children have received gifts through the Fayette County Angel Tree program in the last 20 years.

A Louisville family has documented their heartbreaking three year battle with a rare and curable form of pediatric cancer.

They say they are sharing their story to raise awareness and bring hope to others facing the same very difficult journey.

More in today's medical news.

Carter was the most confident, brave kid that I've ever met.

He just when he wanted to love something like the color pink, he didn't care what anybody thought about it.

And even if you would tell him something like, I think you might get picked on or teased or joked with.

And he's like, I don't care.

Kyler Buckner loved video games, telling jokes and spending time outside with his family.

His mom, Kristen, describes him as brave a trait that would serve him well as his health began to decline.

Kyler was starting to have headaches in the third grade, so I kept an eye on him and I thought maybe he was just growing into his body and his something because his brother had started getting headaches about the same age.

I took him to the doctor because his headaches hadn't really.

They had consistently stayed the same.

She said, Has his face always looked uneven?

Like one side looked a little different than the other side?

And I said, Well, I mean, he's looked like that for a little while.

I just thought it was a part of his growing.

The neurological tests taken that day showed nothing concerning.

However, Kyler symptoms only got worse as time went on.

During a family camping trip, his personality started to change and his balance got so bad that he couldn't walk.

Kristen took him straight to the hospital, thinking he'd had a stroke.

They said, We're going to take them back immediately.

Took them back, did an MRI, did a CT scan, and said he had a mass and bleeding on the brain.

So at this point, we didn't know what was going on.

The next days, when he was diagnosed with IPG, which is a fuze intrinsic Pontine glioma, it's like a really long type of tumor.

It's on your brain stem.

It's terminal and diagnosis.

There is absolutely no cure for our family.

That meant we had to basically go home, make memories.

Tyler would go through 35 rounds of radiation and four rounds of trial treatments in California, but his symptoms continued to worsen.

By February 2020, he could no longer see eat or walk on his own.

There was nothing else we could do because even radiation wouldn't improve his symptoms.

It would only basically keep him from possibly worsening.

And then in March, he passed away and he was nine years old.

Kristen says a lack of resources and information on Dipg made her family's battle against the disease even more difficult.

She didn't want other families to experience the same challenge, so she asked Kayla's uncle, a filmmaker, to help her create a documentary.

The movie's called 499 Days because that's how many.

That's how long we had with him from the day of diagnosis to the day that he ultimately passed.

And, you know, for the last he passed in March of 2021.

And really, we reeled in all of the sadness and grief that came from that exhale a little bit.

And I think it was about a year later we really started putting together a plan for the first actual interviews.

And who were we going to talk to and where were we going to go, and what was the best approach for telling his story.

But but, you know, telling it through his lens.

But ultimately, like with the goal of moving the needle on pediatric cancer care, treatment options, funding and research, all of that sort of things.

Kristen says childhood cancer is deeply underfunded.

According to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, only 4% of government funding for cancer research is directed towards treating childhood cancers.

We were told that we would possibly be one of three families that year, that we're told that our child had dipg at that hospital, that only 350 children ish in the United States would be diagnosed with Dipg in a year.

So incredibly rare.

Kristen and Jami Hope, this documentary will make more people aware of this rare disease and be a source of hope for those families who are affected by it.

Kristen has got this wonderful quote that she talks about.

It's something I'll paraphrase something along the lines of, you know, remember your struggle and tell your story because one day it'll become someone else's survival guide or telling Kayla's story.

But we're also trying to create this resource, this survival guide for folks to know there's community out there.

People are working on this.

You can help with this as a mom, you know, you never expect to lose your child.

You never expect to lose your child to something as devastating as a terminal brain tumor or cancer.

And I'm hoping that I get to have my son live on forever for other people to get to meet him.

And even though I don't get to watch him grow up, I don't get to have more memories with him.

These memories that I do have are everything to me.

And I want other people to know how wonderful he was and how beautiful the child he was and how kind and funny and just just wonderful a human being that he was because he was just the most beautiful, wonderful, kindest, bravest kid I've ever met.

Our thanks to Mackenzie Spink for that story.

And you can find out more about the documentary entitled 499 Days by going online to Louisville Film Society dot org.

Louisville's Frazier History Museum is celebrating 20 years this year.

It's Kentucky's largest history museum, and it goes far beyond Jefferson County.

Our Kelsey Starks takes a closer look.

And this week's Inside Louisville, Number one cool Kentucky counties, 120 cool Kentucky counties is going to go on the road.

So we're right now seeking funding for a big sprinter van.

And we can take this exhibit that's downstairs and take it to county fairs and 4th of July celebrations and schools and libraries will ideally have a staff that can schedule that and take this thing on the road.

Because when you when you go to one county, they're not only telling their story, but they're learning about the county next door in the county over here.

So it shares all of those stories about Kentucky.

So I'm really excited about that.

I think when we take it on the road, we'll even gather more people and more followers.

And, you know, we just gave away a free membership to five different Kentucky counties because they secured as many emails.

Those are people that we now speak to and can share the brand.

That's the idea, like, hey, come here, learn about Kentucky.

They know who we are.

We mean something to them.

My little simple goal is to mean more to more people every day feeling how more can we bring the community?

And so they have ownership in the Frazier that they want to be part of it, that they look to us That boy they're they're innovative.

They're they bring community and they're moving forward.

They're trying to not just tell history, but bring us into it to be inclusive, to make sure everybody feels ownership in the Frazier and what we're doing that they see themselves here.

To me, it's sometimes when you go to museums, you don't see yourself there.

You might not feel like the space is for you.

I hope we've changed that, where people feel like they're part of us and see themselves here reflected somehow.

You can learn more about that and the newest exhibit, Flashback, a look at significant news events through the media by going online to eat.

Dawg Well, you'll find this week's episode of Inside Louisville.

We have some interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky's Capitol buildings, and the birth of bourbon.

Our Toby Gibbs looks back at this week in Kentucky history.

Lawmakers met in the Wilkinson House, later known as Love House, on November 4th, 1793, the first time the General Assembly met in Frankfurt.

It was the state's second temporary capitol.

The first had been a log home in Lexington.

Fire burned the Kentucky Capitol Building on November 4th, 1824.

The state's second permanent capitol building had been in use eight years.

The fire destroyed the building's main section and West Wing.

The East Wing was spared.

Kentucky native Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd of Lexington on November 4th, 1842, in the Springfield, Illinois, home of Mary Todd's sister, Elizabeth Lincoln won the presidency on November 6th, 1860, defeating Democrat Stephen Douglas.

Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and Constitutional Union candidate John Bel.

Here's more Lincoln news.

President William Howard Taft visited LaRue County, Lincoln's birthplace, on November 9th, 1911, to dedicate a memorial to the 16th president.

It's believed Elijah Craig of Bourbon County distilled bourbon whiskey for the first time on November 8th, 1789.

And that's what was happening this week in Kentucky history.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you.

Toby Gibbs.

They are a group twice as likely to become homeless than other Americans.

But there are growing efforts to make sure our veterans don't end up on the streets.

You'll get that story tomorrow on Kentucky Edition.

We'll tell you about a program that's helping Kentucky vets keep a roof over their heads.

You do not want to miss that story and so much more tomorrow at 630 Eastern, 530 Central on Kentucky Edition, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

And, of course, our election coverage tonight and tomorrow.

You don't want to miss that either.

And you can keep up with all that's happening on E.T.

by logging on to our social media channels.

Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram, to stay in the loop about all the happenings here.

And we welcome you to send us a story idea to public affairs at Ket Dawg and look for us on the PBS app.

Or you can download that on your smart device on your tablet.

And we appreciate so much you joining us tonight on Kentucky tonight.

Make sure you tune in and then a couple of hours or less from now at eight Eastern, seven Central will, we're talking about the 2024 election.

We've got some great pundits who are going to break it all down and what they expect in the Kentucky results.

That's tonight at eight Eastern.

Thanks very much for watching.

I'm Rene Shaw, and I'll see you in just a bit.

Take good care.