>> Louisville looked apocalyptic last night.

♪ >> Kentucky mourns after a deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville and investigators began their search for answers about what went wrong we're hearing about snap every day in the news.

Who's on it and how does it work?

>> We said the best outcome as we canceled the event.

But here we are.

>> As the federal government shutdown drags on, what's being done to help civilian workers at Fort Campbell get the help they need.

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

♪ ♪ Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION for this Wednesday, November, the 5th.

>> I'm Renee Shaw and our Louisville studios downtown.

And we thank you for spending some of your Wednesday night with us.

The death toll is now up to 11, including a child after yesterday's fiery crash at a UPS plane at Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville.

And tonight, the rescue operation is transitioning to a recovery operation.

The NTSB now says the plane's left wing caught fire and an engine fell off during takeoff.

That plane was loaded with fuel for a long trip from the UPS hub to Honolulu.

The smoke could be seen for miles.

The crash forced the airport and other businesses to close as well as Jefferson County Public Schools today, the airport is now open again and school will resume tomorrow.

Our June Leffler brings us the latest from Louisville.

>> Skies are finally clear in Louisville after a miles wide bloom of smoke covered much of the city the night before.

A cargo plane crashed and exploded at the UPS World port around 05:15PM, Tuesday.

>> Louisville looked apocalyptic last night of debris falling in every neighborhood.

People trapped in their homes.

For the families who lost someone.

Who won't be coming home.

Who are the victims that have tragically perished in this crash.

The coroner or the Jefferson County kernel Corner head.

He's been at the scene is back at the scene today.

And as soon as we have that we will amplify the information.

>> Nearly 40 fire crews from as far as Lexington responded to the blaze.

Wednesday, a smaller crews on site responding to hazards and searching for victims.

>> I don't know how many victims were actually looking for.

Thats one of the issues and the debris zone is so large.

Some of that debris is going to have to be moved and search underneath.

So it will take us quite a while.

>> Crews are contending with large industrial debris from the crash site and nearby damaged businesses.

Petroleum, recycle business that race there that created some issues for us.

The old that was stored there came across the roadways, got into waterways and misty's on scene taking care that some businesses where you could go and pull apart from scrap vehicles so large, same eyes that are in there and multiple multiple luckily, some other businesses were spared a local restaurant that is right there that we had great concern would be impacted and we would lose whoever was then it was missed and now is helping.

The search and rescue are grateful for them.

Another blessing is this plane could have potentially had a major Ford factory or the convention center.

Those are all close by and did not.

>> Governor Beshear declared a state of emergency to request federal disaster funds and he has set up a fund for victims.

>> Remember the first thing that we pay for out of these funds are funerals.

>> The National Transportation Safety Board is on site investigating the crash.

>> 28 people from the NTSB are here on the ground.

Plus the support network back in Washington, D.C., they are going to analyze absolutely every bit of what happened.

We're talking about everything that is manmade.

That is machine-made.

That is environmental.

The NTSB is going to go over with a fine tooth comb.

>> Other updates flights are underway at Louisville's Airport.

The one runway is closed, causing some delays and cancellations.

Those living within a quarter mile of the site are to shelter in place as the city continues to monitor the air and the Federal Aviation Administration request no one fly drones near the site at this time for Kentucky edition.

I'm June Leffler.

Thank you so much.

June U.S.. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who is from Louisville.

>> Talked about the crash today on the U.S.

Senate floor.

>> But the people are grateful where the issue, a lot of s*** average.

Of our first responders.

From local police far.

And the and the interest.

And a prayer of their fellow Americans.

I want them to know that there are represented here in Washington to make ensure that every federal resources they need.

On the ground.

And then there was a show.

>> A number of state lawmakers from Louisville are also commenting on the crash and a bipartisan by Kamrel statement.

They said in part, quote, the tragic crash at the Louisville Airport has shaken our community and our hearts are heavy as we continue to learn more about what happened in moments like these mobile shows its strength by supporting one.

Another offering comfort and standing together in faith and compassion and quote.

More than a dozen people were injured in the crash.

They were all treated at local hospitals.

2 remain in critical condition in intensive care units at University of Louisville Hospital.

That's where we find our Kelsey starts.

Kelsey.

>> UPS is Louisville's largest employer and playing some 26,000 people.

So as you can imagine, everyone in this community somehow knows someone who is part of the UPS family.

So this community has truly been rocked by this tragedy.

Right now.

We're told there are still 2 patients in critical condition at University of Louisville hospital's burn unit here.

And we talked to Dr Jason Smith earlier about the range of injuries they have had to treat here in just the past.

24 hours and how they prepare for situations just like this one.

>> We've seen a burns, obviously based upon the fire.

And we've seen those from being very severe to to minor.

We've seen blast injuries from the explosion itself.

We've also seen some some shrapnel injuries where find pieces of debris have hit either.

Bystanders are people in relatively close proximity to the accident when it occurred.

So really a game of that as well as conditions that were exacerbated from the smoke and all the other things that came into the hospital but were treated code yellow as our internal term for disaster preparedness.

So we actually drill very consistently both with the local EMS and the local police as well as internally for management of disasters.

Since we are the trauma response hospital for the area in the region.

That allows us to mobilize all of our staff.

And so, for example, last evening we were able to KET staff on premises or call staff in in case we had a number of casualties, particularly early on.

We didn't know the type of airplane that might have crashed in.

So, you know, thinking your worst case scenario if it was a massive passenger airplane, you can talk hundreds 100's of casualties.

And so we would stand up all of our capabilities in order to treat those patients as well as work with the local providers to say, hey, other hospitals can help and how can we support those hospital with knowledge as well as other help that we can provide?

When something like this occurs?

And you really don't know the extent of the injuries.

You always think worst case scenario.

So for this, we brought in everything that we possibly could to the hospital and the health care system at large.

We placed all of our hospitals on standby for disaster alerts so that we could be able to to afford whatever care was needed.

And then as the night progressed and we saw that there were fewer and fewer casualties coming in, we were able to kind of draw that down a bit and get back to normal operations.

So our staff is phenomenal.

I think it talks to the level and can dedication of our staff even before we declared a disaster alert.

When people started seeing this on social media where the news and we didn't know what was occurring.

We had folks really starting to come back in and they were staging.

They said I'm in the parking lot in my car call.

If you need me.

I'm in the cafeteria.

I came back into work.

I think that just talked to that to that occasion of the people here you about health like this is what we do.

This is why we're here.

We're here to serve the community.

It's a role that we take very seriously.

And we're honored to be a part of.

>> In fact, once a year the hospital trains score a massive disaster drill where they pinpoint and tweak their procedures and their last one happened just about a month ago where they did a simulated plane crashed.

Real Renee, back to you.

>> Thank you, Kelsey for that.

We will continue to follow this story throughout the week as we get more information about the investigation and those injured.

♪ ♪ In other news, it's day 36 of the federal government shutdown.

A new record this morning, President Donald Trump said the shutdown was a big reason why many Republicans were defeated yesterday in several key elections across the country.

Democrats won governors races in New Jersey and Virginia.

Trump is once again calling on senators to get rid of the filibuster, which would remove the 60 vote threshold to pass most legislation.

The shutdown has prompted the Trump administration to stop funding for the SNAP program.

Better known as food stamps.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency over that last Friday.

Today he announced new action to help Kentucky's food banks deal with extra requests for food.

>> That authorized the Kentucky National Guard.

The best guard in the country to assist in staffing food banks as needed.

What this means is that every dollar we're providing to the food banks can go towards purchasing the food and that we can provide the extra staffing that's needed as they see a surge of families coming in that will help ensure feeding Kentucky in their partner food banks can focus on distributing meals without the hardships of finding additional staff.

That's a federal shutdown continues.

We're also thinking about all the ways the federal workers face hardships and we're doing what we can to help.

One way we're doing this is by urging insurance providers to continue coverage for federal workers so they don't lose that coverage.

More than 23,000 Kentucky families are experiencing a loss of income due to the shutdown.

Something that is no fault of their own.

Remember, many have not been paid since.

Mid-October is incredibly unfair for them to fear losing coverage on top of concerns about paying rent, well, groceries or doctor's appointments.

>> We've talked a lot about snap in recent days.

The Federal Food stamp program that helps more than 40 mil 40 million Americans.

And about 600,000 Kentuckians put food on the table.

But how much do you know about snap?

Like who's eligible, who's getting help?

And how much help do they get?

Our June Leffler is back with those answers.

>> For some edge and under Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal and later made into law by Congress and Lyndon B Johnson in 1964, the entitlement program known as food stamps has been around for decades.

The program is meant to help farmers, grocery stores.

And of course, Americans facing hunger today.

SNAP recipients make up nearly 13% of Kentuckians more than a 3rd of whom are children.

The average household received $344 in SNAP last month.

Last year, Kentucky answer received on average $6.20 per day and snap benefits totaling more than 1 billion dollars in 2024. while these recipients live everywhere, many are concentrated in eastern Kentucky, according to a march analysis, McCreary County had the highest rate of SNAP participation while Oldham County had the lowest rate, these recipients use EBT cards which the state loads money on too.

Once a month, these cards can be used at participating retailers like grocery stores and even some corner stores online shops and farmers markets.

So who qualifies for snap?

A single person making $20,000 a year likely qualifies.

So would a couple with 2 kids making just above $41,000 a year.

Snap also looks at a household's net income.

That's the money left after pain, essential bills like rent utilities and childcare costs, households must meet both gross and net income limits.

Not just one or the other their other stipulations for SNAP recipients.

They must be citizens or certain legal permanent residents, able-bodied adults without dependents must work 20 hours a week for long-term benefits, though those without work can still receive temporary assistance recipients can only have so much money in cash and savings.

Very low-income Kentucky ends can be fast-tracked for benefits if they make less than $150 a month if their income does not cover their monthly bills or if they're quote, destitute migrants are seasonal farm workers.

Those snap is a federal program.

It is administered by the state.

You can apply online or at one of the State Department for community-based services offices like this one in Louisville, all successful applicants will eventually wind up at one of these offices for required in-person interview for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Jim Leffler.

♪ >> Time now for our Reporter's Notebook.

What we talk about some interesting developments happening in Kentuckyian we have Sylvia Goodman, who is the state Capitol reporter for Kentucky Public Radio.

Thank you for being with us for a few minutes.

But to be here, you had a busy day will say by covering the UPS disaster.

And so thank you for your service and helping to tell that story.

But you've also done some incredible work recently on snap and that is really dominated the headlines as of late.

And you've been visiting food banks.

Tell the viewers what your story has unveiled.

Sure.

I mean, this is there's a reason why to begin the headlines in Kentucky loans roughly 600,000, Kentuckians.

I mean, that that shift month to month.

That's why you hear sometimes over sometimes under.

But it's it's about one in 8, Kentucky's, which is roughly the same thing is that the national average is.

>> And I went to food banks mostly here in Louisville.

But I also talked to food banks all across the state in Appalachia and some of the counties that have the highest rates of people rely on food stamps.

People, you know, really just all over the place.

And I heard basically the same thing was that food pantries are gearing up.

And I think that this week has show that they were right to gear up.

A lot of people having to turn to food pantries when you know, they're expecting at the beginning of the month or towards the beginning of the month to get their regular food allowance of that supplements for most people, their of their existing salaries are their existing food allowance.

Didn't have that.

They were able to make that grocery budget and they had to rely on food pantry.

So they were just really bracing for for an avalanche of of additional people.

And a lot of them are quite scared that they just wouldn't be able to support their communities.

>> So it seems so confusing, Sylvia, about okay.

The judges ruled you gotta do this.

The president said and then came had a tweet or post on X something about I'm not going to do this because of the Democrats in the shutdown.

So are people getting those benefits now?

Where does that stand for my understanding, at least in Kentucky, people are not yet getting their benefits and the way I know that or have reason to believe that is I'm in a lot of different Facebook groups.

Yes, like that.

For people who?

>> Who are talking to each other about their benefits and they say that their count bounces still, you know, one $1.0, dollars, whatever they're at right now and the the the whole saga you're talking about, right?

The judge did say you have to use your contingency funds to fund this.

Tell us your plan to do that by Monday.

And the Trump administration says, yes, we will do that will funded by basically about half about 50% of snap because that's what they had in one of these continued see finds that was specific to snap.

However, it's unclear.

What the status of that is a little bit because the president did send out that tweet that it simply said we're not going to spend any of our contingency funds until the government is an shut down.

But I believe that Caroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the president was referring to down the road and that they would be sending out these contingency funds.

So I think we're really just kind of waiting on pins and needles here for the state to actually get that money say they've received that money and start processing it.

Bashir has committed to processing that as quickly as possible.

Usually they get this money, you know, a little bit in advance of the right.

Have it all set up and ready.

It can take up to a couple weeks.

I don't know exactly how long the timeline here at the Kentucky right there probably have set up a lot of plans to get that money out faster.

You're hoping that's the case.

But as of right now, my understanding is that at least most people have not yet received that benefit.

And wow.

And so here we are.

It is November the 5th, a brand-new mobbed.

And when they say have half of the money, so that means a household would get half when they do release at half of what they would normally would get.

That is my understanding.

Yes, you know, there's a little bit of question of exactly how that formula would work.

But I think what the Beshear administration leases telling people is that you we have received half that funding.

Yeah, and that you will get a reduced benefit in response, right?

So to be interesting to see how families make that half go home.

If I had to guess they're going to rely on food banks.

And that's the whole point is that the food banks in our the food banks are done it.

Do they have enough supply to meet the demand?

I think it depends on where you are in the state.

I've heard some really positive, really wonderful things for people here in Louisville that they are getting an increase in donations that people are paying attention.

But they are reading past the headline and they're thinking, how can I help out?

I think that there are some areas the state that's not the case.

Now, there is some state assistance going out ad Governor Beshear said that he would put 5 million dollars.

He is putting 5 million dollars into food pantries feeding Kentuckyian bright color to try to bolster them and they actually distribute to the dealer back when exactly.

So there's a several his regional organizations that basically their hubs, they buy food, they get commodities from the government.

Also and they distribute them to all the regional to these local food banks.

I mean, all these local food banks, many of them around and really been a small operation.

They have looked to one staff member, right?

They feed hundreds of people and it's because they get these commodities from these regional organizations.

But they also many of them have told me that especially recently they've had to buy a lot more food themselves, just rely on local donations.

And today the governor said what when it comes to the Kentucky National Guard and food banks?

Well, I was gonna pay really close attention that the governor said without a lot of details yet that he's going to be sending to Kentucky guard in 2 food banks to help out in some way.

I haven't heard necessarily this call before from food banks directly that they're asking for that type of assistance.

But I'm I'm very curious to see how that will pan out.

How that yeah, kind of planned out.

Yeah.

We'll have to wait Could become a mentor for yeah.

Back in to tell us.

Sylvia Goodman, thank you for all the incredible work you're doing.

Giving us a few minutes today.

There are no problem.

The government shutdown directly affects federal employees.

They're placed on temporary unpaid leave or have to work without getting paid until the shutdown is over.

>> There is a high concentration of federal workers at Fort Campbell who provide essential services like healthcare, air traffic control and other support for our military.

Our more Rodgers takes us to Christian County, Kentucky.

We're a resource fair is underway to help soldiers and civilians.

I'm extremely >> concerned about the challenges that families are facing at this time in their lives.

You genius.

Norton Davis is a military spouse.

Her husband, retired from the U.S.

Army man so close and connected to Fort Campbell and seeing family members, civilians furlough.

It's a concern he works as a career coach for the West Kentucky workforce board in Hopkinsville taking part this week and a resource fair for the Fort Campbell community are.

Federal employees are heard and they've been over a month now.

>> 35 days since their last paycheck for Campbell's families are vital important to our economy.

There might be important Christian County.

They're part of our fabric.

>> Officials say there are more than 8,000 federal workers and the Fort Campbell region that offer support and maintenance for military operations.

Our culture in our community certainly values the military.

>> And values the commitment that they sacrificed daily.

>> City and county officials helped organize the resource fair.

A one-stop shop for the military and civilian communities to see what support services are available to them as they weather the government shutdown.

>> Some of the federal employees are the same ones that year after year after year.

Give to a lot of the organizations in here.

And now they're on the point to where they have to receive some of those same benefits that they've been helping.

Others get.

>> Shannon Lanes as many military families are facing uncertainty over SNAP benefit.

>> Specially our junior enlisted, they rely on SNAP benefits just like anybody else from our community.

That's and that low income bracket having the uncertainty there, whether they're going to have that substance to be able to feed their kids or to nurse their growing babies under Belly's.

You know, that's not so true concern and there's a lot of people are dipping into their savings right now.

I've talked to a few of them here in Hopkinsville.

>> And they are dipping into their savings.

But thank headed there.

Dip into.

But it won't last forever.

The resource fair at dollar haul in Oak Grove includes banks, utility companies, nonprofits and other groups potentially helpful for those needing assistance for making sure and ensuring that they are aware of all the resources that our agents is able to provide.

We have been able to >> speak with individuals today that are seeking other career opportunities or even maybe.

>> Trying to find out information for family members as well.

>> It's just one of several events taking place to show support for essential workers at Fort Campbell.

>> We cooked pancakes at the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell for almost 500 civilian employees.

Federal civilian employees there that are being paid but are still coming to work every day to make sure that the medical needs of our soldiers are being taken care of.

>> This as leaders at the local level hope the government shutdown will soon be resolved.

The best outcome for this is this thing will be over with get Thanksgiving.

Coming up again, creates that concern for food and security.

So we hope that it's over with relatively quickly for Kentucky edition.

>> I'm Laura Rogers.

>> Thank you, Laura.

Feeding America is also hosting a food distribution event tomorrow in Christian County, federal workers can pick up a food box at Oak Grove Gaming's Equestrian center.

Starting at 11 o'clock am local time.

We have more information tonight after the death of former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins, Governor Andy Beshear says Governor Collins will lie in state at the old State Capitol Sunday with the public able to pay its respects from noon to 03:00PM Eastern time, KET, he will have coverage beginning at 04:00PM.

♪ ♪ Kentucky EDITION continues to follow developments after yesterday's UPS plane crash in Louisville.

And we'll have the newest information tomorrow and beyond about the crash and its aftermath.

Also tomorrow, our Kelsey Starks talks with Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey about Louisville's declining crime rate and where the city goes from here.

All of that and more tomorrow night Thursday on Kentucky EDITION, which we hope you'll join us for at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central where we inform connect and inspire.

We hope that will connect with us all the ways you see on your screen, Facebook X and Instagram to stay in the loop on the social media channels and look for us on the PBS video app that you can download on your mobile device and other smart devices.

We thank you so very much for watching tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

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

♪