♪ >> I think it's a really kind of an elitist attitude to say, yeah, we have choice but we're not going to help you.

>> The debate over the so-called school Choice Amendment with 2 weeks to go before Election Day.

>> That is unacceptable.

How Louisville plans to crack down on copper crooks.

>> You can come in and check out tools, work, kitchen equipment, or camping equipment or yard equipment.

The same we check out a book at the library.

>> And why by a tool when you can borrow one.

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

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Tuesday, October 22nd, I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for winding down your Tuesday with us.

>> You don't usually see presidential or vice presidential candidates in Kentucky 2 weeks before an election.

That's about to change.

Details in our election.

Twenty-twenty 4 update.

Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic nominee for vice president will be in Louisville tomorrow.

>> The Harris-walz campaign says Walls will speak at a campaign reception on behalf of the Harris Victory.

Fine.

Kentucky Edition will have coverage of Governor Walz's visit on tomorrow night's show.

Kentucky voters will be voting yes or no on constitutional amendment.

Number 2, the amendment if passed, would give the Kentucky General Assembly of the authority to spend public money on nonpublic education.

>> Last night on Kentucky tonight, our panel talked all about the pros and cons of amendment 2.

>> Our public schools are already chronically underfunded.

We need smaller class sizes.

We need money for that.

We need more health services for kids.

We KET money for that.

We have a teacher shortage.

We need money.

We need services for that.

So to take up high, that is already shrinking every year because our legislature is not keeping up with inflation when they're looking at the seek funding to take that and then to start divide a dividing it to schools that are not public schools that are not accountable to the public that public schools are really makes no sense.

I'm not only a public school educator, U.S. public school parent.

And as a parent, I have a choice where I want my child to go to school.

Do I want him to go to public school that I want him to go to private?

I've always had that choice.

I chose public schools because I know that those schools wrap around a community and provide the services that our communities need to thrive.

Americans for prosperity believes and universal choice.

I mean, I we believe that.

>> Every parent, regardless of socioeconomic status should have that option.

And I think all of some wealth, right.

And I disagree with the statement because I really feel like not every family has been twice right now.

I think that, you know, we we've been talking to families on the west end of Louisville who do not feel like they have that choice right now.

They feel very stuck in the school system that they're in.

And they feel very frustrated and they feel like there child is failing.

And we've heard that story over and over again from parents on from the west end of Louisville.

>> I agree with them.

The other side of the room here on the fact that we do have school choice in Kentucky if you're wealthy, you have choice and we have wealthy folks who exercise that choice every day.

Write a check to a private school to cover tuition.

They the move to a better school district.

So and there are choices for for those folks.

But but a lot of people could use that help to get a better education for their children.

And they talked about the other states where there's a lot of the vouchers are are are scholarships are going to families who already have children in private school.

But that doesn't mean they're wealthy.

That doesn't mean they haven't sacrifice everything to give their children a better education.

I think it's a really kind of an elitist attitude to say, yeah, we have choice but we're not going to help you.

We're not going to provide any financial benefit or help so that you can put your child into a school the year because of your income or because of where you have to live.

You can pay for it.

We've we've heard some of that from opponents of this place.

>> Backers of amendment to say it gives the Kentucky General Assembly options to fund nonpublic education and doesn't guarantee anything.

But Tom Shelton and chair of the Protect Our Schools campaign says lawmakers past actions make it clear what they intend to do.

>> The General Assembly has already shown us what they want to do with this.

They filed House Bill 563, which the council for better it seemed on and we won unanimously Supreme Court level.

Leach bean, I'm which was amending the charter school laws already on the books and created private charter schools require charter schools in specific areas of the state and took public monies from local communities and Senate to those private charter schools.

And so we sit on that one and one at Franklin Circuit Court.

It's on its way to the Supreme Court now.

So when people say that there's no been no real decision are no real conversation about what's going to happen.

I dispute that because I think we already kind of know, based on what's happened before.

>> You can see more of last night's discussion and our conversation on September, the 16th about amendment to the so-called school Choice Amendment online on demand at KET DOT Org.

Slash K why tonight?

For more than 100 cities and counties across Kentucky.

There's another ballot question for them to vote up or down on medical marijuana.

Kentucky's new medical marijuana program will go into effect January one of next year.

Local jurisdictions can approve or reject business operations of licensed medical marijuana growers dispensaries and processors.

Sam plan, executive director of the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program explained more about it in our interview earlier today.

>> The law also Senate Bill 47, which was passed in 2023, which legalize medical cannabis starting January.

First of next year 2025 allows local jurisdictions to opt in opt out or put it on the ballot.

Everybody starts one position of being in thus far.

A number of jurisdictions have made the decision to put it on the ballot counties.

I think there's 53 currently and 50 cities and that's verified with the state Board of We worked with them very closely to make sure that we are monitoring this and those are spread throughout the state.

So no geographic areas, you know, yes, we're all putting on the ballot or or not.

It's pretty well spread throughout the commonwealth.

And there are some jurisdictions where folks will be voting on this twice.

So there are some jurisdiction says some cities that have put it on the ballot.

And some in in counties that have also put it on the ballot.

And so folks may have the opportunity to tickets, split and vote.

You know, yes, I wanted the city.

No, I don't want in the county were no, I don't want to the someone in the city.

However, that breaks.

>> And that's OK, right?

Absolutely, absolutely.

And this is important to remember is that this has to do with cannabis business operations.

So the law provides that that folks get to vote on.

>> Whether these businesses are allowed to be licensed in their jurisdiction.

So this does not have to do is very important to note this does not have to do with whether patients can possess and have their medical cannabis, a thorough card holder in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

These votes will not impact that.

It will impact only whether businesses can set up shop in that town or county.

>> The state is only an initially licensing.

48 medical cannabis dispensary spread across 11 regions and a lottery that takes place on Monday and will have more from Sam flat about local referendum efforts and a future broadcast of Kentucky.

Addition this week.

State lawmakers heard from the vacation rental company Airbnb today.

The company is asking the General Assembly to ban some ways cities regulate short-term rentals and neighborhoods.

Our Jeanne Leffler has more in this report.

>> Frankfort, Covington, Lexington and Louisville, all regulated who exactly can host guests for money, a lobbyist for Airbnb wants the state to step in and get rid of some of that red tape.

>> If we do short, remember form wow, counties can still regulate if parking issues.

North complaints, any violations like that.

So this is not trying to get a free ticket to short-term rentals to do whatever they want.

But we don't want to use zoning to infringe upon the property rights of legal homeowners in Kentucky.

>> The Democrat from Louisville pushes back.

The reason I think we had those regulations just to give the committee some perspective is when folks aren't on site.

We actually saw increase calls for service from LMPD noise, complaints, things like that and we heat mapped out sort of the resources they were draining and these are again, income generating businesses with nobody on site.

We didn't see that whenever we had owners at the property because then folks sort of have this incentive to make sure that it's not becoming a public nuisance or becoming a problem.

And the folks are taking good care of the property again in residential areas.

And so I appreciate your perspective.

I have a lot of concerns about what you're proposing.

>> Lawmakers from rural districts are concerned with something else.

They say Airbnb is not paying its fair share of taxes to small local governments.

>> I have had a few of the local taxing districts called me expressing difficulty to get Airbnb on board with taking care of the local taxes and collecting them, which I think we've got a statute that now that requires that there's there's no doubt that everybody wants to pay all the taxes and and our pain and the vast vast majority of it because we have these agreements with most of the population centers in Kentucky.

>> It's just the small towns that unfortunately, yes, we've not been able to come to an agreement.

>> The Kentucky leak of cities in the Kentucky Travel Industry Association sued the company last year for just that Kentucky Jen, look for.

>> Thank you.

June state lawmakers have struck down local rental ordinances before this year.

State lawmakers barred cities from forcing landlords to accept federal housing vouchers.

Something Louisville had on its books.

Organizations working in addiction, prevention, treatment and recovery gathered in Louisville for the 2024.

Kentucky Opioid Symposium Grant recipients.

The group's interested to spend Kentucky's opioid abatement settlement money.

We're set up to share their work.

Here's a peek at the work being done to fight Kentucky's opioid epidemic.

>> This commission is investing.

>> Blood money.

Investing blood money in life, saving efforts across our commonwealth.

Not just the Golden Triangle, truly from the mountains to our river counties.

You are making a difference.

The commission is making a difference here in our Commonwealth.

You're actually having the opioid Kentucky opioid symposium.

>> There's going to be grantees for who received awards from the opioid settlement funds.

We're also providing an opportunity for them to connect with each other and to build their skill sets and their knowledge by having experts come in and talk to them about different avenues regarding prevention treatment recovery and also aspects of that.

>> Every family in Kentucky has been impacted in some way by opioid use disorder.

And I think it's great that the state is taking this big Pyle is money and really distributing it to organizations that know what's going to work in their local community because Louisville is very different from Clay County is very different from Paducah.

We're in for quite a diverse state.

And so it's great that there trusting the local experts and this.

So the grants that you see with this here in the grantee hall, that's a little over 20 million dollars of what's represented.

Those grants cover the 2023.

>> Grant cycle for the Opioid Abatement Commission.

We applied for funding for a peer support specialist full-time position and a family support support specialist to do with our families that we serve families with children and single adult females that are a recovering housing program.

>> Along with that, we got some transportation funds and some little bit of operation cost.

And our ward was $134,000 residents who come to us.

They're ready to work on the issues.

They're ready to go through the steps, get connected with counseling with physical health, mental health services in.

So these are connectors, our dispositions connect them.

And then they're just there for them when they need to talk about someone who talk to someone about what's going on in their life and how hard this is.

The live in addiction is it's a really hard one to 2 cracked move beyond.

>> Volunteers of America meant states received 1 million dollars for recovery community centers.

We operate 4, but this funding was specifically for Lincoln in Pulaski County and our recovery community centers are just a place for individuals in recovery or maybe still in active use and their family friends to come and get some of those support.

So we have to expunge meant clinics.

We have peer support meetings, 12 step meetings.

We've had barbecues just really anything that people are gonna need to connect to that support that they need to stay in recovery.

>> We really want to make sure that there was a holistic approach to what we do.

Treatment.

Recovery prevention are all key pieces of this and we want to make sure that as the commission looks forward and moves with us that we support those efforts, it's a disease.

You networks have been broken and splintered.

Whether by choice, our families and friends have said no more.

>> It takes that bill.

Rebuilding those positive, healthy connections for you and having a place to do that.

And that's what we are.

>> Kentucky has secured nearly 900 million dollars for manufacturers and distributors that fuel the opioid epidemic.

That money is split between local governments and the state to fight addiction in Kentucky.

Copper thieves.

Our Ed work in Louisville, Mayor Craig Greenberg says Coppers value is increasing and as a result, thieves are stealing.

Copper wire from street lights around the city.

He also says they're stealing from communications infrastructure, affecting phones and even 9-1-1, services.

>> These these are causing millions of dollars of damages to critical infrastructure around our city.

They're also creating safety hazards for drivers and pedestrians and potentially reading neighborhoods more vulnerable to crime when street lights are out.

That is unacceptable.

>> The mayor says he's created a task force involving police prosecutors.

The state transportation Cabinet, the Louisville Metro Council, Metal Recyclers and others to find and prosecute copper thieves and to prevent future crimes.

♪ A former Kentucky sheriff is accused of murder.

But where will he go on trial?

And how will Morehead State University Space Center's spend a 10 million dollar Grant?

Our Toby gives brings us up to date in tonight's headlines around Kentucky.

♪ >> A former Letcher County sheriffs murder trial should be held in his home county, according to the sheriff's attorney, former Sheriff Mickey Stines is accused of shooting and killing Judge Kevin Mullins in September.

According to W E KU Radio Stein's attorney Jeremy Barclay says the trial should be held among Stein's peers.

A woman is suing the Madison County Detention Center.

The Richmond Register reports Valentina Fry Meyer delivered a stillborn baby last year.

She says the detention center failed to give her methadone as prescribe to treat her opioid use disorder.

She says that caused the stillbirth.

The lawsuit says the jail violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A group of Vietnam or chopper pilots gathered in Henry County for what's billed as the group's last reunion.

The Ohio River chapter of the 100 17th assault helicopter company got together for dinner at the LaGrange Railroad Museum and Learning Center.

The Kentucky Standard says the tree union stretch back 30 years with the tendon sometimes reaching 250 people.

This year's reunion at about 80 people attending.

Morehead State University to Space Science Center will receive almost 10 million dollars in federal funding.

The center told W E K you radio the money will go toward a new payload operations center.

Last year, a 10 million dollar grant help the center at new antennas to its ground station to support NASA hearing future moon missions there's a new high-tech way to enjoy Dan Balz, Constitution Square, The Advocate Messenger says a new program called engaged by cell lets people scan QR codes on signpost and receive more information about Kentucky's early history.

With headlines around Kentucky.

I'm told he gets.

♪ >> Some of the youngest students and Clark County will have access to mental health services.

It comes through a partnership between son Behavioral and the Clark County School District.

>> We're starting to see more and more come at a younger age, more disruptive behavior or, you know, things that are are concerning to a family or a teacher at a younger age than what we've seen historically.

But, you know, you just see the trends in that and more more is needed because they don't know what to do with.

They're not used to it.

They don't know when that when a kid starting to talk about hurting themselves or someone else where, you know, someone is becoming aggressive and they don't know how to manage that behavior.

It's it's the kind of scary for the teacher who doesn't know how to handle it.

And I think the more school systems that we talked to them or we're learning that elementary is actually where the need is, where it's so unfamiliar because the behaviors that you see in front of you isn't always a great indication on the face value of what it's experiencing.

>> This program is really gonna feel that gap for students that need something that's a bit more intensive.

Then what we are currently offering and really the goal being to equip them with the skills and the strategies that they need in order to be successful and their typical classroom.

>> As we talk more and more with the school's about how we meet their needs in their community without him without obviously taking the hospital to them.

The best case would be that we could take our intensive services to them.

And so that's how the partnership certain to develop to started to develop more and more from that from that conversation on how do we get kids the treatment they need in the environment that's convenient for families.

So they'll actually get more from that and be able to stay enrolled in a little longer than what they might be.

If it's only, you know, an hour away from them.

>> The classroom is housed at Cannes, cried.

And but it's a district program so it will serve any student in Clark County.

I'm really targeting early Elementary is our target.

But we would consider up through 5th grade.

The goal would be to have them in the program for around 6 to 8 weeks.

But of course, with the partnership with Sun, we will continue to monitor, do frequent assessment to determine what is the appropriate length of stay in the programs.

Mental health impacts so many aspects of our daily functioning.

Children are in school buildings for extended periods of time and not months.

Abbott out of the year.

8 hours out of the day.

And so the more that we can reduce those barriers.

For students and families to be able to access those mental health supports.

I think the better off that we're all gonna Bain collectively as a community.

We're going to yield really positive impacts.

This allows students to receive the care that they need and that place that is familiar.

Comfortable.

And it a big transition because first student to to leave school and have to report to an outpatient facility.

That's a stressor in and of itself.

And so it it reduces some of that level of and stress.

>> The Sun Behavioral Center at Cannes cried Elementary will be open during school hours Monday through Friday.

♪ >> If you're a do it yourself for, but you don't want to buy inexpensive tool.

You only use ones.

>> You have a great low-cost option in Louisville.

Check out a tool at the library.

See how that works.

And this story from Katie's Kentucky life.

>> It's such a special space and there's just so much going on.

It's not just schools >> is well documented problem in this country where we just belong to fewer things than we used to.

And to have a place like this that expect very little financially from its members, but provides so much in terms of opportunities to socialize opportunities, to learn opportunities, too.

And I'm very casual way and make new connections.

The value of that is an honest.

♪ >> We are.

I mean, first and foremost, we got started with tools, but we're really a library of things.

So basically the idea is that you can come in and check out tools, work, kitchen equipment or camping equipment or yard equipment.

The same we check out a book at the library.

I would describe it as a big community shed.

I've even heard some people say that it's kind of like bringing their stuff here so they don't have to store it home.

But then also it's actually living out its purpose way more than it would if it's just sitting in the back of your garage and use it once a year, maybe.

>> As soon as you become a member.

>> You're free to check out anything in space.

We've got chainsaws.

Weed eaters, rakes, shovels, automotive.

Plumbing.

>> Camping.

Gardening.

Crafts.

Curse of typewriter.

And where that guy and we have that.

Yeah.

I mean, of course, that access is huge.

The amount of money that you can save by being a member of the 2 libraries, enormous.

And that's probably >> the primary impetus when people come in.

But also just knowledge.

You know, there's there's a ton of stuff that you can learn here.

You know, not only do we have a big collection of like how to books and car repair books and cookbooks, that kind of stuff.

But also we've got volunteers and members here that are more than happy to share their knowledge base.

If you have a problem and it doesn't necessarily have to be my plumbing doesn't work.

But, you know, I could be I don't know what kind of glue only used to get these 2 pieces of fabric to stick together.

You know, there's probably somebody here that you can talk to help you figure it out.

It's why does it slow down?

>> those are cold.

No.

from the staff.

Was this close?

Into a and they're doing all of the >> There's something for everybody here.

You know, for me, it started out just having some tools that that I needed.

And then just a blast and from there and to just a little bit more than that, you know.

For a while it was this junk been over here.

There's like electronic waste, the stuff that they will cycle and people just drop stuff off.

And before we got into rockets, he's really into fans.

It's always some like old computer fans, things like that.

So you can pick up a fan every couple weekends and build some kind of a fun project out of it.

>> We are the most part his members say told the library puppy.

Love that.

Yeah.

A host us all going inside for COVID.

It's really helped kind of helped me make those social connections again and meet people and just get out of the house to go places and so many times we're here and we get inspired to go somewhere else and have someone else.

I'm like, I think it's just sort of created a life in the community just as a resource.

♪ >> There's been a time inside of the space that's been fantastic.

You know, we've got support groups.

We've got classes.

We've got the movie nights, just a ton of stuff that's really need to see people not only be able to interact with each other and be able to hang out in a space where there's just not in this to encourage men to spend, spend spend, but also, you know, you meet new people.

You meet new skills and learn new hobbies.

It's been incredibly rewarding.

>> Indeed, you can see more stories like that one.

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

We had to Berea for tomorrow's Kentucky edition.

>> It's it's a shared history.

All of us, no matter your race, your background.

>> Check out an exhibit that honors the city's black history coming up Wednesday tomorrow on Kentucky Edition.

Re midweek tomorrow, we hope to see you at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central on Kentucky EDITION where we inform connect and inspire.

You can connect the dots all the ways you see on your screen.

Facebook, X and Instagram to stay in the loop and send us a story idea to public affairs at K E T Dot Org.

Thanks so much for watching.

We really appreciate your company tonight and hope to see you right back here again tomorrow.

Until then, take really good care.

♪