♪ >> We expect a mammoth turnout in this election.

>> Kentucky's top elections official says it's a good idea to vote early.

>> Reggie, there you go again >> 2 top Senate leaders talk about what amendment 2 would mean for Kentucky.

Women.

Veterans continue to be the fastest growing segment.

The homeless population.

And will visit the home giving women veterans 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 on this Tuesday, October, the TWENTY-NINTH, I'm Renee Shaw.

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

The 2024 general election is now just one week away.

Kentucky secretary of state Michael Adams continues to encourage Kentucky hands to vote early.

Speaking in Louisville this morning.

Secretary Adam said he's expecting more than 2 million votes cast in this election in Kentucky.

He says of most people wait until Election Day, it could end up being a long night.

>> We expect a mammoth turnout in this election.

The highest turnout we ever had was in 2020.

That was the highest nationally since 19.

0, 8, as a proportion of people voting.

We had 3 weeks of in-person voting.

We had expanded absentee.

We pulled it off.

We don't have those tools in our toolbox.

Now we have 3 days of early voting.

We have normal absentee readiness.

If we have, it's we expect north of 2 million people voting maybe to a half million people voting and they procrastinate and they went to the last day.

That's going to be a very long day for our voters in a very long day for our poll workers.

>> Secretary Adams also said only about half half of the roughly 130,000 absentee ballots requested have been returned to find out where you can return them or to find where you can go vote.

Log on to go.

Vote DOT K y dot Gov.

As a reminder early voting starts this Thursday.

Amendment 2, if passed, would allow the Kentucky General Assembly to fund schools outside the public education system such as charter and parochial schools our Laura Rogers spoke with elected officials on both sides of the issue in Bowling Green.

>> Ready to take our school is back.

The political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity Hosting a rally last night in support of amendment to we are the outliers in the entire nation here with no charter school options, no voucher options.

No school choice at all.

Kelly Paul and her husband, U.S.

Senator Rand Paul hoping next Tuesday's election will change that.

>> The superintendent in Jefferson County makes $389,000 a year and only a 3rd of the kids can read at grade level.

People are OK with that.

That's fine.

I'm not OK with that.

He says the opposing sides concerns that the amendment would take money away from public education.

>> Isn't true in every state with their vouchers.

There's been an increase in public funding and there's actually been an improvement in scores because competition works.

Public education is a sport to Lieutenant Governor disagree.

That notion that that competition makes it better is asinine because I know as a teacher, you are worried about the kids in your classroom, not the kids in the school down the road and we get through with November 5th.

We want to KET that money flow into our public schools to KET it getting better and better press conference on opposing an amendment to was held this morning at the UAW Hall in Bowling Green.

The Legislature has ultimately accepted that every single.

>> What piece of legislation they have put forward is unconstitutional.

So now amendment 2 is an attempt to overturn 7 sections of Kentucky's constitution.

7 sections that protect public education so that they can divert tax dollars elsewhere.

That's dangerous.

As a former educator and basketball coach, Coleman says the amendment could also affect high school athletics, especially and rule communities.

It allows those private school coaches to come money in hand.

To the best players in your community.

Schools.

And recruit them away.

I wouldn't be for amendment 2 if it was going if I thought it would harm public education.

The poll say they support public education.

>> What they believe parents deserve more choices.

>> There are a lot of kids being left behind in Jefferson County that primarily bore often African-American and those kids deserve the same choices as rich white kids on the east.

And I don't believe that public school dollars should be sent to the private sector.

>> To where they can spend it, however they choose and not be accountable to us as taxpayers.

One thing both sides do agree on is they want what's best for the individual child.

>> For Kentucky edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you.

Law.

Right now, here's more on amendment 2.

We caught up with the current educator caught up in this school choice debate.

>> Gus LaFountain.

He hopes to open the first charter school in the state.

Our June Leffler visited his private school, which already has students and teachers.

But no public funding.

LaFountain preparatory School serves about 175 Pre-K through 5th graders.

>> What is what >> Gus Lavonte Hayne Open the private school in Richmond about 13 years ago.

Some unique things about the school, small class sizes and 3 recess is a day.

>> You know, I often call that the best behavior management tool to the classroom teacher has because active children can get outside and work at the energy in a productive way.

And then when they come back inside, we found that they're more focused and ready for instruction.

>> And specialty curricula, like engineering.

>> They they build with their hands.

They creative problem solving work in small teams.

We give them constraints that they have to work through.

>> LaMontagne created an environment for students and teachers.

He wanted to see >> things like smaller classes, more planning time, more balance instruction.

No high stakes testing cultures.

>> Tuition is about $7,000 a year.

But those costs could go away if the school went from a private school to a charter school.

>> You know, 5 sum it up.

It was just it was really a way to increase access to our school for all kids regardless of their income levels.

>> State lawmakers for sanction charter schools and 2017, 5 years later, lawmakers figured out how to fund the schools with public dollars.

That's when LaFountain got to work on his charter school application and submitted it to the local public school district for approval.

But last year, the Franklin Circuit Court judge blocked the charter school law.

>> Right now, some pause because our our charter school that her school law is being constitutional challenge at Supreme Court right now.

So we're waiting to see what happens with that.

But if this kicks back up, then will complete the modifications.

And that's the county schools want to see and then resubmit their application.

>> How voters decide on a proposed constitutional amendment will likely impact the pending case.

Even if voters or the Supreme Court side with LaFountain would still be a battle LaFountain would have to resubmit his application in Madison County.

Public Schools would have to approve it offering to fund the school with their own dollars.

>> I mean, also acknowledge that there's some discomfort with us applying to become a charter school.

But >> I've never assumes that we were in opposition.

>> If the school district declines LaFountain could appealed to the state Board of Education, which has said publicly it doesn't support school choice.

School choice.

Opponents say even tuition free charter schools that follow state regulations, our bed for Kentucky.

>> Our public school systems in many cases do not have adequate funding and don't have adequate funding to do everything that they need to do.

And so those dollars are going to come from somewhere.

Even in a trial to school model.

Those dollars will come from dollars that would otherwise be goin to the public school system.

>> LaFountain expects plenty of that skepticism along with some growing pains if he is allowed to open Kentucky's first charter school for Kentucky to Leffler.

Thank you.

June 2 states, Senate leaders had plenty to say about amendment to last night on KET Kentucky tonight.

>> Republican Senator Damon Thayer, the Senate majority floor leader backs amendment to while Democratic Senator Reggie Thomas, the Senate Minority Caucus chair.

We're just people to vote against it.

Senator Thomas says among other things, the amendment is just too vague and will lead to a voucher program.

>> What would make this about your amendment know that we use the word voucher, but clearly is there anyone intelligently reading that that language understands that is a voucher amendment.

There is a lot of gaps and what will be Talked about 7 constitutional amendments that have to be amended and we don't know what that means.

It essence a vote supporting that movement, which again, I told you I want to vote no with me, which means we're giving the legislature a blank check to do whatever they want to regarding public money for public schools.

That's a dangerous idea when they.

>> Reggie, there you go again.

You're you are absolutely muddying the waters and not telling the truth about amendment to.

It is not about your bill.

It just would allow the Legislature to deal with issues of school choice, known as adverse, even talked about a voucher Bill and Kentucky.

We passed educational opportunity accounts for the children of low-income working families, like the ones you purport to represent to give them an opportunity to send their kids to private school, not now and has a question we use public tax dollars for a program called the Kentucky Tuition Grants that helps kids fund.

Private schools like Transylvania University in Georgetown College.

Are you opposed to using public money for private colleges in Kentucky?

Because we've been doing that now for decades.

And if you want to follow that Bill, go right ahead and be consistent.

Then because if you're going to be consistent, be consistent because this argument, its faults with everything.

>> It was a pretty rigorous discussion that half hour of Kentucky tonight.

But we also talked to Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky star Congressional district about the presidential election.

What he expects the next 2 years, if he's re-elected to go back to Washington and such issues as abortion and gun violence, you can see all of that online on demand at KET DOT Org.

Slash K why tonight now when it comes and goes back to the proposed constitutional amendment.

Number 2, we have more voters in the Jackson purchase area and some western Kentucky counties have received some eyebrow raising mailers and the waning days of the campaign season.

Derek Oprah, late News director of W Kms Public Radio and Murray.

Talk with me last week about that and the other contests engaging voters and that part of the state.

>> Derrick overlay, the news director Awk MS Public Radio and Murray.

It's good to connect with you.

Always great to talk or nay.

Yes.

So let's talk about what's happening down there when it comes to this election cycle.

Probably not much happening in terms of the congressional front.

They are.

But I think you have said that there are a couple of interesting state House races that you all are following.

Tell us about this.

>> That's right.

We've been tracking the District 5 race, Lauren Hines and Mary Beth Imes.

Lauren has been mounting a heck of a door knocking campaign which has a lot of people talking about the possibility that she could upset MaryBeth Times.

But we don't really have solid polling data for much of Western Kentucky.

We've also got people like Frederick Fountain in the first district taking on House Speaker Steven Rudy.

He's a first time off.

It is is this is his first campaign for public office.

He's currently trying to push even dirty too, get a debate.

The 2 have not met on the stage.

An Frederick County was knit Fancy Farm either.

Not, but neither was Stephen Root.

Yeah.

>> So what are the issues that's driving interest or Perhaps and these races is that the constitutional amendment.

Number 2, that we short-handed like hall school choice or is it something else that's at play here?

Yeah.

I feel like there's a lot there's a lot of interest in particularly amendment 2.

>> There's been a lot of signs and organizing about that amendment that obviously like you said, people call school choice, but that would ultimately allow public taxpayer dollars to be used to benefit private schools here in Kentucky.

We obviously just head that really interesting story about Ballard County schools.

A lot of people in the jet part of Western Kentucky getting an odd mailer that pointed to a small set of books at the local library.

At the high school and directly called them out for having what they called inappropriate material in them.

And a lot of it was a sexual nature.

They printed it right on the back of this postcard mailed out to parents and urge them to vote in support of school choice because things like that where a school library.

>> What are you keeping your eyes on between now and November?

5th in your coverage area.

>> I mean, obviously I'm watching social media and seeing how many people are talking about voting early because I feel that that makes a big difference.

Obviously, you saw Michael Adams last week saying that there was an incredible amount of engagement when it came to absentee ballots being requested.

I think they they said that that no really represents between 2 and 4% of the total to turn out and that this was one of the higher amounts that we've seen when it came to early absentee voting and Kentucky's history.

I'm going to be watching the Comer and Marshall race.

I'm interested to see if Aaron Marshall can.

Find a more of a way to resonate in here and far western Kentucky.

She's obviously in Frankfort.

And she talked about wanting to really challenge Comer, especially on issues like abortion.

Which is a key part of her campaign area.

>> Yeah.

And so that's the first congressional district that has a pretty sizable stretch from point A to point B, right?

And from Tompkinsville all the way to your neck of the woods and even up toward Frankfurt's.

So it covers a lot of territory.

And is she someone that is gaining some support there that you can measure in some way?

>> I mean, I've seen some yard signs, but like like we've said in the past, there's not a ton of polling that works.

It.

That's a 35 county area.

And you get to people in Comber and Marshall that are both kind of removed from the district geographically.

Both of them live up near Frankfort.

>> Well, a lot to KET our eyes on and we thank you.

And the crew down at WKU Mess for doing such a great job of covering all of that and we'll be in touch with you on election night.

Thank you.

Derek.

>> Join us on election night as we bring you full Kentucky election returns and the best analysis around from our panel of veteran Kentucky, political observers.

That is a week from tonight starting at 08:00PM Eastern 7 Central on K E T 2.

♪ And Agriculture news.

Kentucky farmers are hoping Congress passes a helpful farm bill and new numbers show who's spending the most on ads for and against amendment 2.

Our Toby Gibbs says all of that.

And tonight's look at headlines around Kentucky.

♪ >> You've seen the commercials, backers and critics of amendment too often called the school Choice Amendment have now spent 14 million dollars on ads supporting 2 wk MS radio.

The Pro Amendment forces had spent 7.6 million with 4 million of that from the Protect Freedom Political Action Committee led by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff.

He asked and the amendment forces had spent 6.4 million to 14 million in spending doubles the previous record for a constitutional amendment and Kentucky, about 7 million was spent over an abortion rights amendment in 2022.

Kentucky farmers are hoping for a new and improved farm bill to replace the one that just expired.

A five-year bill expired on September.

30th 2023, a one-year extension expired September 30th of this year.

The Paducah Sun quotes a Carlisle County farmer.

Bobby tune.

He says he hopes a new farm bill helps farmers with the increased costs of fertilizer and equipment.

The Lexington, Urban County Planning Committee is against a plan to rezone a historically black neighborhood called Pralltown in order to build a University of Kentucky student apartment complex.

WKU says the vote was 5 to 4 against the plan.

With one absence, the committee says the complex wouldn't look right in the surrounding neighborhood.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader one committee member voting No said he is sending UK a message that quote Enough is enough.

The Bull, Lexington, Urban County Council will make the final decision.

Congratulations to Hopkins Bills.

Penny Royal Area Museum winner of the state Preservation Award.

It recognizes the successful renovation of the one-time us post office that now houses the museum and its exhibits to hop down Chronicle says the Preservation, Kentucky group raised the museum for keeping the historic integrity of the original 1914, building.

With headlines around Kentucky.

I'm told to get.

♪ >> Yesterday on Kentucky Edition we showed you Senator Rand Paul's visit to Santa's House a transitional home for an House women, veterans and Clark County, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says women are the fastest growing group in the veteran population.

Women leaving the military have unique needs and there are many resources to support them in civilian life.

And this house, a service from Lady Veterans Connect helps to fill that gap in Kentucky.

>> And this house is a transitional home and they needed member.

My mom.

We wear our maks a pass today.

We could have 32 women, veterans lady here.

Women veterans are continue to be the fastest growing segment.

The homeless population.

And just at along this year to a sad been women veterans at 33%.

And that's just not acceptable.

We provide them with a safe place.

>> That has where they have food.

And water and electricity and Internet.

We have different services sometimes that are willing to come here and provide things pro bono.

We want them to leave here and move on.

2 news stable.

Living arrangements not go back to homelessness.

>> I've been here since last January.

I had like a little sweet here and they said the window with plans for the course it all of his own.

The flight line, though, the female out there working on fighter jet.

>> For 8 years and that's it.

Yeah.

And breathe and exhaust for 8 years.

Could that be good?

So when I got here, I actually had to go in the hospital and blood clot in my right lung have been blowing in the wind.

She's been very helpful and getting me in touch with the correct people to wear.

Yeah, there's no more.

Yeah.

Well, we'll get to you when we can.

9 years is a long time that started, you know, first disability claim 9 years ago.

And it's just now the people that she put me in touch with that happens.

This is the only one in Kentucky.

And sand in 7 surrounding states as well.

Because most of them are shelters.

And so it's temporary.

You get your cots and whatever here they all have their own bedroom.

We had the kitchen with a cafe.

Me things.

I think they can.

>> Cook a meal together.

They together at the healing picks better place in a home environment.

And that's what we try to make this.

When you have the fellowship of other veterans, they I understand you in a way that people who are veterans can't and that's what we're hoping 2 help drive the healing and the hope for are women veteran who come here.

It is is really building on that connection between them.

It's not easy being out there and especially if you're female and it's really tough to maintain outside and with no no way of now.

We need to buy to do a loop.

You have no real been hand up.

So this place was really late.

It saved me.

And this house will have its annual gala fund-raiser on November.

The 9th.

♪ >> After the Eastern Kentucky floods in July of 2022, the University of Kentucky Press asked Melissa Helton lot literary arts director of the Hindman Settlement School to create a book about the flooding and the impact of natural disasters in Appalachia.

That anthology includes the perspectives of those who've experienced disasters firsthand.

And from far away.

Appalachian history has been told by outsiders.

And so it's very important for.

>> The people of Appalachia to be able to document such important things and we tried when we're soliciting writers and when I was selecting what pieces to put in here to give a wide the use of some of these pieces are fiction because you can humanize a tragedy through character.

Some of them up home.

Some of them are essays they don't just talk about this flood.

We're looking at pieces like I asked Elizabeth Lane Glass to write a piece specifically on how natural disasters impact people disabilities.

We look specifically for million Kirby wrote a piece on mental health impacts and if you get Chef will wrote about how this can push people in drug recovery to to relapse and overdose.

We're honored to have new work from likely Smith and Frank X Walker, Nikki Giovanni, George Elian >> and then next to these people who are very well known, we have people who might be their first publication credit, whether it's the first time publishing photos, the first time publishing an essay.

>> So this really shows a wide variety of writers, different parts of their career who are impacted by this.

I really wanted them in this book kind of without hierarchy because the water didn't care who you are.

Carter Sickels had written an essay maybe a week or 2 after the flood.

And I asked him if we could reprint that and he decided to put a new title Iran.

And the one who came up with was troublesome rising because the creek that goes through campuses called Troublesome Creek, but also.

A lot of the pieces in here.

Call out extractive industry, call out climate change.

Things like that.

And so it also talks about this troublesome increase that we're having this arising.

We're having a natural disasters, the frequency and severity but also I wanted it to be.

Able to be interpreted kind of this triumphant.

Community, the community Eastern Kentucky, that that went through this rescuing themselves, that it's, you know, it's it's rising up out of out of the mud as it has before and unfortunately will have to do again and again, what I hope that anthologies like this and listening to writers and artists who live in a region is that they can show us the nuances of it.

They can show us that it's that it's not a monolith.

You can point at a geographical place on a map and say the people who live like there are like this because you would think.

And and Paula G about eastern Kentucky wouldn't have queer and trans writers in and writers of color in and we would think that is just this monolithic white Christian straight Republican community and the reality is is far more complex and interesting them.

As part of the Kentucky Humanities annual book Fair.

You can hear from the writers who contributed to troublesome rising.

>> This weekend the panel will discuss the book Saturday at 12, 30 Eastern at just affect booksellers in Lexington.

Football games weren't the only competition on the gridiron over the weekend.

The Kentucky music Educators Association championship held its annual marching band competition, Lafayette High School in Lexington finished in first place and Class 5, a it's the school's 24th time winning the title.

Anderson County High School won first place in Class 4, A Mary High School was class 3, a the class 2, a winner was Esto County High school and Mayfield High School won class one a congratulations to all the schools who competed.

You're all winners and we have a Kentucky related sports note.

Before we go, Lexington, native Walker Buehler was one of the stars as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees.

42 in game 3 of the World Series last night.

>> Buehler was the Dodgers starting pitcher and pitched 5 shutout innings.

>> Miller was wants a picture for Henry Clay High School.

The Dodgers lead the World Series 3 games to 9.

Biden go.

Well, we hope to join you or hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky.

Addition until then, take really good care.

So long.

♪