♪ >> We all really expecting a large turnout.

How election officials in Kentucky's second largest city are preparing for election Day.

>> We could not be more happy and proud to be a part of Frankfort because they have helped us in every way.

>> A revered Frankfort nonprofit has a night of celebration to thank the community.

We had 90 days we created a man in Al Ain to the music.

And Jack Harlow.

And hip-hop meets Ballet.

And you can see it right here in Kentucky.

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

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Wednesday, October, the 30th right before Halloween.

>> I'm Renee Shaw.

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

>> Early in-person no excuse voting begins tomorrow in Kentucky.

Election officials are expecting high turnout and long lines at some polling places.

What should Fayette County's 250,000 registered voters expect?

Here's more from Kentucky additions, Clayton Dalton and tonight's election, 2024 update.

I always say that back home.

If I have a family member that doesn't decide to go vote and I always tell them that they don't have a right to complain.

>> Susan Lamb is the Fayette County clerk.

She's relatively new to the job, but she says her office is ready to make sure elections in Lexington run as smoothly as possible on Election Day.

>> 06:00AM to 06:00PM the club.

The polls will be open all 286 precincts will be open to our community members that registered voters at 135 different locations.

What's different this year is exciting that we have our 6 libraries here in Lexington.

All of our local libraries are not only going to be open for the 3 days early voting, which is October 31st and November first and second, which is Thursday, Friday, Saturday of this week, but also those libraries will also be available on Election Day.

>> Lam says they've added more privacy areas at the library voting locations to allow more people to mark their ballots.

At the same time.

But she still expects that some voters will experience wait times.

>> We are really expecting a large turnout.

And so expect long lines.

The ballot is a front and back ballot.

It's very the 2 constitutional amendments.

There's one referendum.

So we are saying know, before you go, please visit Fayette County clerk Dot com, our website and you can go on there and read the referendum that's under the elections tab and also there's a link there to the secretary of state's office where you can read the 2 constitutional amendments.

>> It's not just in person voting.

That's up this year.

>> The number of absentee ballots requested has been over 13,000 and we have over 8500 of those returned back already.

There's really not a comparative election.

2, this year's because the last presidential election was 2020 and it was during the pandemic.

So it was all.

Absentee ballot.

And so there's really not anything to compare it to.

However, if you go back to November of 23, we only had 6,615 absentee ballots requested.

So that's more than doubled.

>> At the end of the day, Lamb says her team does everything it can to ensure elections are safe and secure.

>> We go through and we have the inspections of all of our machines and we make sure that those machines are prepped and ready and that they are under surveillance and lock and key until the time that they are going to be used for the of elections, whether it's at the library's over whether it's on at the precincts.

We take great efforts and initiatives to make sure that we go through every single point and it's it's mind blowing.

But I feel even more confident about the security of our elections.

Now that I actually have seen behind the scenes of what we do and how we take care of things.

For Kentucky edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

Thank you, Clayton.

The Fayette County Clerk's office is closed on Election Day, but this year it will be closed on the Monday before as well.

>> The staff will be processing around 4,000 absentee ballots that day and all hands on deck operation.

Well, Americans accept the results of the 2024 election.

Polls show many conservatives don't believe President Joe Biden was the legitimate winner in 2020.

That was one of many topics Monday night on Kentucky tonight with our gas state.

Senator Damon Thayer, a Republican in the Senate majority floor leader and Senator Reggie Thomas, a Democrat and the Senate Minority Caucus chair.

I asked Senator Fay or if he questioned the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.

>> I do not to discount the result of the 2020 election.

I'm not in an election conspiracy theories, but we do know that there were places where they kept counting the votes days and days after the election.

And that puts into question the integrity of that vote.

That's why so many people.

One of the reasons why so many people are election conspiracy theorists.

When you hear a judge say you can drop off your absentee ballot without a postmark, right up until Election Day and they can count them for 3 more days.

It discounts what the true meaning of Election Day is.

And that's why so many people question the election result of 2020?

I do.

I do think there were shenanigans and some of the bigger cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and I think there have been steps to clean up the election process and a lot of those places.

>> I'm blessed this question because I I've I've I've asked that of a number of your colleagues.

Are you willing to accept the results of the federal elections on November 5th?

Yes, a simple yes or no question because when we had a contested back in 2020, there were 61 lawsuits filed, 60 of them thrown out.

The only one of the except it dealt with local races.

Only are you willing to say tonight that you will accept the results of the 2024 election?

Yes, I will.

Will you if Donald Trump becomes the 47th president unite all?

Absolutely.

Without a we have our first degree in the U.S.. >> And that was one of a few agreements.

Our guests also made predictions about the presidential election outcome, which you'll want to hear.

We talked about constitutional amendments, one and 2, a state Supreme Court race and whether judicial races should be partisan.

You can see and hear all of that online on demand at KET DOT Org.

Slash K why tonight a programming note.

Join us next Tuesday.

November, the 5th for fall, Kentucky election returns and analysis from our team of Kentucky.

Political experts that coverage begins at 08:00PM Eastern 7 central Tuesday, November 5th on KET too.

Kentucky's chief Justice elect has named a Deputy Chief Justice Justice Robert B Conley was will become deputy chief justice in January as Justice Denver elaborate becomes chief Justice Lambert says she appointed Conley because he's a man of exceptional character and good judgment.

The deputy chief justice fills in when the chief justice recuses him or herself and case before the Supreme Court.

Both Lambert and Conlon take on their new jobs January.

The 6th.

It's want to get once again up to a jury to decide the fate of former Louisville Police Officer Brett Hankinson.

Closing arguments were today and the civil rights reach trial stemming from the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor back in 2020, a similar trial last year ended with a deadlocked jury earlier this week Hankison testified that he felt the force of a gunshot on the night of the raid.

He then fired several shots that flew into a neighbor's apartment nearly hitting people inside HANKISON claims he thought officers were under fire from an AR 15 coming from inside the apartment and that he was acting to protect his fellow officers.

Educational Justice in Louisville is a program that offers free tutoring for 5th graders and middle school students.

The tutors who are high school students helped them with homework tests.

Preparation and skill building more in tonight's Education Matters.

Report.

>> A mission, educational justices to stem the academic equity gap.

You know, the number one issue in education in educational inequity, you know, is poverty.

You know, they don't have, you know, the other supports that have been, you know, historically afforded to people who have higher incomes.

And, you know, you do that over enough time and not have those resources in place are going to have students that are going to be in a situation that is not going to be optimal for learning.

I think the pier to pier mental Milan pretty good near peer mentor model.

So middle school student high school students is really powerful because the high school students have that immediate lived.

Experience.

Yeah, that they can really back to the middle school students hit the 8th grade is such a critical development.

Time for students.

And when you look at the things that they're challenged with and and we want them to be ready and prepared for high school because a good well-prepared high school student is going to go off to college or some could post-secondary opportunity.

And then to a good career.

But it starts in middle school because that's the formative time when they are, you know, moving too much more challenging academics.

You know, there's social structures changing.

Of course, they're going through, you know, a big change in their physical life.

We usually do a lot of mass subjects.

And I teach that just through like a little drying program on my computer.

>> And we sometimes do like some study strategies like for English vocabulary, words, a close reading.

>> White House, I was.

It's like to think that we did together.

And you're being issued for me.

It's really h*** o* that.

Talk about how my goal was a school.

Again, we get started with my work.

>> And sometimes she's teaching me.

I remember one time we were doing well, suffocation.

>> And I was like, okay, here's how you do it.

That's how I do it.

And like we still got the same, it's at the end.

Sounds like I mean, >> if she got the same answer and that's what works for her, then I'll learn in, I guess whenever she needs help again, do same way she does.

So.

>> Well, the benefit for the middle schoolers and we call our middle schooler scholars is that number one, you know, they get academic assistance, said that help with homework.

And then if they have areas of weakness weekend work with our, you know, our our teachers staff, you know, to help target, you know, lesson plans and curriculum that will will really focus on those areas of need for that student so we can improve, you know, their own self-confidence and doing that work, but also their test scores that well, the second thing they get out of it, you know, is a buddy who can help guide them to the social emotional, you know, process of being a middle schooler, you know, being, you know, being a, you that the teenager, it's more than like tutoring in like getting to figure out how to stop this math problem.

>> Or eating it sounds like it is the relationship you build too, because even though means committee do work on a lot of like homework and stuff.

We also do have time.

So we just talked to Matt together.

>> And if you do, I will say new treaty like when it because that we bonded over like that, really?

Like set it off was she was telling me because I also went to her elementary school.

And so she was telling me how she's a champion.

And I was like, wait, I was a cheerleader.

The elementary school I love like by bows.

Instead.

And she was like, oh, they changed this year in like this are both look back now.

>> This isn't that I was like it was like a fun thing to bond over Kuz.

I don't think you're going meet a teacher that let's use a religious school and was a cheerleader, too.

>> Cue the students made with their tutors online once a week.

They also have labs where they can meet in person twice a month.

♪ >> I'm Laura Rogers and we're speaking with Rylan Kentucky, based editor for NPR and Rylan come the first of the year.

Medical cannabis will be legal in Kentucky for certain conditions.

We're seeing the groundwork being laid for that process.

And it's very interesting.

We had hundreds of businesses apply to cultivate into process that only 26 licenses awarded so far.

>> Kentucky's medical cannabis law goes into effect January 1st of next year.

But it's only going to be for a limited set of conditions, some severe conditions that could be prescribe for.

So conditions like epilepsy or cancer, PTSD.

But there's still a lot of demand, one from the consumers.

But obviously, as we saw over the last week, these businesses that applied to be involved in this industry.

So, yeah, those who want to cultivate and process canister 774 that apply to this.

But only 26 were awarded that just shows you the great demand to do that.

And this is only the beginning of that process.

There's also a, you know, the dispensary, the actual retail selling of cannabis that will be awarded later.

And there's already been more than 4,000 that have applied for the 48 licenses that are going to be awarded through that.

The licenses for the cultivation and distribution.

They've been awarded around the state.

There's only the couple in Jefferson County, 3 in Fayette County and then it's there's just a handful over of of 3 reward in Christian County, 4 in Warren County, 2 in Barron County.

So it's all over, even though it's kind of a limited rollout of Kentucky's medical cannabis program.

I think that there's we have some hope from advocates that it would grow to grow to be something else to be expanded.

That's really for opponents of this are worried about as well.

But as we've seen surrounding legalize cannabis, Ohio, most notably recently, Illinois has been that way for awhile.

Missouri.

Also recently, Kentucky's really kind of becoming an outlier in this industry at this point.

>> And then let's talk about Election Day, which is now officially less than a week away.

And we go to eastern Kentuckyian a state Senate race there to fill the seat of state Senator Johnny Turner.

He was tragically injured back in September.

That lawn mower accident and then passed away days ago.

So it appears his seat will be filled by a write-in race.

How is that shaping up?

>> Right.

But really the only candidates in this race will be write-in candidate.

So there's only one other candidate in the race as an independent candidate.

And he's actually already withdrawn at that point.

So there's been there's this a race of folks who filed Tyler Moore, de attorney from whites for its also former prosecutor from Letcher County will leak races owner, the development company in Car Wash and Floyd counties.

This is all in southeastern Kentucky of Valerie Corn from the Whitesburg area.

The former not county judge is also tossing his hat in the ring.

It's kind of an unusual process here.

So those candidates are Democrats.

It's interesting.

There's not much of a Democratic presence in eastern Kentucky anymore, even though it used to be real stronghold there.

The seat was previously held by a Democrat and former Democratic senator also named Johnny Turner.

By the way, too, this Johnnie Turner defeated the few years ago.

So it's interesting and really kind of a historic moment.

One of the few times that the election will be decided just by write-in candidates and will we'll see where we end up after after next Tuesday.

>> Because certainly be anyone's game.

When you talk a field of 11 potential candidates there.

>> Right.

And the you know, and and certainly, you know, it's it's also hard to get folks to pay attention to these legislative races.

And you've got a big got a big, splashy presidential race that will certainly get more people out than usual.

But, you know, they've a lot of people might not even know what's going on at the bottom of the ticket and they won't know who the right in a lot of times unless they are really paying attention.

Let's talk about the Kentucky Supreme Court race and we know this is supposed to be a non-partisan race.

However, both are being criticized.

>> For some partisan ship and their candidacy.

Yeah, Joe socket, Kentucky, public radio had a interesting story.

Kind of comparing this race and also bring up a recent election for northern Kentucky Supreme Court district from 2022 and just.

>> How a lot of the partisanship, but also money involved in these races have really gotten a lot more partisan in recent years, even though these are not supposed to be partisan races, the you know, these candidates do not run as Republicans or Democrats.

The money around them has become distinctly partisan.

And you can really see it over some of the issues that the Supreme Court will be ruling on the coming years.

So organizations hope for and against abortion rights.

Also involved in the whole debate around school funding in so-called school choice of thrown a lot of money into this race.

And so this is for the central Kentucky Supreme Court race between the appeals court Judge Pamela Goodwine also think Frankfort Attorney Aaron panel.

Good.

One is the candidate that's getting a lot of more of that money related from of your teachers unions that are trying to fight off the school choice measures and also the abortion rights group spirit is getting some of the money from the other side of that.

And this is just harkening back to that 2022 Supreme Court race, which really hinge a lot on abortion rights and Kentucky.

We're gonna come incumbent justice was, you know, vending off a challenge from of a state legislator who's had penned Kentucky's abortion ban and really things that those candidates and also the money around them when it's their own political corner.

So, yeah, this independent judicial watchdog group, the criticize this race is saying, you know, this has gone too far into the partisan territory, but that's really where things have headed in these traditional elections in Kentucky in recent years.

>> And then quickly here also want to ask you about the re trial of Brett Hankison who was an LMPD detective who was on scene the night that Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in Louisville, Louisville, public on the outlets closely covering his re trial.

Where are we with that right now?

>> that Hankinson spacing to federal charges for allegedly violating Breonna Taylor's rights and also her neighbors.

This tree trials taking place because the there's a mistrial last year because the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Prosecutors decided they they really want to continue pursuing that.

Some Hankison took the took the stand this week and he defended his actions saying that he thought that his fellow officers were in danger during this this box straight taken says rolls different from the other officers because he started firing blindly into the apartment, not even through the door, but through a window without really knowing an apparent target of what you shooting at.

So prosecutors are trying to pursue these charges again.

We'll see where this ends up.

>> Rylan as always, we appreciate it so much.

Thank you for your time.

>> Thank you.

♪ >> It was a night of celebration and gratitude for the access soup kitchen and mens shelter and Frankfort.

Its 40th anniversary was also a thank you to the community as people rally to save access after budget problems threaten to close it down.

>> Access I would say mostly brings hope to individuals that are down on their luck.

We provide that stepping stone to help people get to where they need to be in their life.

We have the resources.

An oath outreach to help people to get back on their feet again.

>> This is I 40th event happening tonight.

We've been serving the community for 40 years.

I will just say that my dad was one of the founding members of the shelter.

That and James Kay who died under the bridge here in Franklin County.

And that kind of boosted the need for the homeless shelter to get people out of the weather.

A few men of the church kind of started the shelter when they realized that there was a need around Frankfort, for homeless people who were may be dying because of the weather.

Our main mission is to feed people and house those who don't have housing.

We've been doing it for 40 years and if we can just accomplish those 2 things.

That's all we need today.

However, since then we we provide showers, laundry facilities, bus tickets to people who may need to go out of town, social services like assistance with driver's license, Social Security cards, veterans benefits.

3 years ago, I came to Frankfort.

We came through COVID.

I ended up.

>> Unemployed my parents and just both passed away within 6 months of each other.

I found myself homeless in the Frankfort, like I said with $3 in my pocket and found access.

And went through their program, indeed, up working for the organization for 3 years.

Now after come, the Frankfort and worked my way up through the organization and ended up being the director.

The program varies for the individual depending on their needs.

What what they have want to really walk and some guys come in.

They don't have a driver's license or don't have a birth certificate.

They don't have insurance takes time to to get somebody through the program, depending on the individual and their needs and what they do have and they don't have it would just take one of event in our life to maybe fall on hard times and need the help.

And that's what we want to be as we wanted to be able to help the people who have fallen on hard times whenever lead.

>> When public and went on TV into the newspaper that we were struggling, the community.

>> The church's individuals, businesses all stepped up and and donated to KET our doors open.

>> Since we told everybody that we were struggling.

Everybody has come out of the woodwork.

Frankfort.

We could not be more happy and proud to be a part of Frankfort because they have helped us in every way we can ask for more.

And tonight is a thank you to those people who supported us in whatever way it was when it was bringing items down to the shelter, whether it was funding, whether it was just getting the word out.

Everybody has played a part and we just really are proud of Frankfort.

And we wanted to share that with them.

>> Access is currently preparing for its yearly Walk of Awareness event on Thanksgiving morning.

♪ >> The Louisville Ballet is taping teaming up with rapper Jack Harlow for an original ballet choreographed by world-renowned artist.

Changing Wong.

>> Drive and see what we see is the perfect aside.

It's not just anybody can marry ballet, contemporary dance and dance with Jack Harlow is music to go.

You know, you know.

♪ >> Well, that's must-see.

The world premiere Ballet called 5, 0, 2, or 502 features a soundtrack by Louisville zone.

Hip-hop artist Jack Harlow.

It's one of 3 new ballets that will debut and the trip will take production, which premiers November.

1st through the 3rd at the Brown Theater and Louisville.

>> We have 9 days we had 90 days and we created a minute away to the music and Jack Harlow, it's something that I never and hot.

Could exist.

So it feels like a miracle that he came together in this way.

Well, we are the official state ballet of Kentucky.

And so proud of that designation and really think about the artists that make up the Louisville Ballet.

>> 24 professional dancers health from 22 cities across the world.

They come here.

They make local home and our reputation as a regional.

Well, a company is tremendous around the world.

Even moving current artistic director when he was with the an opera, KET about the book about why and so that artistry is tremendous.

And this collaboration is much of our mission.

It's part of our mission, both collaboration, Ys and to be working with changing long had an Asian American woman, creative is tremendous.

And also the powerhouse of Kentucky's talent.

And so to pair up with Jack Harlow with his incredible music.

It's it's a game changer for us at the loop about why.

Indeed, later this month to Jack Harlow was performing with the Louisville.

>> Orchestra and conductor, Teddy Abrams for no place like home 2024.

At the Kentucky Performing Arts Center tickets for both events are on sale now a new kind of legal clinic is open for business at the University of Louisville.

>> There are a large number of immigrants in the Louisville in the contest and Kentucky regions.

There are insufficient attorneys to meet the needs and provide equality.

Legal services.

>> Learn how the Immigration Law Clinic a serving immigrants in our community as well as training the next generation of lawyers.

That's tomorrow on Kentucky EDITION, which we know is at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central.

That's where we inform connect and inspire.

Thanks so much for watching tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Take really good care and I'll see you right back here again tomorrow.

So on.

♪ ♪