What the doctor says about Senator Mitch McConnell's help.

After a second freeze in one month, today is the largest public sector investment in broadband in our history.

With bigger days to come in the future, better Internet service is on the way to 42,000 Kentuckians.

He reached out the same day and said, I want to help and a significant way.

And boy did.

And find out the mystery celebrity who's helping the Louisville Ballet keep on its toes.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

The Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Hello and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Tuesday, September 5th.

I'm Casey Parker Bell filling in for Renee Sharp.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky today addressed his recent health incidents as a Capitol Hill doctor talked about McConnell's health.

McConnell spoke today as the US Senate reconvened after its Labor Day break.

At one particular moment of my time back home has received its fair share of attention in the press over the past week.

But I assure you August was a busy and productive month for me and my staff.

Back in the Commonwealth, the 81 year old McConnell froze while talking to reporters at the Capitol in late July.

He was eventually led back to his office, but returned later and resumed talking to reporters last week in Covington.

McConnell again froze while talking after the second incident.

His office said he was feeling lightheaded.

Today, McConnell's office released a letter from Dr. Brian Moynihan, the Capitol's attending physician, saying there is no evidence McConnell had a seizure disorder or stroke.

A progressive leaning think tank finds a widening funding gap between Kentucky's poorest and wealthier school districts.

In late August, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy revealed that gap is worse now than 30 years ago.

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the state failed to provide equal educational opportunities to all Kentucky children.

The landmark 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act, or KERA, sought to shrink the school funding gap.

Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, spoke with Rene Shaw last week about this dilemma and how local school districts are responding.

Jason Bailey, the executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, we appreciate a few moments of your time to talk about education funding and you and your colleagues with the center have just released a report on the 23rd actually about the funding gap between Kentucky's poorest and wealthiest school districts.

What did your report find?

Well, we've been tracking this for a number of years, and we know that the funding gap has been trending back toward where it was when the Supreme Court declared the funding levels unconstitutional and this year that that gap was surpassed.

So we are back to the point where the court said we had inadequately and equitably funded our school system.

So this is a very troubling landmark.

That's the ruling that led to the Kentucky Education Reform Act and big improvements in equity.

But those have all been slowly dismantled over time.

So now what right now that you have brought this to light, what is the responsibility of the Kentucky General Assembly to address this, given the landmark Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990?

Well, you know, the court said that they the legislature had the responsibility or the constitutional responsibility to fix this problem.

They did then.

Thankfully, they have the resources now to begin to turn turn this around.

I mean, there are $3.7 billion sitting in the state's rainy day fund.

That's plenty of money in the next two year budget to put a lot more into the funding formula that makes our school funding more equitable.

That's what's been neglected over the past couple of decades.

And so they have the resources to do that in the next budget if they're willing to do that and forego more tax cuts.

So what has been the response from these non equitable school districts?

Right.

How have they made up for the lack of support, financial support that should, in your terms, be coming from the state?

Well, those districts in really all districts have been increasing taxes at the local level to try to make up for these state cuts.

Really all districts have been doing there.

But if you're in a property poor district, the same tax increase generates far less money than it does in a wealthy district.

So so they're not able to even given their best effort, they're just not able to make up for these cuts.

And so what you see is fewer teachers, bigger class sizes, outdated textbooks, not enough bus drivers, all the things that happen when you don't have enough money.

And it's the kids who are ultimately hurt, as you have heard, even in this studio in which I sit right now.

And you've been a part of panel discussions here on Katie about education funding, and Republicans often tout the fact that they have invested record amounts of seek funding the base per pupil funding in this past budget cycle.

And each cycle before that, they have increased that commitment.

Are they being disingenuous by characterizing it as such and such way?

Well, you know, costs go up every year to operate a school to do anything in life.

So if you're not setting a new record every year, you're not even treading water.

What's happened over a period of time is that funding was either frozen or only increased by small amounts that didn't keep up with inflation.

And so that was a cut.

That is a real cut.

And I think everybody understands that if you're if you're spending doesn't keep up with inflation, then it's a cut.

In fact, there's been a 27% cut in that core funding since 2008 after you take inflation into account.

So you have to look at the real dollars, how much it actually costs to hire a teacher to operate a school.

And that's where the the investments are simply making just hasn't hasn't been enough.

So how much does K through 12 education occupy of the overall state budget?

And what is the difference between now and, let's say 2008, the kind of pre recessionary levels?

Yeah, we've actually seen K-12 education, particularly in the most recent budget drop as a as a priority, had dropped to about 37% of the state budget.

Still a large piece, but it's gone down in its level of priority and that's that's that shows up in these numbers as well.

The biggest item in education is what's called the seek formula, which is what creates greater equity between rich and poor school districts.

And so when you cut that, when you make it less of a priority, it's those poor districts, many of which are in eastern Kentucky, that are hurt the most.

And that's what I wanted to get to next.

Jason, is where where geographically are the districts who are suffering this funding equity gap?

Where are they most centrally located?

Yeah, I mean, they're almost all in eastern Kentucky.

And we're talking about, you know, we looked at the districts that contain the 20% of students, of students in the poorest property areas and the 20% in the richest.

It's actually about 60 districts because they have fewer students.

These are areas that have experienced deep population, but almost all of them are in eastern Kentucky.

And so, you know, those those districts really depend on that state funding as they've seen coal jobs dry up, the value of land go down because of flooding and and mining that is no longer there anymore.

And so the state money has become that much more important.

And these numbers, I would say, do not even take into account the effect of the 2022 flooding, which further degraded property values in many of these counties and those areas, as you mentioned, suffering from deep population as well.

So that also affects the property tax base.

So much more to go into this.

Jason Bailey, of course, will have conversations about education on our other programs.

But we thank you for weighing in on Kentucky Edition.

Thank you, Renee.

Tomorrow, we continue our focus on education matters with a look at school safety.

We break down how districts are doing when it comes to keeping kids safe in the classroom.

That's tomorrow right here on Kentucky Edition.

Federal judges are once again hearing arguments over Kentucky's ban on gender affirming medical care for transgender youth.

Friday, the two sides debated which side was being more compassionate.

U.S. District judge I'm all for par, said concerns over the child's well-being is at the center of the case.

There's compassion, both directions.

And it does seem to me it's not crazy to to say there's a compassion opponent component to the other side of this, that maybe this is the kind of thing some people might regret if they do it at age 14, 15.

Earlier this year, lawmakers overrode Governor Andy Beshear his veto of SB 150, which has been called one of the harshest anti-transgender policies in the country.

Supporters of trans kids access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy argued that it is safe.

Necessary health care that's backed by every major medical group.

The evidence in this record shows that withholding treatment even up until the age of 18, withholding treatment and allowing puberty to occur consistent with the sex identified at birth is extraordinarily harmful to these children.

And what this regulates is not just procedures that they can get until the age of 18, but it's many aspects of these children's lives while they're in school and able to get treatment that is medically indicated and medically necessary for them to live and develop into functioning, happy adults.

Advocates have state level bans on children seeking the care countered that these are experimental and life altering procedures.

The young people shouldn't be exposed to.

In passing Senate Bill 150, Kentucky's legislature carefully examined the alleged benefits and the risks attendant to these treatments and reasonably decided that these risks are simply too much to tolerate for Kentucky's children.

Kentucky's legislature had the sovereign prerogative to make this judgment call in Wayland against Roe.

The Supreme Court found it, quote, well-settled that the state has broad police power in regulating the administration of drugs by the health professions.

Now, the fact that the plaintiffs and their favored medical interest groups disagree with Kentucky's judgment does not lessen Kentucky's sovereign prerogative.

No ruling was announced Friday.

The state will invest $386 million in high speed Internet.

Governor Andy Beshear says the investment is the biggest in Kentucky history.

It will mean high speed Internet for 42,600 homes and businesses in 46 counties.

$196 million is from the Kentucky Broadband Deployment Fund.

With much of that coming from the American Rescue Plan, Internet service providers are chipping in another 190 million.

The governor says in the world of 2023, people without reliable Internet service are being left behind.

Everyone needs reliable and affordable high speed Internet.

From a parent trying to schedule a doctor's appointment to a business owner needing to sell their goods or to hire people to our students from elementary to college, logging in for their homework.

The day after we received the historic beat funding.

Advocates for high speed Internet met in Louisville at Simmons College to celebrate.

And there we met a student named Andrea.

She talked about how these investments will help students like her have better and faster Internet as they work towards their degrees, which unlocks possibilities for them and their future.

It's a reminder that high speed Internet is no longer a luxury.

It is an absolute infrastructure necessity.

And the governor says this is just the beginning.

Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne says the General Assembly deserves credit for today's Internet announcement.

In a statement, he wrote, quote, Today's news is further proof that the legislature's goal of expanding broadband access is within reach.

Make no mistake, Kentucky's historic investments in broadband expansion would not have happened without the vision and commitment of Representative Phil Pratt, Speaker Pro-Tem David Mead and Representative Brandon Reed.

Unquote.

And there's more Internet news and an update on the sale of the Woodford County Castle as Toby Gibbs looks at headlines around Kentucky.

Broadband users in Kentucky could be affected by the end of a federal program that provides discount bid rates for Internet service.

The Affordable Connectivity Program was established by the Biden administration during the pandemic to help households afford Internet service they may need for work, school and health care.

Funds for the program are projected to run out in 2024, but the program has not yet reached everyone who is eligible, including customers in Kentucky.

Western Kentucky University Public Media quotes a spokesperson for Warren Free CC, which serves Warren County and portions of five neighboring counties that the program is available to its customers, but only about 6% use it.

Approximately 20 million households are using the program, which is only about 40% of the households that are eligible for the discount.

A murray State graduate was one of three Marines killed in a training exercise in Australia last week.

WKMG reports.

Captain Eleanor Veal LeBeau joined the Marines after earning a bachelor's degree from Murray State in 2016.

WKMG said MSU president Bob Jackson released a statement saying LeBeau, quote, served her country with distinction and brought great pride to Murray State University and quote, The Kentucky castle is under new ownership.

The Woodford County landmark has been sold for a reported price of $19 million to tax Sea Hospitality Group, a company headed by the co-founder of Louisville based Angel's Envy Bourbon.

Emily Downie, the executive director of the Woodford Tourism Commission, tells WVXU Public Radio she has high hopes the new owners will continue to make the castle publicly accessible, saying, quote, For the price, we know that they are invested.

The 110 acre Kentucky castle is an upscale bed and breakfast with a restaurant and spa.

It also hosts special events.

A recent high school graduate has made history in her hometown.

18 year old Emily Frederick of Clark County recently became the first female Eagle Scout in Clark County history.

Frederick tells the Winchester son she joined the Boy Scout troop after girls were allowed to become members because she liked the emphasis on the outdoors.

When asked what message she would have for other girls, Frederick tells the newspaper, quote, My message would be that you can do anything that you decide that you will make happen.

And quote with headlines around Kentucky, I'm Toby.

Give 2023 marks.

The 20th anniversary of the founding of Operation Unite.

The nonprofit was formed by Kentucky fifth District Congressman Hal Rogers in 2003 to fight the substance use crisis in eastern and southeastern Kentucky.

Kentucky Edition talked to Unite about 20 years of service when Operation Unite began 20 years ago.

Our family was going through a very dark, dark time with our son's addiction.

We had nowhere to turn.

We went to that first town hall meeting that Congressman Rogers had, and we decided that we didn't want any other family to endure what we had endured.

My husband and I were both educators.

We were seeing the impact on the families of many of our students, anywhere from losing a parent, a sibling.

The incarceration of many of family members.

Overdose deaths were skyrocketing.

Pill mills were being built in every county opened up in every county.

Drug related crimes just filled our court dockets.

We were in a mess, a total mess.

And out of that mess, people came together under Congressman Rogers leadership and they wanted to find a solution to the problem.

And that solution had to attack the problem on all sides.

It had to involve law enforcement.

That's the unlawful narcotics investigation, you and I.

There had to be treatment and there was very little treatment at that time.

And there had to be education prevention.

And that's how Unite was born, that acronym.

Well, you not provided a voucher to me in 2011 to allow me to come to treatment.

I had used up all my resources and burned all my bridges, and there just was nowhere else to turn.

And without a you not voucher more than likely, I would not be sitting in front of you today.

I'll probably be not on this earth today, to be honest with you.

It was through that voucher that allowed me to get here today as a house.

And I know that along with me, there has been numerous others that have come through this program on you, not vouchers.

Through the years, you started with a few dozen Unite employees spread to thousands of volunteers.

Today, we've have over 5100 people who have entered a treatment program with one of our vouchers, and we have over 650,000 children and youth who over the last 20 years have been introduced in and participated in our prevention initiatives and programs.

So during the past 20 years, that title has changed from the painkiller capital of the nation to the hope of the nation, along with the countless you not vouchers that have come through as a house.

I know there's that many more that have went through other programs to you, not vouchers.

And not only that, but the countless people that was incarcerated by the you not officers during those those early days of the I guess the early 2000s.

And people may say, well, how how does that change the landscape?

Well, jail saved my life multiple times.

Yet looking back, there are those memorable moments.

But I think one of the most memorable was having seen young adults who grew up in Unite, who came to us, whether it was in Camp Unite or through Unite Clubs.

Our scholars, our immunized scholars, they're the ones who give us hope, who make us realize that what we're doing is not in vain because they've made the one choice.

According to a study conducted by Unite and the University of Chicago, 14 of the top 20 counties in the US with the largest overdose mortality rates between 2008 and 2017 were in eastern Kentucky.

The Louisville Ballet is the official State Ballet of Kentucky, but its upcoming season will look a lot different when it opens this fall.

Our Kristi Dutton talked to the ballet CEO about what to expect and about the celebrity who's helping the ballet stay on point.

Like many nonprofits right now, the Louisville Ballet is struggling with funding.

Leslie Smart, the organization's CEO, is here to talk about why now.

But paying debt.

The pandemic left a mark.

But it's a little more than that, right?

Certainly, it did leave a mark.

And I think one of the biggest challenges that we had was last year we had sold out performances of the Brown-Forman Nutcracker.

And unfortunately, three of those performances, the last three of the season were canceled because of the Arctic storm.

ELLIOTT That blew through the state.

We followed the governor's guidance and canceled those performances and had to refund $225,000 in tickets.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay.

So you all recently received a gift from local rapper Jack Harlow.

Were you expecting that?

Was that a surprise?

He's remarkable.

We were very fortunate to have a relationship with Maggie Harlow, his mother, and supporting us with signage needs.

And so I knew of Jack and I knew she had an interest in engaging Jack.

But it was actually when the article appeared in The Courier Journal and he read it, that he reached out the same day and said, I want to help in a significant way.

And boy, did he.

Oh, that's amazing.

Yes.

Okay.

So your upcoming season, the season of the Commonwealth.

What's that about?

Well, it's truly made for Kentucky by Kentucky.

We're so fortunate to have the caliber of ballet company that we have here in Kentucky.

72 year history, fifth oldest ballet company in the country.

And the season kicks off in our studio up close and personal with our dancers with a mixed rep called Distilled.

We'll have a pre reception at the Louisville Thoroughbreds Society.

And Heaven Hill is going to actually provide their master artisans.

And then we're going to showcase three ballets and that will include Appalachian Spring Coal Virtues and one of the most romantic ballets, and that is for Moon Death.

Oh, wow.

And then we'll head into our main stage production with Giselle, which will be performed in November.

And then the sweetest treat of the holiday season is the Brown-Forman Nutcracker, truly one of the most beautiful productions of The Nutcracker in the country.

Choreographed by Val Perelli for San Francisco Ballet and will run all the way through Christmas Eve, We're adding a Christmas Eve performance.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

So how do people get tickets to see these shows?

Well, we definitely want people to get tickets.

I will tell you, Distilled is already sold out.

Okay.

Which is fantastic.

That's one problem to have.

We're looking to add an additional performance, but they can actually call our box office and that's 5025832623.

Okay.

Now, real quick, you have a personal connection to the Louisville Ballet that I think is so cool.

Tell us about that.

I do.

So I have nine members of my family that have been personally involved with the Louisville Ballet, including an anti-marriage who was an original member of the ballet.

And I, myself and my sister danced with the company.

So we have been involved the entire 70 years of the Louisville Ballet.

So it's very exciting to be in this role and helping to lead Louisville Ballet.

At this point in my career.

I know multi-generational and family and what a passion project to do, and it's fantastic.

Leslie Smart, CEO of Louisville Ballet, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

Yes.

A governor who served less than a week, 100 mile bike race in Kentucky and a civil rights standoff that involved the National Guard.

Our Toby Gibbs looks at those events and more in tonight's This Week in Kentucky History.

It was one of the tense moments of the civil rights movement in Kentucky on September 4th, 1956.

Governor Happy Chandler called out 900 members of the National Guard to dispense a crowd trying to block the integration at Sturgis High School.

500 people blocked the doors after nine black students tried to enter with the guard in place.

The nine were able to enter the school.

September 5th, 1968, Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won the light heavyweight gold medal for boxing at the Rome Summer Olympics.

President Gerald Ford named former U.S.

Senator John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky as the U.S. ambassador to East Germany on September 5th, 1974.

The Kentucky Derby was not the first Saturday in May in 2020, thanks to COVID.

It was September 5th.

Authentic won the race.

Governor John Howard wasn't in office very long.

He died September 8th, 1867, five days after taking the oath.

Happy birthday to a Kentuckian of worldwide fame.

Fried Chicken restauranteur Colonel Harland Sanders was born September 9th, 1898, and those are some of the highlights from This Week in Kentucky History.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

It's great when you can enjoy your job.

Wednesday on Kentucky Edition.

Two coworkers who've known each other a while and it shows.

Oh, it's kind of crazy.

We have we're some some fun times.

We get up and we laugh and and we just enjoyed being.

I've always enjoyed being around him, you know?

It's been good.

We enjoyed that.

Meet father and son barbers from Campbellsville tomorrow.

We hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 630 Eastern.

530 Central for Kentucky Edition.

We inform, Connect and Inspire.

Subscribe to our Kentucky Edition email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips at KET dot org and follow KET on Facebook.

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Thank you for joining us tonight for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Casey Parker Bell.

See you tonight.