♪ >> The bar way for tomorrow.

We'll still have the same old.

We heard from her.

>> Hear from a man whose mother has been missing since the flies.

>> People can player be a lot of other roadways when they head out.

>> Gas prices are still high but fewer Americans are putting the brakes on their holiday travel plans >> the market is designed as a co-operative, too build community.

>> Helping people who live miles from a grocery store put fresh food on the table.

And is it also systems go as NASA gets ready for a second?

Try on the Artemis rocket and it's Kentucky made payload.

>> With action of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET and down the Kentucky Productions.

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

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Friday, September.

The second I know you're getting ready for this three-day weekend.

Thank you for spending part of your Friday night with us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

FEMA is giving more time for Kentuckians to ask for flooding.

Help Kentucky state government asked for FEMA to push back the deadline for local governments, houses of worship and other nonprofit groups to request public assistance.

Today, FEMA granted that request this affects 13 counties that suffered flood damage in late July.

See the new deadlines at the FEMA website.

FEMA reimburses cities and counties for the cost of emergency response, debris removal and infrastructure damage, nonprofits that meet certain criteria can also be reimbursed.

Many people lost.

Everything are nearly everything in the eastern Kentucky flooding.

But most of those things can be replaced.

At least one man lost something irreplaceable.

And his story is one that won't soon be forgotten by anyone who hears it.

KET.

Brandon Roberts has more.

>> Bertha County resident Michael Baker has a story to tell.

But it's probably best if he tales.

It.

>> For that, I was on the Ram there was nothing I could do to save the world.

You know, it's Turner Townsend.

Hey, farming about 2 and a half years, 3 years and that watery.

They got out.

It swept him into a garage or a managed to get out somehow.

Thus far.

We some still have the same m O.

We heard from are.

>> Baker said he KET flooding was imminent after making sure his wife and children were safe.

He turned his focus to helping his neighbors, who also happen to be as parents.

>> You know, we never see the water come up so quick and so fast as it did.

You know, I think it was in the House first.

We've got to get out.

I got them out.

Got them to the road.

And my parents live right next door to me.

And I went to the same thing.

>> It was during the attempt to save his parents when he witnessed the unthinkable, his father and mother being swept away by the rushing and rising water.

>> The water column so quick.

I was probably most twice the the water trying to get to.

Tomorrow.

We're going to come through.

I got the moment.

But before I made it to her.

And here grabbed a hold over the water, swept him.

Muscle loss and muscle loss.

Crew could hold on as it was.

he could to try to cyber income reca and just a matter of seconds, my parents house when.

>> Baker has search for his mother, 6 year-old Vanessa Baker every day since the flood.

Volunteer groups have also help with the search, although his mother is yet to be found.

Baker said he appreciates the help he's been given but knows that finding her will take more than just searching creeks and riverbanks and a full day's week for anybody.

Anybody was hurt, but all are more welcome to reach out to me.

>> any time of the United?

Oh, my.

>> For KET, I'm Brandon Roberts.

>> Baker said anyone willing to help can reach him through Facebook or through state.

Senator Brandon Smith's office.

In addition to the NASA Baker, Nancy Cundiff of breath, it county is also missing.

The death toll from the Eastern Kentucky floods remains at 39.

Kentucky students and school staff are safer now than they were a year ago.

That's according to the just-released School Risk Assessment report for Kentucky.

The report shows improvements in all 173 of Kentucky school districts and says 99.0, 53% of Kentucky schools are compliant with the school safety and resiliency at that calls for improved security.

Mental health advocacy, emergency planning and training in schools.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed House bill 63 requiring all Kentucky schools to have a school resource officer on every campus by August.

First but many didn't.

We spoke to Ben Wilcox, the state school security marshal about how that effort is going >> numbers are so hard right now because we're everyday hearing of other school districts now that are contacting us and saying we've hired 2 more.

We've hired an officer here without an officer there.

So, you know, they're still got tops tools some with funding and some with personnel.

But, you know, we're seeing them overcome those and we've got the road to go.

it's very it's very good news of what we're hearing right now.

>> Wilcox, as for the new school year, teachers and staff need to have a plan for critical incidents in schools while school districts need to have emergency operations plans.

And he says the state needs to work hard toward having one school-based mental health professional for every 250 students.

As we told you last night, Governor Andy Beshear has now endorsed Charles Booker, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate.

In a statement, the governor says, quote, Kentuckians deserve a senator that fights for good jobs, access to high quality, affordable health care and as a champion for public education.

I am honored to endorse him as Kentucky's next U.S.

Senator.

We will talk about that endorsement and other political news of the weekend are inside Kentucky Politics segment.

That's coming up in just a few minutes.

♪ Another slight improvement in Kentucky's COVID map for this week.

Last week, 74 counties were in red, meaning a high COVID community level.

This week.

It's down to 70.

That doesn't include the 2 counties with the biggest populations, Jefferson and Fayette.

42 counties are in the yellow for medium and 8 counties are green, meaning low.

That includes Boone, Kenton and Campbell, the 3 counties next to Cincinnati.

Kentucky's COVID positivity rate released Monday topped 20%.

That noon.

This comes as the CDC signs off on updated COVID-19 boosters.

The CDC advisory committee voted 13 to one to recommend updated boosters from Pfizer and moderna for Americans to begin taking this fall.

Shipments have already started.

The updated boosters are supposed to provide better protection against the latest COVID variants Ba 4 and Ba 5 in there for people who've already had their primary COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID gets a lot of the blame for a recent decline in us.

Life expectancy.

New numbers show Americans.

Life expectancy was 76.1 years on average in 2021.

That's the lowest number since 1996 and the decline of almost a year from 2020, there are no numbers yet for Kentucky in 2021. in 2020, the average Kentucky life expectancy was 73.5 years.

Kentucky ranked 47th among the 50 states and District of Columbia, Alabama, Louisiana, West Virginia and Mississippi or worse.

Turning to financial news now, millions of Americans and you might be one of them.

And thousands here in Kentucky are hitting the road for the Labor Day weekend.

Expect to pay less for gas than you would have a couple of months ago.

Here are the latest numbers from triple A the average Kentucky price for a gallon of unleaded is now $3 and $0.45 compared to the national average of 3.80, 3.80, was also the Kentucky average a month ago.

So it's down $0.35 since then higher than average gas prices and flight delays and cancellations plaguing the airline industry are not keeping people from traveling this holiday weekend.

Triple A says it expects Labor Day travel to be up.

22 1% compared to last year.

We spoke earlier this afternoon.

The Loi Weaver Hawkins of Triple A the Bluegrass about what to expect.

If you're one of those driving or flying to your destination for the holiday weekend.

>> We are actually expecting that the roads will be as busy as what we before the pandemic.

That's been something that's kind of been going on this summer, especially when we get into these holidays where people tend you know, plan their travel to include that holiday APA working and set so those are actually, you know, we saw that this summer tracking close to prepandemic levels and we don't I expect anything different for this Labor Day weekend.

So people can plan see a lot of others out on the roadways when they head out to play it surveyed, folks, you know, early in the spring.

>> And asked about travel, only gas prices were.

>> Not at their peak.

Certainly at that point and had started to rise that.

>> That said, you know, well, we're going to cut our budget, but we're still planning that trip.

We've been we've kind of delaying that for the last couple of years.

And now we want to take that summer road trip.

Then we got into the higher gas prices.

So we checked in with folks again.

And that was still the case.

Despite the fact that the gas prices in June, you know, record levels.

People were still saying, well, you know what?

I'm going to cut back in my other things that I do maybe not run my you know, kind of combine my air is not run out all the time.

Not dine out as much.

However they needed to cut their budget if they already had in mind to travel.

That's what they were going to do.

>> It's interesting to see it folks are go going back to those large metro areas.

>> I'm so we're seeing interest and places like New York City, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, even is well as the Disney properties.

So Orlando and Anaheim continue to be destinations that folks are heading to this Labor Day weekend.

What we saw last year was that national parks and other sort of destinations that allowed you to stay outside usally social distance.

>> more popular than the metros and now we're seeing.

>> Folks going back to these metro areas.

If you're traveling by air, the more flexibility in your date, the better because, you know, you might end up flying out a day later than expected.

So KET that in mind.

If you are booking flights and you're trying to get somewhere at a certain date, you may want to leave a day earlier if at all possible, but you know, plan ahead of time.

We've all heard the stories about the delays, the canceled flights, et cetera.

So just KET that in mind when you need to travel by air.

>> Pack your patience to triple A says this year more people are traveling out of the country, reservations for international flights are up 104% compared to last year.

Domestic travel is up.

22%.

It's one of Kentucky's busiest roads and it's about to get wider.

Thank goodness the state is about to start work on 2 miles of I-64 and I-75 in Fayette County as part of the stretch where the 2 interstates are combined.

The work is between Newtown Pike at mile marker one 15 in Paris Pike at mile marker one 13 crews are widening the road to 4 lanes in each direction or does ease the traffic and improve safety.

The work starts next Tuesday and should wrap up in November of 2024.

Lexington now has its money back.

We told you earlier in the week someone had stolen 3.9 million dollars electronically.

That money was meant for the Community Action Council use on federal rent assistance and transitional housing.

The city says thieves diverted the money into a private account, but the city was able to seize that money from that account.

Mayor Linda Gorton is praising the Lexington Police financial crimes unit.

The FBI, the Secret Service, the departments of Finance and Information Technology Knowledge E and some banks that help with the investigation.

Someone is stealing copper from Kentucky highways and it's costing you money.

The state says thieves are taken copper from highway light poles in junction boxes in Louisville.

It's left 500 Poles dark.

It will cost between 30 $45,000 to replace the wire in the state is offering a $2500 reward for information that leads to the thieves.

A federal judge agrees with the Louisville wedding photographer who refused to take pictures at same sex weddings on religious grounds.

Louisville said Chelsea Nelson violated the city's fairness ordinance when she refused to accept same sex wedding assignments.

She sued Judge Benjamin beaten says the city can't force Nelson's except those jobs.

Mayor Greg Fischer says he disagrees with the judge's decision.

Fisher says the city will likely appeal.

Here's more legal news.

The ACLU has reached a deal with the Kentucky Department of Corrections over prisoners confidential mail.

The ACLU says for 50 years prisons would open privilege mail with the prisoner watching.

This was an attempt to stop contraband.

The ACLU says this lead to situations were all male was being opened and too many other people were saying confidential mail, including Mel from a prisoner's lawyer under the new system, lawyers will get a special called number and letters with that special code.

We'll go right to the prisoner.

E-Coli cases have popped up in 6 states including Kentucky, according to Food Safety News, those cases are linked to lettuce used.

And Wendy's fast-food restaurant sandwiches.

Wendy's says it has stopped using that lettuce and that the restaurant chain says it's not the same light is used in other Wendy's products, including salads.

The CDC reports one confirmed case of E-coli and Kentucky, which is why Kentucky is light green on this map.

You're saying 24 people are sick and Ohio and 58 are sick and Michigan, according to the CDC.

Just a reminder, NASA will try again tomorrow to launch the Artemis rocket from Florida.

It's a project with the Kentucky connection.

This video shows the Artemis on the pad about 6 hours ago.

The Artemis will not have a crew on board.

The rocket will fly to the moon as a test for some future missions in the works.

The Artemis will include a satellite built by students and faculty at Morehead State University.

That will orbit the moon and look for water on the lunar surface.

Time now for our end of week analysis of some major political developments in Kentucky this week.

>> In our inside Kentucky Politics segment and we have with us German Brown, a partner at McCarthy Strategic Solutions.

He's held senior roles in campaigns ranging from local municipal elections to statewide gubernatorial and U.S.. Senate campaigns works closely with the governor, Andy Beshear administration.

Iris Wilbur is a principle and McCarthy strategic solution.

She served as vice president of public policy and external affairs for Greater Louisville Inc in the Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Iris.

Also, it's been a political operative for over a decade working on campaigns and committees supporting Republican gubernatorial congressional and presidential candidates.

Thank you both representing your from quite well today.

The dynamic duo that you are I want to start and talking to you first German about Governor Andy Beshear made an endorsement this week.

First Charles Booker, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and the major question is what took him so long?

>> I think that I think the major question is, you know, just looking at the viability, the confidence that the governor has been a.

>> Representative Booker, former representative, but always KET that title.

I'm excited about endorsement.

I think as governor, most popular governor in the in the nation right now using that a strengthened that name and bring that endorsement over.

I think there's some people asked that question about, you know, the timing of that.

But now is the time as far as the campaign season kicking off of people.

Think about it.

Starting off on Labor Day Labor Day and of those last 2 months of people really getting out talking the voters and get them moving.

We've seen a lot of the excitement around and this is the time for to September October, leading into a, you know, that today, November.

>> So there's nefarious about it.

We know that we had heard earlier a few months ago this summer that Charles Booker was perhaps frustrated with the Democratic Party, had maybe even considered are running as an independent.

So that doesn't have anything to do with the timing of Governor Andy Beshear's endorsement.

>> Look, I think I think people are going to try to take in trying to find places all that.

I Charles Booker is a guy who stands on his own he will go against party needs to be you know, lineup in some with the Democrats.

This is not a candidate who he is is an independent certainly.

But as far you know, but the fight is of where he stands.

He's a Democrat and for the governor.

You know, I look at this this is kind of the timing of it.

All is endorsing other folks.

He's endorsing state rep states, Senate seats are right now.

So it's kind of kind of goes along with that.

>> Matt Lehman, who was trying to unseat Congressman Thomas Massie in the 4th congressional district.

He also gave his endorsement to him this week.

will KET saying those evolve and unveil.

I want to go to you now, Iris Wilbur to talk to you about U.S.. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who in recent weeks he's talked about the chances of flipping the U.S. Senate to back in Republican control.

And he seemed to kind of moderate that said it's a 50, 50 proposition.

What more can you add to what the leader is saying?

>> So, Renee, I think it's really important, too help communicate and to level set some expectations.

But the major takeaway is that there needs to be a strong and this is call to action to donors and supporters across the country to rally around these Republican nominees for U.S. Senate.

So, you know, my hope is that you don't ERs in particular here this.

>> A sense of urgency to open up their and also help spread the word to support these Republican nominees.

>> So he did have a fundraiser in recent days for the Met Auzenne, Pennsylvania for Herschel Walker in Georgia.

But he's also made comments about the quality of candidates that could impede the chances of a Republican takeover the U.S. Senate.

Can you straighten that out for us?

>> I think actions speak louder than words.

No one is working harder and no one has a stronger track record of the mention a call regarding supporting party candidates, particularly through the Republican Senate Committee.

And so you're traveling around the country, opening up donor networks.

He is proven time and time again to support these nominees and he'll do up until Election Day.

And so I know leader because working hard to mobilize donors and supporters across the country to back these candidates.

>> So let's talk a little bit about.

We do have state legislative races.

It's not just they had the big ticket items, but there are some state legislative races and Sherman Brown.

There was some movement and one of the state races that I think you want to talk about.

>> Yeah.

And Senate district.

Well, I think you've first of all, you had a candidate on that.

Residents problems, issues are brought up.

The Democrat Party is selected Bill O'Brien to replace her and that there in Lexington that the district redrawn a little bit, something that's going to be a little more of just for public, too much different district.

And then what was there before that?

That is that is one of its kind of got everybody's attention here recently just with you know, just what better place to be on there just this week.

>> And so just to clarify, that is the seat that's being vacated by longtime state Senator Alice Forgy Kerr.

>> That's right.

Exactly right.

>> Yeah.

Well, thank you both.

Iris Wilbur and Sherman Brown for joining us for a few minutes far inside Kentucky politics segment.

We appreciate you so very much and have a great weekend.

>> Thank.

Thank you.

♪ >> People in Bowling Green's West and live and the largest food desert in the city earlier this year, Hotel Inc opened a co-op market increase access to affordable nutritious foods in that area.

They say the market is also building community among the neighbors.

>> Our work really has been evolving over the last 5 to 7 years towards more holistic work.

So the whole person right or the hollowness of the community so that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Affordable housing workforce.

Housing is is a huge part of the work that we do.

But within that has also always been nutrition and health in law must.

>> And a city a food desert is a place where there's not access to fresh foods within a mile from home.

The delafield community have been greatly impacted for several years now of not having that fresh food access.

>> The community needs something to Some.

>> stole all grocery store.

>> We have and it will be.

for the for the people, for the neighbors.

>> We've been working for about 4 years doing research, visiting other nonprofit whether they were farmers, markets for other Co-operatives or nonprofit at grocery stores to learn how they were addressing food deserts in their community.

>> When we previously had a food pantry, we had, you know, a handful of that we were already part purchasing from.

And so we obviously wanted to go to them and talk with him about the model and see if they would still be and rest and that's being a vendor.

And all of them said yes.

And then it was just also exploring what other products we could find.

That was Kentucky proud.

>> Always good fun to Fund.

Then able for the community because they don't have to go find a way to found the broad Dave that finding out almost everything when they need.

Well, every day.

>> Their response has been really great.

People are really excited about supporting local farmers and having continual fresh food access.

Our hope is that maybe there's other places, you know, here in Kentucky.

Obviously we live where we have a lot of different food deserts may be the work telling can also help to spread those ideas across our state.

The market is created to for everyone and together, we're helping to build a sustainable local food economy.

>> Weston residents get a free membership and discount.

But Randall Miller says anyone is welcome to shop and fact is encouraged to KET the market sustainable.

♪ >> There's plenty of things to do over the Labor Day weekend and beyond in Kentucky, everything from dogs to butterflies to eat.

He's Toby Gibbs tells us more in our look around the Commonwealth.

♪ >> Get ready for a labor day off-road adventure with the Labor Day ride an average this weekend.

The Black Mountain off-road adventure area has more than 150 miles of trails on its 7,000 acre lot.

All adding up to weekend like no other.

Gaze into the galaxy above that.

The sky observations event in Big Ball Lake State Park join staff from northern Kentucky University to learn all about the Sun Moon and stars.

As you explore the Milky Way like never before.

Welcome to the greatest show on Earth that this year's death festival in Danville.

This is the 14th biennial event and is the state's only day long celebration of deaf and hard of hearing the event will include children's programs, special spotlight performances, music and even a job fair.

Spend a fun-filled day with your furry friend at the Bark Ranger Day at Wickliffe Mounds, State historic site.

Learn about the Native Americans who lived in the area more than 900 years ago.

Join in on the scavenger hunt show off your skills at the obstacle course for take a photo with your four-legged companion in the photo.

But >> why up up and away with the 13th annual Butterfly festival this Saturday.

And I'll throw this award-winning festival is back with arts and crafts face painting bubbles, balloons, butterflies, culminating with the release of 1000 butterflies to kick off their migration to the South.

Sawyer.

Brown will be performing with special guest Alex Miller at Litchfield this Sunday.

This event is happening.

Rain or shine.

So grab your family friends and your own chair and come enjoy an evening of music, food and fun.

And that's what's going on around the commonwealth.

I'm to begin >> Some great things to do.

If you're keeping a close to home this three-day weekend.

Monday, of course, is Labor Day, but you can still join us for a special Labor Day fame, Kentucky edition.

We'll tell you about the history of the holiday and so much sort so much more on Monday night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central right here on Kentucky.

Addition have a great weekend.

♪