♪ >> It had the audacity to blame this to sit on stools, staffing and kids with that lunch money.

>> New calls tonight for a change of leadership in Fayette County Public Schools.

>> We just moved an elderly gentleman whose work dollars life and never owned a home.

Scott, $1500 a month in retirement.

He's a homeowner.

>> A Kentucky find has helped thousands rent and own homes.

Could it be doing more?

>> And so my first words on that phone call where no way.

I mean, I mean, yes, of course.

I'm with the job.

>> Kentucky improves.

She's got the right staff becoming one of NASA's newest astronaut candidates.

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

♪ ♪ Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION for this Tuesday, September.

The 23rd, I'm Renee Shaw and we thank you for joining us this Tuesday evening.

>> More state lawmakers are expressing concern with Fayette County public schools.

Tonight, 5 Democratic state representatives serving the Lexington area say they've lost confidence in the district's leadership, including that of Superintendent Dimitris Liggins.

They're calling for an independent forensic audit which they say has been met with hesitancy from the administration.

The move comes a day after the school board approved a new budget of more than 800 million dollars after months of uncertainty, including a 60 million dollar budget shortfall, attempts to raise taxes and dipping into the contents of safe and to help balance the budget.

Tonight, state lawmakers are also demanding transparency and a statement they say, quote, a controversial new tax proposal.

Conflicting financial reports questionable spending and use of eminent domain to take property from homeowners.

All of these actions undermine the public trust Fayette County families and taxpayers deserve better.

They added last night's school board meeting made it clear that the community has also lost trust in the administration here.

Some of the public comments from that meeting.

>> There is either incompetence or mismanagement and neither is acceptable when it comes to education.

>> Superintendent Wiggins and the board have lost trust within the public in order for me to truly trust the results of such an audit would require that the entire audit be conducted outside of the entity of Fcps.

You've had the audacity to blame this divisive on stools staffing and kids with that added with lunch money instead of my Ministry of Travel, Catering and other lab are spending such as monogrammed robes.

Some this level of gross mismanagement would not be acceptable in the best of times.

But in an era where the funding of our entire education is under attack on an unprecedented level, this failure demands accountability.

We the people of Lexington whose taxes fund this institution demanded full.

>> Forensic external on it from our community.

>> Later in the meeting, Superintendent Leganes told the board some of the comments were inaccurate.

>> The 60 million dollars was an anticipated budget shortfall.

There's no missing money of 60 million dollars.

That was something that said if we do everything that the board is that they want to do and KET moving forward.

We will be 60 million dollar short.

So there's never 60 million dollars missing money that was said several times earlier.

That was completely inaccurate.

There's no missing 60 million dollars.

That was a projection based off of what was anticipated to be spent.

>> Yesterday, 3 Republican state lawmakers called for the immediate resignation of Superintendent Leganes and Fayette County Board Chair Tyler Murphy.

They accuse the administration of mismanaging the district's finances, creating a hostile administrative culture and lacking transparency.

This afternoon, Democratic State Representative George Brown of Lexington's in a statement rejecting calls for Liggins to resign.

He notes the current administration's academic achievements and says while it's clear the district is facing financial challenges, he says, quote, the superintendent has acknowledged where improvements are needed and rather than avoiding accountability.

He has welcomed independent audits and investigations, end quote last night on KET Kentucky tonight during a conversation about the state's K through 12 education system.

I asked another superintendent Rob Clayton know Warren County about the situation in Fayette County.

>> Superintendent, Clayton, what kind of message does it send when state lawmakers call for the resignation of a district level superintendent and the board chair.

>> Well, I think first of all, it speaks to the times that we're in for a long time.

Education was non-partisan.

Has come and gone.

And so it doesn't surprise me that lawmakers would weigh in.

Really.

What's most important is the lens that you're looking at when you discuss the budget, you discuss how funding has not kept up.

>> There is more from our conversation last night about K through 12 education.

You can stream that online on demand at KET DOT org.

Slash K why tonight?

In other news, Kentucky faces an ongoing housing shortage and it's expected to get worse.

Housing advocates testified this week to state lawmakers that the state's affordable housing Trust fund needs more money to make that shortage.

Our June Leffler has more as we get tonight's Legislative update.

>> Kentucky's a portable Housing Trust fund helps low-income Kentucky INS achieve home ownership.

Not just have a roof over their heads.

>> We just moved an elderly gentleman who's worked all his life and never owned a home.

Scott, $1500 a month.

Retirement.

He's a homeowner.

We have another homeowner just moved in with a single father with 3 kids moved out of public housing, wanted to have a yard for his kids to play in.

>> Kentucky created the Trust fund in the 1990's.

Since then, the fund has helped build or repair more than 12,000 affordable homes.

It is supporting the statewide production of housing for Kentuckians who are living.

Below 60% of the area.

Median income.

Just for reference.

That is for one person.

It's about $35,000 a year they are earning family of 4.

It's around 50,000 and some change but nonprofit home builders say they can't meet the demand.

>> What that gap looks like in real people terms as I have, we have 180 families who are seeking home repair.

That's about 3 years work at our current rate of production.

So if you call me today and say your roof is leaking, you're looking at least 36 months until we can get there to help you on the home ownership side.

We're working with 380 families.

That would like to purchase a home.

That's about 6 and a half year.

If you call today.

>> Housing advocates and a lawmaker from Elizabeth Town told Kentucky's Housing task force that to ramp up the work of these nonprofit developers, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund needs more money.

This is a visual analysis of kind of where the trust fund has been since it has been operational.

And you can see that its purchasing power.

>> Has declined over time.

The General Assembly doesn't allocate money to the housing trust fund.

It sustained on mortgage, indeed, recording fees advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase those fees to bolster the fund.

We believe that this will yield an additional 6,000 single-family and rental homes being built over the next 10 years.

Lawmakers question the feed changes.

It's a lot of times we don't change fees around here because everybody here's feet tax.

All that stuff may just have a panic attack.

>> And so it may not do it often enough.

So when we do, we do do it because a big jump.

>> Fees are concerning to everybody that votes on them and also the folks, the Kentucky Realtors Association that it suggests that if you haven't talked to them or negotiated with them to see how you can get them to neutral and not opposed to this would help the legislation.

Obviously to pass.

>> The fee changes were proposed and House Bill 5 AB 8 this year.

The legislation did not make it to a committee hearing for Kentucky edition.

I'm Jen Leffler.

>> Many thanks, June.

This is the second year.

Kentucky's housing task Force has convene this week.

State Senator Robby Mills said ultimately lawmakers will have to decide whether to put money towards housing solutions such as tax credits, loans or grant money for developers.

News tonight about data centers.

One county's new restaurant tax and efforts to stop the illegal harvesting of catfish.

Our Toby Gibbs has more.

And this look at headlines around Kentucky.

♪ >> Game Wardens are cracking down on Kentuckyian suspected of illegally harvesting and selling catfish.

The Messenger reports game wardens executed 10 search warrants September 12 from Paducah to Ashland.

Names will be released later.

Colonel Jeremy Macquarie, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife director of law enforcement says Kentucky will not allow the illegal exploitation of resources to go unanswered.

The Mason County Fiscal court is thinking about the need for new regulations.

If a data center opens in the county, a resolution passed September 9th acknowledges the possibility of a company opening a data center.

The company wasn't name the ledger.

Independent reports.

The resolution asks for new industrial development regulations and environmental protections to the added to the county's comprehensive plan because of the impact that data center could have.

♪ The Davis County clerk has issued more than 6,000 hail damage titles for vehicles damaged in a Hail storm.

March.

15th and hail damage title indicates the vehicle has damage estimated at more than 75% of the vehicle's value that can affect the vehicle.

Owners insurance and the vehicles.

Resale value.

Chief deputy Clerk Mary Jacobs says it's the biggest number of hail damage titles she seen in 18 years on the job.

♪ Faruq County Herald News says Hodgenville made more than $39,000 in the first month of its new restaurant taxed a 3% tax on all ready to eat food took effect July 1st.

The money goes to the hodgenville Tourism and Convention Commission which will use it on projects to promote recreational convention and tourism activities.

With headlines around Kentucky, I'm told he get.

♪ >> The National Council on Aging is working to reduce the risk of falls for older adults here in Kentucky.

This is fall prevention awareness week and experts are sharing ways to help adults 65 and older stay active, independent and safe.

It's part of Katie's the next chapter initiative focused on the rewards and challenges of growing older.

>> So falls are the number one reason why folks, especially elderly folks come into hospitals with trauma.

And has a significant impact on that population of people.

And that is becoming one of the largest populations of people we have in the country that it impacts their life greatly.

It actually causes death and a lot of them every year.

And so anything we can do to prevent that is what we're all about.

>> So UK trauma had reached out to me because back in 2023 there have been over 53,000 files and that were unintentional here in the state of Kentucky.

And they had 359 deaths and 2023 related to these false and most of those more senior related.

So we wanted to get the word out and what better place to do that than the Lexington Senior Center.

>> General, things that people can do in their own home about fall prevention are looking at the floor.

If you have carpets that are sort of free floating carpets that can move when you step on them.

That's typically not not a good thing lighting.

It's really important to have excellent writing as you get older, your eyesight gets worse.

We're hearing gets were some of those cues you're used to having.

You don't have.

And it happens to all of us.

So there's no way to stop it.

So any place where you can put more like any place where you can avoid obstacles on the floor that someone's going to trip over any time.

If you have gait problems walking problems, if you need an assist device, use it and then medications, talk to your primary care doctor about all your medications on a regular basis to make sure you're not taking things that could impact.

You are mobility.

And then there are programs out there to get involved in that can even be done in your own home through YouTube and stuff like that to help strengthen you were a growing population of older Almost there.

And so we really need to try to work together as a community to help support folks in preventing it.

And if it happens and how we take care of that, and then if people are having recurrent falls, how do we make sure we support them to not have it continue to happen?

Then it's a community.

It's a it's really a social thing that we have to work on because it's not only is it detrimental to the person, but it's billions of dollars a year in health care costs.

Anybody who's fallen and it's significant.

We want them to come the scene.

One of the most common things is just a laceration skin tear of some sort.

And those even can turn into something else.

And so we always are willing to to see folks, we don't want something that happened 2 days later that could have been addressed at an earlier time and not been so serious.

♪ >> Tens of thousands of people made their way to Ashlynn Kentucky this past weekend for healing.

Appalachia.

It's an annual music festival that raises money for drug recovery.

And this year was the first time it was held in the Bluegrass State.

Our Emily Sisca spoke with the executive director to learn more about the cause.

>> We are joined now with Logan Terry, the executive director for healing, Appalachia Logan, thank you so much for joining us.

>> Yeah, I think so much for having me.

>> Absolutely.

So we know that you all just wrapped up the music festival this past weekend in Ashland.

But for many folks who aren't familiar, can you tell us what is healing Appalachia?

>> healing Appalachia.

It's that's the world's largest music festival is not the only guy in large music festival that's focused on recovery.

The music festivals really kind of established a celebrate recovery and to bring connection to providers and to the community.

>> It looked like the photos that also was a huge You know, approximately how many people showed up this weekend?

>> Yeah, it It was amazing.

And this year we saw unprecedented and unexpected growth.

You know, we KET that moving the festival to Kentucky with potentially make it a larger festival that we've had in the past.

We fortune have to sell out completely at 20,000 tickets and then, you know, we have around 900 volunteers that help out each year that, you know, for their time, they also get free tickets.

So we had anywhere from, you know, 20,000 to probably know 22,000 people that this year.

>> Well, that is a large amounts.

And you brought up a good point that in the past this has been happening in West Virginia.

That's right.

And this was actually rolls first year coming to Kentucky.

We tell me more about that.

>> Yeah, I think, you know, originally the organization and kind of, you know, planned or thought about, you know, the potential of moving it in between West Virginia and Kentuckyian, you know, this year, whenever the opportunity presented itself it's the Boyd County Fairgrounds.

You know, we're really excited to kind of take that take that step and, you know, we're super grateful that we did.

And we heard from a lot of folks that they were.

>> Very happy to have it in Kentucky.

Obviously 2 of the biggest headliners were Chris Stapleton and Teller shoulders that in the South, drew a lot of people.

And of course, those are household names for outside of Kentucky, but they are both from Kentucky.

You know, to me how significant was it to get those 2 headliners course.

There are dozens others music, musicians.

How significant was that to happen?

That have been both be from Kentucky.

>> Yeah, I you know, I think that it was a massive deal for so many different reasons.

I mean, it was a massive deal for for us.

So we're super grateful feeling Apalache is a music festival.

You know, that is produced from people from Appalachia, in for Pam, from Appalachia, you know, and the president of the organization and a lavender loves to use this this term that is actually perfect to the artist are typically like second responders.

You know, you think about first responders as you know, EMS and and that the government stepping in and then a lot of times directly after that, it's the artist and the people from the community that are kind of stepping in to help heal the community.

And that's kind of like a perfect picture of what this was going to go back to.

>> Asking about kind of the mission we touched on at the beginning.

But can you tell me more about kind of who or what organizations would benefit from what happened this weekend.

>> What a lot of people don't know is kind of the impact that the festival in the organization is had.

I mean, it's where it's given over a million dollars and in grant funding since it started, you know, and he's given money to over 100 organizations.

The primary mission is to raise money from the festival to intern be able to to grant out money to recovery programs in the Appalachian region and across the United States.

>> That is excellent.

And we have to ask for next year 2026, any plans you can tell us about my view.

Return to Kentucky.

>> Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I will say that it's definitely too soon to tell you exactly what the future holds.

But but I do know is that we absolutely loved our experience here in Kentuckyian the collaboration that we have from the governor's office, the attorney general's office and, you know, Boyd County Department of Tourism, Leno was completely, you know, unprecedented.

The amazing part team put a heck of a lot of work into making the site what it was.

And so, you know, wouldn't be surprised where they're going next year.

>> Overnight, we will KET our eyes out to sea.

Were you all land for 2026.

But Logan teary with healing.

Appalachia, thank you so much for your time and tell us everything about it.

>> Yeah, thank you so much from Italy.

>> Thank you, Emily.

Let's hope they come back next year.

The first healing Appalachian Music Festival was held in 2018.

Tyler Childers who headlined this year's show is also a co-founder of the organization.

The group is still determining exactly how much money was raised over the weekend.

♪ ♪ >> NASA has announced its newest class of astronaut candidates and it includes a Kentucky man.

34 year-old Aaron over cash, a U.S.

Navy lieutenant commander from Oldham County was one of 10 candidates elected according to NASA, more than 8,000 people applied, we got the opportunity to speak with over cash the day of the announcement she shared how she reacted when she found out who made the cut and how growing up in Kentucky helped put her on the path to becoming an astronaut.

>> I was the kid who was glued to the airplane window when I was like 6 or 8 years old and just found it fascinating to watch the world go by.

So through all of my years, growing up, I remember being obsessed with aviation and Rocketship season.

The shuttle's remember like.

>> VHS tapes that they will the TV into the Classroom.

Watch the BS.

HS tapes and shuttle launches and landings.

>> That was always inspiring.

And I think, you know, aviation space flight always represented the supply and to do something that human beings that was impossible in like we figured it out.

We did it.

We did it successfully.

We did it.

Well, you know, there are generations of humans who been inspired by that included take 7 born and raised in Goshen, Kentucky, set on county just right outside of local metro area kind and suburbs 20 minutes in one direction was Garfield Horse Farms and 20 minutes.

The other direction was down 10 local.

So it's always very grateful to be.

>> Exposed to a lot of different ways of life and different people in those areas.

I enjoy math and science.

I had a lot of great teachers in the Oldham County School System who challenge me, you know, get enough was never good enough.

You know, you can always do better.

Always achieve the best you can.

And with that.

Kind of guide you in life.

I want to be honest along the way, like being a national is just so uncommon.

It's such a hard job to get that.

I didn't necessarily let that drive my career decisions, but kind of every step of the way following the theme of like hard work.

Kids see opportunities, aren't you opportunities?

You the next door would open and that would be interesting and I would pursue it.

So we know that was true.

Fly a few teams and that was true of.

Applying to test pilot school and then applying to next.

And you know, you're like, well, well, I applied almost a year and a half ago along with everybody else.

I'm now in the test community and scientists and, you know, every EPA, so many people have this dream of being an astronaut.

So they were over 1000 applicants and early 2024.

And I got the call in mid-July.

And I was about a week away from joining my next squad are on deployment.

So I literally had my see bags packed in my bedroom.

I'm like pre packing way.

They phrase there.

Statement to me was effectively like day.

You know, we want you to come join us.

Do you still want the job?

And so my first words on that phone call where?

>> Now way?

>> I mean, I mean, yes, of course, I'm of the job.

But like, >> no way.

>> So it's a pretty special moment.

>> From Goshen, Kentucky, Aaron, over cash.

♪ >> We're the 24th group of people to be selected to be astronauts.

So last week we all show up here are brand new to the job and we met each other for the first time in.

I just cannot emphasize enough how incredible my peers are.

We are starting rational candidate training program.

So we've got 2 years coming out of skills related to human spaceflight.

So we're going to go do land survival in environments that mimic where we might find ourselves either in orbit or on the lunar or Martian surface.

We're going to go do scuba dive training and then put on a spacesuit and a scuba diving in the space.

It in the giant pool here at Johnson Space Center where they have the whole space station mockup under water and you get to learn skills of had amendment at the lake tools had to move your body.

How to navigate around the space station.

Do all kinds of maintenance and life support.

And experimentation in that environment.

Simulating 0 G. We're gonna do some geology field camp.

Which is something totally new to me.

Those of us who are pilots will get to learn how to pilot the T 38, which is sad to see supersonic jet that NASA has here for training.

And then some point our peers who are not pilots, they also get qualified in the back seat.

So we end up flying together in supersonic aircraft.

I am excited for the challenge.

You know, the hard things in life are often the best things in life firmly believe that.

And I'm I'm I know that we will have challenging times the class and that's national office in the future.

But I'm also.

I'm just extremely confident that we are going to be those challenges really well as a team.

>> Well, we are team era and congrats to her.

After graduating over cash and the other candidates could be eligible to go on missions, including trips to the moon and possibly Mars.

Here's hoping you go, girl.

Well, that'll do it for us tonight.

We're so glad that you're joining us and we hope that to be right back with us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central on Kentucky EDITION.

We're we inform connect and inspire will help you connect with us.

All the ways you see on your screen.

Facebook X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop and see some great contact.

You can also find us on KET online.

You can see stories and clips there as well.

And look for us on the PBS and KET app for more great content.

>> Thank you so very much for joining us and send us a story idea because we love hearing from you by email at public Affairs Ktv Dot Org.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thanks for watching.

And I will see you right back here again tomorrow night to cut hair.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪