11.23.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the reading of the Lexington Herald Leader. Today
is Sunday, November twenty third, twenty twenty five, and your
reader is Roger Hamperion. As a reminder, Radio I is
a reading service intended for people who are blind or
have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.

(00:21):
We'll start with the seven day forecast, brought to you
by ACI Weather. The weather Sunday will be sunny and pleasant,
with a high of sixty degrees and a low of forty.
Monday will be turning cloudy, with a high of sixty
and a low of fifty three. Tuesday will be breezy
with rain, with a high of sixty six and a

(00:43):
low of fifty. Wednesday we'll see a thick cloud cover
with a high of fifty six and a low of
thirty two. Thursday will be hartly sunny, with a high
of forty five and a low of thirty one. Friday
we'll see some sun with a high of fiftyfty two
and a low of thirty three. Saturday will be cloudy

(01:04):
with a high of forty nine and a low of
thirty four. In the Weather Almanac, the high temperature is
fifty three and a low forty four, normal high fifty four,
normal low thirty five. Last year's high sixty three, last
year's low thirty nine. Record high was seventy eight degrees

(01:27):
in nineteen forty two. Record low was six degrees in
eighteen seventy three. Precipitation Thursday was point zero two inches.
Month to date one point eight one normal month to
date two point one four year to date fifty six

(01:48):
point two three normal year to date forty four point
four to one last year to date forty four point
sixty five. Record for the date one point one six
nineteen eighty eight. Snowfall Thursday zero month to date three
tenths of an inch normal month to date, two tenths

(02:10):
of an inch season to date point three inches normal
season to date point two inches last season to date zero.
Sunrise today will be at seven to twenty eight am.
Sunset tonight five twenty two pm. Moonrise today nine to

(02:31):
fifty three am. Moon set today six fifty two pm.
Moon phases the first quarter will be November twenty eighth,
Full moon December fourth, last quarter December eleventh, New moon
December nineteenth. Now we'll read the front page headlines from

(02:51):
today's edition What's for Dinner. Kentucky's more than thirty eight
thousand beef farmers are struggling to navigate a tricky market
as staunch demand and tight supply have resorted in historically
high prices for consumers. Here's how they're managing it. Also,

(03:11):
Kentucky parole Board orders Ronald Exantis remain in prison following
Florida arrest. The first article from today's edition is titled
high Prices, Tight supply Kentucky's cattle farmers navigate tricky beef
market by Piper Hanson. Even if he wasn't making any money,

(03:33):
Andy Bishop would still be raising cattle. When most people
think about cattle production, they think, oh, you're just raising
cows selling calves, and that's about the end of it.
But it's a pretty intricate business and there are a
lot of variables that go into it, he said. I say,
I work off the farm to support my farming habit,

(03:55):
but for me, it's a way of life. Bishop has
run a seventy head cow calf operation in unincorporated Cox's Creek, Kentucky,
since two thousand and seven. There in Nelson County, he
keeps a herd of cows to produce calves he then sells.
He spends most days in Danville as an agriculture banker,

(04:16):
where he's helping others navigate the volatile beef industry. He's
one of the many farmers across the Commonwealth, the largest
cattle producing state east of the Mississippi River, who know
well the ups and downs of beef production. Kentucky is
home to more than thirty eight thousand beef farmers, raising
over two million cattle and calves, according to the Kentucky

(04:39):
Beef Council. In twenty twenty four, gross recedes from cattle
production totaled more than one billion dollars, putting it among
the state's top five commodities according to the Kentucky Department
of Agriculture. But the beef market is experiencing historically high
prices as a result of strong demand and tight supple

(05:00):
brought on by drought and other market conditions, said Kenny Burdine,
an agriculture economics extension professor at the University of Kentucky.
Smaller herds are limiting how many cows at the end
of their productive lives are being sold, while a strong
market of calves encourages farmers to keep cows for longer,

(05:21):
which is also limiting supply. He said, those high prices
are hurting consumers at the checkout lane and aren't trickling
down to the thousands of Kentucky farmers making sure product
lands on shelves. Just because beef is expensive in the
store doesn't mean that that trickles down to the farmer himself.

(05:41):
Bishops said, there are a lot of factors that go
into that, but that money doesn't always mean that the
farmer is getting wealthy or making a lot of money.
The market continues to be cost prohibitive for entry compared
to just a few decades ago, especially for those who
aren't picking up their fathers left off. But to me,

(06:03):
the future of cattle in the state of Kentucky is bright.
Bishop said, I think that you're going to see maybe
less cattle producers, but larger farming operations. So, in other words,
the people that are in the business and coming into
the business would expand their operation, while some of the
smaller ones that are exiting don't get replaced. Price of

(06:26):
beef continues to increase for consumers. Beef in all cuts,
grounds and types is more expensive in grocery stores for
everyday consumers. The national average of price per pound of
lean ground beef was up almost fifteen percent year over
year at seven dollars and ninety five cents in July,

(06:46):
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More quality cuts
of beef, boneless surloins, and round steaks have also increased
in average price across the country. The price of ground
beef has been no notice by consumers, likely because it's
more versatile than other beef products, said University of Kentucky
meat science professor Greg Rentfro. Since President Donald Trump's second

(07:12):
inauguration in January, the Herald Leader has kept track of
prices of the same twenty six items at the same
three Lexington area grocery stores to see if He's keeping
his promise to lower grocery prices. On our shopping list
is the price per pound of store brand ground beef
from Kroger, Meyer and Publix. At the start of the year,

(07:34):
the average price per pound of ground beef was five
dollars and twenty four cents. In September, the average price
had increased almost fifty percent, or by two dollars and
sixty one cents, to an average of seven dollars and
eighty five cents per pound. The average price per pound
of a package of store brand chicken breast has stayed

(07:55):
relatively similar throughout the year at Lexington grocery stores, after
it went down to an average of four dollars and
sixty two cents per pound in September from January's average
of six dollars and thirty four cents per pound. A
sixteen ounce package of Oscar Meyer bacon has also been
in our shopping cart this year. In January, the average

(08:17):
price was seven dollars and ninety four cents across Lexington
grocery stores, increased by one dollar in the months of March, April,
and May, and then decreased to an average price of
eight dollars and sixty two cents in September. Beef is
not our number one animal protein source that we eat
in this country. Chicken is, but we're still considered a

(08:39):
beef eating country. Renfro said. When we go out on
a special occasion, it's a steak dinner. When we go
out to celebrate, it's a steak dinner. When you get
together as friends, it's a state dinner. Restaurants as part
of supply chain not unaffected. Lexington's Blue Door Smokehouse owner

(09:00):
Jeff Newman said last summer, the barbecue restaurant increased its prices,
but hasn't since. I don't think it's going to come
as a shock to anybody to see rising prices, he said.
It definitely comes as a maybe not a shock that
prices are up, but a shock that now you have
to pay those prices if you want to get the
same products that you got in the past. He said.

(09:23):
Demand for brisket sandwiches has remained about the same despite
the seven dollars and fifty cent price tag and fifteen
dollars per plate. Newman said there's a balance to pricing
food at restaurants, a business he's been in since before
opening Blue Door in twenty thirteen. He wants to serve
as many people as possible at low prices, and to

(09:44):
make up for slim profit margins, he tries to increase
the volume of sales for brisket, Newman's most expensive purchase.
He said he's established rebate programs with his longtime suppliers.
If he can promise to make a purchase for or
a certain number of cases over a set number of
weeks based on order history and sales from the previous year.

(10:07):
Newman and the supplier agree on a price, usually lower
than what may have been originally advertised. Our supplier and
their supplier both they find value in giving us a
little bit of a price decrease because we do purchase
so much, and they know we're consistently purchasing that much.
He said, direct to consumer interaction. That kind of direct

(10:31):
to consumer participation in the supply chain is what another
cattle farmer said is the only way he's able to
make money right now. With his wife, Danielle, Daniel Hayden
operates his more than forty year old family farm in
eastern Davies and northern Ohio counties. He manages about one
hundred and sixty COWCAF pairs in addition to production bulls

(10:53):
and some commercial poultry. Hayden said to maintain his customer
base made up of local small batch buyers and those
who buy freezer beef, a bulk purchase of a whole
or half of a cow kept cold for later use,
he would need to increase my prices astronomically to mirror
what the market prices have done. I will lose customers,

(11:16):
he said, but I want to keep my customer base
for when the market's coming down because historically direct to
consumer marketing just hand over fist strengthens your margins because
you're cutting two to three sections out of the system. Renfro,
the UK Meat Science professor, worked as a grocery store
meat cutter before teaching. He said the profit margins of

(11:39):
grocery retailers are often quite slim because so many up
and down the supply chain need to make money the farmer, meat, processor,
trucking company, warehouse, grocery store and its employees. Another complication
to the market, especially right now after a year of
drought condition, is that it takes a long time for

(12:02):
cows to mature compared to chickens and pigs. When there's
no water for grass to feed cows, it takes even longer.
The guys that have cows, actual mama cows on cow
calf operations are essentially in the driver's seat. Hayden said,
for you to buy a steak from me, it takes
me three years to make that steak. Our turnover is

(12:25):
very slow. It takes a lot of planning and establishment
in order to get beef to the grocery stores. Hayden
weans his calves off their mothers at around seven months.
Then they'll graze on grass for another three to four
months before being finished at a feed lot for another
four to six months, where they reach fifteen hundred pounds.

(12:46):
Other complications in market. When prices of beef start to increase,
people want to enter the business, said Dar Bullock, a
University of Kentucky professor and member of the school's Beef
Cattle Extension Team specializing in genetics. Those entering the market
will replenish or build a herd increasing supply, but when

(13:08):
there are more cows, the price of beef slides back
down and people start getting out of the business. It's
a cycle that happened in twenty fourteen, and a lesson
farmers haven't forgotten. Bishop said. Young farmers bought replacement heifers,
young female cows that haven't had a calf when prices
were high and supply was tight. Prices fell and the

(13:31):
market became saturated, and those who had invested in their herd,
especially those who had borrowed money to finance their expansion,
were wiped out. Since then, most farmers, Bishop said, are
reluctant to start putting more cows into their herd. We're
in a little bit of a different situation now, he said.
I mean, prices have gotten extremely high, so in order

(13:55):
to replenish, a farmer basically has to keep back his
heifers and not sell them. Hayden said he's found himself
looking at his call cows, those that are older and
not producing as sources of immediate income when necessary. It's
made his herd smaller, but he's made three thousand dollars
every so often on a sale. It is important that

(14:18):
we have the inventory available so that when we do
need to sell some, we can. Bishop said. We usually
sell about ten percent of our operation of our cows
annually as coal cows and then replace them with new heifers.
Once those heifers are on the farm, you've got to
get three calves out of her before she breaks even.

(14:39):
Hayden said that kind of timeline, on top of high
input costs bought at retail price, usually on a credit loan,
including for land, labor, fertilizer, feed, and other supplies, is
also keeping supply tight. A farm operation line of credit
is a kind of short term loan. It's usually re

(15:00):
evolving meaning the person or business who takes out the
line of credit has access to a set pool of
money that can be drawn from as needed, like a
credit card and other loans. Money used must be paid
back with interest. It's a great time to have cows,
but it's a terrible time to get into cows, Hayden said.

(15:20):
Agriculture is pretty complex and it's pretty sketchy, to be honest,
But you won't find a farmer out there that'll admit
that they like to gamble. But they do it every
damn day. The next article from today's edition is titled
Kentucky Parole Board orders Ronald Exanta's remain in prison following
Florida arrest by Jackie Starkey, an Indiana man released less

(15:45):
than ten years into a prison sentence despite killing a
Kentucky child in twenty fifteen, has been ordered back to prison.
The Kentucky Parole Board on Thursday revoked the mandatory supervised
release of Ronald Exanta's forty two after determining he should
remain incarcerated for violating the conditions of his parole. The

(16:06):
board believes offender Ronald Exantus to be a continued risk
to public safety. The Parole Board wrote in an order
released Thursday evening offender Exantus, violating his conditions and ultimately
committing a new misdemeanor offense within days of his release
further proves that he is not suitable for release. Xantis

(16:27):
was sentenced in twenty eighteen for a fatal December twenty
fifteen break in at of Versaill's home. Exantus stabbed and
killed Logan Tipton, six, and injured Logan's sisters and father.
He was sentenced to twenty years in prison for the assaults,
but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity

(16:47):
in Logan's death. Exantus traveled from Indiana and never visited
the neighborhood before an investigation found. He was released on
October first, nine years, nine months and twenty five days
into his twenty year prison sentence. He knocked several years
off of his sentence through good behavior and time served

(17:07):
before trial, and then was released eight months early on
mandatory supervised release. The program, created under a twenty twelve
state law, allows qualified inmates within a certain time frame
of release to be turned out early. The Kentucky Parole
Board objected to Xantus' release, including most recently September thirtieth.

(17:30):
His release garnered widespread attention, including from White House Press
Secretary Carolyn Levitt, who told media in the days following
the release the White House was looking into this. After
his release, Exantus traveled to Florida, where officials later arrested him,
alleging he had not properly registered as a convicted felon

(17:51):
within the required time frame and charged him with a misdemeanor.
Exantus was arrested October ninth, after less than a week
in the Sunshine. In its Thursday order, the Kentucky Parole
Board noted Exantus signed a waiver admitting he was guilty
of the misdemeanor charge, violating the terms of his release.

(18:11):
The Board determined per krs four three nine point three
one zero six one that the offender's failure to comply
with the condition of supervision constituted a significant risk to
prior victims or the community at large, and the offender
cannot be appropriately managed in the community, the Kentucky Justice

(18:32):
and Safety Cabinet said in a news release. After Exantus' release,
members of the nine person State Parole Board received death
threats as people wrongly accused them of releasing him from
prison early. Thursday's parole board order did not say where
Exantus would serve the remainder of his sentence. The next

(18:52):
article from today's edition is titled Trump faces a ticking
clock on healthcare costs by Michael Wilner, Los Angeles Times.
Republicans won a significant political victory this month when moderate
Senate Democrats joined them to end the longest government shut
down in US history, relenting from a showdown over the

(19:14):
rising costs of health care. But the fight is already
back on, with mere weeks to spare before the Trump
administration faces a potential uproar from the public over the
expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits on New Year's Day,
when premium costs will skyrocket. The fast approaching deadline, coupled

(19:35):
with stinging defeats and elections earlier this month driven by
voter concerns over affordability, has prompted a series of crisis
meetings in the West wing over path forward on Capitol Hill.
The White House response that emerged this week is a
political hail mary for an increasingly divided party entering an
election year. A second megabill deploying the parliamentary tool of reconcilitionation,

(20:00):
addressing not just healthcare costs, but Donald Trump's tariff policies
under intense scrutiny at the Supreme Court. We're going to
have the healthcare conversation. We're going to put some legislation forward,
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair said Tuesday,
addressing a breakfast event hosted by Bloomberg Government. As House

(20:22):
Republican leaders pitched the plan to their members in a
closed door meeting. The President probably would like to go
bigger than the Hill has the appetite for, Blair added,
so we'll have to see how that, you know, works out.
New plan. Last minute House Majority Leader Steve Scalise presented
the plan to skeptical Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, arguing an

(20:46):
extension of tax credits for what he called the Unaffordable
Care Act, even if they are renegotiated on Republican terms,
would only mask the problem of rising premium costs, ultimately
burdening the taxpayer. Trump set a message to the caucus
ahead of their meeting on Tuesday morning with a post
on truth social emphatic in all caps The only healthcare

(21:10):
I will support or approve is sending the money directly
back to the people, with nothing going to the big,
fat rich insurance companies who have made trillions of dollars
and ripped off America. Long enough, Trump wrote, the people
will be allowed to negotiate and buy their own much
better insurance. Power to the people, Congress, do not waste

(21:32):
your time and energy on anything else. Trump added, this
is the only way to have great health care in America.
Get it done now. Yet the plan is causing anxiety
across a wide ideological range of Republican lawmakers, including moderates
in vulnerable races entering next year's mid term elections, as
well as those from deep red districts whose constituents rely

(21:56):
on the Affordable Care Act more widely known as Obamacare.
Nearly six and ten Americans who use the ACA marketplace
live in Republican districts. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation,
enrollment is highest across the South, where districts across Texas, Mississippi, Georgia,
South Carolina, and Florida consistently see more than ten percent

(22:19):
of their residents relying on the program going for broke
with reconciliation. Trump's proposal would do away with the tax credits,
potentially overhauling health savings accounts that would encourage Americans to
save on their own and choose their health care plan.
But it's unclear whether such a dramatic last minute change

(22:40):
in the healthcare system, still in draft form, would garner
enough Republican support to pass the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson,
Republican of Louisiana, can only afford to lose two Republicans
on party line votes. The bill would come in a
perilous political environment for Republican lawmakers, who one year ago
go faced a tie with Democrats on a generic ballot

(23:03):
according to an NPR PBS News Marist poll. In the
group's latest poll, Democrats are up by fourteen points. Even
if Trump's proposal were to secure House support, the Trump
administration's plan to pursue a bill through reconciliation in the Senate,
which allows the upper chamber to pass legislation with a

(23:24):
simple majority instead of sixty votes, could face significant hurdles.
Senate parliamentary rules only allow reconciliation to be used for
legislation that directly changes federal spending. Revenues or the debt
limit that could encompass an overhaul to health savings accounts
and potentially to codify Trump's tariff policies, which have been

(23:46):
approved through reconciliation in years past, but the fine print
would be up to the discretion of the parliamentarian, whose
cuts to tangenital policy provisions could upend delicate negotiations. Was
used in Trump's last major push to repeal Obamacare in
twenty seventeen, when late Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona,

(24:09):
surprised the nation with a thumbs down vote on the
measure that Bill McCain argued would have repealed the healthcare
of millions without a plan to replace it. The next
article from today's edition is titled Radcliffe New Harry Potter
actor swap notes from the Los Angeles Times The Harry
Potter wand has been passed. Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed the

(24:33):
Boy who Lived in the Wizarding World's original film series
set on Good Morning America, that he had reached out
to New Harry Potter actor Dominick McLoughlin. No owls required.
I know a few people working on the productions, so
I wrote to Dominic, said Radcliffe, who appeared on the
Morning Show Tuesday to promote his return to Broadway in

(24:54):
Every Brilliant Thing. I sent him a letter and he
sent me a very sweet note back. The new Harry
Potter HBO series is filming in the UK. Cloughlin stars
as the eponymous orphan who learns about his magical heritage
after he receives his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft and Wizardry. Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout will portray

(25:18):
Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively. Radcliffe
said he hopes the young actors are having a great time.
I don't want to be a specter in the life
of these children at all. Radcliffe said, I just wanted
to write to him and say I hope you have
the best time and an even better time than I did.

(25:38):
I had a great time, but I hope you have
an even better one. The next article from today's edition
is titled Cheney Remembered for Transforming National Security by Peter Baker,
New York Times News Service. An unlikely mix of Republicans
and Democrats came together Thursday to pay tribute to former

(25:59):
Vice President Dick Cheney, who helped shape the nation's aggressive
response to terrorism after September eleventh, two thousand one, and
transformed his office into a powerful platform to drive policy
led by former President George W. Bush. The mourners who
gathered in the grand and cavernous Washington National Cathedral included

(26:20):
an array of veterans of their administrations, as well as
a number of Democrats who once despised Cheney but came
to admire him late in life for his outspoken opposition
to President Donald Trump. In a sign of how much
politics has changed in recent years, Trump and Vice President j. D. Vance,
the stewards of the current Republican administration, were not invited,

(26:43):
but Rachel Maddow, the liberal television host who used to
skewer Cheney for his support of the Iraq War, was
on hand as a guest of the family. Others in
attendance included former President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden,
and former Vice president Sidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, al Gore,
and Dan Quayle. A number of lawmakers from different parts

(27:07):
of the political spectrum showed up as well, including former speakers,
John Beemer, a reliable Republican ally of the Bush Cheney
White House, and Nancy Pelosi, one of its staunchest Democratic opponents.
A clutch of Republican senators attended, including John Thune of
South Dakota, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,

(27:30):
and John Barrasso of Wyoming, as did a number of
Democrats who served with his daughter, former Representative Liz Cheney
on the House committee that investigated the January sixth, twenty
twenty one attack on the Capitol, including Senator Adam Schiff
of California and Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Dick Cheney,

(27:51):
who died earlier this month at eighty four, was in
his time a hero to Republicans for his tough minded
approach to national security, and of v to many Democrats
who thought he went too far. But his decision to
join Liz Cheney in speaking out against Trump when many
other Republicans of his stature did not, left him isolated

(28:11):
from his own party and re examined by some of
his most vocal critics. Due to time constraints, we'll need
to end this article at this time and now after
a short pause, I hope you'll rejoin us for a
continuation of the reading of the Lexington Herald Leader for today.
Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for

(28:32):
more news right here on RADIOI. Now we will continue
reading from the Lexington Herald Leader for Sunday, November twenty third,
twenty twenty five. Your reader is Roger Hamperion. We will
start with the obituaries. We read only the name, age,
and location. If you would like further information on any

(28:54):
of the obituaries, please see their website or call us
during the weekdays at eight five nine four two two
sixty three nine zero, and we will be glad to
read the entire obituary for you. I will repeat that
number at the end of the listings. Today's obituaries are
as follows. Richard Covert ninety seven of Chattanooga, Joan Cavanaugh

(29:19):
Lesur ninety five of Lexington, Gurnie Norman eighty eight of Lexington.
If you would like any further information about any of
the listings today, please visit the following website www dot
legacy dot com slash obituaries slash Kentucky again. That site

(29:40):
is legacy dot com, slash obituaries slash Kentucky. You can
also call us at our RADIOI studios at eight five
nine four two two sixty three nine zero and we
will try to read them to you over the phone.
There is no Paul Prather column this week, so we
will can cotinue reading the next article in this week's

(30:02):
edition of The Herald Leader titled two FCPS schools were
getting a big award. Then came a letter from the
Feds by Valerie Honeycutt Spears. Two of the four Kentucky
elementary schools up for a heavily coveted US Department of
Education award are in Fayette County. But just before the

(30:23):
announcement naming the twenty twenty five National Blue Ribbon Schools
was to be made, the US Department of Education abruptly
ended the program. A Kentucky Department of Education news release
said Thursday. State officials were informed of that decision in
a letter dated August twenty eighth. Ordinarily, the nominated public
schools Maxwell Immersion Spanish Elementary School and Metathorpe Elementary in

(30:47):
Fayette County, Tamreck Elementary School in Davies County, and Graves
County's Central Elementary School would have been recognized by the
forty three year old federal program. In a ceremony in Washington,
Kentucky officials said schools across the nation had completed the
vigorous applications and were being certified by their respective state

(31:09):
departments of Education. The last step in the process when
letters were sent to the state officials from the US
Department of Education announcing the end of the program. The
KDE news release said, we were in the process of
re certifying our schools and we got an email from
USED saying they were ending their role in the program

(31:31):
in the spirit of returning education to the states. ADE
spokesperson Jennifer Ginn told The Herald Leader Thursday, it happened
pretty quickly. Chalkbeat in September reported that as President Donald
Trump scaled back the federal role in education, Education Department
officials told state education agencies in the August letter that

(31:52):
they were ending the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, which
honors high performing schools and schools that have successfully narrowed
academic gaps between student groups. Mattie Biederman, a spokesperson for
the US Department of Education, Chalkbeat reported said that state
leaders are best positioned to recognize excellence in local schools

(32:14):
based on educational achievements that align with their community's priorities
for academic accomplishment and improvement. In the KDE news release,
Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher said the four elementary schools would
be recognized at the Kentucky Board of Education meeting on
December fourth. We would like to celebrate these four exceptional

(32:35):
schools for the hard work that went into being selected
and meeting all the requirements to be certified as National
Blue Ribbon Schools. Fletcher said, after all the dedication and
hard work of the students and the staff, and the
efforts and many hours put into completing the application, we
at the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board

(32:57):
of Education could not let this achievement go unnoticed. Fletcher
said the National Blue Ribbon Schools award has always stood
as a symbol of the exceptional achievements of students and
educators at each of the recognized schools, said Fletcher. The
National Blue Ribbon Schools raised the bar for our nation
and our state students and have served as models for

(33:19):
effective teaching and intentional collaboration in their schools and communities.
The program recognized schools based on all student scores, subgroup
student scores, and graduation rates. Kentucky's four schools met the
criteria to qualify as Exemplary High Performing Schools. The four
schools are among hundreds across the country that would have

(33:42):
been recognized this year. KADE officials said broader dismantling efforts.
This week, the US Department of Education announced in a
news release on its website that the U S Department
of Education has six new interagency agreements with four agentscies
to break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery

(34:05):
of funded programs activities, and move closer to fulfilling the
president's promise to return education to the States. The Trump
administration is taking bold action to break up the federal
education bureaucracy and return education to the States. U S
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the release. Cutting

(34:26):
through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential
piece of our final mission. As we partner with these
agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather
best practices in each state through our fifty state tour
and empowering local leaders in K through twelve education, restore
excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify

(34:49):
these reforms. Tucky education officials did not immediately say how
they will be affected by the US Department of Education's
latest announcement. The next article from today's edition of The
Herald Leader is titled who are Kentucky's Immigrants? Data shows
they hold these jobs critical to the economy by Aaron Mudd.

(35:11):
Though they make up just less than five percent of
Kentucky's overall population, immigrants are overrepresented when it comes to
the state's small business owners, construction workers, doctors, and software developers.
That was one takeaway from State Representative Nima Kulkarney, Democrat
of Louisville, who spoke to members of Lexington Mayor's International

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Affairs Advisory Committee during its meeting Friday at Marksbury Family
Branch Library. Kulcarney has been practicing law as an immigration
attorney for fifteen years and was elected to the Kentucky
House in twenty nineteen, representing a district in Louisville's West End.
Most recently, she founded the New Americans Initiative to help

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integrate and boost civic engagement among Kentucky's immigrant population. During
her talk, Kulkarney highlighted the many barriers immigrants face in Kentucky.
That includes navigating a complex immigration system that hasn't been
updated in forty years, unrecognized foreign credentials, language barriers, and

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limited access to education and job opportunities. In spite of that,
immigrants contribute significantly to the state, both in the form
of taxes they pay and what they put into Kentucky's economy.
Coulcarney noted overall, immigrants generate fourteen billion dollars a year
in total economic input for Kentucky. Kulcarney told the advisory group,

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think about what a huge economic loss it would be
to Kentucky if we got rid of immigrants and refugees.
What does the data show about immigrants in Kentucky. There
are about two hundred two thousand, nine hundred immigrants living
in Kentucky, according to figures from the New Americans Initiatives. Together,

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they represent five percent of the state's workforce, and, according
to Kulkarney, are overrepresented in several areascuting sectors critical to
Kentucky's economy. These include seven percent of all business owners
in the state, thirteen percent of main street business owners,
twelve percent of the construction workforce, sixteen percent of doctors

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in a state with a sick and aging population, twenty
four percent of software developers. In Kentucky, immigrants pay one
point five billion dollars in federal, state, and local taxes
each year. Their collective spending power is four point five
billion dollars, Coulcarney said. When it comes to refugees and assiees,

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Kulcarney cited a twenty twenty four report from the U.
S Department of Health and Human Services, which found a
positive net impact of one hundred twenty three point eight
billion dollars over a fifteen year period. This means that
refugees and assilies contributed more revenue than they cost in
expenditures to the government. The report reads, the net fiscal

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benefit to the federal government was estimated at thirty one
point five billion dollars, and the net fiscal benefit to
state and local governments was estimated at ninety two point
three billion dollars. How federal immigration enforcement changes are affecting Kentucky.
Kulkarney also highlighted how recent changes in federal immigration enforcement

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implemented by President Donald Trump's administration are being felt across Kentucky.
Shortly after taking office this year, Trump withdrew the Sensitive
Place's Doctrine, a Biden era policy that limited immigration enforcement
activities at schools, hospitals, churches, and other places deemed essential.

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The administration has also been pursuing two eight seven G
agreements under a federal program that allows state and local
law enforcement agencies to collaborate with the federal government for
an immigration enforcement Several Kentucky law enforcement agencies and jails
have signed on to the initiative. As of October twenty one.

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The list of Kentucky counties includes Bracken, Bullet, Butler, Clinton, Davies, Grayson, Kenton, Lyon, Marshall, Oldham, Scott,
and Union. Additionally, the Heritage Creek Police Department in Jefferson
County has also signed a two to eighty seven G agreement,

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according to the New Americans Initiative. Speaking to The Herald
Leader of Friday, Kulkarney encouraged immigrants to seek out legal
representation and to have access to an attorney should they
need one. The Herald Leader has also compiled a guide
for handling encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE officers.

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The next article from today's edition of The Herald Leader
is titled Wing Party. So a UPS plane that crashed
in Kentucky had cracks signs of overstress, report says by
Christopher Leech. Parts of the left wing on the UPS
airplane that crashed in Louisville November fourth, killing fourteen people,

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had fatigued cracks and signs of overstress, according to a
preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB's
report was released Thursday, a little more than two weeks
after the plane crashed near Muhammad Ali International Airport during takeoff.
Among the fourteen dead are the plane's three crew members.

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Another twenty three were injured. Todd Inman, an NTSB member,
previously said the left engine and pylon of the plane
detached during takeoff, causing the plane to plummet and crash
into multiple businesses near the airport. A repeating bell was
heard on the plane's cockpit recording only seconds before the crash.

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D SPI's report elaborated on the mechanical failure and laid
out a maintenance timeline of when the parts were most
recently inspected. The report is preliminary and the investigation remains ongoing.
Left wing parts had fatigue cracks signs of overstress. Federal
NTSB investigators collected several pieces of the MD eleven aircraft

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on or near to the runway where the engine and
pylon detached and at the crash site. Lugs bolting together
the aft mouth that attached the left pylon to the
plane's wing had fatigued cracks and evidence of overstressed failure.
According to the report, the lugs were not inspected prior
to the crash. The report reads UPS's maintenance program requires

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the lugs to undergo a special detailed inspection at twenty
nine thy two hundred cycles, and the plane was at
twenty one thousand, forty three cycles at the time of
the crash. Additionally, the plane's wing clevis support would have
been due for a special detailed inspection at twenty eight
thousand cycles. A spherical bearing from the left wing clevis

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is undergoing further evaluation. The NTSB said the left pylon
aft mount underwent a general visual inspection and a detailed
visual inspection October twenty eighth, twenty twenty one. According to
the NTSB, the forward top flange of the mount was
inspected and no indications of deformation or pre existing fractures

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were found. UPS's maintenance program requires pylon aft mounts to
be inspected every seventy two months. The plane also underwent
lubrication maintenance on the pilon thrust links and pylon spherical
bearings October eighteenth, twenty twenty five. According to the NTSB,
UPS requires those inspections to be done every twenty four months.

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Inman previously said the plane of McDonald Douglas MD eleven
had undergone six weeks of maintenance in September and October
in San Antonio. Inman described the maintenance routine performed in
Texas as a heavy check. Since the crash, the Federal
Aviation Administration has grounded all MD eleven and MD eleven

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f aircraft until they undergo inspections and any necessary repairs.
The FAA also grounded all MD ten and DC ten
aircraft because the engine pylon structure of those planes is
similar in design to the MD eleven aircraft, and the
unsafe condition is likely to exist or develop. The next

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article from today's edition of The Herald Leader is titled
when will Construction begin on High Street development across from
Repperina by Beth Musgrave, developers of the seventeen acre High
Street parking lot across from Central Bank Center and Rapperina,
said Thursday construction will likely start in late twenty twenty six.

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Dallas based Lincoln Properties and the web companies of Lane
Lexington have proposed a multi use project that includes a hotel,
apartment complex, multiple parking garages, a grocery store, and other
retail spots. The start date for construction has been pushed
back several times. In January, the developers said, construction we

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begin this year. The first structure to go up will
likely be a parking garage, said Tyler Jones, executive vice
president of Lincoln Properties, during a Lexington Center Corporation board
meeting Thursday. The group is in final negotiations with a
major grocery store chain and hopes to announce it by
the end of the year or the first several months

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of twenty twenty six. Jones said that retail location will
be a fifty three thousand square foot full service grocery
store with a pharmacy. He said the opening will likely
be sometime in twenty twenty nine. That means at least
one of the parking structures will be built first. Jones said.
The group has also hired a general contractor and an architect.

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Developers also met with city officials to go over the
possible site plan Thursday. A preliminary subdivision plan has already
been filed. The lot is owned by Lexington Center Corporation,
which oversees Central Bank Center and Raporna. As part of
the development agreement Webb and Lincoln Properties, the Web company's

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development partner must provide one thousand, six hundred parking spaces
to replace surface parking lot on the lot during construction.
The deal between Lexington Center Corporation and the developers was
first announced in May twenty twenty two and finalized in
May twenty twenty three. Webb has said the project will

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be built in phases. The first parking garage will likely
be built toward the back of the property at the
corner of South Broadway and Maxwell Streets. Apartments or hotel
will come next, at the same time as the parking garage,
he said. Jones said they may also ask the Lexington
Center Corporation Board for help lobbying state leaders for money

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to pay for infrastructure for the project. Including moving utility lines.
The amount the group will be asking for hasn't been determined.
Jones said. The Lincoln Web Group will pay Lexington Center
Corporation one point six million dollars per year while the
property is being developed. According to the agreement, once complete,

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the annual lease payments on the project will increase to
two million dollars. That annual payment will increase each year
over the course of the ninety nine year lease, according
to lease documents. The Lexington Center Corporation Board is appointed
by the mayor but is not a city government body.
The next article from today's edition of The Herald Leader

(46:50):
is titled Kentucky family seue's truck company driver involved in
wreck that left sixteen year old dead by Christopher leech.
Us County family is suing a truck company and the driver.
The claim is responsible for causing a fatal collision on
Interstate seventy five this summer. According to court documents, the

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crash happened July twentieth in the northbound lanes of I
seventy five near mile marker eighty three in Madison County.
Kentucky State Police previously said a tractor trailer rear ended
a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and Tristan Brown, a sixteen
year old sophomore at Madison's Southern High School, died in
the collision. A lawsuit filed by Tristan's family November twelfth

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claims the trucking company and a driver involved in the
crash acted negligently and recklessly, causing wrongful death. The lawsuit
seeks unspecified compensation for the damages and a jury trial.
At only sixteen years old, Tristan's life was needlessly taken
by the actions of a dangerous trucking company and its

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reckless employee driver on a holland. The attorney representing Tristan
and his family said in a statement, my client's courageous
choice to file this lawsuit centers on demanding accountability and
providing public awareness for what happened to their son. Family
describes violent and reckless nature of crash. David Turner, a

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Harlan resident, was behind the wheel of the tractor trailer
when he recklessly and viciously rear ended the pickup truck
driven by Tristan's father. The lawsuit alleges Turner hit the
pickup truck while traveling sixty six miles per hour. The
collision caused the pickup truck to violently spin out of
control and hit another tractor trailer. The lawsuit says Tristan

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was ejected from the vehicle. Tristan's younger sister was also
in the vehicle. According to the lawsuit, all three occupants
were severely injured and taken to a hospital, where Tristan
later died. The injuries have forever changed their lives for
the worst, the lawsuit says the family. At the time
of the collision, the interstate was congested due to ongoing

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road work, and there were multiple signals and warnings of
potential traffic hazards in the contruction work zone. The lawsuit
alleges Turner failed to pay proper attention to the road
and did not use the brakes in the thirty seconds
leading up to the crash. Further, the lawsuit alleges Turner
was visually, physically, and or cognitively distracted before the collision.

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He was cited for inattentive or distracted driving, but has
not been criminally charged in connection with the collision. According
to court records, this tragic case illustrates the dangers of
distracted driving and the devastation it can cause, Holland said
in the statement. At this time, the Kentucky State Police

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continued to diligently investigate the crash, and my clients continued
to trust the process of ksp's investigative work. About eighty
minutes before the crash, the black box recorder and Turner's
tructor trailer recorded separate sudden deceleration event, which is caused
by slamming on the brakes. According to the lawsuit, the

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truck Turner was driving is owned by Hills Trucking Company,
a commercial trucking operation based in Gaylax, Virginia. The company
is also named a defendant in a lawsuit. In a
call to the Hills Company on the pending litigation, an
employee declined immediate comment, and Turner cannot be reached for comment.

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The lawsuit claims the tractor trailer had a cracked brake
drum before the crash, which would have rendered it out
of service under state and federal regulations. The cracked brake
drum could have affected Turner's ability to stop and control
the vehicle. The suit continues, it is our hope that
the spotlight upon the ongoing litigation and Tristan's memory will

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drive safer practices for trucking companies and their drivers across
Kentucky and beyond, as no families should endure such preventable devastation,
Holland said in the statement. Tristan was born in Richmond
and enjoyed football, photography, video games, fishing, and shoes. According
to his obituary, he was also a member of Life

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Church in Richmond. My clients continue to be thankful for
the ongoing love and support of their community as they
have continued to physically recover and navigate life without Tristan,
Holland said in the statement. While Tristan's time on this
earth was cut short, his memory will remain forever and
the family will continue to honor his legacy through the

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Tristan Project by providing love, support and hope for children
throughout their community. The next article from today's edition of
The Herald Leader is titled third Kentucky farmer sentenced for
multimillion dollar crop fraud conspiracy by Taylor six, a Kentucky
farmer will spend three and a half years in prison

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for his role in defrauding the federal government of more
than five million dollars in a crop fraud scheme. David
Hunt of Time, Taylor County, was sentenced November seventeenth to
a federal charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He
is one of at least nine people prosecutors say participated
in the scheme that defrauded the United States Department of

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Agriculture of five million, four hundred twenty seven three hundred
sixty five dollars in crop insurance indemnity payments across six years.
A number of agriculture producers in Kentucky, the very people
this program was designed to protect, abused this system to
steal from the federal coffers and profit unjustly from taxpayer dollars,

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federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. Hunt pleaded guilty
to the charge in March. According to Hunt's charging document,
he wrote checks to Farmer's Tobacco Warehouse for tobacco, used
the canceled checks as evidence that his tobacco production was short,
and corruptly influenced his insurance company to make payments. The

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warehouse paid him back. According to the charge. Hunt also
admitted he took out crop insurance in his son's name
to qualify for bigger payouts, wrote a check to another
farmer to make it appear he had had to buy
tobacco and sold tobacco under other people's names to hide
his production. Prosecutors said Hunt's actions have no explanation other

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than greed. Unlike many other farmers who have committed this crime,
Hunt does not appear to suffer from troublesome debt. Prosecutors wrote,
this leaves greed and the ease of obtaining unearned income
as the principal motivators. Farmer's Tobacco Warehouse has since closed.
David Wisdom of Barron County was sentenced November sixth to

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four years in prison and ordered to pay almost two
million dollars in restitution. He pleaded guilty in February to
a charge of conspiracy to defraud the US. According to
court documents, Wisdom wrote checks showing he bought tobacco from
Farmer's Tobacco Warehouse, creating the impression his crops had been
short and he needed to buy tobacco to fulfill his contract.

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The warehouse's former manager, Thomas Kirkpatrick, pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to commit money laundering in July. Kirkpatrick was sentenced November
sixth to six years in prison. The next article from
today's edition of The Herald Leader is titled as Needs Surges,
Lexington gives more money to food eviction prevention programs by

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Beth Musgrave. The Lexington Fayet Urban County Council agreed this
week to give additional money to some nutrition and eviction
prevention programs as the demand for food and housing stabilization
services has increased. The city previously allocated six hundred thirty
five thousand, five hundred and twenty dollars to seven nonprofits

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who have food pantries or feeding programs. Thursday, the city
council gave final approval to increase that amount by two
hundred eighty twenty five dollars. Organizations that will receive additional
funding include Food Jane God's Pantry, Food Bank, Gleene, Kentucky
Greenhouse seventeen, Lexington Pride Center, Movable Feast, and Nathaniel Mission.

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At a Tuesday work session, the council had agreed to
add one hundred fifty thousand dollars to a contract with
Legal Aid of the Bluegrass for eviction prevention services. Councilman
James Brown, who sponsored a resolution said that program, which
provides mediation and legal services for people facing eviction, will
be out of money before the end of the current

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fiscal year June thirtieth. The council's final vote on both
funding measures at Thursday's council meeting was unanimous. The additional
money will come from surplus funds from the fiscal year
that ended June thirtieth. Twenty twenty five. Vice Mayor Dan Wu,
who spearheaded the effort to give feeding programs more money,

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said the organizations were vetted by the city's Social services.
Organizers asked for eight hundred and forty one thousand dollars,
but were awarded six hundred thirty three thousand dollars through
the city's Extended Social Resource Grant Program, a competitive program
for Lexington nonprofits. The two hundred eighty twenty five dollars

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will make up the difference between what the organizations requested
versus what they were previously awarded. Multiple people who work
with those programs spoke at the Tuesday work session about
the surge and demand for food. Many food pantries and
feeding programs saw a jump at the beginning of the
month when the federal Supplemental Nutrition assistance program where SNAP

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benefits were terminated November one, amid the federal government shut down.
Those benefits have since been restored. However, many social service
providers said they saw a dramatic increase in demand starting
this summer before SNAP benefits, which people used to pay
for groceries were cut. Due to time constraints, will need

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to end this article at this time. This concludes the
reading of the Lexington Herald Leader for today Sunday, November
twenty third, twenty twenty five. Your reader has been Roger Hamperion.
Thank you for listening and please stay tuned for sports
news here on Radio I