9.14.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the reading of the Lexington Herald Leader for today, Sunday,
September fourteenth, twenty twenty five. Your reader today is Bill Sally.
As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
those who are blind or for those who have other
disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. We'll

(00:23):
begin today's reading by reviewing the seven day forecast provided
to us by Acuweather and WKYTTV Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey.
Sunday Today, expect clearing skies with a high of eighty
eight degrees and low tonight of sixty four degrees. Tomorrow Monday,

(00:44):
it'll be mostly Sunday and hot, a high forecast of
ninety one degrees and a low of sixty five degrees.
On Tuesday, it says partly sunny and hot, I forecast
of ninety a low of sixty two. On wednesday'll be hot,
but with high clouds. Forecast high is ninety degrees and

(01:04):
the low sixty three degrees. On Thursday, it'll be warm
with sunshine, a high forecast at eighty nine degrees and
a low of sixty five degrees. On Friday, there'll be
sunshine and it'll still be very warm, the highest forecast
to be eighty eight degrees and the low of sixty
five degrees on Saturday, a thunderstorm around in the afternoon.

(01:27):
Well what about that? The highest forecast only at eighty
seven degrees on next Saturday, with a low of sixty
four degrees in the Almanac of Weather Conditions. In Lexington.
On Thursday, the high was eighty five the low was
fifty seven. Our normal high is eighty two, our normal
low is sixty. Last year we had ninety degrees on

(01:48):
this date and low fifty four. The record high of
ninety five degrees was set in twenty nineteen and the
record low of forty two degrees was set in nineteen seventeen.
On Thursday, we had no precipitation, leaving our month to
date precipitation at zero point nine seven inches. Our normal
precipitation would be one point two one inches. Our year

(02:09):
to date precipitation is at forty four point eleven inches.
Our normal year to date precipitations only thirty six point
forty inches. Last year to date we have thirty five
point one one inches of precipitation. Our record rainfall for
this date was in twenty fourteen with over three inches
three point zero seven recorded. In the pollen count as

(02:33):
of nine to eleven, we have moderate levels and the
main offender is weed pollen. This is according to allergy
asc dot com. The national weather extremes in the country
were one hundred and four degrees in Phoenix on Thursday.
Below was thirty two degrees in Truckee, California. In the

(02:56):
sun and moon cycles, sunset tonight will be at seven
five forty nine pm. Sunrise today was at seven nineteen am,
moonrise will be at eleven thirty one pm, and moonset
will be at two twenty two pm. The moon phases.
The last half moon will be today the fourteenth, the

(03:17):
next new moon on September twenty first, the first half
moon visible on September twenty ninth, and the next full
moon will be visible October sixth. Finally, we have a
weather trivia question today and it is this in fog,
why does it help to drive with your low headlight
beams on? The answer because low beams reflect less light

(03:42):
back to the driver. I think we all know that. Now.
Let's go to the front page of today's Herald Leader
for this article, which is entitled what Really Happened at Rubicon?
Republican business executive in US Senate candidate Nate Morris proudly
tells people, quote, I'm not a career politician. I built

(04:05):
a business took it public. He was a founder of
a high tech quote digital waste company called Rubicon. As
the campaign to succeed Mitch McConnell heats up, the Herald
Leader took a comprehensive examination of the company, tracking its
highs lows and Morris's role in them. So this first

(04:27):
article under that headline is Senate candidate Nate Morris says
his business Rubicon was a success? Was it? This article
is written by John Cheeves of the Lexington Herald Deer.
Nate Morris never ran for public office until this year,
so he has little in the way of political record
to share with voters. Instead, as a Republican candidate for

(04:50):
Kentucky's US Senate seat up for grabs in twenty twenty six,
Morris sells himself as a successful business executive, the founder
of a high tech quote digital waste company called Rubicon
that paid off big for all involved. Quote I'm not
a career politician, I'm a business Guy Morris explained to
right wing provocateur Steve Bannon in recent online interview, I

(05:13):
built a business, took it public. The reality is a
lot more complicated. Starting in two thousand and nine, Morris,
along with his partners, did indeed build a company called
Rubicon Global, later Rubicon Technologies. Its software helped clients cut
costs by analyzing and reducing their waste streams, and Rubicon

(05:34):
did start telling selling shares on the prestigious New York
Stock Exchange in twenty twenty two. But Rubicon never made
a profit during all of that time. Its stock dropped
as soon as the company went public. In less than
two years, the New York Stock Exchange removed Rubicon because
of its valuation losses. The company suffered through layoffs, churn

(05:55):
in the executive suites, and a frequent scramble for more
capital and debt financing. Today, an unhappy group of early
Rubicon shareholders says the company is under the control of
Mexican investors who bailed it out. They're demanding more than
three hundred thirty million dollars in compensation. As a result,
that claim is in arbitration. Their representative declined to be

(06:19):
interviewed for this story, Moretz isn't there anymore. He resigned
on October thirteenth, twenty twenty two, as Rubikon's chief executive officer,
two months after the company's troubled initial public offering. Although
he stayed on the board of directors through the next year.
He exited with a compensation package worth forty point nine

(06:39):
million dollars and sold all of his stock in the company.
Under new management, Rubicon has turned its focus from the
exclusively high tech ideas that Morris once championed to grubbier
but potentially more lucrative services such as dumpster rentals and
power washing, filthy wastebinds and trash compactors. So was Rubicon

(07:01):
the success that Morris claims. Morris insists it was. He's
a millionaire thanks to Rubicon and lives with his family
on a fourteen acre horse farm outside of Lexington that
he purchased four years ago. In a recent interview with
The Herald Leader, Morris acknowledged that not everything went as
smoothly as he would have liked, but he looked at
it this way. He added. He helped take a startup

(07:24):
company from quote a bedroom in Kentucky to a valuation
of more than one billion dollars on the New York
Stock Exchange. However, briefly, even now, after all the financial turmoil,
Rubicon still employs several hundred people around the country. He said,
if he had to do it all over again, he
wouldn't change a thing. Morris said, quote, we all do

(07:45):
the best we know how with the information we have
at the time and the way the conditions are. And
I'm so proud of what we built at Rubicon, he said.
I stand by everything we did one hundred percent. I mean,
do I wish things had taken different turns? Sure, every
business Personson does, but that's entrepreneurship. There's no guarantee for anything.

(08:05):
Rubicon and Morris's early partners in the company did not
respond to Herrolbeder requests seeking comment. The company shuddered its
downtown Lexington headquarters two years ago, although its large sign
was left hanging on the outside of the City Center
building on West Main Street next stumbling on Wall Street.

(08:25):
Rubicon's biggest fumble probably was how it went public in
two thousand twenty two. In a traditional I p O
or initial public offering, a company that wants to sell
shares to the public must undergo months of scrutiny by
investment banks and regulators at the u S Securities and
Exchange Commission. These outside eyes are supposed to determine if

(08:46):
the company is managed well and how it should be valued.
A quicker, easier, but more controversial path involves a s
p a C or a special purpose acquisition company. The
s p a C is an empty shell with no operations,
an already publicly traded entity raising money from investors. It's

(09:08):
waiting to merge with a company that actually does business
and wants to go public. Rubicon, with Morris's CEO, went
the s p a C route. It merged with an
entity known as Founder s p a C and declared
for itself a valuation of one point seven billion dollars. Unfortunately,
for Rubicon, not everyone agreed that it was worth one

(09:31):
point seven billion dollars. As soon as it went public
in August two thousand twenty two, it suffered what is
known as a quote high redemption rate. That means skittish
early spack investors cashed out while they could still get
what they feared might be the best price for their stock.
They took with them the capital that Rubicon had counted

(09:53):
on to fund its future operations. The company's vice president
of finance later described this in an on line interview
as a quote difficult time. Rubicon scrambled to slash tens
of millions of dollars in costs with rounds of job cuts.
Rubicon stock dropped from an opening day price of seven
dollars fifty five cents per share to six dollars by

(10:16):
the closing bell. It kept dropping to about one dollar
by the time Morris resigned two months later. In June
twenty twenty four. Nineteen months after that, the New York
Stock Exchange delisted Rubicon and suspended its share trading. The
New York Stock Exchange said the company's average market capitalization
fell below fifteen million dollars for thirty consecutive days. Rubicon

(10:41):
disputed that valuation, but it was ejected from the stock
exchange next what Investors Want? Some Wall Street analysts raised
concerns about Rubicon. In an October fifth, twenty twenty three
essay for Seeking Alpha, financial analyst ru Kumar rajah jahn
Burma credited Rubicon for its large customer base and a

(11:04):
global reach, but the company was hemorrhaging money, Shaman Ahman warned.
He advised investors to avoid it. Red flags at Rubicon
include a growing accumulated deficit, deepening operational losses, and negative
cash flows. He wrote, quote, so to sum it all up,
the company seems to be losing money across its operating activities,

(11:26):
is not investing much for the future, and is increasing
its reliance on short term borrowing. Sham Banahmoran wrote, the
quality of earnings reflected in both types of free cash
flows is not promising. Overall, the financial data paints a
picture of a company in a precarious situation with few,
if any, promising signs for future stability or growth. John Saling,

(11:50):
a thirty year investment professional who teaches finance at the
University of Kentucky Gaton College of Business and Economics, recently
told The Herald Leader he is not familiar with Rubicon,
but generally speaking, investors want to back a company that's
gaining value, not losing value. Sailing said, if the company
is not yet making a profit, investors want to see

(12:10):
a realistic explanation of how the company plans to turn
that around. He said, quote, you know a start up
or an early stage. Company can be not profitable, but
there has to be a plan that shows how they're
going to grow and at some stage get to profitability.
Sailing said, you can't be unprofitable for a hundred years

(12:31):
and know that you're going that they're going to invest
in you right. Overwhelmingly, most companies that shall seer ship
sell shares to the public prefer a traditional I p O,
so their finances undergo the rigorous analysis and scrutiny that
hopefully makes them stronger for every one in the long run.
Sailing said. By contrast, a speedier spack does not carry

(12:55):
equal benefits for all involved. He added, quote who is
a s PAC good for? Well, it depends on which
stakeholder you are, Saling said, are you the investor that
initially got into the SPAC or the original owners of
the company, or are you a retail investor or some
other investor that came in later after the spack gets listed.

(13:17):
Because a SPAC can make a lot of money for
the initial people who own that company or the initial
sponsors of that spack, he said, they can lift its
high price high and then they can get out. They
can make a lot of money for them. A spack
can be good next a missed opportunity. Morris told The

(13:38):
Herald Leader that using a spack initially seemed like a
good IDEA. Robicon started to ponder going public as early
as two thousand seventeen, five years before it finally did,
he said. Serious talks on the board of directors followed
in two thousand twenty. In twenty twenty one, as the
spack market heated up, he said, our board decided and

(13:58):
a lot of our larger investors that we want to
take advantage of the window that we see. Morris said,
it's a hot ipo market, hot spack market, and this
we believe would be the best pass to monetorize the
investment for all shareholders. Unfortunately, Morris said, several things happened
before the company could pull the trigger, all of which

(14:18):
made investors nervous. Interest rates rose. Russia invaded Ukraine, in
China threatened to invade Taiwan, and the SEC announced through
a series of quote investor alerts and other public statements
that it would be taking a more aggressive look at spacks,
including several investigations by its enforcement division. By the time

(14:40):
Rubi Khan closed the deal on its back and started
selling shares in August twenty twenty two, the optimal moment
had passed. Moris said, I think we missed a window
giving things beyond our control. He said, quote cable television
and sports billionaire Mark Cuban would famously say, if I
had tried to sell my company six weeks later, I

(15:00):
would have gotten zero. He said, that's the case in entrepreneurship,
and that's the case when you build a business. Sometimes
these windows when you go out there are not favorable times.
As for Rubicon's decision to track in a different direction
after his resignation, trying to make new revenue from old
fashioned services, Moore said he understands. Five years ago the

(15:23):
company sponsored ambitious initiatives like Project Clear Constellation, where a
Harvard astrophysicist helped judge entries from college students on how
to clean space waste out of Earth's orbit. Now it's
selling services like dumpster rentals and waste bind cleaning. So
that's a radical departure from the original thesis. Speaking as

(15:43):
the entrepreneur, Morris said, look this happens. He said, The
classic example we all read about is what became of
Apple after co founder Steve Jobs it turned into a
radically different company after he left, And certainly I know
that's a very aggressive comparison, but when the entrepreneur leaves,
the vision oftentimes can do a one point eighty. In

(16:04):
the case of Rubicon, that was certainly the case. The
next article is entitled third Lexington Public's under construction in
chevy Chase Neighborhood. This article is written by Piper Hanson
of the Lexington Herald Leader. The forthcoming Publics in Lexington's

(16:26):
chevy Chase neighborhood is under construction. Demolition began at the
site at three forty four Romeny Road on September second,
according to a notice sent to neighbours from the development company,
North Carolina based Harris Development Partners. At the end of August,
fencing went up around the entire property, with some parking
and sidewalk access blocked. Publics doesn't share store opening dates

(16:50):
until about a month before, but it may take up
to two years for construction to conclude. Developers said in
an August twentieth email to residence from win Mco Corporation
construction Partners on the build. Development manager Fuller Ramsay said, quote,
we understand that this project of this size will have
a significant impact on your day to day lives throughout

(17:13):
the course of construction. Our mission is to work with
the community to make the construction process as seamless as
possible while we work to bring you a sorely missed
community grocery store. That construction work is making way for
two levels of underground parking, then the public store would
be built above, where about one hundred forty people will

(17:34):
be employed. The Romany Road Public's location is different from
Lexington's two other stores. It will be smaller, just about
forty thousand square feet, and the exterior will look different
compared to the chain's other big box stores, but offer
shoppers the same departments, products and services. At a June
tenth meeting with residents at the Cathedral of Christ the King,

(17:57):
neighbors were shown early renderings of the store by the
construction and development teams. Ramps and some stairs led to
the entrance of the store that had an exposed brick
exterior look in an attempt to match the neighborhood's character.
The construction and development team set plans for the Chevy
Chase Publics were initially announced in December twenty twenty three.

(18:19):
It will be Lexington's third Public's location. The Romany Road
spot was formerly a Kroger's. It closed in twenty fifteen.
For several years, the independent Laurel Grocers planned a store there,
but plans fell through and the buildings were left vacant
in twenty eighteen. Another plan for the spot was announced
in twenty twenty for a bar and restaurant on top

(18:42):
of the renovated building, but the developers didn't receive planning
and zoning approval. On August thirteenth, the Florida Bay Supermarket
chain said it had put in motion plans for a
new location in Georgetown, about thirty minutes north of Lexington
in Scott County. The Publics at Elcornville Center will operate
on the southwest corner of Frankfort Road and McClellan's Circle

(19:05):
and will employ approximately one hundred fifty people. The first
Central Kentucky Publics opened in Lexington on March fifth, in
the Citation Point Shopping Center on Stockton Way off Georgetown
Road and Citation Boulevard. On June fourth, Lexington's second Publics
opened in the Fountains of Palamar Shopping Center on Fountain

(19:25):
Blue Lane off Hardsburg Road and Man of War Boulevard.
Publics opened its second Louisville location September three on Ballardsville
Road in Marshall Commons, a shopping center in Norton Commons.
The chain opened its first Kentucky location in Louisville on
January tenth of twenty twenty four. The next article in

(19:47):
today's Lexington Herald Leader is entitled Addiction Recovery Care closes
five more locations, including flagship in Louisa. This article is
written by Alex E. Quick Stowe and Taylor six, both
of the Lexington Herald Leader. Kentucky's leading for profit residential

(20:08):
addiction care treatment company is closing five residential centers, including
its flagship location, administrators confirmed Wednesday. Addiction Recovery Care told
staff this week it was closing five locations effective immediately,
which has resulted in the layoffs of dozens of employees
through though ARC declined to provide a specific number in

(20:29):
an email to the Herald Leader. This week's layoffs and
facility closures are the latest in a tumultuous year for
the addiction treatment giant, which at its peak was one
of the largest addiction treatment providers in Kentucky in twenty
twenty three, when elected leaders boasted that Kentucky had the
most residential addiction treatment beds per capita of any state.

(20:52):
It was in large part thanks to ARC's expansive footprint.
But as the FBI continues its investigation into ARC for
potential criminal fraud, which was announced in August twenty twenty four,
hundreds of employees have been terminated. ARC won't say exactly
how many, and many more federal cuts to medicate loom

(21:14):
on the horizon. ARC announced more layoffs in August. The
most recent facilities to close are Karen's Place, ARC's flagship
women's facility in Louisa that opened in twenty ten, Lackeye,
a men's facility in Louisa, May Hill, a men's facility

(21:34):
in Louisa, Hazel Hills, a women's facility in Owingsville, Lydia's House,
a women's facility in Venom. ARC in its non profit
arm Odyssey, Inc. Have operated roughly forty addiction treatment and
behavioral health facilities across the state, as well as several
public facing businesses, including a college, an auto shop and

(21:58):
events space, a cafe, in bakery, and the theater. After
this week's closure. ARC has fourteen operational facilities, a mix
of residential and outpatient centers, as well as a psychiatric hospital,
Bellefonte Hospital and Recovery Center in Ashland. ARC's vice president
of Marketing, Vanessa Keaton, said in an email. Administrators cited

(22:25):
quote impending and significant reimbursement cuts for addiction and mental
health service providers like ARC in two emailed layoff letters
to staff that were shared with The Herald Leader. Those
letters start by touting RC's accomplishments before quickly pivoting quote. Unfortunately,
and due to circumstances that are outside of our control,

(22:46):
we sometimes have to make difficult decisions that impact members
of our team, such as the unfortunate reduction in force
that has taken place today. The letter continues, quote, we
regret to inform you that your employment will be eliminated
to do to their reduction in force. Your last day of
employment will be at the close of business on September tenth,
twenty twenty five. Administrators over the last year have said

(23:10):
the closure of facilities and cleaving of staff are not
related to the FBI pro quote. These decisions were not
made lightly and we are dedicated to supporting our team
members and communities affected by these changes, Keaton said in
a statement Thursday morning. The safety and care of our
clients remains our top priority, and we are ensuring all

(23:31):
current clients received uninterrupted care by transitioning them to other
ARC centers or alternative providers of their choosing. Keaton added, quote,
giving the substantial reimbursement cuts for addiction and mental health services,
we cannot determine if these closures are permanent. Many of
the clients and interns who were currently receiving addiction treatment

(23:53):
services at those locations were transferred to other facilities within
the ARC system, but others left RC or addiction treatment altogether.
According to two former employees at Hazel Hills who both
received termination letters Wednesday and who agreed to be interviewed
on the condition that their names not be used for
fears that they or those they still know living at

(24:16):
ARC will face retaliation, they knew of two ARC staff
members who were laid off with nowhere to go, who
had been calling homeless shelters and sober living homes for help. Quote.
I went to bed last night crying because we can't
help them, one of the former employees said in dozens
of interviews over the last year, current and former HEIARSA

(24:37):
employees have described an exploitative workplace culture where staff and
client well being often takes a back seat to building
the insurance for services rendered of clients on Medicaid. That
continued yesterday at Hazel Hills. According to the two women
who had been at ARC, either as a client or
staff since twenty twenty two, they were both told Wednesday,

(24:59):
just before a lot eleven am that they were being
laid off according to the time stamp of their emails.
Instead of comforting the clients that are having to move
further away from their families, from their kids. Instead of
consoling those clients, we was told we had to get
clients into clinical groups so they could have their billing
done for the day. The first said that was the

(25:21):
number one worry is we had to get their groups
in before they left. Quote. Groups are peer support sessions
and lessons required as part of treatment program. It was chaos.
The second former employee added, we were trying to comfort
the girls and we couldn't even do that. Neither were
we allowed to clock in or out yesterday because they

(25:43):
had already been kicked out of the system. Leading them
to believe they won't be compensated for their final days
of employment. This concludes the reading of the first half
of the news out of today's Lexington Herald Leader for
Sundaymber fourteenth, two thy twenty five. Your reader today is

(26:04):
Bill Sally, and after a short break, I hope that
you'll rejoin me for reading more news here on RADIOI
from today's Lexington Herald Leader. Welcome back to the reading
of the Lexington Herald Leader for Sunday, September fourteenth, twenty
twenty five. Your reader today is Bill Sally. As a reminder,

(26:28):
RADIOI is a reading service intended for those who are
blind or for those who have other disabilities that make
it difficult to read printed material. We ordinarily would read
the opinion column from Paul Praither at this time, but
Paul is entered semi retirement and now only publishes a
column every other week, and of course this would be

(26:49):
the week that he did not have a column in
the opinion section. So we'll continue with the news in
this edition of the Lexington Herald Leader. The next starts
entitled Lexington Private Club Neighborhood SPA over on Street Parking.
This article is written by Beth Musgrave of the Lexington

(27:09):
Herald Leader. The Lexington Council approved a residential parking permit
Thursday for a street next to a private club whose
members are allegedly gobbling up on street parking. Neighbors have claimed,
but the owners of Camel Club, located at five oh
nine East Main Street, allege some residents of the Bellcourt

(27:29):
neighborhood rigged a required parking study to get the residential
parking permit program approved. The fight over the residential parking permits,
which would prohibit anyone but residents to park on the street,
has been raging for weeks, with both neighbors and owners
of the Camel Club inundating Lexington Faett Urban County Council

(27:50):
members with emails about the dust up. Both sides have
spoken multiple times at council meetings over the past thirty days.
The bad blood between some and bell Court and the
Camel Club started in twenty twenty three, when many in
the neighborhood fought a change in zoning restrictions to allow
the private club at the former cross Gate Gallery. The

(28:13):
Lexington Fayet Urban County Council ultimately removed conditional zoning restrictions
from the property in November twenty twenty three, allowing the
private club to open this spring. Next. Lack of parking
access to driveways blocked. Neighbors told the council during an
August nineteenth council work session that private club members are

(28:34):
parking along Forest Avenue, a main entrance into Bellcourt from
Main Street, causing headaches for residents. Frank Butler, who lives
on Forest Avenue, said the Camel Club assured the neighborhood
during the contentious fight over the zoning restrictions it had
contacts with two off site parking lots and has a
parking lot behind the club on street. Parking would not

(28:56):
be affected. Camel Club officials said in two twenty three,
that's just not true, Butler said, quote. They have been
there since day one. Butler said, next a rigged parking study. Meanwhile,
owners of the club alleged Bellcourt tried to rig the
parking study to get the residential parking permit's program. Quote.

(29:19):
The application for this parking permit has been pretty severely manipulated,
said Brian Babbage, one of the owners of the Camel Club.
Babbage said there was a neighborhood Facebook group that asked
other people in the neighborhood to park along Forest Avenue
quote to make it look like my business, which is
the Camel Club, was using neighborhood parking. The group asked

(29:41):
people who live on Sayer, a neighboring street, to park
on Forest. He said, if Camel Club members were causing
street parking problems, quote, you wouldn't have to go ask
your neighbors to go park in front of my business, Babbage,
said Field Lad, another Camel Club owner, told the council
the entire process was quote crooked from the get go.

(30:02):
Marcy Deaton, who lives on Forest Avenue, said there have
been two parking studies by lex Park, the city's parking authority.
The first study determined there was not a need for
parking permit program, she said during the August nineteenth meeting.
To get a permit program, sixty five percent of a
neighborhood has to sign a petition agreeing to the permit program.

(30:24):
If that threshold is met, then there is a two
week study. That study has to show roughly seventy five
percent of the parking spaces are occupied and twenty five
percent of those parking on the street, don't live there
to get a residential permit program. We did the study
later with no influence, no Facebook, and they recommended that

(30:46):
we get the residential parking Deeton set. According to lex Park,
there are ten parking spaces on Forest Avenue. Quote, there
are many nights and weekends that I can count fourteen cars,
all Camel Club members and employees. Deaton said they block
our driveways or are right next to our driveways where
you can't even pull out. Deeton and other neighbors on

(31:07):
Forest Avenue said one woman had to take an uber
to the airport because she could not get out of
her driveway next. Lex Park weighs in. The debate over
the ten parking spots on Forest Avenue continued during Tuesday's
council work session. Lex Park executive director Laura Boyson told
the council a first parking study on Forest Avenue did

(31:30):
not meet the requirements for a parking permit. In April,
a second study was paused after they heard concerns the
neighborhood may be trying to rig or manipulate the data.
Lex Park officials then returned to the area unannounced. That
study determined Forest Avenue met all the requirements for the
permit program, she said. The council ultimately voted to approve

(31:54):
the residential permit program at Thursday's meeting. The new parking
permit program is for ten spaces on the first block
of Forest Avenue. There are fifty one residential permit programs
in Lexington. Residents who do not have a permit cannot
park on those streets. Those that park in a permitted
zone can be ticketed. The next article is entitled Lexington

(32:20):
limits roosters to one per household after complaints about rowdy fouls.
This article is written by Beth Musgrave of the Lexington
Herald Leader. It will be sundown for some Lexington roosters
come November first. The Lexington Fayette Urban County Council approved

(32:41):
an ordinance Thursday that limits the number of roosters to
one per household for those living inside the city's growth boundary.
The new ordinance also ups the fines for those who
keep restricted animals from five dollars per animal per day
to one hundred dollars per animal per day. As restricted
animals include those who keep more than one rooster, or

(33:04):
are owners of hogs, pigs, or goats. The city already
prohibits pigs, hogs, and goats inside the Urban Service boundary.
Next increasing fines for noisy and routy animals. In addition
to increasing fines for prohibited animals, the proposed changes would
also increase fines for noisy animals up to one hundred

(33:26):
dollars per animal per day. That means even if someone
has only one rooster but it continually and repeatedly makes noise,
a homeowner can still be fined. Council members have said
the Fayette County Attorney's Office currently oversees the Prohibited and
Noisy Animal Ordinance. That office would continue to do so

(33:47):
under the amended ordinance, which takes effect November. First Councilwoman
Amy Beasley, who represents the eighth Council District, said during
an August twenty sixth Social Service and Public Safety meeting
she has one con stitchment whose backyard neighbor has twelve roosters.
Beasley sponsored the new ordinance. The eighth Council district includes

(34:07):
neighborhoods around the Tates Creek School campus on Center Parkway.
Roosters are very territorial, Beasley said, if there's more than
one on the same piece of land. They will crow
at each other all day. That's why the one rooster
per household limit is needed, Beasley said. Other council members
said they too have heard more complaints about rowty loud

(34:28):
roosters in recent years. As more people have turned to
raising chickens to combat escalating egg prices, some cities and
counties have begun to ban chickens and roosters inside city limits.
Some who spoke on Thursday prior to the council's vote
encouraged the council not to approve the ordinance. Kelly Wheeler
said not all roosters were aggressive. Forcing rooster owners who

(34:51):
have met who have more than one rooster to choose
between the animals is cruel, She said, quote this would
be so disheartening to them. Wheelers said the limit of
one rooster per household only applies to residential and business zwones.
It does not apply to agricultural land. Two council members
voted against the ordnance, Whitney, Elliott Baxter and Emma Curtis.

(35:17):
The next article in today's Lexington Herald Leader is entitled
Lexington blocks solar farms on agricultural land, but fight over
solar isn't over this articles written by Beth Musgrave of
the Lexington Herald Leader, large scale solar farms will not
be allowed on Fayette County farmland. The Lexington Fayett Urban

(35:40):
County Council voted unanimously Thursday to approve a controversial zone
text amendment regulating solar throughout Fayette County after more than
a year of debate. But the debate over solar on
farmland is not over. The council has said it will
put together a work group which will include agricultural and
environmental interests to further explore solar and the complex rules

(36:03):
and regulations that oversee it. A key point of contention
was whether to allow solar on farm land or land
zoned agricultural, which pitted agricultural preservation EGA preservationists against some
environmentalists who wanted more land available for large scale solar.
It's a debate other local governments are also facing as

(36:26):
more private and public utilities look for land to add
solar throughout the country. Silicon Ranch, a Nashville based solar company,
proposed the zone text amendment in two thousand twenty four
to allow solar on agricultural land. The company wants to
put a solar farm on eight hundred acres in eastern
Fayette County. Currently, the city's zoning is silent on where

(36:49):
solar can be located. The Urban County Planning Commission, which
also has a say on zone texts amendments, voted in
September of twenty twenty four to allow solar in many
residential and business owns, but ultimately opted not to allow
large scale solar on agricultural land. Some on council had
proposed allowing a limited amount of solar two percent on

(37:12):
agricultural land, but during an August nineteenth council work session,
proponents of the cap said there were not enough votes
on the fifteen member council to move that compromise forward. However,
the council, in a separate motion, put a two percent
cap on agricultural land to signal to the Public Service
Commission that's what the county wants. Large scale solar farms

(37:35):
can be overseen by different state and local governments. The
Public Service Commission oversees all public utilities. Public utilities do
not need a zone change for solar. Silicon Ranch is
private and would have sought a zone change if the
zone text amendment allowing solar to go through the Public
Service Commission has already approved a nearly four hundred acre

(37:58):
solar farm proposed by East Kentucky Power along Interstate sixty
four and Winchester Road. The city is also exploring putting
solar on the closed Hailey Pike landfill. That land is
not zoned agricultural. The next article was entitled Kentucky Health

(38:20):
Cabinet quote glitch revealed new names of people who fled
dangerous homes. This article is written by John Chieves of
the Lexington Herald Leader. A quote system glitch at the
Kentucky Health and Family Services Cabinet revealed the new identities
of more than two thy four hundred people whose names

(38:40):
were changed after they moved out of their homes to
escape dangerous situations. According to records the Lexington Herald Leader
obtained through the Open Records Act, many if not most,
of the affected individuals or adopted children, but there also
might be some survivors of domestic violence who restarted their
lives under new names. State officials say. In each case,

(39:03):
the new names were sent by letter to the quote
head of household where they once lived quote. Obviously, there's
no way you can claw back the information and make
the person who shouldn't have the information forget that they
now have it, said Alexander mcghera, General Council for State
Auditor Alison Ball. But at the very least, we can

(39:24):
hopefully put these people on notice that they've been affected
by this, and so they can do what they need
to do to protect themselves as best as they can, right,
mcgera said. Christina Brooks of Mason County learned of the
Cabinet's mistake when she got a text in May from
the biological mother of three siblings she adopted out of
foster care in twenty twenty. The biological mother's criminal record

(39:49):
including conviisions for drug abuse, drunken driving, and want an
endangerment for putting her kids lives at risk, Courts records show.
In a December fifteenth, twenty twenty one letter approving the
biological mother's medicaid benefits, the Cabinet included the new names
of each of her three children, by then adopted by
and living with Brooks. The Cabinet explained that children were

(40:11):
not eligible to share in her medicaid benefits because they
were outside of her household doing some online sleuthing with
the children's names. The biological mother eventually tracked them to Brooks.
Just thought I should let you know. This is how
I know my children's new names. She wrote to Brooks.
The state of Kentucky is not smart sending me this separately.

(40:33):
The biological mother also reached out to two of the kids,
then in their teens. Brooks panicked. The reason she changed
the children's full names, not an easy thing to do,
either legally or for the kids as human beings, was
to help them escape their past with their deeply troubled mother,
she said. Before the kids were removed by the State
of Kentucky, the biological mother had even ruined the children's

(40:56):
credit ratings by running up huge debts in their names.
Brooke said something she could try again now that she
has their new names. What are you going to do
change their names again? You can't, she told the Herald
Leader by phone this week. These kids, the youngest are
eleven and sixteen years old, and this has been their
name for five years. We can't just change them again,

(41:18):
and we can't put it back in the box. They're
out there now, Brooke said. She immediately reached out to
the State Health Cabinet for answers, repeatedly calling and emailing Frankfort,
but she got little response. More helpful was the Office
of the Almbudsman, which is attached to the State Auditor's Office.
The Almbudsman is responsible for investigating complaints about the Cabinet

(41:39):
for Health and Family Services. The almbudsmen prodded the Cabinet
to look into the problem together, they determined that the
children's social Security numbers were the issue. The numbers were
never delinked from the biological mother's public benefits eligibility file,
so when she applied for Medicaid years later after they

(42:00):
were gone, the system automatically updated the biological mother's file
to include her former dependence along with their new names,
and it sent her a letter with that information. Quote
O MG, this is awful, a social service clinician at
the cabinet wrote. As officials began to grasp the scope
of the problem, on June twenty third, a Cabinet caseworker

(42:22):
told Brooks that a quote system wide fix was applied
that will affect two thousand, four hundred sixty five individuals
and will stop their information from being present on cases.
They were removed from if they changed their name. According
to cabinet documents, Brooks had questions. Were those two four

(42:46):
hundred and sixty five people warned that their new names
had been revealed. The cabinet would not tell her where
all of them adopted children, or were some from other
situations like victims of domestic violence who fled their abusive
spouses and changed their name once they had relocated. The
cabinet would not tell her. They're not saying anything. Brooks said,
that's my biggest thing. I want to know that this

(43:08):
is fixed. She said, you know this isn't going to
go away. How are they going to hide this from
twenty four hundred people. The State Health Cabinet did not
respond to The Herald Leader's requests for comments for this story.
It also denied the newspaper's open records request for documents
from its internal investigation into the information leak. However, Brooks

(43:30):
and the Ombudsman's office shared the public documents in their possession.
On Monday, the Ombudsman's office sent a letter to Lisa Dennis,
commissioner of the Cabinet's Department for Community Based Services, urging
her to explain what, if anything her agency is doing
to notify the two four hundred and sixty five individuals

(43:51):
whose new identities appear to have been leaked. Quote. If
your office is unwilling to notify the two four hundred
and sixty five people affected by this issue, we would
ask to be given a list of those individuals so
that we can evaluate any next steps for our office
to take. We request that the explanation identified above or
the list of twoy four hundred and sixty five people

(44:13):
be provided by September fifteenth, the Ombudsman's office wrote. The
next article is entitled UK employee's viral comment about Charlie
Kirk's death leads to investigation. This article is written by
Christopher Leech of the Lexington Herald Leader. The University of

(44:34):
Kentucky is investigating one of its employees after he made
an offensive comment about the death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Brad van Hook, a university employee, commented on a WKYT
social media post about Kirk's death. Van Hook paraphrased a
quote from American lawyer and civil rights advocate Clarence Darrow

(44:55):
and wrote, quote, I haven't I have never wished a
man dead but I have read some obituaries with great satisfaction.
UK spokesperson Jay Blanton confirmed van Hook is the key
shop manager at UK and has been placed on paid
administrative leave while the investigation continues. The university said it
referred van Hook's comment to appropriate officials after it became

(45:19):
aware of it. Quote. The statement attributed to him, no
matter who made it and what their affiliation is, does
not reflect who we are as a community, Blanton said
in a statement on behalf of the university. It is cruel,
it is insensitive, and it is wrong. The comment went
viral after an account on x called libs of tik

(45:40):
Tok highlighted the remark in a post. Libs of tik
Tok has four point four million followers and the post
has been shared thousands of times. Libs of tik Tok
incorrectly suggested van Hook was employed by Eastern Kentucky University,
but the school later confirmed van Hook is not affiliated
with e KU. The social media account spends much of

(46:02):
Thursday sharing posts targeting people who had made negative comments
about Kirk, often tagging their employers. Kirk was shot and
killed by a gunman while speaking at an event on
the Utah Valley University campus Wednesday. The FBI has released
photos of a person of interest and connected to the shooting,
and is offering a reward of up to one hundred

(46:24):
thousand dollars for information about the shooter. In July, UK
also suspended law professor Ramsay Woodcock for circulating an online
petition calling for the destruction of Israel. President Eli Cappoluto
previously said he condemns Woodcock's comments, and an outside legal
counsel is reviewing the matter. Other universities and organizations have

(46:46):
launched investigations into or fired employees for comments made in
the wake of Kirk's death. Middle Tennessee State University and
the University of Mississippi have both fired an employee for
their remarks to media reports. The next article is entitled

(47:07):
Frank Lloyd Wright House in Frankfort hits market. This article
is found in the Weekend review section of Today's Lexington
Herald Leader. The Ziegler House, Kentucky's only home designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright, is listed for seven hundred seventy five
thousand dollars at five O nine Shelby Street in Frankfort,

(47:30):
according to listing agent Bradley ben Gardner of Lenihan Sotheby's
International Reality. Designed in nineteen ten in Wright's prairie style,
the two thousand, seven hundred three square foot home has
four bedrooms, two baths, and underwent a detailed nineteen ninety
two restoration, per its realtor dot Com listing features include

(47:53):
art glass windows, original cabinry, cantilevered balconies, wide overhangs, and
a central Roman brick fireplace with an illuminated cabinet unique
to this home. The property sits two blocks from the
Governor's mansion and State Capital. Current owners bought it in
May twenty twenty three for five hundred forty two thousand dollars.

(48:15):
County Record show and from the same section we have
this article. Former London mayor vows to appeal impeachment. Former London,
Kentucky Mayor Randall Weddell says he will appeal the city
Council's impeachment vote that removed him from office. After a
September fifth hearing at the Laurel County Judicial Center, council

(48:39):
members unanimously found misconduct or wilful neglect on five of
eleven charges, with three counts deemed grounds for removal. Authorities
say the council appointed Tracy Handley as acting mayor. Weddell's
attorney argued the process was unfair, noting a member said
her vote wasn't based on testimony and emphasized Weddell faces

(49:01):
no criminal conviction. Weddell cited a petition with more than
two thousand signatures opposing impeachment. And now this article which
comes from today's e edition of the Lexington Herald Leader,
because there was a big football game in town last night,

(49:23):
so this article is entitled in this season of football negativity,
some Reasons for hope. This article is written by Mark's
story of the Lexington Herald Leader. The two thousand, twenty
five Kentucky football season is now one quarter over. Believe
it or not, in what has so far been a
season of negativity, there are some reasons for wildcat optimism

(49:47):
behind redshirt quarterback Cutter Bowley. UK ran its twenty twenty
five record to two wins and one loss with a
forty eight to twenty three strafing of overmatched Eastern Michigan
on Saturday night before or a rain drenched Kroger Field
crowd announced at fifty eight thousand, four hundred eighty nine look,
UK has earned the ample fan negativity that has surrounded

(50:10):
the Wildcats this season. With prior lack of performance when
a program has lost eight straight conference home games, has
taken an l in fourteen of its past sixteen league
home contests, and his three wins fifteen losses in its
past eighteen games against power conference competition. Overall, things are

(50:30):
not going to be all sunshine and delight. Still, in
starting twenty twenty five, with two wins against Mid American
Conference foes Toledo and Eastern Michigan and a tough loss
to a ranked SEC opponent, Mississippi, Kentucky has shown some
signs of hope. Number one cutter Bowley put some big

(50:52):
play capability into an offense that really needed it. In
his second career college start, Bowley gave what had been
a largely listless UK passing attack some juice. The Kentucky
offense entered the game with Eastern Michigan having produced only
four explosive plays of twenty yards or more combined in
his first two games. Bully completed four passes of twenty

(51:15):
yards or more in the first half against EMU Alone.
A former star quarterback at Lexington Christian Academy. Bowley finished
twelve of twenty one passing for two hundred and forty
yards and two touchdowns versus no interceptions. Quote. I thought
he did a really good job for a second start.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoop said he operated very good. It

(51:36):
was also good to see Cutter hit some very good
passes after two ineffective outings. As UK starting quarterback veteran
Zach Calzada was sidelined by his shoulder injury Saturday night.
Some believe that gave Bolly, often described by Stoops as
Kentucky's quote quarterback of the future, the chance to make
that future arrive now. Bully said he did not approach

(51:58):
Saturday's start with that mind set. Quote. I just stay
in the moment, he said. I feel like that's been
a big thing for me. It's just not making things
more than they are kind of saying to me, staying
true to myself. Statistically, Eastern Michigan oh no wins three
losses is one of the worst defenses in the FBS,

(52:19):
so Bowley playing well against the Eagles does not mean
that will hold true against SEC defenses. Had Bowley performed
poorly against EMU. However, that would not have voted well
for his play against the rugged Southeastern Conference foes. That'll wait.
Number two, the rebuilt Kentucky offensive line has been good.

(52:41):
UK ran for two hundred and fifty two yards versus EMU,
although he had to scramble some. Bowley was not sacked
one time. In the off season, UK added three starters
from the transfer portal and shifted starting guard Jagger Burton
to center. So far, the reviews on the reconstituted Kentucky
offense in front are good. Quote, they've done a really

(53:04):
nice job. UK offensive coordinator Bush Hampden said, I think
they've been able really all three games to control the
line of scrimmage. We've been able to run the ball well.
It always comes down to us being as balanced as
we can, and our ability to throw the ball today
was a plus to take some pressure off the run game.
Number three. UK has good running backs. Transfers Dante Daldell

(53:29):
from Nebraska and Seth McGowan from New Mexico State after
starting at Oklahoma, are doing good things. A thigh injury
limited Daldell's role versus Eastern Michigan, so McGowan stepped up
with one hundred four passing yards and three touchdowns Through
three games at UK, McGowan has raised his TV production
by one in each contest. I didn't care about my

(53:51):
performance last week, McGowan said of his two touchdown performance
versus Mississippi in UK's thirty to twenty three loss. I
don't care about my performance this week. Only thing I
care about is the win. Number four, Kentucky is using
its tight ends in the passing game. For years, Kentucky
backers have lamented the lack of consistent utilization of Wildcat's

(54:15):
tight ends in Kentucky's air attack. Senior Josh Cattis was
UK's leading receiver versus e MU with three cratches for
sixty one yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Willie Rodriguez tied
for second with two catches for twenty eight yards and
a TD. Given that Bowley rooms with both tight ends,
he felt it was only fair to get each one
a score. Asked if that meant he would not have

(54:38):
to pay rent this month, Bully joked, yeah, probably. Number five.
David Gusta is performing as advised when Kentucky added the
interior defensive lineman. Via the portal from Washington, state. It
was considered one of the coups of the UK off season.
Though his counting stats are modest, noseguard Gusta has lived

(55:00):
up to his billing. He has consistently been able to
get penetration into opposing backfields that has added some capacity
for disruption that was not there for Kentucky down the
stretch of last season's four win eight log loss slog.
UK was credited with two sacks and three quarterback hurries
Saturday night. One of the unhappy realities of Kentucky's twenty

(55:22):
twenty five is the Wildcats can be a substantially improved
team from a year ago, with no certainty that it
will be reflected in the Cat's bottom line. Still, as
UK prepares to embark on a stretch of five straight
games versus ranked foes, three of which will be on
the road, the Wildcats have shown some encouraging signs. This

(55:45):
wraps it up for the reading of the Lexington Herald
Leader for Sunday, September fourteenth, twenty twenty five. Your reader
has been Bill Sally today. Thank you so much for listening,
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
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