WULF News

State officials say Kentucky schools are continuing to make progress towards statewide school safety goals.

The Kentucky Office of the State School Security Marshal on Wednesday released the annual School Safety Risk Assessment Report. According to the report, 1,325 schools across the commonwealth are in compliance with the School Safety and Resiliency Act, a compliance rate of 99.81 percent.

State School Security Marshal Ben Wilcox said in the report that the number of school resource officers assigned to school campuses is 790, a 28 percent increase from last year and a 61 percent increase since House Bill 63 which requires every public school to have a SRO was signed into law.

The State School Security Marshal’s Office compiles the report based on unannounced visits to public schools. This year’s report indicates schools are complying with “mandated access control requirements regarding electronic-locking front doors, surveillance, locked classroom doors, classroom-window coverings, and a threat-assessment team.” Recommendations in the report include education of school staff on social media safety, ensuing up-to-date emergency operations plans, and ensuring training for front office staff on security measures.

Assessments for individual schools are not made public due to safety concerns. Kentuckians are encouraged to report possible threats against school safety to the STOP! Tipline at 1-866-393-6659 or online at safeschools.ky.gov.

After lower temperatures were seen across the area the past few weeks, the heat appears to have returned with a force.

“It sure did rebound here in the opposite direction,” said Meteorologist Mike Kochasic with the National Weather Service in Louisville. “Strong high pressure over the area has resulted in temperatures around 10 degrees, 13 degrees above average, and near record-setting here for the next couple of days.”

 Kochasic says the heat runs through the rest of the week.

“Normal high temperatures for this time of year are in the upper 80s, so when you’re pushing upper 90s to close to 100, that’s definitely well above average,” Kochasic said. “We’re looking at temperatures returning to near average, say, by the weekend. We have a cold front coming in that should bring things back down into the upper 80s.”

The heat prompted Breckinridge County Schools to cancel outdoor after school activity Tuesday. Kochasic says residents should remember to take precautions.

“Especially in direct sun,” Kochasic said. “If you can, if you’re outdoors for any length of time, make sure you take shade breaks, hydrate well, and try to find indoors where it’s cool. That’s all good to prevent heat illness.”

Kochasic also says to be mindful of pets and children, and to always check the backseat to make sure they don’t get left in a locked car.

The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday evening.

City Public Works Director Don Hill gave an update on projects the city’s Public Works Department has been working on. Hill said investment from the city has helped with efficiency in the Sanitary Sewer Department, which completed several installation projects.

“On the sewer construction side, they installed 985 feet of sanitary sewer line, they installed 500 feet of water line at the nature park for the orchard, we just got that completed,” Hill said. “New taps installed: 20. Main line repairs: 33. Cleanouts installed: 9.”

Hill discussed changes in the department such as bringing maintenance of the Elizabethtown City Cemetery in-house, and reviewed other stats such as city paving projects.

“To date, 4.9 miles of city streets have been paved,” Hill said. “They have the schedule and they started on that this week, and there’s 6.63 miles in this next paving schedule, but we also will issue them another one around the end of September, so our target is to get between 12 and 15 miles of paving done.”

Hill said 1,897 loads of brush have been picked up since January, 675 bags of clippings have been collected from residents, and 5,480 bags of litter have been collected along 231.6 miles of city streets. With such a burden already on brush collection equipment and employees, Hill said the department is proposing setting limits on tree removal.

“We’re not saying we want to eliminate picking up trees,” Hill said. “We’re not saying we want to eliminate contractor-cut trees, but what we’re saying is because of the dollars, because of the lead time on parts and the difficulty of getting parts, because of the lead time on buying new equipment, we’re proposing, up for discussion is we’d like to reduce the size of what we pick up and kind of limit that.”

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory supported Hill’s call for limits. He said brush collection is an important service the city provides but he feels some people may be taking advantage of it.

“I would even be willing to bet that some of those contractors figure in, on their bill, removal, and use us as a service to do it, and so they’re making money off of what our services provide, and it’s absolutely destroying a lot of our equipment on the pieces that you’re talking about that are extremely large, so we have to set a standard somewhere,” Gregory said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet September 3.

Drivers heading south on Interstate 65 this week should be aware of potential traffic due to an event in Bowling Green. 

The National Corvette Museum is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend, and as part of the festivities the National Corvette Caravan will be arriving in Bowling Green. The museum describes the Caravan as “the world’s largest moving automotive event,” with regional caravans formed by Corvette owners from across the United States convening in Bowling Green.

With so many vintage cars heading for the area, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District Three says heavy congestion should be expected in the area around the museum. Interstate 65 around Exit 28, KY 446/Interstate Drive, KY 1402/Porter Pike, and U.S. 31W and U.S. 68/Louisville Road are expected to receive the heaviest extra traffic. The heaviest points of traffic are expected from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, but the event runs through the weekend.

Motorists are encouraged to avoid the high-traffic areas if possible Wednesday. Law enforcement and KYTC personnel are planning on increasing their presence in the area.

Unemployment rates across the Lincoln Trail District saw slight increases in July 2024. 

The Kentucky Center for Labor Statistics says unemployment rates in July 2024 increased in 119 Kentucky counties and decreased in one.

The state average for unemployment for July was reported at 5.3 percent, up slightly from the 5.0 percent rate reported in June and from the 4.6 percent rate reported in July 2023. Five counties in the Lincoln Trail District had rates higher than the state average and three counties had rates lower than the state average.

Hardin County’s unemployment rate for July 2024 was reported at 5.4 percent. Hardin’s rate also shows a slight increase, going from 5.0 percent in June and 4.4 percent in July 2023.

Meade County had the highest unemployment rate in the district for July at 6.2 percent, while Washington County had the lowest at 4.2 percent.

More information on how the unemployment rate is calculated and more data is available at kystats.ky.gov.