WYMT Mountain News at 6:00 - Top Stories- Thursday, August 15, 2024

Intro coming up on Mountain News at 6 Governor Andy Basher hosts a team Kentucky briefing which included some big news for some here in Eastern Kentucky and we'll hear from officials with the Perry County School District about the decision to push back the start date for Buckhorn school and highs today we're in the 80s and 90s but now thunderstorm chances are on the increase details in a few minutes dedicated to Eastern and Southern Kentucky this is w ymt Mountain News at [Music] Eastern Kentucky Update 6 Governor Andy Basher hosted a team Kentucky update today and announced some big news for flood affected counties here in the mountains wmt's Austin Hicks has the latest since 2022 many people in Eastern Kentucky have faced hardship after hardship from the devastating flood of July 2022 to as recently as the memorial weekend storms that impacted several counties to help people in those communities Governor Brasher announced that several communities will receive funding to help those impacted less than a month after the floods I called for a special legislative session to help speed up the recovery I was proud to work with the legislature and grateful the general assembly appropriated $212 million to the Eastern Kentucky state aid for emergencies or EK safe fund bre County received more than $3 million in funding during the briefing Bash made a surprising announcement introducing the start of a nearly $50 million project of ky15 as well as strengthening and stabilizing the dam that holds panb Lake this is a heavily traveled Corridor that uh will bring much anticipated improvements and enhanced safety and economic benefits for breath County and for Eastern Kentucky it's going to add lanes and sidewalks to the busy stretch of road that is in Jackson but it also further strengthens and stabilizes the dam that holds panbo Lake we're several counties receiving funds from the safe fund County officials are excited about the progress they will make with the funding uh there's a lot of there's a long way to go there's a long way to go but when you see us get these funds you'll see us start doing more female work uh to help people get back to where they need to be the governor also provided updates regarding relief efforts in Eastern Kentucky we've now announced seven High Ground communities in four counties together these communities will bring over 500 new homes to the area and on top of that we've announced a bunch in breatha county and are finding uh new spots of land every day to build on to build more Governor Basher also announced the launch of the disaster needs portal which people can use to help apply for housing and help after a disaster has struck in Hazard Austin Hicks WT Mountain news during the briefing Governor Basher announced that Floyd County will receive $2.5 million Perry County gets 5 million and lecher County will receive more than 5 million more about this on our website and all the individual uh projects well a man was indicted in Clay County after police say he took a picture of a naked child a grand jury indicted James Hayes with one count of promoting a sexual performance by a minor under the age of 18 and sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 the first count says Hayes took a photo of a child without her knowledge with a hidden camera inside a home in 2022 the second count says Hayes committed sexual abuse by touching a child when she was between the ages of 11 and 12 a former Pastor has been indicted on seven felony counts a fet county grand jury indicted Zachary King on counts which include rape sodomy and sexual abuse King was arrested last month according to the arrest citation he had admitted to having a sexual relationship with a victim which started when she was 15 years old a mcgoffin county man was in court for his arraignment today Jeremiah Brown pleaded not guilty to charges related to an arrest after an argument about a toaster pastry a brown was indicted earlier this year Brown's then girlfriend claimed he assaulted her at a home after the argument Brown's public defender requested a bond reduction but the judge ruled against that the United State's court of appeals has denied a motion filed by a man to suppress evidence related to the search of his vehicle the incident stems from September 2021 in Wayne County when a joint undercover operation Met Troy Huff in a grocery store parking lot on East Kentucky Highway 90 for a control purchase of illegal narcotics Huff pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2022 the case will now return to the US Eastern District Court of Kentucky for final s sentencing in Mingo County West Virginia a woman is facing child neglect charges after police found drugs in a home with a 10-year-old living there reeba Chaffin was arrested by Mingo County deputies after giving them permission to search the home during a welfare check deputies say they found syringes that appeared to be loaded in the kids's bedroom and a white powder substance they say is consistent with fenel Chaffin was taken to the southwestern Regional Jail on Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management agency or FEMA announced its disaster fund is out of money wit Amilia Lee spoke to a FEMA representative in Whitley County about what this could mean for those in Eastern FEMA in Whitley County Kentucky I am standing right outside of the FEMA mobile Disaster Recovery Center in Whitley County right behind me there are booths that are set up to help Eastern kentuckians who went through losses during the severe storms that happened at the end of may I talk to Gerard hammock with FEMA who tells me the ongoing situation regarding FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund will not impact grants and help going towards those who need it now including in Eastern Kentucky ongoing Disaster Recovery operations like what's happening behind me that those are continuing those are continuing to be funded and the grants that you know people can uh apply for are going to continue to be funded uh that's the priority hammock says funding will go to critical requirements according to FEMA the Chief Financial Officer can Implement immediate needs funding guidance this includes the continuation of funds going to survivors like homes or other things they may need in Whitley County Amelia Lee WMT Mountain Weather news FEMA and the small business administration will be in Whitley County through Saturday their hours are 10 until 7: at the Whitley County Cooperative Extension [Music] Office we had temperatures in the Upp 80s and low 90s again today we are going to cool off though as we go into your Friday and Saturday and even Sunday but rain and thunderstorm chances are in the forecast outside right now we're seeing a mixture of sun and clouds temperatures right now are in the mid to Upper 80s low 90s towards Somerset otherwise 89 in prestonburg 85 Pikeville 86 Grundy 83 and Clintwood 79 is the current temperature in Wise and you take a look at the temperature change over the past 24 hours uh almost everybody is substantially warmer as compared to this time yesterday Ashlin though A Different Story 3 degrees cooler than this time yesterday but all is quiet right now in live Pinpoint Doppler Radar we are seeing a few little false Echoes across portions of Pike County but that's it we're seeing a mixture of sun and clouds out there as we go throughout the next 12 hours we'll see temperatures in the low 80s by 9:00 by the time you join us for Mountain news at 11 we'll see temperatures in the mid to uper 70s mid 70s as we go throughout your evening and overnight hours now once again rain and thunderstorm chances are in the forecast some places tonight some places starting tomorrow and Saturday we'll talk about that in the first alert forecast in a few minutes Steve all right Eric thanks Senate Minority Leader Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell was at the US Global Leadership Coalition South Summit in Louisville today Senator McConnell was joined by Ashley Watts the president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in several others one of the things Senator McConnell was asked about was isolationism he says the US must continue to remain in a leadership position and that the country is an example of what every other Democratic Nation aspires to be as I said earlier we we are the example that every Democratic country in the world wants to emulate good things will happen as long as we're in the leadership position isolation ISM will create enormous problems for this country enormous Senator McConnell will step down as Republican leader later this year but has two years left on his term as Senator administrators with Perry County Schools push back the reopening of Buckhorn school but officials say the $15 million reconstruction project is almost complete wit's Chandler Wilcox gives us a look at what is done and not finished just yet at the Buckhorn Delayed school administrators say the layout will be the same the building layout is is all the same the Elementary uh Wing the high school Wing the corridors of the lunchroom cafeteria magget says what students will see when they walk in will however be different new paint schemes color schemes um new flooring new kind of flooring uh that's that's just more updated than what they had when they left windows and doors and or soon to be installed or temporary required us to put in flood proofing windows and doors so the windows and doors and that increases the lead time right because that's much different than what we had pre flood teachers have worked to set up classrooms painting further construction and inspections are still to be completed leading to the delay we work through those and are working through those with the construction manager and The Architects and Engineers so we feel like it was going to be a few more days magrid says they wanted to give students a the better first day experience so we didn't want to push we didn't want to rush try to do anything that was um just not really uh advantageous for Buckhorn to go back administrators say they will apply for emergency days to make up for time missed and Buckhorn Channel W Cox WMT Mountain News school will now start on August Hazard Funding 26th for Buckhorn students Jody magard says FEMA will be paying 75% of the cost for the project the state will pay 12% and the school district will pick up the rest more than $8 million is being invested into rural parts of the state that funding comes from the USDA Rural Development and appalachin Regional Commission the city of Hazard is using multiple grants and those grants will be used for several different things some of those include replacing a 70-year-old cast iron waterline and making improvements to the primary sanitary sewer outfall in downtown we have much more details about this on wmt.com all right take a look here at the sight and radar right now you can see we have a little bit of cloud cover out there but rain and thunderstorm chances are in the forecast details in a few minutes and as a new school year approaches students continue the process of moving back onto campus