Tag: Kentucky

Kentucky gubernatorial rivals offer contrasting themes on campaign trail

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SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear pledged Friday to redouble his push for higher teacher pay and universal access to early childhood education if he wins reelection, offering a glowing assessment of Kentucky’s future that he said was fueled by record economic development gains that have occurred on his watch.

His Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, offered a sharply different appraisal while campaigning on the same day. In remarks that largely steered away from the state of the economy, Cameron hammered at Beshear for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and for the incumbent’s stance on issues related to transgender youth.

Cameron also stressed his staunch opposition to abortion, saying he wants to “make sure that our most cherished and valued asset, our unborn, have every opportunity to reach their fullest and God-given potential.”

Federal investigators discovered a human remains trade with connections to Harvard Medical School and have arrested people in several states.

Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming care for young transgender people has been restored by a federal judge.

Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has touted robust revenue collections as another sign of a surging state economy.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron wants to award recruitment and retention bonuses to bolster police forces across Kentucky.

The two candidates laid out clear differences in this year’s hotly contested campaign for Kentucky’s top political office, a race that could offer fresh glimpses into voter sentiment heading into 2024 elections that will determine control of the White House and Congress.

At a campaign stop that drew an overflow crowd at a Shelbyville coffee shop, Beshear said Kentuckians have “been through a lot together” during his tenure — recalling the global pandemic along with tornadoes and flooding that ravaged parts of the state. Through it all, he said, the state has achieved record-setting economic development gains that have the state primed for greater opportunities.

“I am feeling more optimistic and more hopeful for our commonwealth than ever before.” Beshear said.

Afterward, the governor said he would continue pushing for significantly higher pay for public school teachers. He said Kentucky can’t continue on its trajectory of economic momentum if it lags behind other states in what it pays its teachers.

Beshear said he would again include funding for universal pre-K in the budget plan he presents to lawmakers next year if he wins reelection to a second term in November. Such access to preschool “solves child-care problems” for many parents and “makes sure that no one starts kindergarten behind,” the governor said.

Cameron has said he would push to raise starting pay for Kentucky teachers and reduce their administrative paperwork if he’s elected governor.

On Thursday, Beshear said the state was poised to record its largest-ever revenue surplus of $1.4 billion from the fiscal year that recently ended. The exact amount will be known once accounting records for expenditures are completed this month.

The governor said Friday that he also wants to bolster funding for public safety, which includes equipping Kentucky law enforcement officers with “the most advanced” body armor.

On Tuesday, Cameron proposed awarding recruitment and retention bonuses to bolster police forces

During his campaign stop Friday in Meade County, Cameron offered up his vision for public education.

“It’s about having a world-class education system that is about reading, writing and math and making sure that our schools don’t become incubators for liberal and progressive ideas,” he said.

Cameron pounded away at Beshear’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic — the issue that dominated the first couple of years of the governor’s term. The Republican challenger said the governor’s virus-related restrictions forced some businesses to close while others were allowed to stay open. Beshear has staunchly defended his actions, saying the restrictions saved lives.

Cameron also took aim at Beshear’s veto of a bill banning transgender girls and women from participating in school sports matching their gender identity from sixth grade through college.

“His is a vision … that said it is OK for biological males to play women’s sports,” Cameron said.

Beshear, meanwhile, accused his opponent of pounding a “steady drumbeat of division, of anger.”

“That is not who we are as people, and it is not what we can allow to win this election,” Beshear said. “Think about it — an election where we run saying everybody has value, everyone should be a part of what’s to come. That is exactly who we are as Kentuckians.”

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July 14, 2023
As whiskey and bourbon business booms, beloved distillers face pushback over taxes and emissions

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MULBERRY, Tenn. (AP) — For decades, the whiskey and bourbon makers of Tennessee and Kentucky have been beloved in their communities. The distilleries where the liquor is manufactured and barrelhouses where it is aged have complemented the rural character of their neighborhoods, while providing jobs and the pride of a successful homegrown industry.

Now, the growing popularity of the industry around the world is fueling conflicts at home.

In Kentucky, where 95% of the world’s bourbon is manufactured, counties are revolting after the legislature voted to phase out a barrel tax they have depended on to fund schools, roads and utilities. Local officials who donated land and spent millions on infrastructure to help bourbon makers now say those investments may never be recouped.

Hundreds have lined Sarajevo’s main street Sunday as a truck carrying 30 coffins passed on its way to Srebrenica, where newly identified victims of Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since World War II will be buried on the 28th anniversary of the crime.

The German government is considering whether it can make former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer foot at least part of the quarter-billion euro compensation it has to pay a private company over a failed plan to introduce highway tolls.

Voters in Uzbekistan are casting their ballots on Sunday in a snap presidential election which is widely expected to extend the incumbent’s rule by seven more years.

Senior British politicians are calling on the BBC to rapidly investigate claims that a leading presenter paid a teenager for explicit photos.

Neighbors in both states have been fighting industry expansion, even suing distillers. Complaints include a destructive black “whiskey fungus,” the loss of prime farmland and liquor-themed tourist developments that are more Disneyland than distillery tour.

The love affair, it seems, is over.

“We’ve been their biggest advocates and they threw us under the bus,” said Jerry Summers, a former executive with Jim Beam and the judge-executive for Bullitt County, essentially the county mayor.

Bullitt County has long depended on an annual barrel tax on aging whiskey, which brought in $3.8 million in 2021, Summers said. The majority goes to schools but the money also is used for services that support the county’s Jim Beam and Four Roses plants, including a full-time fire department.

Many of the new barrelhouses are being built with industrial revenue bonds exempting them from property taxes for years or decades. The counties supported the property tax breaks because they expected to continue collecting the barrel tax. When the state legislature voted to phase it out earlier this year, after intense lobbying by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, county officials felt betrayed.

“Our industry was always a handshake agreement,” Summers said. Now, those agreements are being broken.

Once the barrel tax sunsets in 2043, the distillers will pay no taxes at all to Bullitt on some warehouses. The county will still have to provide them with services, protect them and protect the surrounding community from them if anything goes wrong, Summers said.

“Where you have an alcohol-based plant that produces a hazardous material, you need emergency management, EMS, a sheriff’s department,” he said.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who signed the bill after passage by Kentucky’s Republican-controlled legislature, said several industry compromises were vital to his support, while the bill will encourage investment.

“I know it was tough. You had an industry that supports so many jobs and calls Kentucky home. At the same time, you’ve got communities that have helped build that industry. I know there are, right now, probably some difficult feelings,” Beshear said in a news conference.

Kentucky Distillers’ Association President Eric Gregory noted the compromise bill creates a new excise tax to help fund school districts. Another tax helps fire and emergency management services, though it does not apply in all counties.

“Even with this relief, distilling remains Kentucky’s highest taxed industry, paying $286 million in taxes each year,” Gregory said in an email.

While the tax changes take place, whiskey is booming.

As a former Beam executive, Summers remembers a time when whiskey was a cheap, “bottom shelf” drink. With small batch products, the liquor slowly became cool. American whiskey revenues since 2003 have nearly quadrupled, reaching $5.1 billion last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. During the same period, the super premium segment rose more than 20-fold to $1.3 billion.

Now many of the most recognized brands are part of international beverage conglomerates. Jim Beam is owned by Japan-based Beam Suntory. Britain’s Diageo owns Bulleit. Italy’s Campari Group owns Wild Turkey.

In lobbying for the end of the tax, the distillers’ group suggested the industry could leave Kentucky. Officials like Summers are calling that a bluff. He said Bullitt County does not want any new barrelhouses unless things change, and he is not alone.

Nelson County, home to Heaven Hill, Log Still and other Kentucky communities involved with the industry, recently approved a moratorium on new bourbon warehouse construction while the county updates zoning and permitting rules. Soon, any new projects will be required to seek citizen input and zoning board approval, Judge Executive Timothy Hutchins said.

“That got their attention, let’s put it that way,” Hutchins said. “Now, we’re trying to kiss and make up.”

The county gets about $8.6 million a year from the barrel tax, he said.

In Tennessee’s Lincoln County, Jack Daniel’s recently was slapped with a stop-work order after neighbors sued over a huge unpermitted expansion. Since 2018, the company has built six 86,000-square-foot (7,989-square-meter) warehouses holding 66,000 barrels each on a 120-acre (48-hectare) property, according to the lawsuit.

Jack Daniel’s has since retroactively received the proper approvals, but neighbors say their biggest complaint has not been addressed: A black fungus that feeds on the ethanol emitted as whiskey ages.

The “whiskey fungus” has been been a nuisance around liquor facilities for centuries, but the size and scope of the new barrelhouse complexes means much more ethanol is being released in a concentrated area. The fungus covers nearby homes and cars in a sooty black film, choking trees and shrubs.

When Pam Butler moved to Lincoln County 30 years ago, there were only two barrelhouses nearby, and she had “no issues.”

“I had a white car and it stayed white. I had a white horse trailer and it stayed white. Then about five years ago, everything started looking grungy,” Butler said.

Butler owns a small farm where she keeps horses adjacent to the Jack Daniel’s property. She said her pasture land is not thriving as it should, many of her trees are dying and she has developed asthma. She doesn’t know whether her illness is related to the fungus, but said she only started having symptoms in the past few years.

Butler and several other neighbors want Jack Daniel’s to capture its ethanol emissions instead of releasing them into the neighborhood. The company would not comment on the fungus but spokesman Svend Jansen provided a statement saying it “will continue to work hard to be a good partner to all members of our community.”

“We recognize that there have been, at times, a small number of people who do not appreciate or value the growth of Tennessee Whiskey production in the areas where we operate,” the statement said.

Back in Kentucky, famed author and agriculturalist Wendell Berry has another concern: local food security and the destruction of prime agricultural land.

“I’ve been working, going on 30 years, to develop a regional food economy for Louisville,” Berry said.

“Cities like Louisville and Nashville are surrounded by fertile land that is well watered,” but they are importing much of their food from California’s Central Valley, he said. “I’ve spent my life arguing that this land is going to be needed by people who want something to eat.”

Berry recently lost a fight with distiller Angel’s Envy in Louisville over the development of a 1,200-acre (485-hectare) property adjacent to the farm where he grew up. Henry County approved the company’s plans for a bourbon tourism complex there, complete with cabins, an amphitheater and a helipad.

Angel’s Envy declined to comment.

Fred Minnick, who has written books on bourbon and judges world whiskey competitions, said it is an interesting time for the industry because bourbon has never been this popular.

“Bourbon was the good guy. Bourbon was loved by the state,” he said of Kentucky. “It will be fascinating to see if bourbon remains a hero.”

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July 8, 2023
U.S. destroys last of its declared chemical weapons

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The last of the U.S. declared chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed in eastern Kentucky at a military installation, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced Friday, a milestone that closes a chapter of warfare dating back to World War I.

According to the Defense Department, the last sarin nerve agent-filled M55 rocket was destroyed Friday at the Blue Grass Army Depot.

Workers at the depot have been completing a decadeslong campaign to eliminate a chemical weapons stockpile that by the end of the Cold War totaled more than 30,000 tons.

“Chemical weapons are responsible for some of the most horrific episodes of human loss,” McConnell said in a statement. “Though the use of these deadly agents will always be a stain on history, today our nation has finally fulfilled our promise to rid our arsenal of this evil.

President Biden said in a statement, “Successive administrations have determined that these weapons should never again be developed or deployed, and this accomplishment not only makes good on our long-standing commitment under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it marks the first time an international body has verified destruction of an entire category of declared weapons of mass destruction.” He also thanked “the thousands of Americans who gave their time and talents to this noble and challenging mission for more than three decades.”

Mr. Biden also urged nations that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention to do so, “so that the global ban on chemical weapons can reach its fullest potential.” And he said that, “Russia and Syria should return to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and admit their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit brazen atrocities and attacks.”

Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in a statement, “After years of design, construction, testing and operations, these obsolete weapons have been safely eliminated. The Army is proud to have played a key role in making this demilitarization possible.”

The weapons’ destruction is a major watershed for Richmond, Kentucky and Pueblo, Colorado, where an Army depot destroyed the last of its chemical agents last month. It’s also a defining moment for arms control efforts worldwide.

The U.S. faced a Sept. 30 deadline to eliminate its remaining chemical weapons under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1997 and was joined by 193 countries. The munitions being destroyed in Kentucky are the last of 51,000 M55 rockets with sarin, a deadly toxin that is also known as GB nerve agent. The rockets have been stored at the depot since the 1940s.

By destroying the munitions, the U.S. is officially underscoring that these types of weapons are no longer acceptable in the battlefield and sending a message to the handful of countries that haven’t joined the agreement, military experts say.

Friday’s announcement came as the Biden administration has also decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, a weapon that two-thirds of NATO countries have banned because it can cause many civilian casualties. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Ukraine has promised to use the munitions — bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — carefully.

Chemical weapons were first used in modern warfare in World War I, where they were estimated to have killed at least 100,000. Despite their subsequent ban by the Geneva Convention, countries continued to stockpile the weapons until the treaty calling for their destruction.

In 1986, Congress mandated the destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, and the U.S. first began destroying them in 1990 on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific. The U.S. Army utilized six more sites across the continental U.S. until 2012, at installations in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon and Utah, to continue the work of destroying the stockpile.

In southern Colorado, workers at the Army Pueblo Chemical Depot started destroying the weapons in 2016, and on June 22 completed their mission of neutralizing an entire cache of about 2,600 tons of mustard blister agent. The projectiles and mortars comprised about 8.5% of the country’s original chemical weapons stockpile of 30,610 tons of agent.

Nearly 800,000 chemical munitions containing mustard agent were stored since the 1950s inside rows of heavily guarded concrete and earthen bunkers that pock the landscape near a large swath of farmland east of Pueblo.

The weapons’ destruction alleviates longstanding concerns harbored by civic leaders in Colorado and Kentucky.

“Those (weapons) sitting out there were not a threat,” Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said. But, he added, “you always wondered what might happen with them.”

In the 1980s, the community around Kentucky’s Blue Grass Army Depot rose up in opposition to the Army’s initial plan to incinerate the plant’s 520 tons of chemical weapons, leading to a decadeslong battle over how to dispose of them. They were able to halt the planned incineration plant, and then, with help from lawmakers, prompted the Army to submit alternative methods to burning the weapons.

Craig Williams, who became the leading voice of the community opposition and later a partner with political leadership and the military, said residents were concerned about potential toxic pollution from burning the deadly chemical agents.

Williams noted that the military eliminated most of its existing stockpile by burning weapons at other, more remote sites, like the Johnston Atoll or at a chemical depot in the middle of the Utah desert. But the Kentucky site was adjacent to Richmond and only a few dozen miles away from Lexington, the state’s second-largest city.

“We had a middle school of over 600 kids a mile away from the (planned) smokestack,” Williams said.

The Kentucky storage facility has housed mustard agent and the VX and sarin nerve agents, much of it inside rockets and other projectiles, since the 1940s. The state’s disposal plant was completed in 2015 and began destroying weapons in 2019. It uses a process called neutralization to dilute the deadly agents so they can be safely disposed of.

Workers at the Pueblo site used heavy machinery to meticulously — and slowly — load aging weapons onto conveyor systems that fed into secure rooms where remote-controlled robots did the dirty and dangerous work of eliminating the toxic mustard agent, which was designed to blister the skin and cause inflammation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.

Robotic equipment removed the weapons’ fuses and bursters before the mustard agent was neutralized with hot water and mixed with a caustic solution to prevent the reaction from reversing. The byproduct was further broken down in large tanks swimming with microbes, and the mortars and projectiles were decontaminated at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees Celsius) and recycled as scrap metal.

FILE – In this photo provided by the U.S. Army, workers at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Ky., begin the destruction of the first rocket from a stockpile of M55 rockets with GB nerve agent, July 6, 2022.

U.S. Army via AP, File

Problematic munitions that were leaky or overpacked were sent to an armored, stainless steel detonation chamber to be destroyed at about 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (593 degrees Celsius).

The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last among several, including Utah and the Johnston Atoll, where the nation’s chemical weapons had been stockpiled and destroyed.

Kingston Reif, an assistant U.S. secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control, said the destruction of the last U.S. chemical weapon “will close an important chapter in military history, but one that we’re very much looking forward to closing.”

A canister that had contained mustard gas is recycled at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Pueblo, Colo.

David Zalubowski / AP

Officials say the elimination of the U.S. stockpile is a major step forward for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Only three countries — Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan — have not signed the treaty. A fourth, Israel, has signed but not ratified the treaty.

Still, arms control advocates hope this final step by the U.S. could nudge the remaining countries to join. But they also hope it could be used as a model for eliminating other types of weapons.

“It shows that countries can really ban a weapon of mass destruction,” said Paul F. Walker, vice chairman of the Arms Control Association and coordinator of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition. “If they want to do it, it just takes the political will and it takes a good verification system.”

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July 7, 2023
Louisville Zoo elephant calf named Fitz dies at age 3 following virus

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A beloved 3-year-old elephant calf born and raised at the Louisville Zoo died on Friday night, the zoo said in a news release.

Fitz would have turned four on Aug. 2, 2023, the zoo said, and was the offspring of 37-year-old Mikki, who also lives at the Kentucky-based Louisville Zoo.

Zoo staff first noticed that Fitz was lethargic on June 25. A blood sample was sent out and he was diagnosed with endotheliotropic herpesvirus, more commonly known as EEHV, a “hemorrhagic disease that aggressively affects blood cells,” the zoo said. There is no vaccine for the virus, and the survival rate is only 20 to 30% in most cases, the zoo said.

Fitz’s diagnosis with the illness was confirmed on June 28, and he was treated around-the-clock with care, including antiviral medications, plasma transfusions multiple times a day, and supportive therapies. Fitz received plasma and blood donations from elephants in zoos across the country, and other zoos and elephant experts reached out to the Louisville Zoo to offer support and advice.

Fitz’s condition took a turn for the worse on Friday evening, the zoo said, and he passed away shortly after 11 p.m. after a nighttime treatment.

Fitz at the Louisville Zoo.

The Louisville Zoo

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of elephant Fitz,” said Louisville Zoo Director Dan Maloney in a statement. “Fitz held a special place within our entire extended Zoo family. His presence at our Zoo touched the hearts of our members, patrons and our entire community, inspiring a profound appreciation for elephants and their conservation. Our animal and medical teams performed outstandingly. They worked tirelessly under very challenging circumstances, but sadly, despite their remarkable efforts, we were unable to save him. Fitz’s impact will live on, along with his memory, in the hearts of all who encountered him. He will be deeply missed.”

A necropsy will be performed, the zoo said. Additional information will be released once it is complete.

The zoo will also share information about plans for the community to honor Fitz.

According to the zoo, EEHV is “one of the most serious medical issues facing zoo and wild elephants.” Most elephants are believed to be born with the virus or exposed to it shortly after birth, but it can remain in an elephant’s body for years. The zoo said that it is “unknown” what causes the virus to cause hemorrhagic disease.

The zoo said that Mikki is also confirmed to have a “latent form” of EEHV, but “it is not the same strain that affected” her son. She appears to be behaving normally, the zoo said, as is the institution’s other elephant, Punch. Zoo staff will continue to monitor them, the news release said.

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Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.

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July 1, 2023
Kentucky man wins $1 million lottery ticket during emergency fuel stop:

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A Kentucky man made an emergency stop at a gas station with just $40 in his pocket. Spending all his cash, he left with $20 worth of fuel in his tank and over half a million in hand.

Michael Schlemmer of Corbin, Kentucky, spent $20 on a winning “$1,000,000 Luck” scratch-off card from Kentucky Lottery at the Convenient Food Mart on U.S. Highway 25 West. Schlemmer’s car “coasted” into the gas station because it was so low on fuel, he said in a statement.

The Kentuckian realized he had hit the jackpot after returning to his car. As he scratched the ticket, a million-dollar symbol appeared: He had won the scratch-off card’s top prize.

Michael from Corbin won the top prize on a $20 Scratch-off ticket! He said that his car ran out of gas and he had to “coast” into the gas station where the winning ticket was purchased! Join us in congratulating Michael on this WINNER WEDNESDAY! 🥳 https://t.co/qvBagpDLU5 pic.twitter.com/mBBcSIZQSY

— Kentucky Lottery (@kylottery) May 24, 2023

Schlemmer ran into the store to tell the minimart employees, who were “grinning” at the news.

“Nothing went through my mind,” Schlemmer said. “I just got up and went back in the store and showed it to them. Until I get the check in my hand, I don’t believe it.”

Earlier this month, Schlemmer picked up a check for $616,330 from Kentucky Lottery Headquarters. That’s the total value of his $862,000 lump sum lottery payout, minus taxes.

Michael Schlemmer of Corbin, Kentucky, spent $20 on a winning “$1,000,000 Luck” scratch-off card from Kentucky Lottery at the Convenient Food Mart on U.S. Highway 25 West.

Kentucky Lottery

Lottery grand-prize winners can choose to take one lump sum payment or a series of annuity payments, which amounts to a higher payout doled out over a longer period of time.

Schlemmer plans to purchase a “newer” car with the money. He will put the remainder of his winnings in the bank.

“I told the dealership I’m waiting for a big check to come in and then I hit that,” Schelmmer said.

Schlemmer isn’t the only one who is walking away richer from the winning ticket sale. The convenience store where he bought the ticket will also receive $8,620, the Kentucky Lottery said in a statement.

The Kentucky Lottery funds educational programs, grants and scholarships for Kentuckians, the agency’s website states. The odds of winning the scratch ticket’s million-dollar prize are not stated on the site, only that a player’s chances of winning change with every ticket sold. Odds of winning any of a number of prizes from the scratch-off ticket are 1 in 3.57. The lottery has raised more than $4.4 billion in funding since 1999.

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May 26, 2023
In rehab program, guitar making helps those in recovery kick addiction

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In rehab program, guitar making helps those in recovery kick addiction – CBS News

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A successful rehab program in Kentucky teaches woodworking to addicts, specifically how to build guitars and how to break with drug abuse. Mark Strassman has the story.

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May 18, 2023
In Kentucky rehab program, guitar-making helps those in recovery kick addiction

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Hindman, Kentucky — Heartache has a way of pushing down hope in Hindman, Kentucky, an outpost in the Appalachian Mountains.

Nathan Smith’s drug addictions took 20 years of his life. Pain pills after a work accident got his spiral started, followed by crystal methamphetamine.

“You could go about anywhere and find anything you was looking for,” Smith told CBS News.

There were over 109,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2022, according to the latest projected numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than two-thirds of those, over 75,000, were caused by synthetic opioids, the CDC found.

“I knew that if something didn’t happen, that I was eithing going to wind up in prison, or I was going to be dead,” Smith said.

Hindman and its population of nearly 700 are located in an area known as Troublesome Creek in Knott County, one of the poorest counties in the nation, with an overdose rate nearly triple the national average, according to numbers from the Appalachian School of Luthiery.

“It’s a crisis here,” said Doug Naselroad, who runs a Knott County rehab program for former drug users.

The program has about a dozen employees, all recovering addicts. Naselroad takes addicts in and teaches them woodworking, specifically how to build guitars and how to break with using.

“The nature of making guitars, it’s a long curve,” Naselroad said. “The gratification is not instant.”

“(It’s the) opposite of drugs,” he adds. “You have to commit a lot of labor-intensive hours to building a guitar.”

Since 2012, more than 200 recovering addicts have come through the program. They have built hundreds of string instruments sold to music stores across the country. The program’s success rate is 71%.

“You know, a 71% success rate is also a 29% failure rate,” Naselroad said. “Not everyone can succeed. Some people are just not able to break free.”

Smith has rebuilt his life here and has been clean for the last five years.

“Everybody deserves a second chance,” Smith said. “And all of us that got a second chance have turned our life around.”

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Mark Strassmann

Mark Strassmann has been a CBS News correspondent since January 2001 and is based in the Atlanta bureau.

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May 18, 2023
Kentucky is latest battleground for secretaries of state facing election falsehoods during primaries

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s secretary of state has won bipartisan praise during his first term in office for expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing elections that have been free of widespread problems.

That record still hasn’t paved a clear path to reelection for Republican Michael Adams. He now must persuade primary voters who have been bombarded for years with false claims about rigged elections.

He faces one challenger in Tuesday’s GOP primary who has promoted debunked election claims and another who favors pulling Kentucky out of a multistate effort designed to detect voter fraud, an effort being pushed by conspiracy theorists in conservative states.

The battle for Kentucky’s top elections post follows similar campaigns during last year’s midterm elections, when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election won GOP primaries in numerous states. A handful of them went on to win the office in deeply Republican states, but each of those candidates lost in the closely contested swing states that typically decide presidential elections.

Adams, a lawyer, soundly defeated Steve Knipper in the primary four years ago. Knipper, who has questioned the result of the 2020 presidential election, is back for another run along with another Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and television station executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former state representative who recently lost reelection. He is unopposed in his primary.

Adams earned praise from both parties for increasing voting opportunities and allowing mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections during the pandemic. He has raised significantly more campaign cash than his two opponents. But he said the political landscape has shifted dramatically for secretary of state races around the country, namely because of a wave of conspiracy theories and false allegations after the 2020 presidential race.

“This job has gotten a lot more high-profile than it used to be,” Adams said. “And I think the big question in this election is, which direction are we going to go in?”

Adams, 47, has had harsh words for election skeptics, calling them “cranks and kooks” who shouldn’t be in charge of Kentucky’s election process.

State and local election officials continue to grapple with the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The lies he continues to tell, including during a televised town hall, earlier this week, not only undermine confidence in elections, particularly among Republicans, but have led to harassment and death threats against election officials and their staff.

Reviews in multiple states, including ones controlled by Republicans, have shown there was no widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Dozens of judges, including several nominated by Trump, also rejected his claims.

Knipper, 52, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state in 2015 before losing to Democratic incumbent Alison Grimes in the general election. The former city council member from a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a staffer under former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, but was fired by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Knipper and a former colleague of his in the lieutenant governor’s office who also was swept out by Bevin, Adrienne Southworth, have been touring the state together alleging — without evidence — election fraud in the 2019 governor’s race won by Democrat Andy Beshear and in the 2020 presidential election.

Knipper said he has raised more money and enjoyed more support from the public than during his previous two races, and is running television ads for the first time.

“I’ve had enthusiasm, but I have never had this much enthusiasm behind me,” he said.

Maricle has campaigned on his experience in the Kentucky Legislature, saying he is the only candidate who has a voting record on election legislation. That includes support for a bill in the 1990s that allowed voters who were in line at the time of poll closings to remain in line and finish voting.

Maricle, 60, is critical of Knipper’s election skepticism, saying Knipper has provided no evidence.

“He’s said these elections have been stolen through the machines — prove it,” Maricle said.

But Maricle also has campaigned on moving the state out of a multistate system intended to combat voter fraud. He said he is taking a cue from other Republican secretaries of state critical of it and said it is not doing a good enough job helping states clear their voter rolls.

“It’s flawed,” he said. “You have nine Republican states in the last 90 days do away with that system.”

Knipper has also sought to capitalize on the issue, which has divided Republican state election officials. In a March release, he urged supporters to call on Adams to withdraw Kentucky from the bipartisan effort, which has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Trump’s false claims.

In the release, Knipper repeated claims that the Electronic Registration Information Center, a voluntary system known as ERIC, was funded by George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. While ERIC received initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from the money provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERIC’s executive director, Shane Hamlin.

Knipper’s stance on the ERIC system won him the vote of Dae Combs, a 63-year-old Louisville resident who visited an early voting location on Thursday.

“I’m just concerned that it would be easily manipulated,” Combs said. “I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I just think there needs to be more investigation into it.”

Combs said she doesn’t question the results of the 2020 election despite her support of Knipper.

Biden “is our president and we kind of go with the system. This is our system, it’s the best system in the world, but I do think there is room to look at things and not just take things at face value.”

Louisiana has left a group of states using the ERIC system after a series of online posts early last year questioning its funding and purpose. Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia subsequently provided notice that they, too, would leave. Texas has said it’s working on an alternative effort and is unlikely to stay. Kentucky is among six Republican-led states that have so far remained.

Judy Davenport, who was voting in Louisville on her 62nd birthday, said her vote for Adams was influenced by Knipper’s election skepticsm.

“I’m not an election denier,” she said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.

___

Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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May 12, 2023
Eye on America: airline addresses the pilot shortage, inside Buffalo Trace Distillery and more

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Eye on America: airline addresses the pilot shortage, inside Buffalo Trace Distillery and more – CBS News

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In Arizona, we see how United Airlines is addressing the pilot shortage with a training program. Then in Kentucky, we tour America’s oldest whiskey distillery, Buffalo Trace, for a look at its rich history. Watch these stories and more on Eye on America with host Michelle Miller.

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April 25, 2023
Investigation into deadly shooting at Alabama Sweet 16 party

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Investigation into deadly shooting at Alabama Sweet 16 party – CBS News

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Police are searching for the shooter, or shooters, who opened fire at a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama, over the weekend. Four people were killed and more than two dozen wounded in the attack. CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca joins us with the latest from Dadeville, and then Tony Dokoupil and Lilia Luciano have more on rise in gun violence nationwide.

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April 17, 2023
CBS Weekend News, April 16, 2023

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CBS Weekend News, April 16, 2023 – CBS News

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U.S. sees two mass shootings on same weekend NRA holds annual convention; SpaceX cleared to launch massive rocket on Monday

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April 17, 2023
U.S. sees two mass shootings on same weekend NRA holds annual convention

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U.S. sees two mass shootings on same weekend NRA holds annual convention – CBS News

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Mass shootings at a birthday party in Alabama and a crowded park in Louisville, Kentucky, have left at least six dead over the last three days. This same weekend, the NRA is holding its annual convention, with 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls in attendance. Mark Strassmann reports.

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April 16, 2023
2 people were killed and 4 others were wounded when shots were fired into a crowd at Chickasaw Park in Louisville, Kentucky, police say | CNN

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CNN
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At least two people were killed and four others were wounded when shots were fired into a crowd gathered at a park in Louisville, Kentucky, Saturday, authorities said.

Officers responded to Chickasaw Park around 9 p.m. and found several people had been shot, including two who were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Four people who were found wounded were rushed to a local hospital, including one person who is in surgery and in critical condition, Louisville Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said during a news conference late Saturday night. No additional details were available about the victims.

“Hundreds of people were in the park at the time of the shooting when someone started shooting into the crowd, hitting at least six people,” Humphrey said.

It’s unclear who opened fire. Police say they have yet to identify who was responsible or determine a motive in the incident.

“I want to speak directly to whoever the shooter is,” Humphrey said during the news conference. “Turn yourself in. The best thing for you to do is to turn yourself in. We know that this will not end well. The best case scenario is for you to turn yourself in and stop this.”

The incident marks the city’s second mass shooting in less than a week. It comes just days after a gunman killed five people and injured several others Monday at Louisville’s Old National Bank – about 5 miles away from Chickasaw Park.

“This has been an unspeakable week of tragedy for our city,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said during the news conference. “On Monday, we lost five of our fellow citizens to a horrific act of workplace gun violence. And now, five days later, we’re at another scene of a reckless act of gun violence.”

Greenberg said doctors and nurses once again find themselves rushing to save the lives of gun violence victims Saturday night.

“This is not our city. This is not who we are. This is not who we want to be,” the mayor said.

As authorities investigated at the scene of the shooting at Chickasaw Park, Donna Purvis, a member of Louisville’s Metro Council who represents an area that includes the park, expressed her sadness over the continued violence in the city.

“I’m so tired of this and I can’t make any sense of it,” Purvis said as police lights flashed behind her. “Right now, I’m really at a loss for words.”

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April 15, 2023
Louisville gunman’s brain to be studied for CTE, father says | CNN

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CNN
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The family of Connor Sturgeon – who was killed after he fatally shot five people Monday morning at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky – plans to have his brain tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE, his father and a spokesperson for the family told CNN on Thursday.

“Yes, Connor is being tested for CTE. Probably will take a while to get results,” Todd Sturgeon, Connor Sturgeon’s father, texted to CNN.

Pete Palmer, a family friend who is speaking for the Sturgeons, said the family and the state medical examiner are looking to have Connor Sturgeon’s brain tested.

The medical examiner’s office has completed most of its tests, and the process of testing for CTE will now begin, Palmer said.

CNN has reached out to the Kentucky state medical examiner for further information.

CTE, a neurodegenerative brain disease, can be found in people who have been exposed to repeated head trauma. Studies have found that repetitive hits to the head – even without concussion – can result in CTE.

According to Palmer, the family thinks Sturgeon had three significant concussions – two as an eighth-grade football player and one in basketball as a high school freshman.

The disease, which can only be diagnosed with an autopsy and neuropathological exam, is pathologically marked by a buildup of tau protein in the brain that can disable neuropathways and lead to a variety of symptoms including memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, anxiety, impulse control issues and sometimes suicidal behavior.

Police have not released information about a motive in the shooting.

The testing disclosure comes as more families are talking about their loved ones who were killed.

The daughter of Juliana Farmer, one of the five who were killed, said Wednesday night her mother had just moved to Louisville two weeks prior for a new job at the bank.

“This monster took away my mother, and I’m hurt because my mother moved here to help me, a single mom with four kids. I only got two weeks with her here in Louisville … a city she knew nothing about,” Alia Chambers told CNN. “I’m heartbroken. I hated him. I hated him but I forgive him because my mama is in a better place.”

Farmer moved to Louisville from Henderson, Kentucky, and was thrilled to begin her role with Old National Bank as a loan officer.

“My mom went from working at 19 years old at Kmart to sitting with executives at a bank. I’m gonna fulfill my mama’s dream. Either I’m going back to nursing school or I’m gonna ask them, can I take over her position at that bank,” she said. “She was so excited about that job. She was happy.”

Farmer had three adult children and four grandsons, Chambers said.

The day before she was killed, she found out her son, J’Yeon Chambers, was expecting a baby girl, he told CNN. The baby is due in September, the same month his mother was born.

“And so it’s just crazy how she gets taken the day after we reveal that we’re having the baby. So my child is going to be her basically all over again,” her son said. “She gave us the name that she always wanted a girl to be named and we’re going to stick with it.”

The new details come as CNN has learned more about the victims and wounded in Monday’s workplace mass shooting, including the survival of a woman who was seated between two people who were killed.

Sturgeon, a 25-year-old Old National Bank employee, opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle in the bank about a half-hour before it was to open to the public, killing five colleagues before he was fatally shot by a responding officer. Farmer, Joshua Barrick, Tommy Elliott, Deana Eckert and James Tutt were shot and killed, police said.

Of the eight people who were wounded, a 26-year-old police officer remains in critical condition after being shot in the head, requiring brain surgery.

One woman who was shot but survived was seated in a conference room between Farmer and Elliott when the attack began, according to the father of her children, Rex Minrath.

Dana Mitchell, an employee at the bank, has returned home from the hospital and is recovering, Minrath told CNN in a phone interview Thursday. She is expected to have surgery in the coming weeks to remove “the rest of the bullet,” he said.

“Dana was in the conference room between Tommy and Juliana. She sat between those two,” Minrath told CNN. “And then when they hit the ground, they were all on the ground together. She is fortunate because both of them weren’t so lucky.”

Mitchell’s son, Ross Minrath, posted a series of images and updates about his mother’s condition on his Facebook page this week.

“After positive results from blood work and her being an all around badass, my Mom was released from the hospital today,” he wrote on Tuesday night. “She is very sore but doing well. Her phone has been at the bank and hopes to start reaching out herself tomorrow.”

In one Facebook post, he said the gunshot bruised her lung and that doctors were able to clean the wound on her back. His mother, he added, “is the toughest I’ve ever known.”

He thanked those who had reached out to the family with well wishes and asked for people to continue to send prayers for his mother.

In addition, the first person who was shot inside the bank survived, a city official told CNN. In the shooter’s Instagram livestream of the attack, which has since been taken down, the female bank worker said “good morning” before the gunman warned her, “You need to get out of here,” according to an official familiar with the video.

The woman had her back to the gunman as he struggled to get the safety off and load his AR-15-style weapon properly. He then shot her in the back, an official previously told CNN.

Gov. Beshear shares emotional memories of his friend killed in Louisville shooting

At a vigil Wednesday evening, scores of residents and officials gathered to mourn publicly the employees gunned down at their workplace by a coworker.

“It’s important that we take time to acknowledge those losses and what they mean for us as people and as a community,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said during the vigil at the Muhammad Ali Center Plaza. “So, that later we can gather our energies and focus on preventing these tragedies.”

Greenberg noted the heartbreaking impacts of gun violence in his city beyond Monday’s carnage, which unfolded less than a mile from where the vigil was held Wednesday.

“There will be a time to act. To take steps in honor of those we’ve lost and to channel our grief and pain into meaningful action. That day is coming,” the mayor continued. “Today is to mourn, to lean on each other and support each other.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at the vigil that Elliott, a senior vice president at the bank, was one of his closest friends.

“I’ll admit that while I am not angry, I am empty. And I’m sad. And I just keep thinking that maybe we’ll wake up,” Beshear said, his voice breaking.

“What I know is, I just wish I’d taken an extra moment, made an extra call, tell him how much I care about him. And I know we are all feeling the same. But I also know they hear us now. And that they feel our love,” Beshear said.

Video shows officers walking head-on into gunfire to stop Louisville shooter

Louisville police on Wednesday released a series of 911 calls showing the fear and panic both inside and outside the bank during the shooting early Monday morning.

In one emergency call, a woman who identified herself as an employee of a different Old National Bank branch told the dispatcher she saw the massacre happen in real time while she was on a video call with colleagues at the scene.

“How do you know you have an active shooter on site?” the operator asked.

“I just watched it. I just watched it on a Teams meeting. We were having a board meeting,” she said. “I saw somebody on the floor. We heard multiple shots and people started saying ‘Oh my God,’ and then he came into the board room.”

Another 911 call came from the gunman’s mother, who said her son was headed to the bank with a gun and expressed her shock and confusion.

“My son might be (redacted) has a gun and heading to the Old National on Main Street here in Louisville,” she said. “This is his mother. I’m so sorry, I’m getting details secondhand. I’m learning about it now. Oh my Lord.”

The woman said her son “apparently left a note” about the incident. “We don’t even own guns. I don’t know where he would have gotten a gun.”

Other calls came from a bank employee speaking in a whisper who was hiding in a closet, a man who fled the building and took shelter at a nearby dental office, and another caller who hid under a desk inside the building.

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April 13, 2023
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Louisville bank gunman: ‘This person murdered my friend’ | CNN Politics

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Watch Kaitlan Collins’ full interview with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear tonight at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.

CNN
—

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday he “can’t imagine” what the family of the man who killed five people, including a friend of the governor, in Louisville on Monday is feeling.

Beshear’s comments, made during an emotional interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins which was his first since the mass shooting, came after the 911 call placed by the gunman’s mother was released.

“This person murdered my friend. But still, I can’t imagine what his parents must be feeling right now,” Beshear said.

The call by the mother of the gunman, 25-year-old Old National Bank employee Connor Sturgeon, was among a number of 911 calls released to the public Wednesday detailing the panic and fear during the mass shooting that left five dead and three hospitalized.

Relaying details from her son’s roommate, she said her son “apparently left a note” and expressed her shock and confusion.

“My son might be (redacted) has a gun and heading to the Old National on Main Street here in Louisville,” she said in the call. “This is his mother. I’m so sorry, I’m getting details secondhand. I’m learning about it now. Oh my Lord.”

In the interview with CNN, Beshear discussed his friend Tommy Elliott, a bank executive who was among the victims of Monday’s shooting. He said he wanted his friend to be remembered as a loving father and husband.

“Man, he had a great smile. His eyes lit up. Loved life. Was always into something. Trying to make the city a better place, he was just always into something,” he said.

Elliott, the bank’s senior vice president, had chaired Beshear’s 2019 inaugural committee and was a well-known figure in Kentucky Democratic politics.

“He was trying to plan for me for when I’m done being governor, which was something that I hoped we could eventually plan for together,” Beshear said. “An amazing human being, a loving dad.”

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April 12, 2023
Louisville bank shooting survivor recalls harrowing experience as police release 911 calls
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An injured bank employee told CBS News about her harrowing experience getting shot by a co-worker, as Louisville Metro Police released audio of the 911 calls placed following the mass shooting that killed five people and injured nine.

The shooting occurred in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday morning inside a branch of Old National Bank. Police said that the 25-year-old shooter, identified as Connor Sturgeon, was a bank employee who was armed with a semi-automatic AR-15-style weapon.

The shooter was killed during an exchange of gunfire with responding officers, police have said. They also said he livestreamed the shooting.

Dana Mitchell, who worked at the bank, knew the gunman and told CBS News that she is recovering after being shot in the back.

“The bullet went in and out just below the surface,” she said. “It was high enough up that it ripped the skin open. It was a wound about 10 inches long. But didn’t hit anything important.”

Mitchell said she was shocked that her co-worker, who at one point she mentored, could carry out such a horrific attack.

“I knew Connor very well,” she said. “I was his mentor his first year at the bank. He never made me feel like he would have done this. Not in a million years. He was very kind and soft-spoken. You would never had thought this would have happened.”

Mitchell recalled seeing him enter the bank with a gun and begin shooting.

“When I saw him in the hallway with the gun I thought, why would he bring that here to show us? It didn’t even register to me he was ready to shoot,” she said. “Everybody there but one person was in a conference room for a meeting.”

“The only person that was there was in the hallway,” she continued. “I saw him standing in the hallway with a gun and I saw him shoot the person in the hallway. Everyone started running. But we had nowhere to run.”

Mitchell said upon being shot she just lay still, hoping he would not shoot her again.

“I felt him shooting me immediately. I just laid down there,” she said. “I tried not to breathe a lot. I didn’t want to move around. I didn’t want him to see me moving or hear me breathing, because I thought he might shoot me again.”

He eventually left the conference room and continued shooting, Mitchell said. But she also heard gunshots that came from another gun as police arrived.

Mitchell said reports that Sturgeon had been fired from the bank were not true.

“He was not terminated, he was still an employee,” she said. “I don’t know where the rumor came from.”

Mitchell says she is still grappling being a victim of a mass shooting, something she never thought could happen to her.

“I never imagined this would happen at my place of work or to me,” she told CBS News. “You see it on TV and it happens to other people but it doesn’t happen to people you know. But this is one of those things.”

On Wednesday, Louisville Police released audio of 911 calls about the shooting, the day after they released excerpts of police bodycam footage. The 911 audio features six calls from witnesses inside and outside the bank — and a call from the alleged gunman’s concerned mother.

The first call comes from a woman who says she witnessed the shooting through a video conference call. She says she saw the shooter walk into the room and open fire.

“We were having a board meeting,” she tearfully tells the dispatcher. “We heard multiple shots and then everyone started saying ‘oh my God’ and then he came into the boardroom.”

A second call came from a witness inside the bank, whispering as she hides inside a closet while gunshots are heard in the background. The caller says she recognized the shooter as someone who works with her.

She tell the dispatcher she believes eight or nine people were shot. When asked about the severity of the injuries, she says: “I don’t know. I just saw a lot of blood.” As gunshots continue to fire in the background, the dispatcher advises the caller to remain quiet.

Another call came from Sturgeon’s mother, who tried to warn authorities after speaking to her son’s roommate.

“He has a gun and he’s heading toward the Old National on Main Street here in Louisville,” she told the 911 operator. “This is his mother. I’m so sorry, I’m getting details secondhand. Oh my lord.”

Sturgeon’s mother, who said she had no idea where he would have gotten a gun, told the dispatcher she was worried and confused about what was happening.

“I don’t know what to do, I need your help,” she says frantically. “He’s never hurt anyone, he’s a really great kid.”

“Please, he’s not violent,” she adds. “He’s never done anything.”

She said she was on her way to the bank before the operator told her to avoid the area at all costs.

“It’s dangerous there,” the dispatcher warns.

In a statement, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the 911 audio was being released because “transparency is important — even more so in times of crisis.”

The victims of the shooting have been identified.
- Joshua Barrick, 40, was a senior vice president of the bank, and a father of two. He also coached first and second grade basketball at his church, CBS affiliate WLKY reported.
- James Tutt, 64, was a market executive who left behind a wife, children and grandchildren.
- Thomas Elliot, 63, was a senior vice president at the bank. Both Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greenberg said they were friends with Elliot.
- Juliana Farmer, 45, was a commercial banking agent. WKLY reported she had recently moved to Louisville and was expecting her fifth grandchild.
- Deana Eckert, 57, died later from injuries sustained in the shooting. Greenberg described the executive administrative officer as a “kind and thoughtful person” and mother of two.
As of Wednesday evening, two patients were still being treated at University of Louisville Hospital, including a wounded police officer who is listed in critical condition. Officer Nickolas Wilt, who was shot in the head while exchanging fire with the gunman, was working his fourth-ever shift as a police officer after graduating from the academy last month.

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April 12, 2023
Survey finds more than half of U.S. adults have experienced gun-related incident

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Survey finds more than half of U.S. adults have experienced gun-related incident – CBS News

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The shooting Monday in Louisville is one of the latest examples of gun violence in the United States, but many incidents involving a gun never make the news. A new survey from KFF found nearly one in five adults say they’ve had a family member killed by a gun. Nikki Battiste reports.

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April 12, 2023
‘Our city is heartbroken’: Louisville holding vigil today to mourn 5 killed in bank shooting | CNN

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CNN
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Louisville is set to host a vigil Wednesday to let community members grieve the five people killed this week in a downtown bank shooting, as the public absorbs fresh details that investigators are releasing about how the massacre unfolded.

The vigil comes a day after police released dramatic police body camera footage of Monday’s shooting at Old National Bank, in which authorities say a 25-year-old employee opened fire on his colleagues who were in a staff meeting and then engaged in a shootout with police before he was shot dead.

The attacker killed five of his coworkers around 8:30 a.m. in Kentucky’s most populous city, about 30 minutes before the facility was to open, a gruesome assault that the shooter livestreamed online, authorities said. Several others were hospitalized, including a rookie police officer who was shot in the head and was in critical condition Tuesday.

“Our city is heartbroken,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday evening. “These five victims should not be dead – just like everyone else who was killed by gun violence in our city, in our country, should not be dead.”

Police say they’re still trying to determine the shooter’s motive. As an investigation continues, officials expect to release audio Wednesday of 911 calls about the shooting, the mayor said.

And the city will hold a vigil at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, the mayor said.

The vigil will “acknowledge the wounds, physical and emotional, that gun violence leaves behind,” Greenberg told reporters Tuesday. “It will be an interfaith opportunity for our entire community to come together – to grieve, to heal, to begin to move forward.”

On Tuesday, Louisville police released bodycam video from the officers who responded to yet another mass shooting in the US.

The public footage begins with a video from Officer Nickolas Wilt – a 26-year-old rookie who’d graduated from a police academy just 10 days prior – who drove up to the scene with his training officer, Cory “CJ” Galloway.

As Wilt ran toward the gunshots that officers faced upon arrival, Wilt was shot in the head, police said. The released version of Wilt’s footage cuts off before he is shot.

Body camera footage from Galloway shows him taking fire, and then retreating to a safe position behind a planter as officers talk about how they can’t see the gunman, and that the gunman is shooting through windows in the front of the bank. At some point, Galloway was also shot.

Police eventually took down the shooter after he broke the bank’s lobby glass windows, giving officers a vision on his location, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said.

The entire situation – from when the gunman began firing his assault weapon to when he was killed by police – lasted for about nine minutes, according to Louisville police Lt. Col. Aaron Cromwell.

Those killed in the shooting were Joshua Barrick, 40; Juliana Farmer, 45; Deana Eckert, 57; Tommy Elliott, 63; and James Tutt, 64, police said.

Nine people – including Eckert, before she died Monday – were hospitalized after the shooting, officials said. Among the eight current survivors, five had been discharged as of Tuesday, a hospital spokesperson said.

The three victims who remain hospitalized include Wilt, who underwent brain surgery and was in critical condition Tuesday, and two others who were in fair condition, the hospital spokesperson said.

Monday’s massacre in Louisville was one of at least 147 mass shootings this year in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not including the shooter.

It took the assailant one minute to complete the bloodbath before he stopped and waited for police to arrive, according to footage of the massacre described by a city official to CNN.

The shooter, identified by police as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, had livestreamed the gruesome attack on Instagram – the video has since been taken down.

The Instagram video begins by showing an AR-15-style weapon, followed by a worker in the bank saying good morning to the gunman, the official said.

The gunman then tries to shoot her in the back but fails because the safety is on and the weapon still needs to be loaded, the official said. Once the shooter loads the weapon properly and takes the safety off, he shoots the worker in the back, the official said.

The assailant then continues his rampage, firing at workers while they tried to outrun him, the official said. The shooter does not go to other populated floors of the bank, the official said.

Once the shooter finishes firing, he sits in the lobby area that looks out onto the street, apparently waiting for police, the official said.

Police arrive about a minute and half later, the official said, at which point a gunfire exchange ensues before police eventually shoot and kill the gunman.

Sturgeon used an AR-15-style rifle in the shooting, police said. Six days before the killings, he legally purchased the rifle from a local gun dealership, the interim Louisville police chief said Tuesday.

Sturgeon had interned at the bank for three summers and been employed there full-time for about two years, his LinkedIn profile showed. The assailant had been notified that he was going to be fired from the bank, a law enforcement source said Monday.

The mayor, however, said doesn’t believe the shooter was given a notice of termination.

“From what I have been told from an official at the bank, that is not accurate,” Greenberg told reporters Tuesday.

A former high school classmate of Sturgeon’s who knew him and his family well said he never saw any “sort of red flag or signal that this could ever happen.”

“This is a total shock. He was a really good kid who came from a really good family,” said the classmate, who asked not to be identified and has not spoken with Sturgeon in recent years. “I can’t even say how much this doesn’t make sense. I can’t believe it.”

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April 12, 2023
Doctor gives update on Louisville shooting victims

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Doctor gives update on Louisville shooting victims – CBS News

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Five people were killed and eight wounded when a gunman opened fire at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky. Chief medical officer of the University of Louisville Health system Dr. Jason Smith joined CBS News’ Omar Villafranca to give an update on the victims of the shooting and detail the resources available to medical staff.

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April 11, 2023
Live updates: At least 5 killed in Louisville, Kentucky

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Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks during a news conference after a gunman opened fire at the Old National Bank building on April 10 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Luke Sharrett/Getty Images)

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg praised his community after a bank shooting Monday that left five people dead.

In a CNN interview alongside Louisville Metro Police Department Interim Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, Greenberg — who said he himself is a survivor of gun violence in the workplace — encouraged those impacted by the shooting to “take time with loved ones.”

The mayor said his friend Tommy Elliott, who was killed in the shooting, was a “great friend” and “the definition of loyalty.” Elliott was also a friend to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and others around the city, he said.

He recounted having not known whether another friend had survived yesterday’s attack. The mayor said when he saw his friend in the hospital, he was overwhelmed.

“We both survived,” the mayor said he told his friend, encouraging him to see a therapist and talk to professionals.

While the mayor said he doesn’t personally know the others who died, from the stories he has heard, “they are wonderful as well.”

“We must work together to end this plague of gun violence in this country. Enough,” he said.

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April 11, 2023