Transcript

3.27.25 · The Mountain Eagle

0:01
Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
0:04
from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill the Narsdale. We
0:09
will begin with the addition dated March twenty sixth, twenty
0:12
twenty five, which the publishers have donated to Radio Eye
0:17
as a reminder. RADIOI is a reading service intended for
0:20
people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
0:23
it difficult to read printed material. The first item is
0:28
the caption of a photograph. First Grader leads Pledge of Allegiance.
0:34
First Grader Jackson Johnson displays a certificate presented to him
0:38
after leading the Jenkins Board of Education in the Pledge
0:41
of Allegiance at its March meeting. Each month, Perdean Elementary
0:45
selects an exemplary student for the honor. Jackson is pictured
0:50
with board member Charlotte Mullins. The next story is bill
0:56
would force some Medicaid patients to work. A last minute
1:02
bill approved by the Kentucky General Assembly will likely add
1:06
more burden for many of the seven thousand, three hundred
1:09
thirty nine Kentucky Medicaid recipients in Leccher County, requiring them
1:13
to volunteer at least twenty hours a week in order
1:17
to keep their medical coverage. The bill is likely more
1:21
smoke than fire, since nearly seven in ten Medicaid users
1:25
nationally work either full or half time jobs but don't
1:29
make enough money to buy insurance. Another twenty two percent
1:33
are either in school or caregivers, according to statistics from
1:37
the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kentucky Governor Andy Basher said nearly
1:42
half of the children in Kentucky are on Medicaid through
1:45
the joint federal and state Children's Health Insurance Program. The
1:49
remainder of Medicaid recipients are elderly and or disabled. The
1:55
bill requires adults physically and mentally able to work as
1:59
determined by the cabin for Health and Family Services who
2:02
are not responsible for the care of a child or
2:04
adult family member participate in a community engagement program for
2:09
able bodied adults after being approved and established by the
2:13
Cabinet for Health and Family Services. House Built six ninety five,
2:19
sponsored by Republican state representatives Adam Bowling of Bell and
2:23
Harlan Counties, Jason Petrie of Christian, Logan and Todd Counties,
2:27
and Josh Bray of Rockcastle, Pulaski, Madison, and Laurel Counties,
2:34
on March fourteenth, with minutes to spare on the last
2:37
day legislation could be passed before turning bills over to
2:41
the governor. Lawmakers added several provisions to the bill, and
2:45
it passed on a party line vote in both houses.
2:50
Governor Basher had through Wednesday, March twenty sixth to veto
2:54
or sign the bill, and the legislature will return Thursday
2:57
and Friday, when they can vote to overturn. In veto.
3:01
With a supermajority in both houses, a veto override would
3:04
be a near certainty. A similar attempt to add work
3:09
requirements to Medicaid by former Governor Matt Bevin was blocked
3:13
by a federal judge and was finally defeated in November
3:16
twenty shortly after Bevin lost reelection to Bashir. The next
3:23
headline is Scotia mine rescuers will participate in event here.
3:30
Between March nine and March eleven, nineteen seventy six, two
3:34
explosions in Scotia mine at oven Fork killed twenty six
3:39
coal miners and mine inspectors, leading to the Coal Mining
3:42
Health and Safety Act of nineteen seventy seven. On April fifth,
3:48
rescuers who went into the mine to recover the bodies
3:51
will speak at a special program at the Harry M.
3:54
Cardle Memorial Library. The program will be led by Brian McKnight,
4:00
who teach his Appalachian history at the University of Virginia's
4:03
College at Wyse. Five of the rescuers who descended into
4:08
the mine are still living, and they will be at
4:10
the program at the library. McKnight said there were few
4:15
mine rescuers around at that time, and many of those
4:18
weren't experienced. Only a handful of them had ever seen
4:22
an explosion before. He said. The first explosion at Scotia
4:27
occurred around eleven forty five a m. On March ninth,
4:31
nineteen seventy six, killing fifteen miners. Their bodies were brought out,
4:37
but when a new shift returned to mine on March eleventh,
4:40
there was another explosion. It killed eight miners and three
4:44
federal mine inspectors. Scotia was deemed too dangerous to recover
4:50
their bodies. They were sealed inside until more than eight
4:54
months after their deaths. The rescuers who will be at
4:59
the library went to Scotia after the second explosion and
5:03
were from Westmoreland Coal Company rescue team in Appalachia. Virginia.
5:08
When they arrived, they were lowered three hundred and seventy
5:11
five feet down a ventilation shaft to begin their search.
5:15
They were the first to find the bodies of the miners.
5:19
The program about the disaster will be at two pm
5:22
April fifth, at the library to twenty Main Street in Whitsburg.
5:29
In the next story, longer school days might result In
5:33
May twenty eighth release, Electri County Public Schools will increase
5:39
the time students here spend in school by nearly half
5:42
an hour, cutting six days off the length of the
5:45
school year. The Electric County Board of Education approved the
5:49
plan at its regular March meeting Monday night. Superintendent Denise
5:55
Jance said House Built two forty one will allow schools
5:59
to compute the lane of the year by hours rather
6:01
than days. Normally, schools must be in session for one
6:06
hundred seventy five days, but the law, which had not
6:09
become law at the time of the medium, would allow
6:12
districts to set school for an equivalent number of hours.
6:16
The bill was proposed because so many districts in the
6:19
state had to close schools for winter weather and flooding.
6:24
Districts are allowed ten days of virtual education online and
6:28
five disaster relief days that don't have to be made up. However,
6:34
the severity of the weather this year used up all
6:37
those fifteen days. The Electric County District canceled spring break
6:42
and still would have to keep schools in session until
6:45
June fifth to comply with state law. If House Built
6:49
two forty one is not approved, the district will add
6:53
twenty eight minutes to the school day every day beginning
6:55
April seventh, and the last day for students will be
6:58
May twenty eighth. The idea of being able to end
7:02
school in May is a huge positive, Yacht said. The
7:07
board approved the measure on a three to nothing vote.
7:11
Two members, Shawn Gilly and Chairman Robert Kaiser were absent.
7:16
Later in the meeting, Lecher County Teachers Organization President Regina
7:20
Brown said some of the teachers were able to go
7:22
to the state legislature this year and talk to lawmakers
7:26
about House Bill two forty one and others. She said
7:30
the sponsor had considered pulling the bill because of an
7:33
amendment added in the Senate. The Senate added on a
7:36
provision for Cloverport to have its virtual school for three
7:40
more years with no oversight. Brown said, adding that the
7:44
tiny independent district in Breckinridge County gets to teach one
7:48
hundred seventy five days online, while the remainder of districts
7:52
are allowed just five days. There are three thousand kids
7:56
going to Cloverport and it has the lowest test scores
7:58
in the state. The city of Cloverport has a population
8:03
of just one thousand, one hundred people, including adults as
8:07
well as children. According to the Courier Journal of Louisville,
8:11
Cloverport Independent School District had just two hundred seventy six
8:15
students when it started. The Kentucky Virtual Academy managed by
8:19
the for profit, publicly traded corporation Stride Incorporated. Stride Incorporated
8:26
has faced multiple lawsuits in other states, and the Kentucky
8:29
Department of Education has attempted to cap its enrollment due
8:33
to alleged failure to follow state and federal regulations and
8:37
low performance, but it was blocked by the state legislature.
8:42
Governor Andy Basher sent the bill to the Secretary of
8:45
State without his signature, allowing the bill to become law
8:48
without his endorsement. Basheer said in a statement to the
8:52
legislature that the governor's action is due to the General
8:55
Assembly's contradiction of their own actions and attitudes toward in
8:59
personal learning. The General Assembly previously mandated that children return
9:04
to in person learning during the pandemic, yet now they
9:07
are promoting all virtual learning. Also at the Letcher County
9:13
Board of Education Monday night, the board took the following
9:16
actions set the calendar for next school year. The first
9:21
day for teachers will be August eleventh, with students beginning
9:24
August fourteenth. The last day of school next year will
9:28
be May twenty first, twenty twenty six for students and
9:32
May twenty second, twenty twenty six for teachers. The board
9:37
voted to name the baseball softball field at Letcher Elementary
9:40
and Middle School for coach Betty Van Caudle, who recently
9:45
retired from the school where she spent her entire career
9:48
teaching and coaching. Principal Jennifer Counch requested the field be
9:53
named for Cadell. The board voted to name the new
9:57
field house, bleachers and concession stand and at the old
10:00
Wiesburg High School football field the Will Smith Athletic Complex
10:05
after a request by Whitesburg Middle School Principal Bart Fraser.
10:10
Smith has been on the board for thirty three years,
10:12
much of that as chairman. He is currently vice chairman
10:16
and was chairing the meeting Monday night. The board heard
10:20
a report from Trace Creek Construction that work on the
10:24
field house and concession stand is nearing completion, with most
10:27
items at least ninety percent done. The company's report also
10:32
said work is progressing all the Alternative Education building, but
10:36
it is waiting now for an engineer to complete plans
10:39
to replace the electrical system in the building. The board
10:44
voted to hire BSN Sports to replace the bleachers in
10:49
the Danny Bates Gymnasium at Lecher Elementary and Middle School
10:53
at a cost of one hundred and sixty nine seven
10:55
hundred four dollars, and heard a report from Maintenance and
11:00
Transportation Director Brian Johnson that twenty five new buses are
11:04
on the road from the factory in Oklahoma to Kentucky,
11:08
bound for the Letcher County School District. The buses are
11:12
meant to replace some of the older buses that the
11:14
district was left with after the flood of twenty twenty two.
11:19
The buses will be outfitted with camera and radios once
11:22
they are in the state and should be switched more
11:25
than half of the district's forty three bus routes soon.
11:31
The next story is five defendants plead guilty of failing
11:35
to pay child support. Five Lettra County residents have entered
11:40
guilty please in Lectri Circuit Court on charges of flagrant
11:44
non support of their minor children. They are Elvi Carroll
11:49
Boggs fifty one five thirty eight log House branch Weisberg,
11:52
who pled guilty to two indictments charging Bogs with flagrant
11:56
non support. Boggs was sentenced to a term of five
12:00
years in prison in each of the two indictments. Cecil
12:03
Sloan forty four pobox two sixty six Blackie, who was
12:08
sentenced to five years in prison. Jason Hall forty seven
12:13
to twelve straight Row Jenkins, who was sentenced to five
12:17
years in prison, probated for five years. Gregory Harris forty
12:22
three pobox two six six blackie, who was sentenced to
12:26
five years in prison, probated for five years. Ray L.
12:31
Fleming fifty two seventy eight A K. Drive Jenkins, who
12:36
was sentenced to five years in prison, probated for five years.
12:43
The next headline is jury sentences man to twenty years.
12:48
A jury has recommended twenty years in prison for a
12:51
blacky man convicted of incest and sexual abuse. Ronnie Sturgel,
12:57
sixty six, of Elk Creek, was originally charged worked with rape,
13:01
but the charges were updated in a superseding indictment issued
13:04
January twenty fifth. Based on the legal definitions, the rape
13:09
charges were dropped and Sturgil was re indicted on three
13:11
counts each of first degree sexual abuse and incest with
13:15
a child under twelve or serious physical injury. After a
13:20
two day trial last week, the jury found Sturgil guilty
13:23
on all accounts. The incidents allegedly took place during calendar
13:28
years twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, and twenty twenty. The trial
13:34
began March seventeenth, and testimony was completed mid day March eighteenth,
13:39
after which the jury deliberated for several hours. Instructions given
13:44
during the sentencing phase told the jury that Sturgil would
13:47
have to serve eighty five percent of his sentence without parole.
13:51
That means the sixty six year old would not get
13:53
out on parole until he is at least eighty three
13:56
years old. Incest of a minor under two twelve is
14:01
a Class A felony punishable by twenty to fifty years
14:04
in prison or life in prison. The jury recommended Sturgil
14:08
serve twenty years on the incest charges and five years
14:12
each on the three counts of sexual abuse. Formal sentencing
14:17
for Sturgel is set for June fourth. The next story
14:23
is Jenkins Board honors Hoop's team after first district title
14:28
in thirty seasons. The Jenkins Board of Education opened its
14:33
March meeting glowing with pride and excitement over the evening's
14:37
guests of honor the Jenkins High School boys basketball team
14:40
and coaching staff fresh office season that earned the Cavaliers
14:44
their first fifty third district championship in thirty years. Superintendent
14:50
Damian Johnson recounted the team's achievements, beginning with its record
14:55
setting twenty six and five season, the most wins in
14:58
the program's one hundred thirteen year history. The Cavaliers also
15:03
made their first regional tournament appearance in two decades. Coach
15:08
Winston Lee visibly moved praised the player's work, ethic, and commitment.
15:14
We knew this was a special group, he said, describing
15:17
early morning practices and snow day workouts. Lee introduced each
15:22
player and coach present at the meeting and shared highlights
15:25
from the season. Seniors Aidan Hayes, Braden Sexton, and Gavin
15:31
Gibson reached one thousand career points, with Hayes and Gibson
15:35
also surpassing five hundred career rebounds. Other key players were
15:40
Cameron Hayes, who played a triple double game during the season,
15:44
Preston Hammonds, who gave the team a critical win with
15:48
a late game one and one, Hunter White, the team's
15:52
spark of energy and promising sophomore, and Connor Hall, a
15:57
rising talent praised for his sense of commitment. Cale Owens,
16:03
commended for his skill on defense, also made the most
16:06
dramatic offensive play of the season with his game winning
16:10
three pointer in the final seconds of the district championship,
16:13
now known as the shot Heard round the fifty third
16:16
Johnson said. Describing that moment at the board meeting, Superintendent
16:22
Johnson said, when the shot hit the rim, hit the backboard,
16:26
hit the rim again and dropped in. I happened to
16:30
be sitting with the parents of the young man Owens
16:32
who took that shot, and that was a moment of joy.
16:36
It was a lot of fun. Coach Lee also thanked
16:40
assistant coaches Arlee Lee, John Hayes, and Dominic Strong, whose
16:45
contributions helped shape the team's success on and off the court.
16:50
Board members and coaches praised the team not only for
16:53
their great season, but also for being positive role models
16:58
and boosting student and community a. Board members also noted
17:02
the team's visible presence during flood recovery efforts last year.
17:08
Following the celebration, the board viewed a presentation by tex
17:12
ISAAC on the district's MTSS Multi Tiered Systems of Support. ISAAC,
17:19
the MTSS coordinator, presented data from the Branching Minds platform,
17:24
which imports information about students to track academic performance, attendance,
17:29
and behavior across all grade levels. One function of the
17:33
system is to flag when a particular student needs intervention
17:37
and personalized instruction. ISAAC reported that a significant decrease in
17:43
the number of students considered high risk in academic performance,
17:47
particularly in grades nine through twelve, with high schoolers now
17:51
paired with individual staff mentors. Board members complemented the programme's
17:57
transparency and value in tracking student price in real time
18:01
so that intervention can be timely Superintendent Johnson emphasized the
18:06
importance of relationship building, saying kids need someone in their corner.
18:12
That's how we change lives. The board also reviewed ongoing
18:17
facility updates. The high school weight room has undergone a
18:21
complete overhaul, including new equipment, graphics, and waterproof ceiling tiles.
18:28
Damage from the February flood to the Burdean playground will
18:31
need to be addressed, with contractor support expected. A new
18:36
stage set up and lighting system were installed for the
18:40
upcoming Wizard of Oz school production. A new library collection
18:45
is expected to arrive March twenty fifth, complete with labeling
18:48
and shelving services. Technology Director Rick Wharf reported on preparations
18:55
for map and ACT testing, renewal of Microsoft Life and
19:01
Fiber contract renewals. The board approved continued service with Gearheart Communications.
19:09
In other business, the board granted Superintendent Johnson the authority
19:13
to amend the current school calendar, pending the governor's signing
19:16
of House Built two forty one, which allows school districts
19:20
some flexibility in making up lost instructional days if passed.
19:25
Johnson said that his preferred course will be to add
19:28
nineteen minutes to the school day to preserve spring break
19:31
and still finish up the year before Memorial Day. The
19:36
board also approved the twenty twenty five twenty six academic calendar,
19:40
which includes a mid August start, a short fall break,
19:44
and a full Thanksgiving week off. The next item is
19:50
the caption of a photo lightning strikes the Letcher Lightning.
19:56
A local AAU basketball team won four straight games to
20:00
claim the championship at the second annual Clinch River Hoop's
20:04
Hardwood Classic in Clinton, Tennessee. Pictured our head coach Danny Bates,
20:09
Cam Bailey, Bentley Stidham, Caden Eldridge, Connor Collins, Jackson Banks,
20:15
and Gunnar Stewart. The next article is Strutton Time by
20:21
Steve Brewer fishing the Kentucky frid Rivers. As I look
20:28
out my upstairs office window during one of the worst
20:31
storms I've ever witnessed to my seventy eight years, I'm
20:34
looking at the old, beat up cars and trucks and
20:37
one motorcycle that passes here thirty five times a day.
20:41
I often wonder what I was thinking by moving from
20:44
my place in dry Fork, high on the mountain to
20:47
a place like this in Letter County. I heard no traffic,
20:52
very seldom saw a vehicle or heard one. I completely understand.
20:56
We made the move because we finally had a grandchild
20:58
and wanted to be close to her. The problem with
21:01
that is she grew up and I am stuck here now.
21:05
She is headed to Japan in a short time, but
21:08
isn't asking us to go with her. I guess that's
21:11
part of growing up and on our part, growing old
21:15
as youth strutting time. Readers know I love adventure, and
21:19
I am planning what may be the last adventure I
21:21
will ever do. First, let me remind you that you
21:26
should have bought your new hunting and fishing license by now.
21:29
Spring Turkey season for Youth opens on April fifth and
21:32
closes April sixth, followed by regular season on April twelfth
21:36
through May fourth. Now is the time to get ready,
21:39
not the day before season opens. As for my new
21:43
and what could be my final season real life adventure Honor,
21:48
about March twenty fourth, I plan to start camping and
21:51
fishing the over two hundred miles of the Kentucky River
21:55
and the more than one hundred miles of the Red River.
21:58
I understand the Red River is not fishable the whole
22:01
one hundred miles, but who is counting, I will start
22:05
in Clark County, fish until I'm tired, camp along the river,
22:10
and start out again the next morning. I am as
22:13
excited about this adventure as I have ever been. Most importantly,
22:17
it will more than likely be my last. But remember,
22:21
strutting time, readers, Because of you and some other factors,
22:24
I have lived a life bigger than a dream. Just
22:27
remember we've traveled this journey together, and it has been
22:30
a fun ride. I should return if all goes well,
22:35
around the first of April, just in time for Turkey season.
22:38
As I mentioned recently, my name was drawn to hunt
22:41
the Bluegrass Army Depot on April twenty sixth. Keep in mind,
22:46
not all my adventures have worked out. Remember my kayak
22:50
trip a couple of years ago. If for some reason,
22:53
this adventure ends badly, you can at least say he lived.
23:01
The next article is Medicaid will soon turn sixty years old.
23:08
The Medicaid system has emerged as an early target of
23:11
the Trump administration's campaign to slash federal spending. A joint
23:16
federal and state program, Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for
23:20
more than seventy two million people, including low income Americans
23:24
and their children and people with disabilities. It also helps
23:28
foot the bill for long term care for older people.
23:32
In late February twenty twenty five, House Republicans advanced a
23:36
budget proposal that would potentially cut eight hundred eighty billion
23:41
dollars from Medicaid over ten years. President Donald Trump has
23:45
backed that House budget, despite repeatedly vowing on the campaign
23:49
trail and during his team's transition that Medicaid cuts were
23:52
off the table. Medicaid covers one fifth of all Americans
23:57
at an annual cost that coincidentally also totals about eight
24:01
hundred eighty billion dollars, six hundred billion dollars of which
24:04
is funded by the federal government. Economists and public health
24:09
experts have argued that big Medicaid cuts would lead to
24:13
fewer Americans getting the health care they need and further
24:16
strain the low income families finances. Medicaid's history officially began
24:24
in nineteen sixty five, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed
24:28
the system into law along with Medicare, but the seeds
24:33
for this program were planted in the nineteen thirties and
24:35
nineteen forties, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration was implementing
24:40
its New Deal agenda in the nineteen thirties, Many of
24:43
his advisers hoped to include a national health insurance system
24:48
as part of the planned Social Security program. Those efforts failed.
24:52
After a heated debate, The nineteen thirty five Social Security
24:56
Act created the old age and unemployment insurance systems we
25:00
have today, with no provisions for health care coverage. Nevertheless,
25:06
during and after World War II, liberals and labor unions
25:09
back to bill that would have added a health insurance
25:12
program into Social Security. Harry Truman assumed the presidency after
25:17
Roosevelt's death in nineteen forty five. He enthusiastically embraced that legislation,
25:23
which evolved into the Truman Plan. The American Medical Association,
25:28
a trade group representing most of the nation's doctors, feared
25:31
heightened regulation and government control over the medical profession. It
25:35
lobbied against any form of public health insurance. During the
25:40
late nineteen forties, the AMA poured millions of dollars into
25:44
a political advertising campaign to defeat Truman's plan. Instead of
25:49
mandatory government health insurance, the AMA supported voluntary private health
25:54
insurance plans. Private plans such as those offered by kaiser
25:58
permanente had become increasingly popular in the nineteen forties. In
26:03
the absence of a universal system, labor unions began to
26:07
demand them in collective bargaining agreements. Private health insurance plans
26:14
grew more common throughout the nineteen fifties. Federal tax incentives,
26:18
as well as a desire to maintain the loyalty of
26:21
their professional and blue collar workers alike, spurred companies and
26:25
other employers to offer private health insurance as a standard benefit.
26:30
Healthy working age, employed adults, most of whom were white men,
26:34
increasingly gained private coverage, so did their families. In many cases,
26:39
everyone else, people with low incomes, those who weren't working
26:43
in people over sixty five had few options for health
26:46
care coverage. Then as now, Americans without private health insurance
26:51
tended to have more health problems than those who had it,
26:54
meaning that they also needed more of the healthcare they
26:57
struggled to afford. But this also made them risky and
27:01
unprofitable for private insurance companies, which typically charged them high
27:05
premiums or more often declined to cover them at all.
27:10
Healthcare activists saw an opportunity. Veteran healthcare reformers such as
27:16
Wilburt Cohen of the Social Security Administration, having lost the
27:19
battle for universal coverage, envisioned a narrower program of government
27:24
funded healthcare for people over sixty five and those with
27:27
low incomes. Cohen and other reformers reasoned that if these
27:31
populations could get coverage in a government provided health insurance program,
27:36
it might serve as a step toward an eventual universal
27:39
health care system. While President John F. Kennedy endorsed these plans,
27:44
they would not be enacted until Johnson was sworn in.
27:47
Following JFK's assassination in nineteen sixty five, Johnson signed a
27:52
landmark healthcare bill into law under the umbrella of his
27:56
Great Society agenda, which also included anti poverty programs and
28:00
civil rights legislation. That law created Medicare and Medicaid. And
28:08
this concludes the reading of the Mountain Eagle. Your reader
28:12
has been bill of an Arsenal. Now please stay tuned
28:15
for continued programming on behalf of everyone here at radio.
28:19
I thank you for listening, and have a good day.