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Marion, KY 42064

By TOM LATEKKentucky Today

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In the wake of explosive growth in the number of cases of COVID-19 in Ken-tucky, Gov. Andy Beshear has issued recommenda-tions, but not mandates, as schools prepare for the fall semester, which will be-gin in the coming weeks.

“The Delta variant is real, it is significant, to those unvaccinated it is deadly, and in Kentucky it is escalating, and escalat-ing very quickly,” Beshear stated during a Capitol press conference Monday, July 26.

He noted the vaccina-tion rate is higher in old-er Kentuckians than in younger ones.

As a result, in order to reach the priority of having safe, in-person instruction for the max-imum number of days possible, and in consul-tation with the Kentucky Department of Educa-tion, Beshear announced three recommendations for when classes resume; while not closing the door on mandates, if the situa-tion worsens.

n School districts should require all unvaccinated students and unvaccinat-

ed adults to wear a mask when in classrooms and other indoor school set-tings.

n School districts should require all students under

12 years of age, since the vaccines are not approved for use by them, to wear a mask when in classrooms and other indoor school

Beshear offers advice for schools reopening

Schools - Cont. on page 2

2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 THE EARLY BIRD

By TOM LATEKKentucky Today

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Not all severe thunderstorms are created equal, so the National Weather Ser-vice will soon be making changes to the warnings they issue to more specif-ically describe their sever-ity and to trigger special messages on smartphones for the strongest ones.

Up until now, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued when winds are forecast to reach at least 58 miles per hour and hail one inch in diameter or more is expected. That will not be changed, but ef-fective August 2 there will be additional information contained in the warnings known as damage threats, for stronger storms.

The criteria for a con-siderable damage threat will be hail at least 1.75 inches in diameter, or golf ball-sized, and/or thunder-storm winds over 70 mph.

A destructive damage threat will include hail 2.75 inches in diameter, base-ball-sized, or greater, and/or 80 mph thunderstorm winds. In addition, those warnings will automati-

cally activate a Wireless Emergency Alert on the screens of smartphones that are located within the warned area.

The National Weath-er Service says, on aver-age, only 10% of all severe thunderstorms reach the destructive category each year. Most of them are damaging wind events known as “Derechoes,” and some of the more intense thunderstorms, or “Super-cell” storms, that can pro-duce very large hail in their path.

The new destructive damage threat category

is meant to convey that urgent action is needed, a life-threatening event is occurring, which may cause substantial damage to property.

The NWS notes that 13 of the 22 costliest weather disasters in 2020 were due to severe thunderstorms, and if the new destructive damage threat tag were included, would have trig-

Weather service to gauge severity of thunderstorms

settings.n School districts

wishing to minimize risk of educational and athletic disruption should require all stu-dents and all adults to wear a mask while in classrooms and other indoor school settings.

“Those working in and learning in our schools know what to

do to keep in-person learn-ing going and to do so safe-ly. We have already proven that,” said Education Com-missioner Dr. Jason Glass.

State Public Health Com-missioner Dr. Steven Stack announced a new K-12 School COVID-19 Testing Program, which is a vol-untary program offered by the Kentucky Depart-ment for Public Health in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for Ken-tucky K-12 schools to as-

sist in reopening safely for in-person instruction.

Testing, which will be available for the entire 2021-2022 school year, is limited to staff and stu-dents of Kentucky K-12 public, private and char-ter schools. It includes school district employ-ees and staff, such as bus drivers, maintenance, office staff or as deter-mined by the school ad-ministrator. There will be no cost to the schools or individuals.

NWS PHOTOThe National Weather Service will soon be deliv-ering messages about the severity of thunder-storms.

SCHOOLSContinued from pg. 1

Storms - Cont. on page 6

THE EARLY BIRD TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 3

4 TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 THE EARLY BIRD

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THE EARLY BIRD TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 5

By TOM LATEKKentucky Today

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Nine more Kentucky counties will transition in August from circuit clerk offices to a new, secure driver-li-censing model at regional offices operated by the Transportation Cabinet, which means 49 counties will have made the move by the end of next month.

Eighteen regional of-fices have opened state-wide to date with more to come. The Transpor-tation Cabinet and Ken-tucky’s circuit court clerks are working together to smoothly complete the transition statewide by June 30, 2022.

“It’s a new era of driv-er licensing in Kentucky,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “We are using technolo-gy to offer more service options than ever before, such as online appoint-ment scheduling and, for the first time, online li-cense renewal. After many

years of issuing driver li-censes, circuit court clerks will be able to focus sole-ly on court business and driver licensing will be executed at new regional offices whose only busi-ness is licensing.”

Making the transition in August will be Bath, Carter, Crittenden, Cum-berland, Jackson, Law-rence, Lyon, McLean and Warren counties. The cir-cuit clerk’s office in each of those counties will cease in-person driver li-censing services on Aug. 23, 2021, and licensing services will instead be performed at KYTC’s re-gional offices.

A new convenience is that for the first time in Kentucky, license holders who want to renew their current license version, and whose name and ad-dress have not changed, now can do so online. Visit dlrenewal.ky.gov for more information.

The KYTC regional of-

fices are now the only place where Kentuckians can get a REAL ID. See the map that accompa-nies this story to view the location of the regional offices, the counties mak-ing the transition next month, those that already have, as well as the re-mainder, which will also be moving by the end of next June.

Kentucky State Po-lice will continue to ad-minister all permit and license testing. Testing services are offered Mon-day through Friday by appointment only. Appli-cants who require testing by KSP for a permit, driv-er's license or commercial driver's license may make an appointment online by visiting KSP’s website, selecting written or road testing and then locating the schedule associated with their county of resi-dence.

For more information, go to drive.ky.gov.

More counties set for regional driver licensing offices

gered a Wireless Emer-gency Alert for many of them, including the costliest thunderstorm in U. S. history, a dere-

cho that affected Iowa in August 2020, which had maximum estimated winds of 140 mph, and caused $11 billion in dam-age.

This is not the same as severe thunderstorm or tornado watches, which

are issued when there is a possibility of the severe weather developing and can cover several states. The warnings are only is-sued when severe weath-er is occurring or is immi-nent and normally cover a smaller area.

6 TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 THE EARLY BIRD

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By TOM LATEKKentucky Today

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear is encour-aging Kentuckians who are drawing federal pan-demic unemployment in-surance benefits to rejoin the workforce before those programs expire in a little over a month.

“With a surging econo-my and job opportunities available throughout the Commonwealth, there isn’t a valid reason why any Kentuckian who wants a job shouldn’t be able to find one,” Beshear said.

Federal pandemic un-employment insurance benefit programs expire nationwide on Sept. 6, so unemployment insurance claimants in Kentucky will no longer be able to claim benefits from four pro-grams after that date.

n Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compen-sation, or FPUC, which has been providing an additional $300 weekly payment to recipients of unemployment compen-sation.

n Pandemic Unem-ployment Assistance, also known as PUA, which

has provided benefits for those who would not usu-ally qualify, including the self-employed, gig workers and part-time workers.

n Pandemic Emergen-cy Unemployment Com-pensation or PEUC, which allows for an extension of benefits once regular ben-efits have been exhausted.

n Mixed Earner Unem-ployment Compensation, also called MEUC, which has been an additional $100 benefit to certain people with mixed earn-ings.

Claimants participating in those programs will re-ceive an email from the Kentucky Office of Unem-ployment Insurance saying those benefit programs are ending. If claimants are waiting to receive an eli-gibility determination for any of these four federal programs, OUI will ensure that they receive payments owed to them for all weeks before September 6 for which they are determined eligible.

Beshear also noted that even if Congress extends the programs beyond Sept. 6, Kentucky will not partic-ipate.

Choosing not to end pandemic unemployment benefits prematurely has helped Kentuckians who lack access to childcare at a time when students can’t be in school during sum-mer months, the Gover-nor said. He also said that those benefits have contin-ued to pump $34 million each week into grocery stores, restaurants and re-tail establishments in com-munities across the state.

“I have spoken many times about how we were not going to steer our re-covery on a red or blue state solution but instead how we could ‘thread the needle’ just right to find the right solution to help the citizens of this state and our economy,” the Governor said.

The Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet will be-gin accepting applications for the incentive program beginning Aug. 2. The last day to apply will be Oct. 1, 2021, if there haven’t been 15,000 qualifying claim-ants by then. For more information, you can visit the Team Kentucky Back to Work website.

Gov. urges joblessto rejoin workforce

By KEITH TAYLORKentucky Today

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Southeastern Conference unveiled its schedule for the upcoming season and Kentucky will play defend-ing league champion Ala-bama and LSU twice this season.

The Wildcats also will play Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt in home-and-home contests. In ad-dition to the five teams, the Wildcats will play Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri and Ole Miss at home, and will face road encounters at Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina and Texas A&M.

The SEC has had 21 NCAA Tournament selec-tions over the last three tournaments. One team has advanced to the Elite Eight in nine of the last 11 tournaments and every team has made at least one NCAA Tournament appear-

ance in the last six seasons.Times, dates and tele-

vision times will be an-nounced at a later date.

Keith Taylor is sports ed-itor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twit-ter @keithtaylor21.

Cats to play defending SEC champ twice

STORMSContinued from pg. 2