DOUG and Monica 5 pm A block

DOUG and Monica 5 pm A block

C1 3 leaves a path of destruction in one state.... now... the system is making its way toward the bluegrass.

The impact it's expected to have here.

L3: coming up white play ball in the fall?

And.... the kentucky board of education weighs in on whether or not fall sports are a-go.

More on the decision it made this afternoon.

L3: coming up white rise in crime there's been a rise in crimes here in georgetown.

I spoke with police about what's going on in their community.

Welcome in.

I'm doug high.

We thank you for joining us this evening.

And i'm monica harkins.

Three states.... dealing with the devastation caused by hurricane laura.

That storm made landfall as the fourth strongest in u.s. history..... pounding coastal communities in louisiana, texas and arkansas.

L3: top story white hurricane laura's impact at least seven people are dead and hundreds of thousands of people across louisiana are still without power or water.

The remnants of hurricane laura are heading this way.

That's why we want to check in now with meteorologist chelsea smith.... who is tracking laura's path.

L3 chelsea: white live hd radar here's a look at live hd radar where laura, now a tropical depression, is moving into western kentucky.

You can see the rotation around the center of low pressure... we have had some scattered showers and a few thunderstorms today... but we are watching a line of storms nearing central kentucky... earlier we did have a tornado watch for russell county... but that has been dropped early keeping the threat farther south... would not be surprised if winds picked up with heavy downpours as these storms moved through... hometown forecast here's what you can expect, hour- by-hour, for your hometown.

Jason wraps :adliboff: ots image:right coronavirus in kentucky coronavirus 5.jpg now to the latest on the coronavirus in our state.... and governor andy beshear is reporting c1 3 an infant is among those infected with the virus.

Fs vo bullets:no coronavirus in kentucky source: office of the governor new deaths: 8 total deaths: 918 ... according to the governor... eight more people have lost their lives to the virus.

The state has now seen 918 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic in march.

There are 792 new cases of the virus also being reported.

Of those... 27 were children under the age of five... including a one- month-old from green county.

The overall number of cases is now at 46,757 as for the carefully-watched positivity rate.... that is now at four-point-5-oh.

Ots video tape:left lexington covid-19 cases <none> for the second day in a row... lexington is reporting more than 100 cases of the coronavirus.

Fs img txt bullets:no lexington coronavirus cases source: lexington-fayette county health dept.

Coronavir ... the lexington- fayette county health department reports 112 new cases... the third highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic.

Fayette county has had 5,401 covid-19 cases since the outbreak began in march.

The health department is also reporting another coronavirus death in the city.

That pushes the number of deaths from the virus to 55.

In august alone, the county has had 2,146 cases, already a one-month record compared to the previous record of 1,702 in july.

Coaches.... students atletes and parents.... all waiting to hear what the kentucky board of education decided today about the future of fall sports.

Abc 36 sports director bryan kennedy is here with more on their decision.

L3 bryan: white earlier this week, the kentucky board of education announced they'd be having an emergency meeting on friday.

The topic?

Fall sports.

L3: abc 36 news white kbe holds emergency meeting plans to create boundaries and benchmarks to protect ... immediately the fire storm began.

Folks who had spent the last week finally practicing once again believed their season was in limbo.

After more than 16,000 phone calls and unfortunately some threats...the k-b-e announced canceling or th going to be discussed.

Today, the board heard from k-h-s-a-a commissioner julian tacket, dr. stephen stack and former and current superintendents.

All providing information about the safety of athletes playing sports.

Three and a half hours later...the board's job now is to create boundaries and benchmarks to protect the public and students.

They plan to write a letter to the k-h-s- a-a urging them to consider additional consideration of alternative options for high contact sports..

L3 bryan: white coming up later in sports...u-k basketball's keion brooks speaks out on racial injustice and the 36 bltiz rolls to the rock!

Back to you.

Ots image:left rise in crime police-tape-lights-generic1... the city of georgetown is experiencing something rare.... a lot of crime.

The most recent one happening last night involving a motorcycle hit and run.

As abc 36's alex king has explains... this spike in crimes is not only effecting the community but also the officers who are putting in overtime to keep everyone safe.

On thursday evening officers were called to darby drive... where they found a person in the street bleeding from an injury to the arm.

Assistant police chief robert swanigan says the victim was giving a man a ride from lexington to georgetown... when the suspect stabbed them and took their car.

The suspect... brandon conley.... was later arrested.

Police don't think conley and the victim knew each nlhe ma recently.

Chief swanigan:"these are sensless crimes.

These aren't normal crimes we see in georgetown.

Carjackings, eighty to hundred rounds fired into a home.

I've been here twenty eight years, i can't ever remember that level of violence occuring in georgetown."

Swanigan says the department is authorized for 57 sworn officers but they're at 47, which means those 47 are working overtime.

He says the department is working with city officials to come up with a plan to bring the crime rate back down.

Alex:"swanigan says one of their goals is to keep all of their current officers in the department.

Reporting in georgetown, alex king, abc 36 news."

Authorities in laurel county are trying to track down the person who drove an s-u-v through a cemetery... damaging several headstones.

L3: abc 36 news white drive plows through cemetery, damages headstones laurel county the laurel county sheriff's office says it happened wednesday night at the locust grove cemetery... near london.

They say a driver in a ford expedition plowed through the cemetery... crashing into several gravestones and markers..

Before slamming into a tree.

They say the driver ran off... leaving the s-u-v there.

There were no registration plates on the vehicle.

The sheriff's office believes it was an act of criminal mischief and not an accident.

The new postmaster says removing sorting machines and other cost- cutting isn't slowing down mail.

At least one lexington business claims otherwise...and worries the problems may end up costing her her livelihood.

The whole postal debate may seem like something in washington but as abc 36's christy bollinger tells us, it's right here on main street.

"elizabeth slone says she sends her products through priority mail only, something that usually takes around 2-3 days to get to her customers.

She says customers were claiming to get their products anywhere from 2-3 weeks later."

Reading emails-"i would like to get a refund on this item.

Item has not arrived.

Thank you."

Slone owns kitty loo's, an online business that sells cat toilet-training kits...this is just one of several emails she's recieved from customers.

"as whole yes it looks bad for kitty's loo and ya know that's not the case it's actually the post office."

She sells through her website or amazon, ad not beig able to trust delivery ends up costing her hundreds of dollars in refunds.

"it's affecting livelihoods."

As the complaints mounted, she started tracking her shipments...she started getting "no status" or even worse... "or it would be stuck in some area of the country where it hadn't moved so it was just sitting there and that's where it kind of bothered me because why isn't this moving when it's priority mail."

She thinks it's because mail sorting machines were unplugged and removed.

Postal service leaders say the machines were removed because of declining mail volume.

"you're talking thousands of letters that go through these machines at a fast pace and i know i used to work for the post office.".

Without sorting machines, she says workers are having to sort more mail by hand... she thinks is causing the back-up.

"why are they doing it right now?

One during a pandemic and two during a very important election."

Slone has complained regularly and says the problems haven't been as bad in the last week but delays still are happening.

Postal officials couldn't be reached for comment.

But 10 days ago, postmaster louis dejoy said he was stopping the changes until after the november election.

Christy bollinger, abc 36 news.

Ots video tape:right attacked by "angry mob" <none> kentucky senator rand paul says he was attacked by a quote: "angry mob" as he left the whit house early this morning.

L3: election 2020 white senator rand paul claims he was attacked by "angry mob" washington, d.c.

Paul was at the white house for president donald trump's republican convention speech.

He says... as he and his wife left... they were surrounded by screaming protesters.

Paul says they were attacked... but video of the encounter shows no attack... only a police officer being.... jostled and stumbling into paul's shoulder.

The protesters yelled "say her name" to paul..... a reference to... police shooting victim..

Breonna taylor.

Paul later tweeted out his thanks to the police department of the district of columbia for quote: "literally saving our lives from a crazed mob."

A kentucky soldier who served in the korean war is being honored today.... as a community gets set to finally lay him to rest.

L3: abc 36 news white remains of ky soldier escorted home billie joe hash, of corbin, died in the korea ... 18-year-old army corporal billie joe hash of corbin was reported missing in 19-50.

His remains were only recently identified.

On thursday.... police, rolling thunder kentucky and the community escorted hash 160 miles from the airport to a funeral home in corbin.

A special medal ceremony for hash is taking place at hart funeral home tonight.

That started at 5:30.

The visitation takes place from 6 to 8..

Funeral services for hash will be held tomorrow morning starting at 10 at worley cemetery in corbin.

Up next.... we introduce you to our abc 36 teacher of the week.

L3: still ahead white teacher of the week kindergarten is a big year for kids as they learn to love school.

That's something our abc 36 teacher of the week sees as a