radioNOVO News KY for July 09, 2026

 Good morning.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has formally requested an official update regarding the health and well-being of United States Senator Mitch McConnell following intense media speculation. Kentucky's governor wants an update on Senator Mitch McConnell's health. Lisa Carton reports.[TRACK / AUDIO CUT HERE]Meanwhile, the state is launching a massive multi-million-dollar environmental cleanup initiative targeting thousands of blighted sites across Kentucky. Governor Beshear announced that eleven and a half million dollars in state funds will be deployed to remediate more than eight thousand abandoned properties currently filled with toxic construction debris. As part of the environmental rollout, the Waterfront Botanical Gardens in Louisville will receive a four-million-dollar grant to successfully transform a former municipal dump into an active public green space.In economic news, the world-famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail is expanding yet again with the official addition of four brand-new tasting experiences. Tourism officials confirmed that Pursuit Spirits and Uncle Boojie's Distilling Company in Louisville, alongside Cave City Distilling and the Purple Toad Winery in Bowling Green, have formally joined the lineup. The expansion brings the trail to seventy-four unique destinations across thirty-four counties, a tourism network that currently draws nearly three million visitors to the state annually.And in legal updates, the Lexington Police Department has announced that criminal homicide charges will not be filed in connection with a New Year's Day shooting that left two men dead on Virginia Avenue. Following an extensive consultation with the Commonwealth's Attorney Office, detectives officially ruled the fatal shootings of twenty-year-old Marciano Jenkins and twenty-year-old Julio Vazquez as a justifiable homicide, determining that the incident occurred directly during an active robbery.For more news from across the state, download the radioNOVO app. I’m Codi Gaboff, radioNOVO News.