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Area officials were on hand at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Friday as State Senator Matt Deneen presented ECTC President and CEO Dr. Juston Pate with the $44 million that was allocated to the college by the Kentucky General Assembly for phase two of renovations of ECTC’s Occupational Technical Building.
Pate said the renovations are not only important for keeping up with developing technology, but also for providing the best experience for both students and staff.
“Knowing what we have with our ECTC family here in this building, and knowing that the equipment, the technologies are cutting edge and up to date, but that these faculty and staff who work in this building are the best, absolutely the best at what they do, and to now be able to provide them a home that will reflect that,” Pate said.
Students attending classes in the OTB receive education and training for a wide range of careers involving speciality degrees and licenses. Pate said the only thing holding the college back to this point has been infrastructure.
“They put many round pegs into a lot of square holes to make this training work, and they’re not going to have to do that anymore, and the investment from this legislature will not only allow us to truly reach our potential as a training provider, but I think will allow us a much better path of recruiting future workforce into this field,” Pate said.
Deneen talked about how ECTC played a role in his own education, and said ensuring quality opportunities in education is critical.
“What we’re doing here, the changes and the upgrades, it will change lives,” Deneen said. “It will change generations. It will move people from poverty to success, And it’s all at the hands of you, the staff and the instructors.”
ECTC previously received about $15 million for work on the OTB. More information on development at the college can be found in the master plan available on ECTC’s website.
The Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office is highlighting the success of expanding the state’s Safe at Home Program.
Secretary of State Michael Adams says since the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation at his request to expand the commonwealth’s Address Confidentiality Program, use in the program increased by 460 percent in the first year.
“We know that government is supposed to be transparent, and it should be, but we can’t allow abusers to use the transparency of government to stalk and harass and further abuse their victims,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith.
Smith said the program is an added layer of protection for victims of abuse.
“It provides them an opportunity to hide their residency from public view on documents up to and including their voting record, and so someone would be able to register to vote here in Hardin County but we would obscure their address from any potential abuser who would use Kentucky’s open record laws to try and track that person down,” Smith said.
The expansion of the program also allowed for expanded interstate reciprocity, meaning neighboring states also help to mask records.
“I certainly agree with Secretary Adams that protecting abuse victims is worthwhile,” Smith said. “It’s worth the effort. His staff has put a lot of time and effort into this. He put a lot of passion behind it, and I applaud him for that.”
Victims can apply for the Safe at Home Program on the Secretary of State’s website.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s draft of the federally-required Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan is available for public view, and will be open for comments later this week.
The KYTC will allow for public inspection and comment on the plan for 30 days from August 15 through September 14. Any individual, agency, or organization may provide comments.
The plan includes all federally-funded projects scheduled for fiscal years 2025 through 2028, including all of the federally-funded and scheduled projects in the 2024 State Highway Plan that was enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly and Governor Andy Beshear. The plan contains links to Kentucky’s nine Metropolitan Planning Organizations, including Radcliff-Elizabethtown.
All residents of Kentucky who use the state’s roadways are invited to provide feedback. The draft plan can be found at transportation.KY.gov, and is available at each of the 12 KYTC district offices, including District Four in Elizabethtown.