WQXE NEWS

Additional counties impacted by April storms and flooding have been approved for Individual Assistance.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has announced that the White House has approved requests to approve Individual Assistance for 24 more counties, bringing the total number of Kentucky counties approved to 37.

Included in the latest approval are Breckinridge, Bullitt, Grayson, Hart, LaRue, Meade, and Nelson counties. Hardin County was included in the initial approval. The governor’s office says more counties may be requested as additional evaluations take place.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties may apply for assistance at www.disasterassistance.gov, by calling FEMA at 1-800-621-3362, or by using the FEMA app. 

When applying for assistance, make sure you upload documents via www.disasterassistance.gov or the FEMA app. Your damaged home should be your primary residence, you should not have received assistance for the same losses from another source such as insurance, and FEMA should be able to reach you at your provided contact information.

Residents may visit any Disaster Recovery Center for assistance with the application process. FEMA has set up a DRC at Kentucky State Police Post Four, located at 954 Cameron Ponder Drive in Elizabethtown. The location of other centers can be found at fema.gov/drc.

Bernheim Forest and Arboretum invites area residents to come celebrate spring at their annual BloomFest, to be held Saturday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We have fun, whimsy, and nature activities for kids of all ages, including arts and crafts,” said Bernheim Forest Director of Marketing and Communications Lynette Cox. “They can come and they get to build fairy houses, and we have those out by the visitor’s center. We have nature-led discovery stations where the kids get to interact with our naturalists and learn about different things like animals and habitats, and we have musical entertainment as well.”

One of the highlights of the family-friendly event is the Faerie and Gnome Parade.

“We have a costume tent set up where kids can borrow fairy wings and gnome hats and gnome beards,” Cox said. “It’s really cute, and then we have the parade at 1:30, so grab your wings and come on out to BloomFest.”

The event is also a chance for folks unfamiliar with Bernheim Forest to get acquainted.

“It’s a great time to come to Bernheim,” Cox said. “Everything is in bloom. We’ll also be having our plant sale, our spring plant sale, in addition to BloomFest. It’s a great time to pick up some plants for your garden and talk to our horticulture team, too, about your questions.”

While Bernheim Forest does accept a suggested donation at the gate, BloomFest is free to attend. Visit Bernheim Forest’s website for more information.

Employees at the Starbucks located at 1703 North Dixie Highway went on strike Tuesday in protest of what they described as unfair labor practices by the company’s upper management.

Barista Anastacia Shelton was among the striking workers Tuesday. She said Starbucks has not closed bargaining with Starbucks Workers United, the union representing the Dixie Highway store and the store at 111 The Loop, for over a year, which means calls from workers for better benefits, wages that keep pace with cost of living changes, and improved distribution of labor have gone unanswered.

“They’ve been pushing it off, and they haven’t done anything to give us any of what we’ve been asking for or even find a middle ground with us,” Shelton said.

Starbucks Workers United says on social media that stores across the country are also protesting what they called illegal changes made to the company dress code during the bargaining process. Shelton said the company says the dress code change is for the customers, but customers have not said anything to them about what they are wearing.

“It also isn’t something that affects the taste of coffee, but it is discriminating a bit against our LGBTQ+ community within our stores,” Shelton said. “It’s making them very uncomfortable. There’s a lot of things like gender dysphoria that’s being caused by the changes to the dress code, and it’s very much not welcoming to the trans community that we have a lot of in our stores.”

Starbucks said in a statement Tuesday: “Thousands of Starbucks partners (employees) came to work today ready to serve their customers and communities. The biggest update to our dress code is simple: wear a black shirt—either your own or one we provide. While Workers United, which represents less than 5 percent of our workforce, attempted to create disruption in a handful of stores, the overwhelming majority of our 10,000 us company-operated stores remain open and are serving customers as normal. It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.”