Governor Beshear says a $400 million economic development announcement will come Friday. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Toyota plans to build a $468 million expansion at its Georgetown manufacturing plant. During his briefing, the governor said he expects the Commonwealth to go over $10 billion this week for investments during 2021. And Beshear noted Kentucky is finding more success than most other states. “Our gains right now are outstripping other states, I believe significantly, and not just in dollars and in jobs, though that’s outstanding. Look at what type of opportunities we’re getting. Jobs of the future,” said Beshear.
Beshear cited Ford’s investment in two battery plants near Elizabethtown plus ag-tech companies. Also announced was GE’s $450 million investment and 1000 jobs at Louisville Appliance Park.
During the COVID report, the governor said CDC data this week will detail how many vaccinations had been counted twice. He said more than 430,000 doses will be removed and the state’s overall vaccination count will go from 2.7 million to 2.53 million. Beshear said the double count came during filings from Kroger, but added it was unintentional.
On another matter, Governor Beshear labeled it, “totally unacceptable, in-appropriate, shouldn’t happen.” His comments were in response to homecoming week activities at Hazard High School. Social media pictures show teenaged boys, dressed in women’s lingerie, dancing near school leaders and female students in Hooter’s shirts. Beshear said it’s not enough to only address adult behavior. “But there’s another thing they need to do is that they need to be talking to these students, that this isn’t something that is normalized in their mind, that they think is ok in school,” explained Beshear.
Beshear said it can be a learning moment about choices made and peer pressure. He added he believes any action taken regarding school employees should be made public, since the issue is so public.
