Staffing is down, abuse and neglect are up at many child care centers across Kentucky(Shutterstock / Shutterstock)

This week on Eastern Standard:

• Substantiated incidents of abuse and neglect in Kentucky child care centers are up 73% from 2022. Herald-Leader Government Accountability reporter John Cheves documents this and other troubling statistics in a three-part series on a vital service stretched thin by staff shortages.
  
• What do Nicholasville, the Kentucky Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson have in common? Denis Fleming connects the dots in a new book.
  
• The concerns and anxieties of patients need an outlet as we hear in Judy Flavell’s conversation with Dr. Robert Slocum, coordinator of the Narrative Medicine program at UK Health Care.
  
• Traditional Appalachian dishes are reimagined in a Modern Mountain Cookbook: A Plant-Based Celebration of Appalachia. Author Jan Brandenberg joins us.