MLILY Mattresses in Louisville, KY

Louisville, best known for bourbon, the Kentucky Derby and Muhammad Ali, is now home to the fastest-growing Cuban community in the country.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Louisville, Ky., an influx of Cuban immigrants is offsetting a local population decline and bringing new rhythms to the city.

At the first beats of “La Vida es un Carnaval” on a recent morning, several octogenarians in a senior center abandoned their dominoes, coloring books and crossword puzzles, and showed off their salsa moves. Arthritis be damned. The hypnotic music of their homeland still made life a carnival.

Nearby, at a ballet studio, little girls and boys in T-shirts inscribed with, “Que Siga La Tradicion,” or “Keep the Tradition Alive,” clapped as they shuffled forward and back to a pulsating Afro-Cuban rhythm. “Uno, dos, tres,” said their instructor, Selen Wilson Guerra, as she warmed them up for class.

This was not Havana, or even Little Havana in Miami.

It was Louisville, a city best known for bourbon, the Kentucky Derby and Muhammad Ali. Now it is home to the fastest growing Cuban community in the United States.

“Salsa is part of our essence, and dancing is a fun way for our kids to learn about their heritage,” said Ms. Wilson Guerra, 41, a mother of two who moved to the city in 2015.

Here, she added, “we’re keeping Cuban culture alive.”

In a landlocked state with cold, gray winters, Louisville may seem an unlikely destination for refugees from a tropical island. But its plentiful jobs, relatively low cost of living and nonprofit agencies that support newcomers are powerful magnets. Not to mention word of mouth from longtime Cuban residents.

According to independent estimates, at least 30,000 Cubans call Louisville’s Jefferson County home, with much of the influx having arrived in the last two years as conditions deteriorated in their country. They now represent the largest single immigrant group in Louisville, and their numbers, which continue to swell, have helped offset population decline in the county of 770,000, according to the Census, as young Americans decamp to bigger cities. Many work at GE Appliances, Amazon and United Parcel Service, which have large operations in the area. The entrepreneurs among them have revitalized strip malls with new small businesses.

They have transformed the city’s dining and entertainment scenes. At La Bodeguita de Mima, in the trendy NuLu neighborhood, foodies savor Cuban specialties such as ropa vieja, a juicy shredded beef dish, and indulge in a cigar-shaped dessert served in a Cuban cigar box at a luxurious ambience evocative of 1950s Havana. Opportunities abound to hear live music and gyrate to salsa grooves, virtually every night of the week.

“The Cuban community has enriched my life and brought pizazz to the city,” said Debra Wright, a speech therapist, born and raised in Louisville, who attends Ms. Wilson Guerra’s adult dance class.

Cubans began trickling into Jefferson County in 1995, after the Clinton administration and the Castro government signed an accord to allow 20,000 Cubans annually into the United States through a lottery. Some of the winners, who did not have family to receive them in places like Miami, were funneled to smaller cities — Buffalo, N.Y., Lancaster, Pa., and Louisville.

“When I arrived 23 years ago, there weren’t even 500 of us,” said Luis David Fuentes, 52, founder of “El Kentubano,” a free Spanish-language ad-packed monthly magazine.

By 2010, there were nearly 6,000 Cubans in Jefferson County. By 2021, the Cuban population had doubled.

Then came the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in Cuba. Shortages of food, medicine and electricity, as well as protests met with crackdowns on dissent, driving thousands more Cubans to seek entry into the United States.

Because of the Cold War legacy, Cubans who reach the United States, even illegally, are afforded special treatment by the government, unlike migrants from most countries. They receive public benefits, including cash assistance, job placement and other services. Cubans are also eligible to apply for permanent residency after a year.

Inundated with Cuban arrivals, Jefferson County’s school district has had to register new students on Saturdays and Sundays. “We had never seen this before; nobody was ready,” said Berta Weyenberg, coordinator for new multilingual students in the district that tallied 15,000 English language learners last year, a record.

In response to the influx, the district in July named an assistant superintendent to oversee the immigrant students. Every school in Jefferson County as of last year offered ESL classes.

Nonprofits have struggled to meet demand for adult English classes.

All told, more than 14,000 new Cuban immigrants have settled in the metropolitan area in the last two years, and an unknown number have relocated from Florida and other states where they had been living. Those interviewed by The New York Times said they have not felt any hostility from Kentuckians, though newcomers tend to live in immigrant-populated enclaves.

“I had never dreamed of coming to this country, but it became impossible to survive on our salaries in Cuba, even with a university education,” said Yisel Buron Casas, 41, a television producer. She said that only people with ties to the regime, or with family members in the United States, could manage, and that it was less expensive to live in Louisville than in Miami.

The new “Kentubanos” have brought prosperity to old-timers, like Sandra Amador, whose small business caters to followers of Santeria, a religion that blends Afro-Cuban spiritual elements with Catholicism.

Business is brisk at her Poplar Level Road shop, which is jammed with prayer candles, special ointments and statues of orishas, deities worshiped by their devotees.

At Cash Saver, a supermarket where shelves are stacked with Cuban bread and coffee, three varieties of a root vegetable called malanga, and other items that Cubans crave, sales have tripled and the staff has grown to 15 from three in the last three years.

The line stretches out the door on weekends at Sweet Havana, where Carmen Coro, a Cuban transplant from Las Vegas, prepares flaky pastries filled with guava, coconut and dulce de leche, and staples like overstuffed pork sandwiches.

After arriving in 2016, Roberto Quintana, 34, worked at a carwash until he saved enough money to open a barbershop two years ago. He has since bought a three-bedroom house for his young family. “I realized my dreams in Louisville,” said Mr. Quintana, trimming a customer’s sideburns.

Since Cubans began settling here in significant numbers, new needs have emerged. Yarima Hernandez started Buena Vida — the senior center where residents were salsa dancing — three years ago to serve older immigrants with memory loss, limited mobility and other age-related health issues. On a recent day, after a welter of activities to sharpen their minds and bodies, they dug into a lunch of tamales, black beans and picadillo, or minced meat.

In a quiet back room, Martin Guzmán, 83, a retired engineer, talked about his life’s path. He decided it was time to leave Cuba after he was forced to line up at 4 a.m. in Havana if he wanted medication for his heart condition and diabetes.

After journeying 54 days last year, he reached the Mexico-U.S. border. “If I had stayed in Cuba, I’d be dead,” said Mr. Guzmán, adding, “it’s magnificent here.”

Anger and frustration swept through a packed Louisville, Kentucky, school board meeting Tuesday night after students were stranded last week — and school closed — due to what officials called a "transportation disaster."

One of the main issues was a newly implemented bus routing system heavily reliant on technology. The failed bus route plan in Jefferson County, Kentucky, aimed at enhancing efficiency, backfired due to computer algorithms that failed to factor sufficient time between stops, causing significant delays and worry among parents.

Elizabeth Bramel's son didn't get home until after 7 p.m.

"It was horrible because I had no clue where he was," she said.

The problem was also rooted in a severe shortage of school bus drivers, which forced Louisville's public school district to reduce and merge its bus routes.

Marty Pollio, who is serving as superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools, said such a meltdown will not happen again, and that plans have been made to deploy extra buses and vans. The district aims to introduce an app allowing parents to track their children's bus location, a step toward restoring trust in the transportation system.

Seventy percent of public school students in Louisville depend on school buses for transportation. Most of school in the Jefferson County Public Schools district was canceled this week due to the transportation issues.

Children like those of Latasha Gomis have spent their scheduled school days at unexpected places, such as their mother's nail salon.

"I'm very frustrated. I feel like when I expressed it with someone over the phone in transportation she kind of just blew me off, kind of like, it is what it is. Nothing is going to change," Gomis said.

Communities across the nation are also grappling with driver shortages. Chicago Public Schools face a dire shortage, and classes are set to begin next week. Delays of up to an hour have been reported in Knox County, Tennessee, and there is even the threat of a strike by school bus drivers in New York City.

Joanna McFarland, CEO of HopSkipDrive, a student transport service that tracks school bus data, said that while the problem predates the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis has intensified due to drivers retiring early or leaving the industry for better-paying opportunities. The average full-time bus driver's salary last year was around $42,000.

"Every state in the country is suffering from this," he said.

Adriana Diaz

Adriana Diaz is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago and is the anchor of Saturday's edition of the "CBS Weekend News."

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Sunrise on the first day of school at the Jefferson County Public Schools Detrick Bus Compound at 3686 Parthenia Ave., Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky’s largest school system cancelled the second and third day of classes after a disastrous overhaul of the transportation system that left some children on buses until just before 10 p.m. on opening day. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via AP)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s largest school system cancelled the second and third day of classes after a disastrous overhaul of the transportation system that left some children on buses until just before 10 p.m. on opening day.

Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio called it a “transportation disaster” in a video posted on social media Thursday morning. Pollio apologized to the district’s 96,000 students along with their families, the bus drivers, and the school officials who had to stay with students for hours as they waited on buses to arrive Wednesday.

He called the decision to close schools on Thursday and Friday the most difficult of his career but said it was necessary. District officials will spend the four days before Monday reviewing the routes and having drivers practice them, he said. The district that encompasses Louisville has 65,000 bus riders, according to its website.

The disaster came after major changes to school bus routes and school start times this year meant to alleviate a bus driver shortage, the Courier Journal reported. The district spent $199,000 to hire the AlphaRoute engineering firm to create a plan that would cut the number of bus routes and stops.

In pushing for the changes, Pollio said the district simply could not keep up with its current routes because of the driver shortage. Even after increasing pay and cutting routes, the district did not have enough drivers, and students continued to get to school late and leave school late all year long, he said.

The district opened an online comment form for the new bus routes on July 24 and received thousands of complaints from parents concerned that their children were having to walk too far to catch the bus or that bus stops were at at busy, unsafe intersections. District spokesperson Mark Hebert told the paper last week that they were continuing to review the parent requests for changes.

Latasha Gomis told the paper last week that the bus for her two elementary school children was scheduled to pick them up at 6 a.m. for a 7:40 a.m. school start. The bus stop is almost a half-mile from their home and there are no sidewalks.

Gomis called the district’s transportation department but was told nothing could be changed, she said. Kentucky law allows bus stops for elementary students to be up to a half-mile away while middle and high school students may walk up to one mile.

Some parents in Louisville, Kentucky waited hours for children to arrive home on the bus during the first week of school. Classes were canceled and the superintendent says changes are coming before kids get back on the bus. (Aug. 11)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An overly-ambitious redesign of bus routes for Louisville’s school district turned into a logistical meltdown on the first day of classes, forcing schools to close as administrators said Friday that students might stay home for part of next week until the mess is untangled.

Parents were fuming and some state politicians pressed for changes in the sprawling urban district after some of the 96,000 students didn’t get picked up on Wednesday for school in the morning or came home hours late — with some arriving after dark.

“They had all summer to get this figured out and they couldn’t figure it out,” said Berkley Collins, a mother of two students in Jefferson County Public Schools.

Another appalled parent, Beau Kilpatrick, said one of his young daughters was covered in urine when she finally arrived home at 9:15 p.m. He called it a “complete failure” by the district.

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“They were hungry,” he said of his two elementary-age kids. “They were thirsty. They couldn’t use the bathroom. They were scared because they just wanted to get home.”

On a day that started with so much excitement for the start of a new school year, his children arrived home heartbroken, Kilpatrick said. He was heartbroken, too.

After just one disastrous day, Kentucky’s largest district is reexamining the bus routing system designed by AlphaRoute, a Massachusetts-based consulting company that uses computer algorithms to map out courses and stops.

It could take until the middle of next week to resolve the problems enough to resume classes, Superintendent Marty Pollio said Friday, promising to give parents plenty of notice before Monday.

“I said it from the very beginning, I take responsibility for it myself,” Pollio said at a news conference, repeating his earlier apology to families, bus drivers and school staff.

He said the district should have anticipated that the new plan didn’t leave enough time for busses to get from stop to stop, especially on the first day of school when delays are bound to happen.

The overhaul was intended to solve a basic math problem for the district: Last school year, it didn’t have enough drivers to cover all the routes. As a result, thousands of kids missed considerable amounts of instructional time as some drivers made double and triple runs.

The redesigned plan shrunk the number of bus routes in response to that driver shortage.

Pollio said the district will have to stick with the new plan, which he admitted “isn’t perfect.”

“But it’s going to be much more efficient, and our communication will be much better with families and schools,” he said. “We want to make sure we get that right before we put the kids back on a school bus again.”

The district has 65,000 bus riders, according to its website.

In assessing fault for the opening day fiasco, the superintendent said he’s “not going to put it on the company,” referring to AlphaRoute, adding that it was more a problem with implementation.

Pollio also emphasized that he wasn’t blaming bus drivers, and district officials have acknowledged the system faced a “big learning curve” in carrying out the new plan. Leading up to the start of the school year, bus drivers had several days to practice their routes, and they continued making practice runs Thursday and Friday.

AlphaRoute said in a statement that the “full range of root causes” for the problems weren’t yet clear.

“We recognize that the situation was extremely regrettable and likely caused by the significant changes to bus routing,” the company said. “Combined with their new school assignment model, this is a substantial amount of change.”

Tiesha Calbert experienced the problems both as a parent and as the director of a child care center.

She says the district moved a school bus stop that was right in front of the center. Now there are multiple stops between 1 block and 2 1/2 blocks away. A special needs child waited over 3 hours for a bus that never came, she said.

Calbert said she’s required by the state to sign the kids out, but she doesn’t have enough people to follow them to their bus stops and wait with them.

“I have to figure out what we’re going to do,” she said. “I’m not going to let these kids go back out and just be wandering around for hours.”

A group of state lawmakers representing Jefferson County districts called Wednesday’s chaos “the last straw,” saying the debacle “must be the catalyst for change” in the school system.

The lawmakers signaled they will push for legislation ensuring that students have the right to attend their neighborhood schools. They called for a commission to evaluate splitting up the school system, contending that the district currently is “too big to properly manage.” They also called for changes to the local school board.

Many other districts across the country are experiencing similar bus driver shortages.

A survey of school system leaders taken between October and December 2022 found staffing shortages were not as severe compared to the fall of 2021, but many reported trouble finding enough substitute teachers, special education teachers and bus drivers. In the American School District Panel Survey, 45% of district leaders reported a “considerable shortage” of bus drivers.

Columbus City Schools in Ohio experienced its own upheaval in 2022 that led to mid-school year changes in its transportation plan, which it blamed on its own driver shortage as well as issues with a new software system. The district had a contract with AlphaRoute for software, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

___

Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

Photo via Louisville Pride Foundation

Friday, Sept. 8

2023 Sundance Short Film Tour Speed Cinema$12 | 6 p.m. This program features seven shorts curated from the 2023 Sundance Festival, with a runtime of 90 minutes. The Sundance Short Film Tour runs through Sunday.

Saturday, Sept. 9

Big Four Bridge Art Festival Big Four BridgeNo cover | 10 a.m.Artists from all over the country are coming to this art fest on the river. The event also runs on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Louisville Pride Fest Bardstown Road (at around Grinstead) No cover | 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.The annual street fair and concert will feature vendors, live music, drag performances, a family area, a wellness zone and an overall good time.

Games on Tap Hi-Wire BrewingNo cover | NoonThis consistent board game meet-up rotates from brewery to brewery around town and will take place at Hi-Wire this time. It generally features modern, yet accessible tabletops such as The Resistance, Codenames and Klask.

Sunday, Sept. 10

Louisville Bats vs. St. Paul (Kids Day) Slugger Field1:05 p.m. | Tickets start at $5 The Bats have a homestand this weekend, and Sunday is Kids Day. If you order tickets in advance, there are $5 outfield seats for kids. Kids can also run the bases after the game.

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A new restaurant and lounge is coming to the former Mellow Mushroom location in the Highlands.

Bullaudy Real Estate Corp. Inc. and Beyond D Sun Corp. purchased the building at 1023 Bardstown Road from SDG 1023 Bardstown Road LLC for more than $2.1 million in early September, according Louisville Metro Government records. The deal was brokered by TRIO Commercial Property Group.

SDG 1023 Bardstown Road LLC is a subsidiary of Louisville-based Schulte Hospitality Group, owners of Joella's Hot Chicken.

Amet Bullaudy Fundora is listed as president of both Bullaudy Real Estate and Beyond D Sun Corp., and a sign on the more than 6,500-square-foot building advertises the Beyond the Sun, a modern restaurant and lounge.

Business First left messages for Darryl D. Schulte Jr., manager of the Schulte Hospitality Group, and Ray Schulte, a partner in the restaurant group. This story may be updated.

Andy Blieden originally redeveloped the Highlands lot into a two-story building with a second-story patio for a total cost of $1.2 million in 2014.

Mellow Mushroom opened in the space in February 2015, but suddenly vacated the building in January 2018.

At the time, Jason Nase, one of the Mellow Mushroom owners, said that the ownership group closed the Highlands restaurant so they could focus on their St. Matthews store. Mellow Mushroom closed its St. Matthews location in 2019.

Blieden sold the Bardstown Road building to SDG 1023 Bardstown Road LLC for $2 million in March 2018.

In other Highlands restaurant news, Business First previously reported that Bakersfield, owned by Cincinnati-based Thunderdome Restaurant Group, is taking over the former HopCat space at 1064 Bardstown Road.

The eatery, which serves tacos, tequila and whiskey, is set to open next week.

The building is about 15,000 square feet with two stories. HopCat originally occupied the entire space, but it has since been split into a multi-tenant property. Bakersfield is taking up about 6,000 square feet.

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The North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville face off to the NWSL Challenge Cup on saturday final after narrowly-fought semifinal victories on Wednesday. The result means the Courage return to the Challenge Cup final after last year's triumph when they defeated the Washington Spirit 2-1 at home. The Courage will have the chance to defend their title in front of the home crowd once again, this time against Louisville on Saturday. Louisville played and won their first knockout match ever when they won their semifinal against the OL Reign and have a chance to collect the team's first-ever trophy in the final.

Here's what you need to know before turning in.

How they got here

The Courage were the top team in the East Division, squeaking out ahead of NJ/NY Gotham FC based on a vastly superior goal difference. A pair of lopsided victories -- a 6-0 defeat of the Spirit and a 5-0 defeat of the Orlando Pride -- ensured they would compete in the semifinals.

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They faced the Kansas City Current in Wednesday's semifinal, which they won 1-0 in dramatic fashion. The Courage were dominant and attackers like Kerolin and Manaka Matsukubo were active and had looks at goal throughout the game, but the Current's defense was able to keep them at bay. The Current made their way into the game in the second half, but the Courage were persistent and got the breakthrough in the 96th minute. Substitute Brianna Pinto scored from close range with one minute left on the clock to send her team to the final.

Louisville, meanwhile, advanced to the semifinals as the best second-place team in the group stage. Their early group stage success came in large part through stellar play from midfielder Savannah DeMelo, but the team was able to show off their depth as the tournament went on.

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Susannah Collins, Nico Cantor, Charlie Davies and Alexis Guerreros discuss the dilemma facing Liverpool in the final hours of the Saudi Pro League transfer window: keep Mohamed Salah or accept Al-Ittihad’s mega offer for the Egyptian (01:24)? Then, the crew unpacks a Ballon d’Or shortlist headlined by Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland (14:10). Jenny Chiu joins the desk to recap North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville’s NWSL Challenge Cup semifinal wins (18:00). And the conversation turns to EURO 2024 qualifiers as Group B powerhouses the Netherlands and France return to action (27:57).

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with USMNT star Chris Richards in Part Two of the Morning Footy podcast.

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That was the case in their 1-0 semifinal win over the Reign on Wednesday when they were without several key players through injury like captain Jaelin Howell and defender Carson Pickett. Louisville was able to secure the victory over a dominant Reign team after capitalizing on a turnover in the 28th minute, which allowed Kristen Davis to score the game's lone goal.

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Prediction

The Courage always prefer to dominate in possession and will likely do so again on Saturday, though Louisville have a knack for succeeding in that game state. The final should be a closely contested one, but the visitors may be able to pull off the upset and clinch their first trophy in the process. Pick: North Carolina Courage 0, Racing Louisville 1

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University women's soccer team will gear up for ASUN play by facing a marquee opponent when the Knights square off with No. 21 Xavier at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday at Corcoran Field.

Xavier has been an NCAA Tournament team the past two seasons, going 14-4-5 last year and 16-3-1 in 2021 while posting a combined 15-1-4 record in Big East action. The Musketeers are trending toward another "Big Dance" bid this season behind a 5-1 start.

Xavier enters the matchup with Bellarmine (3-1-2) on a three-game winning streak. The Musketeers defeated Western Kentucky 5-1 on the road, Saint Louis 1-0 on the road and Pitt 2-1 at home. They also own a 2-0 home victory over Louisville.

Samantha Wiehe is pacing Xavier with three goals while Kennedy Clark and Shelby Sallee have two apiece. Maria Galley carries a 0.51 goals-against average, .893 save percentage and three shutouts in goal.

Bellarmine and Xavier met in the spring of 2021 in the Knights' first-ever home game in the Division-I era. The Musketeers scored in the 38th minute of a 1-0 win. That's the only meeting in series history.

This season, Bellarmine set a Division I-era program record with a three-game winning streak. The Knights defeated Indianapolis 1-0, Evansville 2-0 and Chicago State 2-1 in consecutive matches. BU's winning streak was halted after a 1-1 draw Thursday at Morehead State, but the Knights extended their unbeaten streak to four games. Their .667 winning percentage is tops in the ASUN.

Bellarmine is 1-0-1 on the road this season, with the victory over Evansville and the tie against Morehead State. Xavier is Bellarmine's final nonconference opponent of the regular season. The Knights open ASUN play Thursday at Austin Peay, the first of 11 straight conference games.

Sophomore midfielder Alexa Orozco sank a penalty kick in accounting for Bellarmine's goal against Morehead State. It was her first of the season. Senior forward Brielle Heuglin and freshman forward Lauren Bingham have three goals each.

Junior Cambria Kingman has started all six games in goal, but she's split halves with either redshirt freshman Shelby Smith or junior Natalie Schutte in every match. Kingman and Smith teamed up against Morehead State.

Two of Bellarmine's top 3 in minutes played thus far are true freshmen in midfielder Sydni Whitehead (519) and defender Teagan Douglas (482). They've started every game, Bingham has started all but one and redshirt freshman defender Dakota Bramer has started four.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow BUKnights on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

CINCINNATI — The Bellarmine volleyball team opened the Xavier tournament on Friday evening, falling in straight sets to the Missouri Tigers.

The Knights were competitive the first two sets, dropping 25-17 and 25-20 decisions, but the Tigers found their collective rhythm in final set as they rode a .325 hitting percentage to a 25-14 win to close out the match.

"Missouri is a really good team, and I was happy with how we battled the first two sets," said Bellarmine Coach Rick Nold. "In the end, they wore us down, but it's a situation we will learn from and get better tomorrow."

Bellarmine (2-5) was paced by freshman Natalie Bland with eight kills while senior Bailey Venard turned in an efficient performance with seven kills on just 13 swings with no errors for a .538 hitting percentage. Senior Macie Garrison handed out 20 of Bellarmine's 26 assists. On defense, Anna Lococo and Morgan Caba each recorded 11 digs.

Missouri (6-2) got 13 kills from Jordan Illif, who was the only player in the match to record double-digit kills. Defensively, Morgan Isenberg notched six assisted blocks while Lauren Forbes registered a match-high 18 digs.

The Knights conclude the Xavier tournament on Saturday with a 10 a.m. match against the University of Buffalo and a 7 p.m. match against the host Musketeers.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow BUKnights on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.