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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — We're getting a first look at this year's Kentucky State Fair lineup.

This year's fair will run from Aug. 14 to Aug. 24.

Those who buy an advance $9 ticket through Ticketmaster or participating Kroger locations can get free parking. The ticket prices will go up to $12 on July 21.

However, those wanting to pay at the door will pay $10 for the ticket and $10 for parking.

“The Kentucky State Fair is the greatest part of the summer season, and we’re on a mission to pack in and celebrate everything Kentuckians love most about the Commonwealth," David S. Beck, president and CEO of Kentucky Venues, said. "From live music and mouth-watering food to thrilling rides, family-friendly entertainment, and livestock competitions. This year’s Kentucky State Fair is where you can find All Things Kentucky, All in One Place."

This year there will be several special days and discounts, including Military Sunday, $5 Monday, Senior Day and Sensory Awareness Day, officials said. They go from Aug. 17 to Aug. 20, respectively.

Beer Fest will also return for a third year on Aug. 23. Guests can enjoy beers, games, photo ops and live music from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Fair tickets that include access to Beer Fest are $30 online. If anyone wants to pay door price, they will have to pay $35.

Kroger is selling Thill Ville wristbands at participating locations for $30. You can also purchase them online for the same price. However during the fair, the price will be bumped up an extra five dollars.

Those with sensory processing differences can visit the Sensory Inclusion booth which offers sensory items to guests, officials said. They are only available through the KultureCity certification.

Officials said the concert area will open at 6:30 p.m. then the performances will start at 8 p.m.

The full schedule for the specialty acts and family activities wasn't released, however some iconic activities will be returning like the Largest Pumpkin and Watermelon contest; Kentucky’s Best Entries in Culinary, Farm Products, Fine Arts, Textiles, & More; Livestock Competitions; and the World's Championship Horse Show.

Speaking of the horse show, that will run from Aug. 16 through Aug. 23 in Freedom Hall. Tickets for the World's Championship Horse Show go on sale on June 16 through this link.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Leaders at TARC and Goodwill Kentucky announced their collaboration on a purchase agreement to develop property on the grounds of the NIA Center into affordable housing for families in West Louisville. Tarc currently owns the property located on 2900 West Broadway, and would sell to Goodwill Kentucky for the new development.

Since opening the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center in 2024, Goodwill Kentucky has been planning to expand its footprint in the west end. The facility acts as a one-stop shop for residents to take advantage of life-enhancing resources such as career services, childcare, legal services, trade training, second-chance banking, and more.

The Opportunity Center sits within the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus, a community resource hub for West Louisville residents spanning 20 acres, and includes the Norton West Louisville Hospital.

“Goodwill’s intent has always been to help build a stronger West Louisville with expanded services for those who need them the most, and we acknowledge the role the NIA Center has played,” said Amy Luttrell, president & CEO of Goodwill Kentucky. “With the help of our partners, Goodwill Kentucky is pursuing the property to build 76 permanent affordable apartments and to allow for potential hospital expansion on the campus.”

TARC Board of Directors and Executive Director Ozzy Gibson will sign a letter of intent to enter into a purchase agreement with Goodwill Kentucky as part of the redevelopment. As the managing party of the NIA Center, Louisville Metro Government is working with existing tenants to find suitable office space for relocation. Tenants have the option to remain in the NIA Center rent-free until November of 2025.

“We appreciate Goodwill Kentucky’s leadership in addressing our community’s most urgent needs,” said TARC Executive Director Ozzy Gibson. “When Goodwill approached us about redeveloping the NIA center property to build affordable housing in West Louisville, we saw a meaningful opportunity to support that vision. We are also thrilled that Norton Healthcare is considering expanding its healthcare services in West Louisville as a part of this plan.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The owner of Friend's Hookah Cafe in the Highlands of Louisville is trying to provide clarity following its sudden temporary closure ordered by the city.

Mayor Craig Greenberg told WHAS11 the hookah lounge has been operating with an expired license for months and will remain shut until that's resolved.

"There was a hookah lounge right here in the area where we've had some challenges the past few weekends that was not in compliance," Greenberg said. "We had a cease and desist letter yesterday, and they need to get back in compliance before they can open."

The mayor says the timing of this closure is no coincidence, part of the city's larger crackdown to prevent another weekend of street takeovers and fights plaguing Bardstown Road and its popular bar scene.

But the owner of Friend's Hookah Cafe is confused why the city's action targeting his business is "making headlines."

"We have a 'pending license.' I've been in contact with the Health Department every step of the way. I've been told that it's on their end not ours," said the business owner, who only went by his first name Kameron over the phone.

On Wednesday, the sign on the lounge's doors read, "CLOSED until Friday..." and "remodeling."

It comes as there's a renewed effort from Aaron Givhan with the Highland Commerce Guild and others in the community to have bars in the Highlands voluntarily agree to close at 2 a.m.

Highlands Tap Room already has.

"If you limit the number of people on the street and the businesses close at two, this opportunity to create excitement goes away and therefore hopefully will move along," Givhan said Wednesday.

Greenberg is not ruling out a future city effort to require a 2 a.m. close time for bars, instead of 4 a.m.

"It's something I'm looking at right now. In fact, I have a meeting this afternoon to get up to speed," the mayor said.

Meanwhile, the city is also urging Highlands businesses along Bardstown Road to sign ‘no-trespass’ waivers.

Those allow LMPD to remove people intruding on businesses’ private property and make arrests without having to give out warnings first.

“It is our goal that all businesses sign the trespass waiver for the 5th division," Givhan said.

Givhan says so far 10 businesses have signed the waiver.

Kameron wants to make it clear "no individual business is at fault."

"No one controls what people do," he told WHAS11 over text. "But it's our jobs to do our parts in keeping people safe."

Corbin High School’s Kade Elam, a University of Louisville signee, has been named Kentucky’s 2025 Mr. Baseball winner.

The Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association announced its selections for Mr. Baseball and All-State teams on Wednesday.

Elam is batting .453 with four home runs, 11 doubles, 39 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. On the mound, Elam is 4-1 with two saves and a 0.74 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 28 1/3 innings.

Corbin (20-17) won the 13^th Region title and will face Pleasure Ridge Park at 5 p.m. Friday in the first round of the state tournament at the University of Kentucky’s Kentucky Proud Park.

Six players from the Louisville area received first-team All-State honors: PRP’s Brayden Bruner, St. Xavier’s Brodie Benefield, Eastern’s Carson Shee, Trinity’s Colin Sander, Bullitt Central’s Jordan Powell and Ballard’s Kevin Moore.

Here are the complete All-State teams:

2025 Kentucky Mr. Baseball

Kade Elam (Corbin)

Brayden Bruner (Pleasure Ridge Park), Brayton Coomer (Adair County), Brodie Benefield (St. Xavier), Carson Shee (Eastern), Chase Flaherty (Beechwood), Cole McLean (Taylor County), Colin Sander (Trinity), Eli Fletcher (Lawrence County), Isaac Duty (Pikeville), Jashon Lewis (Harrison County), Jordan Powell (Bullitt Central), Kade Elam (Corbin), Kadin Shore (Raceland), Kendrick Dunning (McCracken County), Kevin Moore (Ballard), Kole Grundy (Somerset), Korben Lucas (Lyon County), Kyler Claunch (Boyle County), Owen Jenkins (Lexington Catholic), Tyler Ruete (Simon Kenton), Tyler Schumacher (Campbell County), Zach Davis (Greenwood).

Andrew Houck (Green County), Anthony Coppola (Ryle), Brady Marushi (Ashland Blazer), Brian Vaughn (Harrison County), Caeden Patterson (Boyle County), Carter Stapp (Russell County), Chase Preece (Johnson Central), Dylan McIntyre (Ryle), Eli Hampton (Owensboro), Ethan Carroll (Eastern), Gary Gibson (Sayre), Grant Slater (Boyd County), Gray Davis (Trinity), Grayson Willoughby (Trinity), Griffin Rardin (South Warren), Hudson Meredith (Trinity), Jack Sams (Lexington Catholic), Kobe Howard (Pleasure Ridge Park), Mikey Coradini (South Warren), Nicholas Ballard (Manual), Rayvon Lee (Pleasure Ridge Park), Ryan Sanders (North Oldham).

Barrett Evans (Owensboro Catholic), Blake Campbell (Lexington Christian), Caden Kern (McCracken County), Caleb Cadle (East Jessamine), Camden Oliver (Wolfe County), Cayden Ray (Owensboro), Charlie Slabaugh (Sayre), Ethan Allen (Whitley County), Ethan Jackson (Clay County), Ethan Reynolds (South Warren), Foster Whisman (Shelby County), Hayden Thompson (Graves County), Hunter Holland (Bullitt East), Jack Willhite (Scott County), Kaine Samuels (Ballard), Koltyn Perez (Carlisle County), Kyle Mokas (Russell), Luke Hayes (Taylor County), Nolan Hosking (Trinity), Rowen Burton (North Bullitt), Sebastian Howard (Breathitt County), Tyler Fryman (Beechwood).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This year saw the emergence of billions of cicadas that have been underground since 2008, and while they aren't harmful, they can be quite unnerving.

With their noisy mating calls and their habit of flying into people, this brood is making itself known.

Jonathan Larson, assistant extension entomology professor in the Department of Entomology at UK, says 17-year periodical cicadas typically emerge from the soil in late April to early May, much earlier than annual cicadas.

These loud bugs are only above ground for up to six weeks, according to Britannica. This means the adults could be gone by mid to late June.

After the female has laid its eggs, the new cicadas -- called nymphs -- will hatch about six to seven weeks later, fall to the ground and burrow underground and stay there for another 17 years, according to the National Museum of Natural History.

Cicadas do not bit or sting and are not harmful to humans, pets or wildlife. Contrary to popular belief, cicadas are not like locusts in that they do not swarm or cause massive plant damage, Larson said.

Local wildlife, such as snakes, foxes and turkeys, will get extra protein from the cicadas. This won't immediately boost the population of predatory animals, however, Larson warns it will lead to increased feeding activity.

The biggest nuisance caused by cicadas are definitely the many nymph exoskeleton shells left behind and the sound that adult cicadas make.

“A song from a large congregation of cicadas can be deafening, rivaling the sound made by a jet engine,” Larson said. “Only the males can produce the sound, and their first song is to encourage other males to congregate in sunlit trees. Another choral song is then made to attract females. The males will die shortly after mating, and the females will begin laying their eggs.”

Larson said egg laying is the part of the periodical cicada lifecycle that can be problematic for orchards, tree nurseries and landscapers.

Female cicadas can deposit 200-600 eggs in trees and shrubs. This “flagging” may cause the branches to snap. While not beneficial for a growing tree, a fallen branch makes for a much shorter journey for the hatching nymphs from egg to soil. A heavy population of nymphs in the soil may also impact the tree’s root system.

While using insecticides may be less costly, Larson said the safest and most effective way to prevent tree and shrub damage is by using cicada netting, which prevents females from laying their eggs.

“By using the netting, we won’t be harming these wonderful examples of nature’s pageantry,” said Larson.