FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT)—School safety and the increased costs of funding it were discussed at the State Capitol on Wednesday.

Kentucky’s Center for School Safety director told lawmakers in an interim budget education committee how spending increased from $2 million in 1999 to more than $15 million.

It’s expected to increase even more next year.

The testimony follows recent headlines, including threats in Montgomery County.

“I think something has to be done to make it very unpleasant for anyone who wants to spread false rumors,” Rep. Steve Riley, R-Glasgow, said in the committee meeting Wednesday morning.

Some Montgomery County parents kept their children home, schools were closed, and for a time, backpacks were banned. School leaders say a student even brought a loaded gun to school.

“I couldn’t talk about motive or intent, but I can tell you that it happened. Because it happened, it is important to shift from the other priorities we have as a school district,” said Chief Chris Barrier, who heads up law enforcement for the Montgomery County School District.

In the weeks since then, Barrier says they’ve had time to address their safety initiatives.

“So I think it is important to understand school safety is not a destination. You don’t ever get to a point where you have reached the end goal. School safety is fluid,” Barrier said.

“This is just a snapshot of your Senate Bill 91, which allocated $15 million for school safety,” said Center for School Safety Director Jon Akers.

Funding for school safety has increased substantially since the Heath High School shooting in 1999. Now, money for mental health is in the mix.

Barrier says relationship building is also key.

“It is the cornerstone for what we do and what we train our SROs in our schools to do,” said Barrier.

Akers also says their tip line receives 100 calls daily, and 40 percent deal with mental health issues.

Lawmakers say next year’s allocation will increase school safety funding by $18 million.

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Adou Thiero didn’t know what he wanted once his sophomore season at Kentucky wrapped up with a first-round loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament. John Calipari‘s departure to Arkansas hadn’t happened yet, but he knew a fresh start could be ideal for all parties involved — particularly for himself. He hit the portal on March 28, the first Wildcat to make a decision on his future. Calipari entered the coaching portal just over a week later on April 7.

Thiero calls that spring period a lonely time, one that had him fighting off the clutter while figuring out what was best for his future. He didn’t know who he could trust with so many people pulling him in different directions.

“It was real — I don’t know. I don’t want it to actually mean lonely, but it was kind of like that,” he told KSR at SEC Media Day. “I was trying to figure everything out with a whole bunch of outside noise. I was trying to cut that out, just trying to do what’s best for me.”

It took a week for the portal earthquake he was living in to calm down with potential options starting to emerge. He cut his list down to five schools: North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Indiana and, yes, Arkansas and Kentucky. The athletic forward, now listed at 6-8, 220 pounds, spoke with first-year coach Mark Pope to discuss a potential return to Lexington. Then Coach Cal set up a meeting in Kentucky, hoping to get back on the same page with his former three-star diamond in the rough.

Then Calipari met with him back home in Pennsylvania, followed by an official visit to Fayetteville. And a commitment.

“I talked to him while I was in Kentucky, went home, had a conversation when I was at home, and he talked to my parents too. That made them more comfortable,” he said, adding that the follow-up trip sealed the deal.

But how does one go from wanting to explore his options away from Coach Cal at Kentucky before joining him at Arkansas? Thiero felt the grass wasn’t always greener on the other side.

“I had to realize he helped me become the player I was from my freshman to sophomore year,” he said. “He helped me make that big jump and I was already comfortable with the whole staff and everything. It was like, why go somewhere new with people you don’t know rather than being with someone you’ve known your whole life? And they’re a Hall of Fame coach on top of it.”

Then came the next steps, getting used to his new home where “everything was just grinding from there, getting in the gym, getting better, getting to know everybody on the team with the facility, the university, just everything. It was about meeting new people and just being comfortable with the area.”

How quickly did he get used to wearing red?

“When I first got there, everything was different, seeing a whole bunch of red going from seeing a whole bunch of blue,” Thiero said. “But I like the color red, too [laughs].”

It was certainly an adjustment, but having two former teammates — beyond the handful of coaches and staffers — with him in Fayetteville helped soften the landing. Zvonimir Ivisic and DJ Wagner are navigating the same things he is, just as the rookies who originally committed to play for Calipari at Kentucky are, to a lesser extent.

“That makes it better because whenever I ask questions, we’re all in the same boat,” Thiero said. “We’re all confused together. We’re all figuring it out together and that helps us grow as a team, figuring out everything we have to do.”

How are the familiar faces doing in Fayetteville?

“Z, he’s getting a lot more comfortable. Last season, he wasn’t able to start until midway through the season. Now he has the same amount of time as everyone else in the country. That’s gonna be really good for him, I’m pushing him every day,” the former Wildcat added. “DJ, he’s getting better. He’s already a phenomenal player and a leader for us on the floor. That’s our point guard, he talks, everything. Defensively, he’s helped Boogie (Fland) out a lot.”

That’s the next chapter in his life and basketball career, turning the page on his two years in Lexington as a Wildcat. When reflecting on that part of his journey and the impact that time made on who he is today, Thiero struggled through his words, choked up as the memories came flooding back. He picked the Alabama home win where the Cats beat the Tide at their own game en route to a 117-95 blowout as his favorite.

“That was a good game, very energetic,” he said. “Crowd was into it, our whole team was into it. It was a great game.”

That’s one of many, though. It’s a period of his life he’ll always cherish.

“It was a great experience. It was something I wanted to do ever since I was a kid, playing at the University of Kentucky,” he told KSR. “Being able to live out that dream was a real blessing. I’m just grateful for it, grateful for all of BBN. Thank you for all of your support. It was… dang. It’s real — man, I forgot the word. I appreciate it. Thank you.”

What will it be like being on the opposing bench on February 1? He actually feels he has an advantage coming into the road matchup, but the emotions are going to get to him either way.

“For me, I don’t think it’s gonna be like enemy territory. I’ve got a lot of home games on there,” he added. “I’ll probably have the most home games on that court, so I’ll just be out there letting my game do the talking for me. The emotions will definitely come out for that game, for sure.”

The Kentucky woman accused of killing and dismembering her mother and then cooking her severed head and other body parts was an aspiring actor in California who went by a different name, according to a report.

Torilena May Fields, 32, was arrested on Oct. 9 following an 11-hour standoff with state police after a worker found a disemboweled human torso in the backyard of her mother’s home.

Fields has since been charged with the murder of her mother, Trudy Fields, after she emerged covered in blood from the Mount Olivet, Ky. home where investigators found a charred and severed head, hands, feet and forearm in a “still warm” pot in the oven, Fox56 reported.

Drag marks from the back door to the yard led police to the victim’s torso alongside a pile of hair and blood-soaked mattresses — one that covered human organs and other severed parts, according to police.

Fields first allegedly shot her mother in the head and also “intentionally tortured and killed” a dog, according to the indictment obtained by the local Fox station.

A worker hired by Trudy called 911 after he found the body in the yard and said that a confrontational Fields “was casting spells” on him, cops said.

Fields’ family members were shocked and devastated by the gruesome murder and told the news station she had recently moved back to her mother’s Kentucky house after living in California for several years while pursuing a career as an actor, model and singer.

Fields began going by the name Naomi Navarre while living in the Golden State. The alias was revealed in her indictment, obtained by Fox56.

An Instagram connected to the name shows a woman in a bright and long red wig with blunt bangs, posing for photos with editorialized makeup and clothes. The account’s last post was in September 2022.

“Navarre” aka Fields starred in two 2019 films, “The Desert Project” and “A Dance Story,” according to her IMDb page.

Fields had always dreamed of making it in Hollywood and was voted “biggest flirt” in her high school, according to her senior yearbook obtained by the Fox station.

She wrote in the Bracken County High School yearbook from 2011 that she hoped to become “a famous singer and shock the world.”

She appears to have completed one of those goals.

“Life is what it is. There are two types of people in the world… those who are forgotten and those who are remembered. I choose to be remembered,” Fields eerily wrote as her senior yearbook quote.

Her cousin Olivia Brock told Fox56 that the family is in complete shock.

“All of us have been experiencing shock for the first time, I guess you could say,” she said. “That’s a whole different – grief and shock are two different ballgames.”

A friend of Fields from college described her as outgoing and friendly.

“Just nothing really bothered her. She was very outgoing, energetic, though, funny,” Brandon Shankle, who went to Morehead State University with Fields, told the station. “I wouldn’t say we were best friends forever, but, you know, we were close enough that when I heard this news, I was just stunned. You know, that’s not the person I knew.”

Brock said Fields was in a bad motorcycle wreck in California and wonders if it was the catalyst of a mental break.

“She was an actress and doing her thing out there, and I guess we were told a couple of months ago that she was in a bad motorcycle accident and sustained a brain injury,” she told Fox. “And was, I guess, wandering around Cali. Didn’t know her name. Didn’t know where she belonged. I guess people were trying to get her help down there and couldn’t get it done, so that’s when Trudy stepped in to help.”

After the crash, she moved back home to Kentucky with her mother in August.

“It was a surprise to all of us that she was back here, and we think that Trudy was trying to help her with whatever she had going on mentally,” Brock said.

Fields’ uncle thinks his niece was out of her mind.

“I think somebody has lost control of their mind,” Todd Brock told FOX 56. “Satanism or something had her brainwashed, whatever witchcraft is? I heard she was into it, but the girl in the mug shot? That’s not the girl we know.”

The alleged killer was reportedly under the influence of drugs when police arrested her, according to investigators. The arrest report did not specify what kind of drugs.

Fields is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, torture of a dog or cat, and obstructing governmental operations. She is being held at the Bourbon Count Detention Center on a $1.5 million bond.