Ahead, why the men and women in brown are seeing red and what it could mean for you.

Sudden and severe fatigue, faintness, dizziness, nausea, these can all be symptoms of some sort of heat related illness.

If you have to work in the heat, be careful.

Racing is racing's fun, you know, And maybe it might help somebody get out of trouble.

And why Racing and Rock Castle County can be more than just a good time.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

The Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on Wednesday, July 5th.

I'm Cassie Parker, Belle, filling in for Renee Sharp.

Thanks for joining us.

10,000 UPS workers in Kentucky could go on strike August 1st.

Talks broke off early this morning between UPS and the Teamsters, the union that represents about 340,000 UPS workers nationally.

The two sides disagree on the details of a new four year labor contract, although a strike is still weeks away.

It could be hard to avoid even if an agreement is reached before then.

It will take time for workers to study and to vote on that agreement.

Right now, no talks are scheduled.

A strike will mean delivery, delays and possibly disruption of the nation's supply chain.

Louisville is moving forward with its search for a new police chief.

Mayor Craig Greenburg is expected to name a new one by the end of the month.

According to Louisville Public Media.

19 people have applied for the job, but the city is not naming names.

The Greenberger administration says records of the applicants include personal information.

And releasing those records would be an invasion of privacy.

Erika Shields resigned as chief at the beginning of the year.

Some Kentuckians are still without electric power after Sunday's storms.

At one point, tens of thousands of people were in the dark.

Now LG and CU say that number is down to just over a thousand.

Most of those are in Fayette County.

It's time for our midweek check in with Rylan Barton, the managing editor of Kentucky Public Radio.

For some of this week's biggest political news.

Rylan, thanks for taking a couple of minutes.

Good to see you, too, Casey.

Rylan We'll start with Fancy Farm.

We got an updated roster.

All of the Republican candidates for our constitutional offices have confirmed.

But the big question is will Andy Beshear attend Fancy Farm?

Of course, Daniel Cameron has said he will attend, but what does it mean whether or not Beshear goes?

Yeah, we still haven't heard from the governor yet.

There is still a little bit of time for him to announce.

Right.

He's got about a month to go.

I mean, what it means, fancy farms that kick off for the for the big fall political campaign season.

For a long time this was a must attend event for for somebody from any party running for statewide office.

And the governor Governor Beshear has actually gone to a fancy farm since he's been governor.

A couple of years of that, of course, due to COVID last year, really being due to also the flooding in eastern Kentucky.

But, you know, I think this is an important political event.

It's a it's a real moment where politicians mettle is tested as they get up on stage and the crowd kind of alternately cheers or boos down their candidates in front of them.

I always just enjoy it because this is a very, very unique thing.

This just happens so rarely in American politics be able to see this.

And and yeah, I think it's kind of a it's a political testing ground.

It's a rhetorical testing ground.

A lot of the rhetoric.

Sure.

Kind of excuse common denominator is not it certainly isn't the most polite, but it's a it's a big moment and it's a big moment for western Kentucky fancy farm being in far western Kentucky in Graves County.

And it's a good time to check in on on that part of the state.

It's a region of the state, too, that used to be so heavily Democratic and is now so heavily Republican.

So it's always a good time to check in.

I look forward to seeing what's going on there.

And we'll see if the governor decides to hop in the fray over the next few weeks.

Fancy Farm political Chairman Steven Elder said that he would allow Daniel Cameron's running mate to participate if he is named one by then.

Have we heard any rumors about who has potential running mate?

Could be.

I mean, there's been rumors going around for a while, you know, whether some of the other finishers in the primary election, notably Ryan Corales, would be part of that.

Austin Horn with the Herald-Leader, did a story last week and they've talked about it on this program a little bit.

But for those who missed it, there are a couple of other names who were brought up.

David Mead, the House speaker pro tem, who was also on that list, kind of an idea of trying to unite different parts of the state, also having that connection with somebody already in the legislature.

I think, you know, could go a long way for a running mate candidate for, you know, for a candidate like Daniel Cameron.

So we'll see.

He's got until after Fancy Farm for that deadline.

I believe it's August eight until to decide.

So a little bit of time.

That would be a real moment for him to decide if he were to do that ahead of Fancy Farm and then, yeah, get it get a little bit extra time for the ticket to be there up on stage.

So we'll see if that happens.

One of the things Republicans didn't want is interparty fighting during this governor's race.

And this is over Freedom Fest, which is a rally being hosted by former gubernatorial candidate Eric Dieter's.

But part of the reason this has been in the news is Daniel Cameron's going to attend the event.

And Thomas Massie, Congressman Thomas Massie has said that he thinks that would be a poor choice.

So what does this mean for the governor's race that we're seeing some of this fighting?

Yeah, this feels a little bit like a political soap opera of sorts.

It all has to do with who knows whom and and who's running against whom.

So Thomas Massie, six term congressman in northern Kentucky, he's come out criticizing, criticizing Daniel Cameron for saying he's going to attend Eric Dieter's Freedom Fest, which is this big political rally in northern kentucky.

Donald trump jr was in attendance last year.

He's supposed is going to be headlining the event this year.

I think he's also advertising right now that Donald trump is going to show up.

But I think I don't I don't know if that's totally confirmed at this point.

Anyway, Massie is criticizing Cameron for going to this because Dieter's the host of the Eric Dieter is a former Republican.

One of the candidates in that crowded field of candidates running for governor this year because he has been hinting strongly that he's going to run against Massie, I think is the raw political part of this.

But he's just saying that Republicans don't take him seriously in that part of the region.

And meanwhile, I think on the other side of the coin, Dieter's is criticizing Massie for not, you know, for for coming out so hard against Daniel Cameron.

And so we'll you know, we'll see how this plays out.

I think Cameron has come back down from from going to this event.

It's also unclear how much how much this would even really hurt Daniel Cameron's political aspirations.

But.

Well, I think most people are predicting this is going to be a pretty tight race in Kentucky between Andy Beshear and Daniel Cameron.

It's going to need every vote he can get.

And yeah, as you said before, Republicans are really focused on keeping keeping that big Republican bloc together.

And they don't want to lose any of it because that's, you know, a little bit of what happened to Matt Bevin back in the 2018 election.

They want to they want to keep the tent big and and not lose anybody over and over.

inter-Party infighting and some big news for miners this week.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration has released a proposal that could help prevent black lung disease.

So what was what is this proposal and how would it help?

You know, this is a big deal that has to do with the with silica dust, which is one of the most prominent causes of black lung.

It's something that's been tied to a an epidemic of black lung disease in Central Appalachia in recent years.

There's been a surge in cases, especially in younger miners.

So the the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has finally lowered the acceptable or has proposed lowering the acceptable amount of silica dust in mines.

Otherwise, mines would be in violation of that rule.

There's still a little bit at a time and meetings to play out here.

There's gonna be public comment and it's not really in effect yet, but this is something that mine safety advocates have been advocating for a long time, and it looks like they're finally there's finally a victory here.

So we'll see how that how this rulemaking process plays out over the coming months.

The nation's highest court just settle the case that could have reshaped federal redistricting and elections.

Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court upheld 6 to 3, a decision by North Carolina's top court rejecting a congressional redistricting plan as excessively partizan under state law.

The court rejected what's called the legislative independence theory and ruled that state courts can curtail the actions of their legislatures when it comes to federal redistricting and elections.

Renee Shaw spoke with constitutional and election law professor Josh Douglas last week about the ruling and what it can mean for Kentucky.

Josh Douglas with the University of Kentucky, thank you for being with us again to talk about more Supreme Court action.

This is the United States Supreme Court.

So what else are they doing?

Yeah, well, a lot of people saw some rulings on voting rights last week, two weeks ago, as thinking that the court is a little more moderate.

But then we saw the end of term decisions in which the court struck down affirmative action, upheld the woman's ability to refuse to make a wedding website for a same sex couple.

I think the message here is this is still a very conservative court, and the two decisions I just referenced on voting rights are actually somewhat conservative as well.

They rejected really extreme theories, really kind of outlier radical positions.

But even in those decisions, the court left the door open to change the law further.

So the first ones on the Voting Rights Act, Alabama, asked the court to adopt a really extreme position on the protection the Voting Rights Act provides when drawing district maps and not providing enough representation for black Americans.

The court rejected that radical position.

But Justice Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion, said, But there might be a time limit on how long the Voting Rights Act can survive and protect and also this protection.

But Alabama didn't make this argument that you know, it's been too long.

And then in this other case involving the so-called independent state legislature theory, this idea that state courts cannot even use their state constitutions to strike down voting rules.

And the court rejected that theory.

But Chief Justice Roberts, in his majority opinion, said, but the Supreme Court us, we can still review decisions of state courts kind of when we feel like it.

So I think in the 2024 litigation, that's bound to happen.

I see a lot of situations in which a state court strikes something down under the state constitution, and there's a request for the US Supreme Court now to step in and say, well, that goes too far.

Even though we rejected the extreme theory, that still goes too far.

Interesting.

And this has implications for Kentucky, of course.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because, you know, we have the state supreme Court right now considering the partizan gerrymandering claim.

You know, let's say the Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down the map.

Is it now going to go to the US Supreme Court to review that?

You know, normally state Supreme courts are the final say on state law.

And so even though the US Supreme Court rejected this extreme theory, it left the door open for a state like Kentucky to go to the Supreme Court to get a review of that Kentucky Supreme Court decision.

And at a time when there will be people who will be actively trying to campaign for the seats that are in question.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, you know, that raises the question of whether it makes sense to have an elected judicial tree.

Right.

My concern is that this really does open the door to additional litigation around the 2024 election.

And I think that the courts, the state courts, as well as now the US Supreme Court, are going to continue to play a large role in how the election is run, which can, of course affect the outcome.

You know, good news for someone like me that studies voting rights I guess is busy.

Maybe not so good for democracy.

Yeah, well, thank you, Dr. Douglas, as always, good to see you.

Thanks for having me.

Another redistricting case from Ohio is pending before the nation's highest court.

Should the justices want to weigh in more about the issue before next year's elections?

Southeastern Kentucky Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation Industries Or is a nonprofit organization used by the Department of Defense to build special live fire tents for use by the military.

The product is not the only unique aspect of Zachry, as it employs those who face unique obstacles in getting into the workforce.

We make the best tent, and I would say in the country, the military loves it.

That's the that's the tent they want.

We've been able to put people to work, and I'd say roughly 150 to 200 individuals have been working on the light phone light for our products over the past five years.

It's been an absolute amazing ride.

We started from zero and we've worked our way up to this past year.

We supplied them with over 60,000 tents that were manufactured here in southeast Kentucky in a normal manufacturing environment.

When you're doing a production job, you have engineers that figure out the best way to do the job the fastest, the most efficient.

SIKRI One of the things that we do different is that we decide what we need to do for each person so that they can be successful.

We serve a wide variety of disabilities that can be physical.

So visual impairments, deaf, cerebral palsy, We have developmental disabilities, We have mental health issues.

We have people who are recovering from substance abuse.

Right now we have roughly 620 employees of low sickness, significantly disabled or roughly 200 individuals.

Some of our folks cannot get jobs.

You know, at other locations and other, you know, probably great companies, but they don't give them a chance.

We we look past their past.

We look past their disabilities.

We bring them in.

And once they're here, they want to stay.

I was looking for a job in my old sector, which was health care.

I lost quite a bit of my sight, so I got out of it and I'm still transitioning to a new career.

So I found out about a sector, and I love it here.

They're really good about adjusting to any kind of physical disabilities that you have and making you able to work.

They have extra light on my machine.

If I have any kind of issue where I can't see to do something, I can just ask them all the managers, the line bosses, and they will come and help.

They never just leave you hanging.

They'll help you figure out what the problem is in a way to get around it.

Sometimes I can get a job, but it's hard for them to maintain it because of really hard stipulation on attendance or if they need some time off to deal with issues.

If they have weekly meetings, they have to go to.

So we do those things to support them throughout their growth.

It was really depressing to have worked so hard to get into a career and then not be able to do it anymore physically.

And here you are able to feel productive.

I work full time job, have decent pay benefits, so salary is a really nice place to be if you are any kind of a transitional situation.

So we give them that helping hand and then opportunity to come in and find their way.

And most do just a remarkable job.

Know they feel valued again.

And so that's rewarding for us as a company and for for us as human beings just to be able to, you know, to help people that are really looking to get back to a good place with it for themselves.

Six has seven facilities in southeastern Kentucky and one just across the state line in Jellicoe, Tennessee.

For those who work outside, the summer months can lead to dangerous levels of heat exposure that can cause heat exhaustion, heat cramps or even heat stroke.

Kentucky is working to keep vulnerable workers safe in the heat.

Christy Dutton has more in today's look at medical news.

Preventing heat illnesses on the job means having a plan before work even starts and knowing what to look for.

Joining us is Anthony Silver from Kentucky, OSHA.

Anthony, when we talk about heat illnesses, what does that mean?

What does that look like on the job?

Well, there's a few different things that we can look out for in a few different types of heat injuries that can occur in the workplace.

Things that we should be looking out for, things like sudden and severe fatigue, faintness, dizziness, nausea.

These can all be symptoms of of some sort of heat related illness.

And how does that happen on the job?

Typically, it happens with overexertion, with work, maybe not getting enough rest while we're out there working, maybe not drinking enough fluids throughout the workday.

Okay.

And is there a certain temperature range that raises some red flags or that you have to be extra cautious with?

Well, employers should always be monitoring with the National Weather Service watching out for those days where we do have heat advisories in place.

But honestly, heat illness can occur even in 80 degree Fahrenheit weather.

It really depends upon the level of work that the employee is doing that makes them susceptible to those heat related illnesses.

And employers can have a very important role in structure doing the job on those heat advisory days, right.

Where it's safer for the employees.

Tell us about that.

Correct.

Yeah.

Employers should be on the lookout for those heat advisories days.

They should be providing plenty of fluids for those employees to drink throughout the day.

And by fluids, really, we should be focusing on drinking water.

Often times we go for things like the Gatorade and the Powerade trying to replenish our electrolytes.

The problem is those oftentimes have sugars in those and those can act as a diuretic when we want to try and retain as much moisture as possible.

It's important, really, that we just kind of focus on drinking water throughout the day and try to avoid those sugary drinks.

Okay.

And you have a training coming up that anybody can join in, too, if they want more information.

Tell us about that.

That's correct.

The Kentucky safe, we put on about monthly or so webinars on various health and safety topics.

I've got one coming up on this particular topic with heat illness in the workplace on July the 11th.

It is open to the public.

Anyone can check that out.

You can go to the K-Y Safe K-Cup website and find further information about that.

Okay.

Anthony Silver, thank you so much.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

If someone is showing signs of a heat stroke like dry, hot skin, lack of sweating, confusion or fainting, it's important to get that person to the emergency room as quickly as possible.

A heat stroke can be fatal if not treated immediately.

You've been hearing a lot of talk in recent months about artificial intelligence or A.I.

and whether it's going to take over everything.

What does the future hold?

We will talk about A.I.

with some experts.

Join us for that.

And send us your questions Monday at eight Eastern.

Seven Central on Kentucky tonight, right here on KCET.

The former poet Lord of Kentucky has been named a research professor at the University of Kentucky.

Crystal Wilkinson was one of 16 professors recognized for the upcoming academic year.

She was last year's poet laureate of Kentucky and the first black woman to hold the position.

Wilkinson received national acclaim for her book of poetry called Perfect Black in the fall of 2021.

She told our Renee Shah how much teaching meant to her.

I love teaching.

I always have since I started doing it.

And there's something wonderful about, you know, I believe that learning, especially learning writing, is auto didactic, that that part of a big part of it is sort of self taught that you have to whatever information I have, the student has to meet me halfway, whether that's a college student or I'm teaching a workshop or something like that.

And so I love to see that moment of when something you can see it and of course you can see it in their work, but you can actually physically see it in the person, in the person in their body, in their face.

When the light bulb goes off and you see the shift of shift from unknowing to knowing.

I just love that.

Wilkinson has a new book on the Way Praise Song for the Kitchen Ghosts.

A culinary memoir will be released in January in Mt.

Vernon.

You can find Rock Castle Speedway, a red clay dirt track like many around the Commonwealth.

But the owners of the speedway say racing has more to offer than fast times and cheap thrills.

The speedway also brings out wholesome, fun and a strong community.

So buckle up for our weekly arts and culture segment we call Tapestry.

It's pretty easy to become familiar with dirt racing in Kentucky because it's pretty big, you know, and it's growing.

NASCAR, you know, got real big for a while and then it kind of got corporate.

So the grass roots type racing is really coming back big.

And it's exciting to be a part of making that grow.

Well, I've been racing my whole life.

My dad was a drag racer.

I've got into drag racing, I think, when I was 14 years old.

Well, a couple of years ago I sold that whole operation.

So we bought a dirt car.

Loved it.

Fell in love with it.

I thought, Man, this is fun.

This is a lot of fun on Saturday nights and totally different than what I've ever done.

So it was just a new challenge, a new adventure.

And then we had heard that it might possibly be for sale.

And Dwayne, my cousin, ended up talking us into buying the track.

Racing is greatest sport on earth.

I think the adrenaline that you get from seeing cars and, you know, the racing up on the wall and down low, you know, it's just, um, it's just exciting.

Running side by side with somebody at 89 miles an hour, never touching for five or six laps.

It's just it's an amazing feeling.

Racers are competitive.

They're very competitive, but they are the very first people that will help you.

Nobody wants to win by themselves.

You're not entering to a boxing match unless you have an opponent.

Racers are some of the most loyal people you'll ever meet.

Even though things in competition do get heated.

But at the end of the night, you'll see a lot of hugs, a lot of handshakes.

And it may still be hot, but I'll get you next weekend.

You know, a lot of that type of competition.

But one of the things that we wanted to make sure that we were doing on Saturday nights was to give kids, teenagers an outlet so that they could come here instead of possibly hitting the party scenes or falling into drugs or anything along those lines.

We want it to be some place that they felt like they could come and have a good time.

We treat it like a ministry, just love on people.

You know, everybody has bad weeks.

Everybody has good weeks.

If somehow, some way we can put a smile on a little kids face eating a cheeseburger or eating a popsicle at a racetrack, there's a chance they may fall in love with racing and not drugs and alcohol and other things that so many people have got caught up in.

That's our goal.

We pray, Lord God, for the safety of our drivers, their crews, the entire management, faculty and staff of the rock Castle Speedway and all these great race fans.

Rocket Speedway is just a wonderful place to be.

Um, you know, the hospitality is really nice and the, um, the wonderful track, great people, wonderful food.

And they treat you like somebody, you know, and it's just, uh, um, oh, it's, it feels, just feels like home, you know?

Just want the place to be.

Heaven on earth.

You can drop by the track next Saturday for a show that will include fireworks or check out their website Cassell Speedway dot com for any other upcoming Saturday shows.

Tomorrow is National Fried Chicken Day.

It's a food synonymous with Kentucky.

And we have some fun facts about how much fried chicken Americans eat every year and how often they eat it.

Everything you could ever want to know about fried chicken.

Tomorrow on kentucky edition, we hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 630 Eastern, 530 Central for Kentucky Edition, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

Subscribe to our weekly Kentucky Edition email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips, dawg.

You can also find Kentucky edition on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV.

Send us a story idea, at public affairs at KET.org and follow Katie on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thanks for joining us tonight for this edition of Kentucky Edition.

I'm Cassie Parker Bell.

Have a good night and take good care.