Soon, fans will be able to watch the Wildcats and chug their beer.

It's unusual, though, to have a kind of governor go on the air immediately after a primary.

But Governor Bush sure did.

Two veteran political observers talk about the governor's race and a possible challenge to Republican Congressman Thomas Massie from the right.

It's good to show them.

There's a lot of science in agriculture and there's a lot of research being done to improve the practices that are being used by the farmers.

And at this school.

The classroom is a barn.

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 this Friday, June the 16th, we made it to the weekend.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for winding down your Friday with us.

A big change is on the way to UK sports.

It's not on the field or on the court.

It's in the concession stand.

UK will start selling alcohol at its football and basketball games starting this fall.

Athletics director Mitch Barnard says UK will use what it learned from an alcohol sales pilot program that started in February at UK Home Baseball and softball games.

But obviously the crowds at Kroger Field and Arena will be bigger and it's a much larger crowd with more people to manage.

And we'll have to work our way through all that and make sure that we do a good job, that our folks are preparing very, very well right now and making sure that we're thoughtful about how we manage the crowd.

And then obviously, we've got training to do with people and concessionaires and points of sales and those things like that.

It is all part of this.

This conversation.

Barnhart says this was not a financial decision.

He thinks any financial benefits to UK would be minimal.

Kentucky's biggest university has its big budget ever.

The UK Board of Trustees today approved a $6.8 billion budget for the 2023 24 fiscal year.

It does include a tuition increase of 2.75% for Kentucky undergraduates.

That means tuition in the fall would be 60 $600.

UK employees will get a raise and UK says it will invest record amounts in students health care, research and service.

The state is moving juveniles from two juvenile justice centers because of staffing shortages.

Governor Andy Beshear says some juveniles are being moved from the Campbell County Center to a center and Boyd County about a 135 miles away.

The Campbell Center is the state's only female only detention center, and some male inmates in Boyd County are being moved to Bradford County.

The governor calls those moves temporary.

And march, Governor Beshear signed legislation to spend $25 million for salaries, upgrades and transportation costs to the juvenile justice system.

Time now for an end of week review of some major political news this week in Kentucky with two of our favorite political pundits.

We have with us our election night commentators, Trey Grayson, who's joining us remotely, and Bob Babich, who's here in the studio.

Good to see you, gentlemen.

Great to be here.

Good to see you.

So let's start with some news in northern Kentucky.

Eric Dieter's, who was in the primary, the Republican primary for governor, is now thinking about he's 99% sure he wants to run against fourth Congressional District Congressman Thomas Massie.

Bob Babbitt's, tell us about this.

That will be a heck of a race just because there's a lot of personality there.

When you put those two together, it's hard to imagine what those debates will be like.

But they'll be better than average.

Might need to bring the drama down a little bit by having a draft Trey Grayson movement.

Well, what is Trey Grayson thinking about that?

Okay, So.

So in the last thing, no.

Erick Erickson.

Erick, I've known both these guys for a long time.

This is my home area.

For those who don't know, I'm from northern Kentucky and still live there.

You know, Eric's been around the fourth District for a long time.

He I think he may have at one point even been the fourth District Republican Party chair.

Definitely know, though, he ran a Democrat Floyd Forest campaign in the 1992 race against Jim Bunning.

So Eric and his family have been around for a long time.

He didn't do particularly well in the governor's race there.

He did slightly better than around the rest of the state.

You know, Massie gets down in every once in a while.

A couple of years ago, McMurtry was a pretty well-regarded attorney in northern Kentucky.

Somebody remember, Massie beat him 8220.

McMurtry had trouble raising money and didn't have great name ID.

You know, Dieter's has had the ability to do some self-funding, which will help him in this race, but I still would say Massie's a big favorite in this race.

He'll be able to raise money from around the country, and he's now been the representative for over ten years.

And a lot of the folks who maybe don't like Massie style of politics or maybe think he's too libertarian don't like Eric Deters, Northern Kentucky.

So I would still label Massie to be a big favorite, but it'll be fun.

Bob's right.

The debates will be fascinating to watch and the and the campaign will probably start pretty soon, cause it sounds like Peter's is ready to pull the trigger at a September freedom fest.

This is one of the most vibrant economies in America, northern Kentucky.

So who's in Congressman?

Northern Kentucky matters greatly.

Yes, he's become very popular.

He's a household name, a date or certainly or had a lot of spark and spike in the Republican primary for governor.

So everybody will identify with these two and maybe even see another auditor says that he didn't like two of the votes that Congressman Massie had taken.

One was on the recent debt ceiling limit.

So, I mean, is that enough?

I mean, is it going to be down to policy or personality that makes this thing so interesting other than.

Well, the personalities.

Yes.

Well, you know, the personalities does make it interesting.

You know, Dieter's is going to try to do the same thing.

McMurtry tried just to basically make make Massie look disloyal to Trump or to whatever we want to call Trump ism or lack that sort of policy space.

I just think it's a real challenge.

I mean, for every bad vote, so called bad vote that Massie may have taken.

Massie can point to a whole bunch of other votes on keeping the deficit in mind and other times where he's been truly independent.

And so I just think that Dieter's has a real, real uphill battle.

I think Bob actually said something kind of interesting is one question I might have is does this create an opportunity for somebody else to get in it, have to be somebody with some money or the ability to or somebody who is well known on the Republican side?

I'm not talking about in the fall on the Democratic side, but could a Republican step in?

Is maybe more of a traditional establishment Republican and take advantage of these two folks fighting over the populist movement of the party?

There may not be enough votes for that kind of candidate to enter the race, but somebody might look at it.

Yeah.

Any idea who that can be?

I mean, like you said, that doesn't seem to be where that district would lean to the center.

So people would have to think, oh, yeah, you heard about that, right?

Yeah, there isn't.

Yeah, there isn't a natural.

That's why I was thinking maybe it's a businessperson with some money who's never run before We wouldn't think of I mean, in some respects, in 2012, the reverse happened when Gary Moore, the still Boone County judge executive and then state rep Billy Schwab Edgington ran split the northern Kentucky vote, split the establishment vote, and then Massie ended up winning with over 40% of the vote, while the two of them had more votes combined.

But Massie had the ability to win with a plurality, and that would be what that kind of person would think about.

I just I don't know that there is such a person, but you never know.

Somebody might decide this is the time.

Yeah, let's move on and talk about the governor's race already going.

We've just got five more months to go, but there's already ads.

We know that the RGA and the DGA, the RGA, is expected to release an ad today on Friday.

The DGA Democratic Governors Association has already been doing that.

Kathy O'Nan, the Mayfield mayor, has been featured in one of those pieces talking about how, you know, the governor is the crisis, governor, the governor of compassion, the consoler in chief.

Is that going to be the main message we're going to hear, along with the economic winds from the Beshear side?

Very likely so.

It's unusual, though, to have an incumbent governor go on the air immediately after a primary, but Governor Bush sure did.

And now it's not even the 4th of July.

And we're going to see Republican ads, which leads us to believe we'll have a lot of messaging all the way through to November.

This is not going to have a dip.

It'll be a very steady effort by both candidates.

They're getting out a lot and they're getting the messages out a lot by their own means or by these other groups.

And they are already on the road.

I mean, both of these candidates have been on the road going to various places.

Trey Grayson, keep it up.

A pretty good pace of that.

And as Bob said, we're not even at July 4th, let alone Fancy Farm, which is usually when we really see a big uptick and the general campaign, but it's already underway.

What's the Cameron strategy here?

Well, Cameron on Election Day was able to execute part one of the strategy, which is to unify the Republican Party behind the margin of victory.

And we talked about this on election night.

His margin of victory made it much easier for people to come together and support him, much easier for the other candidates, for folks who stayed on the sidelines.

But his challenges, he spent all of his money in the primary and he didn't have a big organization because he was running in a primary.

So building that organization is the step, too.

It's one thing to have everybody giving lip service, but you got to raise the money.

You got to put the events together, get them on the calendar.

This is where Bashir's been really been able to benefit.

He didn't have a meaningful primary, so he can spend several months raising money and then setting up a strategy and a calendar to execute.

So Cameron is, I think, is building that we saw last week when Terry Carmack from the McConnell organization is taking a leave to help overseas as senior adviser.

I forget his exact title, but he's helping to build that organization.

And so it's important for the RGA to be able to step in right now.

And Cameron is still just trying to raise that money and trying to build the organization.

But I think you'll see Cameron be pretty successful with fundraising.

I've been talking to people who said it's been fairly easy to raise money.

There's a sense that Cameron can win this race, that all he has to do is get the Republicans to come home, that this is such a Republican state that he doesn't have to get them all.

He just has to get a higher percentage.

And you look at the margins in the last couple of elections, that's probably correct.

And the demonstrated unity, though, is that they're like, we're still waiting to see it.

We've heard it, but have we really seen it?

Bob Babbage will look to see if the entire Republican field from the spring gets behind Cameron in a big way.

You know, we tend to vote for people like us who we like.

And governor has a tremendous popularity.

Cameron has a way about him.

It builds popularity.

Both will be seen favorably in many ways.

And some of the really harsh negative stuff will be hard for folks to believe because they already have made their mind up that these are good folks running for these offices.

Speaking of good folks, it was rainy day in Lexington yesterday in honor of your being the recipient of one of the highest honors in TV and in journalism.

That's the Silver Circle Award.

And Trey and I want to thank you for all you've done for Katie and for Kentucky and especially including us and these many great moments.

Thank you.

You know, I want to edit that out.

Hey, Renee, can I can I add one thing on this?

Because last Friday, so a week ago, I was at a Cameron rally at Northern Kentucky, and it was striking to me is a bunch of Republicans who don't like to be in the same room together or in the same room.

Cameron called out people like on the on the kind of the libertarian side of the party.

Chris Weast and T.J. Roberts, who backed him publicly in the primary and helped get him some more votes in our region.

He was introduced by judge executive Gary Moore, who was neutral, who is an establishment figure.

And we talked about earlier as a former candidate for Congress, but has been a real leader among a judge, executives and a leader in the party.

And you had former elected officials, current elected officials.

So in that room, there are a lot of folks who don't normally like to be together, all together singing from the hymnal.

That's, you know, now that's a couple of hundred people.

That's not several hundred thousand that you would need to unify.

But I think that's a really good sign.

And so I don't know that people are going to wait for Kelly Craft to make an endorsement or not at the grassroots level.

It is happening, although it certainly would be helpful to see all the candidates for governor endorsed Cameron because it's it's just a it's a better image.

And some people might sit on the sidelines until they hear their primary candidate make that endorsement.

Yeah, Well, Trey Grayson, Bob Babbitt, thank you so much.

Our favorites.

We appreciate you.

Have a good weekend.

Thank you.

Thanks.

If you thought the smoke from the Canadian wildfires is gone, thank again.

The fires continue to burn.

W why is reporting haze in the Louisville area?

Today we talked to John Gordon of the National Weather service.

Well, we had a lot of fires high up in Canada.

And you see this hazy kind of smoky sky and it's going to continue off and on in this whole summer until they get these wildfires under control up in Canada.

We got wildfires in several provinces and we have this big high pressure system in the center part of Canada, and it's coming up and over and being shunted down.

Minneapolis yesterday was down to a mile and smoke in the middle of the day.

The smoke is at its worst in the upper Midwest and East Coast, just like last week.

It may be summer break, but teachers across Kentucky are already preparing for the next school year.

Dozens of them are learning how to incorporate agriculture into Common Core subjects like math, science, and even English.

And tonight's Education matters.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to a free workshop hosted by the Kentucky Farm Bureau in Bowling Green.

One of the reasons why we signed up for this today is to take back real world activities that we could integrate into our math classes.

Melanie DeWeese is a special education teacher at Barron County High School.

She's spending the day at the WQ Agriculture and Research Education Center, a farm that sits on more than 800 acres.

We have a lot of rural children in our in our schools, and a lot of them live on farms.

So we can use agriculture.

It gives them a little more interest.

The farm is home to the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Scientists who do that research are leading teachers on a tour explaining what they do and why it's important.

We're kind of trying to send a message home with this.

Teachers how important ag education is in our school systems, because it's as important as life itself, because especially now that we're entering in some of the stages of food shortage and whatnot, this is one of four free regional workshops hosted by Kentucky Farm Bureau, and the goal is to showcase how teachers, mass social studies, teachers, teachers that are teaching the Common Core can utilize agriculture as a resource.

Farm Bureau has been leading these workshops for more than 40 years.

It's 100% available.

Scientists say it's important that students learn the origins of where their food comes from.

Because a lot of kids just go to the grocery and they just see the food there.

They don't know how much work and science is involved with producing that food.

Scientists hope these lessons will inspire young people to pursue a career in food production.

We need future farmers.

We need future researchers to research how to best produce food and how to make it more available to everyone who needs it.

As you look, I have a no tail and I have a conventional tail system.

Teachers also learned classroom activities and techniques from the 2023 Kentucky Elementary School Teacher of the Year, Kelly Gates Cup of Water.

To add to that, a large number of children in Kentucky are surrounded by agriculture and even our urban students.

Though everyone's impacted, everyone eats, everyone needs clothing, everyone needs shelter.

And Kentucky agriculture provides those and meets those very basic needs that we all have.

One thing we get in my class all the time is what am I ever going to use this?

Why do I need this?

If we can take back something that we can show them that, yes, you're going to use this.

It's something you can use every day.

This is something you're going to use in the future and may get them a little more interested in that.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you, Laura.

The workshops are also being held in Princeton, Louisville and Lexington, all for educators who teach K through 12.

They can also earn professional development hours.

Now, a lot of kids, you know, suffer the summer learning slide when school is out for a few months.

The National Center for Families Learning says there are ways to keep kids educationally engaged without spoiling their summer fun.

Our Christy Dutton has more.

Some studies suggest that students can lose about a month's worth of classroom learning over summer break.

It's called summer learning loss, Summer Setback, Summer slide.

It's got these different names, but it's all centered around this one question of how do we keep kids learning when they're out of school?

Joining us now is Dr. Felicia Smith, the CEO and president of the National Center for Families Learning.

And it's such an honor to have you here with us.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Let's start at the beginning.

Why is it so important for kids to keep learning over the summer, particularly now?

Yeah.

So one of the reasons why it's absolutely critical for kids to continue to learn over the summer right now is primarily because of the challenges that they're facing as a result of the last three years and the pandemic.

As you know, when school closures occurred, many students didn't have access to learning opportunities.

But what's really important is that those learning opportunities continue beyond the school walls and across the school year.

And so summer learning creates opportunities for that to occur, for children and families, to get out into the community and to learn more and learn together.

And that learning as it continues, will allow for them to continue to build those skills, reinforce skills and knowledge.

And then that continues the learning.

So that when they go back into school, they've not had so much of a loss.

Okay.

So, you know, they say it takes a village to raise a child.

So what role do communities have in summer learning?

You know, communities can play a significant role in summer learning one when opportunities are available and providers are engaged.

We know that that creates more equitable opportunities and where children can learn and thrive throughout the summer.

So bringing those types of resources together, those providers together, creates space and learning opportunities that are sometimes obviously not available for young people.

So the community needs to lean in.

It's really important with that occurs and resources and access creates just additional opportunities for young people.

Okay.

So I'm a parent of four, so, Dr. Smith, believe me when I say I am a fan of free.

So I know a lot of parents are looking for free ways to engage their kids educationally during the summer.

How do they find out these opportunities?

Well, first of all, schools and districts across the state can be great resources.

Many of them publish places where activities are occurring in the community.

And so that information typically goes home at the end of the school year.

Another thing is public libraries also are the hub of communities across the state.

And so public libraries have opportunities, but they also publish where they can, where other where other learning experiences can occur.

But in Kentucky, there's a really strong learning alliance out of school Learning Alliance, Kentucky out of School Alliance that provides information.

It provides resources that are for free.

And you can go to their website to learn information as well.

Okay, Wonderful.

Dr. Spence, thank you so much for being here and for sharing this information with us.

Well, thank you.

Back to you.

Thank you, Christy.

If you're looking for ways to keep learning alive over the summer for your kiddos.

Most public libraries offer a variety of free programs, events and activities geared toward school age children.

The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence believes that education is the path to a larger life for all Kentuckians.

This week, it hosted its second annual Groundswell Summit and Floyd County to lift up solutions to the state's education challenges.

It's been a long time coming.

The first groundswell summit was last year in northern Kentucky.

This is the second here in Floyd County.

And next year will be in Owensboro.

So the idea behind Groundswell is that we we showcase, we elevate, we amplify the good work that's happening in communities to improve student outcomes.

And those are happening all across the state, whether they're led by parents, they're led by community organizations or they're led by our school districts together.

All of these component parts lead to a groundswell locally and groundswell statewide.

There is incredible work going on here in Floyd County to enhance the teaching and learning environment, to better support students on pathways that they decide they want to pursue as they leave high school.

Also, great efforts going on between community partnerships in Floyd County.

And so it's a perfect spot.

We decided to come to Floyd County before the floods, but now, after the floods in eastern Kentucky, it's a great place to showcase how communities and schools are coming together to improve our conditions.

We already had agreed to host this prior to our best garage fire, losing our Transportation Department in May, prior to the ambush that happened in this community in June.

And the flooding in July.

Not only is it just a great showcase for our school district and, you know how resilient and strong and how everyone came together.

I mean, everyone in this school district, in this community and across our commonwealth came together to support us and everyone in this region when flooding hit.

There's a lot of energy behind Groundswell because it is about Kentuckians coming together to solve problems locally, together to embrace what needs to happen to improve outcomes for students and families.

And that's no more important than after the pandemic.

And here in eastern Kentucky, after the floods.

So the energy that is happening in this space is incredible.

And it's the kind of positive energy that Kentuckians need to be part of right now.

The summit had over 250 participants, including students, teachers and administrators from all across the Commonwealth.

You don't have to drive to North Carolina for some Andy Griffith Show atmosphere.

Toby Gibbs has details on that and more in our look at what's up around the Commonwealth.

Those in Edmonton looking for a good time this weekend should check out Leading Ladies, the Sidesplitting comedy being put on at the Barn Loft Theater.

Leo and Jack, two Shakespearean actors down on their luck, attempt to inherit a fortune from an old woman.

They are not related to.

And hijinx ensue.

It's a fun show that's sure to delight happening this weekend.

The Glasgow Gaelic gathering.

Try saying that three times fast in Gaelic.

This event can help you do just that.

There are Gaelic language and culture classes as well as singing, dancing and vendors galore.

So be sure to check it out.

Bourbon and moonshine have rich histories in Kentucky, and Batey Ville is celebrating both this weekend and a one of a kind festival.

Come taste delicious Bourbon and moonshine.

Enjoy live music, festival, food, cocktail contests and more this Saturday.

Oh, and ten transforms into the little town like Mayberry for its Mayberry Day car and truck cruise.

It's a celebration of the Andy Griffith Show.

Complete with performances by no tools loaned as the Darlene's Andy and Bonnie with the squad car and much more.

Cruise on down to Swinton for this exciting event.

I'm having a vision that she'll be at the Summer Psychic Fair in Paducah this Saturday from Palms Tarot, tea leaves, even an aura camera.

Those interested in divination will find no shortage of mediums to choose from.

Got a right here.

Also happening in Paducah this weekend is the music man at Market House Theater.

This family friendly musical follows Harold Hill, a fast talking salesman who cons the good people of River City, Iowa, into paying for a boy's band.

He has no intent to organize.

Tomorrow is the last show, so be sure to make it out.

Blues are coming to the bluegrass tomorrow as the Kentucky Blues Music Festival in Mt.

Vernon.

Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductee Ted Young will be performing.

Plus Treyvon King and more.

It's an outdoor concert, so bring a blanket and enjoy.

And that's what's happening around the Commonwealth.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you to our sidekick, Toby Gibbs.

Happy Father's Day weekend as well to all who are celebrating.

Now, Monday is June 19th, the day we observe Juneteenth, and it's the day we acknowledge the end of slavery in the U.S. We have more on Juneteenth coming up Monday night on Kentucky Edition.

And we also talk to education Commissioner Jason Glass about that sweeping anti LGBTQ bill, Senate Bill 50, the conjunction, controversy and attacks on him by some politicians.

A great show lined up for Monday and then stick around 2 hours later on Monday night on Kentucky.

Tonight, we'll talk about Senate Bill 150 and LGBTQ plus issues.

So join us for that at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on.

KET, thank you so much for watching this week.

We hope you have a great weekend.

Happy Father's Day to all of those who are great fathers and father figures.

And I will see you right back here again Monday night.

Take good care.