>> A Senate gun safety plan moves forward with Senator Mitch McConnell voting.

Yes.

I felt really comfortable when I came here because mostly I play with cars cannot life Army staff.

>> It's a lesson in science that goes way beyond a text book.

>> And 21 year Old student center literally have their fingerprints on orbit when the planet Earth so that that's kind of cool aspect of the program.

>> See how students at Morehead State University are playing a key role in NASA's next Moon mission.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the Kaye E T and Aument for Kentucky Productions.

Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the Kaye E Team Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky.

Addition for Wednesday, June 22nd.

I'm your host Renee Shaw.

Thank you for spending some of your evening.

>> With us, the U.S. Senate is moving forward and toward passage on the first major gun safety legislation almost 30 years with the backing of Kentucky, senior U.S. senator and minority leader yesterday the Senate voted 64 to 34 to move ahead with a bill that closes, quote, the boyfriend loophole by banning gun ownership by anyone convicted of domestic violence against a romantic partner.

It also requires new scrutiny of anyone 18 to 21 trying to buy a gun.

It creates new laws against gun trafficking and that creates or increases funding for mental health programs and school security.

It does not raise the age limit to buy a semiautomatic weapon.

All of this comes after recent mass shootings, including the killing of 21 people at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

Senator Mitch McConnell voted yes and commented about the bill today on the U.S. Senate floor.

He emphasized what the bill doesn't do.

>> Big player in this legislation has no new restrictions and waiting for it.

Remember that a lot of food of included.

18 to 21.

Someone who have never been convicted.

Move on from.

Or did you do?

As mentally ill?

We will not go there right foot.

>> Senator McConnell was one of 14 Republican senators voting to move the legislation forward.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted no Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is promising a final vote by the end of the week.

Louisville police arrest a man they say punched Mayor Greg Fischer on Saturday.

Police accuse 30 year-old Antwon Brown of assault in the 4th degree.

Police say he walked up and punch Mayor Fischer Saturday at 4th Street live in a statement from Louisville Metro police.

The mayor says he's doing well and he appreciates the support.

Mayor Fischer and Mayor Mike Moore of Jeffersontown calling for Indiana's governor to prevent a big rate increase on 3 bridges that connect Kentucky and Indiana.

The toll is tied to the rate of inflation so the tolls would go up.

8.3% on July.

1st, according to the Courier Journal, Fisher and more want people to call Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb's office to urge him to take action.

Governor Andy Beshear wants to limit the increase to 2.5%.

But so far, Holcomb has not signed off on that plan.

President Biden is calling for a federal gas tax holiday from now through September to help ease the pain at the pump.

The federal tax is $0.18 a gallon on gas and about $0.24 on diesel fuel.

Senator Mitch McConnell is denouncing the idea as an ineffective start that he says will provide much help.

Some opioid manufacturers and distributors are paying states.

A total of 26 billion dollars for their roles in the opioid epidemic.

Kentucky received 483 million dollars from that settlement yesterday a legislative panel heard how those funds are being used and the potential for more money for the new from the lawsuits.

Our Casey Parker-bell reports on yesterday's meeting.

>> This problem has rant.

The fabric of this state.

The 483 million dollars Kentucky will receive from opioid manufacturers and distributors will be split in half.

>> Half of the money will be given to the state, the other half to city and county governments.

These funds will be paid out over the course of 18 years.

And the attorney general's office is considering new opioid epidemic based cases.

>> CVS is a new case that we in 2021.

>> CVS and Walgreens.

Obviously our They are responsible in many respects for a lot of the abuses in the distribution of h* pH opioids.

Even with the attorney general's office pursue new cases, some legislators believe others should be held liable for their role in exacerbating the opioid epidemic.

But I want to know why there are no physicians on that board.

A number of physicians had hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, Kentucky physicians as well as the sun throughout the country and the hundreds of $1000 in speaking fees and other incentives.

To push these pills on our people.

Why are doctors not being held more accountable?

There was I think at some widespread collaboration amongst, you know, I'm I'm not a very small minority, but a significant.

>> A minority of the medical community that collaborated with these drug dealers, drug companies to push this stuff out onto the street because the great rewards that they were receiving for doing this.

>> I think it would take a different.

Legal theory to to bring a case against physicians, especially you know, their licensure and there oversight by by the government it's certainly something that we can look into to administer the 483 million dollars.

The General Assembly passed a measure establishing the Kentucky opioid Abatement Advisory Commission made up of 11 bipartisan members and the executive director for the commission told legislators what he thinks will help end the opioid epidemic.

Number one is to prevent the next generation of addiction by bringing as much normalcy.

And stability and love to the children of this state as we can deliver insofar as those children have lived in these homes that have been destroyed by this problem.

The next priority is to remove every single burger.

We can.

From the lives of those who have victimized by addiction for Kentucky edition.

I'm Casey Parker-bell.

>> The opioid Abatement Advisory Commission will help direct the 483 million dollars awarded to Kentucky to programs that will aid addiction treatment intervention and recovery.

Kentucky lost more than 2000 people to drug overdoses in 2020.

Country music star and Kentucky native Chris Stapleton says he has tested positive for COVID-19 Stapleton posted the News on Twitter.

He says this will force him to postpone 2 upcoming concerts in Salt Lake City and Denver.

♪ >> It's only the second day of summer, but it feels like summer arrived a few weeks ago.

Kentuckians are cranking up the AC having some fun in the water and trying to stay hydrated as the he climbs up into the 90's.

We're seeing temperatures that we usually expect in July and August.

We're also seeing dry conditions, which is causing some concern.

>> We here in Kentucky have a humid environment.

>> Where there's a lot of moisture in the soil has we go further and further into this dry period.

The atmosphere's actually wanting to drink up all that water from the soil surface and it's depleting water from our crops, from our trees, for Mardi Gras.

And it's turning everything drought.

>> Right now, 13% of Kentucky is being called, quote, Abnormally dry.

But there are no drought conditions in any part of the state.

>> Summer is here.

And for many, that means it's time for a vacation.

But the one thing you want to make sure you aren't bringing back from that vacation as bedbugs bed bugs can be found.

And even the cleanest hotels, they can attach themselves to almost any surface and travel easily as you're about to see.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky are trying to make it harder for bed bugs to hitch a ride.

>> There's something deeply unsettling about, you know, an insect that comes in your place of rest in comfort.

That dogs are different from a lot of other.

Parasites in the fact that they will come to us and feed on us.

But then they will leave.

But they stay kind of close by.

There's a misconception that they may be associated with dirty or poor sanitation environments and not sure if anybody can get bed bugs but not everybody can get rid of bedbugs.

We tend to see any accumulation and places where people lack the means or resources to get rid of them.

So so you may have somebody in a in a fancy hotel that gets bedbugs.

They quickly get rid of.

The problem is you have somebody who maybe lives in a lower income housing complex who doesn't have the means or resources and as such they they can't get rid of them.

They're they're stuck with them.

Have a single female.

She can, you know, produced in the range of of 2 to 5 eggs per day.

So you go over a month and she's produced what 150 eggs.

So the population can get out of hand in just a couple months and often times because they're so cryptic.

They they do such a good job of hiding in our environment.

We don't even know they're there until the problem is a really big deal.

And that's part of what makes it hard to manage.

Unlike things like Weiser fleas bedbugs do not want to live on their hopes.

They want to get off of the host as soon as they possibly can.

Their survival depends on them.

Finding you and taking a meal feeding on your blood.

But then quickly getting off of you and getting away from you before you realize their their reception experiments.

We're looking to to look at host attraction, not not repellent.

We're seeing consistent results just in the opposite direction that we were repellent, the bonds we eventually found on our skin on human skin.

There's these compounds called triglycerides are there there.

But it's essentially and the bedbugs don't like to be on those.

And we still don't know why.

That's that's for future stays to help plan cover.

Well, the biggest problems with bedbugs is not just to control how they spread and disseminate through communities.

We think we've found here is with the repellent effects of these triglycerides.

There may be an avenue here to utilize him to prevent bedbugs from moving from place to place.

We have theories on right now.

We'd love to be able to start testing whether we can we can develop or price means lift its to services where we can maybe keep bedbugs from moving around of people.

We think this has some pretty profound impacts for future management practices down the road.

♪ >> Now on to politics last week, former President Donald Trump endorsed Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his race for governor in Kentucky.

It was the big political event of the week.

We talked about it with Rylan Barton, managing editor of Kentucky Public Radio and Ohio Valley Resource.

Right when it's good to see you.

Thank you for making some time for us again today.

>> I see you, Renee.

>> So let's talk about when last we spoke.

We did not have the endorsement of Donald Trump of the current attorney general who's running for Governor Daniel Cameron.

So let me get your perspective on what this means.

Does it matter this early on and and could it be actually an impediment or a liability considering where we are at the January 6 hearings?

>> I mean, I think it definitely helps Daniel Cameron at this point in the race.

I mean, any Republican right now in this increasingly Republican race for governor next year is looking for something that's going to give them an edge, especially Daniel Cameron, who's, you know, possibly got the most name recognition up out of the group.

He's looking for something to kind of clear the field a little you know, possibly keep other candidates from getting into the ring.

make, the other who have already gotten a little bit.

More of, you know, of feeling a little bit more insecure about their about their standing there.

So, yeah, that the Trump endorsement isn't a it is not like a moment that signals that are in this race is over anything we're still waiting on the possibility of a former UN Ambassador Trump's former UN Ambassador Kelly Knight Craft getting into the race.

She's been more or less in painting for this job for about a year traveling around Kentucky, but talking to people.

And though, you know, she might not have the official endorsement from the former president.

She still worked in his administration it's not like there has been any sort of controversy or distance that's been created between the 2 of them.

As you said before, maybe this isn't the biggest thing maybe of matter so much, especially in the governor's race.

But it will matter a bit in Kentucky and incredibly a Trump, the state state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in both 2016 2020.

>> And we know that Kelly Knight Craft was seen with former President Trump at the Derby.

Right?

There's a picture that circulated gone viral of them together.

So certainly there's no animosity there.

But for the president to to make that kind of maybe perceived bold move by endorsing Cameron over Kraft who has not entered the race yet it is at signal anything to her about what she should do or she should think about getting in.

>> I assume that it can only it was probably not a the happiest of days when that came down for 4 former investor Kraft's team.

again, and she's really statements since then that the Herald leader had a story earlier this week saying that she's so for for everybody to await news coming on down the line.

So I don't think that she's really out of this at at this point in However, there's other considerations to further candidates around in the field state Representative Savannah Maddox, who is really trying to kind cornered that particular really kind of that part of the vote in the legislature and in Kentucky tried running on the Smart Liberty Angle as being really embracing of the former president.

You know, that's a little disappointing for her.

She was endorsed by the president with a few a legislative candidates to be endorsed by the former president.

So that could kind of cut into the group of people that she's really trying to go in this race.

But we are still 11 months out from the primary.

This is a very early move.

So and especially in in such a crowded primary, crazy things can happen when when the votes getting split or 5 different ways.

>> Right.

And as we know, the rules of change where a governor doesn't have to name a Lieutenant Governor until after the primary.

Right?

So how how does that dynamic change things a little bit?

And could we see some pairing Ys of people who we've talked about in recent weeks?

>> Yeah, that is.

That is an development in the kitchen.

Difference in how Kentucky elections work now of.

Yeah, there's nothing preventing a candidate from naming their Lieutenant Governor ahead of the primary perhaps especially one of these candidates you may be flagging a little bit or maybe a little bit worried about their station got.

You can see them pairing up in trying to create a a coalition going into the primary.

I don't know.

I think I'm I'm not sure exactly how that's going to shake out.

I could see that happening after the You know.

Politicians going to get a little bit more room and maybe really what they want.

One of the stronger candidates and, you know, see the second place finisher in the primary are going to wait until after after the contest to maybe pick up pick up one of those potential allies.

>> And it brings up a question will quickly about the influence of the impact of a Lieutenant Governor, right that that perhaps is a weak second tier job as maybe it saying been seen before before we started a record.

And you mentioned, you know, in the Fletcher Administration's Steve Pence had a cabinet position as justice and public safety cabinet secretaries or is there more strength to the number 2 slot been before?

>> It's really up to the governor to decide how strong they want that Lieutenant Governor You know, a lot of times how you've seen it happen is having the Lieutenant Governor essentially that the secretary, the acting secretary of for I think any of us years, dawn that to start the 7th, the Lieutenant Governor, Jacqueline we didn't see that so much.

And the Bevin administration with Janine Hampton.

And so it's really up to the governor to decide what you know, how they want to the lieutenant governor's powers because other than that, they can really they can.

They can decide to just have that person be pretty symbolically.

So we're really going to step in if the is incapacitated or or isn't in office anymore.

Yeah.

>> Our time is never long enough.

Robin Barton, but I appreciate the time you do.

Give us.

Thank you so much.

>> They see or net good to see you.

>> We'll have more political talk with our partisan pundits on our segment inside Kentucky politics coming up this Friday on Kentucky edition.

All this week.

We're highlighting the next generation of young people who will soon play a pivotal role in some of Kentucky's key industries.

Morehead State University is preparing its students for an industry.

Many are surprised to find is thriving in our state.

The aerospace industry, students at the University Space Science Center are working with NASA on its next trip to the moon.

The agency is launching Lunar Ice Cube satellite developed and built by students and faculty at Morehead State University.

The Space Science Center will help operate the Lunar Ice Cube mission from its Mission Operations Center on campus.

And students will be at the helm.

♪ ♪ >> I think that the human species or in the early explores.

>> We've always wanted to explore what's beyond the horizon.

And it's just a part of our DNA.

I think.

>> the Space Flight Center is a research and development and education facility, not primarily focused on a small spacecraft to sign up or ation fabrication.

Small spacecraft in deep space mission >> I've heard is that around here that we can do everything from concept to build tracking.

The only thing we can do is launch her own.

>> early adopter of the keeps that form factor will small said like most idea to keep said, has revolutionized small satellite technology keeps acts kind than all of the infrastructure and development has been geared towards Merced.

Later.

It was sort of in the first generation and to plan >> It upsets.

The LeRoy Stevenson is.

A NASA mission, but more his state is the lead on.

We build a spacecraft here and that's going to launch it on the maiden voyage of the most powerful rocket ever built little rice who is going to orbit the moon for the better part of 6 months to map the distribution of water will try to figure out where the water is.

How much of it is there to help move around the surface in the ideas that when we return to the we're going to stay.

>> If you were to a company to try to design this, it would probably take for U 15 professional in 2 years to do such things.

We don't have that many professionals.

They're very, program to get students involved as much as it because we really need it.

We really try to work together as a team and we bring the students into that team and they get to work with the NASA folks.

>> We've had every just about everybody here that works in the building has worked on Lunar Ice Cube at some point or another in some way, shape or form of in 21 year old student center literally had their their fingerprints on orbit when the planet Earth so that that's kind of cool aspect of the program.

So I've worked on the ground station side of things.

But I was also part of the thermal pane team for linger Ice Cube as well at took a class.

>> For solid works and the next thing I know I'm part of helping out with Lunar Ice Cube.

Salt works file making a 3 D model.

I've done a little bit of had worked for modeling the wires in it and I'm a operator of the radio antenna that we're going to use to >> We'll be tracking a winter ice cube throughout its cruise phase into at science phase and 2.

And it's inevitable.

A crater on the moon.

>> We have a big discipline.

The Hill 9 story antenna, which now we're for 2 is NASA's Deep Space Station.

17 that we track income and spacecraft for NASA and for other organizations.

>> This is actually a really huge.

We're on the same network with all the other guys talking all the space probes that NASA's launch into space.

>> The students are involved in pointing the you know, setting up the track before the dish to track the satellites and then making sure that the data is flowing correctly to NASA.

>> All of the projects that are here, the 21 minute.

This really set it apart with its actual commitment to doing stuff as and tracking actual satellites and building satellites.

Very cool and interesting stuff that you to see what other colleges.

>> Just the opportunities to work with the Deep Space Network.

There's nowhere else that I would be able to be this hands on in such some project.

>> There are many programs really out there that and deal with this level of detail and give students to hands on.

We almost have to change the mindset from, OK, I haven't decided on my NASA representatives.

I documents on site said there are days I wake up and I'm like, wow, this is really what I'm doing today.

Things that I handled.

>> Orbiting the moon.

And then while it's doing that, I'm going to be tracking it in.

>> Sending commands and receiving data.

It's really mind blowing some time.

♪ ♪ >> Each week we bring you arts and culture stories from around Kentucky.

In a segment we call tapestry today, we're hitting the road and heading to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, where a special exhibit on display this summer is not only celebrating a popular toy, but also it's being used as a learning tool.

♪ ♪ >> Place to host the exhibit because we are an automotive related museum.

We have our motorsports park just across the interstate.

So this exhibit will appeal not only to Corvette enthusiasts racing enthusiast in general.

>> We enjoyed how much there's more goals in here, more than boys because I just felt really comfortable.

When I came in here because mostly I play with cars do not like Barneys and staff.

>> We all know the kids like to learn when the play and the Delta do too, quite frankly.

And so this really is that interactive play.

While you learn learn while you play opportunity.

I mean, who doesn't love hot wheels?

>> One of the reasons we brought this exhibit here because it was 7 focused and that simply means that it has a science technology, engineering or mathematics component to it.

So the different zones that are around this exhibit each teach a scientific principle that are easy for children to understand or for parents to teach their children and the kids walk away with a little information about how science is used in >> I really love cars.

And when I got up, I really want to like learn how to fix cars on about things like we are about the ties and like one about.

I like what they mean.

So I just felt really comfortable.

And I like anger.

>> I've been making our my whole life more recently.

I've been doing your work.

the murals from Bowling Green.

The Glasgow.

We wanted something that was kind of busy showed movement.

And of course, being Corvette Museum.

We use hot Wheels.

Corbis.

>> And so this just allows people to get down on their hands and names and be able to interface with their kids.

Each other and let go of the stresses of daily things that you didn't even realize.

You're learning all those cool curriculum based things.

>> To left.

Actually, this one.

>> But they're learning through play.

That's an important goal.

Albert Einstein once said play is the highest form of research.

And we we believe that's true as well.

Yeah, no doubt about it.

How fun is that?

>> Hot wheels.

Race to win continues at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green through September.

25th.

It's one of Kentucky's signature industries, but not everyone gets the chance to work around program helps give young people that opportunity.

We'll tell you all about it tomorrow on Kentucky EDITION.

We hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky edition where we inform connect and inspire subscribe to our weekly Kentucky addition, e-mail news letter and watch full episodes at KATC Dot Org.

You can also find Kentucky addition on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV and follow Kbtr on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

And you're also welcome to join me and follow me on Twitter at K E T at Renee K E T. Thank you so very much for joining us tonight.

Take really good care.

And we'll see you tomorrow night.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪