♪ ♪ >> Good news tonight about fewer drug overdose deaths in Kentucky.

Why the decrease?

For me.

Whenever I think about healthy living, whenever I think about her culture.

>> I food, faith and family.

>> Kentucky's agriculture commissioner talks about why food as medicine is a win win, win.

>> He was on the right side of history.

And a former Kentucky attorneys general react to the legacy of one of their predecessors.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION for this Thursday, June, the 6th, I'm Renee Shaw.

Good to be back with you and thank you for joining us tonight.

>> Drug overdose deaths are down in Kentucky today.

Governor Andy Beshear announced new numbers for 2023.

Drug deaths were down.

9.8% from 2022. still more than 1900 Kentuckians died.

Fentanyl accounted for almost 80% of those deaths overall death numbers were up among black Americans and Kentuckians.

The increase was about 5%.

But that's less than the 22% increase the previous year.

Today, the governor talked about what's working and curbing fatal overdoses.

>> When I asked what has led to this, it's everything.

It's all of the work of everyone in this room and across the state who have fought so hard to have created a new facilities that have been there for people in need.

It's our first responders to do a better job every year bringing people back.

>> Because the answer to how many times you want to revive someone is overdosing is every single time that is Somebodys loved one.

>> I do believe the distribution of Narcan that the governor mentioned was huge in 2023 and I hope we can distribute even more than 160,000 units coming into the 2022.

♪ I want to mention operation Unite our statewide call so that they operate for us.

Nearly 4,000 people in 2023 calls that I need help.

I have an addiction.

I need help.

And the folks that work there are so compassionate and so the patient and help so many people.

>> Also today, the governor announced confirmation of 15 tornadoes in 19 counties on May 26th.

The death toll is still 5 and Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman announced continued expansion work on the Mountain Parkway.

She says a federal review shows no environmental problems preventing the state from expanding 13 miles of the parkway a dolphin and Floyd counties, the last phase of the project.

State Senator Co Carney won her Democratic primary race last month.

But the question now is, will those votes count?

And it's off to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Kentucky additions.

June Leffler explains the case.

>> Democratic State Representative Nima Kulkarni took office in 2019 in last month's primary election voters in House district 40 overwhelmingly chose her to serve a 4th term.

There's no Republican opponent come November, but the Kentucky Supreme Court would have to sign off on that.

A former primary challenger filed suit this year to knock her off the ballot.

Denis for Land or contends Kulkarni filed her candidacy wrong this year.

One of the signatories was a registered Republican.

They should have been a Democrat.

I say let it go.

Let the voters decide.

>> And the voters have clearly decided in this case by 80% of those voting that they want to present a typical car need to be their nominee.

>> One justice suggest Kulkarni is receiving unprecedented scrutiny >> I guess I'm just struggling with.

The policy behind.

>> The fact that this mistake, which was rectified 3 days later.

Is that such crucial importance?

>> To the orderly and legal?

>> Management of campaign activity when there are so many other areas that just feel to me is candidate.

I'm only speaking for myself to sort of just I don't know.

We just kind of get to we get to it.

Maybe we don't get to it all.

>> An attorney for her lander says Cole Carney's mistake is enough to disqualify her.

>> No Democrat has ever been able to nominate a Republican.

If you take your argument to the logical conclusion that there is no statute of limitations, which is the filing deadline or the day when the petition to sign you, this court will, in effect, will effectively crack open our partisan primary system and Republicans could nominate Democrats and Democrats can nominate Republicans.

>> The 7 justices will decide of Kulkarni stays in office or not.

If the court disqualifies or it will have to decide how to fill her vacancy for Kentucky edition.

I'm John Leffler.

>> Thank you, June for that.

There is no set date for the Kentucky Supreme Court to rule in this case.

Chief Justice Lawrence Vanmeter says the court will decide, though as soon as possible.

Turning to some education news, the delayed rollout of the new FAFSA application process has left potential and current college students wondering if they will be able to pay for school.

Now, a new statewide campaign is guidance students through the process to help them get the financial aid they need.

>> We want to make sure that every student in Kentucky who is looking at a post-secondary pathway where that's a four-year institution, a two-year institution.

>> Or, you know, the short term credential, we want to make sure that they can access the money they need to help pay for that in the way they do.

That is by completing the FAFSA and it really is the first step like the gate keeper.

>> Stapp to get access to all the financial aid options.

even if you're applying for a scholarship at the university.

>> They're going to ask if you filled out your FAFSA.

So it really a step one to be able to open the doors, to hear all the options of how to how to help me pay for college.

>> And we're not just talking student loans.

I think that's a misconception that some people think.

Oh, vacillate student loans not want to go into debt.

So I'm just not going to do it for some people think.

Well, my family makes too much money.

So we're not going to qualify for any of the need it.

And they opt out that for that reason, too.

But there is no harm to doing the FAFSA.

It is a free application.

FAFSA form is now simpler.

>> And the formula was changed and it means that more students qualify for federal aid.

And that's what we want.

And however, you know, with anything any new process, there are bumps along the way.

I normally the would come out and become available on October.

1st this year it was unavailable until January 1st.

And this year, more than ever.

We're seeing >> students not complete the FAFSA.

I think a lot of that does have to do with the delays in the rollout and delays in processing in some of those.

>> Frustrations that they've been experiencing is they've gone into the facts and maybe they're been glitches or the party hasn't been working properly.

And so we do see our completion rates lagging this year to.

That's why we started the we're calling summer office hours.

And that's our initiative.

This month of June.

Kia has coordinated 70 different locations across the state >> every Wednesday afternoon in June to have professionals like Europe coach has and other educators to be available for students and parents to walk in with all of their paperwork and receive hands-on person lives assistance wherever they are in the process.

We ask our senior casas every year and Europe.

What is the biggest factor in deciding which college to go to and they always say cost.

So it is a huge piece of the puzzle and piece of the decision-making process and that big price tag that you have in your head can come way down.

If you just kind of go through the process.

>> Gear up.

Kentuckyian the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority or KIA are also offering virtual sessions on FAFSA for students and parents.

And you can find out more by going to K Y goes to college dot com.

If you've been to a Reds game driven across the Brent Spence Bridge or even just the Cincinnati skyline, you've experienced the handiwork of the ironworkers of local 44 in Hebron, iron workers are essential to our economy, economy.

But as our infrastructure needs grow, so does the need for more skilled journeymen.

The local 44 apprenticeship program helps to fill the gap as well as provide hands-on training for young people looking to learn a trade.

>> The need for new while workers, you know, huge right now.

>> Especially with the influx of work that's coming to our area through infrastructure bill and through the CHIPS Act and some other legislation are getting ready to build the Brent Spence Bridge.

We need them.

>> So right now we currently have about 100 of princes.

We like to KET our numbers out about 100.

We just signed up.

21 new ones.

Most of those 21 are fresh out of high school.

So they start out as the first year.

Parents not knowing anything.

As they go through their 4 years of apprenticeship program may turn out to be tournament.

I work.

They can do anything they can install.

The >> Was stolen.

Tyre Bar Bridge Day 4 with foundations from skyscrapers.

They can wreck.

The structural steel for the skyscrapers or any of the other building.

So >> there's a wealth of knowledge.

And these kids learn.

>> I think the biggest deal but I've acquired since of the local is.

My ability to just like to just about to adopt a different situations.

I was the health care sector sector and I left that because that wasn't a good fit for me.

It was one of the better opportunity for me you know, just learn not only learn, but, you know, get our hands on experience, you know, coming to class.

And then, you know, using that now what we've learned in class to go back out on the job site and then, you know, the practice you the little things.

>> Men and women come into this program and a lot of tough times are like 3rd there.

There are kids.

Some of them are right out of high school and they come into this program and they don't they don't have a sense of responsibility.

They don't even have a sense of future and as they come in here and they start to learn and They start to realize that this is our future.

>> When I was in high school, everybody was pushing pushing.

You've got to go to college.

You got to go to college, make a decent living.

I never did.

I didn't go to college school was in for me in schools.

Not for a lot of the young people.

These kids are coming out of high school and everyone straight into the workforce into a trade, whether it be any of the building trades and they're making 20 plus dollars an hour to start out.

Our Prince's start out of 21.

52 in our so we have 18 year-old kids just graduated last more that are making.

21 52 it out.

Opposed to getting 60 $70,000 in college debt.

And then not even going to the trade.

They went to school for, you know, all of these building that you see in and around the.

>> The city, you know, it's it's a union ironworker has their hands on it.

And, you know, as I said, flexibility is good.

You know, the benefits are also good.

And then that ability to, you know, raise your family.

You can look around the city, the stadium's world, the bios, the bridges are all built by a U.S..

When you drive down.

75 the canal.

>> And the skyline when it just pops out at you to know that you had a part in changing that skyline as very prideful for us.

>> Good work indeed.

Each apprentice must complete over 800 hours of training before becoming a journeymen ironworker over 20 apprentices, graduated from the program last month.

What could Lexington learn from Salt Lake City, Utah, the Lexington Herald-Leader says Bob Quick of Commerce, Lexington and 170 business education and government leaders are in Salt Lake City right now learning what the city did to improve itself and grow.

Lexington is especially interested in how Salt Lake City advertised itself to the rest of the country.

Today, the world observes the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

The allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.

It was June 6, 1944, when an estimated 160,000 allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy about 73,000.

Were Americans more than 4,000 allied troops were killed, a special program honoring the D-Day anniversary is underway right now at the Kentucky Theater and Lexington.

We'll have more on that tomorrow night on Kentucky EDITION.

♪ >> Food as medicine.

That's the idea behind a new partnership between the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Hospital Association.

The thinking is patients, farmers and taxpayers all benefit when people in hospitals eat healthier foods.

I recently talked about the program with Kentucky's commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell.

>> Commissioner shells.

Good to see I'm so excited to be back with the yeah.

It's always good to be with you.

And we have some other circles that we get to see each other up from time to time.

So let's talk about your day job and this interesting initiative that you have about food is medicine.

What do you mean by that?

>> You know, this conversation has been going on nationally for a long time there.

Some political stuff that goes on with this on the federal level.

But for me, whenever I think about healthy living, whenever I think about her culture, I food, faith and family.

And so during the campaign actually took to really interesting trips.

More than that and let your county they've got an amazing farmers market down there and they do the double box program.

And so some of the most vulnerable populations and Medicaid food stamp opulent Jen, they're able to go to farmers market, get fresh food, not h* hos and then owns and they're able to double the amount of dollars that they have at the farmers market.

So if you're going in with $500 in food stamps, you can get $1000 worth to be able to buy purchase food with it.

And that does a couple things.

One for getting people healthy on the front and that are more vulnerable populations.

We have a chance to get them back in the workforce.

2 were able to save taxpayer dollars on the back and through medical care through a high risk, heart disease, diabetes, et cetera.

And then the 3rd point is that helps more profitability for the farmers.

So that what you can experience was extremely important in the process of building this.

The second was our age.

They have a hospital association that our system down in eastern Kentucky Appalachian Regional Health and one of their facilities that Kathy Stumbo runs in Painesville.

So they took me down.

And I wanted to tell me about all of the amazing programs that they're working on.

And they were talking about how they're working with local farmers, other working with local farmers market.

Now they're trying to get healthier, fresher, healthier, fresher food inside of the year and on post patient care.

So I just started talking to the hospital association to find out what is the opportunities that we have here.

What does it actually look like?

And so that's really where this was bred for Kentucky is a it's a starting out as an initiation with the hospital association, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and with the can for a family services with Secretary Freeland and some his staff.

We've had conversations and this is just the beginning of my.

So if you're watching and you're not involved yet.

All right.

We want you to be involved and we've got a lot of other partners that we've started working with the UK and other places that have similar things going on.

But to me, the 3 goals that we have initially is to impact in the hospital specifically in 3 years.

The the vending and post patient care.

And so we want to be able to get fresher healthier food inside the cafeterias so that we can kind of control the destiny of our economy here in Kentucky.

If we can think about how large a consumer of food hospitals are right now are toss-up.

It'll in Louisville, the largest food consumer in Louisville.

So that means they're the largest in Kentucky.

If you add all the hospitals in the state of Kentucky together with the amount of pounds of food that they consume, you could radically change in a positive way.

Their culture community.

>> So is there a concern about having it to that scale?

I mean, you're talking about commercial level would it be more costly because some people think, well, if it's healthier and fresher, usually it costs more.

>> So we're working on both of those things.

I mean, this is the initial phase somewhere in ground one day one.

And so we're figuring these things that we've got a steering committee that we're going to be working on.

We're going to be traveling around the state, talking and interest groups to for farmers, different hospitals, different interested parties.

And those are some of the things we want to work on.

How do we scale up a lot of our farming operations that are in the produce right now to be able to get to a wholesale level.

Some farmers are scared that they like going direct to consumer.

They like going to the farmers market and they will excel in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, tomatoes.

How do they sell 5,000 rides?

Right?

And so that's one of the things that we're working on the department's head.

We get that skill ability.

The other parties once we get that skill ability, the economies of scale is going to bring down the price and we want to do is not force hospitals or force people to have to pay for higher food.

What we want to do is to create the atmosphere with the infrastructure in the state of Kentucky toward the we're competitive with local fresher food.

And we've got some great farmers that are already doing this.

We've got some great farming organizations that are currently working in the space that are able to do it in a in a in a commercial way.

But at the end of the day, we get.

So much.

Looking in the future of how easy this can be just on crime in some small, low hanging fruit to make an impact.

We do have to change it completely on the front and right.

We just want to make some progress as we go.

>> Well, as we often of 7, we've done programs about healthier, eating and lifestyles and he can make the the best choice.

The easy choice, right?

So that's, you know, not to say that hospitals will no longer carry a hamburger, right?

But then if you have availability of these other options, perhaps that becomes a choice they make instead.

>> Well, now we might want to still have a Right?

So the next phase of this is what you kind of alluded to what you're doing now.

>> So we sent out a survey to all of the hospitals in the state of Kentucky hospital systems.

And we got back about 50 responses, which when you think about it, that's a large number of responses that we got because many of them hospital systems where they have multiple hospitals across the state may submitted one answer.

Irwin one answer to the survey and we found out a lot of good information that will compound put out a eventually on some of the things we're working on.

What we wanted to know was this is your distributor currently for food services.

How do you work with currently so that maybe we can get into that system?

Maybe that's the quickest entry point.

A couple of the things we asked was what your highest month, but food consumption, how many pounds you can see what types of food you consume.

You have somebody dedicated to working with local could be.

Can you get someone dedicated to working with local farmers to do that?

Food entry?

And so the survey gave us a lot of really good information that we're going to able to take to the group.

We're going to able to take back to the community and really figure out how do we how do we merge this together?

And one of the ways that we're going to do that is through the steering committee meetings that we're going to have across the state and we're going bring interested parties, farmer groups, health care groups, people that can help to have the conversation to where we can find solutions for this.

And those are really the first 2 steps that we're going to take.

Hopefully this year a little bit later on in the summer.

>> The Post, The Post hospital experience, though, maintaining yes, perhaps a habit that they may have started while they are in hospital care once they are released and at home.

That's an interesting kind of concept.

>> Well, when you think about some of our more vulnerable populations from the hillside, it's usually going to be some of our more poor citizens in the state.

And so a lot of those are going to be Medicaid.

They're going to be in the food stamp system.

And what we're looking at is how do we do food boxes?

Some of those kind of things had we teach them how to cook better at home.

How do we give them the resources to be able to do that?

And then even on other side of maternity boxes, mothers going home with babies about how do you cook for you as a mother and then had you cook for your children later on in a family setting.

And so there's there's several different aspects in avenues that we can go through to be able to help make an impact in this.

And the way that I look at this is that the healthy, Kentucky's a strong Kentucky and the health care that we can make some of our more vulnerable citizens, the better it's going to be for everybody in, you from a conservative on this point, the 3 main points that I look at as we can get people healthy back in the workforce to impact workforce security.

And we can also save money on the back in on taxpayer dollars will give people healthy on the front end.

And so this investment that we're trying to make with hospitals, insurance companies, state government, federal government, I think we'll pay dividends in the future.

When you look at a return on investment for the activity that we're trying to accomplish.

>> Well, we'll have you back again.

Report on the progress and other items that you're working on.

It's always a pleasure.

Commissioner shall going to see you.

Thank you very much.

>> And national politics, U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Democrats should stay out of the U.S. Supreme Court's business in recent weeks.

Many Democrats have called for Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases involving former President Donald Trump.

That's after reports of an upside down flag at Alito's home in Virginia and a flag seen at his summer home that's been linked to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Leto says his wife is responsible for those flags, not him on the Senate floor yesterday, McConnell said Alito is critics were just playing politics.

>> This Supreme Court term.

Was about to end.

Which range of time the Democrats and their media allies.

The bully and arrests.

The justices.

The most recent example, this is a reasonable attack.

Leveled against Justice Alito for his wife's sludge.

I have nothing to say about those attacks themselves because they're so profoundly unserious.

But I do have an observation about some of the attacks.

Have been level.

3 of our colleagues.

Taken it upon themselves.

The right to Chief Justice.

And Demand Justice Alito.

Recusal and the cases.

One went so far as to tell that you that he should strip Justices Alito and Thomas.

Of their ability to write majority opinions.

Almost every cues from the causes.

Liberals don't want them hearing.

This goes beyond the standard.

Disgraceful bullying.

Our Democratic colleagues have perfected.

Recusal is a huge issue act.

>> Senator McConnell added that the Supreme Court can police itself.

Yesterday.

We told you about Kentucky Attorney General Russel Coleman unveiling a portrait of John Marshall.

Harlan, who served as Kentucky's 14th attorney general and a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

He was known for supporting civil rights laws that his colleagues opposed following the unveiling Coleman and biographer Peter Canelo spoke at the Old Kentucky State Capitol.

Most of Kentucky's living attorneys general were there.

2 of them talked about Marshall's like to see.

>> It was nice to be here alongside former attorneys general help memorialize and help dedicate a this for the work.

An average Justice John Marshall, Harlan, a John Marshall.

Harlan and important and consequential.

>> Figure in the history of this country and certainly in the history of race relations in this country, which of course, has been the difficulty for us as Americans.

So throughout the history of the nation and it still remains.

So today.

But what he in retrospect when we can look back at it from 100 plus years.

I really courageous?

He made decisions that were courageous and their time they were far seeing in their time and they have been vindicated by history.

He was on the right side of history while his legacy summed up in the title of the book and the character is characterization of him as >> the great dissenter.

Here's somebody who on some of the most challenging legal cases when black folks were advocating for their he was on the right side of history and certainly grateful for his tenure on the Supreme Court in his at the time he was in the Senate.

But ultimately over time as Mister Quinones talked about, he proved to be on the right side of and we're better for John Marshall.

Harlan was not appreciated sufficiently in his day.

He ran for governor.

I think a couple of times here in Kentuckyian got trounced.

>> So Kentuckians at the time did not appreciate him the way they should.

And that's how it often ends.

It is with heroes in our midst.

We do realize the heroic nature of some of the things that they do and they're not properly appreciated until much later.

So it was and it is with John Marshall, Harlan.

>> Some bipartisan commentary there.

John Marshall, Harlan shares a birthday with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on June.

1st.

Well, tomorrow, a special event remembering the D-Day invasion.

And what is a dignity station?

Lexington has won where it goes and what it does.

We're going talk about that tomorrow night on Kentucky edition, which we soon see your 4 to 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central where we inform connect and inspire.

Connect with us all the ways you see on your screen there to Facebook X and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you right back here again tomorrow night.

Have a good one.

♪