[music] >> We now have the highest measles cases in Kentucky in over 35 years.

[MUSIC] >> More measles in Kentucky.

As state leaders say getting the vaccine can make all the difference.

>> Whether you're in a small business or a huge company, the implementation layer has been very difficult.

[MUSIC] >> How are businesses around the state using AI, and what challenges are they running into?

[MUSIC] >> These are not just names on a sculpture.

>> A victim's son reflects on those who lost their lives 20 years after the crash of flight 5191.

[MUSIC] >> So $10 million, so $10 million.

>> And wait until you hear the price tag for the world's most expensive ham.

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

>> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition for Thursday, August 27th.

I'm Marvin Bartlett.

Thanks for joining us.

Kentucky's most sought after hunk of ham was auctioned today at the Kentucky State Fair.

>> So $10 million, so $10 million.

>> That's right.

It was a $10 million ham this year, auctioned off at the annual Kentucky Farm Bureau Ham Breakfast.

The highest bidders are familiar names once again, central Bank and Joe and Kelly Kraft pooled their money to take the prize.

The crafts will donate that money to the Boys and Girls Club of Glasgow, Barren County and the Future Farmers of America, or FFA in Barren County.

While the money goes to charity, the crafts give their half of the ham to family and friends for Christmas.

>> And then we write a story about the ham this year and where Joe and I are investing with with the proceeds.

And we're.

In that way, people understand that every bite is helping another person.

>> The ham came from Tim Berry of Clifty Farm in Scottsville.

The woman parading the ham is Regan Earlywine of Paris, aka Miss Kentucky.

The highest ever bid on the ham was $10.5 million in 2024.

Farming and politics collide every year at the ham auction and breakfast.

Our June Leffler was there for the food and fireworks.

>> Politicians of all stripes grab a plate at the annual ham breakfast.

But Republicans filled the room.

So Louisville's Democratic mayor typically takes the stage to disarm the crowd.

>> Commissioner Schell grew an 800 pound pumpkin.

Now that was 1,000 pounds lighter than the winner, but still good enough for third place.

That's quite an accomplishment.

>> Greenberg is an ambassador for his urban city that every year welcomes prize hungry rural Kentuckians.

>> It's an honor every year to come here and to thank all of our Kentucky farmers, because really, what can't our farmers do?

>> Kentucky Farm Bureau lobbies for farmer friendly policy to people right in this room.

That includes initiatives to ensure farmland is passed down to the next generation of farmers.

>> While we've improved the selling farmer tax credit.

Thank you to the Kentucky state legislature for updating that and making it more possible for us as farmers to be able to keep that land in production.

>> Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Schell shared the difficulties he faced when his father, a farmer, died this year.

>> Having to deal with managing employees and figuring out how to make sure those bills are getting paid.

Because I'll tell you that next morning, those bills don't stop coming.

I plea to you two things this morning.

One, get you a state plan, right?

Talk to them up front and it ain't always best to split it, even make the right decision so that we keep this farmland where it needs to be.

>> While not every congressman and U.S.

senator attended the breakfast, the absence of one was obvious.

>> Both.

Senator McConnell.

I can't say enough about him.

He's.

He's been here as long as I can remember coming to this country.

Ham breakfast.

He's been here every year.

>> Last year, Mitch McConnell was an honored guest at the event.

Kentucky Farm Bureau even produced a retrospective video of the senator who spoke to the crowd.

That was months after McConnell announced he would not serve in the Senate after his term ends January 3rd of next year for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Jim Loeffler.

>> The Kentucky State Fair is still underway, the final day of the fair.

And the best day for viewing moldy pies is this Sunday.

Kentucky's first district congressman, James Comer, was also at today's ham breakfast.

He told us this was his first time back since he was Kentucky's agriculture commissioner, a position he held from 2012 to 2016.

Today, he was asked about President Donald Trump's plan to import more than 600 million pounds of foreign beef as a way to bring down costs in the U.S.

>> I've expressed my displeasure with the president, and the Secretary of Agriculture explained why we don't buy beef from Argentina.

And, you know, when you when you talk about America first, if we're going to have tariffs and, you know, we should stick with it one way or the other.

And I don't think when you look at tariffs, I've always said tariffs should only be put on things of the utmost importance to our national security.

I think we should produce our pharmaceuticals in the United States.

And we should produce our food in the United States.

So any anything you're doing to import food from other countries, probably not in the best national interest.

It's certainly not in the best interest of our farmers.

I understand what the president is trying to trying to do, but certainly the solution to high beef prices is to increase the cattle inventory.

It takes longer with cattle than it does with chickens or pigs or any other type of of farm animals.

But but we're our farmers are doing that.

And hopefully it'll pay off very soon.

>> U.S.

Senate Republican nominee and Kentucky's sixth Congressional District Representative Andy Barr, was also asked about the president's plan.

>> That I understand the president's desire to lower prices.

That's that's what the American people want, and that's what he's trying to do.

But in the long run, what we have to do for our cattlemen is to rebuild the herd.

That's the that's the ultimate answer.

So I appreciate the fact that the president's policy is short term.

I am bringing tomorrow to Kentucky Secretary Howard Lutnick, and I'm bringing to the table Kentucky cattlemen, and I'm giving Kentucky cattlemen a voice with the administration on this issue.

Obviously, there.

There is some a different point of view from our cattlemen on this.

So I'm going to give our Kentucky cattlemen a voice with the U.S.

Secretary of Commerce, and they'll have a robust conversation about it.

But I think the administration is hearing from American cattlemen.

And again, the long term solution to this is to is to build up our herd.

More supply is always the answer to affordability for the American people.

>> Earlier this week, the Kentucky Farm Bureau and the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association both came out against President Trump's proposal.

The white House says there will be an executive order to carry out this deal in the coming weeks.

Congressman Comer and Barr are both facing challengers in Kentucky's general election this November.

Comer is seeking a sixth term in the U.S.

House and is up against Democrat Drew Williams.

Barr is running against Democrat Charles Booker to replace U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell.

The 84 year old has been recovering for months after falling at his home in Washington, D.C.

in June.

His colleagues say they would be shocked if McConnell isn't back in the Senate when lawmakers return in mid September.

>> Made his request.

>> State legislators convened at the Kentucky State Fair today and honored former president and CEO of Kentucky Venues David Beck for his years of service to the agriculture, industry and community.

Beck was ousted from his role just seven weeks ago in a board shakeup today, KET asked him if he was confident that agriculture would remain an important part of the State Fair and Exposition Center.

>> It has to continue to work that way and and that's in the hands of the decision makers.

Now, I'm not involved in that decision making process.

Those involved in making those decisions, I hope and pray they maintain that focus.

But I believe with the legislative oversight of our General Assembly, see every dollar that's appropriate for these expansions, the changes in the law that allow us to be competitive, that came from the General Assembly.

And so we'll see a consistency.

I think they voiced that very well today.

Their expectations are major for the future of this continuing to operate that way.

So I'm optimistic that it will, with Third guidance and oversight.

>> State lawmakers heard from Beck's successor, Mike Berry, about his perspective on agriculture and the role it plays in the state fair.

>> 56% of the attendees at the state fair are from Jefferson County.

And what that said to me is we have a wonderful opportunity to educate people about the importance of agriculture and what it means to Kentucky.

And I think that that's that's a goal of mine in a very short period of time, that we do a better job of educating the guests that come in from the state fair.

>> You know, I'm the I'll be the be the first to say I'm going to call somebody if I see something wrong.

But I'm also going to brag on something.

In the days I've spent at the State Fair already, I want to brag that I have seen interim CEO Berry.

I've seen you walking around engaging with people in ag land and stuff, and I applaud you for that.

I've seen that comments are being made about agriculture.

I think sometimes the point.

Sometimes we need to we we need to address ourselves sometimes and look and understand how important an industry is.

>> Berry said this year's State Fair is on track to see more than 400,000 visitors.

In 2025.

The state legislature passed House Bill 90, which paved the way for freestanding birthing centers in Kentucky.

These facilities are separate from traditional hospitals and provide birthing services for women with low risk pregnancies.

Today, lawmakers adopted the regulations for these facilities, putting them one step closer to opening in the Commonwealth.

>> So why are we just now celebrating the end of this in 2026?

It took a whole nother year to get the administrative regulations up to date.

As I mentioned, we hadn't had any birth centers in over 40 years.

Well, therefore, the regulations hadn't been updated in over 40 years.

And so updating regulations that are that old was quite a feat.

And so it took a lot of input from different entities from the public, and also a lot of work from the cabinet for Health and Family Service, office of Inspector General.

They did a lot of work helping us to get those just right.

And I think they did turn out just right.

And they're going to really allow for birth centers to come into into the modern times and operate in the commonwealth.

We know people want this because they are willing to go out of state.

But if you live multiple hours away in the middle of Kentucky, then crossing the state line to go to a freestanding birth center isn't an option.

So because we've seen the advocates and families stick with this initiative and push it for, you know, six years, I think that shows the dedication that people have to wanting to see this happen.

And, you know, most of us who are advocating for it, maybe we've already had our babies and this isn't even for us, but it's for our children or for our daughters like Audrey and our grandchildren and for everyone else that's looking for an additional option.

And we have many maternity care deserts, as we know in Kentucky, places where people are having to travel a very long distance now to get any type of maternity care.

And so while this may not be the the perfect solution to that, it will help to have more options for those places where they don't have enough options.

>> So this new law exempts birthing centers with four or fewer beds from the certificate of need process, which requires certain medical services to get approval from the state to operate.

Staying at the state fair.

Some GOP lawmakers gathered today to bring awareness to safe haven baby boxes.

Kentucky passed legislation back in 2021, making the baby boxes legal.

Right now, there are 68 locations around the state.

A baby box is a temperature controlled safety device where parents can surrender a newborn who is 30 days old or younger to the state.

>> Motto is no name, no blame and no shame.

Use.

Use these safe haven baby boxes for the anonymous surrender.

If, for whatever reason, you cannot take care of your child.

We love our babies and the baby, no matter how it's conceived, is still a baby.

And the ability for us to change our culture in Kentucky and love one another, but we love one another first by loving life regardless of how it was conceived.

Sincerely appreciate.

>> State Representative Nancy Tate, who you see there was the primary sponsor of House Bill 155, which legalized the baby boxes.

She gave a demonstration on how to use the newborn safety device.

>> The mother will walk up to the box, and when the box is open, there's a silent alarm that occurs.

And so any of the emergency responders that have been designated to get the receipt will get that receipt of the silent alarm.

In the real world, you cannot open this box from the outside.

The box can only be opened from the inside of the police station, fire station, hospital.

And the goal is is for the baby to be retrieved within a five minute period.

Again, because they have not received any medical attention.

>> Kentucky's Right to Life executive director said the group is working to expand the boxes to all 120 counties.

Its next focus is on northern and eastern Kentucky.

She also said.

To find a location, folks can call the number posted on this baby box prototype.

The worst year for measles in Kentucky in more than 35 years.

Those are the words of Kentucky's top doctor, Doctor Steven Stack, who is secretary of the cabinet for Health and Family Services, joined Governor Andy Beshear today during the governor's weekly news conference.

Both urged Kentuckians to get their vaccines after two measles deaths in Pennsylvania and an increase in the number of Kentucky cases.

It's now 25 cases, with 14 of those in Christian County.

>> The disease is incredibly contagious.

As we've said before, one person in an unvaccinated community would spread it to about 18 other people.

And just in this room that I'm standing in right now, for example, if one person with measles came and sat in here for the next 45 minutes with us during the press conference, and the rest of us were unimmunized, nine out of ten of us, at minimum, would become infected.

That's how contagious it is.

I'm going to talk about immunizations in a minute.

But in very stark contrast, if you are immunized and if this whole room has measles and I'm immunized and don't have it, I will not get the disease 97 out of 100 times.

That's how protective the vaccination is.

So we urge everyone to get vaccinated.

These vaccines are safe.

They are proven.

And in fact, they led to the United States in the year 2000 being declared as a measles elimination country.

Now, there's a certain irony here because of the really horrible guidance that I think is causing harm to people all over the country.

Now, the CDC has on its website a quote, be be prepared for measles web page.

And I want to emphasize, folks, for the last 25 plus years, you didn't have to be prepared for measles.

You got two doses of vaccine.

You didn't even have to worry about it.

We now have the highest measles cases in Kentucky in over 35 years, and the highest nationwide two years in a row.

On an increasing trajectory.

>> Vaccines are safe, effective, and they save lives.

The current Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Junior, lacks qualifications, and his guidance is dangerous on this topic.

Diseases that had killed so many people throughout the course of human history have been virtually entirely eliminated and are now returning because of historically bad public health advice that's coming out of Washington, DC, vaccines that eliminated things like measles until now, when, again, bad information is being shared.

So please talk to your doctor, roll up your sleeves, get your kids vaccinated.

Their lives are too important to risk.

If you want to think about it in a different way.

I try to live my life on that golden rule and the parable of the Good Samaritan.

There are people out there that are immunocompromised, that cannot get vaccinated, and so it's up to us to make sure that we do.

Otherwise, they could get a preventable disease, that we would make it through, that they might not be able to.

You getting vaccinated isn't just about your life, but the lives of people around you.

>> Doctor Stack says of the Kentuckians infected with the measles this year.

None of them had a measles vaccination.

Well, if you lived in Kentucky 20 years ago today, you'll never forget it.

This is the 20th anniversary of the flight 5191 crash at Bluegrass Airport in Lexington.

49 people died in the crash.

Just one survived.

As the flight was sent down the airport's shorter runway by mistake and crashed just after takeoff.

The UK Arboretum is home to a flight 5191 Memorial.

People, including some of the victims families, gathered there today to remember and honor the victims of the crash.

>> Memorial is always solemnly read the names of those who passed, but these were the people that made up our community.

They were friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues and coworkers.

They were warm hugs, thoughtful gifts, and caring conversations.

[MUSIC] They were the people who didn't see a 6 a.m.

flight as an inconvenience.

A 6 a.m.

flight was an opportunity.

Get ahead of the day.

Do the things that are needed, get the travel out of the way.

We've got other plans.

These are not just names on a sculpture.

They were real people doing real things in the real world, making real changes.

>> Much more on the crash anniversary tomorrow here on Kentucky edition.

[MUSIC] Kentucky has a new rule that changes how you drive near school bus stops and a police officer is accused of misusing flock cameras, our Toby Gibbs tells us more in tonight's look at headlines around Kentucky.

>> In Shively, police accuse an officer of using flock cameras to harass a woman, according to the Courier Journal, Shively police suspended officer Asad Zahir.

He's accused of using flock surveillance cameras to conduct more than 2000 searches involving a woman's two registered Kentucky vehicles from at least January 1st to May 2nd of this year.

Police say Zahir had a child with the woman he's accused of harassing.

[MUSIC] From the Mayfield Messenger.

U.S.

marshals arrested a Jamaican citizen, Janelle Rowe, accusing her of a role in a lottery scam.

According to an arrest warrant, victims were told they'd won $250 million, but they had to pay IRS fees by putting money in Rowe's bank account, the Graves County Sheriff's Office says victims there lost about $80,000.

[MUSIC] From the News Journal.

Drivers have to stop when a school bus stops, and there's a new change in the law that hit the books this year.

Kentucky drivers in all lanes of a four lane road now have to stop for school busses if the road does not have a concrete median, grass median or other divider.

This is part of House Bill seven, passed by the Kentucky General Assembly during the legislative session earlier this year.

[MUSIC] Those are tonight's headlines around Kentucky.

[MUSIC] I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> As businesses across the state grapple with integrating artificial intelligence into their operations, some industry leaders are turning to the University of Kentucky for insight and collaboration.

As Mackenzie Spink reports, this week, the university hosted an event to bring together Kentucky's business leaders and the university's AI experts to discuss what AI can do for the state.

>> The University of Kentucky launched its cats AI program last year, an institution wide strategy to advance the responsible use of AI in spaces like education and health care.

The experts leading this initiative say successfully and responsibly.

Integrating AI requires collaboration across different industries.

>> Whether you're in a small business or a huge company.

The implementation layer has been very difficult, and what we need to have are conversations like this, where we each share our experiences and our goals and and best practices for how to implement.

>> Bullard is a 300 person company out of Cynthiana that produces personal protective equipment like fire helmets and respirators.

Its team is exploring how to use AI to analyze company data, like sales information, to run more efficiently.

>> You know, if we're running a marathon, we're showing that first mile, you know, but we have a cross-functional team that gets together to talk about different use cases within our departments, within our business, to help us grow and help us protect more people, which is the end goal is like, how do we protect more people?

And if there's technology, AI solutions that can come in and help do some of our jobs in a different way, that allows us to focus more value added time.

We want to continue to learn about it and be curious about it.

>> Part of UC's AI strategy is the AI Literacy and Training Hub, which connects faculty and students to AI resources and expertise.

The hub's director says finding effective uses for AI is often the biggest hurdle for beginner users.

>> One of the things that comes up pretty consistently is not knowing where to start.

So knowing AI has talked about this excellent thing that can provide a lot of efficiency and a lot of advantages, but then translating that into how do I use that in my role right now in my team can be a little bit of a challenge.

>> Bullard says starting small but learning fast is its strategy to ensure effective, responsible integration of AI as a business tool.

>> I would say challenges include just making sure like we're helping like with our educate, we're helping putting the right guardrails to protect our information and that we're moving Bullard forward, like at the right pace.

>> For institutions that are further down the path of AI implementation.

UK experts say making data accessible for an AI to read is often the biggest challenge.

>> What we're finding is we're finding that the people on the ground who have been managing our data for years are needing to completely overhaul their structures so that our data is compatible because AI lives off of data.

And if your data doesn't communicate, if it's not clean enough, then you're just going to get bad outputs.

>> UC's industry partners like Bullard say students who are engaged with AI are more attractive job candidates, and that potential workforce pipeline is a benefit to partnering with schools that invest in AI education.

>> I think the benefit of partnering with UK is for us to learn from other institutions, to learn from professors, to learn from the network of UK about what other organizations, how other people are, are, you know, thinking through AI.

I think it also allows us to partner with UK and hiring students that have come from an AI framework in their academics into the workforce.

Like that helps in the transition.

So, I mean, I think it helps us as a business.

It helps us with a pipeline of talent coming into the workforce, which is beneficial.

>> For Kentucky edition.

I'm Mackenzie Spink.

>> This year, UK launched the state's first Bachelor of Science in AI.

Its first class started this semester.

[MUSIC] Many Kentucky cities have vacant and underused property, but some of that property is getting cleaned up thanks to the Kentucky brownfield program.

We showed you some of that work in Frankfort.

Tomorrow we head to Louisville.

See how parts of the Derby city are getting a new lease on life.

That's tomorrow on Kentucky edition.

And we hope you'll join us again tomorrow night at 630 eastern, 530 central for this show where we inform, connect and inspire.

Subscribe to our Kentucky edition email newsletters, and watch full episodes and clips@ket.org.

[MUSIC] You can also find Kentucky Edition on the PBS video app, on your mobile device, and smart TV.

You can send us a story idea at public affairs@ket.org, and follow KET on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Thank you for joining us.

Have a good rest of your evening.