♪ >> It's not to have the best life.

It's just to avoid those negative health outcomes.

>> Patient care advocates say new federal staffing requirements at nursing homes are good.

Start but find out what they say is needed to give residents an acceptable level of care.

It's going to be a beautiful facility.

A progress check on a new facility for veterans in Kentucky.

When can they expect to be living?

It's got the RAAF is going to be thick.

It's going to be That will be something that maybe didn't see in August that Bill CMA that will be a little different.

So.

>> The PGA Championship returns to Kentucky.

The changes that golfers and fans will notice this year at all.

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

♪ ♪ >> Welcome to Kentucky.

Addition for Friday May 10th.

I'm Casey Parker Bell filling in for Renee Shaw.

Late last month the Biden administration announced new staffing regulations for nursing homes that receive federal funding.

>> The mandate requires all nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding provide at least 3.4, 8 hours of nursing care per resident per day.

The majority of the care would come from Nurse AIDS and almost an hour from registered nurses, the new regulations also require nursing homes to have a registered nurse on site.

24 7, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say facilities have 3 to 5 years to comply.

Nursing home operators are pushing back on the mandate.

The American Health Care Association calls it an unreasonable standard, only threatens to shut down more nursing homes.

Earlier this week, we heard from long-term care providers here in Kentucky.

They said they already struggle to fill open positions.

>> Unfortunately, we just they're not in the pipeline.

I don't know that this is a problem that we can just throw money at it.

The frankly the people aren't there.

So the workforce isn't to even if we.

An exhausted amounts of money there's just no one to pick up these roles.

>> Our challenge with this mandate will be recruitment and retention of Ahrens specifically because we're up against the hospitals who have all of the new and shiny.

They are where new nurses, a lot of times tend to want to be and they're paying compensation and even the benefit packages that these large hospitals can provide unique and part as a challenge for facilities like ours, particularly like asked as a nonprofit stand-alone facility.

There's a small pool of people.

How do we get that full of people interested to work in an environment like ours?

>> But patients enter groups like the nursing Home Ombudsman agency of the Bluegrass say the minimum staffing mandate is long overdue.

It doesn't go far enough to meet the needs of nursing home residents.

They also question claims by the nursing home industry that the new requirement are too difficult to meet and would financially devastate many facilities.

>> About 40 to 50% of complaints that the ombudsman work are about direct care issues.

Somebody not answering the call bell in a timely manner, not getting assistance to the toilet and having accidents.

People not providing oral hygiene, which we know even more today is so important to overall people not providing grooming services assistance with.

There's just very basic activities of daily living like medications or showering things like that.

A lot of the complaints are because there aren't enough or staff are able to respond.

2 needs and requests for assistance.

They have been advocacy groups working since the 70's to try to implement a minimum staffing standard in a federal nursing homes.

And so we've we see this as a really good first step we were very excited about the 24 hour are in requirement because a lot of we we manage calls from residents who call their facility ombudsman at, you know, 8 o'clock.

10 o'clock at night and say, I don't feel well, I need to go to the hospital and they're not letting me they're not calling an ambulance.

Nobody's come to check on me.

And so we know we know that there are medical emergencies that happened 24 hours a day.

It's not limited to those 8 hours.

The NRA is required toward currently.

So we're very excited about that.

We were disappointed in the 3.4, 8 primarily because we know through decades of research that most residents need a minimum of 4.1 hours of direct care per day.

And that's just to avoid negative health outcomes.

That's just her where they are currently.

It's not to have the best life.

It's just to avoid those negative health outcomes.

And so we acknowledge that the difficulty in finding people is an across the board issue.

But I don't believe that people don't want to work.

I think that health care is always bringing people into their And it's just nurses are leaving.

Seniors are Staff are leaving because the job a quality is is poor.

When you have a shortage and you're competing, I think you're acknowledging that that you're not providing the job quality to KET people in that role, which is.

Affecting all of long-term care.

Staffing administrators last only about a year.

Our nurses have a high rate of turnover.

It's something along the lines of 52% and then see an A's nearly 100% turnover in some nursing home.

So it's a turn issue.

It's a retention issue.

I'm really interested in the Medicaid transparency piece of the bill that requires states to gather information about what percentage of a Medicare payment to a nursing home is going to direct care staff going to resident care.

There is money.

You would not be a for-profit company.

You wouldn't be a private equity firm and buying a nursing home if there wasn't money and more and more private equity firms bought up nursing homes during COVID.

Then any other time the health care associations certainly making a good argument for increasing the Medicaid reimbursement.

But before we take that step I just I just absolutely believe we need to know where those dollars go.

Now because it's a billion-dollar industry so before that, we need to figure out the true transparency that we need from nursing homes.

We already require transparency from nearly every other federal contract that you could receive.

We need to make sure that we are requiring requiring transparency and then following up to review those costs reports and see where the money is going.

>> The new mandate was discussed last week at a U.S. House, energy and Commerce Subcommittee on health hearing at the hearing, Kentucky Congressman Brett Guthrie who chairs the subcommittee, spoke out against the new rules saying in part, I'm extremely concerned about 2 of these rules in particular, the nursing home minimum staffing rule and the Medicaid access rule, both of which threaten access to long-term care services for Medicaid beneficiaries by setting arbitrary staffing and pay standards.

He went on to say, well, I agree that we need to do more to ensure our front-line caregivers and clinical care providers are compensated commensurately with the care they're providing and offer a better quality of life are most vulnerable.

This approach simply won't work, end quote.

And nursing care facility for veterans should be ready to open by early next year.

State lawmakers and community leaders gathered at the Kentucky transport in Bowling Green this morning for a progress report.

They say the building is about 60% complete and we'll have 60 beds.

It will serve veterans and 17 surrounding counties.

Bowling Green was chosen for the 50 Million Dollar Project Oversight in eastern Kentucky.

>> We KET as legislators that it needed to be here because of our proximity to Fort Knox and Fort Campbell and the growth in our region.

The number of veterans here.

But they went through the process of almost doing a certificate of made for health care to prove that need here in our community and in our region.

And that was what really pushed us over the because the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs had the request from both places and they had to show Bowling Green is where this facility needed to the it certainly did show that it's going to be a beautiful facility.

It's a community living concept facility, which means that each veteran will have their own sweet private suite living area and then access to the to the common areas as well.

But it will be a very private setting for our veterans.

It's going to be very, very nice.

>> The veteran center is now hiring for its executive leadership team later this summer, veterans can apply for entrance through the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs.

The project is expected to be finished by December.

Kentucky's 2024 may primary is just a little more than a week away.

This year, thousands may be casting a ballot for the first time.

Kentucky secretary of state Michael Adams says more than 8300 new voters registered last month.

The number of Republican and independent registered voters went up all Democratic registration saw slight drop 3 days of early.

No excuse voting begins Thursday and polls will be open from 06:00AM to 06:00PM on Election Day.

May 21st.

Some Kentucky airports are set to receive significant funding from the federal government.

The U.S. Senate passed the FAA Reauthorization ACT funding airports across the country.

It includes more than 1 million dollars for the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport and $300,000.

Each for the Barkley Regional Airport in West Paducah and the Owensboro.

Davies County Regional Airport.

The bill also allows the Blue Grass airport in Lexington to excess funds that were previously unavailable.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says that money will allow the Lexington Airport to upgrade its air traffic control tower.

And more.

Good news on the Brent Spence Bridge Project.

The federal government is giving Kentuckyian Ohio the green light to move ahead.

Governor Andy Beshear's office says the Federal Highway Administration has concluded its environmental review finding no major issues.

The companion bridge can now move to the design and construction phase.

The new bridge and repairs to the existing bridge are expected to cost more than 3 and a half billion dollars.

The Brent Spence Bridge was built in the 1960's to carry roughly 80,000 vehicles a day to day.

That number has doubled.

♪ ♪ >> I'm Renee Shaw.

It's time now for inside Kentucky politics.

Look a little remix today because we know we've got an important primary coming up in Kentuckyian just a few days.

First, we're going to talk to Tre Watson, who is a Republican strategist, founder of Capitol reins PR, you know, and >> let's talk about some of these contests that you've got your eye on in the state House and Senate primaries.

>> Absolutely.

You know, I think we've interesting contests on both ends of the state in the middle everywhere.

It's it's a shaping up to be in an spring.

I think let's start in the second district on the far West Kentucky Richard Heath versus Kim Holloway shaping up to be an interesting race.

You know what?

Your heat is run statewide twice for AG commissioner and sometimes that can put a strain on your relationship with your local constituents.

They feel like you're out for running for office and not necessarily focused on them.

But we all I think I know Richard, he's from the area morning raise a very dedicated to to the region.

And he's been coming for a while.

And then those people are incredibly hard to beat.

But what fun of told it that shaping up to be a very competitive and why competitive?

I think there's a couple low.

>> All issues that are involved there.

We don't need to go in to steal some.

Sometimes local politics plays a medicine yet.

Sometimes, you know, a lot of times I was These these knows the general something often get themselves involved and some local issues that that in the pardon and that is just sitting in Frankfort.

And you don't know that that with what's gone on there in Graves, County that might affect the race.

So I think there is some some stress there, I tend to believe the incumbents will pull him out in the interests of Mike Richard Heath.

He's been there for a long time.

Knows how to work the work area.

Go to the other side.

The state was a good one to KET our eye on.

I know the Kentucky there.

There's a there's a whole collection up there.

I Aaron Proctor versus Crystal Vase is going to be interesting.

I know that there's a lot of groups that are trying the rain.

It can Mosher.

I think she'll be all right.

The one that I KET an eye on is Felicia Rayburn, Richards I think if you're looking for an incumbent with a chance to lose at Marcus and ran in 2018 against Rick Rahn, tough election.

A crane was a great candidate.

He moved on to the Bush administration, opened that seat up fully won.

It's in there now and that the governor says that raised her he's he's working hard.

And, you know, she's taken some bad vote.

She sided with the governor and Democrats on the budget on the crime bill on a rules package.

So you have that think there's some and though there that got us in that and outside groups can use against or that's what really KET an eye on.

And the one boom, 66 right, ACL that he and TJ Robert, I if you live up there, I'm sorry.

You're going to see lots of to add lots of radio.

That's a digital.

I think everybody's kind of in the boat on that one.

TJ Roberts is a love, interesting I think you need to have an opinion on one with the other.

Ed Massey, former representative TJ is very far right, very far, right.

And heads a little bit more moderate towards the middle.

Then they before former Education Committee chairman.

I think you can see a lot of money found that race.

It's going that wasn't a particular is going to be very dirty, very nasty.

And we've seen some of that already was so Google that because it would come up pretty.

That's a little like a Michael Meredith.

He's got a contest, although maybe since some recent news has come out against his 2 challengers.

Kelsey Rock.

>> Maybe that is not as competitive as it was before.

Yeah, 19.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Mister Rock is going to be actually in a courtroom on primary facing of the state to pay child support charges.

>> But I think there's a tension is a lot of these candidates.

The more you saw big upsets in 2022, I think the hope to do that again in some areas in 2024, those candidates that the kind of pinned their hopes on to be upset, be bumps that incumbents, they're not raise as much money as the people in 2022. and the outside groups, they can said they can set a new playing field that can change the playing field is.

But in the day the candidate the campaign has to have the resources, the ability to take advantage of the playing field ads.

Don't think when you look at the campaign finance reports and here the activity in the minutes for coming in.

I think those and those challenges are going to have the power to do it.

>> Tre Watson always put the jam on the lower shelf for 3G 8.

It will see you soon.

My friend.

Thank you.

And I Casey, back to you.

♪ Thanks for night.

>> And I'm here with Morgan.

She's executive director for the Kentucky Democratic Party.

Thanks, Morgan.

Hi, thanks, Morgan.

I think you all can give a interesting perspective on your position and parties in the primary season.

So how does the Kentucky Democratic Party handled the primary system?

>> For us the KDP we don't endorse during the primary season.

We don't give money to candidates during the primary season, but what we can do is make sure that any voter data we have both candidates in a primary have access to it and any other tools that the party has that we can offer.

We make sure that both folks have access to those.

So we kind of stake the middle ground.

We don't endorse.

We don't give money.

And we just know that whichever candidate wins that will be the candidate that we support as a party.

>> Morgan, perhaps the biggest storyline during the primary season is over half of the seats and the state legislator on the House side were unopposed for Republicans over 40% on the Senate side.

One opposed.

So why didn't the Kentucky Democratic Party put more candidates in these races?

>> But could gerrymandering has made it a lot more difficult for Democrats across Kentucky to to win.

And that's just the of where we are today.

It's really difficult for a candidate to know that not only do they have a high probability of losing in some of these really, really red gerrymander districts, but they're putting their name on the ballot and their family name their kids.

You know, their mom, the entire family is going to drive through the mind just because that's where politics and polarization is today.

What I will tell you is that Governor Beshear and the party are really committed to supporting the candidates we have on the ballot now.

And we saw that when he increased his win to 5% and his re-election, he flipped a lot of counties from red to blue.

And I you know, this cycle is what it is.

We hope and know that we're going to pick up some seats.

But for the following cycles and years to come, we will be looking at some of those can counties where he flipped and focusing our recruitment efforts on those.

>> Of course, Republicans have super majorities in the House and Senate in the state legislature.

And so if you're looking past this election cycle, how will Democrats cut into those super majorities?

>> Yeah, I think it's mean really intentional about where we're looking to flip and following the data.

You know, one of the reasons that Governor Beshear Lieutenant Governor one again is because they had so much collective trust from of the Commonwealth and we need to find folks who already have that name ID and that trust with in those targeted communities so that we can get them trained, get them on the ballot and flip some of those seats and make inroads.

And the state legislature.

>> Governor Beshear announced a super PAC earlier this year.

How that super PAC to come into play during the general election season in Kentucky.

>> I think the governor's been really clear that he's in this together packages to help folks like him.

You know, candidates that are running for different types of higher office, but are that are in more red or sometimes purple states?

I think we will see has other packed tech bends.

That's a more, you know, legislative issued pack.

I think we will see them chime in on some of maybe the ballot questions that folks will be dealing with a November.

Of course, we can't coordinate with them.

I just hope that they'll be helping us.

yeah, that's that's pretty much.

It.

>> Lauren, thanks for taking a couple minutes.

>> Thank you, Casey.

♪ ♪ >> Kentucky's child care industry has been a topic of many stories on this program.

It's a fragile system that many believe is the foundation for other sectors of our economy.

Sarah van over is a policy and research director for Kentucky Youth Advocates.

She recently sat down with Renee Shaw to discuss her latest book which looks at the true cost of childcare explores what can be done to improve the system.

>> So to put a numerical value on what the legislature did do, didn't come anywhere close to replacing the funds that would be lost from the federal dollars that disappear in the fall.

Know that what it did was put money and to replace the federal dollars for a subsidy program, which we're extremely grateful for.

But what we're going to see is that that wage issue.

Yeah.

And and different states have done a different way.

Some states are continuing sustainability payments.

>> Other have implemented wage supplement programs, even where like, if you work in the same child care program for 6 months than you would get a wage supplement twice a year, that would be enough to maybe encourage people to to stay within the field.

But wages are going to continue to be our biggest challenge because we know that 98% of other occupations make more than our child care providers.

Well, this was a budget year.

And so this was when the decision would be made for the upcoming biennium, which is fiscal year.

25 26.

>> The next time the Legislature takes up a matter like this, of course they could do it in but they would have to have a higher threshold of votes to get there.

You're looking at 26 2026 before lawmakers address this again.

I mean, what are your fears about how many child care providers really do shutter their doors?

Well, I I do think that the Cabinet for health and family Services is going to do everything they can with the money that they received.

>> To supplement the child care but a lot of it will be through programs that don't just increase wages.

It will be through see kept things, things of that nature so we're going to see programs that are trying not to price themselves out of the market but still attract staff.

And if they don't have staff, we've seen programs in the past 3, 4, years that close their doors because they don't have the staff that they need or they get so expensive.

That family stopped coming and they price themselves out.

So I think the key that we're going to have to.

Really KET in mind over the next few years is watch that capacity number at the state level.

How many programs are open?

Both centers and family childcare homes.

What's the maximum amount of the kiddos that can be served.

And as that number decreasing.

Yeah.

>> You can see that full conversation this Sunday catch connections at 11, 30 Eastern 10, 30 central right here on KET.

♪ >> Some of the biggest names in golf are descending on Louisville next week for the PGA Championship is the 4th time Ball Hollow Golf course has hosted the championship.

General manager Keith Reese tells us about some of the changes that have been made to get the course ready.

>> We did make some changes to the golf course in preparation for this championship week.

We changed our fairly turf out.

We went from a cool season grasp and grass to a warm season grass iannazzo Asia.

>> Which not only is a fantastic playing for both the members and and the the championship when it comes.

But it's also a great story of takes less water, less chemical So there were several reasons why we did The bulk of it was really to make the golf course play as it should each and every day.

But we did also add some length.

We added some additional teams, weak link, untold number one.

I would like the poll number 12, home number 14, and then most recently hole number 18.

So I think the players will see a bit of a different golf course.

And when they're here, they they've been here in the past in August, which, you know, this, you can see the lush grass around us now it's got the roughest going to be thick.

It's going to be gnarly.

I'm not will be something that maybe didn't see in August that they'll see in May.

That will be a little different.

So but the fans in general, when they come in, they're going to they're going to see the, you know, the clubhouse looks like my old Kentucky home.

They're going to see the the entry dry, but that it's going to has the look and feel of a of a Kentucky farm now, which is fantastic.

>> The PGA Championship runs May 16th through the 19th in Louisville.

This week's inside Louisville takes you inside Fall Hollow golf course.

Learn the history of the course and meet the new owners.

That's this Sunday at noon Eastern, 11 central on KET.

It's a big weekend for moms.

If you're looking for a fun way to hang out with her are Toby gives shows us what's happening around the Commonwealth.

♪ >> The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra wraps up its 32nd season tomorrow evening in Highland Heights.

Join Ks SOS Newport Ragtime Band for the Jump and Jive an exploration of America's popular musical heritage.

Enjoy Ragtime Blues.

An early age as the black artists of the early 20th century.

It's been 2 and a half years since Dawson Springs was hit by a tornado and the city invite you on a special walk to celebrate its progress.

>> Walk for Dawson.

2 is tomorrow morning at 10:00AM participants will pass locations hit by the storm featuring posters of the original damage to illustrate how far the town it's calm.

This is a great way to get outside and show your support for Dawson Springs.

Perryville, Battlefield State historic site and the Kentucky Nature Preserve have come together for a fun educational opportunity tomorrow.

Come on up to spring fast for lectures on topics like gardening and monarch.

Weigh stations as well as vendors offering handmade products learn how to preserve and interpret nature at this great environmental event.

The Paris storytelling festival is already underway.

This annual event brings together storytellers from around Kentucky to celebrate history, music architecture and most of all their love of stories.

Events include workshops, story showcases film screenings and more.

There's plenty going on the rest of the weekend.

Be sure to check it out.

Next weekend.

And Carlisle is an event for fun guys.

Only Blue Lakes, Battlefield State Resort Park is hosting my college.

Ian may check out fungi 101, for you can observe and touch mushrooms, native to our area or join an identification hike to search for and photographs.

Some wild fungi.

There's lots of great programs at this event.

Not mushroom for improvement.

The Golden Gala gala is next weekend in Bowling Green.

Grab your golden us gals for a night of glamour and delicious dining shot from curated vendors.

Sample tasty treats and more.

The gala will benefit the Love and Grace Foundation and Heavenly Place in honor of national Foster Care month.

>> Today's a barbecue on the plate for Lexington next week.

The 2024 bluegrass and BBQ festival is not only going to have exceptional barbecue.

It will also have amazing live music, delicious cocktails and craft beer available.

>> Whether you're a barbecue beast are looking for a fun family outing.

This event is for everyone and that's what's happening around the Commonwealth.

>> I'm Colby Gibbs.

>> We hope you'll join us again Monday night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition.

We inform connect and Inspire.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Take good care and hope that you have a great weekend.

♪ ♪