I'm not going to be the one to like, Oh, no, I can't go this way.

So it's like, All right, I can go pack.

Let's go.

Fun.

Happy.

Remembering a state representative from Lexington who passed away over the weekend on primary eve, we'll catch up with the Daniel Cameron and Kelly Kraft campaigns and tell you what's changed.

According to the newest poll and the governor's race, it's definitely more prevalent than it was in the past.

Kentucky is losing more workers on the job to drug overdoses.

We are offering you a conditional offer of employment for 2027.

Something to cheer about.

And Jefferson County Schools honors a very special group of graduates.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions, the Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

Good evening and welcome to Kentucky Edition on this Monday, May 15th, a day before the primary here in Kentucky.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for winding down your Monday night with us.

A sad update tonight.

State Representative Lamine Sarwar and passed away over the weekend.

The Democratic lawmaker from Lexington was just 45 years old.

His death came just days after his mother announced he was hospitalized with a medical emergency.

In a statement yesterday on Mother's Day, she said, quote, Beyond our faith, what comforts us is knowing the positive and lasting impact he had on so many.

Swan was elected to the state legislature just last year.

He represented District 93, which covers part of southern Fayette County, Kentucky.

House Democratic Caucus leader said, quote, Lamine was a great friend and our caucus is better for having known and worked alongside him.

House Speaker David Osborne said, quote, While his time in the House has been cut short, Lamine had already established himself as a passionate advocate for his district, as well as a voice for those who live with disabilities.

Representative Swann was confined to a wheelchair and an interview with Katie back in January.

Swann said his life experiences would help him navigate a path forward.

And Frankfort.

I was born in the late seventies, so I came into the school system when it was only this transition to include children with disabilities in mainstream education.

And my mother was the one who was like, No, my child was being mainstream in the public schools in the early eighties.

So I wasn't separated from others in school.

So, you know, I was early to a gap in my environment, was supportive of that.

So, you know, elementary school, you know, friends will fight over it to push me, you know, or even friends will go with me, you know, with me.

If we're trying to find an accessible incidence of doping, then I go, What?

So I've always been in and out of that supportive environment where, you know, if it doesn't work, what's the plan B?

Let's find these other options and we'll find the option.

If not, we'll go back and, you know, recovery and go again.

Hmm.

Funeral arrangements for Representative Lehman Swann are pending.

We're counting down the final hours until Election Day in Kentucky.

This time tomorrow night, results will be trickling in from around the state on the eve of the election.

New polling suggests Daniel Cameron is the clear favorite in the Republican primary for governor.

The poll was conducted by Emerson College and Fox, 56 TV news in Lexington.

It shows 33% of Kentucky Republican primary voters favor Cameron.

That's less than a 3% increase from the same poll conducted last month.

His closest competitor, Carly Craft, saw her polling numbers dip from nearly 24% last month to less than 18% now.

Ryan calls also dipped from nearly 15% to about 13%.

This poll also shows more voters have made up their mind about who they're going to vote for.

The portion of undecided voters fell from more than 20% to roughly 13%.

Candidates Eric Dieter's, Mike Harmon and Alec Keck also saw a bump in support compared to a similar poll just last month.

Candidates are making their final push and appeals to voters, and one Republican candidate for governor is using the endorsement of a notable politician to bolster her campaign.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz campaigned with Kelly Craft this weekend in Louisville and Richmond.

Our Kacey Parker Bal was in Richmond following the craft campaign during one of the last days before the primary.

Look, this is Kentucky.

This is bright red, common sense, God fearing, freedom loving patriots.

As a recent poll shows, Kelly Craft's campaign might be heading in the wrong direction.

She hopes a visit from one of the country's most recognizable conservative faces makes a difference before Election Day.

What I see come in here in Kentucky is, is that people are excited.

People are excited to throw the Democrat out of the governor's mansion.

Cruz played the notes of a modern conservative campaign gender affirming, which is a pretty way of saying cut it off.

Let me tell you right now, any person that sterilizes a child, any person that mutilates a child, that's child abuse and they should go to jail.

And he knocked current Governor Andy Beshear for his handling of COVID.

You look at COVID, he didn't want to lock up the criminals, but you know who he did want to lock up?

Christians.

He said during COVID, if you go to church on Easter Sunday, we're going to go write down your license plate and come arrest you and lock you up.

At times, he made it seem like the rally for the former U.N. ambassador was part of a standup routine.

Turn on the TV.

You'll hear all sorts of horrible lies.

Kelly Craft eats kittens under a full moon at midnight.

Which?

Come on, That's ridiculous.

Everyone knows kittens are breakfast food.

But overall, Cruz made sure everyone knows who he thinks Kentuckians should vote for.

Look, I'm supporting Kelly because I know she'll do what she says she'll do.

I know she'll fight to keep Kentucky safe.

Kelly Craft was joined by her running mate.

Could you stand up for me?

Because there's going to be a revival right here tonight in Madison County.

And by Brandon Judd, the high profile lobbyist for Border Patrol agents.

This is the best governor candidate I have ever seen.

After they introduced Craft, she took the boxes off her campaign policies.

We have one more duty.

We've going to have to dismantle the Kentucky Department of Education on day one.

And she said she was positive about the outcome a few days before polling places close.

The momentum is amazing and we are working as if there's no tomorrow for Kentucky Edition.

I'm KC Parker.

Bravo.

Kelly Craft wasn't the only candidate crisscrossing the state in the campaign's waning days.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is also taking his message to voters and encouraging them to show up at the polls.

We are grateful for the folks that have decided to come on board across Kentucky and support this campaign.

And that's okay.

That's going to work.

We've got to get as many people as possible to the polls.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron addressing that low voter turnout that's projected for Tuesday.

I'm hopeful that the folks here and across Kentucky will get themselves to the polls, but will also urge their friends and family members to get to the polls as well to support this campaign.

Cameron making campaign stops across the Commonwealth, including at a Bowling Green coffee shop Saturday, joined by his wife, Mackenzie Mackenzie.

I feel strongly that we are in a unique position that wherever you find yourself on the Republican ideological spectrum, whether you find yourself as a a liberty Republican or a life Republican or any Republican, you can find a home in this campaign.

He says among the issues voters tell him are top of mind concerns in the classroom.

There are teachers all across Kentucky that are worried that their jobs are going to be at stake if they don't buy in to gender, ideology, curriculum that is being pushed by the Kentucky Department of Education.

And so that is a concern for parents as well.

They want their kids to learn reading, writing and math.

They don't want their schools to be incubators for liberal and progressive ideas.

Cameron's wife, a former teacher and Oldham County schools and what has become a hotly contested Republican primary.

Cameron was asked about his opponent, Kelly Kraft's millions in campaign spending.

Well, obviously Kelly's got a lot of money to spend, and what we have been focused on is just getting our message out to as many Kentuckians as we possibly can.

And we feel good about the amount of money that we've raised in this campaign and recognize that folks from all across Kentucky have invested in this campaign.

And at the end of the day, this is not about running ads.

This is about running on a record.

That record, he says, includes his fight against the opioid epidemic and $842 million in funds raised from settlements with drug companies.

The way that that money is being allocated to the state is 50% going into what's called the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.

The other 50% is going right to counties and cities.

So Warren County, Bowling Green are going to get some of those funds to make a decision at the local level about how best to utilize those dollars.

Cameron says he remains cautiously optimistic going into the homestretch.

I just want to make sure that as many folks understand the stakes for the May 16 primary and will back our campaign at the end of this process, we hope to say that we are the Republican nominee for governor here in Kentucky.

For Kentucky, Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

From Bowling Green, Cameron was headed to Owensboro on Saturday.

Today, his campaign stops included northern Kentucky and Lexington.

And while Kentucky is just one of three states holding a primary and a governor's race this year about here in Kentucky, the race for the state's top job isn't the only one on the ballots.

Kentucky elects all the state's constitutional officers, and a few of the Republican primaries could turn out to give some unexpected results.

Our KC Parker Bell breaks down Who is on tomorrow's ballot and what races could be competitive.

These races don't get as much notoriety.

What they need is a Treasurer who understands the office that they're running for.

And I'm the kid in this race to do that.

But the competition is no less fierce.

How do I see this office?

I see it as an opportunity to speak out for taxpayers to restore to Kentucky fiscal discipline.

You'll see where our government is getting out of control.

And that's absolutely what the state treasurer has access to that nuts and bolts of the budget.

Some of Kentucky's down ballot races could be competitive come election night.

The one drawing the most attention, that's the race for the next state treasurer is between OJ Lake, who served as deputy treasurer under Alison Ball.

I like to look at Visa.

Thanks, guys.

I'm O.J.. L.A. current Garrard County Attorney Mark Metcalf.

Prosecutor Trump.

Republican Conservative.

Mark Metcalf.

He's running for treasurer to restore fiscal sanity and end Biden's recklessness.

And enter Cooper Rider, who became known for refusing to shut down a coffee shop he owned during the early stages of the COVID pandemic.

We must vote for Republican Andrew Cooper.

Writer Andrew stood up to Bashir's COVID mandates when he refused to shut down his coffee shop route.

As treasurer, Andrew will fight to stop our tax dollars from funding the far left agenda.

The three candidates are vying for what could potentially be the closest election this primary season, with no public polling on down ballot races and few public appearances together.

It is hard to get a sense who is in the lead.

And the same goes for Kentucky's other down ballot races like the one to replace Ryan Quarrels as agriculture commissioner.

What is Kentucky need in an egg commissioner?

Someone who's tough as Shell?

The two Republican candidates are faces familiar to Frankfort, chair of the House Agriculture Committee since 2017.

Those are the kinds of life experiences that I bring to this year's race.

State Representative Richard Heath is making his second attempt at becoming the agriculture commissioner.

He lost to Ryan Quarrels in the 2015 primary by less than 1500 votes.

Heath is running against Jonathan Shell.

Shell served as House majority leader after Republicans took control of the chamber after 94 years of Democrat control.

But Shell lost his House seat in 2018 and hasn't held elected office since.

That's Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams scrubbed over 300,000 inactive voters off the rolls.

Required voter I.D.. Down on fraud demand paper ballots.

And Michael Adams is running for a second term as secretary of state.

He's running against one of his primary opponents from 2019, Steve Nipper and Alan Miracle.

I'm going to bring truth, transparency and leadership back to this office.

This May 16th, vote for Steve Nipper, Republican secretary of state.

But Adams more than doubled NPR's vote total in the 2019 election, leading to questions if Nipper can pull an upset in this year's rematch.

We'll know who will be representing the Republican Party after tomorrow's primary election.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm KC Parker Bell.

Thank you.

KC In addition to those races mentioned, Kentuckians will also vote for a new state auditor and attorney general this year.

And we'll preview tomorrow's races on Kentucky tonight.

Tonight, a panel of political experts will be here to handicap the big races tomorrow, including the Republican primary for governor.

Join us for that.

And we always welcome your questions and comments by Twitter and other ways of communicating with us tonight at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

And then watch our complete wall to wall election coverage tomorrow night at seven Eastern, six Central, and we'll go until it's over.

Don't miss it.

In other news, this is National Police Week.

Today, the names of 11 Kentuckians were enshrined on the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C..

Speaking on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in 2021, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty reached its highest level in 20 years.

He also used his speech to criticize Democrats for being soft on crime.

Brave men and women in blue sure to uphold law and order, to run toward danger, even to give their lives to protect their communities.

But as a radical soft on crime movement has taken hold of the Democrats at every level of government.

Police officers have been forced to bear an even heavier burden.

McConnell also said he is co-sponsoring legislation that would introduce federal mandatory sentencing for killing a police officer.

The number of people dying from fatal overdoses and work in Kentucky tripled over a three year period.

That data from a report by the Kentucky occupation Safety and Health Surveillance Program.

The research director for the program said workers and three industries appear to be at a higher risk for overdoses.

More on that in today's health news.

It's definitely more prevalent than it was in the past.

We've been monitoring workplace deaths since 1994 here at work, and we didn't really see any drug overdose fatalities in the data until later in the 2000.

And they sort of steadily increased a little bit over time.

What we were looking at was the number of overdose deaths that occurred while at work from 2017 to 2021.

And what we found was that there were nearly 50 occupational overdoses that occurred in that period of time.

And from 2017 to 2019, there were about 5 to 6 deaths per year.

And then we saw a spike up in 2020 and went up to 12 and then went up significantly again in 2021 with 18 deaths that year.

So there are definitely some dru in the case reports.

And what I guess the couple of drivers that are more frequently, the number one would be fentanyl.

And then the second would be methamphetamines.

And sometimes more than one drug is involved.

And we do know that people sometimes use those drugs to sort of keep themselves, you know, alert or energized as far as like the occupations that we tended to see those fatalities in the most frequently.

We would see those the most in the sort of trade, transportation and utilities industry is what we call it.

And that includes occupations such as trucking, wholesale warehousing and utility services.

That was accounting for 38% of the fatalities.

So very significant there.

And then from there, manufacturing and construction were the next to highest, both at 19% each.

And then leisure and hospitality was another area where we saw a significant number of fatalities.

So that accounted for about 11%.

So, you know, you can kind of speculate that it was likely having to do somewhat with the pandemic.

We can't say with 100% certainty, of course, but we saw the overdose fatality overall in the state go up during those two years.

And this kind of mirrors that what we see in workplaces.

The data that we collect as part of the FACE program, the Fatality assessment and Control evaluation program, is definitely used to look at prevention recommendations and policy recommendations to target our outreach efforts to various industries.

So we'll definitely be using this data to sort of develop our outreach efforts as we continue.

Nearly 40% of the fatal workplace overdoses was in Jefferson County, but almost a third of those fatalities were out-of-state residents working in Kentucky, according to the report.

Continuing now, our look at health news.

The Kentucky Blood Center reports that as summer nears, the number of donors that see drops off to keep donations flowing.

This summer, the center is offering giveaways of amusement park tickets and movie tickets and more.

Everybody knows somebody that is going to need blood in their life.

You know, one in four people will need blood.

And that need is every day and constant.

The need for blood doesn't take a vacation is what I like to say.

Starting on Monday, we will be kicking off our save our summer campaign, a summer long campaign to get donors in the door.

We're going to be doing everything from Kings Island tickets to movie tickets around July 4th to what we're calling pop up donor appreciation days at random times of the summer when historically donor turnout has been low.

And this is simply our way of one thanking our donors for helping save lives.

But two to to get the numbers up during a really difficult time of the year.

Historically, for blood banks, the current blood supply looks good, But we don't want to live in good.

We want to be great because we're talking about lives at stake here.

You know, we need to have a healthy blood supply.

We'd like to have at least a 3 to 4 day supply of all blood types, and we're not quite there yet, which is worrisome as we're going into the summer, which pandemic or no pandemic is always a time when we see lower donor turnout, people who are not for you.

It's a really simple process.

Only about 45 minutes to an hour that's really impactful.

I'm going to save a lot of lives.

So, you know, if you're looking to give back to the community, if you're looking to help this summer, it's something that's really easy.

It doesn't cost any any money and it's going to make a huge impact on community.

The Kentucky Blood Center will be offering those giveaways at their locations throughout the state at various times throughout the summer.

And education news now.

22 seniors at Central High School in Louisville are graduating from the teaching and learning pathway this year.

It's a program helping to fight the teacher shortage in Kentucky by getting high school students passionate about teaching.

Last week, Jefferson County School officials stop by to celebrate and deliver an exciting offer to future teachers.

We wish you all back.

You know, it's interesting because I don't think that teaching is exactly an industry that students are knocking down the doors to get to.

But once they get into the program, I think they develop a love for it.

Once they start working with students, I really loved the idea of being a teacher again and just being able to share that knowledge and help people.

And I've been able to do that so much more now with it being my senior year.

I've done a lot and I've really loved it.

I've become so much more confident.

I was very shy.

It was very hard for me to talk to people, make friends, and now I feel like I can talk to anybody.

I feel like the program has really helped me open up, especially when it comes to like being able to be in the classroom.

You really have to take charge and lead classrooms, and I've been able to do that so many times now and it's been so much fun.

You know, one big aspect of teaching is developing relationships and connections with students.

And I think that's the driving force for my students once they get into the classroom and they start going to the classrooms daily, they develop those relationships and connections and just want to really help students in the elementary schools or the middle schools that we visit.

Something about it that surprised me was like, honestly, the opportunities.

I mean, I know Ms.. Chandler had said, you know, you'll be able to do a lot, but I didn't expect it to be so hands on, and so I didn't expect to enjoy it so much, honestly.

So on behalf of CPS Personnel Services, we are offering you a conditional offer of employment for 2027.

So once the students have completed their program their senior year, the district offers them a conditional contract that they sign Once they go through their undergraduate studies and complete the process of becoming a teacher, they can come back in the district, and the district would automatically hire them once they feel those requirements.

We all know that there is a massive shortage of teachers all over the country.

And so if we're able to get to the students in high school so that they develop their passion and love for teaching other students that they didn't know they had, it just helps cultivate that when they move on to college.

And think about undergraduate studies to come back in to CPS and establish a career And teaching the teaching and Learning Magnet program is a dual credit program offered through the University of Louisville, the first Kentucky governor, the first Kentucky Derby and Fayette County's namesake.

Find out more about all three as Toby Gibbs takes us a look at this week in Kentucky History.

Masterson Station in Present Day Lexington hosted a methodist conference starting May 15th, 1790.

It was the first conference of its kind west of the Allegheny Mountains and was held in a two story log cabin on a site that now includes Lexington's Federal Prison.

May 15th, 1792.

Electors from all over Kentucky picked Isaac Shelby to be the first governor of Kentucky.

The state formally entered the union on June 1st, and Shelby took office June 4th.

Shelby would serve as governor from 1792 to 1796, then again from 1812 to 1816.

He was Kentucky's first governor and its fifth governor.

The Kentucky General Assembly on May 16th, 1861, passed a resolution declaring the state's neutrality during the Civil War.

The Marquis de Lafayette, a French nobleman who fought alongside George Washington and became a national hero, visited Lexington on May 16th, 1825.

Lafayette is the namesake for Fayette County, and 10,000 fans watched the first Kentucky Derby on May 17th, 1875, at what was then called the Louisville Jockey Club.

Aristides won by two lengths.

There were 15 horses in the field.

Oliver Louis was the winning jockey, and those are the highlights in This Week in Kentucky History.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, as always.

Toby Gibbs.

And we got a big race of our own tomorrow.

We hope that you're going to join us tomorrow at 630 Eastern, 530 Central for Kentucky Edition.

But then stick around, because beginning at seven Eastern, six Central, we will have wall to wall coverage of primary election 2023.

You will not get comprehensive coverage like this anywhere else.

We got a panel of experts right here in our studio tomorrow to break it all down.

So I hope to see you right back here again tomorrow night at 630 until it's all over.

Take good care and I'll see you tomorrow night.