We are going to win as a united team.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this slate of candidates that are behind me.

Republicans make a case for one party rule.

Plus, Governor Andy Beshear will soon be on the air with his first TV ads of the campaign.

That was a whole goal early on, is to create something here in the region that that resonated.

And how a Kentucky clothing company is doing denim differently.

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.

We made it to Friday, May 19th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for starting off your weekend with us.

It didn't take long.

The fall campaign is already underway.

Today, the Republican nominees for Kentucky's constitutional offices rallied, vowing unity.

Our Kacey Parker Bell was in Frankfurt as Republicans praised their nominee for the governor's mansion and hit at the building's current occupant.

Kentucky Republicans who want offices in the state Capitol building next year made the case today why they should be elected in November.

And again, we are going to win as a united team.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this Slate of candidates that are behind me.

Republican winners from Tuesday's primary election gathered in Frankfort to show their support for each other.

I'm proud to be one of the six of us who collectively form clearly the strongest slate that the Republican Party of Kentucky has ever fielded.

This ticket is bulletproof.

With the race for governor the most likely to be competitive in November.

Republicans campaigning for new offices and ones already elected to leadership positions made the case for a governor from the GOP.

We do not need a silent partner fighting in this fight.

We need a loud vocal partner.

And that is Daniel Cameron.

Republican nominee Daniel Cameron made a case he's likely to repeat over the coming months that he is the law and order candidate.

He knocked Beshear on the topic, as did the Republican nominee for attorney general.

Daniel Cameron is the law and order candidate.

Andy Beshear is the catch and release candidate.

We are united and committed to protecting our sons and our daughters and our families.

Republican legislative leaders also made the case for having a change in the governor's mansion.

The Speaker of the House and the Senate president say the state will run better with one party rule by deciding to actually have a governor that will show up and work with us as opposed to show them work against us.

When you look in a little over six months, you're going to see everyone behind me being the people who are up the street occupying the offices with incumbent Governor Andy Beshear hitting the airwaves for the first time.

Republicans are wasting no time preparing for this November's general election.

For Kentucky edition, I'm K.C.

Parker.

Belle.

Thank you, Casey.

Casey Johnson mentioned the first ad from Governor Andy Beshear.

So let's look at a part of it.

When Kentuckians get knocked down, we get right back up again and we rebuild stronger and better than before.

This ad will start airing on TV Monday.

In it, the governor talks about how Kentuckians came together during the Eastern Kentucky floods and western Kentucky tornadoes.

The commercial touts his jobs record and efforts to get clean drinking water to Kentuckians who don't have it.

Governor Beshear began a three day campaign swing around the state today.

That's not the only new ad in the governor's race.

A political action committee is running a commercial saying Attorney General Daniel Cameron hasn't done anything to investigate.

Then Republican Governor Matt Bevin's last minute pardons of more than a dozen criminals.

But for three years, Cameron's refused to appoint a special prosecutor, even as some of the criminals were arrested for new crimes.

The ad is from a group called Defending Bluegrass Values.

We'll take a look back at last Tuesday's primary election and a look ahead to the fall races Monday on Kentucky.

Tonight, our political panel will assess the candidates and you can send us your questions and comments.

That's Monday night at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on Katy's Kentucky.

Tonight, friends and family gather today for the visitation and funeral of Lamon Swain.

The Kentucky state representative who died last Sunday at the age of 45.

This is after a celebration of life for Swann yesterday in Lexington.

Lamine had a lot of passions.

Obviously, social and social justice was a big thing for him.

He was a fierce advocate for women's reproductive health, and affordable housing was a big issue for him as well.

And obviously, making the lives better for those living with a disability serving people is something that he has done long before he was in the legislature.

And it was just a very natural fit for him.

And he had absolutely a heart for service.

And we are all better for knowing him, and we will all be better legislators for having served with him.

Lamine Swann served in the 93rd Statehouse district in southern Fayette County.

Former Kentucky Secretary of state and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Alison Lundergan Grimes has been fined $10,000 for violating state laws while in office.

Today, the state's executive Branch Ethics Commission announced the findings of a year long investigation.

The agency says Grimes violated the law when she asked state workers to download voter registration data onto flash drives for her personal use.

An attorney for Grimes reacted to today's ruling.

In a statement, he said, quote, Although the commission admits that it did not prove two of its charges, Secretary Grimes believes that the commission was required to dismiss its complaint in full and will be seeking review of the commission's decision by the Franklin Circuit Court, end quote.

Grimes served two terms as Kentucky's secretary of state from 2011 to 2019.

She ran against but lost to Senator Mitch McConnell in 2014 for U.S. Senate.

Grimes has 30 days to appeal today's ruling.

Time now for our end of week review of the major political developments in Kentucky, i.e., the Kentucky governor's primary.

And we have our election night commentator is back.

They can't get enough of Katie and we can't get enough of them.

Trey Grayson, Bob Savage, good to see you.

Good to see you again.

They know who you are by now.

Yeah, I can go all of the formalities.

Okay.

So take aways from Tuesday.

Go.

Well, Cameron won by more than people expected.

Gave an impressive election night speech and went a long way to, I think, unifying the party.

Which is what is the first step when you're challenging an incumbent governor.

The other thing is I'd say no real surprises on the Republican side from the outcomes.

So those are probably my top two takeaways.

So you, Bob, about Coral's coming in second and Kelly Craft a distant third.

Was that surprising to you?

As It was surprising to a lot of people What you saw, though, with a 12 person field, people were saying, gosh, you could win the Republican nomination was a third of the vote.

So that kind of became a mark you had to pass.

You could have the that Cameron would have 40%, but nobody saw 48% come.

I've never heard anything like that.

That was a major move at the end of the race.

So now everybody's talking about who is he going to pick as his running mate.

And everyone a lot of people in the political bubble say, of course it would be Ryan Corales.

Does Ryan Crosby even want it?

Right.

Well, that's a threshold question.

It's not a great job, you know.

And why is it a great job?

Well, so since we switched to governors and lieutenant governors running together in the fall and we just tweaked the rule this year, now you don't pick your running mate up.

You won the primary.

No lieutenant governor has really gone on to do anything.

And the most times, many times anyway, it seems like they've had a falling out before the before the next election or before the time in office was up.

So.

So there's maybe a political argument for not wanting to be a lieutenant governor.

So it could be the coral's doesn't want to do it.

He might think there's other things, but if I were Daniel Cameron, I would give him a strong look.

I mean, he I think I wasn't surprised.

He ultimately was second place, but he was he was he has a strong rural base, a lot of endorsements across the state.

He works really hard and he can stay on message.

And one of the things you want on a running mate is a surrogate who can go around.

The other thing and this is important to me, I want somebody who could be the Governor Ryan calls could be the governor.

He could if something were to happen to Cameron, Corales could step into that governor's chair and nobody would nobody would hesitate to say, oh, he's of course he's qualified.

So I think that's an important element, too.

But there's other considerations.

There's gender, there's geography.

Right.

But as far as bridging the party together, Quiroz brings a lot to the table, more so than a Kraft board as a lieutenant, probably candidate.

Yeah.

Urban.

Rural is important in every state, including this one.

But I hear people say I like Rand, so I could work with Rand Paul's, and that's across the board.

To have that level of popularity makes him a valuable person.

Whether he's chosen as lieutenant governor or not, he will be a factor for the future.

As I heard Al Cross, though, put it today on a local NPR station.

It's kind of, though, the kind of job where the governor says job, and you just ask how high the squirrels want that, right?

He might not.

Yeah, he may want to be a university president as I've suggested, as he suggested.

I think he would be excellent in that role some place in our state, and he could have perhaps even gone outside it.

But let's hang onto him.

Yeah.

Think we gave him three different jobs.

An election education commission.

The third one.

I think that's a credit to what we think of him and what a lot of Kentuckians think.

Even those who didn't vote for him first, you know, if he were he had multiple choices, of course, was well-liked by a wide swath of the electorate.

Now, Coleman has grown in the job for for sure.

Jacqueline Coleman.

Absolutely.

So, yes, you do get some of the leftover assignments.

Governor goes to this big group and you may go to a smaller one, but there's so many opportunities out there and so many needs to be present to cut a ribbon or welcome a company or any number of other things.

They're more ceremonial.

And there's the policy side, too.

And her coming from education accruals, coming from agriculture, a huge part of our economy, it would make sense to have somebody like that.

What do you make of the 14 plus percent voter turnout, which is higher than the ten that I think was the low bar?

It only looks good because we were thinking it was going to be top of the day.

It's still not a high number, Right.

But it's better to be wrong and and be a little bit under.

When I when we were you had to do the same thing.

When we make these predictions, we're kind of like, all right, absentees, whether we're hearing I don't really know.

Right.

So you always want to be wrong on the low side.

And so because you'd rather not be surprised, that would be even more so 14 a little bit better than expected.

One of the real challenges is that there wasn't a lot for Democrats to do that created less buzz, less turnout on their side.

And there is this sort of symbolism where, you know, they kind of higher Republican turnout, higher interest works.

And, you know, on the Democratic side, too, and just didn't get that push.

Right.

They weren't going to get a Democratic turnout for this election.

Yeah, but I kept hearing 20% over and over again that when Secretary State said it's going to be 10 to 15, I thought that's that's terrible.

And it is terrible.

It's not a good showing.

And even with a record breaking number of Republicans, that 300,000, there are a whole lot that didn't vote that have to be mobilized for the fall if there's a chance.

And for Democrats, it was an easy skip because everything counts in the fall.

There's also a lot of Election Day voting.

I was actually a poll worker on Saturday in Boone County, and we had fewer people vote on Saturday than we did on Friday or on Thursday.

And I was talking with some other clerks in the lead up to the election and they were seeing similar very light turnout, one or 2% of the electorate going into the Election Day.

So we saw a much higher percentage of folks coming up on Election Day, which I know whether that's because Republicans tend to vote more on Election Day because of habits, maybe still unfamiliarity with the new opportunities to vote early.

But that early voting turnout was low.

But it might have caused us to think that the ten was going to be correct and it's still worth it.

Early voting?

Yes.

What's it for sure?

We've got to stick with it.

So we started the general election campaign in earnest.

We've already got ads up.

There's a PAC ad already against Daniel Cameron.

There was.

I don't think you're calling it a unity event today.

Yeah, Republicans are.

Real quickly, tell us how that's shaped, how that checked out.

Well, all the ticket for all of the ticket members, the Republicans were at RPK headquarters and on today.

Also, the governor started a statewide tour in addition to the ads in 12 cities.

And I know there's they're working on getting an event schedule where all the gubernatorial candidates will get together.

I'm not worried about that event.

As a Republican, I know that's going to happen.

But getting that that ticket together was a good earned media opportunity that we had today.

And beshears that's not bad because that's how bad.

He's also already started fundraising, had a great week such that Cameron blasted out an email saying, I'm $650,000 behind and we're barely 72 hours from the election.

So we are definitely into the fall election and may stay at a higher torque, a higher participation for the candidates and their teams from here on.

Yeah, we can never get enough in.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Chris.

Thank you, Bob.

Thank you for you.

So when politics collides with sports, you get Matt Jones, the founder and host of Kentucky Sports Radio, has flirted with running for political office, first against Andy Barr in the sixth Congressional District race in 2016 and later against U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell in 2020.

So why didn't he?

Here's what he says.

I thought Mitch McConnell still think Mitch McConnell needed to be replaced.

I sort of looked at it and thought maybe I'm the one person that would have a shot.

It's very, very difficult to beat him, obviously.

And I really considered I almost did it.

To be honest with you, I would do it.

I don't think I would do it now.

I remember thinking I'm either going to do it now when I'm young, not married, you know, have the energy for it.

I thought the contrast between me and Mitch McConnell was a good one.

His strengths, his weaknesses.

I thought I could.

So I came very close.

I was probably 55, 45.

No.

And I almost did it.

But once I decided not to do that, I kind of thought, I probably won't.

You know, that was the time to take out the Senate majority leader as a radio host would have been a heck of a thing.

I know I won't say never, but I think it would be very unlikely for me to do it.

I talk more politics and some sports with KSR, as am my Jones for a full half hour Sunday at noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central right here on Katie's connections and the final part of our interview series with the new University of Louisville president Dr. Kim Schatz.

All our Chip Paulson talks with her about how she sees you evolve, helping to address societal issues facing the Louisville community and how she's been accepted in her new role.

So you're leading the state's largest metropolitan university research university, rather, in Kentucky.

What do you see, Dr. Schatz, as the university's role in addressing community issues, whether it be racial discord or gun violence?

What, if anything, can the university do to help mitigate and solve some of those problems that Louisville right here has is issues.

So I really see it as a three pronged approach.

One is, is the fact of the research that we can provide in terms of those areas, both policy research as well as to provide a better understanding, for example, of criminal justice in terms of recidivism, in terms of folks that are that are incarcerated, how we can be able to bring them back into society as as members.

You know, I talk about health equity, health disparities to be able to do research in terms of population health.

We have tremendous faculty that do work in that area that can inform the decision making of the policymaking, both locally as well as nationally.

That's happening.

The second piece I see is our students.

I feel strongly in the fact that increasing the educational attainment for the Commonwealth of Kentucky and for the City of Louisville is a priority of mine.

Higher has gotten a bad rap lately nationally, you know, people are questioning the value of a college degree.

Folks graduated with a college degree versus not their lifetime earnings is a million and a half dollars more than someone that doesn't have it.

Their unemployment rate is 2% compared to people with a high school degree of 8%.

They divorce less, they vote more.

They're more engaged in their community.

They have, you know, 80% of the jobs that are going to be created over the next 20 years are going to require college degrees.

So by being able to produce talent for the state, as well as to be able to provide for many accessible pathways for people to complete their degrees addresses a lot of the root causes of the kinds of issues we're looking at with health care disparities, social injustice, as well as gun violence.

So it's a commitment and it's a it's an answer that higher education provides.

The third is convening is to be able to partner.

You know, I think it's terrific to work with Metro Council.

The mayor and I have had several conversations about what we can do to partner together.

We have many partners that I'm meeting with around around Louisville, around the Commonwealth.

Universal Health is a tremendous partner to us and kind of the work that we do.

So to be able to partner with folks, to be able to address these concerns, other organizations and whether they be governmental business or nonprofits.

The more that we can bring to the table to work together, it can be one plus one equals ten, and we need ten X kind of responses to these critical needs.

So as a convener and as a facilitator, we bring a lot to the table.

In the months that you've been you of all President, you've embarked on a listening tour to kind of soak up what you can about the university.

What are you hearing?

What's the feedback that you're getting when you talk to people?

Well, the feedback has been, as I said, tremendously positive.

The love of the university, the respect for the university, the desire for the university to step into these spaces has been present and continues to be present.

You know, I've probably had about 30 listening sessions, probably talked to over 1200, maybe 1500 individuals both on and off campus students, faculty, staff, alumni, business and community leaders, nonprofits, both in Frankfort as well as in D.C. And all of them have spoken about the impact that the university makes and how they want to support the university doing more.

You know, the other piece that I learned about it is culture.

You know, I was specifically looking to the fact that better understanding the culture of the university as well as the culture of Louisville as well as the commonwealth.

I don't think that you can lead effectively if you don't understand the context and the culture that you're in.

So people sharing their time with me, it was a gift to me to understand more.

And I know that I know more about you overall, and I know more about the city and know more about the Commonwealth than when I started.

So I feel we feel very at home right now and are really looking to be here for a very long time.

Final question in your introductory news conference, one of the greatest things I've seen in a news conference in a long time, a reporter tried to make an issue of your age and coming into the office.

How did you respond to that?

I told them that I had recently run a half marathon in 2 hours and 19 minutes and welcomed him joining me any single time.

Well, for some context, you were 30 years older than me and you would have beat me by 4 minutes the last time I ran one.

So congratulations, Dr. Shantel, welcome to Kentucky.

Thanks so much.

It's just a pleasure to be here.

Thanks again.

Glad to have you, Renee.

Back to you.

Thank you, Chip.

Dr. Seattle's first day on the job was in February, and she's set to be sworn in officially as the president on September the 29th.

New Frontier is a clothing company born in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with their flagship store in Moorhead.

They've set out to change the game and outdoor apparel.

Their next venture is something new clean jeans or as they like to call it, circular denim.

We started a new frontier initially wanting to provide something that wasn't here in the region, which was a clothing brand that celebrated not just Eastern Kentucky, but Appalachia as a whole.

So, you know, that was the whole goal early on, is to create something here in the region that that resonated.

We design and create all of our own products.

We like to focus on like the same gear that goes comfort on the go, whether it be tech shorts, you know, athleisure, joggers, technical, technical stretch flannels, circular denim to make products that, you know, are for your everyday journey.

And, you know, make sense for your everyday life.

Not just making something to make something, but making things with the purpose.

You can get a lot of uses out of.

So New Frontier circular denim is essentially recycled jeans and the term circular when it comes to new frontier circular is in how they're made in the manufacturing process.

So in simple, the jeans that I have on could be recycled and put into a new product that would make these jeans.

So that's what makes the product circular in the sense that, you know, why do why do we even put, you know, these new frontier circular jeans out is because, you know, fast fashion is one of the biggest polluters in the world, you know, just producing clothing and it ends up in landfills or being burned as waste.

So, you know, this is one step in a direction towards sustainability for us at New Frontier.

Besides them being made of recycled jeans.

The manufacturing process requires like 94% less water to produce, 75% less CO2 emissions to produce.

And they're also made with, like I said, recycled cotton, but organic cotton too, which means they come from clean farms and clean cotton farms.

So, you know, this is truly a clean product.

I think it's very important to be conscious of our environment and our natural beauty here in Kentucky and taking care of our mountains and our hills and our rivers streams.

You know, all of that is very important to us and other people growing into this area is known for being, you know, gritty, tough, hard working people.

And for us to take a forward thinking idea like sustainable denim and to be running it forward, you know, we represent everybody here.

It's a mission.

It's not a it's not a one year thing that the goal is to, you know, to build this here in Kentucky, in eastern Kentucky and in the region.

But, you know, make it nationwide.

Well, what we would like to do is to become one of the most sustainable brands in America from right here in Kentucky, a good product with a great cause.

Although there are circular denim, products are on sale now, there will be a formal launch of the line this fall.

Plenty of outdoor activities to keep you busy this weekend.

Our Toby Gibbs has a few ideas and our look at what's up around the Commonwealth.

Enjoy some old fashioned fun as the checkered flag drops in Willmar this Saturday for the seventh year, the coaster car derby invites kids of all ages to take part in this 100 year old sport and race to the finish line to see who will come out on top.

Shop Small this Saturday at the spring market on Main in Henderson.

Browse for antiques, hand-crafted goods, food, sweet treats and more from countless artisans and hand crafters alike.

Enjoy a fun filled forest Day in Louisville this Saturday.

Forest Fest is full of bluegrass, music, arts and crafts vendors, a climbing wall, nature play, family activities, music workshops and so much more.

Park yourself in Columbus this Saturday for National Kids to Park Day.

Hike the trails, Try your hand at some mini golf, the U.S. Civil War reenactment and more, all while enjoying the beautiful outdoors of Kentucky.

Or can you get some early Christmas shopping done while grabbing some goat snuggles and enjoying some pony rides?

The Benton Farm Spring Fling and Craft show in Walton has all that and more this weekend with over 130 vendors, food trucks, live music and more.

This is one weekend you don't want to miss.

The 10th annual Art in the Park is in Litchfield this Saturday, featuring local and regional artists and authors, tasty treats from local vendors, music and more.

There's a little something for everyone.

The Good Times and soulful Saturday Food Truck and Business Festival will bring together a number of delicious food, truck and drink options with local businesses for a day to support and socialize with the community.

Lou From tree to downward dog to warrior pose at the Kentucky Yoga Festival and Center this weekend, enjoy three days of yoga, music, art, food, workshops, speakers, children's activities and more in this family friendly event.

Stay calling burger lovers everywhere.

Burger Week starts in Ashland next week.

Ten different restaurants will try their hand at making the most creative burger for all to taste in hopes of climbing the coveted Burger Week trophy.

So make sure to bring your taste buds and enjoy this classic American meal.

And that's what's happening around the Commonwealth.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

From goat snuggles to the downward dog, Toby Gibbs.

This got you covered.

Changing directions and life can be easier said than done.

We all say that people, when they get out of jail or out of recovery, they need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

The reality of it is, is that the private sector decides that they're going to put barriers on jobs, on housing and opportunities.

Every day there's a program that simulates what it's like for people to try to reenter society.

Some obstacles you might not expect.

Monday on Kentucky Edition, which we hope will see you for 630 Eastern, 530 Central.

Thank you for joining us this week.

Have a great weekend.

I'm Renee Shaw and I will see yo right back here Monday night.

Make it a good one.