I feel like this week is my Super Bowl week.

I come every day.

I dress up every day.

We're off to the races for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

The expectation was, you know, to be educated in and get to those barriers and break them and open up the doors for, you know, mixed races like myself.

Four generations of one family have now graduated from the University of Kentucky.

But it wasn't easy.

Just even a minute or two with a dog can make such a difference.

Meet the dogs that make healing fun at Norton Children's Hospital.

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 into this Kentucky edition on Friday, Cinco de Mayo.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for starting off your weekend with us.

Tomorrow is the day when the eyes of the world are on Kentucky.

But Derby week has been a rough one this time around.

Another horse has been scratched from tomorrow's Run for the Roses.

Skinners Trainer says the colt won't race because of a high temperature.

That makes four horses scratched from the Derby the first time that's happened since 2015.

Two of those horses were scratched because their trainer Saffie Joseph Junior, was suspended indefinitely by Churchill Downs.

Two of the trainers horses died on the track after races in recent days investigated.

Others have yet to find a cause for the deaths.

The sudden deaths come as the horse racing industry attempts to set standards for the sport, new drug testing and medication rules will take effect May 22nd, two days after the Preakness fought is the 3 to 1 favorite for the Derby tomorrow.

Today, though, it's all about the Kentucky Oaks.

The races began at 1030 this morning.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to Churchill Downs, where she spoke with fans about what brings them back to the track time and time again.

It is an absolutely beautiful day for the 149 Kentucky Oaks.

Tens of thousands of people packed into Churchill Downs here in Louisville to see the fillies race for the Lilies.

Also the Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade.

You see a lot of pink here today.

That is to honor breast cancer survivors.

We've been talking to people about their fashion choices, also their betting strategy.

People here today ready to have a good time.

I love horse racing and there's a bucket list item going to be my 70th birthday coming up.

And I'm out here with a couple of my buddies and just having a good time.

But you got to wear pink today, right?

I feel like this week is my Super Bowl week.

I just come every day.

I dress up every day.

I'm just here to have a good time.

We've always wanted to come and we finally decided we could not wait any longer.

Seeing the people looking at all of the dress that people are wearing today and the weather is absolutely wonderful today.

We've enjoyed watching a couple of horse races already and looking forward to the next one.

It's just so much fun and it's really an honor to have such a fun event in our city.

And I feel like we've had such heart events in our city lately.

It's really great to see so many people having a really great time.

We just want to come and enjoy the horse races for the day and have a good time.

Represent Kentucky.

It's a beautiful day.

I just want to be part of Kentucky tradition.

People ready to have a good time here today.

And of course, now we move ahead tomorrow, the Kentucky Derby, the run for the roses.

This is the biggest day of the year and the Bluegrass State.

And do not miss our special program tonight inside the Kentucky Derby.

That's at nine eight Central right here on KCET for Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you, Laura.

Looks like you're having a good time as well.

And we'll have a look at tomorrow's Kentucky Derby festivities Monday on Kentucky Edition.

Kentucky State University and Frankfort now has its three presidential finalists.

That's after Christopher Brown resigned in July of 2021 over concerns about CSU's financial stability.

Ronald Johnson has served as interim president since then.

His contract expires in June.

The three presidential finalists are Kofi, a Akoko current president and chief executive officer at Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

Gerald Hunter, vice president for Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Norfolk State University in Virginia.

And Robert Mock, Junior Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

COVID 19 is no longer a global emergency.

The World Health Organization says the pandemic has been on a downward trend for more than a year, and now the worst of the pandemic is over.

The World Health Organization declared an emergency more than three years ago, January 30th, 2020.

As of Wednesday, more than 6.9 million people have died of COVID.

The U.S. had 1.1 million deaths and there were 18,000 COVID related deaths in Kentucky.

Now, in campaign news, it's 11 days before the May 16th primary.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Republican candidate for Governor Kelly Kraft, loaned her campaign $2.25 million in the last 15 days.

The newspaper says she's loaned herself more than $9 million since the campaign started.

She has more cash on hand than any of her Republican rivals, according to the Herald later.

Kraft is also responding to yesterday's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by one of her opponents, Eric Dieter's.

He claims she was not a valid candidate for governor because she had not lived in Kentucky the last six years as required by the state constitution and court.

She produced documents that satisfied him.

And the judge dismissed the case.

Here's a statement from Kraft, quote, This frivolous lawsuit reaffirms what everyone already knew.

Kellie Kraft is a Kentucky resident.

It's a shame that Eric Dieter's desperate.

Daniel and his super PAC have been shopping around these bogus claims for months and that some people sadly took the bait.

They could have been talking about Kentucky's future.

The Kraft campaign has the momentum heading into the May 16th primary, and these baseless, baseless accusations have not and will not distract Kelly or Kentuckians from the issues that matter and quote.

Time now for our end of week wrap up of some major political developments in Kentucky.

And we have a dynamic duo with us today.

We have Jonathan Miller, a Democrat and former state treasurer and former cabinet secretary.

And on the right side of the screen, we have Sean Stoddard, who is the communications director for the Republican Party of Kentucky.

Good to have you, gentlemen.

Great to be here.

Can you believe how close we are to May 16th?

And we should say we're recording this conversation on Thursday because we know that The Oaks is a very popular time in Kentucky.

So we want you guys to enjoy.

But we're just days down from May 16th.

And Sean, I have to ask you, like the intensity is really building not just at the top, but the down ballot as well.

But let's talk about the kind of race that's now happening in the governor's primary with the Republicans.

Well, all the actions on the Republican side as as you know, we flipped the voter registration to be majority Republican for the first time ever last year.

And we are seeing a lot of energy on the Republican side of the coin this year.

And so iron sharpens iron.

We're having lots of discussions, arguments and debates about who are nominees will be all the way from the governor's race all the way down to our state treasurers race.

And so it's an exciting time to be a Republican.

But I think a lot of Republicans are looking forward to selecting the nominee so that we can all unify behind whoever that person will be as we head into November.

Do you have those commitments that that will actually happen?

We're working on it.

I think it's always primaries are an interesting process and we've seen Democrat primaries in the past be raucous.

And I think that we're looking forward to unifying behind whoever our nominees are here in a few weeks.

So, Jonathan, I have to ask you, when you hear that voter registration now has flipped where there are 50,000 more registered Republicans and Democrats, did that strike any kind of fear and the incumbent governor, Andy Beshear?

This has been a red state.

We've we've got many folks that are still registered Democratic, that vote Republican.

But Andy Beshear has been a different type of governor and he was able to prevail four years ago.

He's one of the most popular governors in the country.

And we think he's going to succeed regardless of the partizan affiliation of the state.

On the Republican side, you have a lot of competitive candidates, but there doesn't seem to be much daylight between them when it comes to the issues.

And that's what you want, right?

Yeah, they're all right of center Republicans.

They're all conservative Republicans.

They largely agree on tax reform, on education policy, on working with the General Assembly and not suing them all the time.

And so I think that whoever our nominee is going to be is going to be a reasonable bread and butter kind of conservative Republican candidate that all members of the Republican Party can support.

So speaking of lawsuits, we know that one of the candidates, Eric Peters, had filed a lawsuit in federal circuit court against Kelly Craft based challenging her residency, and that was dismissed on Thursday.

These things happen, right?

What should you make of that kind of thing for voters who see this and hear this?

Well, I think, again, it's a primary process.

So you're going to see lots of arguments and discussions be borne out here as we head towards that.

And people are making their last minute arguments that they should be the person.

And so I think as we head forward, we're going to we're going to see what happens and follow all the all the developments that will occur here in the next few weeks.

So we're all waiting for a big October surprise, but a may surprise, right?

We're waiting for that thing that may have happened like 215 in 2015, Right.

When Matt Bevin was able to come in and split the support between how Hiner and James Comer.

So we're looking to see what that might be.

Is it too late for something like that to drop and change the dynamics of the race if we have another debate like the one you moderated?

You never know.

And by the way, fantastic job of dealing with those personalities.

But, you know, there is a lot a lot of time between now and the 16th, a lot of time for more negative ads and more stunts like whether it's Eric Peters stunt or the stunt, trying to get Daniel Cameron on ethics violation.

And I think you'll see more of that.

And the more antagonism on the Republican side, the better it is for Andy Beshear, state treasurer is right now.

No offense, Mr. former state treasurer, but for this race to be as intense as it is, I think many people would be surprised by an office that many had long ago said should be abolished and just consumed by some other agency.

Now it's one of the ones to watch.

Well, I think recent Treasurer's made it plain it is, it is the most important job.

And in Frankfort, at least in my household.

Yes, but, but you know, it's a really interesting dynamic you have in this Republican race because you've got sort of an establishment conservative in Alaska with a Liberty candidate and a Cooper rider.

And then Mark Metcalf perhaps playing the role you talk before of these to attack each other so much, he might be able to run up the middle and win election.

So it is a former treasurer.

I'm enjoying at least seen a lot of attention to the race.

Yeah, your thoughts on it.

It's really has been interesting.

And we were talking about this earlier about it's become one of the most expensive primaries in our state's history and you wouldn't normally pick out the state Treasurer's office to be one of those.

But there's a lot of spending going on and the candidates are traveling the state making their case.

And I think there are some distinctions between these candidates.

So if you missed the State Treasurer appearance, that was on April the 24th, we had those three gentlemen here go back and watch that.

Katie, that slash K-Y tonight, shameless plug.

Secretary of state's race at the time we talked on Thursday there was a piece in Kentucky dot com or Herald-Leader that said you know Secretary Adams says I could lose which is an interesting admission.

I think that's odd, but it certainly is a diversity of viewpoints there in that race as well.

And I saw that Secretary Adams is now up on a TV with campaign commercials.

Some of the other candidates are, too.

And so I think that as we get closer here that we're going to look to the airwaves to see what are the final messages coming out of that campaign in that primary.

So we people really rely on ads, right?

I mean, which some of us we'd shake our heads about.

But we all hate big spending.

We all hate negative ads, but they really do work.

And that's secretary of state's race.

It's it's an amalgam of what's happening on the national level.

The Republican Party.

You got Adams who who who admitted that the elections are safe here in the state.

And opponents are trying to bridge these conspiracy theories.

And it'll be interesting to see what the primary voters say.

Yeah, he had admitted when he made those pandemic related reforms that it could you know, he could pay a price for that.

So we'll have to see how all of that shakes up.

I'm going to ask Jonathan who you got your money on for the Republican primary for governor.

That's almost as unfair as anything else.

I mean, since here in this season of, you know, they're all believe it or not, they're all friends of mine.

And I have to think that Daniel Cameron has the advantage.

He has the the polling lead.

And and I thought he did great on your debate the other night.

But Kelly Kraft certainly has got the resources.

And I've always been talking about Ryan quarrels again, that Bevin role coming up in the middle with the two lead candidates attacking each other.

Perfect politician's answer, right, Sean?

Because you know, that does put him in a different position.

But it is something to watch and we will be watching it in the days to come because we're almost there.

Gentlemen, good to have you.

Great to be with you.

Ellis Wilson was a Mayfield born African-American artist who brought color and everyday life experiences to life on the canvas during a time of racial segregation.

Jane Moore Waldrop recently wrote a children's book, A Journey in Color The Art of Ellis Wilson, which tells the story of Wilson's life.

I sat down with Ms.. Waldrop to talk about her book and the incredible art and life of Mr. Wilson.

I grew up in western Kentucky, also in Paducah, which is about 20 miles from Mayfield.

And I had never heard of Alice Wilson, the artist, and I had also studied art history at the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate.

And I had not been taught about Alice Wilson.

So when I discovered him well into middle age, I was really inspired and intrigued by his story, and I wanted to know more about him.

He wanted to be an artist, and he made that commitment to become an artist.

In 1919, when he was accepted to attend the Art Institute of Chicago, though he was one of the few African-American students there.

He completed his degree there.

His journey continued on to New York City and he became an important part of the Harlem Renaissance art community and the culture of of art.

There really motivated him and encouraged him.

And he became an important part of that community.

Mm hmm.

He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship twice in the 1940s, one of the first African-American artists to receive the Guggenheim.

And in his applications, he talked about that he wanted to paint everything of beauty.

Mm hmm.

He wanted to paint that there was so much to paint, so little time, which is, I think, reveals a lot about his personality.

He wanted to paint other African-Americans in living their daily lives, and I think he did so with such dignity and respect and honesty for people, you know, working in auto factories, fishermen, women struggling with their children, just living their lives.

But he captured them with such beauty and such vivid colors that I think if you look at his art, you study his art, you see that he really did see the world in a beautiful and different way, a unique way.

Despite his acclaim and his talent, it was still very difficult to make a living as an artist, I think, especially because during segregation, that segregation even included art galleries.

Right.

And and opportunities to sell art.

So I think that's an important part of the history that we need to recognize.

And I think it's important for children to see that he was inspired as a child, as a child, and that perhaps they, too, can stay true to their calling.

You can see more of my interview with Jane Moore Waldrop by going to our Web site.

You can stream it online on demand at Kate Borges Connections.

Graduation season is in full swing around the Commonwealth for one University of Kentucky family.

That means adding another degree to their nearly 100 year family legacy of persistence in higher education.

I would think some words that come to my mind for me are persistence, also determination.

Education was just an expectation in my grandparents house.

So started off with my the first generation of four generations so far.

It starts off with my great grandmother.

Great saying that she tried some extension courses here at UK before you could even integrated.

And then the second generation would be embers hen it came and then Eileen hit it.

He is my great uncle and he was the first African American to graduate from Duke's law school.

The third generation was my parents.

And the cool thing about her, she.

She let nothing stop her.

She was legally blind, couldn't drive.

She many times had to walk to school where the snow, rain, sleet, summertime.

She walked and she finished that degree to her masters, became a teacher.

And then the fourth generation be my sister, make her work with and then my cousin, Matthew Davis.

And then I'm also part of that first generation.

I'll be receiving my doctor of education, the four generations there, and maybe more to come later with the nieces and nephews.

And I've got a daughter and son on the way.

So we have pandemic.

I may have a child during the pandemic in 2020, and they apparently, again, this time trying to finish the degree.

So many obstacles to me that could have stopped me.

But and I think that close family knit and the support of family makes a big difference as well.

My grandmother, Ambriz and Uncle Alan had, you know, depression and racism.

I don't think my grandmother or my Uncle Alan ever thought like, I'm never going to have get an education or I'm going to stop because it gets hard.

You know, expectation was, you know, to be educated and and get those barriers and break them and open up the doors for, you know, next generations like myself, in addition to being a mom two times over, you can officially add Dr. to Ashley Nicole's name as she earned that title earlier today.

Congrats to her.

Hailed Dog Heal, a program at Norton Health Care and Norton Children's is changing the hospital experience.

The program uses highly trained facility dogs to provide comfort and support to patients and their families.

And today's look at medical news.

We went to Norton Children's Hospital to learn more about these furry employees and how they're improving patient care.

I always had a love personally for animals and just their healing power.

When people are anxious or stressed and I noticed that children's hospitals were adding full time dogs to their their hospital teams and so just went to our administrative team and asked them how they felt about us looking more into starting a program like that.

We have 11 working full time dogs in our hospitals.

Six of them are in pediatric areas and five of them are in our adult areas.

They work about 30 to 40 hours a week and the dogs are paired with a handler and visit our patients and families and staff every day.

We've trained Can you even have.

Luna is one of our facility dogs that we have two handlers, me and Taryn.

We've been working a full time about at the Novak Center and at the Children's Hospital.

Our goal is to make the hospital less scary and normalize the experiences that they're going through.

And Luna is just an extension of that so we can help make this big experiences more manageable and in child friendly ways, whether that be to bring cheer and have a little bit of excitement by Luna showing how she can spin around and do some fun tricks, or if that's to sit in a patient's bed and be cuddling.

The dogs are able to reduce anxiety and stress, blood pressure.

We're able to get our kiddos to be a little more compliant with things, you know, after surgery.

If we need to get them up and walking, they can walk the dog.

That's a lot more fun.

If we have a kiddo who might not want to put on their hospital gown, we can dress the dog up in a hospital gown if they're getting an I.V.

or a blood draw or something that might be kind of scary or stressful.

We can do some medical play.

Utilizing our facility dogs.

Luna's done IV starts.

She helps out with patients during procedural support and also with medicine taking.

Sometimes kids don't like to try take their medicine, and it's a little scary, especially when they're at the hospital.

But Luna helps reduce that fear by taking her oral medicine first, taking some water and drinking that through a syringe.

So the kids know that Elena did this.

I can do this, too.

We want to add just some fun to the hospital experience and especially our patients that have to come back frequently.

We want them to not be so scared and not dread coming back, but get excited to come back like, Oh, I'm going to get to see my dog.

Totally better.

Yellow dress.

A lot of people say it makes it a little bit easier to come to the clinic or come to the hospital knowing that they will have a chance to see Luna.

No matter where she is.

She's brightening people's days, just even a minute or two with a dog can make such a difference.

I would have asked to have this program here a long time ago if I knew just the positive response and all the support that we've gotten.

Each of the dogs have a very unique personality and they and their handler done such an amazing job.

I'm really proud of the entire team.

Just another reason why dogs are humans.

Best friend Heather Store says that all of their facility dogs were trained by PAWS with purpose.

It's a Louisville based organization that partners with the Kentucky Women's Correctional Institution to train service dogs.

It's the first week in May, and you have plenty of ways to enjoy the Kentucky Derby.

Toby Gibbs has a few of them.

And this look at what's happening around the Commonwealth.

The most exciting 2 minutes in racing is this Saturday, but it goes beyond Churchill Downs, Kincade Lake State Park, and Falmouth is hosting Derby Day dashes for kids of all ages.

Dress in your derby best, make your own horse out of crap materials and then run for the roses.

The Monticello market is kicking off its 2023 season with a kids festive Saturday.

There will be lots of free activities for youngsters and plenty of fun food and shopping for the grown ups.

So march on down to Monticello and check it out.

Pony on over to Lisbon and not County for the spring trail ride this weekend with horse shows, live music, kids activities and more.

This family friendly event has something for everyone.

The River Town Fair is just around the Riverbend Advanced Park.

This Saturday, Downtown will be decked out with food trucks, a petting zoo ax, throwing a special military heroes, a banner dedication and so much more.

Enjoy the breeze in Benton this Saturday and the kick off the summer craft show shop til you drop at a number of vendors, get in some hops at the inflatables or enjoy some tasty treats at the food trucks for a day you won't want to miss.

Go back in time.

This weekend during Hopkinsville Civil War Living History event.

Get a taste of a day in the life of a Civil War soldier.

Watch as the unit performs drills and even get an opportunity to run through the Manual of Arms.

You might see some old fashioned fun happening in Calvert City this Saturday, as kites over Calvert returns.

Bring your own or craft one there as all are invited to join in sending a colorful kite up to the highest heights.

Love hunting for the perfect antique find.

What about the perfect bite of derby pie?

Well, Junk Fest day in Augusta has got it all this Saturday.

Check out the vintage and antique shopping, then go vote in the Derby Hat and derby tie contest to kick off the perfect Derby day.

Spring has sprung, but some seasons of another kind will be on display in Alberta next Monday.

Come and watch young performers display their educational achievements by playing Vivaldi's famous Viol Lexington's local coffee scene is coming alive next week for the fourth annual Coffee and Tea Week.

Starting on Sunday, more than 20 coffee shops will be offering unique featured drinks available for this week.

Only print out a guide and keep track of your new favorite local spots.

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

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you.

Toby Gibbs, one University of Kentucky graduate walking across the stage tomorrow had an odds defying journey.

10% of foster alumni will try to pursue higher education and 3% will graduate with a bachelor's degree and around 1% will actually graduate with a master's or higher.

How this former foster child is helping those behind her make the hard transition out of the system and into their future.

That story Monday night on Kentucky edition, which we hope we'll see you for at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, connect and Inspire.

It's been a pleasure to be in your homes this week.

Make it a great weekend to come.

Good luck on your derby pick and I will see you right back here Monday night at 630.

And for Kentucky tonight at eight.

Have a great one.