That doesn't catch anybody up.

Well, the first person I'm on in a role in the Cameron catch up plan is Andy Beshear, because the candidates square off again, this time in northern Kentucky.

Was there anything new to one?

And check out the home of a future school that will help students land the jobs of tomorrow.

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 Tuesday, October the 17th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for spending some of your Tuesday night with us.

For the second time in recent weeks, Kentucky's gubernatorial candidates shared the stage last night for another debate.

We began our election coverage at Northern Kentucky University, appearing last night on WCCO.

Democratic Governor Andy Bashir and his Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, debated topics including education, taxes and the current auto worker strike.

Each took a turn promoting their plans for improving public education.

Cameron discussed what he calls his catch up plan, which would, among other things, fund tutoring for kids suffering learning loss.

And he accused the governor of not doing enough to help students who fallen behind since schools were closed during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Bashir discussed his own plan for a pay raise for all public school personnel and continue to push for state funded pre-K. My opponent's catch out plan has vouchers in it, which would define tens of millions of dollars in our public schools.

Take money out of public schools and provide them to fancy private schools that didn't catch anybody up.

My plan an across the board 11% raise for every teacher, bus driver, mental health counselor.

If we want to catch our kids up in math, they have to have a math teacher.

And it's also time for universal pre-K for every four year old in Kentucky.

Well, the first person I'm on to enroll in the Cameron catch up plan is Andy Beshear, because it appears he has not read my policy.

My policy is about public education.

I want to make sure that our schools are the best version of themselves again.

I grew up in the heart and county school system.

My wife is a public school teacher, my sister in law, a public schoolteacher.

The majority of our students are in public schools.

And what Andy Beshear did in shutting down our schools for nearly two years is a shame.

And we need a governor that is going to lean into this issue to fight for our kids and make sure that they have the best education system here possible in Kentucky policy.

Both candidates also went toe to toe about the state's abortion policy, with each painting the other as being extreme.

As we've reported, Kentucky law currently bans most abortions.

Last night, Beshear pointed to Cameron's support for the law, which does not have exceptions for rape or incest.

Cameron, on the other hand, noted Bashir's veto of a bill that included restrictions on abortion for our kids.

And Andy Beshear is a sheep in Wolves clothing when it comes to the issue of life.

Here's a governor who vetoed a 15 week ban on abortion has signed a pledge saying that he wants taxpayers to pay for abortions.

His biggest contributor outside of Joe Biden is Planned Parenthood.

That is someone if we get the record straight, only the majority of Kentuckians will not like his position on the issue of life.

Since the moment I started running for attorney general almost nine years ago.

I've been clear that I support reasonable restriction, especially on late term abortions.

But there's a reason that he wants to talk about that.

It's that our current trigger law is the most extreme in the country, and it doesn't even provide exceptions for victims of rape and incest, some as young as nine years old.

My opponent had 3 to 4 separate direct questions about whether he personally supported those exceptions and he would not say he does.

Social Services.

After the debate, Cameron laid out a list of reasons for thinking Andy Beshear is off.

Beshear laughed off the remarks and said he was okay with letting Kentuckians make up their own minds.

The people of Kentucky.

Well, I think it's crazy to have a governor here in Kentucky who openly endorses Joe Biden.

I think it's crazy to have this governor who fails to protect women's sports from biological males.

I think it's crazy to have this governor fail to cut our taxes, crazy to have this governor shut down our small businesses, our churches and our schools.

And it's crazy to have a governor who's let out 2000 criminals from jail and 50% of those have committed felony offenses.

That is crazy.

And I think the majority of Kentuckians think that that person should not be leading our state.

And that's why I'm running so hard to replace him.

He's running against somebody and not running for something.

I believe that we ought to run this race on our track records and what we want to do.

People of Kentucky know who I am.

They know this family and they know we care about every single citizen in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Meanwhile, I have an opponent that won't say that he supports exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

I'll let the people of Kentucky decide who's crazy and who's not.

Kentucky's general election is November 7th, and that's just three weeks from today.

Now, that's one of several meetings last night between Governor Andy Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

You'll see both of them right here next Monday, on October 23rd on Kentucky.

Tonight, we will talk about jobs, taxes, education, energy and other important issues that affect Kentucky.

And we want your questions and comments.

That happens all Monday night at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET last night on Kentucky.

Tonight, we heard from four political operatives, two from each party about how the races are going and the issues that could influence how people vote.

Here's part of last night's conversation about how COVID affected Kentucky's schools and businesses and about where the candidates stand on education.

There's no playbook for how to govern during a worldwide pandemic, right?

I don't.

We all know that.

Are there things when you look back at decisions that were made that could have been could have avoided some of these lingering effects and after effects that are going to take Kentucky years to dig out of?

Absolutely.

So that's why that's that's on the campaign trail for sure.

Anything else to add there, Miss Antler?

Yeah, I think Renee, what's interesting about some of the COVID discussion in the campaign has been how Daniel Cameron has used it to form his education plan, his comeback plan, and how he has made education more of a Republican issue again.

And now both candidates are talking about how they help public schools and public teachers.

So I'll leave that there.

I'm sure we'll have more commentary on that.

We'll go there.

But Attorney General Cameron has certainly used the opportunity to say I stand for public schools.

I also stand for public teachers.

That's not in the hands of one party or another.

We're all pro public schools.

Both of these candidates attended public schools and have a lot of public school ties.

And Cameron has a wife who's an educator.

That's right.

And a sister in law.

And so I think that it's been certainly informative to Kentucky voters to see that plan.

And how each leader would lead in that area.

And both would raise teacher wages, at least at the new teacher level.

Well, and the fact that General Cameron went to a targeted audience of school administrators and said, I'm sorry if Republicans have made you feel less than right, that may not have been persuasive, But I think many people in that room who I've talked to thought, well, attaboy for doing that.

Right.

And but it may not change any minds because what he's not saying is about school choice and about scholarship tax credits and about school vouchers.

That's in kind of muted tones.

Yeah.

I want to first say, during the pandemic, Governor Beshear saved lives, and that's all he cared about doing at the moment.

And you're right.

You're right.

There's no playbook.

He wrote it as he went.

And I am so grateful that we had a governor who was putting the lives of Kentuckians at the forefront of his agenda and did not care about political considerations and did what he could, what he thought was right as far as education goes.

I know I've also heard General Cameron talk about public education, but I've seen his plans and his plans are to funnel money out of the public school system.

And so it's great to talk about those things.

I like that he's saying those things, but his plans would do the opposite, and that's really concerning.

A caller to Kentucky tonight brought up another issue that hasn't really received much attention during this governor's race.

The police involved shooting death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020.

News coverage and grand jurors exposed the fact that Attorney General Cameron misled his own grand jury on potential charges that could have been brought against police in the Breonna Taylor case and that he did so in order to protect the police.

Should this be an issue in the governor's race?

And it hasn't really been it hasn't been as much as some thought.

I thought it would actually play a larger role.

There were several allegations in the way that that question was asked, I think.

But I will say this.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron followed the law.

Did the outcome satisfy every single Kentuckian?

Absolutely not.

Right.

That was in a horrible tragedy that rightfully rocked the city of Louisville and communities throughout Kentucky.

And it just.

There are lots of things where it shouldn't have ever happened.

Right.

But it has not really come up in this governor's race.

Quite honestly, I think it's been talked about enough where people just know.

Right.

If you're in Louisville and that issue is really important to you.

You've known that since day one, since the day that he jumped in the race.

So perhaps that's why we haven't seen as much pop up about that race be going after him on this.

Well, I it's not for me to really say what he should go after him on.

I mean, I think that that's their campaign strategist that we'll talk to that.

But I'm not sure that it's true to say that he that Daniel Cameron followed the law and that I mean, I've never seen a situation where grand jurors are coming out and say he lied to me.

His job was to present the evidence.

And and as far as I can tell, I mean, there's well, it's not what I can tell.

There are a lot of accusations that he didn't.

And so accusations.

And I think we just have to agree to disagree.

I mean, I say, well, no, I mean, if those accusations are true from the people in the room, from the grand jurors, I mean, I think it's a serious breach of the public trust at the very least.

So I think it's a valid issue in the campaign.

I can't I'm not going to question it was your strategy.

Sure.

So you can see more of last night's spirited discussion online on demand at ket dot org slash k y tonight.

Now turning to school safety developments.

The federal government is looking into claims made by a company that's installing high tech weapon detection systems.

And Kentucky's largest school district.

Louisville Public Media reports the company Evolv mentioned the Federal Trade Commission's investigation in a report made public last week.

According to the report, the FTC quote, requested information about certain aspects of the company's marketing practices.

End quote.

Evolv claims its systems can screen up to 1000 students and 15 minutes by using artificial intelligence to scan for weapons.

Earlier this year, the JCPenney's Board of Education approved plans to spend more than $17 million to have evolved systems installed.

The first systems will be installed later this fall.

The high tech tool is currently being used in other schools around the country, where there have been reports of detectors failing to catch weapons entering the building.

As we mentioned earlier, education was a big topic at last night's gubernatorial debate, but the candidates didn't mention virtual education.

Well, today, lawmakers in Frankfurt discuss the state of online schooling in Kentucky's public school districts.

Kentucky auditions June Leffler has more.

Virtual learning was a norm during the height of the pandemic, but Kentucky's education officials say online courses have been around for almost 20 years.

You know, virtual option became necessary and expanded through pandemic.

A lot of times our programs and our school districts are designed around an emergency strategy of a virtual online, virtual and remote learning.

What we're talking about today is very much not emergency based designs.

It's very much around intentional designs for high quality teaching and learning.

Just shy of 2% of Kentucky students elect to take classes online.

Kentucky's Education Department says its goal is to make virtual schools as competitive as any in-person school.

I think you'll see as a theme that we tried to keep the requirements of the regulations so that it treated kids basically like similar or the same as kids that were in-person.

That means teaching and testing to state standards as well as offering extracurricular activities.

The most important thing is, is placement is always voluntary.

This is not to be a warehouse for bad kids because you don't want to deal with them.

But this is a voluntary program for families and students that need or thrive in this sort of environment.

While some students might excel academically.

Republican state Representative Tammy Truet, who is also an elementary school principal, worries for kids cooped up in their homes.

Think back to to the pandemic, which I know bad, bad memories.

But you know.

DCB intakes and things like that went way down during those times.

You know why?

Because our teachers and our aides and our school employees weren't there to report some of these instances.

So I encourage us as a legislature and as, you know, Department of Education and Educators in general to have a way to set up to work.

Let's try to set some guardrails up for these.

Bad actors are not getting what they want.

I mean, if you've got a parent who wants to do this and I mean, because virtual instruction can be great.

It really can be.

But it could also be the worst thing a kid has to experience.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.

Representatives from Kentucky's newest virtual school also spoke.

Principal Sally Johnson runs the Kentucky Virtual Academy, which enrolled hundreds of students statewide this year.

The school is part of the Clover Port, Independent School District in Breckenridge County.

Something new is on the way to one of the largest school districts in Kentucky.

Warren County Public Schools broke ground last night on its new Impact Center for Leadership and Innovation.

It'll serve as a hub for students to collaborate using project based learning and advanced technology.

Officials say the center will work with industry and the public and offer training for jobs in engineering, health care and computer science.

To be able to utilize project based learning and to really provide the students with the challenge and allow them the freedom to try to figure out how to solve that challenge.

That's where our leaders are born, right?

It's through that ability to solve a problem, to communicate solutions and to help people move forward.

And that's exactly what's going to happen here, which is a completely new way of developing leadership and helping the next generation prepare for the jobs of the future.

Because, as you know well, they are coming here to this region of Kentucky.

We met with entrepreneurs and tech officials from not just across the country, but across the globe.

And technology is changing every day.

And one of the things that we want to do with this center is position ourselves where we're providing the latest and most updated technology for our students to ensure that they not only build their their skills and innovation and entrepreneurship and thinking critically and so forth, but then also the leadership where the impact center will serve students in grades seven through 12.

It sits on the side of the former Cumberland Trace Elementary School in Bowling Green, which moved to a new building in 2021.

Pivoting to national news as of late this afternoon.

The U.S. House still didn't have a speaker.

That's after a Congressman, Jim Jordan of Ohio failed to win enough votes in the chamber and the first vote around 1:00 this afternoon.

20 Republicans voted against him.

He won 200 votes, but he needed 217.

All five of Kentucky's Republicans voted for him.

A Congress woman from Indiana voted for Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky on the first ballot.

More votes are planned.

Jordan is the latest candidate for speaker.

About two weeks ago, you'll recall, the House ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

Some conservatives weren't happy with his support for a spending plan to keep the federal government open temporarily.

President Joe Biden will visit Israel tomorrow, a week and a half after a Hamas attack on Israel.

And the beginning of Israel's response.

U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, today praised the president for making the trip.

I was encouraged to hear that President Biden will visit Israel tomorrow as the Jewish state mourns the victims of the barbaric October 7th attacks.

And as Israel forces continue their work to root out the terrorists responsible.

It's important for the president to represent Israel's closest ally and bear witness to the destruction wrought by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and their patrons in Tehran.

Senator McConnell says America's and Israel's interests are intertwined and so must be the policies.

A rally connected to the fighting in the Mideast.

A get out the vote effort and a certain medicinal plant that's in short supply.

Our Toby Gibbs tells us more about those stories.

And our Tuesday look at headlines around Kentucky.

Dozens of people in support of the Palestinians rallied in Bowling Green over the weekend, calling for an end to the violence between Israel and Hamas militants.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports the gathering Sunday at Fountain Square Park featured chants, poems and a march.

Attacks between Israel and Hamas militants have led to the deaths of thousands, including an estimated 1400, during an October 7th music festival in Israel and an estimated 2450 after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

A nonpartisan group in Warren County is tasked with increasing voter turnout ahead of the November 7th election.

Cue Public Radio reports the Warren County fiscal Court created the 11 member task force to inform voters about where and when they can cast their ballots.

The initiative will use a social media campaign mailing list and banners across the county to fulfill its mission.

The group created in September will keep working until the presidential election in 2024.

The Daniel Boone National Forest will not be issuing permits for harvesting a plant used for medicinal purposes this year.

Moorhead State Public Radio reports that a part botanist said the ginseng plant seems to be decreasing in the forest due to animals, disease or people poaching the plant.

The plant has been exported for years across Kentucky.

The harvesting season typically runs from September 1st to December 1st.

Members of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association met last week for their 50th reunion and to cut the ribbon on the New River Rats exhibit.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports.

The exhibit at Bowling Green's Aviation Heritage Part Museum features memorials, artifacts, artwork and models dating back to 1967 when the group was founded.

The River Rats initial purpose was to coordinate aircrews flying over North Vietnam with headlines around Kentucky.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

With fall comes the beautiful autumn leaves, but it also marks the start of flu season.

This year, the state has launched a new tool to help keep Kentuckians informed about flu and other respiratory viruses.

That begins today's medical news.

Cover your cough dot K-Y dot gov is a new website for information on flu, COVID 19 and RSV.

Kentucky Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Stephen Stack says the move follows the CDC approach to help families find respiratory virus information in one place.

The website includes a respiratory virus data dashboard, which is updated weekly according to the site.

25 people in Kentucky have died from COVID since Labor Day.

The flu has caused only one death so far in the Commonwealth this year.

The Department for Public Health recommends Kentuckians follow the tips listed on the site to protect themselves and others this fall and winter.

Friends and admirers today paid tribute to the grand dame of Frankfort.

Judy Taylor, the Louisville native who became Kentucky's first woman to be a contract or paid lobbyist, passed away last week.

Now, her exact age was more closely held than many national security secrets, according to her obituary.

Taylor began her lobbying career with the Kentucky Association of Older Persons in 1976.

She was also the government affairs director at Keeneland for more than three decades.

A visitation and celebration of life were held today in the house chambers of the Kentucky Capitol, a rarity.

Instead of flowers, her family requested donations be made to the Kentucky State Police Foundation, where she was a long time board member.

From his experience as an athlete, broadcaster, entrepreneur and public servant, Jim Host has left an indelible imprint on national sports, as well as his home state of Kentucky.

Tonight, right here on Katie, we explore the life of the collegiate sports marketing pioneer.

Discover the principles and philosophies that led to his success.

Changed college sports from top to bottom.

In the process, he became easily one of the most influential figures in college sports.

There's a wide swath of collegiate athletics that really should look at Jim Austin and really examine the impact that he's had and turn around and thank him.

Well, Jim should be remembered as the father of college sports marketing.

Really.

And but more than that, he is such a passionate advocate for the state of Kentucky.

You see so much of his fingerprint.

You know, you look at the convention center in Lexington, you look at the horse park.

You look at the young center.

You look at so many.

You look at this governor's mansion.

He brought world equestrian games here.

It had never been in the United States before.

The first time ever.

I don't think Rupp Arena would have been built if it hadn't been for Jim.

But there's hardly anything that is worthwhile that has happened in Lexington that Jim Hobbs hasn't had a hand in it.

He truly is.

CAMPBELL Kentucky legend.

Kentucky legend, indeed.

This one hour documentary from K.T.

chronicles host's life and career showing how his early love of sports played a driving role in his rise as a sports marketing and broadcasting innovator, as well as business and civic leader.

Jim Host Game Changer airs tonight at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

Don't miss it.

And after a great night of programing, we'll be back tomorrow on Kentucky Edition.

Wednesday.

You know, we have our usual check in of politics so far this week with public radio's Ryland Barton.

And in Richmond this week, you can see art that's leaping off the canvas.

It's just an arrangement of color.

That's all it is.

But people are surprised in that.

I mean, people pay more money to see a 3-D movie.

So it's the same principle.

Say why this artist wasn't satisfied with painting and just two dimensions.

That's tomorrow on Kentucky edition, which we hope you'll join us for at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

Subscribe to our Kentucky Edition email newsletter and watch full episodes and clips at KET dot org You can also find us on the PBS video app on your mobile device and smart TV.

And we always encourage you to send us a story idea to public affairs at Ket dot org by email.

And of course, follow us on Facebook X and Instagram to stay in the loop.

Once again, thank you so much for watching.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Have a great night.

Watch that documentary on Jim Host and we'll see you right back here again tomorrow night.

Take care.