Who's ahead and by how much?

See two new polls in the governor's race.

See, I've got a whale here in my back yard.

Come and look at it.

The state's doing more than looking at it.

The effort to cap orphaned oil wells.

This was always the hustle and bustle of Louisville.

And we look back at Louisville's historic Brown hotel on its 100th birthday.

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 Friday, October the 20th.

We made it to the weekend.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

U.S.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says Daniel Cameron is the candidate of basic liberties.

Details as we begin tonight's coverage of the 2023 election now 18 days away.

The two Republicans campaign together today in Lexington.

Senator Rand Paul and Attorney General Cameron have both said Governor Andy Beshear went too far in his actions at the peak of the COVID pandemic.

Paul says you won't see that under Cameron.

You know, just a lot of energy out there.

And I think Republicans are excited to get to vote.

So I think that enthusiasm is going to make a big difference.

But for me, it's really about defending your basic liberties, your right to assemble, your right to own your own business and make your decisions, the right to go to church.

When Andy Beshear came forward during the pandemic and basically stripped these rights unilaterally.

It took a year for us to get our rights back.

Finally, the legislature came back.

The courts rebuked Andy Beshear.

Almost every one of his edicts were unconstitutional, declared so by the courts.

The legislature came back and said, no longer.

We're never going to be ruled by a governor's edict without the approval of the state legislature.

So now emergency rules like Andy Beshear put in place will all be struck down unless they're approved by the legislature.

Senator Rand Paul is also reacting to President Joe Biden's request for $100 billion to support Israel and Ukraine and to beef up security at the US Mexican border.

Senator Paul says America just doesn't have the money.

If you want to give it to a foreign country, you have to borrow it from China to then send it over.

So I think the biggest threat to our national security is our debt.

And I don't think we can pile on more if people are insistent that they want to.

It's going to the bills can be $100 billion.

So if they want to spend $100 billion, we don't have, I will insist they take it from somewhere else in the budget.

Senator Paul has been critical of US spending for Ukraine.

Governor Andy Beshear was in northern Kentucky today to help celebrate the proposed $133 million Margaritaville hotel coming to Newport on the levee.

The project is expected to produce 282 new jobs, with construction to be finished in 2026.

Two new polls are out today in the governor's race.

The first poll from the Republican affiliated co-efficient polling group shows Governor Beshear leading Attorney General Cameron 47 to 45%, with a margin of error of about 3%.

The poll was done Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

The co-efficient poll shows 63% of Kentuckians have a favorable opinion of former President Donald Trump, while 25% have a negative opinion of him.

There is also a new poll from the Hart Polling Organization, which works for Democrats.

It shows Governor Beshear ahead by 852 to 44.

The poll was conducted October 14th through the 16th.

The most recent polls before today were from two weeks ago.

Then a Club for Growth poll showed Governor Beshear ahead by six, while an Emerson College poll had him ahead by 16.

Now you'll see the candidates for governor Monday night on Kentucky tonight right here on Katie.

Join us and send us your questions at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

Not everyone will wait until Election Day to cast a ballot.

Excused.

Absentee voting begins October 25th, which is next Wednesday.

Early voting begins Thursday, November the second and runs through Saturday, November the fourth.

You can find out where your polling precinct will be by visiting.

Go vote k y dot com.

And remember, of course, election day is November the seventh.

And we'll have full coverage of the November 7th election right here on it.

We'll have the numbers.

You'll see victory and concession speeches from the candidates and we'll have analysis from our veteran team of political observers.

That action all starts at 7:00 Eastern, six Central right here on KCET.

That's on Election Day.

Now turning to national politics.

After a third vote, Jim Jordan has dropped his bid to become America's speaker of the U.S. House.

That's after failing again today.

Jordan needed 217 votes.

He got 194.

25 Republicans voted for someone other than Jordan.

The number of defections grew with each ballot.

Once again, the five Republicans in Kentucky's House delegation all voted for them.

Now, it's not clear what happens next.

There has been some talk of a coalition between Democrats and Republicans in the House, but it's not clear if their support for that.

Time now to go inside Kentucky politics and review the big news Political Play of the Week in Kentucky.

And we're joined by our favorite political commentators who will be with us on election night, former Kentucky secretaries of State Trey Grayson, who's on screen.

Right.

And Bob Babbage, who's on screen left.

Good to see both of them.

Both have their own practices and government relations, and we're glad to have them with us.

So let's talk about the governor's race and some polls that came out today.

Gentlemen, let's start with the one that's more GOP aligned that came out earlier today showing a much tighter race between Cameron and Bashir.

Trey, I'll go to you first.

So you have an independent group that is Republican leaning reported a narrow lead for Bashir, but below 50% just a few points right around the margin of error.

Cameron campaign obviously is pointing to this as evidence of gaining ground with the couple of weeks left.

And they would also point out the voter registration advantages that again, this month, three times as many Republicans registered to vote as Democrats.

So they say they one of them put to me those footsteps that Andy Beshear is hearing are real.

Oh, so how real?

Bob Babbage, do you think those footsteps are?

Do you think that poll has got it to close not just for comfort before reality?

Well, that's what some have said, Trey, Trey and Renee, because Common, yes.

I hear is of a sure.

But four, five, six points.

It was more at one point, according to folks who were inside both camps and some of the polling crowd fundraising groups as well.

The thing that happens on a day like this is that we get calls and they say, is it really too or is it really 16?

Those were the calls before when we had that poll.

So we're a little bit all over the place on polling.

And if you take this one and average it with another, that is maybe within this 24 hour period, it still might be four or five points.

But what happens at the end of a race or an end of the ballgame, that's where we are.

Well, and let's talk about that poll.

So, Bob, you were alluding to it, the poll that came out just shortly before we began talking from Hart Research, which leans Democratic, has the governor over that magic 51% has him at 52 to Cameron's 44.

When they did this poll back in September, he was at 51 to 42 prior to that in July, 48 to 45.

So believing these polls, I mean, essentially, Bob, what should voters take away, if anything, from this?

What does it mean?

What does it signal?

And should we really care and put a lot of stock into it, put it up, stock into it to go vote?

It's it's indicative of the confusion about races and polls that we've seen in recent years across the country.

But still, if you're paying attention here, this is a close race.

It is not over.

It's not decided.

Both campaigns say that repeatedly, even if the governor is a 51 or 52.

Things are changing just in the psyche.

Public news cycle.

So voters could shift around a little bit.

Five point lead is a big lead.

Eight points is a heck of a lot.

Two is not that much.

And so put all that together.

It's it's a competitive race, competitive moment and it makes for participation.

I haven't really heard an estimate from Secretary of State Michael Adams yet on what the turnout will be.

But anybody watching or listening or encouraging others less show up to stuff.

Well, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams did tell us about a week or so ago when he was in our studio that he anticipates turnout to be around 40%, I think, in the 2019 cycle.

Trey Grayson, it was around 43% and some change.

So we look to be aligned to what we might do in 2019.

Yeah, we had about a five point difference, five points higher in 2019 versus 2015.

And yeah, I think the 43 is right smack dab in the middle.

And one of the things that I think we'll be looking for on election night is where does that turnout come from?

Is it coming from more Republican areas?

And if, for example, if rural Kentucky comes out in a higher numbers, that's probably a good sign for Cameron.

If Lexington and Louisville come up with higher numbers, that's probably a good sign for Beshear.

But even in those pockets, if it's higher in Mayfield, that's probably better for Beshear.

If it's higher in the Republican leaning suburbs, that might be better for Cameron.

And so if we look at Jefferson County, it can be assumed may be a foregone conclusion that Beshear will take that.

But the question is, by how much and how much can Cameron carve into that?

Yeah, that's exactly right.

I remember my races.

We never I never thought I could win Jefferson County.

But the idea was to lower those margins.

And then, as we said, if you could then win the surrounding counties by more, maybe you'd win metropolitan Louisville.

Every vote matters.

So if you do a little bit better in one county than than in the past, you might lose the county, but you might ultimately win on Election Day because of those turnout differences.

There's a growing Republican representation in the General Assembly in Jefferson County since last that we had a statewide election like this.

So that could make the difference, right?

Yeah.

And this is all, you know, the polling as we've been talking about, as polling has always shown, Beshear in the lead in this race.

And I think procedure is perceived to be the favorite, probably accurately.

But the thing that Republicans and other analysts looking at this would say all that Republican growth, the number of legislators and it's not just gerrymandering, the voter registration statistics that I mentioned earlier, plus of the county level, a lot more Republican.

So those are the kinds of things you'd say, fundamentally, this is a good time to run as a Republican, but it's always been it's always hard to beat an incumbent governor.

Right.

So, Bob, come to you.

Finally, the candidates gubernatorial candidates are making several rounds of appearances, joint appearances, forms or debates, an unusually high number, actually, I think five total.

So tell us about how do you think this could even help those undecideds get in firmly into one camp or the other?

Are they paying attention and and really the value of having them appear as many times as they are?

Well, we can say a lot about this because looks like there's a very pro debate.

We want to see candidates who hear them.

But I think the public at large also wants to know who they're looking at things about them, where they stand, their style, their substance and all that goes with it.

Lately, in states, if someone has the lead, they say, we're not going to debate.

And in many states, it's just one debate for us to have.

Forums like this is a credit to for sure and camera both.

And I think we should thank them for it and encourage us in other races.

We don't even have all the down ballot to focus on Katie because a couple have chosen to come in.

More and more people are going to want to see their candidates since we can see anything just about our phone any time.

Let's listen.

Be thankful that we have five debates.

Couple still to come, including yours, which is the biggest and best of all.

Well, Trey, Bob was just saying, you know, coming Monday, that's when the General Cameron and Governor Bashir will be here.

Yeah.

And that's going to be exciting.

I'm pumped and ready to go.

But the value of having them and Bobby saying, you know, to their credit, they're appearing and doing this.

Yeah, they're doing it all over the state.

I do think your interview with them will be really important because unlike a lot of those other appearances that are more one question you each get to answer, there's going to be more engagement.

So for the undecided voters, it's a great opportunity.

Also, by the way, I love that Bob's sporting the Jim Jordan look today.

I hadn't noticed.

Look at that.

You never the never Speaker of the House Jim Jordan Babbage's Babbage is in his corner.

That's one vote he needs to match.

You're not in D.C., Bob.

Well, that's the.

That's a wrap.

All right, well, that is a wrap.

Gentlemen, thank you so very much.

We will see you, of course, on November 7th.

And we'll see you, all of you, very soon.

So thank you so much.

We appreciate you guys.

Yesterday, we told you about the Boyle County School system's decision to ban more than 100 books from school libraries.

District officials say it's in response to a new anti-trans law, Senate Bill 150, which was passed earlier this year.

School officials claim library books are considered instructional resources and therefore fall under the new law.

But some parents disagree.

Today, I spoke with the advocate, messenger and messenger reporter Fiona morgan, who broke the story earlier this week.

The district hasn't said much on the matter of how they chose certain books.

Other than that, the attorney, Steven Webster, said that it was based on topics referenced in the bill.

So anything that references human sexuality or Sydney's or gender identity things along that line.

So is this over?

Is there more to be done?

We know that we've gotten a lot of news about this.

Toward the end of this week.

But is there further action that can be taken and what could it be?

So the response from the district to parents is that they can go through the school's reconsideration policy for library books.

Basically, parents can make an argument to the principals of each school about why certain books should be put back.

And there have been books that have been put back based on parents going to the school.

But the district hasn't said that they'll reverse any of the decisions.

The superintendent said that they'll change their policy if the law evolves or if the Kentucky Department of Education comes out with any specific guidance on this.

So as we told you yesterday, the Kentucky Department of Education disagrees with the district's actions and says S.B.

150 does not require the removal of library materials among the books banned in Boyle County is a graphic novel based on the diary of Anne Frank.

In Kentucky, a health care facility needs what's called a certificate of need for expansion or major expenses.

It's granted if the expense is considered beneficial to a community.

But some question if certificate of need laws are necessary or need to be modernized.

Critics say it can give a hospital a monopoly on services, especially in rural areas.

But supporters say without it, competitors would take patients from hospitals, hurting them financially.

The state created a task force to discuss this complicated issue during a meeting yesterday.

One lawmaker said compromise might be the best idea.

We've heard really compelling statistical presentations from both sides on this issue.

And I think the truth is that complex problems deserve nuanced solutions.

So when I look at the state of health in Kentucky, I'm not drawn to a drastic change and I'm also not drawn to the status quo.

I think Kentuckians deserve something in the middle.

It's a time that we really look at principled and I'll say, surgical approaches to how we make changes here.

We need to look closely at our Certificate of Need program, find ways to make those principled changes that are needed.

And also, we need to address the statewide health plan.

The task force will meet again November the 20th.

Kentucky continues to find and plug hundreds of abandoned oil and gas wells around the state.

Yesterday, lawmakers received an update on the state's progress.

It's estimated there are more than 15,000 of these so-called orphaned wells in the state, with each having the potential for creating environmental hazards.

Kentucky received a $22 million federal grant to clean up these sites.

That's led to more than 600 wells being plugged in these 27 counties from Union County and the West to Lawrence County in the east.

Dennis Hatfield is director of Kentucky's Division of Oil and Gas.

He told state lawmakers that inspectors will continue finding wells for quite some time.

I think we have 16 inspectors across the Commonwealth and they go out every day to inspect normal active wells.

And part of that traveling and inspection is to look for orphaned whales.

We receive citizen complaints a lot of times a farmer will brush, you know, bush hog bottom and find whales and they'll report them to us.

So it comes through citizen reports, through inspectors, finding them.

And we actually have set up a web and email address.

Orphaned whales at KUAR, dot gov.

That's out on our website.

And citizens can simply tap into that, say, I've got a whale here in my back yard, come and look at it.

And that's what we do.

So those reports have all totaled together to help us scope this out.

We haven't found them all yet.

We're not getting into places in the list or how the big sinking area has been worked for years.

Before there were laws, I had an inspector last month was telling me he went out to to confirm the location of one orphaned whale and he found about nine more.

It's going to continue in the older areas.

This isn't everywhere, but the older oil and gas basins will continue to find them for a while.

Last year, federal estimates suggested nearly 18% of the nation's orphaned wells were in Kentucky.

More than any other state, Kentucky is now in the process of applying for another federal grant that would allow them to continue this work.

Louisville's Brown Hotel celebrates 100 years next week to mark the hotel's centennial.

It's hosting a gala and Roaring Twenties style.

Our Kelsey Starck sat down with the hotel's historian to learn more about how the hotel was part of Louisville's history.

Let's go back to 100 years ago.

Sure.

What was this area at Fourth and Broadway like?

This was always the hustle and bustle of Louisville.

The corner of floor from Broadway was always called Louisville's Magic Corner, because this is where all the theaters were.

This is where all the magic happened.

So this is absolutely the perfect location for Mr. Brown to have located his his hotel.

There's an interesting time, too.

We opened during Prohibition.

Yeah.

1929.

We survived the Great Depression and we had some staff who even volunteered to work without wages to have somewhere to go every day.

And Mr. Brown made it up to them.

In 1937, the Great Flood came and where he came into the hotel on the first floor.

You'd have been up to your waist in water, and people were rowing their boats in our Broadway entrance and out our fourth street entrance.

And our bell captain caught a fish in the lobby.

Is that true?

That is true.

There are a lot of legends of the hotel.

And it's your job, I guess, to figure out what's what's true and what's fiction.

What are some of your favorite stories?

You know, this is where I have to address something.

We're not haunted.

You knew that was my next question.

I knew it was going.

There's no such thing as ghosts.

Yes.

Every once in a while, there's a story from someone will say that they could smell Mr. Brown's cigar on the third floor.

Mezzanine or, you know, occasionally people try and scare each other with ghost stories.

But you don't believe any of it?

Don't believe a word of it.

I've been here 21 years and never seen anything like it.

OC OC What are some of your true favorite stories then?

You know, part of, part of the rewarding part of my job is that I get to open the mail here and I get calls from people.

Not that long ago, I got a call from a lady who's mom.

His mom owned a teapot that was given to her by Mr. Brown, and she wanted us to have it.

Not that long ago, I opened a letter and it was from a lady whose parents had stayed here.

And, well, the story was, is that her mother was a book collector, had a lot of books on her shelf.

And sitting in one of the books was always this little yellow paper as a bookmark.

And she never knew what it was when she when her mom had passed, she was going through her mom's books and she found a receipt and I saved that receipt.

Our parents had stayed here in 1955, and she presented us with the receipt from actually June 20th of 1955.

The room rate was $7.50, and they made a 30 cent phone call.

So their folio was for $7.80.

Wow.

These things happen to us all the time.

That's amazing.

And it's not it's a fascinating history of the Brown Hotel that you'll learn about in the interview on Sunday.

And you can't talk about the Brown Hotel without talking about the iconic hot brown, the dish that was created there.

You can see how the hot brown is made when Kelsey goes in the kitchen with the Browns head chef.

That's on this upcoming episode of Inside Louisville Sunday at 12 noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central right here on KCET.

Even though Halloween is still 11 days away, we already have plenty of Halloween and pumpkin themed options for you this weekend.

Our Toby Gibbs takes a look at what's happening around the Commonwealth.

Tomorrow on Ashland is the first annual Cosmic Horror Film Fest.

This festival celebrates all things science fiction and brings together fans of the craft as well as filmmakers.

Come celebrate sci fi creativity and enjoy these supernatural shorts and freaky features.

Blanchard's Gracious Acres Petting Zoo is hosting its fall festival tomorrow.

Enjoy live music while you shop from great vendors and eat delicious food, including sweets from a champion dessert chef and feed caps will be available.

So don't forget to give the animals some love.

Tomorrow, in fact, Woods is a two part celebration.

During the day is the Flat Woods Harvest Festival.

Enjoy inflatables, hay rides and many more fun fall activities.

At 5 p.m. at the park after Dark begins, check out the spooky decorations, Enjoy the Halloween parade and stick around for a Halloween movie in the park.

It's autumn in Albany and that means it's time for the Foothills Festival.

This fall festival has got everything from pumpkin patches and parades to Lego contests and lip sync competitions.

There's dozens of great memories waiting to be made at this event.

Get pumped.

It's the Pumpkin and Pickle Festival in Owensboro.

Delicious pumpkin and pickle themed food await you this weekend.

But this festival has much more than that.

There's pumpkin picking pony rides, a corn maze to get lost in.

Plus over 100 vendors to shop from a great family friendly Halloween activity kicked off yesterday in Eubank.

You won't want to miss the Enchanted Pumpkin Walk at Glory Gardens and Green House.

Dress up in costume and explore the wooded trail of jack o lanterns.

There's food to eat and farm animals to pet.

Plus, some great fall photo opportunities.

Did you know that the Glendale Crossing Festival has happened every year since 1976?

Tomorrow is your chance to check it out at 10 p.m.

The parade will start featuring classic cars, fire trucks and more.

Then shop til you drop it over 400 vendors and be sure to try their mouthwatering fall food selection.

This Halloween event is taking place all across the Commonwealth.

Kentucky After Dark is a self-guided tour of the most haunted areas of the state.

Pick up a passport at one of the participating tourism offices and keep track of the supernatural sites waiting for you on the trail.

Kentucky may be known for its bourbon and basketball, but this is a great opportunity to experience the darker side of our state, and that's what's happening around the Commonwealth.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you to Toby Gibbs.

Love that animation at the end there.

We hope that you will be animated this weekend and then you'll come back and join us on Monday night because we've got a great show lined up for Kentucky Edition, but also Kentucky tonight at 8:00 Eastern, seven Central.

We've got Andy Beshear and General Cameron, who will be here with us to talk about the important issues facing Kentucky and how they want to tackle them.

We'll have that discussion for an hour live right here.

And we want your questions, too, to add to mine.

That's at eight from seven Central Monday night on Kentucky tonight.

But before that, you're going to tune in to us at 630 Eastern, 530 Central for Kentucky Edition, where we inform, Connect and Inspire.

And of course, we're on the campaign trail.

You can connect with us all the way as you see on your screen, Facebook and Instagram.

Once again, have a great spooky weekend, if you will, and we will see you right back here again Monday night.