♪ >> We only get to set up the medical cannabis program once in number one thing we're focused on just doing it safely, doing it correctly.

>> A look at where medical marijuana will be cultivated and processed in Kentucky as the state holds its first in a series of lotteries for the brand new program.

>> A nation to take your parents were big advocates of >> How veterans in Kentucky are getting connected to services.

They need.

>> To say something like the U.S. and our counties because I mean, we don't have things like the good things usually don't happen to us around here.

>> And Kentucky State University launches a mobile health program for underserved communities.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good Evening and welcome to Kentucky EDITION on this Monday, October, the TWENTY-EIGHTH, I'm Renee Shaw.

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

>> Kentucky's medical marijuana program is moving forward today.

The state held a lottery to determine which businesses will be allowed to cultivate and process medical marijuana in total, nearly 600 companies filed an application to cultivate the plant.

16 businesses in the counties highlighted on this map were awarded a license for cultivating medical marijuana today.

10 additional businesses were awarded a license to process medical marijuana.

You can see where they'll be located here.

Governor Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis working alongside the Kentucky Lottery announced the winners this afternoon.

>> This is only the first step.

There's a number of different steps to have to go through with the Office of Medical Cannabis.

They'll be inspections again, making sure we do this right.

We only get to set up the medical cannabis program once in the number.

One thing that we're focused on is doing it safely, been doing it correctly, especially in the first months that it's going to be in operation.

Remember of the General Assembly will add extra conditions and or the groups that are identified under law that can we will be able to expand this program in the future which would allow more businesses to apply in the future.

Lastly, I want to tell those Kentucky INS that it really needed this relief.

That help is on the way that I know right now and they're able to get some relief by going to other states and not facing prosecution.

But there is a new day coming in Kentucky on January first or as soon after it has all of the dispensaries and other parts of the business get up and running or you're gonna be able to get safe.

Medical cannabis to help you with your conditions.

>> The next step is to hold a lottery for businesses seeking a dispensary license more than 400 companies apply.

Their only 48 will be selected.

There will be spread out across the state with at least 4 in each of these 11 regions.

Governor Beshear set a date for the dispensary.

Lottery will be announced on Thursday.

The Kentucky General Assembly legalize medical cannabis for qualifying patients in 2023. setting a start date for the program for January.

First of next year.

We're 8 days away from Election Day.

And here's another sign that voter turnout could be high.

>> Kentucky secretary of State Michael Adams says more than 16,000 Kentuckians took advantage of excused absentee voting last week.

9700 were registered.

Republicans and 5700 were Democrats.

Secretary Adams says this was 114% increase in turnout from 2022, which is again, why he's encouraging Kentuckians to vote early.

Any registered voter can cast a ballot in person starting on Thursday.

No excuse in-person early voting continues this Friday and Saturday.

You can find polling locations in your county at go.

Vote to DOT K Y dot Gov.

Election Day, of course, is November 5th a week from tomorrow and KET, he hopefully will be your source for accurate and comprehensive election coverage with the best analysis anywhere.

We'll have live coverage beginning on K 2, 2, at 08:00PM Eastern on election night.

Now aside from the presidential contest, Kentucky's major ballot item is not about candidates, but a proposed change to the Constitution that could empower state lawmakers to use public dollars on nonpublic Education Amendment.

2 has drawn a lot of interest across the state and especially in northern Kentucky.

And there's some competitive state legislative races that area journalists like Lacey Starling are keeping their eyes on.

Lacey is the president and CEO of the mostly online publication called Link Nky that reports on several Kentucky counties flanking Cincinnati.

I talked to her last week about how the final days of the campaign season are shaping up.

There more and tonight's election Twenty-twenty for coverage.

Lacey Starling, the president and CEO of Link Nky.

Thank you so much for your time today.

We appreciate it.

>> Thank you, Renee.

It's a pleasure to be here.

>> So with just a handful of days until Election Day and tell us about what's happening in northern Kentucky, particularly and the state legislative races there.

>> Yes, well, here in northern Kentucky, we have 2 races that I think are going to be the ones to watch when it comes to the state legislature.

First is Representative Stephanie Dietz and her opponent Aaron Current.

The big news that came out yesterday was that Mitch McConnell's super PAC registered to support 3 candidates in Kentucky.

And one of them was Stephanie Dietz.

She flipped the district when she won in.

22.

And it sounds like there's some concern about it.

Flipping back.

To blue in 24.

So that was a very interesting update.

The other interesting race to fall is Representative Rachel Roberts and who covers the area that is over Newport and she retired.

After this session.

And so her seat was the only Democrat in the Northern Kentucky caucus and her seat is up for grabs.

And we have 2 candidates there.

Matt laying in the Democrat and Terry Hatton, the Republican.

And so it'll be interesting to see if that seat stays in Democrat hands or if it flips to Republican seat.

>> So what are the dynamics are the issues that are really coming into play with House district 65 and House district?

67 that you mentioned.

>> So both of those districts, 65 67 are a mix of urban and suburban.

And so there's an interesting sort of conflict that happens because obviously the more urban parts of the district have somewhat different concerns than the more suburban.

And so they were both also redistricted before the 22 elections.

And so we're seeing more of that come into play again this year.

>> And I >> my folks that I talked to after the primary when Representative Deeds made it through the primary told me that they were concerned about her district, especially if Democratic turnout in northern Kentucky was particularly high because it had been a blue districts before and flipped to read.

And 22.

And so I think the early voting numbers that Secretary of State Adams released when he was talking about earlier this week about the number of absentee ballots that have been requested in Kentucky points.

Word large turnout throughout the state.

And so I think that is fueling some of that concern, perhaps.

And what inspired Senator McConnell to turn his super PAC court supporting Representative Dietz and her race.

>> Yeah.

And that's I'm glad you brought that up because we know that Secretary Adams had when we spoke that week that the Democrats seem to have had a little bit of the edge over the Republicans, in terms of those absentee ballots.

But we'd also heard on a national level because President Trump hadn't really made a very full-throated appeal for Republicans to get to the polls early.

There was some thinking that perhaps it was the Republicans there were driving those numbers.

So do you have any kind of insight on which way it could be going there at times the absentee early voting?

>> Honestly, no, it everyone that I talked to has a different answer on that.

So it just feels like one of those elections where it's really going to come down to election night and and maybe the days to follow to see what that turnout looks like by party.

Yeah.

>> We have heard that in the state Senate that the Senate Budget Chairman Christian McDaniel call him.

Chris McDaniel is running ads.

Is that true?

And is he in jeopardy?

>> Well, he certainly is running ads and I live full disclosure and Senator McDaniels District.

And so I've also received a number of mailers.

And I think about that for now that I've gotten from Senator McDaniel.

>> It's interesting at the beginning of the race, I would have said no, he's not at risk at all because he's hot.

>> The allure he's done a lot of work for northern Kentucky.

He's brought a lot of money.

He holds a very powerful seat.

But Jennifer Sierra, his competitor, it is also running a strong campaign.

Lots of door knocking, lots of mailers.

And so it would be a shock if that race turned out to be more competitive or perhaps it's even flipped, just given having all of us perceive debt at the beginning.

Yeah, that'll be something we KET our eyes on on Tuesday, November.

The 5th for sure.

>> While how are the constitutional amendments playing there and your coverage area, particularly constitutional amendment number 2, which we can sort hand lay call school choice and you have had forums on for people to talk about their issues, how they feel about the issue and and really be informed about it.

>> Well, it is certainly the most I do when you talk about on our Facebook forums or you talk about, you know, letters to the editor we've received probably almost 30 letters to the editor just about amendment 2.

And that's a lot of activity for this area.

One of the things that effects that is the the size of our diocesan school district here in northern Kentucky.

There are 38 diocesan schools here.

And so the diocese has a lot of power in northern Kentuckyian a lot of platform.

So the Catholic schools are sending home emails to parents saying vote yes on 2.

There's a lot of yard signs, but we also have large public school districts up here.

And that means that there's a lot of contention between the public school districts and the diocesan schools on this particular issue.

And if I had to make a guess, I don't think I could on this one either.

Honestly, we haven't seen any polling on amendment 2 for northern Kentucky and genuinely think it's going to come down to election night and it's it's going to be another nail-biter for us.

Wow.

Well, certainly you out and we will have the pleasure of connecting with you on election night for Katie's coverage.

That will be on KET UT 2.

>> So we thank you for making some time available for us.

And for our viewer statewide.

And thank you for the work you're doing on the campaign trail.

We really appreciate it.

Lacie starling with Link Nky.

Appreciate your time.

>> Thank you, Renee.

>> Tomorrow on Kentucky Edition, I catch up with Derek Overly who is the news director for WKU Mass Public Radio and Murray and Western Kentucky to learn about how the general election campaign season is going in the purchase areas.

So make sure you watch tomorrow night.

But stay tuned tonight at 8 o'clock because on Kentucky tonight we talk one-on-one to 3rd district Congressman Morgan McGarvey, a candidate for reelection next month.

Plus, after that, we will have a segment with state Senators, Damon Thayer and Reggie Thomas to talk about the November 5th election.

So you do want to miss that conversation.

Both of them happening at 8 Easton's 8 Eastern 7 central right here on KET.

It is official after nearly 2 decades of planning a federal prison will be built in Letcher County.

U.S.

Congressman Hal Rogers of the 5th district made the announcement on social media this afternoon.

He says the director of the Bureau of Prisons officially approved construction of the new facility today.

The medium security prison will be built and rocks which is east of Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky.

It will sit on 500 acres of land that was leveled by coal mining and will house up to 1400 inmates.

The prison will cost more than 500 million dollars to build.

Construction could take about 3 years to complete and that cross the last process likely can't start for at least a year.

Anna's house and Winchester is a residential facility for women.

Veterans facing homelessness.

Last week they hosted Republican U.S.

Senator Rand Paul who met with the women and other veterans to help connect them with additional services.

>> Its constituent service is a lot of folks are not aware that your member of Congress actually offers a public service to us issue any need you may have for the federal agency.

So like Doctor Paul mentioned, perhaps you've had lost or stolen medals that you were awarded or you are a veteran in need of your duty to 14.

>> Your medical records, Pat, you have an urgent need for travel.

We need a passport like now we work with the immigrants that have long a long processing be said.

>> Yeah.

Here for us.

20 years for us and we had to get a lot of connection to better just to our our family.

>> That our office we consider, you know, one of the important things we do, one of the most important decisions we make.

The country is going to warm and we've had very I think a serious years.

Part of it all.

>> Central PA was coming really to have like a town hall meeting with them.

He wants to hear what their issues are.

What needs to be addressed.

So it's a more of a research and getting them connect if they have an issue, get a new connected to someone that can help them with that.

We will have 5 race people with resource tables.

You did in Lexington, Va and Louisville be here.

Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs.

And there will be a a person on legal issues.

Joe Montgomery from Patrick Planning.

He makes it 5 cases for the for the Veterans.

It's birdied.

Arlington.

>> I think does provide you health care out of work to be a step in a position in the sport and be a work in the Durham VA, the But in North Carolina, Asheville, be a little bit of training, the young surgeons and you'll as well.

Also know that there's a time when we're trying to get care does were and my staff, you know, it's available and can only have to rent a it's a little bit of what today is to let you know.

We are available.

And if you have problems receiving the care, you hear a little more, we try to cut through the red tape.

We try to help you get what you deserve for Senator Paul and >> government officials like that and converse and bars.

But you're quite a few times is that they can take it back to Washington.

Didn't have too.

What issues do we need it address for veterans but a nice to see everybody AG with, you know, there.

>> Person come in and visiting of.

I don't see a lot of that is some of the states that have been in and senators, governors of whatever or not is free about, you know, it's been a normal people.

So I think it's wonderful.

I think it's our obligation to advocates of a having are all beautiful.

>> Kentucky State University is launching a rolling health clinic program in partnership with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

3 mobile health units equipped for health screenings and nutritional programs will be deployed to Eastern and western Kentuckyian Louisville to provide services to local communities lacking health care access.

More in today's look at medical news >> everybody is fortunate like you and I.

And some people buy that them to go to the doctor.

That's already be too late.

So this is a basically a fault, prevent it in and Destin and also health screening.

And that's part of that.

We Ivan Commission programs as well.

You know, we view mended food as medicine as well.

>> This bucket on the of the state.

Icky high.

But I love this from diabetes, hypertension, and this belongs to one of those.

But I'm quality doors, fog on different types of cancers.

Be it.

AP dominant section of population being from the income goals are.

At hand.

Can access to health can still staying as a primary challenge.

We talk it is a good idea.

We identified this as a one, a significant bucket.

They to be needed most.

Walked weekend beating to the community is a new addition.

Education and using that nutrition education as the base.

And there's some of these chronic health conditions.

>> I've lost plenty of plenty of family due to health care or, you know, issues being able to go well and reach people that don't have the opportunity or transportation income to receive the best health.

You know, resources.

It's it's great.

I mean, it's amazing opportunity to have here here in our community.

BC agreed upon to do fault.

>> The budding nothing storefronts students or on the path to become health care providers to truly on the stand the community needs on one hand and some of the community.

This it is a wonderful week of this is a wonderful channel.

A lot of them to get to understand the vehicles in the U.S. what most to don't work possible solutions solutions and they to be this is part of our mission.

We are one of the 2 land grant institution in the state a mission and compass.

Is this.

>> A work in rural area where we have health care.

And is it and this mobile, as I say to you, is going to help us reach that last mile.

The can health care to people who need us the most.

>> To say something like this in our counties is amazing because I mean, we don't have things like Bennett.

Good things usually don't happen to us around here and our county or surrounding counties.

It kind of feels like we're just off to our self.

Sometimes.

But for them to chose us, you know, our county.

And to partner with I'ts a it's been a it's going to be great.

>> The program is expected to officially hit the road in January.

No insurance is required for treatment.

A recent study from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the University of Illinois, Chicago found that modern coal miners are more likely than their predecessors to die from black lung disease.

On the next episode of Katie's Kentucky Health.

Our Doctor Thompson sits down with a long specialist to discuss the devastating disease.

>> What is black line is it's.

>> So black lung disease also called as co-workers KET.

says there's a long diseases caused by breathing in gold dust over a period of time, long period of time.

What this does do is it will go inside the lungs.

Cause inflammation can cause scarring, even affect the lung tissue greatly and impairs the ability to breathe by these patients.

So we inhale it and has an asthma inhaler at the party's defense system kicks in.

And they decided to fight it off.

But because it's so small that cannot fight it off.

So it causes a lot of inflammation are so willing, as you may say, no, and that could lead to scarring over time if this car and KET some progress, saying it because fibrosis that is their diverse of of damage to the long and that would, in fact, the lung function and the ability to break.

We see it.

>> More and younger coal miners or the old cold.

>> That's a very good question.

So up to the 1970's and 1980's added Money center.

So at that point to a 1970's and 1980's, there was a dip in the population of 5 patients being diagnosed with COVID Disney says and probably the good revelations of protective kid and everything else.

But since the past couple of years as there was a report from 2018 and then twenty-twenty from the OSH, the same National Institute of Occupational Health District.

The younger minors are being diagnosed.

Ave now with progressive from a massive fibrosis.

So they have not been even working 20 years in the Mayans and they being diagnosed sooner.

The survey from.

One thought process is that then they are being exposed to something called Seneca different kind of dust along with the coldest.

So the Seneca could be found in the products and cutting to the talks and going to was the mines that exposed to Senate colleges.

More chenik causes more fibrosis or scarring.

So that's where we're seeing it and more younger population.

Unfortunately.

>> You can see that full conversation on Kentucky Health.

It's a new episode this Sunday at one, 30 Eastern 12, 30 central in the afternoon right here on KET.

♪ Strange footprints in the snow on explained figures on security cameras, lights flickering with no switch.

These are just some of the stories from a cabin in Red River Gorge Louisville native Bill Starks owns the cabin and wrote a book documenting 10 years of what he says are paranormal events happening there.

>> It's a move and how soon after did you start noticing?

I'd happenings.

>> It was about a week to 2 weeks.

Didn't take long because there was no cell phone, no service, no internet, no wifi, no, not in the television.

And that worked.

So played in.

Yes, super secluded.

I have decided to go ahead and get some security cameras because I was up there by myself.

A lot of my wife's trees wasn't home down the fort in Louisville and her you know, with them.

I'd say the first 10 days I started seeing strange anomaly show up on the monitor.

That's got the security cameras around the cabin and it first started with a misty ghost.

The figure that was.

It's playing itself in front of the detached garage.

And I would go out there and look and nothing was there.

And I'm like this is strange that shows that just on the infrared.

And then the next night it was a green, sadly missed and its cereal green.

This is what we call it actually.

And that thing just danced around the monitor.

And I'm like, I cannot see it.

You know, this doesn't make any sense.

I do.

Video production.

I should know what makes things happen in front of a camera.

And there was just no explanation.

>> You can hear more.

Bill Starks goes story on inside Louisville.

If you dare, which is streaming now online on demand at KET DOT Org.

Kentucky has 120 counties but we started with just 3 plus boxing's rumble in the jungle.

And one of football's all-time greatest upsets.

Toby gives looks back at this weekend.

Kentucky history.

♪ >> The Kentucky territory was officially divided into 3 counties.

Jefferson, Fayette and Lincoln on November.

For 17, 80 Lincoln County was named after Benjamin Lincoln a revolutionary war general.

It was not named after Abraham Lincoln who would be born.

29 years later.

The Kentucky General Assembly met for the first time in its first permanent Capitol building in Frankfort on November.

3rd, 17 94, the state auditor, treasurer, registrar and public printer at officers on the first floor of the House of Representatives met on the second floor and the Senate and secretary of State used the 3rd floor.

>> Louisville welcomed its first steamboat on October.

28 18, 11 people were skeptical that the boat called the New Orleans would be able to power itself upstream.

But it did.

The successful demonstration prompted many Louisville Younes to invest in Robert Altman's Steamboat company.

Center College again will be harbored and football on October.

29 1921.

My 6 to nothing to the New York Times called it football's all-time greatest upset up to that time.

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay won his first professional fight over Tunney Hunsaker in 6 rounds October.

29, 1961.

And Ali would beat George Foreman in one of the most famous bouts ever fought the Rumble in the jungle in Zaire on October, 30th in 1974.

Sea Biscuit beat war.

Admiral on November.

First, 1938.

What many call a horse racing's match of the century.

See this.

Get on the race at Pimlico Racetrack in Maryland by 4 lanes.

That's a rundown of this week in Kentucky.

History.

>> I'm Joe begins.

>> As always, we thank you to a big Ed's do it for us tonight.

But we hope to see you right back here again tomorrow at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition, we inform connect and inspire.

You can connect with us all the ways you see on your screen.

Facebook, X and Instagram to stay in the loop and you can send us a story idea and public affairs at KET Dot Org.

Thanks for watching.

See you tomorrow night.

♪