Making sports betting available in Kentucky is what Kentuckians have long wanted.

And I want to thank everyone again who helped push it across the finish line.

And we now know what sports Kentucky ends will soon be able to bet on.

Nobody, no child should ever have to go through that.

The Beshear campaign releases a new ad attacking his Republican opponents stance on abortion.

Some appharvest farms could soon have new owners as the company files for bankruptcy.

They help me boost my confidence up.

And that's why I'm here today in front of this camera.

And we'll take a look at the Louisville Community Center that's bringing the arts to young people.

Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the Getty 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 first day of September.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

As we kick off a three day weekend, we know you're ready for it.

In less than a week, Kentuckians can legally bet on sports in the state.

Now there are new guidelines on what sports they can bet on and what types of bets they can place.

The Sports Wagering Advisory Council has released Kentucky's wagering catalog.

Among the sports you can bet on, the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NCAA sports.

The types of bets include single game pools over under and straight bets.

The first day you can place a sports bet.

Thursday, September 7th, online betting will launch on September 28.

Governor Andy Beshear, one of the main proponents for legalized sports betting in Kentucky, says he's placing the first bet.

I'm excited to share that.

I'll be making the first sports wager in Kentucky at the iconic Churchill Downs racetrack at 10 a.m. on September the seventh.

Making sports betting available in Kentucky is what Kentuckians have long wanted.

And I want to thank everyone again who helped push it across the finish line.

According to the governor's office, sports betting is expected to increase state revenue by $23 million every year once it's fully implemented.

Now turning to election news.

Bashir's reelection campaign released a new television ad today taking aim at his Republican opponents position on abortion.

Daniel Cameron thinks a nine year old rape survivor should be forced to give birth.

Nobody, no child should ever have to go through that.

Jefferson County prosecutor Erin White is featured in that ad.

She says when a woman or girl becomes pregnant from rape, the trauma is unimaginable and calls Cameron's position on abortion, quote, unconscionable.

Cameron said he is pro-life and he has been a vocal supporter of the state's abortion law, which does not make exceptions for rape and incest.

As attorney general, he has twice defended legal challenges to the state's near-total bans on abortions.

The campaign trail for governor continues to crisscross Kentucky as Daniel Cameron stopped throughout north eastern Kentucky yesterday, joined by the region's congressman, Thomas Massie.

Just a few months ago, Massie criticized Cameron for his plans to attend a conservative picnic in northern Kentucky hosted by one of Massey's outspoken Republican critics.

Nevertheless, Massie and Cameron were united and their attack on Democratic incumbent Governor Andy Beshear.

Particularly regarding the COVID 19 pandemic.

Mean, have you suffered some of the symptoms of the Andy variant?

I sure have.

Loss of balance.

And your bank account.

Delayed learning because he kept our kids out of school.

They are behind.

They're still behind.

They're going to be behind it till they go to college and maybe even behind then when they're trying to get into college.

Confusion is another symptom of the new variant.

Why did he keep the strip clubs open and shut down our churches?

And I know we're starting to hear a little bit about COVID here, but let me tell you something.

As this Commonwealth's next governor, I can make you this promise.

We're not going to have any mask mandates or vaccine mandates as the governor conducted consistent and I'm going to.

Cameron also stated his support for eliminating Kentucky's income tax.

We asked him why and here's his response.

Because of Biden nomics and the record inflation we're seeing from Washington, D.C., it is harder and harder to pay for grocery and groceries.

It's harder to pay for gas.

It's harder to find childcare.

That is essentially something that folks can pay for.

And so my view is that we need to get our income tax rate down to alleviate those inflationary pressures that have come about because of Joe Biden and his policies.

You know, Andy Beshear, when he had an opportunity to get the ball rolling on income taxes and cutting those income taxes here and getting it started and working with our General Assembly, he actually did the exact opposite in vetoed that legislation because he's been indifferent to the plight of hardworking Kentuckians.

Now Cameron is referencing a bill from the 2022 legislative session House Bill eight, which decreased the state income tax by one half of a percent this year.

Beshear did veto that bill, however, the governor did sign into law the most recent bill lowering the income tax, citing high levels of inflation, reducing the state's individual income tax is a top priority of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the businesses they represent.

Yesterday, we told you about a letter from the state budget director informing lawmakers that Kentucky failed to meet the financial triggers for cutting the tax further.

In 2025, lawmakers approved a half percent reduction on the state income tax in January 2024, stepping it down to 4%.

That's on top of a reduction that went into effect earlier this year.

But future reductions could be stalled.

I asked Charles, all, executive director of the Kentucky Chamber Center for Policy and Research, if lawmakers should slice the tax for 2025 anyway without meeting the conditions they set to do so.

The way that they structured House Bill eight back in 2022, however, was they needed to meet these certain revenue conditions that they established in state statute in order to allow for that vote to happen.

Technically, could they still vote and do that?

Sure.

I think that is highly unlikely.

I also don't think that that would be prudent to do that.

I think it's a good idea for them to follow these rules that they set out, because those rules were meticulously crafted and they were designed in a way to allow for income tax rate reductions to occur very slowly, very gradually and very, very carefully.

And so it's a good plan.

It's something that we've seen work in other states.

And so the expectation would be that the General Assembly would stick by the rules that they laid out.

And the Kentucky Chamber, who was a champion of House Bill eight, and the other measures that have succeeded that deal with reducing the income tax.

You support keeping the course with what was originally intended correct?

The chamber does, I should say.

Absolutely.

Reducing individual income tax rates remains the top legislative priority for the Kentucky Chamber and the Kentucky business community.

And we view this as a core component of creating an economy similar to what you see in states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee that have extremely fast growing rates of GDP, very fast rates growing for population growth.

Those are very strong economies.

Individual income tax, that's not the sole thing that needs to happen, but it's a really important ingredient in allowing for that type of economy.

The key thing to have happen here, though, is that we reach that goal very responsibly, very carefully, so that we don't follow the examples of states like Kansas, for example, in the plan that the General Assembly just laid out, could not be more different than what we've seen in Kansas.

Kansas took a sort of rip the Band-Aid off approach.

The plan laid out by the General Assembly, this is something that's going to take ten, 20 years or more for us to be able to do this.

And it's going to become increasingly more difficult as we go down this road.

That's okay.

The key thing here that we think is most important is that folks exercise a lot of patience and that we follow the course with the plan laid out in House Bill eight.

Eventually, we will get there.

We don't have to get there overnight, though.

It's okay for this to take a long time and for us to be very careful, meticulous.

That's responsible governance.

And this is a good plan.

And when you mention that 10 to 20 year timeline, that may be surprising for some viewers and listeners to hear that it could take that long.

But do you think that's the correct course of action to pursue so that those triggers are met as statutorily mandated under the best possible scenario, as laid out by House Bill eight?

This would take this would take about ten years to to accomplish this.

What's most important is we continue making forward progress in reducing individual income taxes.

And this is something that we're seeing happen nationwide.

States all throughout the country are taking the same approach.

You look just north of us in Indiana.

They're doing a very similar process where they're going actually even more incrementally than than Kentucky is.

Other states branching further out.

Utah, the reducing individual income tax rates.

Arizona is reducing individual income tax rates.

This is something that's part of a broader national trend of what that means for Kentucky is that this environment for attracting workers, attracting businesses, it's getting even more competitive from a tax standpoint.

And so what's most important is to continue making that forward progress.

But we don't want to do something rash, like having enormous cut to our individual income tax without having a way to make sure we're able to continue funding and making strategic investments in important services like education and child care.

Charles all with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

We appreciate your perspective and sharing it with us.

Have a great three day weekend.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

So looking ahead to the work that could lie ahead for state lawmakers next year, Kentucky's House Democratic caucus laid out its agenda for the 2024 legislative session.

The caucus announced its members will file bills focused on helping working families.

The caucus said a top priority will be raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour and giving local communities the flexibility to raise the minimum wage in their jurisdiction.

Other Bills members plan to file improving retirement benefits for first responders and teachers to encourage more to take those jobs.

Barring businesses from asking about felony status on initial job applicants, and establishing a statewide fairness law to protect workers at risk of being fired because they are members of the LGBTQ plus community.

Time now for a review of some major political news this week in Kentucky and perhaps beyond as we go inside Kentucky politics with conservative political strategist and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, whose on screen right.

And Will Carley, a Democratic strategist and founder of Open Strategy Strategies on screen left.

So thank you, gentlemen, for being with us on this three day holiday weekend, Labor Day.

Let's begin talking about U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell.

And I want to go to you first, Scott, because you know the leader very well.

Have you spoken with him?

Seen him in the days since his incident in front of a press gaggle in northern Kentucky, the second time this has happened in the course of a couple of months where he's frozen mid-sentence.

What can you tell us about how he's doing?

Yeah.

Thanks, Renee.

I have seen him.

In fact, that night we saw each other at a fundraiser in Louisville after he left his press conference in northern Kentucky.

He drove to Louisville and headlined a fundraiser for Jim Banks, who's running for U.S. Senate in Indiana.

And I watched him speak to a crowd, take a bunch of questions.

Honestly, if you hadn't heard that something had happened, you wouldn't have known about it because he was his normal self.

In fact, the day before I saw him speak to a lunchtime crowd in Louisville for 15 minutes or so on a number of policy and political topics.

And he took a bunch of questions and seemed fine as well.

I've also spoken to him on the phone the last couple of days and he tells me he feels good and he's looking forward to getting back to work in Washington next week because there's a bunch of stuff Congress has to get done so the government doesn't shut down at the end of the month.

And you've never seen him in private moments have an episode like we've seen these last couple of times?

No, never.

I've seen him quite a bit in August, actually, and I saw him at Fancy Farm, of course, and a couple of other big speeches and then have seen him more recently this week.

And honestly, he looks like he's recovering from his concussion quite nicely.

I think early on he had some issues with his hearing, which is not uncommon with a concussion.

But my observations of him over the last several months, since it happened in March, is that he has progressed along quite nicely.

Well, Carly, I want to go to you to this point, because President Biden, who's known Leader McConnell for decades.

Right.

They served together in the U.S. Senate.

Philip Bailey of USA Today tweeted that the Biden McConnell relationship continues to defy political gravity.

And Biden yesterday came to McConnell's defense when he was asked about, is the leader still able to do his job?

Here's what he said.

I'm confident he's going to be back to those concerns and is really doing his job.

Any concerns about his ability?

So will Carly.

What do you make of this?

I think this is what politics has actually been missing for a long time now in our country.

And even though their political adversaries, Joe Biden, President Biden deeply cares about Senator McConnell's health and welfare, and I think that Senator McConnell probably simply states that personal affinity for President Biden.

So I thought it was a really great way for President Biden to demonstrate civility and to be able to put aside partizan politics, to talk about somebody that served country for a long time and has given his life to public service.

So, Scott Jennings, you know that there have been Republicans folks within his own party who have called for him to step aside.

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Fox News.

I believe it was Thursday, called the U.S. Senate, quote, The most privileged nursing home in the country, called out McConnell and also Dianne Feinstein and said it's time for them both to step aside.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor GREENE did the same.

What do you make of Republicans saying it's time for Mitch McConnell to go?

I don't make much of Marjorie Taylor GREENE.

She says crazy things all the time, so I'll discount that.

Nikki Haley, I think, is just looking to score points in her failing presidential campaign.

To be honest, she stuck at three or 4% and she's looking for anything she can to insert herself into the.

Well, I don't personally think it's going to work.

And I also think that it's not going to work to conflate issues.

I think what Dianne Feinstein is facing and what Mitch McConnell is doing are two very different things.

McConnell is recovering from an injury.

I don't think his items are age related and Dianne Feinstein has has a different set of problems.

And so I don't think it's very seemly, frankly, for Nikki Haley to conflate those kinds of things.

Well, will Carly, what do you make of this?

I think as long as this is a democracy and we're holding elections, that the voters will be able to decide who they send back to Washington, D.C. and it's going to be incumbent on those older candidates to still run robust campaigns where they demonstrate an energy and a capacity to do the job.

So, like most Americans, I'm going to put my faith in the voters.

And if the voters think that people in their eighties are still valuable to the process and they'll get legislation done, done, they will return them.

So let's make a pivot to talk real quickly about the governor's race.

Republican candidate Daniel Cameron released his economic plan this week.

Scott Jennings, he's talked about Medicaid benefits and eligibility to have those benefits, fatherhood initiatives.

So talk to us about where he's coming from.

And some of these policies were presented by the previous Republican governor and didn't get very far.

So talk to us about this annual did this week was continue to roll out a series of policy proposals that would give people an idea of what kind of governor he on his economic roll out this week.

It was really centered around the idea of a culture of work that able bodied people who aren't getting an education or taking care of their family or have some other mitigating circumstance.

He's going to have some expectations that they get up and go to work every day.

And that's how he's going to evaluate economic development in the state and also evaluate the Medicaid program.

He took note that our labor participation rate is low, one of the lowest in the country.

He took note that there are fewer people working today than when Andy Beshear took office.

And I think overall, the way Daniel feels is that we just need to understand that work is good.

There's dignity in work, and we need a government that promotes the idea that able bodied people should go to work.

So that's his general framework for evaluating how he's going to view economic policies.

And I talked to him this week, and I think he's getting pretty good feedback on that as education plan and also his plan for public safety.

He's actually put out a pretty substantive platform for a candidate, so we'll call it to you.

The governor can pass out checks and make economic development announcements and appear with local officials.

Is that all he has to do to show he's got an economic plan?

I think Governor Beshear is demonstrating that his economic plan and the success of his economic plan for the last four years, and he's going to continue to build on that momentum.

We saw record breaking economic numbers with huge historic, transformative economic development projects across the Commonwealth.

So I'm not sure that he has to do a lot of ribbon cutting necessarily.

You're seeing it bear out in real time with Kentuckians on the job.

Well, thank you.

Will Carly and Scott Jennings for joining us today.

We wish you a happy, healthy, safe Labor Day weekend.

Thanks, Renee.

Thanks, Renee.

You will see it's going to Appharvest has auctioned off its last farm after announcing in July it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Herald-Leader newspaper reports a company based in the Netherlands submitted the winning bid Thursday for Appharvest 30 acre cucumber and strawberry greenhouse in Somerset.

The company's Morehead and Richmond Farms were also auctioned off this week with an Oregon based company submitting the winning bid.

Both of the 60 acre farms grow tomatoes.

Appharvest has not said what will happen to its 800 employees.

UPS is offering buyouts to some of its pilots.

The company said it hopes 167 pilots will accept its voluntary early retirement offer, which includes cash and health care benefits.

The company now employs about 3400 pilots.

UPS is the largest package delivery company in the world.

Its Louisville based World Port Hub is the largest automated package handling facility in the world.

Some sad news to report on the passing of veteran broadcaster documentary filmmaker and Kentucky native Steve Crump.

Crump started his broadcasting career in Lexington at WUKY TV.

He would go on to report at WB TV and Charlotte, North Carolina for almost 40 years.

Crump also produced documentaries that aired right here on Katie, including one on Smoke Town, Louisville's oldest African-American community, where Crump grew up, and another that explored the life of Muhammad Ali, the Eastern Kentucky University graduate was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2020.

Mr. Crump died following a long battle with colon cancer.

He was 65.

The observation an 11 year old from Kentucky made it through the first round with judges on America's Got Talent and is going to be able to compete again soon.

Zachary Johnson was born and raised in Louisville, but since then he has performed at NFL games Churchill Downs and toured with Hits the Musical.

But his story started at the Louisville Central Community Center and West Louisville.

Our Christy Dutton takes us there.

The Corey Johnson story started right here in the Louisville Central Community Center.

It's a nonprofit organization in Louisville's West End that prides itself on lifting all the voices in the community to be amplifying the stories of many other kids.

His age can start here, too.

All because of the sheer talent recognized.

And to Corey, whose friends call him D.C., D.C. is the reason why the tiny, tight theater troupe of Louisville was started, and his mom would come to every show and say, This, Erica, you have got to see D.C.

He's good.

I'm telling you, he's good.

But he was five or six at the time.

We did not have a program for that age group.

And then after like the fourth time that she came, she brought D.C..

I think he did like a cold audition for me.

He just saying on the spot.

And I said, You know what?

We're going to start a theater troupe for that age range.

These kids are part of an eight week summer camp in the Kids Arts Academy that incorporates life lessons while having a good time.

And we got to be dance and having fun running around.

We got to have lots of fun in there.

But it's not all fun and games.

These kids also gain skills that will help them in the real world.

It teaches me how to have patience and not to just get upset if something isn't really going right.

When I first came here, I was so I can do things in front of people and they help me boost my confidence.

And that's why I'm here today in front of this camera.

I'm I've never been on stage before, so I might have a little bit of stage fright, but I can go like it's like they started out.

All of them started out so shy besides a few because they're, you know, they've done this before, but most of them were so shy.

And then it's like after eight weeks, you can see the calm finish, you can see the impact.

He yells every time.

The summer program introduced these students to many new things.

I was working with robots in life.

We went around our room and we started coaching and that's something I never did before, so I enjoyed that.

From robotics to crafting, even the friendly skies, we flew airplanes my first time for an airplane.

He let me jump in for a minute.

It is when you take over your job being exposed to such a wide variety of experiences can open up possibilities for these students.

We're starting to see, okay, this kid might be a pilot one day or this kid might be artists one day.

This kid is going to definitely be, you know, singing and performing on stage one day.

These opportunities can have a meaningful impact that brings pride to this community.

It makes the biggest difference in the world.

You know, I've had students that have come through the program that are now performing all over the world, that have been in Broadway musicals before.

So it means everything in the world to have that foundation to begin right here in the West End.

The Kid's Arts Academy elevates the community and the students.

They learn how to be them and, you know, really love them.

And finding things about them that they know.

I didn't know that I had this in me or I didn't know that I could be this great.

They can be great.

You can find out more about the Louisville Central Community Center's history and see the full interview with Dockery Johnson.

That's on inside Louisville this Sunday at 12 noon, 11 a.m. Central with host Kelsey Starks right here on KCET.

Have a blast at the beach or sit under the stars and listen to some iconic TV themes.

Those are just a few of the events happening around the Commonwealth this Labor Day weekend.

Come on down to Camden this weekend for its Swift Silver Mine Festival.

Did they have live music as well as food and craft vendors?

Tomorrow kicks off with a pancake breakfast, followed by the silver mine parade.

Family friendly games, carnival rides and more.

The event runs through Sunday and it's sure to be a great time.

This weekend closes the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's free summer concert series, and it's finishing with some classic TV theme songs from the 1950s to today.

Attendees of all ages can enjoy hearing music from I Love Lucy, two Lost in Space to The Simpsons and When It's Dark Out.

The orchestra will accompany full length clips of Bugs Bunny, the Pink Panther and Tom and Jerry.

Saturday night you can enjoy the show in Covington.

And then Sunday night the orches Believe it or not, you can have a great day at the beach without having to leave the state.

On Monday in Dawson Springs is the penny rail for us.

Labor Day beach blast.

This is the last day to sun in the sand before the beach closes for the season.

So come around a boat or make your own tie dye shirts and enjoy the last day of summer on the beach.

Next Thursday begins the last performances of four old broads at the Barn Lot Theater in Edmonton.

This comedy unravels the mysteries of Magnolia Place assisted living as our silver haired heroines work to challenge the evil nurse, Pat Jones, and make it to a desperately needed Caribbean cruise.

This PG 13 play will have you rolling.

Don't miss your chance to see four old broads.

The Georgetown Horse Festival starts next Thursday and more than a dozen local and regional music artists will be performing over the weekend.

But there's more than just music.

Check out the street performers, incredible food options, amusement rides and 70 plus vendor booths.

Between the live music and amusement rides.

You may be a little hoarse, but you won't regret going to this great event.

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

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, Toby Gibbs.

And thank you for joining us this week.

Have a fabulous Labor Day weekend and we'll see you right back here Monday at 630 Eastern, 530 Central for Kentucky Edition.

Until I see you again, take really good care.