More auto workers go on strike.

Our Louisville Ford workers on the list and looking at salaries across the state.

We found most of our teachers are dangerously close to financial collapse.

School leaders offer ways to fight Kentucky's teacher shortage.

I mean, she is legendary.

And students hear from a speaker with plenty of horse sense.

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.

Welcome to Kentucky Edition.

It's Friday, September the 22nd.

We're so glad that you're kicking off your weekend with us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for joining us.

No settlement yet.

And the United Auto Workers strike against the big three automakers.

So today, as expected, the UAW expanded its strikes to 38 locations in 20 states.

But the Ford plants in Louisville are still not on that list.

The president of the United Auto Workers says the union will expand its strike against major automakers by walking out of General Motors and stellantis plants all across the country.

Ford was spared additional strikes because the company has met some of the union's demands during negotiations over the past week, said UAW president Sean Faine.

The union is pointing to the company's huge recent profits as it seeks wage increases of 36% over four years.

The companies have offered a little over half that amount.

And our message to the consumer is simple The way to fix the frustrating customer experience is for the companies to end price gouging investees record profits into stable jobs and sustainable wages and benefits.

It's that simple.

Across the country, people are going to know that the UAW is ready to stand up for our communities and ready to stand up against corporate greed.

The UAW has other demands, including a 32 hour workweek for 40 hours of pay and a restoration of traditional pension plans for newer workers.

President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan next Tuesday to show support for the striking workers.

Here's more economic news about a key Kentucky industry.

Bourbon.

Kentucky bourbon is aged in white oak barrels.

That means the industry needs a continuing supply of white oak wood.

But the white oak tree population is on the decline.

Congressman Andy Barr of Central Kentucky has introduced the White Oak Resilience Act, which would promote white oak restoration projects and establish a fund to support white oak regeneration in America's national forests.

The bill has supporters in both parties, including Congressman Morgan McGarvie, a Democrat from Louisville, will be talking about Kentucky's economy, jobs and taxes Monday on Kentucky.

Tonight, you'll hear from our panel of lawmakers and economic experts.

And we hope you'll send us your questions and comments.

Tune in Monday night at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

And in honor of former Governor Brereton Jones, who died earlier this week.

Katie will rebroadcast a discussion from Tony or actually 2000, featuring Jones and seven other former governors discussing Kentucky politics and their terms in office.

We hope you'll join us tonight for recollections.

Governors Roundtable at 9 p.m. Eastern eight Central tonight right here on KCET.

Now, what can be done to fight Kentucky's teacher shortage?

The Kentucky Association of School Administrators has 17 ideas.

There are described in a new report released through its coalition to sustain the Education profession.

That begins tonight's look at education matters.

Teaching is more difficult today than it has ever been.

It is more expensive to become a teacher than it's ever been.

And there are simply not enough aspiring teachers to adequately take care of our children today and our children tomorrow.

So the coalition to Sustain the Education Profession has been something that's been together for about a year, a little longer.

Lots of different professionals, people in our communities, different people at different levels working together to figure out why teachers are leaving and why there are not enough teachers or people going into the profession to sustain it.

As a teacher of 24 years.

I've seen lots of changes over the years.

But the thing that's really bothering us now and bothering me the most is that we're not we're not getting educators.

We're not.

Children are not growing up wanting to be teachers and those that are there are just tired and they're leaving at astronomical rates.

And it's really scary for us because, you know, I have children that are still in the school system and I hope to have grandchildren someday, and I want them to have the best teachers possible.

So I never tell people they shouldn't go into education.

But right now, it's very difficult to promote that when there's so much going on around it that's so negative in the in the news and, you know, the press and all of those things.

We're just really wanting teachers or people to realize that being a teacher is a rewarding profession and we want to be there, but we want to be paid and taken care of and value for what we do.

And looking at salaries across the state.

We found most of our teachers are dangerously close to financial collapse.

Many work two or more jobs to make ends meet.

Some still live at home with their parents simply because they do not make enough money each month to pay for or qualify even for a home loan.

This is why you have seen and will continue to see that we are focused on establishing a minimum starting teacher salary of $45,000 for Kentucky teachers.

Education is not political.

It is not red or blue.

It is not Democrat or Republican.

It is a Kentucky issue.

Full stop.

Kentucky ranks 44th in the nation in starting teacher pay over seven years, inflation adjusted pay has declined by 14.7%.

That is a decrease of nearly $10,000 a year.

Our profession does impact all other professions.

It's on the front end.

It's the front end driver of economic development.

It surely has the ability to change people's minds and the way they think and use the term silver bullet.

There is a silver bullet to education.

There is a silver bullet to economic development and many of the woes in our great nation and the Commonwealth.

And that's teachers.

Other recommendations in the report include fully funding A newly proposed can touch Kentucky New Educator Training Plan, creating a Kentucky Educator Stabilization Fund with Financial incentives for working in low performing schools and encouraging classroom based leadership.

Now you can read the full report online at KSA DOT org.

Western Kentucky is home to numerous industries, recruiting the next generation of engineers to keep operations flowing smoothly.

That's one reason.

25 years ago, the University of Kentucky opened its College of Engineering Paducah campus.

The school trains educates and retains talent in the purchase region.

It partners with West Kentucky Community and Technical College.

Last night, the school hosted the big Blue Barbecue gala at the Carson Center celebrating its 25th anniversary.

We asked a UK junior from southern Indiana who is studying chemical engineering to share her favorite part of the evening.

Just the people and just being able to, you know, celebrate all the success that our campus has had, especially through the last 25 years.

The whole reason it was founded was to source engineers for for our area.

And so just being able to be successful in that year after year and celebrate that future.

Goals for the college include adding a degree program in computer engineering technology.

And we'll have much more from the campus and the gala, including interviews with students, professors and university officials.

That's coming up Monday night on Kentucky Edition.

Time now for end of week review of the major political news of the week with two political pundits on screen left.

Do you see Will Carly, who was the president and founder of Alpine Strategies?

He is a Democratic consultant.

And on screen right, we have Abby Piper, who you often see sometimes with cheese with her husband, Jared.

But we're giving him the day off, right?

She's with Piper Smith, a government relations boutique.

So appreciate both of you being with us today.

The big news of the week politically was how abortion and these ads have really surfaced to the forefront of this governor's race in the campaign.

And the campaign messaging.

I'll go to you first, Abby, about that ad that came out featuring a woman who was now 21, who told the story when she was 12 years old.

She was raped by her stepfather.

And it's a pretty compelling and jaw dropping ad.

Yeah, it is.

And kudos for the bravery of that young woman for speaking out on that issue.

That's got to be difficult.

I think that the reason this is becoming such a wedge issue is because we've seen that this is one of those big issues that does divide Republicans.

We saw on the ballot last year for the constitutional amendment that Republican women came to the polls and they said, no, we don't want our legislators involved in this decision.

And so I think that, you know, those on your side are smart to use that to try to gain some some ground in this race.

It's obviously going to be a tight race.

But I think that that's the reason you see that focus emerging now.

And I think you'll see it in other Republican states from now on into how are they long have the the elections that they've got going on.

And the Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, has said this week that he would, if the law makers present him a bill that provides exceptions for rape and incest, essentially he would be for that.

It's unfortunate, but Andy Beshear is running the most despicable campaign in Kentucky history.

Now he lectures us on Partizanship and unity then runs disgusting, false attacks.

I've said if the legislature were to bring me a bill with exceptions, I would sign it.

Do you think?

Well, Carly, that that makes a difference.

And could that hurt him with his base?

I think Daniel Cameron's run a really poor campaign.

I think that he has been zeroed in on wedge issues that Abby kind of alluded to before, especially on abortion at the very beginning in a primary.

You know, he was going to defend the law and never waver on it, as is now that he's in the general election.

And he's figured out that people in Kentucky, in the Commonwealth aren't really that excited about voting for an extremist candidate like Daniel Cameron and his extreme points of view.

He's trying to backtrack.

And I think those die hard Republican voters, where this is their number one issue.

Mike jumped ship on him.

So I think he's going to have to do a little bit of damage control and probably try to bring those people back in the fold and so that they can get an understanding of where Daniel Cameron actually is on reproductive rights for women.

Abby, there was a piece while back a couple of weeks ago, Austin Horn wrote in the Lexington Herald-Leader about how Attorney General Daniel Cameron is really almost like the titular head of the Republican Party.

Do you see it that way, even if he's not successful in November?

Well, the fact is that we knew that Republicans would have to whoever came out of the Republican primary would have to shift more to the middle.

And that's just the way it works with primaries in general.

In a state like ours.

So we knew that that would happen.

I don't know that I think that he would be the spearhead of where we are.

There are a lot of different kinds of Republicans in Kentucky right now.

All of them have their own sets of core beliefs.

And quite frankly, they're they're largely regional beliefs.

So things that Republicans are really holding on to in northern Kentucky are very different from things that Republicans in West Kentucky care a lot about right now.

So I don't know if there's anyone that could really be considered just that single person.

Yes.

So I want to ask you, well, if we look about and you mentioned this before, how governor has been polling, and it seems like that could be widening a little bit.

Give us your assessment of where we are in the governor's race and what viewers and voters can be in for and these last, what, five, six, seven weeks?

I think Garin, Horton Yang, Governor Bush's pollster, we sent out a memo last week where Governor Bashir was up by nine points.

That's mirrored another public poll from a couple of months ago where he was up by nine points that the committee issued.

I think because of his spreading lead, you're going to see Governor Beshear close by drawing a sharp contrast between the two realities.

Right.

And the reality of another four years of Andy Beshear and record breaking prosperity and common sense government that brings people together.

Well, and contrast that with Daniel Cameron's extreme out of control ideology that wants to divide Kentuckians and put us back another 20 years.

I think the Cameron campaign's probably going to go hyper negative, and they have been with their allies.

Out-of-state money with special interests have spent tens of millions of dollars now attacking Governor Beshear.

But none of it seems to be working.

Daniel Cameron's eventually going to have to give Kentuckians a reason to vote for him and maybe not a reason to vote against Andy Beshear.

And we know that that outside money is about evenly split, attacking one or the other.

Right.

Whether it's a Beshear supported PAC or a PAC that supports Daniel Cameron.

The other night at the Kentucky Chamber dinner, Abby Piper, we heard Daniel Cameron talk a lot about how he has the ability to work with the Republican dominated Kentucky General Assembly, that he talked to them about his platform on education and public safety and other issues.

Do you think that's a convincing argument for other voters not connected to the bubble that is Frankfort?

I certainly do, because you have to remember that people know by and large their local representatives, but they don't know the governor.

Most people don't ever meet the governor, Right.

Depending on where they are in the world.

So I think that that certainly does matter.

And I think you saw a lot of that impact when Ryan Quarrels was building his ground game for governor.

And you have a lot of House members and Senate members coming out and endorsing Ryan calls.

So I do think that it does matter.

And you've seen a lot of those folks now back behind Cameron and doing that work locally as well.

I'll also say that, you know, Bevin was eight points down and the first year that he won.

So polls are polls.

I don't know if I would be surprised by anything that happens on Election Day anymore, especially in Kentucky.

But Beshear is in a good position.

I will say that I think Cameron is name I.D., but he doesn't have name I.D.

like Bashir does, especially in some of those pockets in West Kentucky shares a big name, and that's largely due to Bashir's father having his legacy out west as well.

Well, we thank you both.

Well, Carly and Abby Piper for being with us and have a great weekend to come.

Thank you so much.

You'll soon be able to have more COVID 19 tests delivered to your home for free.

That tops today's health headlines.

The Biden administration announced it's providing $600 million to make the tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to order up to four free tests per household.

The orders can be placed at COVID test dot gov starting on Monday.

The tests will be delivered for free by the U.S.

Postal Service.

This comes as we continue to see a rise in COVID cases here in Kentucky.

Nearly 350 people were hospitalized with COVID during the first full week of September.

That's a 25% increase from the previous week, but that's still nowhere near what we were saying during the height of the pandemic.

This time two years ago, more than 3000 Kentuckians were being hospitalized with COVID each week.

And 2010, Time magazine called Dr. Temple Grandin one of the 100 most influential people in the world for her work in the livestock industry.

She's an expert in animal behavior, an internationally famous spokesperson for autism.

This week, she came to Locust Trace Agro Science Center in Fayette County to pass her wisdom on to the next generation.

So working with animals, you've got to be able to observe what is it pointing fingers at?

What is it, what is.

She values young people in an agriculture and spends her time traveling.

And she's 76 years old.

And this is and that was the answer to one of her questions.

You know, is I am here to help the future.

I want to give young people pay attention.

How do we really do all six things, make things right?

You know, the ones who are going to have to do more.

And she also advocates for different thinkers.

She is autistic and she thinks she calls herself a visual thinker, while always an unreasonable patience.

We're sorry that this is much more in the words of the revolution.

And then you have the more mathematical people that they can catch.

And so she can relate to students that have different gifts.

We all don't have to be the same.

And I think she talks on both those platforms.

And I think it just resonates with everybody yelling and screaming and whistling and intensity.

Those animals know that you're mad at them.

I really enjoyed her speech and I really saw different a different perspective in some of the things she was talking about.

Like, I didn't really realize that, like, for example, having dogs around the cattle would be a bit of an issue.

I learned a lot of cool things that I didn't really think about.

Here's a very clever way to get mammal to move forward, and she quickly walked back by it in the opposite direction.

Counterintuitive.

And she was.

Welcome back by any observation.

Try to have the next time working.

Check.

I really enjoyed listening to her.

I didn't really know much about her before I started, before I heard from her, but I really enjoyed hearing from her and it made me really kind of think about switching up some of our cattle shoot and like make the cows less stressed.

And some some of the things we do to make a move.

I learned a lot.

That's really cool.

You want to use following things.

Locust Trace is really a unique school.

We are situated on 88 acres, so students get a lot of hands on experience and we have ten ag teachers here in the building, so it's the only one in Fayette County.

I think it's important because in Fayette County we're very urbanized, obviously, and we need to be advocating for agriculture.

I think we lack a lot of appreciation of where our stuff comes from food wise.

And I think if people more realize where their food comes from, how hard it is to make the time farmers put in to making it, they appreciate it a lot more.

Hear, hear.

Grandin, who says she sees her autism as an asset, is in Kentucky for an autism awareness conference.

The Frazier History Museum in Louisville works to preserve stories from each of Kentucky's 120 counties.

Our Kelsey Starks recently sat down with the president of the museum to learn about what it has to offer.

Kentucky has 120 counties.

That's a big number for a state this size.

You know, first of all, to tell the story of why that is.

But when you come into cool Kentucky, you're going to see a big thing that says Kentucky has 120 cool counties and then there will be a big interaction where there's a table and a video board where you can touch on Rock Castle County or Mead County or Bourbon County.

And there will be stories of that county that not that we didn't curate, that people from those counties curated.

So we reached out to, you know, people in the county see librarians, people in tourism.

We have three contacts in every one of those counties, and they are curating a story.

What is cool about your county?

And they're helping us to tell those stories.

So it is amazing.

It is cool.

It is going to, I hope idealistically.

You know, Chip away a little bit at this urban rural divide that exists in the country and a little bit in the state, too.

We we have so much to celebrate and are 120 counties all have a bunch of things to celebrate.

And we're going to celebrate them here.

And then we're also going to phase to have a vehicle and take that vehicle out to all the county fairs and the 4th of July celebrations.

And then people out throughout the state will be able to engage in that content at the same time.

And we'll also have it on Frazier Plus, which is additional content anywhere, any time you can go on an app and read about different counties and watch stories and hear songs.

And.

SIMON Miners, who, you know, has taken this project and said, would it be cool if we featured a song from all 120 counties?

He's already curated the list.

You can go to Spotify.

He's only doing his drop in ten a month for a year, and you can listen to a song from an artist in each of Kentucky's 120 counties.

It is so funny, this playlist all the time.

I've listened to it.

It's really fun.

And what a what a great concept.

Yeah, and it's diverse.

Like, you know, bluegrass, of course, is featured in there and I mean, this genre, you know, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton and all of the folks that are having such an incredible impact.

But it's every genre of music featured in there from artists throughout the state of Kentucky.

So you can see more of that great conversation with Kelsey Starks on inside Louisville Sunday at noon Eastern time right here on KET.

Now we have another programing note for you just before Kelsey's show, Join me on Connections to learn about a statewide fatherhood initiative that's hosting a summit next month to inform on ways to strengthen paternal involvement.

My guest for that portion of the show is David Cozad, who runs the Commonwealth Center for Fathers and Families.

And you'll also meet the first African-American woman to head the ACLU of Kentucky.

Amber Duke say those conversations Sunday morning at 1130 Eastern, 1030 Central on connections right here.

KET fall begins tomorrow.

I'm ready for it.

And that means fall festivals of all types all throughout Kentucky with the tradition of food, music and fun.

Our Toby Gibbs has a full list of options and tonight's look around the Commonwealth.

Currently happening in Liberty is the Casey County Apple Festival.

Come and join live music, a parade, a flea market and, of course, apples.

If you go tomorrow, be sure to check out the giant apple pie.

It's time to say goodbye to Summer and Erlanger.

Summer send is the perfect way to celebrate.

Head to Silver Lake Park tomorrow for bounce houses, food, eating contests, stunt shows and more.

Bring the whole family out and say sayonara to summer.

And with summer behind us, there's lots of fall festivals happening around the bluegrass.

One you won't want to miss is tomorrow at the Murray Peddlers Mall.

Celebrate the changing seasons with face painting, vendors, giveaways and great food.

So make your way to Murray for this great event.

Happening in Ashland.

Tonight is a rock and roll experience you'll never forget.

Hairball, live at the Paramount Arts Center kicks off at eight.

Get blown away by the pyrotechnics, crazy energy and incredible rock performances.

Hairball will give you 20 years of rock in one amazing night.

The Kentucky Heritage Jazz Festival started last weekend in Shaker Village and to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The festival continues this weekend at Old Fort Hare in State Park.

Come celebrate and hear superb jazz performances, eat great food and explore the historic venue this weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Come support the Humane Society of Lexington and get a head start on some holiday shopping.

Vintage market days is back and there are over 80 vendors to peruse.

You could leave with the perfect local find or even a new furry friend.

Also in Fayette County tonight starts the festival Latino Day, Lexington.

This two day event celebrates all things Latin American with authentic food, music, dance, visual art and more.

Come downtown for a lively celebrate of art and culture.

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

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, Toby.

It's something millions are talking about artificial intelligence and the role it may play in our future.

How researchers at the University of Kentucky are putting A.I.

to work in manufacturing.

That story Monday night on Kentucky Edition, which we hope will see you four at 630 Eastern, 530 Central, where we inform, connect and inspire.

You can connect with us all the ways you see on your screen there, Facebook, X and Instagram.

And you can also check us out on the PBS video app on your mobile device and your smart TV and send us a story.

Ideas.

Well, I hope you have a terrific weekend.

Bring an end fall and now we'll see you right back here again Monday night.

Have a good weekend.