Sign-ups growing for Kentucky prizes tied to COVID shots

All right, good afternoon and welcome to our first team Kentucky update during this pandemic. We learned that Kentucky ins want to hear news directly from me as well as other state leaders. You all wanted to hear the latest news, good or bad straight from the top. At the same time, there is an absolutely critical role for journalists and news outlets to ask questions and provide information to their communities. So to my knowledge today, I'm becoming the first Kentucky governor to establish a regular standing press conference that we're going to call the team Kentucky update. These updates will be a great opportunity to provide Kentucky ins and the media with information about what's going on here in our great state. As we emerge from this pandemic and become a leader in the post pandemic economy. This will be for information we think people are excited about and news that we think they want to hear about education, health care, economic development, and other critical topics. We will also highlight kentuckians who are making this a better commonwealth and make other announcements, underscoring the bright future for Kentucky. As we sprint out of this pandemic After the last 15 months. We deserve to hear good news and to learn more about what great Kentucky ins are doing. We'll also use this time to address issues and events that have come up during the week. It will be an organized time for any questions on many of those topics. Our goal is to broadcast them directly on facebook live and Youtube. So Kentucky ins can watch and hear the latest about what's happening in the commonwealth and also allows our news organizations that are here today and have been here through the pandemic to participate, ask questions and then provide their information and analysis to their readers, viewers and listeners. We will continue to be aided in many ways to reach as many different Kentucky ins as possible. Uh That will mean um as as many ways as we can through language and other barriers. After 15 Long months of fighting the pandemic and hosting more than 250 news conferences to keep Kentucky ends up to date. I know that making sure you have an opportunity to hear regularly from your governor or other state leaders is important and we cannot forget we're still fighting this pandemic. And so in these updates there may and will still be information that needs to be shared, recording vaccine efforts and other covid related topics from time to time. So with that today I'm going to update you on about six different pieces of news going on in the commonwealth. The first that occurred uh this morning in a 72 decision. The U. S. Supreme Court for the third time upheld the Affordable Care Act by rejecting a lawsuit brought by texas and other states. You may remember back when I was attorney general, we initially joined this lawsuit to protect the Affordable Care Act. And in fact when the the initial district court ruled against the Affordable Care Act hosted that very first news conference about our appeal, It was Kentucky and California as the two leading states, along with a number of folks on their uh from different impacted groups In 2018 is when we first joined a coalition of 20 states to intervene, What was at stake was the end of health care for so many different people Specifically intervened on behalf of 18 million Kentucky ins with pre existing medical conditions ranging from different child related cancers. Uh and as well as adults that uh pre existing conditions could even include pregnancy or things like heart disease, diabetes and asthma. What was also at stake is so much of our fight against this opioid epidemic protection from lifetime insurance limits coverage for kids under 26 on their parents policy, affordable prescription drugs for seniors and guaranteed coverage for pregnancy. We also had to intervene because it would have undone expanded Medicaid in this state and so many others that we can see in the pandemic was the difference between life and death. For so many At the time, we created a list of 10, 10 critical issues that if the Affordable Care Act had been undone uh would have wreaked havoc on our country and on Kentucky ins. I am very proud uh to have been one of the leads on this case that resulted in a 72 decisions, something we haven't seen much out of the Supreme Court and ultimately protects coverage for so many Kentucky ins. Uh I'll tell you, I've been involved in a lot of lawsuits uh since I became attorney general or before. This is probably the most consequential. Now, there are over 100 million Americans that have pre existing conditions and the others just don't know they have a pre existing condition yet the concept that this would have eliminated that required coverage would have made healthcare untenable and would have put people in a truly awful situation. I believe health care is a basic human right and providing it is a value. And so along with those other states, I am incredibly proud and pleased of this ruling today on behalf of so many americans who depend on this coverage and I will tell you, its provisions are incredibly popular amongst americans regardless of their political party. I hope that this will fully and finally end attacks on a health care system that during a once in a lifetime pandemic was absolutely necessary in keeping people alive. And you can look no further than states that have expanded Medicaid and those that don't. And some of the fatality numbers these last 15 months to see how critical that truly is. All right next. We're going to talk about economic news here in Kentucky though, it seems we are only now able to begin envisioning life after this pandemic. Our business community and our state local economic development leaders have been hard at work in rebuilding Kentucky's economy and positioning us for what I believe can be unprecedented prosperity and opportunity ahead of us. You can see these efforts in our year to date, metrics for private sector, new location and expansion projects, these new factories, offices, tech companies, headquarters and service providers are creating quality jobs for Kentucky residents in building an economy that we want to make sure works for everybody. So far. In 2021, private sector companies have announced 50 projects in the Commonwealth That total over $2 billion dollars in total investment. The best part these projects are expected to create more than 4000 full time jobs for Kentucky families. The projects are not just creating jobs for residents statewide, but quality job opportunities. And we've seen some of the highest wages in years, which we also saw thankfully last year. Through May, the average incentivized hourly wage was $23.15 before benefits. That's more than a dollar above the average. Incentivized ways for projects in 2020, which was our second highest year ever Stressed the importance of higher wages from the moment I became governor and we talked about aware that W was wages and about quality wages and we are seeing it in our economy right now. It will continue to be one of our top priorities were certainly trending in the right direction here in the Commonwealth. With 4000 jobs announced so far this year, we are well ahead Of last year's pace and with over $2 billion 2021, we expect to eclipse last year's full year total for investment dollars. In the coming weeks. We've seen tremendous growth in a number of key sectors this year, including metals, automotive distribution and logistics, plastics and rubber and food and beverage, which includes our Agri Tech and our spirits industry. Each of these areas will be incredibly important as we continue to build Kentucky's economy for resiliency and for long term success. This week we have continued reason for optimism as I had the privilege to join Heaven Hill President MAX Shapira to cut the ribbon on the Bardstown distilleries New visitor center, a $19 million project that shows that tourism is roaring back and will boost economic growth and tourism in the region This year alone. And this is really just through the end of May, Kentucky spirits industry have announced $240 million 164 new jobs. Also today, we have a brand new announcement. They come every week, EH maybe fabrication will locate a manufacturing facility in the northern Kentucky community of Walton with nearly a $7 million 24 full time jobs for Kentucky residents in the coming months. This adds to announcements that we've made in the last month alone. They include log distilleries, $36 million 146 jobs to Nelson County. Tim are set is $133 million 220 jobs, Firestone industrial products companies. $50 million expansion in Whitley County expected to bring 250 new jobs on the E. V. Sector. Uh that's electric vehicles that we are uh priming ourselves to compete in and for Kruger packaging, $114.2 million investment. Bring 150 good paying jobs to eat town. Jackson purchases $8.7 million distillery plan for Fulton County expected to create 30 jobs Louisville based on point warranty solution, $900,000 expansion, adding 100 and four jobs. And amazon's plan to hire 2000 kentuckians in the northern Kentucky area for jobs that will have an Average hourly pay of $17 an hour And a sign on bonus of $1,000 up front. Employees also receive a comprehensive health insurance and a $100 benefit if they've already been vaccinated or will get vaccinated for COVID. And let's not forget, some of these announcements have come without participation from the state. The tech giant apples additional $45 million investment to support a Kentucky plant corning, inc and its work to supply glass for iphones is something we learned about when it was published, just like when you learned about it, each of these companies is betting on Kentucky because they see we have it going on that our economy is taking off and we expect even more positive news as we move forward. He's here today figures tell just part of a story of our economic resurgence. In March site selection magazine placed Kentucky atop the south central region and third nationally. And it's 2020 Governors Cup rankings for qualifying projects per capita. The publication also recently ranked the Commonwealth in a tie for 5th and it's 2021 prosperity cup rankings for top states for business climate. In april, we saw an all time monthly high for sales tax receipts as well as vehicle usage tax receipts. These numbers showing the economic activity that's occurring. And let's not forget those groups that we used to only hear bad news from rating agencies have had good news for us for the first time in decades with Phichit Fitch ratings improving Kentucky's financial outlook saying we are recovering faster than others and moody saying we are recovering with gusto. Even with the strong start to 2021, we know we are just getting started. So our third piece of news today is how we are going to support some of this economic resurgence and that is our better infrastructure plan that we worked with the General Assembly on. So as our economy surges following the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to continue this momentum. That's why my better Kentucky plant, which will boost our economy by delivering clean drinking water, building new schools and expanding access to broadband is so critical. This is a plan that through the General Assembly's agreement allocates $1.3 billion American rescue plan act funds and look to create 14,500 new jobs in the Commonwealth to help with are coming out of Covid I believe the funds will transform Kentucky, but they will also help us with the necessary infrastructure to take advantage of all these other opportunities that are out there. Let's start with cleaner water. The cleaner water program is aimed at transforming Kentucky's infrastructure because clean drinking water is a basic human right. And having sufficient water and sewer is necessary for just about every major economic development project that looks at any part of Kentucky. With $250 million Commonwealth, Kentucky is gonna have access to better water and sewer service and cleaner drinking water. On June one, we announced a call for projects and invited public utilities to work with their ad districts. Since then, I think this is the first update we've had on this. We've received 100 and 34 project requests from 44 counties. The total more than $336 million. So, as you can see the needs are such to where they are even greater than the 250 million uh that we have started with. But the amount of good projects, good work and the true need that's out there, Whether that's water or sewer is shown in just that early set of applications. The Kentucky Infrastructure Authority is administering the cleaner water program and interested agencies can still submit their applications. We expect to announce projects starting this summer and they will continue on a rolling basis until december 31st 2024 or until all funds are allocated. And remember since these are direct dollars and not loans, which is typically how we do it through the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, we got an opportunity to provide clean drinking water, expanded sewer access without raising people's bills. That's really important to the families out there, better service better water without raising the prices. Next, our administration is committed to building a world class education system in the commonwealth. I believe our kids are our future and to ensure they receive the highest quality education, they need the highest quality resources. That's why the General Assembly provided 127 million to fund construction and renovated renovation projects in our school districts. What this does is speed up the work and the ability to do the work on some of the worst of the worst condition schools across the Commonwealth to make sure that no child is learning in a crumbling building. So a couple weeks ago, the Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission selected 12 projects across the Commonwealth for much needed upgrades. The better schools program funding will be allocated as gap funding upon approval. School districts can accept or decline funding every now and then based on some of the local conditions, they may decline it, but we accept most, if not all, will take these dollars and run with it. Finally, during the pandemic, we saw just how necessary good high speed internet access truly is. It's now the cornerstone of so many things running from business to health care to education. So the $300 million provided by the General Assembly to provide better internet access or sometimes just internet access for the first time through the Kentucky broadband deployment fund has been so important. The 1st $50 million of which may be awarded by april 1st 2022. These dollars are going to be used to assist governmental agencies and private providers as we build out the infrastructure necessary to build the modern Kentucky economy. This program does require a 50% match. So what you will see is double that amount of money being invested into broadband and that is on top of the federal dollars that are coming in in so many places. So where we are right now is starting with areas that do not have internet access whatsoever and what that requires is a complex mapping process which we are in the midst of pulling off three separate pre existing maps and requests for information is being sent out to solicit input from potential broadband providers so that we can get as much of this information and make sure we end as many of the disputes that we see in other states as early as possible. So once we start these projects, they can truly uh roll out so to learn more about the better Kentucky plan and how to apply for funding, visit governor dot ky dot gov backslash. Better. Ky All right. Our next piece was or something um truly special that I got to be a part of this week that I actually think is um or should be a national and perhaps an international model. So earlier this week I got to attend an event that was inspiring, gave me even more hope for a future. As I saw incredible Kentucky ins, fighting that scourge of addiction committed to getting back with their families, committed to getting back to work committed to rebuilding their lives and at a scale that no one has ever seen before, addiction recovery care, a leading provider of treatment and recovery services across the commonwealth hosted a ribbon cutting on monday for its newest residential treatment center, the Crown Recovery Center in Springfield. This thing is amazing. It is located on the former ST Catherine College campus and Washington County. It takes up the whole ST Catherine College campus in Washington County and it was just so special to see those working for a second chance on a campus receiving its second chance and purpose Crown Recovery Centers, now the state's largest and most comprehensive treatment center, offering a full continuum of care for individuals seeking long term recovery and from substance use disorders. And I believe when at full capacity may be the largest recovery center in America, it's what the, their operators believe and what we will hopefully be able to validate once they reach that level. So I believe that health care is a basic human right and I think our faith compels us to serve the loss, the lonely and the left behind, and this gets us so close to something that we have needed for so long in Kentucky and available bed For anybody who's ready for one and needs one significantly increases our capacity to help those suffering from addiction. And we know how many kentuckians are suffering from that scourge. Crown Recovery Center officially began accepting clients in November of 2020. Currently has 400 men and women receiving services. But once operating at full capacity is gonna be able to serve more than 700 Kentucky and again, committed to getting their lives back together to help and um get their families back together and uh to providing uh necessary skills in in our workforce. I got a chance to talk to the whole group um and got to tell them that this may be uh the single greatest opportunity for second chance employment uh certainly in my lifetime and their ability coming out of recovery right now to secure a steady job has never been greater. Uh When we look at all the the the battles that we have been fighting before, Covid and may have gotten worse during Covid and are going to be fighting after Covid. This is really incredible news that is going to help us in that war. Alright next, we'll turn very quickly to um again, uh ending our fight against Covid itself. Um as of today, as a vaccine update, 2,134,353 Kentucky ins have received at least their first shot of hope. That is 2134 353 Woodford and Franklin County tied leading the way at 63% of all their residents vaccinated 61% of Fayette County. Uh good news inside of those numbers is older Kentucky ins continue uh to get vaccinated uh 65 year olds and up 82% of all Kentucky and 65 and up now vaccinated 63% of Kentucky and 50 to 64. And this number is ticked up a little bit um Kentucky and ages 40-49. We are so close to 50% to half of them sitting at 49% Adult Kentucky and that's 18 and up. We are at almost 60% of that group in Kentucky, vaccinated Kentucky in 12 to 17. Now, 69,923 vaccinated The 12-15 which as you know was just recent, just under 40,000 vaccinated to date. And as a reminder in our efforts to encourage more Kentucky is to get vaccinated, we're offering vaccinated Kentucky ins a shot at a million a million dollars. That is, this is for Kentucky in 18 and over three will be randomly chosen in separate drawings to receive a million dollars. Kentucky is 12-17 who are not eligible for the million dollars can enter to win a full scholarship to any public Kentucky college, university, trade or technical school. There'll be five winners selected in each drawing for a total of 15. The first drawing is two weeks from tomorrow. This means the deadline to enter the first drawing is 11 59 PM. Two weeks from today. As you see, we've gotten a great response in the sign ups for the sweepstakes itself. 414,584 Kentucky and have signed up for the shot at a million. With 23,080 youths signed up for their shot at a free higher education folks. These are the best odds you're ever gonna get At one in $1 million dollars or winning a free ride um to uh, to your higher education. That means those that have not been vaccinated. It is a very compelling reason to get vaccinated. Now, my kids aren't eligible, but I will have two kids that will overlap in college for at least three years. And if I had the eligibility to sign this up, you could bet that I would now that I just want to briefly touch on yesterday and how I hope it shows how much I trust these vaccines. I got the Moderna vaccine early on. I believe the science and I wanted to show the commonwealth that it was safe. But that's probably expected from a governor. But my wife Brittany, my foundation, my rock throughout this and everything else since we met uh stood next to me. I love her. I believed in it enough to where I recommended to her and she did her own research to get vaccinated On Tuesday. My son will turn 12 and yesterday we took him to get vaccinated. I love will and lila more than life itself. I'd give my life for them any day of the week. Any moment. There's nothing that I wouldn't do for them. And I trust this vaccine so much uh that will win in yesterday. Um got his first shot, he is doing just fine, we got it in his non pitching arm just in case. Um But uh everything is good alright. Also as um an incentive to get vaccinated. One thing I'm excited to see coming back is live music and if you've got in your shot there is a free ticket waiting for you to some great summer concerts. The troubadour concert series is hosting covid free concerts at the historic car dome in Georgetown happening through june 29th. It's where everybody is invited except the virus. The free concert series is brought to you by hybrid spring water and the troubadour concert series. This covid free concert series features artists like George Winston, the Sam Bush band exile and other Grammy award winning musicians. If you're fully vaccinated, I mean it's been two weeks since you've gotten two shots of Pfizer Moderna or one of J and J. You qualify for a free ticket to any or all of these shows at the car dome. If you haven't been vaccinated yet, anyone aged 12 and up can get vaccinated for free at the concert and still you get a free ticket. The vaccines are being administered by Wild Wild Health, which is partnered to help hundreds of Kentucky ins get vaccinated. These are Pfizer only the first and the second. Dotes for those vaccinated for less than two weeks and in the process of building full immunity, they can get a rapid free covid test at the concert and thus be able to get in if you're interested held to go to covid free concert dot com to get your ticket. It's great entertainment, visit the site to find out who the entertainers will be and tomorrow night will be american, country music singer and legend. Suzy Bogguss, Who's, who's music I've loved. There's something for everybody in this lineup. The final piece of news today is a reminder that there is money out there to help Kentucky is behind on their rent and on their utilities and we need more Kentucky ins to apply. We wanna make sure Kentucky ins don't come out of this pandemic with debt caused by the upheaval that has happened in their lives. So as a reminder, team Kentucky received $297 million dollars in federal funds to help with rent And utilities for renters. It went to Louisville Lexington and then our program for the rest of the state. All three programs offer the same benefits those who qualify can get 15 months of help a year going backwards three months going forwards. And this is truly a win win. And what could be a difficult situation for the tenant for the renter. They can stay in that home or in that apartment, they can have their debt erased and they can be safe for the landlord. An eviction process is difficult and normally you don't get any of the back owed money. It could take years to collect it and it comes with costs. This is a chance to be made fully whole and even to get some dollars moving forward. So to date, we have helped Kentucky ins with more than 5500 rent utility payments For a little over $23 million. Louisville and Lexington have done a lot on top of that From the rest of states program. 3455 households have also received almost 17.9 million in rental assistance. 2081 have received 2.4 million in assistance with utilities. Our pace is picking up. We authorized $2 million $200 million dollars out there. So we urge anyone at risk of eviction since the moratorium is ending and Kentucky's moratorium will end with it. My executive order will end with it at the end of this month to visit team ky h h e r f dot ky dot gov to get your application. If you live outside Louisville or Lexington to apply and fayette county visit covid 19 renter dot help dot org. If you live in jefferson county visit stop my eviction dot org. All right. So those are today's pieces of information for our team Kentucky update. What we'll do now is take questions from our journalists that have gathered, starting with those that have RSVP'd and then anybody else you'd like to ask one. Uh And then we're gonna we're gonna have a way that we conclude these each week that recognize some team Kentucky all stars out there doing great things. So josh James, W Ky was our first sign up, josh. You too? Yes, it is. Mhm. Yes. Do you service? So this has been a dispute between the cabinet for health and family services and sunrise. It's been about what federal law does or does not require. Now when the Governor's office tried to step in, it was simply too broker an agreement to where we would continue placing Children in sunrise until we got a final decision from the biden administration, which we expected until the end of august. Now, that doesn't mean people haven't tried to throw a whole lot of politics in it and turned it into uh some some form of culture war, which it seems like everyone tries to do with absolutely everything right now. We'll review the decision. If the decision resolves the entire matter, it will resolve the entire matter. Uh Each point in this, it's been about federal law. Uh and a federal law means the contract that they're seeking is is one that we need to provide them. We'll do it. Mark Vanderhof, W O. K. Y Yeah. For it. So Kentucky. I am surprised Kentucky still has $200 million in rental and utility assistance since so many people have been impacted uh during Covid, we do have until september 30th 2022 though, uh to get these dollars out the door. So we got a long runway to help people, uh, and it can get the dollars paid back in the, in the pandemic. I think part of it is needing to get good information out uh, to both the renters and the landlords and the utility companies. And we are working on on trying to lessen the burden on the individuals. Now, if a utility company can identify and give us most of the information and then we can follow up for a little bit with individuals. We hope it will simplify the process. We've also asked the federal government about ways to streamline some of the requirements they have before one of these can be approved. And we're getting some traction there, including being able to fast track some and census tracts. That would suggest that people are impacted most by covid morgan Watkins from the Courier Journal. Yeah. So what do you one? Mhm. So when we look back 15 months at the challenges we faced? Uh, this is one we would have been excited uh to have, we have an economy that is rebounding faster than anyone ever predicted anyone. You know, if you read back on the stories and the economist, they'd say it take four or five years, etcetera uh for for the economy to rebound. And it's coming much faster than that. In fact, it's coming very shortly after the first large group of americans were fully vaccinated. So I believe it has to do with a couple of things. First, the speed versus where we were in the pandemic and where we are now. Remember a whole lot of americans have just been fully vaccinated for a month, some longer than that. It has to do with uh childcare options um, being greatly reduced during covid, not all of them being back and the recovery is not occurring in august or september when kids are back in school. So much of it is occurring in the summer. There's still some residents reticence, especially from Kentucky ins, that had very forward facing jobs where they interacted significantly with the public about the virus and about coming back. And finally, I do believe that there are some people that are coming back to the workforce because of the level of benefits that they're out there. But what that means is we don't have a Red state Blue state democrat Republican issue here. We have a complicated one and we have one where we need to follow sound economic principles. I've been talking to business leaders across the state uh and most of them agree that it is a complicated problem that has all of these pieces. And and just yesterday I was talking to uh an individual whose company employees, I think 20 something 1000 kentuckians. And while they certainly talked about the $300 payments, um, they were in agreement that a first and perhaps better step uh, into prematurely terminating those is to provide a back to work bonus or incentive. We are working on that program now, we are looking at what other states are offering. And I hope this time next week, uh, to have an announcement on that the program wouldn't start until a little bit later. Uh, but just like we had to tell you when we thought we would get drive through testing Off the ground. And then it was another week. We got it, we got to get it right. Um, and that's all we're aiming to do here. Uh, the extra $300 puts $34 million dollars in our economy every week. And where is that going? It's going into groceries, that's going into retail, it's going to restaurants. Those industries were hit hardest during the pandemic and will be hit hardest by a premature end. So what we're trying to do is thread the needle, we need people to get yes off of pandemic unemployment. Um before it would run out in september or before any decision we make before then at the same time those that are having child care issues, we don't want to lose those dollars that are helping them and are flowing through the economy. So our aim is to try to thread that needle and do it right? Not red or blue. Just right tom late check Kentucky today. Right. Mhm. Our numbers are still in decline. Do we have the graph on on where we were as of last week? We are numbers have gone down every single week were more than five weeks uh now, which has been a good sign because remember we had that five week decline and then we had a plateau and then we have had a decline from then. Our positivity rate is still just barely above 2%, which means we still have sufficient testing to get an idea out there. Obviously we don't find out about every single case that far one is for the not completed week. So, um, you know, I I would I would look at the one uh, before that and, and we're seeing this nationally to now. We do sometimes have historic information that's uploaded. It could be a regional epidemiologist, a local health department. We have that in Scott County the other day and it made it look like they had an outbreak. They didn't. So any questions about that. When you look at the breakdown, uh, we're happy to provide that information. Uh, Michael. Uh, I will say though um getting vaccinated is important to our workforce as well. When you think about already having a concern there, if a large portion of your workforce isn't vaccinated and somebody gets covid others are gonna have to quarantine vaccinated. Those rules are different. So we had a D. O. C. J. T. Class. These are new law enforcement officers for much of the state that are desperately needed. I think only about 20% of the cadets of the members were vaccinated and four came back from uh weekend off testing positive. We had to send the whole group home counties and cities that will have to wait for the law enforcement help that they need. That if more of those individuals would get vaccinated, we wouldn't see that issue. And business leaders are also talking about that. What an impact that could make. If you're a manufacturing facility where people are close together, you know, it can, it can have a bigger impact. All right. We have Michael burke from W L E X people what clock? Hopefully. Okay. Other than not knowing that Tupac Shakur lived in Lexington, daniel. Now Daniel do that day. Um, and he's a really nice guy. I called and apologized to him. I was completely wrong. You know what we've had to make during our battlefield decisions based on information that has rapidly changed throughout. I think we try to do what was right each and every time with the decisions in front of us. But you know, people can argue about a lot of things, but the steps that we took absolutely saved lives. I mean, there's no question about it. You look at what happened at the peak of when texas or north or south Dakota or other places where overrun, when they're, when they're hospital capacity was gone. They put into effect the same things that we already had into effect and our hospitals were never overrun. We always had health care capacity for those that are out there now that we make the perfect decision every time I'm sure we didn't, we didn't have information the beginning about how effective masks work. Certainly the information we were getting. Um, didn't inform us about how long we were gonna need to dig in. If I had the information I had have now when we started, I think two things I would have done is number one talked about masks very early on, but number two told people you don't win a war in two weeks. And and that that's what we were in and and it was going to take that type of of struggle, but that I can lay my head down at night because I know we made decisions the right way and for the right reasons Phil Pendleton. Mhm. Why? Well, I've had conversations with a lot of these and other business leaders. And first when you have a one on one conversation, they admit there are a lot more factors that are out there. And I will admit that this is one, but it's only one. Again, child care is a huge issue, especially uh that has disproportionately impacted women in our workforce. There are fewer options for them now than before the pandemic. And we didn't have enough options before. The pandemic were also in summer, uh without the help that that school provides that is coming up. What were also again, seeing is a rebound much faster than people anticipated. Uh And so I think it'll take some time to to catch up. But I believe that the right thing to do here is the carrot, not the stick. Uh what those leaders are asking for would put a shock through our economy, would remove $34 million COVID. And it took a lot of people that can't go to work right now because of a lack of childcare, off that additional assistance, which the number one thing they buy with it, our groceries for them and for their kids. So those business leaders, let's talk, let's create a smart and Senate program. Let's get you the workers. You need, I want to get Kentucky. It's back to work. We can't have everybody on P. You A still on P. U. A. At the end of of september. Um But let's admit a complicated problem is a complicated problem. Our cross Kentucky health news. You to welcome back. Okay. Mhm. Okay. Here. Well, let me start with the Obamacare. Um I haven't read the full uh decision because it just came out and it's really long. But my understanding is part of it is uh they don't have standing because of the harm or the lack of harm, right as they talk. And because of that, I believe that what they're saying is it's it's not unconstitutional because of the same reasons the other side was arguing that it was, in other words, the removal of the of the penalty. So I do believe it's substantial and that yes, it was decided on standing grounds, but I think in many ways it will preclude uh further suit. Also think it's substantial because at some point I don't care what grounds it's on If we hadn't won that what would have happened to people. So we're really pleased in 72 with Clarence thomas joining the majority amongst others is a pretty incredible thing. We haven't seen a 72 decision a long time now. Maybe that's why it's just on standing and not on others. Uh I do think that the the incentives, the shot at a million and and the full ride scholarships are making an impact. I will admit it's hard to tell how much of an impact they're making because we don't know how many people would be signing up. Otherwise, what we're seeing is people who have been vaccinated also are very interested in it. And that's good because they've done The right thing. I would like to see more 12 what we're seeing is probably a bigger pickup amongst adults Then Ohio may have had after the first two weeks but we probably have less 12-17 year old. So the more we can get that information out, we also haven't had our first drawing and it's certainly my hope that that will stimulate interest. Alright. W. D. R. B. I know we have down. Oh yeah. Lawrence. Uh Sorry. Larks what? Mhm. Why not? Mhm. Well if this incentive works on getting those that aren't coming back in uh to the market because of the $300 but helps those uh that are out because of of of childcare issues which may persist at least until school starts, which starts at different times. You know we want to thread that needle appropriately right now. Um We don't see that as setting a date, but again, I'm not foreclosing that. I mean I I'm the first to say that we can't have everybody start looking for a job at the end of september. And so again, it's trying to devise the way that we get a large portion um that can return to work to return to work while, while keeping that necessary safety net for those that need just a little bit more time. All right now we can open it up Daniel. I see you're here. Great, very spirit. I'm wondering? Yes, that might right place where there. Yeah. So let me start by saying in terms of contract emplacement, we will follow federal law and if that means this case resolves it, it resolves it. Me personally. Um, I have great friends, they were gay parents, they're wonderful people, they're raising an amazing son. Um, I'm concerned within a group that doesn't see that. And the amazing families that are right there. We got a foster care system where Children are crying out to have people that will love and care and invest in them. And to preclude anybody from being a part of that is concerning. We know that our L. G. B. T. Q. Youth are some of the most marginalized have higher rates of falling into human trafficking of of certain types of abuse. And it concerns me that they would go to a place that with any place and I don't know that this happens at at sunrise. But any place that would tell them that who they are is wrong in any way because I do not believe they are sinful. I believe they are Children of God, just like any and every person on this earth anybody else. All right. Okay. Right. So, so what I was saying is if the case that just came out, the Supreme Court case resolves it, it will resolve it. Uh And and at least some of the initial language and it suggests that it may. So if the Supreme Court says this accommodation has to be offered to sunrise, it'll be offered to them. So, again, the whole contract dispute is just about I mean, the Cabinet for health and family services was worried without that clause, it would not just threaten funding that went into Sunrises services, but the entire foster care system, that's a pretty legitimate concern. If you're worried, you're gonna lose every dollar going into every provider in the foster care system. If this resolves all that will move forward with with sunrise as a provider morgan. Right. Yeah. Thanks. Three another really minutes of money. And the possibility is still open of ending them early. Yeah. Really now? Mhm Yeah, I am thrilled to be what I hope is a post covid governor uh here in the coming months and coming years. The first thing that's on the agenda is this economic resurgence which is phenomenal. The amount of interest we're seeing from companies that didn't used to look at Kentucky is a game changer groups that used to view us as a flyover state now are looking at investing in us. We have some of the most important emerging industries expanding in Kentucky right now between Agra Tech and aerospace. So we have an incredible opportunity in front of us. But one of the things that I see in that as governor is a responsibility to make sure that prosperity reaches every part of our state, including portions of eastern and western, that haven't seen enough new jobs. So in Whitley County got those 250 new jobs, that's a big deal prosperity needs to reach their. When Fulton County got the 20 something jobs, that was a big deal. There is a small town in Hopkins County that based on a water project, got somewhere between 10 and 20 new jobs last week. That's a big win because that community hadn't seen it. It also means that we've got to make sure that prosperity reaches every part of each of our cities because we got many neighborhoods that haven't seen uh wealth generated in that neighborhood and far too long. So that's a lot of what I am very excited to, to work on. Uh we've got to continue to increase access for health care and make it affordable. I will say the changes we made during the pandemic make that more possible than ever before. We have better reimbursement, go into hospitals, we have better reimbursements going to independent pharmacists, We have a stronger Medicaid program because of it. And you're already seeing investments in Louisville, in Lexington, in neighbors with neighborhoods that didn't have facilities getting them. We're gonna keep working on that on the education front, we have to continue to improve our education system, make investments, That's $70 million. We're gonna put in vocational schools and renovations. It's also what we've got to continue to do uh with with higher education. Uh and we've got to continue to make sure that uh those have who have served their time, especially for nonviolent non sex offenses, get there not only their voting rights back, but get a true second chance out there in this world to to come back together with their family. I'm really excited about the future. It's brighter than I believe that at any time in my lifetime and we better take advantage. Let me, I'll come back, yep. What? Okay, july one, yep. Over north. Well July one, we're gonna have that, there won't be masks. Uh but we're gonna have a new set of rules and procedures that are coming out. The reason July one is if you remember, the legislature agreed we needed extra security. Uh they put it in their budget. That starts July one. Um we've seen a lot of things including January six and what happened at our US. Capitol, um a rise in domestic terror um around the country. And we want to make sure we have the right rules to keep people safe here. We'll come out with those um uh certainly before July one, and we'll come back here and we'll answer those. Well, so. Mhm. So, so certainly uh prisons, we've we've authorized to have visitation again and state facility should be doing that under the rules that have been put forward now, that requires vaccinations at the moment. It also requires masking. But as the pandemic lessons will be looking to to lessen those, the concern there is, we've seen how quickly it can spread in those facilities and we just want to make sure that we're careful, I will say are incarcerated population, I think it's 70-plus% vaccinated, I think close to 80%, they're doing a lot better than the corrections officers and because of that, they deserve that visitation. Yeah. Yeah, we yeah, we've been working on it a while. I mean, we're just trying to do the right thing, not getting any back and forth with anybody who wants attention, it's pretty grand. Sure uh you know, we need to have a robust discussion about, uh, first if we had another statue and, and then, um, who it would be and, and with with the grounds shut down without, uh, the ability for people to participate. We ought to be able to start that as it comes out. I mean, this is it's a pretty big decision and I want all Kentucky and to be able to have a voice in that. Certainly, I I would like to see some form of diversity, uh, that we don't have, um, in, in the current rotunda, but it's also got to be somebody that we were all proud of, that everybody can look at and, and see Kentucky values that we all share. I'll take one more if we got him. All right. So team Kentucky, we're off to a record setting economic pace as we move into the post covid economy and we're just getting started. So at the end of these, we want to do something a little fun and that is by recognizing our true team Kentucky all stars. This is good news people out there who are doing it right. I want to start with an individual. I got to meet earlier this week and I gotta tell you everybody was there was smiling. It was the story. We all need it on Tuesday. I was proud to be in Lexington to celebrate milo. Golden Milo is a student at Lexington christian academy who won the national doodle for google competition. He's awarded a $30,000 college scholarship. I tell you he's so smart. He's probably not gonna need it in a $50,000 technology package for his school Milos art titled Finding Hope was inspired by the words of his late father Who he lost when he was 13 to a heart attack. Milo wants to be a cardiologist. He is so incredibly bright, he's gonna be a governor scholar uh, this year and his art is so incredible. Uh, billions of people around the world saw it as the homepage for google on Wednesday. He is remarkable in many ways. He is the exact story that we all need other than the fact that he made me look really short uh, in that press conference, incredible kid. We're all so proud of him. I want to talk about one other Kentucky and Sean Sullivan, he is the only Kentucky and competing this week in the fire fit european competition. Uh, this week, another Kentucky and is representing the commonwealth on an international stage. Sean Sullivan of Frankfurt is the only american competing in the european fire fit championship. Sean is an Air Force veteran and served on the Frankfurt Fire Department for 20 years and 2021. The Firefighter Combat Challenge and Fire fit World Championship, becoming the first american and Kentucky and to do so, I was honored to meet Sean in May. While Milo made me look short. Sean made me look small and to officially name him a Kentucky colonel. We are proud of him, so Kentucky, let's join together. Let's congratulate Milo and Sean for being this week's team Kentucky all Stars.

Sign-ups growing for Kentucky prizes tied to COVID shots

Updated: 8:44 AM EDT Jun 18, 2021

The number of Kentuckians vying for lucrative prizes tied to getting the COVID-19 vaccine continues to grow, Gov. Andy Beshear said.More than 414,000 Kentucky adults have entered drawings for $1 million prizes, the governor said Thursday. Another 23,000 youngsters are entered for college scholarships, he said.Three Kentucky adults will win $1 million prizes and 15 students ages 12-17 will be awarded full-ride scholarships to a Kentucky public university, college, technical or trade school.“Folks, these are the best odds you're ever going to get at winning $1 million or winning a free ride to your higher education,” the governor said. “That means those that have not been vaccinated, it is a very compelling reason to get vaccinated.”The offer is available to Kentucky residents already vaccinated and those who decide to get the vaccine before the drawings.Drawings will be July 1, July 29 and Aug. 26, with winners announced the next day.

FRANKFORT, Ky. —

Sign-ups growing for Kentucky prizes tied to COVID shots

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The number of Kentuckians vying for lucrative prizes tied to getting the COVID-19 vaccine continues to grow, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

More than 414,000 Kentucky adults have entered drawings for $1 million prizes, the governor said Thursday. Another 23,000 youngsters are entered for college scholarships, he said.

Three Kentucky adults will win $1 million prizes and 15 students ages 12-17 will be awarded full-ride scholarships to a Kentucky public university, college, technical or trade school.

“Folks, these are the best odds you're ever going to get at winning $1 million or winning a free ride to your higher education,” the governor said. “That means those that have not been vaccinated, it is a very compelling reason to get vaccinated.”

The offer is available to Kentucky residents already vaccinated and those who decide to get the vaccine before the drawings.

Drawings will be July 1, July 29 and Aug. 26, with winners announced the next day.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

6/18/2021 4:00:21 AM (GMT -4:00)