Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's the first, but I'll take it the Rick Flair
of morning news, the nature Boy, Thank you John Shannon.
It is six oh five here a Kentucky had It's
Morning News, And I tell you what I was wrong yesterday.
I thought everybody was back to school, but it just
went off the screen. We have our partners on our
television in front of us each and every morning over
at WKY, and I believe Oldham County schools are starting today.
(00:21):
So now I guess today is actually the day where
everybody in the region is back at school. So busy morning,
A lot more cars on the roadways when school is
in session. But it does look as if, so far
here at six oh six, we've got some smooth no
non issues. I guess we've got we've got non issues
out there. I don't know t hell. I was saying
(00:41):
smooth roadways, I guess is what I was going for.
But when somebody calls you Ric Flair, you get distracted.
You to start to think, you know what, Maybe he's right,
Maybe I am the Rick Flair of morning news. I'll
just I'll live in a world where I'm at until
somebody can prove me otherwise, all right, So by the way,
we've got another update of traffic and weather coming your
way here in just a few minutes. Maybe that'll change
as far as traffic, but fingers crossed, all right. So
(01:03):
this is something that I I'm glad I really looked
into the exact details here because I would have been
wrong as far as this announcement yesterday that we've got
speed cameras coming to Kentucky work zones. So this was
announced yesterday that when it comes to the drivers here
in the Bluegrass State, your days of speeding through highway
(01:24):
construction zones without immediate consequences are numbered. They're gonna come
for you. So there's gonna be new automated enforcement cameras
installed in active work zones across the state. This this
follows the passage of House Bills six sixty four, and
it's named for a highway worker, Jordan Lee Helton Act.
That's that's what this is. This bill is called and
(01:45):
it's named after how we worker that was killed in
a work zone crash. So when you think, when I
think of a camera tracking my speed, and I've not
had this happen to me, but I've had others that
ended up getting a ticket in the mail because they
got caught running a red light or going too fat.
I think most people I know, and it's not like
it's been super common, but I do have a couple
(02:07):
of friends that actually not even in Kentucky, it was
in other states. They ended up getting a citation because
they were caught running a red light. Hadn't happened to me,
but I'm sure it's happened to some of you out there.
I just assume that that's what this was is if
they caught you speeding, they were going to be sending
you like a ticket in the mail. But that's not
at all what this is. The automated camera will clock
your speed in these active work zones, and then a
(02:28):
nearby law enforcement officer will be monitoring the monitoring the
camera feed or the radar readout. So if you're over
the limit, that officer will pull you over on the
spot and can issue a citation to you in person.
There's going to be no mailed, texted or email citations,
which now does make sense because this putting these cameras
(02:49):
there is just going to give you the ability and
really the access to hold people accountable in a safer way.
I mean, if you've got, like, let's be real reason
they tell you to not speed in a construction zone. One,
it's because of safety and there's people working, but also
because there's construction going on and it's dangerous. So if
(03:09):
you're going twenty over, you may be able to get
through and not hurt anybody. But obviously that's a big
no no. But think about where law enforcement could be
sitting in their vehicles where within the construction zone to
where they could safely get out and then go get you.
So in a way you kind of you kind of
have a better ability to maybe get away with it,
to be honest with you. So now they're just they're
(03:30):
sitting and waiting. They're tracking you on these cameras and
they're sitting in waiting and they're gonna come get you.
And uh, be advised, you don't say I didn't warn you.
Have you ever had any any speeding ticket or any
citation through mail?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Not through mail? The only ticket I ever got was
when I turn right on a red light and he'll
view where you're not supposed to turn right on.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I know exactly what you're talking about, unmarked shut out,
and they gave you a ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yep, this is the very first time I got pulled
over as.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, burns me up I got. I got pulled over
in a very very similar spot right actually right past
that intersection and so in between that intersection and where
that shopping center is. And it was because I was
there was ice on the road. In fact, here's the scenario.
I ended up leaving to go to work whenever I
(04:19):
was hosting in the mornings on seven ninety and I
turned around by the time I got to sixty five
because the it was icing and it was only getting worse,
and I just I thought, I mean, I saw vehicles
already stranded on the snyder that had been just rolled
off and could move because it was the ice everywhere.
So I just turned around. I was gonna do the
show from home. Well, given the circumstances, there was a
(04:40):
I was. I was at where you turned right. The
light was yellow and I'm going southbound, so it's yellow,
and I even if there wasn't an ambulance coming the
other way, which there was, I wouldn't have even tried
to slow down, because we're talking about just a sheet
of ice on the roadways. So the ambulance wasn't going
the same direction is me and it wasn't even turning
(05:01):
in the intersection. I was crossing. But I guess I
didn't stop quick enough, so an officer pulled me over
because I didn't yield to the ambulance and before I
could even you know, I'm the last one that would
ever get in any kind of confrontation if you being
pulled over, even if I was, even if I felt
like they were wrong. I mean, I wouldn't be a
fool and try to, you know, fight it. I mean
maybe I wouldn't court eventually, But anyways, I ended up
(05:22):
just getting a warning, and I was glad I got
a warning, but I'm all the more time that's passed,
the more I'm thinking, I mean, did you you clearly
he slid to pull me over, Like there's a reason
I didn't stop, and I know maybe there's there's So
there's two reasons I should have stopped. One, maybe the
yellow light was a risk and it was more so
going to be read before I crossed, and that's dangerous.
But also like the ambulance coming, that's an even bigger thing.
But also like if I I guess the belief was
(05:45):
that regardless life or death, that ambulance is coming, so
you need to slam on your brakes and you know,
maybe die, which is is is an exaggeration, but yeah,
I've been lucky when it comes to getting citations. I've
only had one and you'll never guess it was while
I was on the phone talking to Tony Venetti, pulled over,
got a ticket and only time it's ever happened. All right,
(06:09):
let's get to another check of traffic and weather and
we'll keep this thing rolling along. It is Kentucky and
its morning news here our news radio waight forty whas.
So we're just a couple of minutes away from your
next update on traffic and weather here at Kentucky and
this morning news coffee and company with you on news
radio eight forty whas. So when it comes to the
new speed cameras coming to the Kentucky work sites where
(06:32):
highway construction zones is probably the better way to describe it.
But here is what you need to be aware of
that they're going to track you like these cameras are
essentially radar guns and the law there will be law
enforcement officers on site, I guess in a position to
better just be able to get you as soon as
you come out of that construction zone, and they will
rely on what the camera says as far as your
(06:53):
rate of speed, but fines could be as high as
five hundred dollars and again no email or text citations.
Violations will be all handled in person by an officer.
But the twenty twenty four stats thirteen hundred crashes, seven deaths,
and one hundred and eighty five injuries in Kentucky work
zones specifically, and most victims were drivers or passengers, so
(07:13):
it's not just an issue for those that are out
there working. In fact, oftentimes you'll see what is still
set up as a work zone where you need to
go safe because of how the roadways are set up,
but there's nobody working, so it's not just because there's
out and by the way, that's a huge pack part
of this as well. Again House built sixty sixty four.
The Jared Lee Helton Act is named after a highway
(07:33):
worker that was killed in a crash when he was working.
So they're going to roll out these cameras at select
locations starting later this summer and fall, so it sounds
like it's going to be pretty soon and there'll be
statewide expansion coming in years, and I will admit I
hope this doesn't end up with a war on issue.
(07:55):
From my arrest, I've at times found myself going higher
than the speed limit, but I think it's easier to
do it in a work zone because you can feel
like you were going substantially slower than the average interstate
speed limit, but also you're maybe still going like ten
twelve over because it's you know, they have it set
(08:15):
that slow for obvious reasons. So I'm sure if you
get a speeding ticket, and it'll be a big one, right,
it's not just your typical speeding ticket. If you get
a ticket because you're speeding in a work zone, that's
a different level. So that of course could end up
really making you aware of exactly what that speed zone
is whenever you're in a construction zone. So there you go.
(08:38):
Be advised, all right, traving. A weather update's coming your
way right here, right now. Scott Fitzgerald's back with another
sports update, and we will talk more about this ugly
look ugly story, if you will. Allegations made about those
working for the Kentucky working for the state, essentially that
we're taking bribes from illegal immigrants to get identification cards.
(08:58):
And you've got amployee claims that she reported it. She
was fired for reporting it, according to her. And this
wasn't just a one off thing. This happened for a while,
multiple times a day, and this isn't going away. There's
gonna be clearly. I'm sure there's an internal investigation going
on as we speak. But yeah, this is a bad look.
All right, don't go anwhere, keep it locked right here
(09:19):
on News Radiate forty whas. Thank you very much, John Shannon.
He's right that it's his Kentucky and his morning news
with Coffee and company here on News Radio eight forty whas.
I can't confirm Nick Coffee, that's me. We've got the
full crew here, the company man John Allen alongside. And
I talked about this a little bit earlier, and I'm
a little bit late to this. I know John Channon
did have this mentioned in his newscast yesterday, but just
(09:42):
wasn't something that came up specifically within the show by myself.
But it is certainly a big story and we still
have yet to really get much answers as far as
the facts, and the allegation is a real bad look.
So there is a former clerk with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet,
Melissa Mormon, who claims that multiple state offices issued fraudulent
(10:04):
licenses to undocumented workers four to five times a day
for at least two years. So while you've been waiting
impatiently trying to get your license, and it's been an
issue because of the recent changes in recent years as
far as just how you're able to go about doing that,
there have been illegal immigrants who didn't even take a
(10:25):
driver's test that were getting licenses because they were paying
I guess a couple to three hundred dollars a pop
under the table to employees that worked for the Kentucky
tran Transportation Cabinet. So again not a good look. And
this of course is a whistleblower situation. Melissa Mormon. She
(10:46):
says that she did report this activity to a supervisor,
but was fired soon after, and she alleges her own
ID was misused in the scheme, which that could be
the reason is to why she was able to maybe
uncover what was going on. But WDRB they did, they
put this investigation together and worked and spoke directly with
miss Mormon, and they were able to, meaning WDRB obtained
(11:09):
documents that showed that over fifteen hundred letters were sent
out warning recipients that their licenses were issued in error
and would be canceled. So they've also refused to release
over two thousand related records, citing active state and federal
criminal probe. So that's at least a sign that if
(11:32):
they're not going to release over two thousand related records,
it's because they're working on making sure they identify every
single individual and have every bit of information, every bit
of information in order to hold these people accountable. Because yeah,
this is obviously a no no to say the least.
So again, I just think the over I mean, first
(11:54):
of all, just when you consider just the current climate,
let's put it that way, with are issues here in
this state with people trying to get their driver's license
and it's just become a nightmare because of recent changes
made over the years that have just made it much
more difficult to do. And then also just the situation
with the legal immigrants in this country. And what I
(12:14):
mean by that is it's just a it's a hot
button thing. And yet you I mean again, while you've
been waiting impatiently and wondering what can be done. Why
you have to drive two hours to go to go
get it? Why can't you just go to where you live?
Why is the next appointment available in eight weeks? These
legitimate and understanding, understandable frustrations that people have had here
(12:38):
in the state Kentucky citizens, they now know that others
were able to do it by just paying a few
hundred bucks and they weren't even here legally in the country,
and they didn't have to wait in line, they didn't
have to take a driver's test. So yeah, the optics
here far from good. So this isn't going away. And
again maybe those records will be released and we'll have
more information, some transparency from the state as this is
(12:59):
this movie on. But look, you can you can hire
people that by all accounts are qualified, maybe they're even
good employees that work for the state, that just somehow
they they realize with the position they have, they could
potentially take advantage of their position and steal and be fraudsters.
(13:25):
And I guess where they really screw up. Well doing
it is of course a screw up, But you're gonna
get caught and it's gonna be I mean probably a
life changing thing for you. I mean, depending on what
you do, you could go to prison. So I'm just
looking at some other notable cases that involved unethical and
(13:46):
illegal activities by Kentucky state workers in recent years. This
one I just remember because it's it just it stood
out to me because of just my my situation with
you know, have a special needs daughter, and I now
as she's getting older, you know, I understand that there
are some resources available to us that I'm certainly appreciative
of and God knows we need it and greatly appreciate it.
(14:10):
But I mean there was a woman who I mean
she was in office I think for twenty eight years
with the Kentucky Commission for Children with Special Care Needs.
And this is about this is actually a little bit
right around the time that we learned of our daughter
having just she was special needs child. And she ended
(14:30):
up getting sentenced thirty months for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft,
and theft from a state agency. Which that's just the
legal terms of her charges. But the orchestrated fraud here
was that she falsified vouchers between I think it was
like over a ten year period redirecting about forty five
thousand dollars in payments meant for families with special needs
(14:51):
children into her own personal accounts and expenses. I mean,
my guess is that if you do it long enough,
she worked at twenty eight years, that you just assumed
that you've gotten away with it, and it starts to
probably spiral to where you get riskier, and I guess
more so you become even more stupid and end up,
you know, getting caught, which is good thing. These people
(15:13):
get caught, and you will probably always get caught. Even
if you are sitting here listening right now and realize
you think you've gotten away with it, You'll never be surprised,
right if you end up getting caught because you had
to know that going in. You may have lied to
yourself and been in denial. But anyhow, those of course,
who if these allegations are true that they were taking
money from illegal immigrants to let them again, think about
(15:36):
all the layers here. You've got somebody claiming to be
someone that they're not. That's identity theft. I mean again,
you didn't even have to take a driver. I mean,
and the people that work for the state of the
people that that clearly enabled this. So yeah, an awful situation,
and I'm sure this is not going away anytime soon,
and hopefully we get some clarity, some transportation, some transparency,
I should say, from the state. All right, let's get
(15:58):
to an update on tracking the weather right here, right
now on news you wait forty whas, So we're gonna
get an update on sports coming up here in just
a just a few minutes. In fact, I lied closer
to eight minutes, but in the seven o'clock hour, I
do want to discuss sort of in more detail the
news yesterday announced by the University of Kentucky and their
(16:18):
new agreement with JMI and I just when you hear
of JMI or Learfield, those two And by the way,
JMI is who owns the media rights essentially for UK Athletics,
and Learfield is the same type of company for the
University of Louis Athletics, and I believe in some way
they're now either merged together or maybe they're under the
same umbrella. But either way, for those who don't really
(16:40):
know what that what that means, these are companies that
pay a lot of money to own the broadcast rights
and really the logo the brand and then with that
big investment, they're able to sell advertising and monetize. And
for a long time it's been a big, high dollar business,
right They've they've made big invents, vestments and they've made
(17:00):
big money on set investments because around here, specifically can
it sells ukul it sells around here. So that has
become much harder in recent years because a lot of money,
especially from sponsors, corporations, those kind of things. They've been
pretty much pressured to shift some of their money or
(17:21):
maybe add more money to go towards paying players. That
didn't use to be a thing now it is, so
monetizing is become much more difficult for the likes of
Learfield and JMI. So what happened here with the UK
they've agreed to a massive deal where they're gonna get
a lot of money from JMI, money that right now
is hard to turn down because there's so much financial
(17:43):
uncertainty in college athletics right now, more so than there's
ever been. You now have a twenty million dollar annual
payment that you have to pay out to student athletes
with revenue share. I mean, it's a very very uncertain time.
So when you've got JMI offering you what they offered,
which we'll get into the specifics a little bit later on.
I mean, it'd be foolish to turn that away. However,
(18:06):
you're giving yourself some stability, and I believe that is
the word that Mitch Barnhardt used specifically when talking about
this news yesterday. But you now have to rely on
JMI being able to not just and again once they've
given you their money. I mean, I'm sure you want
them to be able to have success, but really it's
their responsibility to sell ads and monetize the brand. So
(18:28):
I mean, you want it, but it's not really your responsibility.
But now you need players you want to succeed. Well,
now JMI they own everything. The NIL collective for UK
doesn't exist anymore because JMI is now in charge of
handling all of the contracts with players and NIL, which
of course is a huge and super important component. It's
(18:48):
by I mean, John, you're at college sports fanatic like myself.
You also cover the sports like I did for many
years NIL. Is it not the most important thing now?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah? Especially and you can just build teams from scratch
like you saw Louisville and Kentucky do both last year
for basketball, Indiana's doing the same thing this Year's right,
whenever you have a first year head coach, you can
be a competitor immediately, by the way, with doing this
innil stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So the again, let's say Bellerman had all the nil
money in the world, they would benefit from it. So
maybe it's not safe to it's not fair to say
that it's it's I mean, I think it is the
most important thing, but also it's not the only thing.
There's other things that matter, but money matters a lot.
We all know that when it comes to society. So
the issue here is that with the amount of money
that JMI is forking over there, they're gonna they're gonna
(19:32):
want a piece of everything. They're gonna want to be
involved in everything, meaning players are gonna have to share
their nil money with UK or with JMI essentially, and
that's not a normal thing anywhere else, and that can
be something that might work against you in recruiting, which
I would understand if you're a UK fan that you
might have some worry there. So there's no way to
know how it works out. But this is this is
(19:54):
big in a big way, and I get it. On
the Kentucky end as far as just from a financial standpoint,
hard to turn away that money, but also you better
hope that they've got resources to help you. Continue to
let players feel as if they are they're they're they're
they're in charge of their own brand and their own thing,
and I can JMI has already been in the way
of that at times because they're competing, right. They're not
(20:15):
gonna let you wear do an nil deal with your
UK shirt on. If you're not getting they're not getting
a piece of it. So tricky situation for sure. All Right,
travinging weather updates on the way. Another sports update coming
up to right here on news Radio eight forty WHA
s
That's the first, but I'll take it the Rick Flair
of morning news, the nature Boy, Thank you John Shannon.
It is six oh five here a Kentucky had It's
Morning News, And I tell you what I was wrong yesterday.
I thought everybody was back to school, but it just
went off the screen. We have our partners on our
television in front of us each and every morning over
at WKY, and I believe Oldham County schools are starting today.
(00:21):
So now I guess today is actually the day where
everybody in the region is back at school. So busy morning,
A lot more cars on the roadways when school is
in session. But it does look as if, so far
here at six oh six, we've got some smooth no
non issues. I guess we've got we've got non issues
out there. I don't know t hell. I was saying
(00:41):
smooth roadways, I guess is what I was going for.
But when somebody calls you Ric Flair, you get distracted.
You to start to think, you know what, Maybe he's right,
Maybe I am the Rick Flair of morning news. I'll
just I'll live in a world where I'm at until
somebody can prove me otherwise, all right, So by the way,
we've got another update of traffic and weather coming your
way here in just a few minutes. Maybe that'll change
as far as traffic, but fingers crossed, all right. So
(01:03):
this is something that I I'm glad I really looked
into the exact details here because I would have been
wrong as far as this announcement yesterday that we've got
speed cameras coming to Kentucky work zones. So this was
announced yesterday that when it comes to the drivers here
in the Bluegrass State, your days of speeding through highway
(01:24):
construction zones without immediate consequences are numbered. They're gonna come
for you. So there's gonna be new automated enforcement cameras
installed in active work zones across the state. This this
follows the passage of House Bills six sixty four, and
it's named for a highway worker, Jordan Lee Helton Act.
That's that's what this is. This bill is called and
(01:45):
it's named after how we worker that was killed in
a work zone crash. So when you think, when I
think of a camera tracking my speed, and I've not
had this happen to me, but I've had others that
ended up getting a ticket in the mail because they
got caught running a red light or going too fat.
I think most people I know, and it's not like
it's been super common, but I do have a couple
(02:07):
of friends that actually not even in Kentucky, it was
in other states. They ended up getting a citation because
they were caught running a red light. Hadn't happened to me,
but I'm sure it's happened to some of you out there.
I just assume that that's what this was is if
they caught you speeding, they were going to be sending
you like a ticket in the mail. But that's not
at all what this is. The automated camera will clock
your speed in these active work zones, and then a
(02:28):
nearby law enforcement officer will be monitoring the monitoring the
camera feed or the radar readout. So if you're over
the limit, that officer will pull you over on the
spot and can issue a citation to you in person.
There's going to be no mailed, texted or email citations,
which now does make sense because this putting these cameras
(02:49):
there is just going to give you the ability and
really the access to hold people accountable in a safer way.
I mean, if you've got, like, let's be real reason
they tell you to not speed in a construction zone. One,
it's because of safety and there's people working, but also
because there's construction going on and it's dangerous. So if
(03:09):
you're going twenty over, you may be able to get
through and not hurt anybody. But obviously that's a big
no no. But think about where law enforcement could be
sitting in their vehicles where within the construction zone to
where they could safely get out and then go get you.
So in a way you kind of you kind of
have a better ability to maybe get away with it,
to be honest with you. So now they're just they're
(03:30):
sitting and waiting. They're tracking you on these cameras and
they're sitting in waiting and they're gonna come get you.
And uh, be advised, you don't say I didn't warn you.
Have you ever had any any speeding ticket or any
citation through mail?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Not through mail? The only ticket I ever got was
when I turn right on a red light and he'll
view where you're not supposed to turn right on.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I know exactly what you're talking about, unmarked shut out,
and they gave you a ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yep, this is the very first time I got pulled
over as.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, burns me up I got. I got pulled over
in a very very similar spot right actually right past
that intersection and so in between that intersection and where
that shopping center is. And it was because I was
there was ice on the road. In fact, here's the scenario.
I ended up leaving to go to work whenever I
(04:19):
was hosting in the mornings on seven ninety and I
turned around by the time I got to sixty five
because the it was icing and it was only getting worse,
and I just I thought, I mean, I saw vehicles
already stranded on the snyder that had been just rolled
off and could move because it was the ice everywhere.
So I just turned around. I was gonna do the
show from home. Well, given the circumstances, there was a
(04:40):
I was. I was at where you turned right. The
light was yellow and I'm going southbound, so it's yellow,
and I even if there wasn't an ambulance coming the
other way, which there was, I wouldn't have even tried
to slow down, because we're talking about just a sheet
of ice on the roadways. So the ambulance wasn't going
the same direction is me and it wasn't even turning
(05:01):
in the intersection. I was crossing. But I guess I
didn't stop quick enough, so an officer pulled me over
because I didn't yield to the ambulance and before I
could even you know, I'm the last one that would
ever get in any kind of confrontation if you being
pulled over, even if I was, even if I felt
like they were wrong. I mean, I wouldn't be a
fool and try to, you know, fight it. I mean
maybe I wouldn't court eventually, But anyways, I ended up
(05:22):
just getting a warning, and I was glad I got
a warning, but I'm all the more time that's passed,
the more I'm thinking, I mean, did you you clearly
he slid to pull me over, Like there's a reason
I didn't stop, and I know maybe there's there's So
there's two reasons I should have stopped. One, maybe the
yellow light was a risk and it was more so
going to be read before I crossed, and that's dangerous.
But also like the ambulance coming, that's an even bigger thing.
But also like if I I guess the belief was
(05:45):
that regardless life or death, that ambulance is coming, so
you need to slam on your brakes and you know,
maybe die, which is is is an exaggeration, but yeah,
I've been lucky when it comes to getting citations. I've
only had one and you'll never guess it was while
I was on the phone talking to Tony Venetti, pulled over,
got a ticket and only time it's ever happened. All right,
(06:09):
let's get to another check of traffic and weather and
we'll keep this thing rolling along. It is Kentucky and
its morning news here our news radio waight forty whas.
So we're just a couple of minutes away from your
next update on traffic and weather here at Kentucky and
this morning news coffee and company with you on news
radio eight forty whas. So when it comes to the
new speed cameras coming to the Kentucky work sites where
(06:32):
highway construction zones is probably the better way to describe it.
But here is what you need to be aware of
that they're going to track you like these cameras are
essentially radar guns and the law there will be law
enforcement officers on site, I guess in a position to
better just be able to get you as soon as
you come out of that construction zone, and they will
rely on what the camera says as far as your
(06:53):
rate of speed, but fines could be as high as
five hundred dollars and again no email or text citations.
Violations will be all handled in person by an officer.
But the twenty twenty four stats thirteen hundred crashes, seven deaths,
and one hundred and eighty five injuries in Kentucky work
zones specifically, and most victims were drivers or passengers, so
(07:13):
it's not just an issue for those that are out
there working. In fact, oftentimes you'll see what is still
set up as a work zone where you need to
go safe because of how the roadways are set up,
but there's nobody working, so it's not just because there's
out and by the way, that's a huge pack part
of this as well. Again House built sixty sixty four.
The Jared Lee Helton Act is named after a highway
(07:33):
worker that was killed in a crash when he was working.
So they're going to roll out these cameras at select
locations starting later this summer and fall, so it sounds
like it's going to be pretty soon and there'll be
statewide expansion coming in years, and I will admit I
hope this doesn't end up with a war on issue.
(07:55):
From my arrest, I've at times found myself going higher
than the speed limit, but I think it's easier to
do it in a work zone because you can feel
like you were going substantially slower than the average interstate
speed limit, but also you're maybe still going like ten
twelve over because it's you know, they have it set
(08:15):
that slow for obvious reasons. So I'm sure if you
get a speeding ticket, and it'll be a big one, right,
it's not just your typical speeding ticket. If you get
a ticket because you're speeding in a work zone, that's
a different level. So that of course could end up
really making you aware of exactly what that speed zone
is whenever you're in a construction zone. So there you go.
(08:38):
Be advised, all right, traving. A weather update's coming your
way right here, right now. Scott Fitzgerald's back with another
sports update, and we will talk more about this ugly
look ugly story, if you will. Allegations made about those
working for the Kentucky working for the state, essentially that
we're taking bribes from illegal immigrants to get identification cards.
(08:58):
And you've got amployee claims that she reported it. She
was fired for reporting it, according to her. And this
wasn't just a one off thing. This happened for a while,
multiple times a day, and this isn't going away. There's
gonna be clearly. I'm sure there's an internal investigation going
on as we speak. But yeah, this is a bad look.
All right, don't go anwhere, keep it locked right here
(09:19):
on News Radiate forty whas. Thank you very much, John Shannon.
He's right that it's his Kentucky and his morning news
with Coffee and company here on News Radio eight forty whas.
I can't confirm Nick Coffee, that's me. We've got the
full crew here, the company man John Allen alongside. And
I talked about this a little bit earlier, and I'm
a little bit late to this. I know John Channon
did have this mentioned in his newscast yesterday, but just
(09:42):
wasn't something that came up specifically within the show by myself.
But it is certainly a big story and we still
have yet to really get much answers as far as
the facts, and the allegation is a real bad look.
So there is a former clerk with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet,
Melissa Mormon, who claims that multiple state offices issued fraudulent
(10:04):
licenses to undocumented workers four to five times a day
for at least two years. So while you've been waiting
impatiently trying to get your license, and it's been an
issue because of the recent changes in recent years as
far as just how you're able to go about doing that,
there have been illegal immigrants who didn't even take a
(10:25):
driver's test that were getting licenses because they were paying
I guess a couple to three hundred dollars a pop
under the table to employees that worked for the Kentucky
tran Transportation Cabinet. So again not a good look. And
this of course is a whistleblower situation. Melissa Mormon. She
(10:46):
says that she did report this activity to a supervisor,
but was fired soon after, and she alleges her own
ID was misused in the scheme, which that could be
the reason is to why she was able to maybe
uncover what was going on. But WDRB they did, they
put this investigation together and worked and spoke directly with
miss Mormon, and they were able to, meaning WDRB obtained
(11:09):
documents that showed that over fifteen hundred letters were sent
out warning recipients that their licenses were issued in error
and would be canceled. So they've also refused to release
over two thousand related records, citing active state and federal
criminal probe. So that's at least a sign that if
(11:32):
they're not going to release over two thousand related records,
it's because they're working on making sure they identify every
single individual and have every bit of information, every bit
of information in order to hold these people accountable. Because yeah,
this is obviously a no no to say the least.
So again, I just think the over I mean, first
(11:54):
of all, just when you consider just the current climate,
let's put it that way, with are issues here in
this state with people trying to get their driver's license
and it's just become a nightmare because of recent changes
made over the years that have just made it much
more difficult to do. And then also just the situation
with the legal immigrants in this country. And what I
(12:14):
mean by that is it's just a it's a hot
button thing. And yet you I mean again, while you've
been waiting impatiently and wondering what can be done. Why
you have to drive two hours to go to go
get it? Why can't you just go to where you live?
Why is the next appointment available in eight weeks? These
legitimate and understanding, understandable frustrations that people have had here
(12:38):
in the state Kentucky citizens, they now know that others
were able to do it by just paying a few
hundred bucks and they weren't even here legally in the country,
and they didn't have to wait in line, they didn't
have to take a driver's test. So yeah, the optics
here far from good. So this isn't going away. And
again maybe those records will be released and we'll have
more information, some transparency from the state as this is
(12:59):
this movie on. But look, you can you can hire
people that by all accounts are qualified, maybe they're even
good employees that work for the state, that just somehow
they they realize with the position they have, they could
potentially take advantage of their position and steal and be fraudsters.
(13:25):
And I guess where they really screw up. Well doing
it is of course a screw up, But you're gonna
get caught and it's gonna be I mean probably a
life changing thing for you. I mean, depending on what
you do, you could go to prison. So I'm just
looking at some other notable cases that involved unethical and
(13:46):
illegal activities by Kentucky state workers in recent years. This
one I just remember because it's it just it stood
out to me because of just my my situation with
you know, have a special needs daughter, and I now
as she's getting older, you know, I understand that there
are some resources available to us that I'm certainly appreciative
of and God knows we need it and greatly appreciate it.
(14:10):
But I mean there was a woman who I mean
she was in office I think for twenty eight years
with the Kentucky Commission for Children with Special Care Needs.
And this is about this is actually a little bit
right around the time that we learned of our daughter
having just she was special needs child. And she ended
(14:30):
up getting sentenced thirty months for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft,
and theft from a state agency. Which that's just the
legal terms of her charges. But the orchestrated fraud here
was that she falsified vouchers between I think it was
like over a ten year period redirecting about forty five
thousand dollars in payments meant for families with special needs
(14:51):
children into her own personal accounts and expenses. I mean,
my guess is that if you do it long enough,
she worked at twenty eight years, that you just assumed
that you've gotten away with it, and it starts to
probably spiral to where you get riskier, and I guess
more so you become even more stupid and end up,
you know, getting caught, which is good thing. These people
(15:13):
get caught, and you will probably always get caught. Even
if you are sitting here listening right now and realize
you think you've gotten away with it, You'll never be surprised,
right if you end up getting caught because you had
to know that going in. You may have lied to
yourself and been in denial. But anyhow, those of course,
who if these allegations are true that they were taking
money from illegal immigrants to let them again, think about
(15:36):
all the layers here. You've got somebody claiming to be
someone that they're not. That's identity theft. I mean again,
you didn't even have to take a driver. I mean,
and the people that work for the state of the
people that that clearly enabled this. So yeah, an awful situation,
and I'm sure this is not going away anytime soon,
and hopefully we get some clarity, some transportation, some transparency,
I should say, from the state. All right, let's get
(15:58):
to an update on tracking the weather right here, right
now on news you wait forty whas, So we're gonna
get an update on sports coming up here in just
a just a few minutes. In fact, I lied closer
to eight minutes, but in the seven o'clock hour, I
do want to discuss sort of in more detail the
news yesterday announced by the University of Kentucky and their
(16:18):
new agreement with JMI and I just when you hear
of JMI or Learfield, those two And by the way,
JMI is who owns the media rights essentially for UK Athletics,
and Learfield is the same type of company for the
University of Louis Athletics, and I believe in some way
they're now either merged together or maybe they're under the
same umbrella. But either way, for those who don't really
(16:40):
know what that what that means, these are companies that
pay a lot of money to own the broadcast rights
and really the logo the brand and then with that
big investment, they're able to sell advertising and monetize. And
for a long time it's been a big, high dollar business,
right They've they've made big invents, vestments and they've made
(17:00):
big money on set investments because around here, specifically can
it sells ukul it sells around here. So that has
become much harder in recent years because a lot of money,
especially from sponsors, corporations, those kind of things. They've been
pretty much pressured to shift some of their money or
(17:21):
maybe add more money to go towards paying players. That
didn't use to be a thing now it is, so
monetizing is become much more difficult for the likes of
Learfield and JMI. So what happened here with the UK
they've agreed to a massive deal where they're gonna get
a lot of money from JMI, money that right now
is hard to turn down because there's so much financial
(17:43):
uncertainty in college athletics right now, more so than there's
ever been. You now have a twenty million dollar annual
payment that you have to pay out to student athletes
with revenue share. I mean, it's a very very uncertain time.
So when you've got JMI offering you what they offered,
which we'll get into the specifics a little bit later on.
I mean, it'd be foolish to turn that away. However,
(18:06):
you're giving yourself some stability, and I believe that is
the word that Mitch Barnhardt used specifically when talking about
this news yesterday. But you now have to rely on
JMI being able to not just and again once they've
given you their money. I mean, I'm sure you want
them to be able to have success, but really it's
their responsibility to sell ads and monetize the brand. So
(18:28):
I mean, you want it, but it's not really your responsibility.
But now you need players you want to succeed. Well,
now JMI they own everything. The NIL collective for UK
doesn't exist anymore because JMI is now in charge of
handling all of the contracts with players and NIL, which
of course is a huge and super important component. It's
(18:48):
by I mean, John, you're at college sports fanatic like myself.
You also cover the sports like I did for many
years NIL. Is it not the most important thing now?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah? Especially and you can just build teams from scratch
like you saw Louisville and Kentucky do both last year
for basketball, Indiana's doing the same thing this Year's right,
whenever you have a first year head coach, you can
be a competitor immediately, by the way, with doing this
innil stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So the again, let's say Bellerman had all the nil
money in the world, they would benefit from it. So
maybe it's not safe to it's not fair to say
that it's it's I mean, I think it is the
most important thing, but also it's not the only thing.
There's other things that matter, but money matters a lot.
We all know that when it comes to society. So
the issue here is that with the amount of money
that JMI is forking over there, they're gonna they're gonna
(19:32):
want a piece of everything. They're gonna want to be
involved in everything, meaning players are gonna have to share
their nil money with UK or with JMI essentially, and
that's not a normal thing anywhere else, and that can
be something that might work against you in recruiting, which
I would understand if you're a UK fan that you
might have some worry there. So there's no way to
know how it works out. But this is this is
(19:54):
big in a big way, and I get it. On
the Kentucky end as far as just from a financial standpoint,
hard to turn away that money, but also you better
hope that they've got resources to help you. Continue to
let players feel as if they are they're they're they're
they're in charge of their own brand and their own thing,
and I can JMI has already been in the way
of that at times because they're competing, right. They're not
(20:15):
gonna let you wear do an nil deal with your
UK shirt on. If you're not getting they're not getting
a piece of it. So tricky situation for sure. All Right,
travinging weather updates on the way. Another sports update coming
up to right here on news Radio eight forty WHA
s
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!