Why bigger lottery jackpots & financing back to school supplies??

It's 2023 and are parents actually financing back to school supplies?? Plus, bigger lottery jackpots, coincidence or just how things fall? College football is ramping up around the state and more national honors are going to Kentucky schools. All in this week's Kentucky Focus with Scott Fitzgerald!

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Coming up this week gone Kentucky Focus. Lotteries are bigger than ever? Why
so big here in Kentucky. We'llhold back the curtain on the Kentucky Lottery
and get it behind the scenes,look at what life is like for the
folks who work for the lottery.Plus, it's back to school shopping time
and believe it or not, mostof you are wait financing it. Yeah,
that's the case. Last little sportsnews. The biggest sports story this

(00:24):
week in the Commonwealth. College footballcamps opening up. We'll get a look
at some of the three season honorsbeing handed out, as well as get
a look at some of the teamsthat are playing around the state. I'm
Scott Fitzgerald. Welcome to this editionof Kentucky Focus. Welcome to Kentucky Focus
on the Kentucky News Network, theshow that looks at issues affecting the Commonwealth
and it's citizens. We cover statepolitics, in history, human interest stories,

(00:48):
sports, and even entertainment. It'sKentucky Focus on kNN. Well,
it feels like we're seeing an influxof bigger lottery Jackponts lately. Could this
be just a coincidence or is theresomething too ahead and believe it or not,
a lottery benefits assault. Joining uswith a look at crazy lottery fever
at least here in Kentucky is TravisRagsdale, director of Communications and public Relations

(01:10):
with the Kentucky Lottery. Travis screetings, thanks for taking time to join us.
Are we in fact seeing more largerjack potts or is this just how
the cooky crumbles start to see?You know, it seems like there are
more billion dollars jackpots right now.I mean we've just had Mega Millions and
Powerball reach that billion dollar mark.But and I think what it is is
people become more aware that the jackpotsare getting higher. Right with social media,

(01:36):
everybody starts talking. It's more inthe public conversation now than it ever
has been. But ultimately, bothMega Millions and Powerball are random, and
sometimes we just get on runs wherethe numbers aren't hit. I mean,
it's gambling. Anything can happen,absolutely. Travis Ragsdell joins us now,
director of Communications and public Relations withthe Kentucky Lottery, and Travis, when

(01:59):
you get these runs, does itdoes it almost seem to kind of feed
itself, like people almost have fomo. They're like, oh, my god,
I've gotta play. I gotta play. I gotta play, because we
joke on the show a lot abouthow, well, it's only you know,
twenty million this week, and doyou see that? Do you feel
that fever when it gets to bebigger and bigger? Absolutely, so we

(02:20):
see that around seven hundred million isabout when people start getting really interested.
But right, here's the thing is, don't thumb your nose at that twenty
million. I would be perfectly happyto take home a twenty million dollar prize
tomorrow if it were to happen,right, So, yeah, I mean,
I think that typically people, youknow, when the jackpots get up
to five hundred, six hundred sevenhundred million dollars is when people get more

(02:43):
interested. And that's when you startseeing some of those things like the big
office pools right where you're like gettingtogether with your coworkers being like, let's
all pool in and get a bigtick in then we can split it.
So I think that again, it'swhen it becomes a part of the public
conversation that when it gets about fivehundred six hundred seven hundred million dollars is

(03:04):
when that happens, Which is ironicbecause aren't your odds almost better when you
have, say, a twenty milliondollar jackpot is opposed to a big multi
million dollar jackpote. So common misconception. So the odds never change, Okay,
Okay, So the odds are basedupon the numbers that are drawn,
They're not based upon the players thatare playing. So your odds of winning

(03:27):
twenty million dollars are the same aswinning a billion dollar jack pot. Travis
Ragsdale joining us. He, ofcourse, is the director of Communications and
public Relations with the Kentucky Lottery.So Travis talk a little bit about how
the lottery benefits everyone. Yeah,So our mission, our main goal is
to fund scholarships and grants for Kentuckystudents going to college. So that includes

(03:50):
the popular Key scholarship that we knowa lot of people have gotten over the
years, but it also includes needbased scholarships and dual credit programs are work
Ready scholarship, which is becoming moreand more popular. And a portion of
every single ticket sold, whether it'sMega Millions, powerball, scratch off,

(04:11):
a Kentucky five draw game that's specificto the state, a portion of all
of those sales goes to fund thosescholarships and this past fiscal year, more
than three hundred and eighty million dollarswe sent to the state to fund those
scholarships and grants. That's crazy moneyright there, for sure. Travis doing
good stuff. Travis Ragsdell joining uswith the Kentucky Lottery. Now, Travis,

(04:32):
I guess it depends on the amountyou win. But what should someone
do if they win a larger amountof money? So this is one of
my favorite questions to answer, becausethis is a question everybody wants to know
it right, because we all fantasizeabout what we would spend the money on,
but then we have to think aboutwhat would we actually do. What
would my reaction be? Right?So the first thing we always tell people
is just stay calm, right,stay calm, don't panic. Everything's gonna

(04:57):
be okay. The next thing youneed to do is you need to hire
an attorney, and you need tohire a financial advisor. And we're not
talking about the attorney who might havegotten you out of a speeding ticket a
few weeks prior to you winning thisjackpot. You need somebody that has financial
expertise, same with a financial advisor. You need to hire those people first
thing. Then the next thing youneed to do. Once you've got that

(05:17):
good team of people around you,come to our headquarters here in Louisville and
we'll walk you through the next stepsin the process. Travis Bragsdell joining us
director of Communications and Public Relations withthe Kentucky Lottery. Also along those lines,
Travis, should people be signing theback of those tickets? Does that
have any legal recourse? So wetypically tell people to do that. Now,
we have a full security team herethe Kentucky Lottery that fully vets all

(05:42):
of our winners. And if that'sone extra step that allows them to verify
you as the winner, sure itcertainly helps. It's not going to hurt
anything. And like what we sawin California here recently, you know anything
that you can do to make surethat you are the winner and you hold
onto that ticket. And that's partof hiring a good team around you.
Two they can help you guide youon some of those legal issues. Travis

(06:04):
Ragsdell joining us with a Kentucky Lotteryamidst the time when it feels like we've
had rather large jackpots in Travis inKentucky, can winners elect to remain anonymous?
How does that work. So thisis a little bit of a complicated
issue. If a winner comes into our headquarters claiming a big ticket win,

(06:27):
we of course want to tell theirstory, but if they choose not
to go public with their win,they can elect to do that and we
will honor that. Here's where itgets a little complicated. Winners are subjects
to our subject to the open recordslaw in Kentucky. So you may be
able to come in and we'll say, yes, we're not going to publicize
for your win. We're not goingto share with the media your name,

(06:50):
or where you purchase that ticket,any of those things. But if a
reporter wants to come in and putan open records request, they can get
your name for that winning ticket.So yes, you can elect initially to
not go public, but you alwaysrun the risk of becoming public through an

(07:13):
open records west great insight. Idid not know that. Travis Ragsdell,
director of Communications and public Relations withthe Kentucky Lottery, joining us now to
talk a little bit about some ofthese big jack pots and what you can
do if you win, or whatyou can do possibly to help prepare yourself
to win. Now, Travis,we all see people with those big fancy
checks. Obviously you can't walk intoa bank with a big cardboard check.
But do the winners get the moneyimmediately or how long does it take,

(07:35):
say if they get a big win, like a twenty million dollar win.
Sure, so yeah, they will. They will get a check. They
will get a check immediately if theyare a winner. Now, there's a
few options for these big jackpots,right. You can take the cash option
and get one big lump sum,or you can take the annuity option,

(07:57):
which is one payment per year forthirty years. So there's a little bit
of a difference with the math withhow that works. So if you take
the cash option, you're actually gettinga little bit less than you would have
over the thirty year period because overthe thirty year period it's in an annuity,
so the interest rate builds over timefor that thirty years. Okay,

(08:20):
gotcha. Now question this may belawyer driven, Travis. But let's say
husband or wife wins the lottery,they come into claim their ticket. Do
they need to bring their spouse withthem? Is the spouse entitled to any
of that? Off the top becausethey are in fact a spouse. You
know, that's a good question,and I'm not sure I know that that
is Okay, I didn't know.You know, it's a good question.

(08:43):
But you know, ultimately the purchaseperson who purchased the ticket, it is
going to that person. Catch thatmakes sense, and that would be that's
good to know when you get inthese office pools because we see people can
sometimes get in a kerfuffle over theseoffice pools. That happen and then it
comes you know, if it's ahusband and wife that, hey, you
gotta hire a divorce attorney for that. Beyond you know anything here at the

(09:07):
lottery, right, Travis Ragsdale,director of Communications in public relations with the
Kentucky Lottery, sort of an inhouse question for you, Travis, probably
applies to you two. Can lotteryemployees play lottery games? Again, another
good question. We cannot play ourown games, and we cannot play Mega
Millions. We can play Powerball ifwe play it in another state besides Kentucky.

(09:28):
Oh, I didn't know that.That's interesting. Okay, So Travis,
let's talk a little bit about weremy wife and I were sitting at
a one of our favorite neighborhood pubsjust a couple weekends ago and some folks
had the lottery tickets out. Youguys have a lot of games out there.
It's not just Powerball and Mega Millionsthat people are able to play,
is it. No, We haveall sorts of games, so you know,
typically people start talking about Mega millionsin Powerball when the jackpots get really

(09:52):
high. But remember, we havescratch off games in over thirty four hundred
retailers across the state, so anywhere, just about anywhere you walk in you
can get a Kentucky Lottery scratch offgames and those remain our most popular games
as well. But along with that, we have state specific draw games like
Pick three, Pick four, Kentuckyfive. Those are all very similar to

(10:15):
Mega Millions in Powerball, but they'restate specific. Then we also have our
Eye Lottery channel, so you cango to ky Lottery dot com right now
and play online lottery games as well. Wow. Travis Ragsdale talking to his
director of Communications and Public Relations withthe Kentucky Lottery in the midst of well,
it feels like several large jackpots thatpeople can win, and like it

(10:37):
seems like we're talking about the KentuckyLottery just about every week in the news.
And finally, for you, Travis. What's it kind of like working
there in the office when you doget a big winner come in. Are
they pretty excited? Are they kindof all over the place? Has it
been kind of cool? It's somuch fun? Yeah, I joke all
the time. Are our security guysat the front desk may have the best

(10:58):
job in the world because anytime somebodycomes into our office, they've won a
lot of money and they're the firstones to greet them. But getting to
talk to our winners, you know, the motions range so much. There's
so many people who are so excited, right, I mean, they have
been thinking about this moment for along time and they're so excited. Then

(11:18):
there's other people who are very nervous. You know, they may not have
had a windfall of money like thisever before, and it's like, oh
my gosh, what am I gonnado? And we try and guide them
through that. But ultimately it's somuch fun and so rewarding because we know
what we're doing goes to fund educationand scholarships for Kentucky college students and that

(11:39):
just makes it very easy to cometo work every day. I'll bet it
does. And you guys do suchgood work there, Travis. You're making
dreams come true, and you're givingpeople, as they say, that two
dollar day dream that we love.I know. I get my ticket every
weekend when I make a beer run, and it's it's just fun to have
in the back of your pocket andwake up the next morning go maybe I
wont maybe I didn't, but it'sfun to have. We wish you and

(12:01):
everybody there at the Kentucky Lottery allthe best. Travis. Appreciate you taking
time to talk to us, andI hope we can talk again as soon
as we continue to have these bigwinners. Hey, thanks so much for
having me. And you know,when that big ticket you get hits,
I'll see you here in their office. Okay, absolutely, Travis. Lunch
is on me, by the way, I hope. So all right,
thanks Travis. Coming up, it'sback to school shopping for most of us,

(12:22):
and believe it or not, someof us are actually financing it.
Say what, We'll have some tipsfor you right after this. What is
dedication? I am the father ofa nine year old little girl and a
six year old little boy, andI find fatherhood both relentlessly challenging and relentlessly
rewarding. My daughter is biological andmy son is adopted. I love them

(12:48):
both so much, from the morningwhen you wake up, to putting them
to bed at night, and everymoment in between. It really is so
special, and boy is it austing. One thing that I fear about being
a parent is the future for mychildren. But I think a parent's job
is to protect our children but alsoprepare them for the world so they've become

(13:11):
good, kind human beings. ButI'm also hopeful that the future holds a
more inclusive and compassionate world for them. That's dedication. Find out more and
fatherhood dot gov, brought to youby the US Department of Health and Human
Services and the ad Council. Well, kids across the Commonwealth, they're heading

(13:31):
back to score already, and manyoff not have already buying their school supplies.
Believe it or not, some willactually be looking to maybe what finance
some of those supplies. Well,that's according to new findings from a Senet
money survey. Joining us today witha closer look is Set Money Senior Editor
Nick Walney. Greetings, Nick's thanksfor taking time to join us. Yeah,
thanks for having me. Okay,Nick, Well, it appears the

(13:52):
days maybe long gone when just buyingsay a new school outfoot, a pencil
case and a few pencils is whatit takes when it comes shopping for back
to school. What did you allfind out in this survey back to school
shoppers. Well, in this mostrecent survey, it really echoes what a
lot of American consumers are experiencing anyway, just the impacts of inflation, the
impact of the cost of goods,cost of consumer goods getting more expensive.

(14:16):
We found that forty three percent backto school shoppers are going to leverage some
form of financing to pay for suppliesthis year. So by financing we mean
that some will use an existing creditcard, some twelve percent are actually going
to open up a new credit cardjust to pay for back to school purchases.
And then we also had some respondentssay that they're going to be using
tools like buy now, pay later, or even tapping into savings and potentially

(14:41):
even retirement accounts in order to coverthe rising cost of school supplies. One
reason that it's concerning is that creditcard rates continue to go up. You
know, as the FED is tryingto fight inflation, they keep raising rates.
They just raise rates last week.You keep hearing about it in the
news. What's important for consumers toknow is that whenever the FED raises rates
the rates, the interest rates onconsumer products like a credit card or a

(15:05):
personal loan, those interest rates goup too. And so we've seen that,
you know, the average credit cardAPR, it's the highest that it's
ever been. It's over twenty twopercent, is the average. So we
want to make sure if you're usinga credit card for back to school shopping
this year, that you pay downthat balance as quick as you can.
That way, you're not paying anyextra interest money. Senior editor Nick will
only joining us now is work talkingback to school shopping folks actually financing back

(15:28):
to school shopping. In twenty twentythree, Nick Great takes what are some
money saving strategies shoppers can apply whenlooking for back to school items. Well,
one thing we know from the researchis that more back to school shoppers
are going online to shop for thoseitems. And so if that's you,
if you're shopping online for your familyor even for yourself, I want you

(15:50):
to consider downloading a free browser extension, a shopping extension. SNET has one.
It's called snet shopping. There aremany others. These are free.
You install one on your browser andwhat it does is when you are shopping
online. Let's say that you're lookingfor a backpack on Amazon dot com.
If that backpack that same make andmodel is available for a few dollars less

(16:11):
on Walmart, or on Target oron some other big box retailer's website,
those shopping and extensions, it's goingto notify you that there's a cheaper price
available elsewhere and navigate you to it. And so that can be really handy,
particularly and back to school shopping seasonwhen we're buying a lot of items,
and for some families they're shopping formultiple children at once, and so

(16:32):
consider doing that. You might savea few bucks. And with the number
of items that families have to purchasethis month to get ready for the school
starting season, you can really addup over time. So that would be
the biggest quick tip. It's somethingthat you could do today and start saving
money today. Seen Money Senior editorNick Walny joining us. Now you know,
Nick, this rings true for me. I've got a son that's headed
off to college. Effect we haveto go out this week and look for

(16:55):
a computer for him. He thinkshe's getting a thirteen hundred dollars computer.
Maybe cheaper alternatives if we can findthem one or maybe some of the options
folks have out there if they don'twant to pay like yours truly thirteen hundred
dollars for a computer. Yeah.More and more often people are looking to
refurbished electronics for they're back to schoolneeds, you know, particularly parents of

(17:18):
kids who are going off to college, who are going back to campus.
They probably need a laptop or adesktop computer or something like that. So
if you're shopping for refurbished, that'sgreat. It's actually also environmentally friendly,
right, it's one less laptop we'rethrown into the landfill. But I want
you to look for a certified refurbishedelectronic. So either the phrase certified refurbished
or factory certified something around a certification. This is different than an open box

(17:42):
discount. And what this will ensureis that when the device was refurbished,
they've made sure that they put allthe correct parts back into the computer before
they sold it to you. Also, often a factory certified product will come
with a warranty. And I reallylike that because to me, that says
the business is putting their money wheretheir mouth is and that they're going to

(18:03):
back up that this product will lastfor a long time. So while you
might pay a little bit extra forthat warranty on a certified refurbished product,
it's going to be less money overall, and it's going to ensure that you
buy a product that will last fora long time. You're not going to
be in the same situation this timenext year buying more electronics, and that
you'll save money in the long run. And I don't think Kentucky has this

(18:25):
specifically, but I know we havefolks that listen to us from other states.
There are things called what tax freeholidays now that folks may be able
to use for school supplies. Yeah, tax free weekends. You know,
back to school is the most popularreason to have a tax free weekend,
but in recent years, states willalso set up tax free weekends for things
like like I lived in Texas fora little over ten years and there was

(18:47):
a tax free weekend for hurricane preparedness. You know, if you're going to
buy a generator, if you weregoing to stock up on canned goods,
things like that. So it's justit's a state tax relief holiday that kind
of encourage spending and couragees getting thoseitems and helps give consumers some relief.
So not all states have it.You want to check with your specific state
regarding if you do have a taxfree weekend and when it is this month.

(19:10):
But even if you don't have one, you can still look online.
You can still install online shopping extensions. And I think also just taking the
time to plan and having a planfor how much money you expect to spend
for the back to school shopping season, it can really help. What we
don't want to have happened is thatyou did yourself a deep hole, especially
with holiday right around the corner.You know, the last thing you want

(19:30):
to do is be carrying debt fromback to school before you get into the
holiday season and you're buying plane ticketsand you're you're traveling hotel rooms all of
that. So we want to reallyencourage consumers to spend smart, get what
you need for your child to beset up for success going back to school,
but then also try to pay downany financing that you take on.
Try to pay it down quickly thatway you don't end up behind the eight

(19:52):
ball going into holiday shopping season.Nick Wolney joins us. He's seen it
Money Senior editor, and he's offeringsome fantastic advice for us as we get
ready back to school shop. Manyof us already back to school shopping.
Now. My son will probably begoing to school in Ohio if they had
a tax free holiday, could hetake advantage of that? I guess we
bought the materials in Ohio. Yep, that's correct. So you'll need to

(20:14):
be in the physical state where thetax free weekend is taking place because the
holiday applies to the state tax,so it'll just be transactions within that state.
But that would be a great strategyand it can really be an advantage.
The other thing that you'll want tolook up or to keep in mind
when you are shopping during one ofthese tax free weekends is that they are
usually maximums on certain products and thisensures you know, I know you were

(20:37):
thinking about Scott buying some Gucci shoesfor your son, but that's a little
bit over the price limit. Okay. So usually it's either you know,
per product, it's usually either forclothing, for example, up to one
hundred dollars per item, and sothat just ensures that the shopping is being
done for things like school clothes,school shoes, stuff that's not going to
be you know, probably not overlyfashionable or at least, you know,

(21:00):
not in these higher price points.It's really meant to be a stimulus and
a relief for families shopping, particularlyfor their kids. So that would be
something to look out for as well. If you're going to be in that
state and there is a tax taxfree weekend in that state, then consider
consider planning your trip accordingly so thatyou can save a few bucks. It's
very interesting, Nick Walni joining ussee that money senior editor talking about back

(21:22):
to school shopping. Nick, howprevalent are maybe you can answer this,
Maybe you can how prevalent are thedeals out there? And are there,
say, valuable que bonds for thosethat really want to seek them out?
Can we find some really good dealswhen it comes to back to school shopping?
Yeah, I think this is theyou know, that's obviously the biggest
time of year for some of thesegoods. You know, we have seen
some price increases in some goods inparticular, particularly one time use goods.

(21:47):
A lot of paper goods are upyear over year quite a bit. I
think things like nope books, folders, index cards. But a lot of
this just comes down to shopping around. You know, at the end of
the day, the big box retailers, they're going to be competing with one
another for market share. They're goingto be competing with one another to try
to get consumers dollars, and sothey will in some cases start to undercut
one another. So that's another goodreason to you know, to either install

(22:11):
an online extension or just take yourtime with you reading up on some different
articles. You know, it's ourjob in media to round up a lot
of these good deals, to roundup a lot of the you know,
what are the best price points forcertain items in order to help consumers.
So I think the other thing totake into consideration, as you know,
for many families August it's kind ofa crazy time as everything starts back up
again. Try to carve out sometime where you can just do a little

(22:33):
bit of research online. Some ofthe sources that I spoke to, they
were just saying that over the years, it's just the time. You know,
they're still able to spend about thesame amount every year, but they're
having to spend more and more timeevery year tracking down those deals and trying
to find the price that they paidlast year for a certain item. So
I think that's something else that youwant to take into consideration. Consider giving
yourself a little more time. Ifyou've got to get up early on a

(22:56):
Saturday morning before the activities start inorder to order to give yourself thirty minutes
to poke around on the internet,do that because that might end up giving
you a really nice ROI and helpingyou save a few bucks along the way.
Great advice, Nick, will onlyset money. Senior editor and Nick,
where can they go again? Ifthey want to find that c net
extension? You can go to cnetdot com the naybe The extension is c
net Shopping. There are also manyother shopping extensions as well. You don't

(23:19):
have to use ours, but Iwould suggest downloading one the browser extension,
and it's free. Nick, thanksso much for your time, my friend.
You've been a big help. Weappreciate you. Thanks for having me
appreciate it. We're back after thiswe'll take a look at the biggest sports
story around the common Wealth this week. That would be college football camps opening
up around the common Wealth. Thatand more coming up one Kentucky focus.

(23:41):
We are the NFAHS that stands forthe National Federation of State High School Associations.
But really what we stand for,together with the kh SAA, are
the one hundred and six thousand highschool sports students in Kentucky, and so
we stand. We stand for therunners, soccer and basketball players. We

(24:03):
stand for their coaches, administrators,and officials. We stand for the swimmers,
football players, and wrestlers. Westand for the golfers, softball and
volleyball players. We stand as thenational leader and advocate for high school athletics
and all who participate in them andmake them possible, because it is our
purpose to ensure that high school studentsget to play, perform, and compete

(24:30):
together. To learn more about whowe are and what we stand for,
visit NFHS dot org. Take alook at sports news around the common Well.
Probably the biggest story this week iscollege football camps opening up around the
state and plenty of local players findingthemselves on preseason watch lists. We'll start

(24:51):
in Lexington for the Kentucky wild Cats. That's where quarterback Devin Larry found himself
on the Maxwell Award watch list.Well defensive lineman Dion Walker has been considered
for the Bronco Nagurski and Trophy Awards. Police kicker Alex Rayner is being considered
for the Luke Gros Award. Theyand the Cats will open the season September
second, hosting Ball State going westalong I sixty four, Let's stop in

(25:12):
Louisville or Fifth year senior quarterback JakePlummer is up for the Maxwell Ward and
former Scott County standout Louisville center BrianHudson is being considered for the Outland Trophy.
And and the Cards are in Atlantaon September first to open up against
Georgia Tech. From there, we'llhead down I sixty five to Bowling Green,
where we find Western Kentucky is thepreseason Conference USA favorites. They'll have

(25:33):
six games sign National TV this year. Folks will get a good look at
quarterback Austin Reid and wide receiver MalachiCorley, who are being considered for the
Maxwell Award. Windbacker Jaquez Evans isbeing considered for the Bronco Nagurski Award,
and big man Montavious Leslie has madethe Outland Trophy watch list. And the
Tops open their season at Home onthe Hill September second, hosting Central Florida

(25:56):
and over to Richmond. Quarterback ParkerMcKinney is picking up he left off last
year with plenty of accolades. Hehas been named an FCS preseason All American
and the UAC Conference Preseason Player ofthe Year, and most notably, a
candidate for the Walter Payton Award watchlist that's given to the best offensive FCS
player throughout the year. McKenny andthe Colonels will take their talents north across

(26:18):
the River. They'll be in theNatty on September second to take on the
Bearcats at NIPPERD Stadium over to MurrayNow. Coach Dean Hood and the Murray
State Racers have two players that havebeen selected All Missouri Valley Conference. Head
of the team's season opener, theseschools won thousandth game against Presbyterian. Both
of them are bringing their talents northfrom the volunteer state. They are Rich
Shard, senior offensive lineman six six, three hundred and twenty three pound Murphy's

(26:41):
Brow native Jacob Fry and six footone and ninety two pound wide receiver Tailors
Shields of Hails from Haywood High Schoolin Brownsville that's a little less than sixty
five miles north of Memphis. Pryhas started twenty nine consecutive games for the
Racers, while Shields returns with theteam high twenty one point one yards per
catch. Over to the east sideof the state now, the more Head
State Eagles are less than thirty daysfrom their season opening when they welcome West

(27:02):
Virginia's State on August thirty first.Eagles had four players named to Phil Steele's
All Conference team, led by juniorrunning back James Lewis, who tally three
one hundred plus yard games last yearwhile rushing for seven hundred and eighty yards
i'ld square. Kentucky Christian will openthe season at Cumberland's on August twenty sixth,
while Kentucky Wesleyan is in Pensacola onSeptember first to open the season against

(27:22):
the University of West Florida. Andlast but not least, Campbellsville opens the
season in August twenty sixth, butthen the friendly combines of Finley Stadium they
will be taking on Pikeville. We'reback to close things out after this.
On Kentucky Focus Hi. I'm PeytonManning, and I'm partnering with the American
Red Cross this year to tackle bloodshortages. Giving blood's important because every two

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seconds someone actually needs blood and unfortunately, only like three percent of the US
population donates, so we have tostep up to give and to make sure
there's plenty of blood available for thosein need. Visit Red Cross Blood dot
org to get in the game andmake an appointment to give. That's gonna

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wrap it up for us here onKentucky Focus this week. A big thank
you to Travis Ragsdelle, director ofCommunications and public Relations with the Kentucky Lottery,
as well as Nick Woolney See ThatMoney, Senior editor talking about back
to school supplies. And of coursethank you the listener for taking time to
check us out here on Kentucky Focus. Again. If you have any feedback
that well you'd like to pass along, or any stories you'd like to hear,

(28:27):
feel free to shoot me an email. It's very simple. Scott Fitzgerald
at iHeartMedia dot com. Again,Scott Fitzgerald at iHeartMedia dot com for all
of us at the Kentucky News networkinghere at Kentucky Focus. Thanks for taking
the time to listen. Make ita great week. We'll talk to you
next week. On Kentucky Focus.Kentucky Focus on the Kentucky News Network,

(28:48):
the show that looks at issues affectingthe Commonwealth and it's citizens. We cover
state politics, in history, humaninterest stories, sports, and even entertainment.
It's Kentucky Keep Focus on kN NHI. I'm Gary Sinise. Our
veterans put everything on the line toprotect our freedom. We may never be
able to repay them for their sacrifice, but we can show them just how

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much we appreciate all they've done.You can help by simply sharing your time,
lending a warm smile, a supportivehand, or a sympathetic ear to
someone who needs it. Everyone cando something to make veterans know just how
much we appreciate their service. Pleasevisit www. Dot volunteer dot va dot
com. What will you do