On Track

It’s just a few weeks before Derby Day in Louisville, and you know what that means: almost time to start tending to your spring garden. This week on “In Conversation,” host Rick Howlett talked to gardening experts about what to plant in your soil. From first-timers trying to begin a begonia, to experts who want to make it rain with vegetables, plants, shrubs and trees, no question is too big or sm...

Senate Bill 150, passed this month by Kentucky state legislators, has been dubbed the worst anti-trans bill in the country. Although Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear vetoed the bill, the majority-Republican legislature voted to override the veto. And Kentucky’s not the only state grappling with laws like this. Over 120 bills have been introduced across the country this year affecting LGBTQ people—ma...

If it’s March in these parts, it means you’re going to hear about two things: getting back on your allergy medications and filling out brackets for the NCAA basketball tournaments. This week on “In Conversation,” we talked about who can win, who will wither in the first round, and the art of bracketology. If you’re still doing your research, here are the brackets for the men’s NCAA tournament and...

Sleep: The final frontier. Or that’s what it feels like when you have trouble drifting off. And while sleep may do a body good, half of all adults have dealt with insomnia at one time or another, and one in 10 experience chronic insomnia. On this week’s “In Conversation,” in honor of Sleep Awareness Week starting on March 12, we discussed how to get better sleep, how sleep impacts our health, and...

The Great Resignation. Quiet quitting. Remote vs. in-person. Workplace trends we haven’t even heard of yet. COVID-19 and its aftermath changed how people view their jobs, and even their careers. On this week’s “In Conversation,” we talked about the workplace trends and conditions that impact everything from how someone leaves a job to whether your living room has become your permanent home office.

Love songs have a way of distilling all the exciting, confusing, thrilling feelings of falling for someone into a perfect three and a half minutes of clarity. They say things more artfully than you can express them yourself, and make such a strong impression that hearing the opening notes, even years later, can take you right back to when you fell in love. Of course that also means that if the rel...

Reading, writing, and arithmetic are the basics of a good education. So is basic civics, like the three pillars of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. But are students still taught civics? And how do teachers approach it in the wake of the Jan. 6th insurrection, continued 2020 election denial, and the protracted vote to make Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House of Representatives? On...

Between natural disasters, and unexpected emergencies like gas leaks or lengthy blackouts, life can change in an instant. How do you best prepare for disruptions out of your control, yet not live in a state of fear or paranoia? On this week’s “In Conversation,” we spoke to experts about how to prepare for the worst, at home and elsewhere. How much food should you store? What items should you keep...

The Kentucky General Assembly is covering a lot this session, including a possible tax rate cut, medical marijuana, and flood recovery funds to Eastern Kentucky. On this week’s “In Conversation,” we speak to journalists about what this year’s legislative session in Frankfort looks like, and how it could affect you.

This is the time of the year when we all worry about catching a cold, as the weather stays colder and the gatherings increase. But this winter, we’re worrying not just about avoiding common cold sniffles, but also what public health experts have dubbed a tridemic or tripledemic:  a surge of the flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (“RSV”) at roughly the same time.  On this week’s “In Con...

Emails. Calls. Texts. Social media. All are easy entry points for scammers to try to get your money this time of the year. Or maybe you’re doing some holiday shopping online, you pay, and your items never show up. The FBI says that’s one of the biggest scams to look out for this time of year. This week on “In Conversation,” experts told us how scams work, how to spot one, and how to protect yourse...

Recently in Kentucky, we’ve seen how hate speech can lead to real consequences. In Louisville, some called for a boycott against restaurants co-owned by Fernando Martinez, after he shared homophobic Facebook posts making fun of the attack on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. And at the University of Kentucky, a student was expelled and banned from campus after attacking a B...

Whether you’re talking turkey or planning for a plant-based feast, putting a holiday meal on the table costs more than it used to. How do you save cash and spend wisely during the holiday season as creeping inflation and higher prices strain budgets? Host Rick Howlett spoke to financial experts to for an overview of how the economic forecast looks, and get tips and advice on how to financially nav...

Between yard signs, television commercials, texts, calls, and emails, y’all know what time it is: election season.  And with a number of school elections, local elections, and state seats up for grabs, this week’s “In Conversation” has you covered.  Host Rick Howlett talked to the Louisville Public Media journalists who have been covering the elections: Kentucky Public Radio Capitol Reporter Divya...

Of the more than 76,000 agricultural operations in Kentucky, fewer than one percent are owned by Black farmers. But it wasn’t always like this. Nationwide, Black farmers have seen a 98% reduction in ownership in the last century — and efforts to help them maintain their farms have been watered down, leading to a class action suit against the federal government.  On this week’s “In Conversation” we...

Sadiqa Reynolds.  You may know her as president of the Urban League’s Louisville chapter for the past seven years. Maybe you heard her calming civic leadership during the protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor by police and David McAtee by a National Guard bullet. Or maybe you’ve seen stories about the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, the $53 million athletic facility that opened i...

Trees are more than just pretty. They provide a range of environmental, economic, and psychological benefits. They reduce stormwater runoff and improve our physical and mental health. This week on “In Conversation,” we talked about Tree Week in Louisville, which starts Saturday. We talked with people from TreesLouisville, a local organization dedicated to preserving the city's tree canopy. We also...

From figuring out your financial readiness and understanding market rates to learning more than you want to know about roofs and property lines, buying and owning a house is an ongoing education. This week, we discuss the basics of buying a house, like checking out interest rates, and figuring out how much house your paycheck and credit can afford. Our panel will tell you how to figure out what’s...

To paraphrase the song, a house can be more than a home. Our homes are our shelter, but they also contribute to our identities.  This week on “In Conversation,” we discussed home as a part of our personal identity in ways that can comfort us and challenge us. We also talked about how some of us look at Louisville a little differently since the killing of Breonna Taylor in her home by the Louisvill...

Home is home whether you own your real estate or rent it. But renters do have different considerations. This week on “In Conversation,” we discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly of renting a house or an apartment in this city. Joining us in this conversation were Adeshina Emmanuel and Jacob Ryan from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting who are doing a project on rental inequities in...

This week on “In Conversation,” we talked about Louisville’s refugee community, who come from more than 15 countries around the world.  We talked to Louisville refugees about how they came to call Louisville home, and meet advocates whose organizations try to make the transition easier. It’s part of our month-long focus on what it means to call a place “home.”

It would probably be an overreach to say that everyone likes the state fair. But not a big one. People like the food, the rides, the exhibitions, and the animals. We can’t forget the animals. This week on “In Conversation” we did our broadcast from the Kentucky State Fair. We talked to people who told us more about the cool things to see, eat, and do at the fair, and hear why the fair remains impo...

If you have a job and also have young children, you know the rock and the hard place of needing good and affordable child care so you can go to work to pay your bills.  On this week’s “In Conversation” we explored solutions to juggling parenting and holding down a job. That included a look at Kentucky House Bill 499, which creates a pilot program that provides incentives for employers to contribut...

It’s that political time of the year in Kentucky – Fancy Farm. Where politicians go to stump and signal their policy positions, and others go to partake of mutton, pulled pork, and other picnic goodies. This week on “In Conversation” we discussed what’s new with this year’s Fancy Farm, and learned more about the history of the 142 year-old event. We also got an update on the deadly flooding in Eas...

Even a lot of adults get a little giddy at the sight of all the back-to-school supplies hitting the front of stores. New pens and notebooks, lunch bags and backpacks seem full of possibility. But today’s students go into this school year after a summer of stressors. Mass shootings, inflation, mutating variants of COVID-19, and the hot impact of climate change combine into an anxiety-producing back...