On Track

Presenting a new way to stay informed and engaged with Louisville, Southern Indiana, and the things that matter here: Welcome to “On Track,” a 30-minute interview-based show focused on the news and conversations that matter most in our own community... all backed by the journalism at Louisville Public Media.

Host Ayisha Jaffer will talk to public officials, community leaders and everyday people about the challenges we face, and how we can all work together to make things better.

New episodes drop Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 6.

If you have a topic you’d like to hear about on the show, call or text 502-814-TALK, or send an email to [email protected].

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected to a second term last month. He sat down with Kentucky Public Radio’s Joe Sonka this week in the state reception room of the Capitol Building in Frankfort to discuss his electoral success, his relationship with Republican lawmakers ahead of the 2024 session and whether he will now comment more on national issues.

It's been 20 years since the governments of Louisville and Jefferson County merged, and residents continue to feel the impacts today. In this special, Roberto Roldan, City Politics and Government Reporter for LPM, talks to guests to take a look at the challenges the newly-merged government faced and how it managed them.

Some of you may have wondered what happened to the “In Conversation” talk show. And some of you, who read and hear our news on LPM or WFPL already know. In August, our host, colleague and friend Rick Howlett passed away from cancer. Senior producer Laura Ellis who worked with Rick for years, including on the “In Conversation” team, wrote a lovely tribute about him.

Since Rick was co-creator of “In Conversation,” and its only host since it launched in January 2019, we are left with a Rick-sized hole. But he also leaves us inspired to carry on with programming that reflects his passion for examining the news, encouraging community engagement, and contributing to public discourse in a way that makes us better together.

In the spirit of sharing the kind of work you value as an “In Conversation” listener, here is the documentary “Dirty Business,” from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. Our journalists uncover the true cost of cleaning up after the eastern Kentucky floods, including how unfinished work can set up more problems the next time there’s extreme weather.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is all over the headlines these days. But it's not as new as you might think it is.

Ever start to look something up and your phone autofills the rest of the word for you? Have you played one of those Facebook games that makes you look like your pet, or a Renaissance painting? Do you ask Siri or Alexa to add something to your grocery list so you won't forget it?

Then you've been using artificial intelligence.

This week on "In Conversation," we talked about how AI works, how it's already become part of many industries, and of course, the ethical implications that accompany its use.

Affirmative action is a loaded term with a weighty history. Now that the Supreme Court has eliminated race-conscious admissions decisions for higher education, what’s next?

On this week’s “In Conversation,” we unpacked the impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling, what equity goals for higher education look like now, and whether eliminating affirmative action in higher education could foreshadow similar changes in the workplace.

When The New York Times recommended their top 52 destination spots for this year, Louisville landed smack between cities in Greece and Brazil and even outranked some places in Italy and Spain.

Tourism is big business in Louisville, and this week on “In Conversation,” we’ll meet some of the folks working to make sure business keeps booming.

We took a look at downtown tourism and measures to get more Louisvillians from outlying areas to venture back for museums, dinners and shows. And we checked on the outlook for the rest of 2023, as our hospitality industry still attempts to rebound from the early days of COVID-19.