On Track

Whether you know your way around the garden or don’t know compost from compote, we’ve had you covered this week.

What is growing in your garden this year? What challenges are sprouting, and what problems need to be uprooted? Are you still wondering where to start?

This week on “In Conversation,” we talked to gardening experts to get the dirt on what you can do now to keep your garden alive and thriving throughout the year.

A month shy of celebrating three years at the helm of the University of Louisville, Neeli Bendapudi has spent more than a third of her time navigating uncharted waters.

On this week’s “In Conversation” we talked with Bendapudi about how the city’s largest college, like every other business and institution in the area, has dealt with the impact of a global pandemic, the city’s racial protests, and the financial impact of a world gone a little topsy-turvy right now.

We discussed nuts and bolts of campus return — graduation, in person classes, disinfection stations and other COVID-19 protocols.

We also caught up with Kentucky Public Radio Capitol Bureau Chief Ryland Barton on the state legislature — including the vetoes by Governor Andy Beshear, bills curtailing his powers, changes to Kentucky elections, spending federal coronavirus relief aid, and the status of no-knock warrants.

Home is where the heart is. But if you’re struggling to make ends meet, keeping a roof over your head is probably going to be your biggest worry.

COVID-19 has put a huge dent in the economy, with many renters finding out that, despite state eviction relief funding, they can still be kicked out on the streets.



On “In Conversation” this Friday, we talked about the state of housing in Louisville. We looked at the challenges of finding affordable housing, and what relief looks like for those who can’t afford their rent. We also heard more about the history of housing discrimination faced by Black Louisville as part of an oral history project conducted by the Metropolitan Housing Coalition and the University of Louisville Oral History Center.

This week is back-to-school season for the Jefferson County Public Schools. Only not with the typical excitement of getting new school supplies and seeing old friends.

This comeback will be more about hybrid schedules, social distancing and plentiful bottles of hand sanitizer to mark the reunion. After a year of school shutdowns due to COVID-19, JCPS returns to in person teaching.

This week on “In Conversation,” we talked with JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio about the challenges and benefits of reopening, and how they plan to keep students, teachers and safe from COVID-19.

And because it’s March, we discussed the madness of 2021 NCAA basketball tournaments — men’s and women’s. Louisville sports journalists will give their predictions on how basketball betting pools will shake out.

A year ago, while the world began focusing on the loss of normalcy from COVID-19, one family was living with an unimaginable loss of its own.

On March 13th, 2020, Breonna Taylor was killed by Louisville Metro Police officers serving a no-knock warrant related to her ex-boyfriend, already in custody.

Her name has become a national and local battle cry for police reform and accountability. This weekend, activists commemorate Taylor’s death with events and rallies.

And Tamika Palmer will mark the first year without her daughter.

On this week’s “In Conversation,” we talked with Breonna Taylor’s mother about the pace of police reform. We talked with Black women who reflect the legacy of activism that started before Taylor’s death, and continues onward. And we talked about grief, and how the process of grieving has been more difficult this past year because of the coronavirus.

This time last year, the coronavirus was already quickly spreading through parts of the world, and it wasn’t long before the first case hit our area. And then the next one. Before we could all truly grasp it, we were in the middle of a global pandemic.

Every aspect of living in Louisville and the surrounding region changed, and the virus has taken a huge human toll. Tens of thousands of people have battled COVID-19 and many are grieving the loss of loved ones

Most activities we once took for granted, like getting nails done, going to see a play, and dining in a restaurant, were disrupted. Normal was no longer normal.

On this week’s In Conversation we talked about what the upcoming year will look like as COVID continues to impact our lives. We’ll talk about the case numbers and the vaccines. We’ll also discuss how COVID and its protocols have affected the arts, the opening and closing of venues, and the impact on the business community. What we can expect to see next?

Climate change and conservation and polar bears, oh my!

Cute and cuddly polar bears are more than a trademark animal of a popular soft drink. Some say that polar bears have become the poster child for climate change.

Our own Louisville Zoo is part of the effort to protect polar bears and educate the public about them. The zoo is a designated Arctic Ambassador Center for Polar Bears International, and is home to two polar bears, Qannik and Lee.

What do those adorable animals, and other endangered species, have to tell us about the issue of climate change and how we can be better custodians of planet Earth?

The International Day of the Polar Bear is this Saturday, so this week we talk not just about polar bears, but about climate change in general, the connection to animals in danger of extinction, and how conservation impacts all communities.

For many people, February is associated with Black History Month as closely as July is associated with Independence Day.

But this year’s Black History Month lands differently. It’s the first one after national and local protests following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

It’s happening as hundreds of businesses and organizations make big public statements about equity and how Black Lives Matter.

On this episode, we talk with professors and cultural curators on how to celebrate Black history smack dab in the middle of current historic Black moments.

We also talk about a little known figure in Black Kentucky history: Julia Chinn, an enslaved woman and the common-law wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, who became the ninth vice-president of the United States.

There’s never a good time to be without a bed to sleep in and a safe roof over your head.

But with the bitter low temperatures and a highly contagious virus running rampant through the whole world, it’s a particularly bad time.

This week on “In Conversation,” we talk about homelessness and how the numbers and the issues compare to previous years.

Host Rick Howlett talks to leaders of area shelters, and a researcher who tell us how problems with homelessness in Kentucky and Indiana compare on a national level, and how the economic throes of not being able to afford a home intersect with the eviction crisis.

While some people struggle with putting on pounds during quarantine, from the luxury of deciding what food delivery to pick from, not far away, there are neighbors trying to figure out how they can afford their next meal.

Food insecurity. It’s real. And it’s on the increase during a pandemic, as people with thinner wallets struggle with being able to afford the basics.

Food pantries – the organizations that help provide food to those in need – are seeing historically high numbers of people seeking groceries from food pantries. Research by Feeding America, a national nonprofit network, places Kentucky’s food insecurity rate at more than 18%.

On this show, we talk to leaders of food pantries and food insecurity experts about what they are seeing, what they project about the future, what their needs are, and how we can help our neighbors not have hunger on their plates.