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Listener MSJ wrote a long email about NPR’s relatively new announcer for underwriting credits.  He says, “This is a croaking, creaking, irritating, raspy, untrained, voice which leaves her gasping for air (the sound of which producers at NPR refuse to edit, it seems) at the end of each announcement.

It’s time for our preview of weekend events with Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader.  As usual, Rich is on the line with WEKU’s John Hingsbergen, discussing this week and weekend's bluegrass activities, the Harry Dean Stanton Festival and the BlackBird Dance troupe at the Downtown Arts Center.

Rich Copley is an arts reporter for the Lexington Herald Leader.  Information on the weekend’s events is available in today’s (Friday) edition.  You can also find out about arts and cultural events by visiting the events calendar on-line, at WEKU dot FM.

Kentucky will receive about $110 million from an agreement between the state and tobacco companies over the state’s alleged mishandling of tobacco settlement funds.

An arbitration court ruled last year that Kentucky and five other states mishandled their management of the tobacco funds beginning in 2003. The funds have been paid by tobacco companies since 1998 to shore up state health-care costs associated with tobacco usage.

Kentucky State Police has reopened its investigation into the document shredding by former Legislative Research Commission executive director Bobby Sherman.

The Courier-Journal reported Wednesday that there will be a new probe into Sherman's shredding of work documents.

National studies indicate only one of seven children who receive a free or reduced school lunch gets a similar meal over the summer. An official with the State Department of Education anticipates Kentucky's statistics are even more sobering.

Kathy Galliger says logistics and a scarcity of sponsoring groups, create the biggest barriers to getting food to hungry kids in the summer.  She is with the state's summer food service program. 

Recent statistics show Kentucky is still a leader, if not THE leader, in cancer deaths among states in the U.S. On this week's show, we'll discuss this unhappy distinction as well as treatment and survival options.

A stunning loss for a congressional leader with years of experience and a cash-filled war chest may not signal disappointment with long time incumbency.   So says Steve Voss, political scientist at the University of Kentucky.

    Lexington Council members are putting their stamp on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  The Urban County Council spent the better part of their day at city hall, considering and endorsing changes to Mayor Jim Gray's original proposal. 

UK Budget Director Angie MartinCredit www.uky.eduEdit | Remove

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto are scheduled to meet later this week to discuss the Rupp Arena Project.  The meeting this Thursday came at the request of Gray.  Governor Steve Beshear supports the reinvention of Rupp and construction of a new convention center. 

    It's been a long time coming, but a start to the residential portion of a massive redevelopment project in downtown Lexington is visible.  Federal, state, and local officials all hailed the community land trust's affordable housing initiative today. 

The World Equestrian Games are not coming back to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2018.  Kentucky had put in a bid to again host the international equine competition four years from now.  The Canadian community of Bromont (BRO-mont)-Montreal has been named as the next site for the equestrian event.  Before learning of the final decision, during a visit to Lexington Monday, Governor Beshear indicated there had been some sponsorship issues.

We had a number of calls to the Listener Comment Line last week…including this one on Wednesday evening: 

Anonymous female caller: “You need to improve your emergency broadcast notifications. They do not come clearly (when) listening on the radio. Very garbled.  Very difficult to understand.” 

    The Lexington-based International Book Project is initiating an electronic reader program in South Africa. 

75 e-readers are scheduled to be shipped overseas later this summer.  International Book Project Director Kristen Svarczkopf says each electronic instrument will feature several books with mostly African publishers.  "So, this is a way that we could get books to people we haven't been able to before in really rural areas like the small shipment method does, but at a lower cost and has the added benefit of introducing them to technology," said Svarczkopf.

Kentucky's special Olympians are arriving in Richmond this afternoon for the 20th time.  EKU and the Richmond community will play host to 13 hundred athletes this weekend. 

Kentucky Special Olympics President Trish Mazzoni says there is also an emphasis this year on the national competition. "There are national games for Special Olympics and actually this happens to be one of those years.  So we have these games, next week we take a team of 55 athletes and coaches to New Jersey to part in the 2014 U.S.A games," said Mazzoni.

California Chrome is the talk of the sports world right now, on and off the horse racing track.  Industry leaders aren't the only ones thinking about tomorrow's Belmont race. 

Fayette County's head prosecutor says many offenders are not concerned with criminal charges, but rather the possibility of being housed in prison or jail.  Veteran Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson is reacting to a Pew Charitable Trusts' study this week on the effect of sentencing changes approved three years ago. 

    The University of Kentucky is seeking to host a U.S. Senatorial debate in the next few months.  So far, neither candidate has committed.

The official request for UK to host a debate went out May ninth.  Although neither incumbent Mitch McConnell nor challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes has said yes, the veteran senator has made format and scheduling suggestions. 

Kentucky's corrections and sentencing reforms enacted three years ago appear to be saving money and reducing the number of repeat offenses.  That's the conclusion of a just-released report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. 

    Four hundred miles worth of bargains are coming to a yard sale near you.  This weekend marks the 11th U-S 68 cross state yard sale. 

Trucks and tractors full of potential sales gathered outside the gate of the Servant Heart Farm Wednesday, waiting for the padlock to come off. 

A Kentucky city is suing the state's public pension system over its investment of county employees' retirement money into "risky" hedge funds. 

An attorney for Ft. Wright, a northern Kentucky city of 5,700, filed a class-action lawsuit Monday alleging that Kentucky Retirement Systems improperly used money from one of its subsidiary funds to make investments that were illegal under state law. 

    The University of Kentucky is one of 37 research schools receiving grant dollars to help retain science and math students.  UK is getting almost two million dollars from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 

Some 150 foster youth from across the state gathered this past weekend for fellowship, mentoring and inspiration. Lexington resident Ian Rosser (ROSS-er) helped lead the conference at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

Tourism contributed more than $12 billion to Kentucky's economy in 2013. Tourism was responsible for more than 175,000 jobs in Kentucky last year, and those jobs generated more than $2.8 billion in wages. Bob Stewart is secretary of Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. He talked with Tom Martin about some of the latest trends in Kentucky tourism.

    The Kentucky Coal Association is questioning how recently announced EPA rules on emissions will impact climate change worldwide.  Association President Bill Bissett says shuttering all U.S. coal fired electrical plants would only impact three percent of carbon on the planet.  He says countries like India, China, Spain, Germany, and Russia continue to move forward with coal fired power plant production.  "We're not really gonna have an impact on climate change, like the president is wanting, because everyone else is moving toward coal," said Bissett.

Investigators with the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center continue their work with a reference cigarette.  Center Director Dr. Orlando Chambers says the standard lab cigarette can lead to changes in the makeup of tobacco products.  Chambers says there's a list of 93 potentially harmful constituents in tobacco products.  "Over time regulation would require that those be lowered or they could set some levels for certain compounds. Then it allows a standard set number than could be compared to over time," said Chambers.

Tanning season is upon us and so is the increased risk of skin cancer.  University of Kentucky Associate Professor of Pediatrics John Dorazio is among those researchers trying to determine why ultraviolet rays cause melanoma.  He says tanning can affect the brain as well as the skin.  "Tanning can actually be a true addictive kind of behavior and there's a physiological reason for this.  The same pathway that makes the skin tan also gives us beta endorphins and those endorphins act like little bits of morphine in the skin and gets absorbed in the bloodstream and it makes you feel good," sa

Over the past decade, some public pools in Lexington have closed while others were converted to water park-like aquatic centers.  Another option is under study now.  City General Services Commissioner Geoff Reed says "splash pads" are getting some attention.  "It's a concrete pad and water shoots out at various angles and people are really enjoying them in a lot of areas and several cities have gone to heavy use of splash pads.  They can be small, they can be large.  A lot of places have gone to them in lieu of maintaining pools," said Reed.

From the Listener Comment Line last Sunday, "It's 7:36 Sunday morning, Bob Edwards Weekend.  The first segment was excellent about graduation. The second segment is a re-run from last week. How can you do this?  This is terrible!"

We believe what this listener heard was the first sign of serious problems with the computer system that plays back much of our programming.  We are grateful for the calls, emails and Facebook posts that helped us react quickly.

NPR media correspondent and author David Folkenflik discusses his book Murdoch's World: The Last of the Old Media Empires (2013 Public Affairs.)