Big Blue Nation received some surprising, welcome news on Thursday afternoon when Cedric “CJ” Works announced his commitment to Kentucky.

A four-star talent, Works became the highest-ranked player in Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class, vaulting the Wildcats up to No. 24 nationally in the On3 Team Industry Rankings. Ranked as the No. 143 player overall, he is the third Top 200 player in the class, joining DB Martels Carter and RB Marquise Davis.

Vince Marrow’s work is far from finished. Another Top 200 player may join the fold with a few other impressive prospects.

Thank you to today’s sponsor, our friend Andy Luedecke at MyPerfectFranchise. Andy is a huge college sports fan and franchise veteran, having owned multiple franchises and businesses. Using his expertise, he helps others find their American Dream through a very thorough consultation and evaluation process.

If you are wanting to find a way out of corporate America, wanting a side-hustle business, or a way to diversify…..reach out to Andy, as he’s got a ton of knowledge in this world and best of all, his services are 100% free to you – always! After you finish this post, you can learn more or reach Andy at [email protected].

Tight End Off the Board

Before we get to the good news, there’s some bad news we must share. For the second straight year, Ohio State stepped in to snag a tight end from Cleveland that was on the verge of pulling the trigger and committing to Kentucky. A year ago it was Damarion Witten. This summer the Cats are missing out on Brody Lennon.

Lennon is an exceptional athlete for his size. If he camped at Ohio State, he was probably going to get an offer. Lennon did not make the trip to Columbus for a few weeks. He changed his mind just a few days away from his official visit to Kentucky. Lennon earned the offer, officially visited a week later, then pulled the trigger and committed to today. Ya can’t win ’em all, especially against Ohio State for kids from Ohio.

Kentucky Trending for Multiple Players

The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) nailed the Works commitment, despite significant interest from Penn State and Florida. The RPM Machine believes the Cats are staying hot.

Despite multiple picks from 247 Alabama insiders, Kentucky leads the way for Frankfort DL Javeon Campbell, the No. 167 player in America. An impressive Ohio athlete who visited last week, Top 200 CB Dawayne Galloway, is trending toward Kentucky according to On3’s RPM.

Kentucky has one offensive tackle in the fold, but two more bricks may soon be added to the Big Blue Wall. The Wildcats are the favorite to land Jermiel Atkins, who announces his commitment on July 4. On Thursday On3’s Steve Wiltfong submitted an RPM pick for Kentucky to land Florida offensive tackle Bryan Auguste, who officially visited earlier this month.

Although the RPM machine isn’t buying all the way in, Adam Luckett shared on 11 Personnel that he believes Kalen Edwards is another one to closely keep an eye on. The Tennessee athlete is a true nose tackle prospect who is an ideal fit in Kentucky’s 3-4 defense.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Businesses that want to sell, process or grow medical marijuana for Kentucky can start applying for permits starting Monday, part of an accelerated push to have products available in early 2025, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

Doctors and advanced practice registered nurses also can begin submitting applications to let them certify eligible patients to buy the drug. The state’s Board of Medical Licensure and Board of Nursing will oversee the process.

The Bluegrass State’s medical cannabis program begins Jan. 1. Kentucky’s Republican-dominated Legislature passed the law with bipartisan support in 2023, legalizing medical cannabis for people suffering from a list of debilitating illnesses. Beshear, a Democrat, quickly signed the measure into law and his administration has been working on program regulations since then.

The governor signed follow-up legislation this past spring moving up the timeline for cannabis business licensing by six months.

The state has already broadcast a series of YouTube webinars, issued a business licensing application guide and other materials to assist applicants. Businesses can apply for licenses through the end of August. The goal is to have some medical cannabis available in January when the products become legal, Beshear has said.

Patients can apply for medical cannabis cards starting Jan. 1 if they have qualifying illnesses, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The state is committed to ensuring Kentuckians with qualifying medical conditions have “safe, affordable access to medical cannabis,” state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander said Thursday.

In April, Beshear said the state will use a lottery system to award its first round of business licenses.

“The program is focused on ensuring cannabis business licensing is fair, transparent and customer-service oriented,” said Sam Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis.

The state initially will issue 48 dispensary licenses divided among 11 regions. Each region will get at least four, with most counties limited to one each. The counties home to Louisville and Lexington are the exceptions, and will each be allowed two licenses, Beshear’s administration has said. The first license lottery will be in October.

A limited number of licenses to grow and process cannabis also will be issued.

License caps are meant to avoid flooding the market, which would hurt both businesses and patients, the governor has said. The program can be expanded depending on demand and whether more qualifying medical conditions are added.

“You can always scale up,” Beshear said in April. “Scaling back hurts businesses, hurts people and hurts access.”

LOUISVILLE — Between 2014 and 2021, 6,162 people called the Kentucky Health Justice Network Abortion Support Fund to seek financial help to get an abortion. 

In a new study published last week, researchers analyzed calls made to the abortion support fund and compared them with the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s records of abortions. 

And while the available data paints a picture of life in the years before the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, researchers said they think the data is relevant in a post-Dobbs world. 

“We talk a lot about reproductive autonomy and having the ability to make choices that are best for us and the reproductive context,” said Melissa Eggen, one of the researchers and a faculty member at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. “And we know that in a post Dobbs world, that restrictive policies don’t allow for that agency or autonomy.”  

Eggen and her co-researchers found a higher percentage of people who called the abortion fund for help were Black, younger than 30 and further along in their pregnancies than the population in the KDPH’s abortion records. 

They concluded young, Black Kentuckians were more likely to need financial assistance or emotional support to get an abortion. Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for health care for lower-income people and those with disabilities, did not cover Kentucky abortions before the procedure was outlawed in most cases. 

“We also know that those are people who are impacted most negatively by poor outcomes” during and after pregnancy, Eggen said. 

In 2023, the KDPH found Black women were twice as likely to die around childbirth than their white counterparts. Kentucky is about 87% white, according to the United States Census Bureau. Meanwhile, about 9% of the population is Black and 4% is Hispanic.  

For the June 21 study, “we’re looking at a period of time in Kentucky when abortion was getting more restricted, but we didn’t have a total ban,” said Mikaela Smith, a research scientist with Ohio Policy Evaluation Network at The Ohio State University. 

“This can serve a little bit as a case study for states that still have abortion available, but are trying to further restrict it. So in that way, we can say…‘Hey, here’s what happened with Kentucky.’” 

The study 

Researchers sought to “assess characteristics of abortion fund callers” with their research. 

To do so, they analyzed KHJN’s administration records showing the age, race and pregnancy gestation of people who called the abortion fund. They then compared those data points with abortion data from the public health department. 

They found the fund “supported” — financially and otherwise — 6,162 people during the seven years before Roe V. Wade was overturned. During that time, 28,741 people had abortions in Kentucky. 

The people who called for help in getting their abortions were more likely to be at least 14 weeks gestation. 

“Compared with state data, KHJN supported a higher percentage of young people, people of color, and people at later gestations,” the report concluded. “These findings support evidence that structurally vulnerable groups are more likely to face barriers to care and that abortion funds provide essential support necessary for reproductive equity.” 

These findings are “not too surprising,” Smith said. However, “being able to apply it in this specific political context felt really important.”