It’s Monday. Already behind on the week? Us too. 

So, we’re introducing Kernel Keep Up—your weekly catch-up on what’s important this week and last. 

Here’s all the news you need to know to tackle the week ahead:

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Three must-reads this week:

The ‘Go-Getter’: Journey from a Detroit hospital to Rupp Arena

• AJ Harris, 4-10, 78-pound freshman basketball manager knows there’s nothing in the world he can’t have: “I just might have to work a bit harder than someone else might.”

It’s still flu season; here’s what you need to know

•  One-hundred degree or more fevers, body aches, fatigue and headaches are just a few of the many symptoms that can come with this year’s flu, health officials say.

Bean bags, not firearms, are the answer to school gun violence, our columnist writes.

• “Republicans and Democrats will always be split over the Second Amendment issue, so our country needs to stop going back and forth over gun control and find a realistic solution,” Megan Brown wrote.

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A winning weekend for Kentucky sports:

• Women’s track took 3rd in the SEC Indoor Championships
• Rifle took 2nd in the Great American Rifle Conference
• Men’s tennis won match against number seven Illinois

Cats sweep Grizzlies with big offensive showing

• On Sunday afternoon, the No. 8 UK baseball team finished off its first series sweep of the season, defeating Oakland 15-6. 
• The Cats take on Western Kentucky University at home on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

UK softball dominates in Boca

• After a relatively shaky start to the season, UK softball team took Boca Raton, Florida, by storm, sweeping the weekend with a perfect 5-0 record. They averaged more than six and a half runs a game, scoring a monstrous 12 in their final game of the weekend, a shutout against Memphis on Sunday.
• The Kentucky softball team plays their home opener at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Kentucky men’s basketball has their last home game on Wednesday night.

• The cats have won three in a row, despite dropping the previous 4.
• Freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt was named SEC freshman of the week after his first career double-double.

Between the Blue and White Lines: Ode to Hamidou Diallo

In a new Between the Blue and White Lines podcast, the guys sit down in Rupp Arena after UK’s 21-point win over Missouri to discuss the game and what caught their eye the most.

UK Cheer performs at Winter Olympics closing ceremony

The UK cheer team took the biggest stage at the Winter Olympics on Sunday as they represented team USA at the closing ceremonies in Pyeongchang, South Korea.  

 

Polo, Plays and Performers: This week in Lifestyle

 

UK Polo builds team spirit from horses and players

Good equipment plays a huge role in the ability of a sports team to succeed. For UK’s polo team, that equipment just happens to be a 1,000-pound animal that is just as much a part of the sport as the athletes themselves.

Local band becomes home for UK doctoral student 

Elizabeth Varnado said she wanted to learn how to play violin when she was a child as Pa did in the “Little House on the Prairie” book series. Now, she is on her way to earning a Ph.D. in musicology and performs in local band Lylak.

The week ahead: 

• Monday night, Mayor Gray along with other city officials will speak on LexGig a new highspeed internet initiative backed by the city government, at 5:30 p.m. in Gatton Room 307.
• UK Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is hosting a discussion on the ground floor of Whitehall from 3 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
• SAB and the National Pan-Hellenic Council is hosting a black history trivia session. Black Historivia is on Wednesday at noon to 1:30 in Whitehall 118.
• SAB is hosting its annual Underground Formal in the Woodford Reserve Room at Kroger Field at 9 p.m., Friday night.
• WRFL is hosting their 30th Birthday Bash this weekend. The station is hosting shows and events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check out WRFL’s website for information and tickets.
• Sqecial Media a popular, near-campus store for “hard-to-find” items is turning 46 on Sunday. The store is having its annual celebration from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.