CBS News
Kentucky’s “backside workers” care for million-dollar horses on the racing circuit. This clinic takes care of them.
Seventeen years ago, Odilia Castillo, now 37, traveled from her home in Chiapas, Mexico, north to work as a “hot walker” on Kentucky’s race tracks. Every morning she wakes up at 3 a.m. and heads to the track by 4 a.m. to walk the horses, who need at least 30 to 45 minutes to cool down after training.
Castillo said she has a “connection with the horses,” and that’s what kept her caring for the animals — until, in 2021, she couldn’t work because of a pain in her stomach. She said she didn’t know what the pain was, so she went to the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center. The Louisville clinic was founded in 2005 to meet the needs of those known in the racing world as the “backside,” mostly migrant workers who care for the horses who race at tracks such as Churchill Downs.
The mother of two, who is married to another racetrack worker, needed to take days off from work — a dire challenge for these laborers — many of them migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela or other Latin American countries — who head to the tracks six days a week to help keep Kentucky’s estimated $2.7 billion annual racing economy galloping. They are the hot walkers, exercise riders, grooms and farriers necessary to maintain racing form for the 238,027 horses in the state.
Many backside workers are undocumented — and don’t have job protections — but are essential to care for the million-dollar horses running Saturday in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, known for its fashionable hats, mint juleps and billionaire owners.
That’s where the clinic steps in.
“A transient workforce that needs to stay healthy”
Some backside workers are hired by the trainers through the H-2B temporary worker visa program, but many are undocumented because the demand for people to care for and feed the horses far outpaces the visas issued.
An average stable hires one person for every two horses, trainer William Jordan Blair told CBS News and backside workers are an “integral part of every single operation.” Backside workers care for about five to six horses during their day. He said it was a challenge to find steady workers for his 30-horse stable, Jordan Blair Racing, and for many others in the racing circuit, partly due to the transient nature of the business.
“It’s a transient job, not by choice, but that’s the way the business is — not easy to find workers,” Jordan said.
Workers, who usually are hired by the trainers and stables, typically move with the horses three to four times a year to different racing tracks in Florida, Kentucky, New York and other states, and each track is different. Many provide dormitory housing — in various conditions, said Jordan – and some of the bigger ones provide childcare and sometimes healthcare.
“It’s easier to keep help when the workers are younger,” said Jordan, who said when workers are younger, they don’t mind moving as much. “But when they have families, it’s difficult to uproot.” He said losing experienced workers made it challenging for the horses and the stables. Workers are paid on average in Kentucky $13 an hour, he said, but can make more — or sometimes less — in other states.
courtesy Krista Roach
But for many workers, it is a crapshoot, said nurse practitioner Krista Roach, who started working at the clinic in 2019.
“It’s rough when they leave for a few months,” Roach said. “It’s like starting from scratch all over again when they return.”
She said she’s seen workers not get medication or help for various ailments including diseases such as diabetes, and occasionally STIs.
A common refrain from workers is the fear of missing work for even a day. Worry pervades the backside that if they miss work, other migrants will come to replace them — or they will be fired.
“If you want a job the next day, you won’t take a day off. Unless you have an understanding boss, you are here every day,” one worker told a researcher in a study on how these workers treat their health.
Unclaimed racing tickets fund a clinic
These are the challenges the clinic tries to address for the backside workers who seek help. Most workers come via word of mouth, as “word travels fast on the backside,” an often close-knit community, said Roach.
Unclaimed racing tickets collected by the state of Kentucky support the clinic to the tune of $700,000 annually — and dedicated nurses, bilingual doctors, physician assistants and administrators ensure workers get the services they need.
Nurse Dedra Hayden, director of the center and an associate professor at the University of Louisville’s nursing school, which hosts the clinic, has a policy when it comes to caring for the mostly Latino workers on the state’s racing circuit.
“I just don’t ask,” Hayden said, referring to patients’ immigration status.
Kentucky Racing Health Services Center
“We try to provide them a safe environment,” Roach said. She recalled seeing one worker who asked nurses to cut his toenails. He didn’t wear shoes on the tracks and his feet were in such bad shape that he was fearful to touch them. Nurses cut his toenails and bandaged his feet so he could return to work. “He was so grateful,” Roach said. Since Roach joined the clinic in 2019, she has worked to expand health care for female backside workers who tend to use the clinic for services.
They’ve seen 1,010 female patients and expanded their services to include OB-GYN examinations for women, cancer check-ups and help for families and children. Castillo said she had gone to so many doctors to find out what was wrong.
“For those years I had fear because I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” Castillo said — until she got to the clinic.
She had surgery, and after a month-and-a-half, was able to return to work to care for the horses that she “feels in her soul.”
CBS News
Rex Heuermann, alleged Long Island serial killer, due in court as prosecutors promise major development
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is due back in court on Long Island Tuesday morning, and prosecutors are promising a major development in the case.
The hearing is set to begin after 9:30 a.m. A press conference is expected at the Suffolk County DA’s office shortly after. We will bring that news conference to you live on CBS News New York.
The judge has previously indicated he wanted to set a trial date at today’s hearing.
Heuermann’s last court appearance was back in October.
Heuermann accused of killing 6 women, so far
Heuermann, 61, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of six women between 1993 and 2011. The remains of 11 people were discovered around Gilgo Beach during that period, and investigators believe Heuermann may be linked to other killings. The Suffolk County DA has said there could be future indictments.
Four of the victims had their bodies disposed of near Gilgo Beach. Two others were murdered as far back as 2003 and 1993. Each of them had been involved in sex work.
Prosecutors allege Heuermann is linked to the murders through DNA, burner phone data, a description of his truck, internet searches and what they call a blueprint for how to get away with murder.
Attorneys wrangle over DNA, volume of evidence
A key point of contention in the new DNA evidence is called SNP, which prosecutors say links the hairs of victims to Heuermann. The defense has called an outside lab’s methods of genetic testing unproven and “magic.”
Another hurdle for prosecutors is the sheer volume of evidence. The DA says they’re struggling to keep up with the costs of processing the 120 terabytes of data and 400 electronic devices seized.
Heuermann’s attorney says his client is looking forward to his day in court and will be pursuing a change of venue, claiming the jury pool in Suffolk has been “poisoned.”
Heuermann remains in isolation in jail.
CBS News
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — notorious drug lord nicknamed “Friend Killer” — returned to Mexico after U.S. prison sentence
Notorious drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén has been returned to Mexico after serving a U.S. sentence and was quickly re-arrested and sent to a maximum security prison to face Mexican charges.
There had been nervousness about the impending return of Cárdenas Guillén, who once led the feared Gulf cartel in northeastern Mexico before he was arrested and extradited to the United States in 2007.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department confirmed in its social media accounts Monday that Cárdenas Guillén had been returned after serving 14 years in U.S. custody, most of his 25-year U.S. prison sentence. He is a Mexican citizen, so presumably he was deported.
“The successful removal of Osiel Cardenas, a notorious international fugitive, underscores our unwavering commitment to public safety and justice,” said Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Samuel Olson in a statement.
A Mexican federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Cárdenas Guillén had immediately been taken into custody in Mexico on drug, organized crime and money-laundering charges.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout via REUTERS
The official said Cárdenas Guillén was being held at the country’s top maximum-security Altiplano prison just west of Mexico City.
Homeland Security Investigations posted photos of a paunchy, balding, bespectacled Cárdenas Guillén being escorted by two officers in helmets and flak vests, and the being walked over a border bridge.
The image contrasts with the drug lord’s fearsome reputation for violence in Mexico.
Nicknamed “El Mata Amigos” (“Friend Killer”), he recruited former Mexican special forces soldiers to form his personal guard. The former head of the Gulf cartel was known for his brutality. He created the most bloodthirsty gang of hitmen Mexico has ever known, the Zetas, which routinely slaughtered migrants and innocent people.
The 57-year-old native of the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, moved tons of cocaine and made millions of dollars through the Gulf cartel, based in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros.
After his arrest in the northeast border state of Tamaulipas, he was extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $50 million.
At that time, the Justice Department alleged that Cardenas Guillen threatened to kill a Texas sheriff’s deputy who was working as an undercover ICE agent because he refused to deliver almost 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.
CBS News
The Electoral College votes to confirm results for the 2024 presidential election today. Here’s what to know.
At state capitols across the U.S. Tuesday, the presidential electors will be gathering to cast their electoral votes, formalizing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
It’s largely a ceremonial vote, the next step after the presidential election. When Americans cast their ballots on Election Day, they’re technically voting for a slate electors committed to supporting their choice for president and vice president.
How does the Electoral College work?
The rules governing the Electoral College are outlined by the 12th Amendment.
Presidential electors, according to the amendment, “shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify.”
The political parties choose the slate of electors ahead of the general election.
After Election Day, all the votes are counted and then certified by each state. According to the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act, the deadline to certify the results is set at six days before the electors are scheduled to meet, traditionally on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.
The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 also requires that each state determine a state official — the governor unless specified otherwise — to be responsible for submitting the “certificate of ascertainment” that identifies the state’s electors and includes a security feature.
What were the 2024 Electoral College results?
Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226. See state-by-state results here and below.
Nationally, Trump also won the popular vote, winning 77.2 million votes to Harris’ 75 million.
How many electoral votes does each state have?
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 is needed to become president.
Each state’s electoral votes are equal to the number of representatives they have in the House, plus two senators.
While the number of Electoral College votes has remained at 538 since 1964, the number of votes per state changes to match congressional apportionment after the decennial census. Between the 2020 election and the 2024 election, Texas gained two Electoral College votes, while five other states — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — gained one electoral vote each. Six states lost an electoral vote: California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The map below shows the changes by state between the 2020 election and the 2024 election.
Does each elector have to vote with the state election results?
Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., are winner-take-all, so the winner of the popular vote in the state wins all of the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allocate their electors based on the winner of the popular vote within each Congressional District and then two “at-large” electors are determined based on winner of the statewide popular vote.
The electors are supposed to vote in accordance with the outcome of the popular vote in their state. The Constitution does not require electors to vote with the winner of the popular vote, but most states have laws that nullify the votes of “faithless electors.” The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that states can punish these “faithless electors.”
According to FairVote, there have been 90 “deviant” votes cast by electors for president since the founding of the Electoral College, although the majority of these were due to the death of a party’s nominee rather than a true deviation from the voters’ intent.
There have also been 75 faithless electors for vice president, for a total of 165 faithless electors throughout history, according to FairVote.
After the 2020 election, so-called “fake” Republican electors in seven battleground states won by President Biden met anyway and cast phony votes for Trump. State criminal charges have been filed against fake electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. In charging Trump for attempting the overturn the election results, special counsel Jack Smith said these fake electors were part of a plan to overturn the election, orchestrated by pro-Trump attorneys with Trump’s support. Those charges have been dismissed since Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
What’s next after the Electoral College certification?
After the results are signed and certified, they are sent to Harris, acting as the president of the Senate. The vote certificates must be received by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this year is Dec. 25. The archivist then transmits the sets of certificates to Congress on or before the new Congress meets on Jan. 3, 2025.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Congress meets in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes, overseen by Harris. After the votes are counted, the vice president announces the winner of the election.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath of office at the inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.
Rex Heuermann, alleged Long Island serial killer, due in court as prosecutors promise major development
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — notorious drug lord nicknamed “Friend Killer” — returned to Mexico after U.S. prison sentence
The Electoral College votes to confirm results for the 2024 presidential election today. Here’s what to know.
Rex Heuermann, alleged Long Island serial killer, due in court as prosecutors promise major development
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — notorious drug lord nicknamed “Friend Killer” — returned to Mexico after U.S. prison sentence