In some Kentucky communities where hyperscale data centers are being proposed, leaders in local governments and school districts are eyeing a potential tax windfall that they hope could lead to transformative investments back in their communities.  In the small Mercer County city of Burgin, a school board member for the city’s school district argued a […]

Some Kentuckians become so rooted in this place that it is difficult to think of one without the other. Wendell Berry was such a Kentuckian. He died Monday at age 92 at his beloved Lane’s Landing Farm in Port Royal, Ky.  Poet, novelist, essayist, teacher, farmer, conservationist, and dissenter, he spent a lifetime asking: What […]

A Kentucky student has a plan for state lawmakers to reduce waste in schools and increase recycling.  Anikaa Sharma, a Pikeville High School student, told legislators on the Education Committee Tuesday about a bill proposal to update state laws to reflect a modern list of recyclables and divert food waste to local composting facilities. She […]

The news broke late Monday that Berry died at 92. He was a farmer, author of dozens of books, former English professor and defender of land.

Valvoline Global Operations announced Monday that they are moving its global headquarters from Lexington to downtown Cincinnati. Cincinnati’s mayor called it “a huge win… for our local economy, and for the momentum our city and partners have been working to build.” Their gain is Lexington’s – and Kentucky’s –direct loss.  Valvoline Global is not an […]

Kentucky writer and conservationist Wendell Berry once wrote: “Beware the machinery of longevity. When a man’s life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death.”  A lover of forests, the farmer, author and former English professor died on Monday at his home in Port Royal, […]

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and other Republican attorneys general are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower federal court’s decision that upheld more stringent air pollution limits established under the former Biden administration.  Under former President Joe Biden in 2024, the EPA lowered the amount of allowable soot pollution — fine particulate […]

After two years of limbo, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has started implementing a 2024 law to help families who step in to raise a minor relative, known as kinship care families.  The Kentucky legislature approved and Gov. Andy Beshear signed SB 151 in 2024 to provide financial relief to grandparents and […]

President Donald Trump may no longer be the silver bullet in Kentucky elections that Republicans once had as voters face pains from an ongoing war in Iran and rising gas and grocery prices.  The president’s growing unpopularity in the Bluegrass may play into the central Kentucky 6th Congressional race in the weeks ahead as GOP […]

Earlier this month, House Speaker David Osborne made an interesting comment to the Lexington Herald-Leader about whether Kentucky’s generous tax incentives to data centers were a good idea. “We should always be asking whether an incentive delivers a return for taxpayers, but we also need to make sure we’re comparing apples to apples before drawing […]

LOUISVILLE — Apparently there is no blue ribbon at the Kentucky State Fair just for being cute.  Well, at the risk of igniting controversy: There should be.  I’m a bit of an expert when it comes to cute animals — after all, I have the most magnificent-looking rescue dogs you’ve ever seen. (Sorry to everyone […]

LOUISVILLE — After more than half a decade of advocacy, supporters of freestanding birth centers celebrated Thursday as a legislative committee approved regulations — essentially, the details — for how the centers will now be able to open and run.  Mary Kathryn DeLodder, the director of the Kentucky Birth Coalition who has long advocated for […]

LOUISVILLE — In what’s become a tradition for them, Republican megadonors Joe and Kelly Craft joined Central Bank in buying a country ham for $10 million.  At the end of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast on Thursday, attendees have a chance to bid on the Kentucky State Fair Grand Champion Country Ham, though the […]

LOUISVILLE — Kentucky Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell continues to be absent from public life after he was hospitalized in June.  McConnell did not attend the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast at the state fair Thursday morning, an event he usually attends, and often uses to discuss the congressional farm bill.  Kentucky’s two senators and […]

Kentucky’s measles outbreak has increased by 10 new cases, according to state data.  In total the state has now confirmed 29 cases of measles this year, the most seen since 1991, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Of those, 17 were confirmed in August, according to the state’s measles dashboard.  An outbreak […]

Last year, very late in the legislative session, Kentucky lawmakers were moving a bill meant to require training for local planning and zoning officials when they added more language.  Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, said legislators had heard about delays involving “business and subdivision development” and litigation “holding up” development.  The solution lawmakers added: limiting who […]

Kentucky’s utility regulator has launched an effort to study the affordability of electric and natural gas utility service for residential ratepayers, arguing that utility access is “fundamental to the health, safety, and well-being of Kentuckians.” A Wednesday press release from the Kentucky Public Service Commission says federal data shows the cost of electricity for residential […]

Social media giant Meta has agreed to settle a multi-state lawsuit for $17.1 billion and make changes to its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, for children’s safety, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Wednesday morning.  Coleman’s office said in a press release that under the terms of the settlement, which is still subject to approval by […]

Kentucky election officials have created a new regulation to match Kentucky voter registration against out-of-state records following a lawsuit from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth.  KFTC withdrew the case in federal court Monday after the emergency regulation was issued. The group filed the lawsuit in 2024 against Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams and the State […]

A Kentucky group representing miners with black lung is urging U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers to support a bill significantly boosting the federal disability benefits these miners receive.  In a Tuesday letter, the Black Lung Association of Southeastern Kentucky to Rogers urged him to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Support Our Miners Act, a bill […]