The University of Louisville is one of five universities the U.S. Department of Education says it’s investigating for discrimination over scholarships for undocumented and underrepresented students.  The Department of Education specifically named UofL’s Sagar Patagundi Scholarship that is intended to “subsidize the cost of higher education…for undergraduate DACA and undocumented students.”  The department’s Office for […]

FRANKFORT — Kentucky elects 138 people to serve in the state legislature, and 98 of them get their health insurance through the state-sponsored plan for public employees. Kentucky lawmakers also enroll 138 dependents in the state employees’ health plan. I bring this up not because I begrudge lawmakers and their families health insurance. Everyone should […]

KET is reviving its plans to cover the 2025 Fancy Farm Picnic in West Kentucky following a donation from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.  KET, the state’s public television network, had initially canceled its coverage of the political event last week after Congress voted to eliminate funding to public media nationwide, including PBS and NPR.  […]

Kentucky’s largest city is changing a detention policy for immigrants following pressure from the Trump administration.  During a Tuesday press conference, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city will reinstate a 48-hour hold for “inmates who are arrested for crimes, are booked in our jail and are subject to deportation notices” to allow federal officers […]

LOUISVILLE — Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was sentenced Monday to 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in a 2020 police raid that killed an unarmed woman and helped ignite national racial justice protests. The U.S. Department of Justice had recommended that Hankison, who was part of […]

Following a federal lawsuit, a Kentucky public school district has agreed to not block users from its social media pages and refrain from “suppressing criticism” of the district’s policies or public positions.  Pulaski County Schools made online posts last year opposing Amendment 2, the defeated constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Kentucky General Assembly […]

A documentary featuring the work of environmental educators in Kentucky and the positive impacts such education can have on youth and families will premiere Thursday in Lexington.  The film “In Our Nature” by production company Synchronous Pictures highlights in part the work of the nonprofit Red Oaks Forest School in Powell County. The nonprofit offers […]

The U.S. Office of the Inspector General says 75 contracted employees in Kentucky didn’t complete background checks before providing COVID-19 testing on K-12 school property.  This finding comes from a Health and Human Services audit report, released Friday, that says Kentucky did not “effectively monitor the implementation of the COVID-19 screening testing program.”  The audit, […]

FRANKFORT — Lucas Deaton of Walton, a lawyer for the Kentucky Bar Association, brought his 5-year-old daughter, Audrey, to see Kentucky’s grandest building — the state Capitol — before it closes to the public for several years. A most lonely place greeted them on their Dads-Take-Daughters-to-Work outing on a hot day in early summer. The […]

The Kentucky General Assembly plans to convene in temporary chambers for at least the next three years while the Capitol undergoes extensive renovations.  During those years, there will be no public galleries where citizens can watch as the House and Senate debate and vote on new laws. No rotunda where advocates and protesters can gather […]

At approximately noon on Sunday, July 13, 47-year-old Guy House shot and wounded a Kentucky State Police officer near Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, then carjacked a vehicle and drove several miles to a small church on Old Richmond Road, where he shot two women to death and wounded two men.  House was scheduled to appear […]

Cuts to public broadcasting that cleared Congress early Friday morning will cost KET funding for most of its original programming and a fourth of its workforce, said the head of Kentucky’s statewide public television network.  “KET has begun the difficult process of determining what must be reduced, suspended or ended due to the significant loss […]

Across the country, public school enrollment has failed to rebound to pre-pandemic levels — and data suggests the decline is far from over. According to projections from the National Center for Education Statistics, public K-12 enrollment peaked at 50.8 million students in autumn 2019, but is expected to fall by nearly 4 million students to […]

On July 15, 2024, House Bill 5 went into effect and made Kentucky one of the first states in the country to criminalize street camping. One year later, we’re left with a chilling legacy: hundreds of citations, growing mistrust of outreach efforts, worsening homelessness, and a question that still hangs heavy. Why did we let […]

Lawyers for Breonna Taylor’s family say the United States Department of Justice recommendation that former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison be sentenced to one day in jail is “an insult.”  In a Wednesday court filing in the Western District of Kentucky, the Justice Department said Hankison should receive “time served” credit “for the day he […]

Louisville officials say a child with measles visited the Little Clinic inside Kroger on Dixie Highway on July 9 and may have exposed others.  People who went to the Little Clinic and/or Kroger at 4915 Dixie Highway between 9:15 a.m. and 12 p.m. on July 9 may have been exposed, health officials said Wednesday night.  […]

Kentucky’s race for an open U.S. House seat got two new candidates — one from each party — Thursday morning. Republican Dr. Ralph Alvarado, a former Kentucky lawmaker, and Democrat Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor, announced they’re running. Alvarado has been Tennessee’s health commissioner since 2023, a post he held until recently announcing that […]

Now that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is the law of the land, what does it mean for Kentucky?  In past commentaries, I’ve criticized the bill, focusing on the shrinking safety net for many Kentuckians. From cutting social services to accelerating the concentration of wealth and economic power, there are real concerns about how […]

Citing a politically challenging and competitive funding landscape, the Kentucky Equal Justice Center is closing at the end of July.  Founded in 1976, the poverty law advocacy and research center worked “to promote equal justice for all residents of the Commonwealth by serving as an advocate for low income and other vulnerable members of society,” […]

FRANKFORT — Maximizing the advantages of an influential congressional incumbent in the majority party, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr boosted his already sizable fundraising lead against former Attorney General Daniel Cameron over the last three months in Kentucky’s race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2026. Andy Barr for Senate reported more than […]