Reporting

I covered the data center fight in Mercer County by finding the twist: the county paused development while the city of Burgin weighed annexation that could bypass it. I obtained emails and texts through open records requests showing the project's 1.3-gigawatt scale and school officials' months of discussion, then interviewed residents, the mayor, and Shaker Village's CEO.

Adam Anderson, an employee at N.c. Bailey general contracting in Fleming-Neon, clears a parking lot of mud after floodwaters rushed through Main Street early Friday morning. (Austin R. Ramsey / Herald-Leader) FLEMING-NEON, Ky. — Bonnie Kincer has rebuilt the little flower shop and dance studio she owns on Main Street in Fleming-Neon twice, after destructive Eastern Kentucky floods tore through the old theater building in 2022 and again in 2025. On Friday morning, as she surve

Construction scaffolding surrounds the Grand Central Rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol building, currently undergoing construction on January 6, 2026, in Frankfort, Ky. (Tasha Poullard / Herald-Leader) Kentucky could forgo billions of dollars in state sales tax revenue if even a handful of the massive data center projects proposed across the commonwealth qualify for a tax exemption lawmakers expanded statewide last year, according to a new analysis. The potential cost dwa

Alice Whitaker, niece of founder Alice Slone, stood in front of the Cordia School on Ky. 1088 in Cordia. (Charles Bertram / Herald-Leader file photo) CORDIA, Ky. — Tensions flared late last month for the second time in six years between the Knott County Board of Education and a remote and beloved settlement school that has fought to preserve its place in the Appalachian community it has served for nearly a century. With students set to return next week, the school district sa

William Bader, who leads a faction of the Ku Klux Klan in Kentucky, shouts racial slurs to African Americans at a Klan demonstration on July 18, 2015, in Columbia, South Carolina. Flyers appearing in several northeastern Indiana communities advertise a rally and cross-lighting ceremony supposedly planned for Aug. 8 somewhere in Kentucky’s vast Daniel Boone National Forest. (John Moore / Getty Images) WINCHESTER, Ky. — Flyers promoting an alleged Ku Klux Klan rally in Kentucky

I reported on a former safety officer's whistleblower lawsuit alleging he was fired after reporting suspected child sex crimes. I read the complaint closely, sought comment from the superintendent, and got the Prestonsburg police chief on record to test the claims. I tied the case to a same-week sting arrest and explained Kentucky's whistleblower statutes.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis waves to a crowd of her supporters at a rally in front of the Carter County Detention Center on September 8, 2015, in Grayson, Kentucky. (Ty Wright / Getty Images) Former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis is facing a new lawsuit in her home turf accusing her of hiding inherited assets to avoid paying the $565,000 federal civil rights judgment against her for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Attorneys for the two Kentucky men who

The U.S. Capitol Building is pictured. (Creative Commons) Legislation designed to ensure rapidly developing data centers don’t raise residential power bills sailed through a key Congressional committee Tuesday, teeing up a full vote on the House floor. The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Kentucky Republican Congressman Brett Guthrie, advanced the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, 52-0. The bill would require state utility regulators to consider large-l

Diversified Gas and Oil Corp. maintains a natural gas compressor station in Letcher County it believes it can leverage into an off-grid power generation data center project. Local economic development officials signed an agreement with the company and a real-estate firm called Maverick Holdings to explore the project for about a year. (Austin R. Ramsey / Herald-Leader) LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. — Plans are taking shape for the development of a major, 100 megawatt off-grid power gen

When the Department of Education targeted 20 districts nationwide, I focused on the local angle: only Perry County, Kentucky, was named. I got the district's response on the record as the probe began, tied it to the Herald-Leader's 2022 investigation into teacher misconduct, explained Title IX and Kentucky's new grooming law, and interviewed attorney John Manly on why the threat of lost federal funding carries weight.

Morgan Hayes pets an ostrich at an Alpha Roost Farms pen near Danville. The new ostrich-meat producer is filling a niche market opening up for people developing red-meat allergies from Alpha-Gal Syndrome. (Austin R. Ramsey / Herald-Leader) A lifelong cattleman and animal nutrition expert, Brent Williams had spent decades around livestock. Beef wasn’t just a part of his diet; it was a part of his identity. “My nickname since fifth grade has been Beef,” he said. “Beef has been

In November 2010, Bruce Maggard called up to the top at an underground coal mine in Perry County to alert them that a car was coming back up the mine shaft. (Jonatahn Palmer / Herald-Leader file photo) PIKEVILLE, Ky. — It isn’t lost on Brandon Crum that the coal dust never really left him or his family. A fourth-generation miner who dug coal in Appalachia since he was a teen, Crum, now a radiologist, sits in Eastern Kentucky exam rooms, studying X-rays and lung scans, diagnos

This pair of stories demonstrates the power of fast and efficient breaking-news coverage. I uncovered and broke this story and was able to quickly follow up by reporting about the real-world consequences of the officers involved. Police tape is pictured. (Royalty-free Getty Images) FBI asked to intervene after KY police reportedly slap mentally ill man following arrest The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office has asked the FBI to investigate the London Police Department following a

An example of tying environmental and energy coverage with daily business news, I followed and broke multiple stories about one of the few remaining glimmers of hope for laid off coal workers in Eastern Kentucky as its profits plunged. A coal pile is photographed in Totz, Ky., on Sunday, April 14, 2024. (Ryan C. Hermens /Herald-Leader) EKY coal operator with 16 regional mines files for bankruptcy after layoffs PIKEVILLE, Ky. — The Pike County coal company that furloughed and

The Nature Conservancy led a project to restore this stream in Pulaski County that flows into Buck Creek, at left, to improve water quality in both. (Wilkinson Visual / Herald-Leader file photo) Senate Republicans are advancing legislation that would severely restrict Kentucky regulators from setting environmental policies by tying them directly to bare-minimum standards at the federal level — a move critics say threatens to permanently rebalance power in Frankfort. The Senat

Not far from where I was based in Eastern Kentucky covering the region for the Lexington Herald-Leader, I followed a local political disagreement that had regional and statewide ramifications. Developers are eyeing the small community of Myra in Pike County, Ky., as the future site of a 450-acre landfill project that would store garbage from surrounding counties in several states. The community is pushing back. (Austin R. Ramsey / Herald-Leader) Eastern KY residents fight pro

SB 39 would restrict game wardens from enforcing most fishing regulations on private lakes and ponds. (Austin R. Ramsey / Herald-Leader) JOHNSON COUNTY, Ky. — Legislation awaiting a final vote in the Kentucky Senate would strip state game wardens of their ability to enforce most fishing laws on private land and settle a growing controversy between regulators and angler groups who want to stock non-native, hybrid bass. Momentum for the bill, sponsored by Sen. Gary Boswell, R-O

An exterior view of the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort, as seen Feb. 8, 2025. (Tasha Poullard / Herald-Leader) The GOP supermajority in Frankfort and Kentucky’s environmental advocacy groups don’t always see eye-to-eye, but this legislative session, lawmakers and green activists are focused on the same issue: artificial intelligence and the opportunities and risks data centers pose to the commonwealth. Energy- and resource-intensive data centers represent a boon

Outdoorsmen and women play a key role in the protection of Kentucky's natural resources, because the state funds its fish and game agency primarily through hunting, fishing and boating licenses. I made it a mission of mine at the Herald-Leader to engage with the little-known agency and give readers an inside look at how it functions. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission Chair Chuck Meade speaks during a May commission meeting. (Screenshot / YouTube, Kentucky Department of Fi

Hazard city officials plan to ask the Kentucky Supreme Court to consider their legal battle challenging the state’s defunct tier system for local restaurant taxes. (Ryan C. Hermens / Herald-Leader) The Kentucky Court of Appeals has denied a petition for a rehearing from an Eastern Kentucky city attempting to levy a 3% restaurant tax, but the city’s attorneys intend to appeal the ruling on the grounds the amended state law underpinning local taxing authority is unconstitutiona