Reporting

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

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

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

Cultivating sources inside some of Kentucky's largest consumer advocacy groups and Republican lawmakers in Frankfort, my colleagues and I led coverage of dueling studies about the future of electricity in the commonwealth. TVA’s Paradise Fossil Plant in Western Kentucky, once a major source of coal-fired power, was shut down in 2020 after decades of operation. The plant’s closure marked another chapter in the region’s long transition away from coal. (Bill Estep / Herald-Leade

The Trump administration began clearing the way for alternative assets in workplace 401(k)s by eliminating Biden-era guidance warning plans about the danger off-market funds posed to retirement-saver nest eggs. The US Labor Department said it was rescinding a 2021 supplemental statement that cautioned against private-market valuation risks, illiquidity, and lack of transparency. Biden attached the statement to the strategy Trump’s DOL laid out during his first term, establish

The US Labor Department has released a closely watched rule that will expand strict fiduciary standards of conduct to cover more retirement plan advisers, and has already drawn ire from Wall Street. The rule from the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration could equip regulators with more power to oversee Wall Street heavy hitters and require companies to comply with expensive disclosure exemptions. EBSA will release the regulation on its website Tuesday following mon

The federal government overpaid one of the nation’s largest union-backed pensions by more than $127 million in bailout cash because it failed to detect dead participants the plan had reported, according to a new watchdog memo. A review by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Office of Inspector General found the government’s private-sector retirement plan insurer didn’t cross-check deceased participants the Central States Pension Plan reported in its application for spe

Employers can soon choose to let workers’ student loan repayments count toward 401(k) matching contributions under a recently enacted benefits law, but many are wary of taking that step while so much is unsettled with federal loan forgiveness programs. The program, part of the SECURE 2.0 Act (Public Law 117-328), was designed to address concerns that too many workers burdened with student debt are funneling money to their loan service providers instead of their 401(k)s, missi

Workplace retirement savers who fall victim to cyber crimes are finding they don’t always have an easy way to get their money back as employers and service providers grapple over who’s responsible. The $19.8 trillion employer-sponsored retirement industry is ripe for web-based thieves, especially as portfolio management and distribution services shift online. Several high-profile federal lawsuits involving companies such as Abbott Laboratories Inc., Colgate-Palmolive Co., and

As calls to defund law enforcement reach a fever pitch nationwide, New Mexico’s largest city is answering concerns about its police department by forming an alternative. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (D) announced on Monday the formation of a new public safety department designed to relieve stress on the city’s police. Instead of the police or fire departments responding to 911 calls related to inebriation, homelessness, addiction and mental health, the new division will deplo

Bombshell testimony Wednesday draws Trump and his cabinet into the impeachment drama. In sworn testimony before House impeachment investigators Wednesday, Ambassador Gordon Sondland connected President Donald Trump and his personal attorney in a “quid pro quo” relationship involving access to the White House and politically motivated investigations. Sondland, the country’s top diplomat to the European Union, said Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani facilitated a pressure

Now more than 17 years after the two so-called “D.C. snipers” carried out a murderous rampage in the Washington metro area, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments for a case that could decide if the younger of that pair will get a second chance at sentencing. At its core, the case centers on the rights of juvenile defendants and how how far trial judges can go in sentencing them for capital convictions. “It can be summarized in two words, which is that ‘yout

Two, back-to-back reports of gunfire on the same night near one Petworth rowhouse have reignited a simmering controversy among neighbors. It sounded like thunder. That’s what Charles Coleman said he remembers about the night he awoke to gunfire echoing against terraced homes two weeks ago near his home on Shepherd Street NW. They startled him and his wife from their bed and stirred a frenzy of barking dogs, bedroom lights and sleepy eyes peering past curtains into the early m

The mayor of Dayton, Ohio, the site of a deadly mass shooting last month that killed nine and injured 27 others, challenged members of Congress on Wednesday to ban assault-style weapons she said are responsible for the carnage her city witnessed. Mayor Nan Whaley testified before the House Judiciary Committee, describing in detail an excruciating 32 seconds of terror as a man wielding an AR-15–style handgun turned it on crowds of bar patrons in a busy Dayton entertainment dis

Empathy, fairness and ethics are among the values that shape Americans’ measure of trust in public officials, and that trust, according to a new Pew Research Center report, continues to decline. The study found that Americans share nuanced views on which trust-building factors are important for which institutions, meaning the keys to winning them over — at the ballot box or elsewhere — may not be easy. “Trust is a variegated phenomenon; it’s not sort of this black-and-white,

D emocrats on Capitol Hill shot back at President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday, less than a week after his Environmental...

Security measures designed to protect American chemical manufacturers from terror threats aren’t being adequately communicated to those industry’s neighbors, according to an environmental justice advocate who testified Wednesday before a House energy and climate change subcommittee. ​ Michele Roberts, national co-coordinator for the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, told lawmakers that a Department of Homeland Security program that identifies high-risk threats of terror

The Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro, Kentucky, was a fixture along the Green River in western Kentucky for more than 50 years. It inspired a hit John Prine song and supported a thriving local economy. This series for the Messenger-Inquirer explained its eventual demise as the Tennessee Valley Authority sought to reshuffle its energy portfolio. Bevin Laments TVA's Paradise Vote: Governor Urges Board to Delay DRAKESBORO, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin called on the Tennes

The Owensboro RiverPark Center Board of Directors is in negotiations with Spectra, the Owensboro Convention Center and Sportscenter venue management company, that could result in the company taking over partial management control of operations there. Sources say the board initiated a request for proposals several months ago that resulted in three total bids from outside contractors. Spectra, a sports and entertainment firm based in Philadelphia, was among them, and Board Chai