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.

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

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.

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.