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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rural Martin County, Kentucky, remains one of the most underfunded water systems in America, contaminated by a devastated coal slurry spill more than 25 years ago. I used this short series to shine light on efforts underway in the community to clear up the community's water and reputation. The Curtis Crum Reservoir in Martin County, Ky., is seen Oct. 2, 2018. Water is pumped from the Tug Fork River and stored here before being treated and delivered to residents. (Alex Slitz /

The success of the Trump administration’s mission to modernize workplace 401(k)s with alternative private investments hinges on risk-averse employers that have steered worker assets almost exclusively into stocks and bonds for decades. President Donald Trump‘s executive order on Thursday paves the way for companies to consider offering private market, cryptocurrency, and other off-market investments in retirement plan menus. The order seeks to overcome deep-rooted employer sk

The Trump administration is rescinding 2022 US Labor Department guidance that discouraged workplace 401(k) cryptocurrency investing. The Biden-era guidance cautioned companies to exercise “extreme care” before adding crypto to their employees’ investment menus. That stance departed from the neutral approach the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is required to take by law, the agency said in a statement Wednesday. The 2022 guidance threatened an “investigative pr

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 part of my practicum studies at The Washington Post — and a relationship I fostered with the general assignment desk there — I joined a team of reporters telling the unique stories of people the region had lost as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The series chronicled the local tragedies and brought a human element to the numbers we'd grown used to seeing and reading about in the news. Longtime Miriam's Kitchen Employee Dies of Coronavirus Complications After Da

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