Reporting

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

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

About a year before I came on board at the Herald-Leader, police in the sleepy town of London, Kentucky, shot and killed a man they say pointed a gun at him while serving an early morning search warrant. After doggedly pursuing the story, I was able to report that police who showed up that night had the wrong address. Monthly vigils in downtown London, Ky., like the one seen in this Dec. 23, 2025, photo, will continue, organizers say, until the family and friends of Douglas “