“The call came from the White House: We have to get this done,” the person said.  About three months before the Pentagon announced plans to lend money to Vulcan Elements, Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm took an undisclosed stake in the company. @robert-faturechi.bsky.social

Very big Lexington news: Phoebe Bridgers is playing a pop-up show at The Burl tonight. www.kentucky.com/entertainmen...

Congressman Hal Rogers, who is now 88, has won the GOP nomination for Kentucky's 5th Congressional District for the umpteenth time. From when he sat down with @austin-horn.bsky.social in December:

First complete reporting county in KY04 GOP primary is Mason County. Massie by 2. This is a good result for Gallrein, imo. Not ideal for Massie. Mason is next door to Massie's home county of Lewis.

Rep. Andy Barr is KY's GOP US Senate nominee to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell. Here's our story on the race, how Barr got here & what it means. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

An early call for the #KYSen GOP race: Rep. Andy Barr wins. More on that race here! www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Starting KY election thread here. Gallrein and Barr leading the absentee vote in Kenton County. Hard to read too much into it, but it's a good sign for Barr and probably a neutral (or slightly pro-Gallrein) one for Massie/Gallrein.

The national winner of the 2026 Public Media New Voices Award is.... KPR/LPM's own, @sylviaruthg.lpm.org !!!! www.pmja.org/pmja-present...

New #KYSen: It might seem grim to compare your electoral odds to that of a 90 y/o woman giving birth. But, quoting the Bible, Daniel Cameron did just that. How a faith-on-his-sleeve approach & an odd coalition keep the promise of a Cameron miracle alive. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Massie this, Gallrein that. Read up on the OTHER test of the Trump endorsement in KY: the final campaign days of Rep. Andy Barr, and how his superpower (networking) rocketed him to pole position in the GOP US Senate primary. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Spurs/Thunder most compelling playoff series in a while. The Perfect Player vs The Perfect Team. Alien vs The Machine. Unfair Genetic Advantage vs Unethical Hoops. Jean Girard vs Ricky Bobby. Sports!

It happened again: a KY House Democratic candidate had someone not registered as a Dem co-sign their filing papers. This time it was in a 'purple' district, and there is a Republican incumbent (moderate GOP Rep. Vanessa Grossl). www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

An underappreciated aspect of the FCPS situation is that the superintendent has been blogging through it. Also underappreciated: FCPS is still an excellent district if we're judging by traditional student outcomes/metrics. demetrusliggins.com/blog/f/i-can...

William Paul, son of Rand Paul, is apologizing for antisemitic remarks made at a Capitol Hill bar, according to a NOTUS report.

New: Thousands of KY Democrats got personalized, AI app-generated letters from KY-06 candidate David Kloiber this week. How he built it, how voters have reacted (some quite negatively) & why he sees it as "me writing them a letter with the help of these tools." www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

A door security camera shows Democratic candidate Max Morley taking a political advertisement out of a mailbox. He’s one of the three primary challengers hoping to unseat scandal-plagued Kentucky Rep. Daniel Grossberg, whose face and name were on the mailer. #kyga26

For anyone in The Big Apple: my band Patches plays at Nublu 151 in the Lower East Side tomorrow (May 9), somewhere around 8pm. Come check it out!

The woman from this story has shared a video on Instagram about why she came forward: www.instagram.com/reel/DYDUbG2...

New: a former college classmate alleges KY state Rep Daniel Grossberg assaulted her & made unwanted sexual advances in 2005 when she was a freshman and he was a 26-yr-old senior. She is making these claims on the record & has an accompanying police report. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Last night saw a fairly feisty mayoral forum, with three challengers consistently accusing incumbent Linda Gorton of not moving the city forward. Her frequent retort? "I am the only on up here who is doing this job." www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Personal News: After four years at @kentucky.com, I am leaving. My last day is May 22. Helping people understand Kentucky, and holding its powerful to account, has been a dream job. Thanks to every reader and everyone I met along the way! Hope I did Kentucky proud.

New: I went long on Kentucky's US Senate GOP primary. Thoughts on how Barr got the Trump endorsement, Cameron's moves from here, what could be next for Nate Morris & much more. A lot of moving parts in the race, which is still weirder than meets the eye. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

About a week after this mailer came out, Gorton now has an ad on Facebook where the first sentence is: "Lexington mayor is a non-partisan position."

Cameron's consultant responds. “Congrats to Mitch McConnell for getting his guy.” www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

President Donald Trump has endorsed longtime Central Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr in this year’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

A plot twist I did NOT see coming. President Donald Trump has asked Nate Morris, a Lexington businessman running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, to bow out of the Republican primary and become an ambassador. From @austin-horn.bsky.social: www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Big development in Lexington, which prides itself for its small-town-style nonpartisan local elections. Top opponent against Mayor Linda Gorton (a famously anti-partisan Republican) sending out "Democrat" mailers. People have thoughts! @adrianpbryant.bsky.social www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Belatedly posting, but the KET debates this week (on the KY-06 seat Dems are hoping to flip) were good & informative, as always. Lots of areas where Dems disagreed. Republicans were in lockstep with Trump - and without candidate Ralph Alvarado. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

New wrinkle in the Beshear/UK/Van Tatenhove storyline: The Beshear admin has a case before Van Tatenhove in federal court. Attorney on the opposite side suggests Beshear's recent comments on judge's hiring at UK were "retaliatory." Gov's team disagrees. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Jacqueline Coleman wants to take the "Lt." off "Lt. Gov." Her allies – political and personal, like her dad – are confident she will ride the Beshear/education wave to do so. “I always knew she had the ability, but I didn’t know she’d ever have the opportunity." www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

New: Gov. Andy Beshear insinuated "partisan donors" influenced the UK law school dean’s hiring. He didn't say who. The incoming dean has a long record of trips reimbursed & gifts from the Crafts, UK Athletics' biggest donors, as well as another GOP donor. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Kentucky has landed one transfer out of the portal so far. Who's next for Mark Pope and the Wildcats? These are the most intriguing, realistic options (for now) as portal season continues: www.kentucky.com/sports/colle...

The strategist behind X Strategies, which is paid by Nate Morris' campaign, called this "fake news." A Morris spox said the campaign has “no relationship” with the influencers identified. But an expert told us this seeming coordination has "all the hallmarks of a top-down astroturf campaign."

New: "On the same day, at the same time, 3 of America's biggest conservative influencers on X all had the same thing to say about KY U.S. Senate candidate Nate Morris." I went long on that campaign, many others across the US & one of MAGA’s biggest young stars. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

New: Andy Barr padded his campaign fundraising lead this quarter in the GOP race to replace Mitch McConnell. COH: Barr - $4.17M Cameron - $765k Morris - $581k Also, Harlan Crow, DraftKings CEO & a Walmart heir gave to different candidates. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Notable moments from Monday's Dem Senate debate: - Romans quote on Booker & McGrath: "(They're) 0-4 in federal races. If they were race horses, I would have retired them." - Forsythe's debate debut - Some differences on ICE/McConnell www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

New: After more than 6 years leading Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet, Jim Gray is transitioning to a part-time role advising Gov. Andy Beshear. That was one of three big shakeups at the cabinet level Beshear announced just now. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

ICYMI: @aacquisto.bsky.social was on @wbur.org's Here & Now to talk about her reporting with @taylorsixhl.bsky.social on Kentucky-based Addiction Recovery Care's alleged widespread Medicaid billing fraud. www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

A lot has changed with Kentucky basketball this offseason. A lot more will change in the coming days. Here's a look at the current roster situation after nearly every player on the team has made an initial announcement on what's next: www.kentucky.com/sports/colle...

New: Kentucky TV viewers could be forgiven for thinking the GOP US Senate primary was a 2-man race. Ads on Nate Morris & Andy Barr are ubiquitous. But that changed this week w/a PAC ad hitting Daniel Cameron. Here's the ad & what it means for the race. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

“It was just herding cattle: get them in, get them out, get them in, get them out.” Really great reporting from @aacquisto.bsky.social and @taylorsixhl.bsky.social on KY's addiction treatment empire & the allegedly fraudulent billing practices fueling its rise. www.kentucky.com/news/state/a...

After an early draft/version was posted & taken down last night, the final Quantus Insights survey comes out this morning at: Massie - 46.8% Gallrein - 37.7% Undecided - 14% www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

New: First independent poll of the KY-04 GOP primary has Massie up ~10, but short of a majority, against Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. Quantus Insights pegged the race at: Massie 47.4%, Gallrein 36.8%. They're rated a "B/C" pollster by Nate Silver www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke at the University of Kentucky about federal funding, while also offering his support of the war in Iran.

President Robert Stivers' first public statement on the recent state Supreme Court ruling in the Judge Julie Goodman impeachment matter was released with a full schedule for a Senate trial.

Day one of the NCAA transfer portal is over. Here’s what happened for Mark Pope and UK basketball: ⬇️ www.kentucky.com/sports/colle...

New: Andy Barr's campaign "parted ways" with its campaign manager last week, days after old social media posts criticizing Trump (“loser,” a “stain on our party," etc) were surfaced by conservative media. That & more in this week's insider. amp.kentucky.com/news/politic...

The Elon Musk-funded Fight For Kentucky PAC that is supporting Nate Morris in the Kentucky Senate race now has these mailers out against Andy Barr, the guy with the “it’s not a sin to be white” TV ads. #kysen