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girl formerly afraid of space writes again about local company designing very cool science experiments to study the very thing she used to be scared of. incredibly cool stuff, hope you think so, too: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

half a billion dollars' worth of thoroughbred horses were sold at keeneland's recent auction. i delved into why that matters, how it happened and what's likely to come next www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

Reminder for who needs reminding: Government officials only answering one question from you, once a week, in person, is not transparency.

it was an 11-vote margin, and some ballots are being challenged but the uaw is claiming victory in kentucky's growing electric vehicle battery industry. the labor union says it was a hard fought win to represent workers at blueoval. more/to be updated: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

School district officials would not say Wednesday afternoon why they were waiting a day to share the fund balance with the public. Liggins told the Herald-Leader in an interview earlier this month that he needed to be a better communicator. Read more at: www.kentucky.com/news/local/e...

KY Politics Insider: Rand Paul for president in 2028? Kentucky's GOP Senate candidates hit Fox News & more www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article311763601.html#storylink=cpy

some interesting bits and bobs from andys beshear and barr toward the end of my latest about electric vehicle battery production starting at blueoval yesterday in glendale: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

in the past week, three global companies have made high dollar investments, btwn ~$500m and ~$3b, to reshore some of their manufacturing operations in kentucky. the latest is ge appliances which is moving some of its washing machine production lines to louisville www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

ford, the automaker that employs about 12,000 people in kentucky, released its electric vehicle strategy today. the ceo called it a model t moment and a huge bet on itself. made a final round of updates on this, now’s a good time to read: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

Local reporting uncovered Amazon was behind the water-guzzling data center slated for the desert. Residents fought against the data center. Today, the city council unanimously voted against Project Blue. If you care about local journalism that drives impact, consider donating to @azluminaria.org!

recent announcements from the feds and private investors along with local support in paducah send a strong signal to data center companies and utility providers the western kentucky city is keen to welcome nuclear again www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

employees at kentucky's blueoval sk battery plant will vote aug 26 and 27 to join the united auto workers union, according to a thursday labor board announcement. workers there are going to make batteries for ford's electric vehicles. here's how we got here: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

linda gorton is the first mayor in the history of the merged urban county government, which recently celebrated its 50th birthday, to run for a third term www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

eight months after the state program’s launch, medical marijuana sales still haven’t begun in kentucky. lots of really great detail and data here: www.kentucky.com/news/state/k...

lexington's business leaders and the university of kentucky say fayette county public schools should work to close a $16m deficit without increasing the occupational license tax: www.kentucky.com/news/local/e...

a $150 million shopping center along i64 and us127 in frankfort will have a new-to-market members-only warehouse grocery chain next to a previously announced target. the project is expected to be complete in 2030 with this full roster of stores, restaurants, more: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

a ky site has been tapped by the feds as a prime location to carry out the trump admin's plan to build ai infrastructure including the energy sources necessary to power it. more from the dept of energy and local leaders: www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

last month i put on a hard hat and walked through what was lexington's festival market. a developer has launched into a top-to-bottom renovation of the three-story downtown attraction. plans for the corner spot include an all-day diner, some retail and offices. more: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

haven't blueskied (?) in a bit. new stories/posts incoming

Will TVA be privatized? Trump’s efforts to control the utility, fire CEO spark speculation

Meet the Lexington Herald-Leader’s new Kentucky politics and government reporter www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article310925815.html?tbref=hp

We at Louisville Public Media just lost $376,000 due to Congress passing the rescission bill last night to claw back funds from public media across America. Today we’re asking those who value our work to help make up those funds in an emergency drive so we can maintain the staff/services we provide:

“We are taking an even bigger risk, however, in not living fully our humanity, with all of the lessons it has to teach all the other humans around us. This is the greatest loss, our honest humanity, and that loss leads all those others around us to lose that little bit of their humanity as well.”

My report from the Beshear trail www.semafor.com/article/07/1...

Scoop: The Wall Street Journal is working on a story highlighting Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein—but is said to be facing pressure from the White House, with Trump himself calling Editor-In-Chief Emma Tucker to object. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/wall-stree...

Former LMPD detective Brett Hankison was convicted of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights by firing blindly into her apartment. The U.S. Probation Office recommended a sentence of 11 to 14 years, but the Trump DOJ is now recommending a one-day sentence.

Revenues for Kentucky’s state government increased by less than 1% during the most recent fiscal year ending June 30. www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article310725150.html#storylink=cpy

that call center in winchester a bunch of social media and other info sources said was closing? well, that's not quite the case. it'll come under new management this fall and a company rep told me it's hoping to increase total number of jobs. more: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

NEW: Kentucky’s largest utility wants to spend $3.7B to build two new power plants & extend life of a coal plant — largely because it expects large data centers to be built. But is that forecasted data center demand realistic? National trends & recent experience of Oldham County suggests maybe not.

Last year, the FCC voted to cap prison phone calls across the country at 6 cents per minute. The new Trump-appointed FCC chair blocked that regulation before it set in. boltsmag.org/north-c...

construction is underway on a student housing development near the university of kentucky. a recent approval for a building next door means east maxwell street, between martin luther king boulevard and stone avenue, will soon have more than 500 new apartments. more: www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...

in a may budget proposal, the white house called for a 93% reduction in the appalachian regional commission's budget. last time this happened, congress kept the group's funding. "but this feels a lot more threatening," one kentucky-based nonprofit told me. more: www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Seven years after he backed a provision that effectively legalized hemp, Mitch McConnell is now pushing to close a so-called “loophole” of that same bill — a move that critics fear could devastate the hemp industry. It cleared a Senate committee today:

whatever happened to the effort by workers to unionize the ford ev battery plant? well, it's still happening. but unresolved claims of unfair labor practices and a request for investigation into alleged anti-union practices are holding up an election. more: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

because many supposedly competing landlords use the same software, an algorithm — not the free market — sets rents around the country, including kentucky, where 340,000 tenants live in multifamily housing, ag says in lawsuit www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

One of those autoblock days for liberals who celebrate poor peple losing health care because of the way a majority of people in their state voted.

The Oldham County Fiscal Court passed a moratorium to halt all data center projects, not exempting a current application. A top county official alleging corruption was also fired for recording and leaking a secret meeting on data centers that included company representatives and county leaders.

the $1.5 billion deal for xerox to acquire its competitor and supplier lexmark is final as of yesterday. more on what that means for the company and for lexington: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

there's lots of momentum building in and around lexington to bring more jobs and community resources to central kentucky. i spoke with the city's chief development officer about what he's turning his attention to in the second half of the year: www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

This is now a Bill Estep fan account: www.kentucky.com/news/local/a...

rep. andy barr said today at an event in lexington he would support giving trump “whatever authorities that he seeks” as the president weighs direct involvement in the conflict between israel and iran www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

We are extremely close to hitting a subscriber milestone for our Bluegrass Politics newsletter. If you haven't already, please sign up. It's the best way to keep up with what's happening in Kentucky politics, whether that's in Frankfort or DC. Sign up for free: www.kentucky.com/newsletters?... ^TD

a new report suggests if congress slashes medicaid funding, there are 338 hospitals at risk of closure. for every 10 hospitals that could shutter, at least one would be in kentucky. more details and a list of vulnerable facilities across the commonwealth www.kentucky.com/news/health-...

a spot in one of lexington's most popular shopping districts could soon be the site of a medical marijuana dispensary. the plan comes as the private sector mobilizes following the state's launch of a program earlier this year www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to lower the price of groceries on his first day in office. A five month analysis by the Herald-Leader shows groceries are actually more expensive in Lexington. ++ Story by me with help from @piperjhansen.bsky.social www.kentucky.com/news/busines...

another democrat is tossing their hat in the ring to represent kentucky's sixth congressional district — former lexington councilman david kloiber. more on his approach to flip the red seat blue in this updated story: www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

My latest long feature on a company's proposal to build one of the largest hyperscale data centers in the world on a stretch of rural farmland in Oldham County, and residents' fight against it.

The Kentucky Housing Corporation says the state stands to lose nearly half its funding for federal housing programs if Congress agrees to the Trump administration's proposed budget, impacting more than 149,000 Kentuckians in about 85,000 households. From @justinhicks.lpm.org