It’s unofficially Ohio River week @lpm.org & KyCIR. We’re hosting a cool event Wednesday, where you can meet native birds and fish and learn about an ambitious new environmental plan to restore the Ohio River Basin’s waterways. It’s free to come, so join us! Details here: www.lpm.org/press-releas...

Andy was a fantastic reporter. I learned a lot from working alongside him at the CJ, and also just flat-out enjoyed getting to know him. Rest in peace.

It’s a great afternoon to donate to @lpm.org b/c it’s Give For Good Louisville day! Every individual donation we get can help us win extra bonus funding. Doesn’t matter how much you give — just *that* you give, to support the independent journalism and music experiences we make for our community.

Justin's working on a really cool music journalism piece for @lpm.org and regional public radio listeners. And he's collab-ing with WFPL's classical sister station, WUOL, on it. Gonna be sweet, stay tuned this fall.

Over @lpm.org, we've got a real in-the-weeds (complimentary) local government story for ya, about the departure of Louisville Metro's libertarian leader of city infrastructure and road projects.

Good new local news investigation out at the @courierjournal.bsky.social today👇

Update: This spokesperson for Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg was just given a new job managing his reelection campaign. KyCIR reports: www.lpm.org/investigate/...

I'm on @lpm.org's talk show, On Track, this week talking about forever chemicals (aka PFAS) in Kentucky. (Or, as @michelletyrene.bsky.social calls these substances, P-FUNK). Listen: www.lpm.org/podcast/on-t... You'll also hear about a cool event KyCIR's hosting Sept. 24, all about the Ohio River!

For the newest edition of KyCIR's Digging In, @storiesbyjess.bsky.social talked w/ fellow education reporter Krista Johnson of the Courier Journal about the 50th anniversary since Jefferson County Public Schools became racially integrated. There's a long and a short audio version, and both are good:

New piece from @joesonka.lpm.org, diving into LG&E's controversial push to build 2 natural gas plants, keep 2 coal plants in operation longer than intended & ax the planned construction of a battery storage facility ... and what it means that Louisville and Lexington city govs' aren't opposing it.

Kentucky Educational Television — which operates nearly all of the state’s PBS station network — announced Thursday that it’s cutting nearly a quarter of its staff. www.lpm.org/news/2025-09...

Update: Louisville’s mayor says today that this proposed deal is being dropped.

Louisville wants to run city gov. on 100% clean electricity by 2030. But how? This week, Metro Council will debate a pitch from Mayor Craig Greenberg to get there by buying credits from a Henderson County solar farm instead of by investing in local renewable projects. My latest for KyCIR:

KyCIR reports on a recent sitch where Mayor Craig Greenberg's spokesperson shouted at our newsroom's summer intern for walking up to the mayor after a press conference and asking him about downtown Louisville's problem with poop on sidewalks/alleys. Press freedom advocates say this is not OK.

Breaking news: A federal judge has, once again, decided to drop the heaviest charges facing a pair of ex-LMPD officers being prosecuted over their role in the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor. Details here.

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Poop scoop: Our newsroom's summer intern, @andreagalliano.bsky.social, puts attention on the excrement sometimes spotted in downtown Louisville - and the people affected by a lack of free, public bathrooms.

Great story here from the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, an NPR collab where journalists from @lpm.org & other stations in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia collectively report and share notable news from around our region:

Another impact from congressional Republicans' vote to defund public media.

West Virginia news w/ a KY link: A judge just told Chemours' W.V. plant to quickly quit over-polluting the Ohio River: mountainstatespotlight.org/2025/08/07/c... Louisville Water Co. says the plant's PFAS pollution caused a chemical spike in our bend of the river late last year. I wrote about that:

It's state fair time🥧🐮@g-nizzle.bsky.social put together a quick, fun listen from opening day:

When EPA officials cut a $1 million grant to study west Louisville air pollution, the city gov. asked them to reconsider. They just got their answer: Nope. Public records shed light on both sides’ arguments over saving the funds ... and how Trump's attempts to purge DEI programs factored into it.

Louisville officials still pushing for Trump's EPA to drop a 30-year-old requirement that requires local residents to fuel their cars w/ a type of gas that contributes less to ozone pollution but costs extra:

Kentucky's getting $980M+ in opioid settlement money. I spoke with the head of the state commission in charge about their new push to find out how cities and counties spend their share & to make the info easily accessible. For the new edition of KyCIR's Digging In series:

Here's @justinhicks.lpm.org looking into a new Trump move that could reduce protections for coal miners:

Big news for western Kentucky (and an important energy story nationally, too) this week, from @doperle.bsky.social:

Last fall, I reported for KyCIR that most Kentucky cities and counties fell short of state requirements to report how they spend their opioid settlement payouts. Now, a state commission is rolling out a new process that could get better compliance ... and will publicly post the govs' spending data.

Cool listen here: What are those signs popping up in Louisville neighborhoods? @justinhicks.lpm.org found out.

From @storiesbyjess.bsky.social, here's what happened in court yesterday when a judge ordered ex-JCPS football coaches Ronnie and Donnie Stoner jailed on $500K bonds. They're charged with sexually abusing kids.

7-year-old Ja’Ceon Terry died by homicide in 2022 at a foster care facility in Louisville. Three years later, prosecutors still haven’t decided if those involved should be charged with a crime:

Update: LMPD’s chief apologized. Details from his follow-up statement now in the same article👇

We just won an important public records lawsuit, with a judge ruling that JCPS can't withhold text messages staff sent during the bus chaos on the first day of school back in 2023. Fighting for government records, when necessary, is part of the work we do @lpm.org.

Rare to get 🦈 news in Kentucky, but @ayisha.jaffer.lpm.org has a fun interview here with a marine biologist from Louisville who was just on a shark-themed reality TV show.

From an activist who helped set up a search for Tasha White: “I have had a ton of victims reach out and talk about how traumatized they are because the person that’s supposed to — as we all know they don’t, but — supposed to serve and protect, in 20 seconds, traumatized the whole community."

Members of Louisville’s Cuban community spoke with @andreagalliano.bsky.social about how the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants is scaring them and affecting whether people show up for class or make travel plans: www.lpm.org/news/2025-07...

Another of Kentucky's great public radio stations is fundraising after congressional Republicans defunded public media. Support WKMS in Murray if you can!

Planned Parenthood will close its Evansville, Ind. health clinic. @lpm.org's Southern Indiana reporter lays out what this means for patients there and across Indiana, and how it's connected to the Trump admin. and GOP-run Congress's attempt to defund PP.

Today Louisville's mayor announced an important policy change on how long our jail will hold people ICE wants to take into custody. @aminamania.bsky.social and another @lpm.org journalist explain the situation & what local immigrant and civil rights groups think of it. www.lpm.org/news/2025-07...

Breaking: Ex-LMPD detective Brett Hankison sentenced for violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during Louisville officers' raid on her apartment in 2020, when police shot and killed her.

So @storiesbyjess.bsky.social looked into the billboard along I-65 thanking ex-Superintendent Marty Pollio for his work. Her investigation took a couple interesting turns:

I’m floored. In just over 24 hours, so many generous people donated and helped us cover the immediate funding gap, and then some! In my career, I’ve never experienced a collective swell of support like this, for the local journalism & music & culture that make our community special. Thanks, y’all💛

I’m out at the Winners for Wellness festival, celebrating BIPOC Mental Health Month, today at the California Community Center. Handing out build-your-own pan flute kits from @lpm.org’s stellar Music Box, an educational podcast for kids!

It's official. The cuts are approved by both the House and Senate and on their way to the President's desk. While this decision is devastating for millions of Americans that rely on public media - the one thing this bill CANNOT take away is our commitment to you. Donate today at wkms.org.

Hey yall. This is a story I really DID NOT want to report. We are in a tough spot and so is every local public radio and TV station in Kentucky. I know it feels like we are always asking for donations. But this time is really important. This money was in everyone’s budgets - and now it’s just…gone.

KET is getting hit very hard by congressional Republicans’ defunding of public media today.

The GOP-run Congress defunded public broadcasting today, blowing a $376K hole in Louisville Public Media's budget. So we're doing an emergency fundraiser. To support the news, music and events we share, and the people here who do this community-centric work, make a donation online:

Co-sign, @wuky.org rocks.

With the news of a confirmed measles case in Louisville today, I'm remembering this Jess Clark/Aprile Rickert story I edited in 2022: Could polio and measles make a comeback in Ky.? School vaccination rates say kids are vulnerable www.lpm.org/news/2022-10...

A new ruling just reinvigorated a lawsuit against Kentucky's abortion ban. Good explanation of the legalese here, and what's at stake, from @sylviaruthg.lpm.org:

A lawsuit over a West Virginia factory sending PFAS pollution into the Ohio River has implications for Louisville's drinking water supply, 400 miles downstream. I chatted w/ a @mtnstspotlight.bsky.social reporter who's covering the case. Listen here: