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Seven Council Seats Are Open. Here’s Who’s Funding the Race to Fill Them
Published for the 2026 primary news cycle. Based on KREF 30-day pre-primary filings, data through April 19, 2026. Every couple years, Lexington holds a municipal election. Most years, the council you wake up with on November 4 looks a lot like the one you had on November 3. Not this time. Seven sitting councilmembers…
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Where was this Dan Wu three years Ago?
Commentary — the vice mayor finally showed some progressive grit at Tuesday’s opioid spending debate. The bar for what counts as grit says more about the last three years than it does about him. On April 21, 2026, at a routine council work session, something unusual happened. Vice Mayor Dan Wu picked a fight…
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Council Commits $5.2M in Opioid Settlement Funds — But Withdraws Vote on Endowment
Three years after the first settlement check arrived, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council finally started allocating the money. $5.2 million was assigned. The biggest question — how much to save, how much to spend — was withdrawn before it came to a vote. On April 21, 2026, at 3 p.m., Commissioner Kacy Allen-Bryant stood…
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In Lexington, it really is anal beads all the way down
Lexingtonians have a beautiful way of processing our collective trauma. For the uninitiated: “anal beads” is what the internet has affectionately dubbed “A Common Thread” — the $900,000 mirror-polished sphere sculpture the city commissioned for Lexington’s 250th anniversary, now parked on the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza. The piece was funded out of 2023…
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Chevy Chase Opposition Turns to Harassment After Roaring Brook Vote, Board Member Says
A member of the Lexington Board of Adjustment says he has been followed, spit on, and inundated with hateful voicemails in the week since he voted to approve a residential mental health clinic in Chevy Chase, according to reporting Sunday in the Lexington Herald-Leader. Ross Boggess, a local developer and co-host of the DevelopLex…
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Gorton Proposes $546 Million Lexington Budget With No Tax Increases, Eyes Ice Storm Overhaul and New Police Tech
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mayor Linda Gorton unveiled a $546 million General Fund budget Tuesday that she says holds the line on taxes and spending while pumping $5.1 million into a top-to-bottom overhaul of the city’s storm-response operations — an acknowledgment that last winter’s ice debacles demanded more than a new snow plan. The proposal,…
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Lexington Board Approves Chevy Chase Rehab Home Over Neighbors’ Objections, 4-2
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Lexington’s Board of Adjustment voted 4-2 Monday to approve a conditional use permit for a 52-bed inpatient mental health and eating disorder treatment center in the heart of the Chevy Chase neighborhood, overriding sustained opposition from hundreds of residents, parents, and school officials who packed the downtown Council Chambers and spilled…
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Lexington Council Seeks Public Input on Draft Bike Lane Parking Ordinance
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council is soliciting public feedback on a draft ordinance that would explicitly prohibit stopping, standing or parking in the city’s bike lanes, with a survey open through May 15, 2026. The proposal stems from Recommendation 3.3A of the STREEET Safety Task Force, which convened throughout 2025 to identify short-term improvements…
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Lexington For Everyone turns up pressure on housing as FY27 budget season opens
This article has been updated to clarify that Raquel Carter is no longer a board member of Lexington for Everyone. She resigned before she announced her candidacy for mayor. A Lexington housing advocacy nonprofit is calling on city councilmembers to fund a new city position it says could help cut bureaucratic delays slowing down housing…
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Kentucky Senate signals it will defy Supreme Court, proceed with Lexington judge’s impeachment trial Thursday
FRANKFORT — Four days from now, the Kentucky Senate is scheduled to open an impeachment trial against a Lexington judge. There is only one problem: the state’s highest court has already ordered it to stop. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled 5-1 on April 6 that the General Assembly’s impeachment of Fayette Circuit Judge Julie…