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2025: The Year Lexington Started Asking Questions | Opinion
Cities don’t always wake up by shouting. Sometimes they wake up by squinting. In 2025, Lexington didn’t revolt. It didn’t storm City Hall. It just started connecting dots—and once that starts, it’s hard to stop. What looked like a handful of unrelated controversies slowly revealed a pattern: big promises, glossy presentations, and a governing…
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Democratic socialist Herbert Lynn launches at-large bid for Lexington council
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Democratic socialist and labor organizer has entered the race for an at-large seat on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, framing his campaign around rising housing costs, utility bills and what he calls a City Hall too friendly to powerful interests. Herbert Lynn, an HVAC dispatcher who identifies as a member…
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‘Learn his schedule’: New filing offers clearest picture yet of alleged Hot Boyz plot to kill Lexington federal witness
LEXINGTON – A newly filed federal court objection offers one of the most detailed reconstructions yet of how prosecutors say a group of Lexington gang members planned, surveilled and carried out the daytime execution of a federal witness — and how a woman close to the group allegedly helped make the killing possible. The…
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Andy Barr’s Math Problem: Counting Endorsements Before They Hatch
Andy Barr’s Senate campaign this week tried to project inevitability.Instead, it projected Microsoft Excel. The headline brag was impressive: more than 100 House endorsements. Triple digits. A show of force. A campaign press release flexing like it just finished leg day. Then NBC News started calling people. And suddenly the endorsement list began behaving…
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Board of Architectural Review signals tougher road ahead for Park Avenue demolition plan
LEXINGTON — A proposal that could lead to the demolition of a long-neglected house in the Aylesford Historic District drew immediate skepticism Wednesday, with members of the Lexington-Fayette Board of Architectural Review warning that tearing down a contributing structure would face an unusually high bar. The sharpest discussion came during a conceptual review of…
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Planning Commission backs UK-area apartment infill, advances Great Acres bank project
LEXINGTON — The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Planning Commission on Thursday approved a dense infill apartment expansion near the University of Kentucky, endorsing a plan supporters said replaces an “asphalt pond” with badly needed housing — while also advancing a suburban bank rezoning and postponing several high-profile zoning items into January. The most substantial vote…
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Six indicted in Eastern Kentucky meth and fentanyl trafficking conspiracy
LEXINGTON — A federal grand jury has indicted six people on charges alleging a wide-ranging methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking operation that stretched across multiple Central and Eastern Kentucky counties and involved repeated drug sales, firearms, and plans to forfeit cash, vehicles and real estate tied to the alleged crimes. The indictment, returned Dec. 18…
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Lexington man charged in federal wire fraud case tied to alleged exploitation of elderly woman
LEXINGTON — A Lexington man has been charged in federal court with wire fraud after prosecutors say he exploited a trusting relationship with an elderly woman, siphoning more than $300,000 from her accounts over several years while she was suffering from dementia. Donald Charles Beaty is charged in a single-count federal information filed in…
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Lexington Board of Adjustment reverses staff, approves Pyke Road setback variance after lengthy debate
LEXINGTON — The Lexington Board of Adjustment on Monday overturned a staff recommendation and approved a controversial setback variance for a corner-lot home on Pyke Road, capping a meeting that underscored how subjective land-use decisions can hinge on neighborhood context and board interpretation rather than staff guidance. The board voted to grant homeowner Scott…
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Lexington police and fire pension board weighs new investment managers as funding pressures mount
LEXINGTON — The board overseeing Lexington’s Police and Fire Pension Fund spent hours Wednesday interviewing global investment firms and then moved behind closed doors to deliberate potential hires, underscoring the high stakes facing a retirement system already carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in unfunded liabilities. The Police and Fire Pension Board met Dec.…