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Transparency Still “Under Review” at FCPS, as Board Votes Down Labor Rights, Sidesteps Forensic Audit
It was a long night at the Fayette County Board of Education. The kind of meeting where the clock ticks past 10 p.m., the coffee cools, and the words “fiscal responsibility” start sounding like a prayer someone forgot the meaning of. By the end of it, the board had voted against letting district employees…
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Lexington cuts ribbon, declares everyone loves the Balls
It was a bright October morning downtown, the kind that makes even concrete look proud of itself. A small crowd gathered near the courthouse as city officials—beaming, confident, armed with adjectives—snipped the ribbon on Lexington’s newest public artwork: “A Common Thread,” better known by its emerging Internet street names. The $900,000 sculpture—an arrangement of…
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Three men accused of being in the U.S. illegally caught buying 18 guns at Mt. Sterling Court Days, feds say
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Federal agents say three men accused of being in the U.S. illegally were caught leaving the Mount Sterling Court Days festival with trash bags full of rifles and handguns, leading to their arrests on federal firearm charges. According to an affidavit filed Sunday by an ATF Special Agent, the arrests took…
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Lexington man accused of running large-scale cocaine ring after DEA, local police raids
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 17, 2025) — Federal prosecutors have charged Renato Benites Echegaray of Lexington with conspiring to distribute more than a pound of cocaine after agents seized drugs and cash from multiple homes linked to him, according to a newly filed criminal complaint. A sworn affidavit from DEA Task Force Officer Zachary Travis…
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Jessamine County auto shop co-owner to plead guilty in $835K payroll tax case, court records say
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kevin Hall, a co-owner of HRS Autocare in Jessamine County, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge alleging he withheld payroll taxes from employees for years but didn’t turn the money over to the IRS, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lexington. The…
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Liggins’ $152K in Expenses: Meals, Miles, and Mounting Scrutiny at FCPS
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Superintendent Demetrus Liggins of Fayette County Public Schools has charged nearly $152,000 in expenses to taxpayers over a 28-month period, according to an analysis by the Lexington Herald-Leader. The spending includes $28,000 on food, $44,000 on hotels, $8,000 on airfare, nearly 30 trips to destinations across the U.S. — from California…
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Short-term rentals, tight setbacks on deck as Board of Adjustment meets Monday
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Board of Adjustment on Monday will weigh a slate of short-term rental permits — including two flagged for denial over past violations — and two setback variances that could reshape corners of Picadome and Smithtown. Several un-hosted short-term rentals are up for conditional use permits, a recurring flashpoint as Lexington…
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Feds charge six in Lexington witness’s killing, alleged murder-for-hire plot to silence testimony
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A federal grand jury has indicted six men in the 2023 shooting death of Kristopher “Kris” Lewis, alleging they carried out a murder-for-hire scheme to stop him from testifying in a pending federal case, according to court records unsealed last week. The indictment, returned Oct. 2 and unsealed Oct. 8 in…
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Ex–FMC Lexington employee pleads guilty to taking $18.6K to smuggle drugs, tobacco into prison
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A former Federal Medical Center Lexington employee pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bribery charge, admitting she accepted $18,602 to smuggle tobacco and synthetic marijuana into the prison in 2023 and 2024, according to a plea agreement filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. A. Jade…
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Gatton Park’s First Big Flop: A $400 Meet-and-Greet With Reality
So it finally happened: a concert at Lexington’s shiny new Gatton Park got canceled — not because of rain or politics, but because not enough people cared to buy a ticket. Kansas, Jefferson Starship, and Molly Hatchet — a lineup that reads like the playlist at a 1983 Camaro meetup — were supposed to…