News

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky State Parks has announced the completion of preservation and enhancement efforts at eight historic sites across the state, according to the Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet. The improvements were funded through $75,000 in grant funding administered through the America250KY initiative, which supports physical preservation of historic properties in Kentucky.…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — According to a report from CivicLex, the city is taking aggressive steps to improve transportation access for disabled residents who have struggled with unreliable paratransit service and long distances to bus stops. Lextran’s Wheels paratransit service, which provides door-to-door transportation for disabled riders, has long faced performance problems. Monthly on-time performance…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky General Assembly has made what environmental advocates are calling a significant investment in the state’s conservation future by tripling funding for the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund in its just-passed 2026-2028 budget, according to a report from the Kentucky Lantern. The fund received a $2 million appropriation in 2024,…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is pointing to a new campaign finance law as potentially advantageous to Republican Senate President Robert Stivers if the Manchester lawmaker decides to seek the governor’s office, though Stivers said Wednesday he did not request the provision. House Bill 139, an omnibus elections measure that passed over…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers ended the 2026 legislative session Wednesday without reaching agreement on major bills aimed at addressing the state’s critical housing shortage and protecting ratepayers from bearing the costs of supplying electricity to data centers, according to reporting by the Kentucky Lantern. The legislature’s failure to pass Senate Bill 9, an…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s legislature has adopted rescue dogs and cats as the official pets of the Commonwealth, capping a remarkable seven-year advocacy campaign led by 13-year-old Frankfort resident Ethan Branscum. Senate Bill 37, which passed both chambers in the final hours of the 2026 legislative session, designates the Treeing Walker Coonhound as Kentucky’s…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly overrode nearly all of Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes Tuesday, clearing the way for controversial legislation including a statue of Sen. Mitch McConnell in the Capitol Rotunda and significant budget bills that the Democratic governor had opposed on constitutional and financial grounds. The Republican supermajority voted to…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky General Assembly passed a judicial branch budget that will force what Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert called “significant layoffs,” despite overall funding increases in the measure. The judicial branch will face underfunding of $12.6 million for fiscal 2027 and $17 million for fiscal 2028, according to the Kentucky Court…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s Republican-controlled General Assembly moved nearly 80 bills to final passage Wednesday, the deadline for legislation that could survive a gubernatorial veto, capping a marathon final day that sent more than 100 bills to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk. The Republican supermajority’s sweeping agenda included major overhauls of Medicaid, gambling regulations and…

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature gave final passage Wednesday to the state’s executive branch budget allocating more than $31 billion in General Fund revenues, sparking heated debate between Republicans and Democrats over spending priorities for education, Medicaid and government operations. Republicans voted 73-21 in the House to send House Bill 500 to…