Latest news with #KentuckyLantern
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Kentucky Lantern journalists win regional reporting awards
Kentucky Lantern reporters, from left, McKenna Horsley, Sarah Ladd and Liam Niemeyer won regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for reporting published in 2024. (Lantern photo) LOUISVILLE — Kentucky Lantern staff took home seven awards at the regional Society of Professional Journalists awards dinner, held Thursday in downtown Louisville. The awards were for 2024 reporting on government, health and energy issues in Kentucky. Sarah Ladd, the Lantern's health and policy reporter, won four awards — first place in the social justice reporting category and second place awards in feature writing, health reporting and government categories. 'I covered a lot I am proud of in 2024, including the stories I wrote about kinship care, mental health, a mobile maternal health clinic in Eastern Kentucky and more,' Ladd said. 'I'm excited and humbled to have that coverage recognized by my professional peers. I love the chance to continue telling important stories in my home state.' McKenna Horsley, the Lantern's politics and government reporter, won a second place award for her education reporting on the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. 'Louisville is home to some of Kentucky's brightest journalists and it's amazing to see the Lantern shining among them,' Horsley said. 'I am grateful to my sources, my readers and public records for making my reporting possible.' Liam Niemeyer, the Lantern's environment and energy reporter, won a second place award for his coverage of energy issues facing Eastern Kentucky. 'It's always an honor to have our work recognized, especially with all the talented journalists in Louisville,' Niemeyer said. Additionally, Tim Sullivan, one of the Lantern's freelance journalists, won first place in sports reporting. Lucas Aulbach of The Courier Journal won Journalist of the Year and Piper Hansen of Louisville Business First won Rookie of the Year. The Lantern, which launched on Nov. 30, 2022, is part of the nonprofit States Newsroom network and makes its work free to read and republish under a Creative Commons license. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrat Beshear renews push for universal preschool in Kentucky
Gov. Andy Beshear appeared before a joint session of the House and Senate on Jan. 8, 2025 to deliver his State of the Commonwealth address. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes) Gov. Andy Beshear has signed an executive order to establish an advisory committee to explore support for universal pre-kindergarten programs in Kentucky. Beshear, a Democrat, has long supported implementing universal pre-K statewide. He again called on Republicans in the state legislature supermajority to fund such initiatives in his State of the Commonwealth Address earlier this year. However, top Republicans said their caucuses don't have a consensus on the matter. The executive order creates the Team Kentucky Pre-K for All Advisory Committee with 28 members representing experience in business, workforce development and education. Jamie Link, the secretary of the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet is the chair of the committee. Other members include Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher, Council on Postsecondary Education President Aaron Thompson and former state lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican. Beshear announced the 'Pre-K for All' initiative with local leaders in Louisville Wednesday. The city launched a five-year plan for universal pre-K last year. The governor emphasized a need to offer all Kentucky 4-year-olds pre-K programs to increase kindergarten readiness. ''We are here, not as Democrats or Republicans, not as part of the right or the left,' Beshear said in a statement. 'Instead, we are here as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, educators and business leaders. We are here because we want the best for our Kentucky kids, the best for our Kentucky parents and caregivers, and we want to build and maintain the best workforce in America.' The Kentucky Center for Statistics says that 53.8% of Kentucky children are not prepared for kindergarten on the first day of school. Beshear also said that 18 states, including Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and West Virginia, offer pre-K access to 4-year-olds — further underscoring that he views the issue as nonpartisan. The advisory committee will hold public meetings throughout Kentucky and create a report on feedback heard by Oct. 15. That's a few weeks ahead of the beginning of the 2026 legislative session, which is when lawmakers will begin debating the next two-year state budget. Beshear, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and senior adviser Rocky Adkins will travel across the state in the coming days to highlight the 'Pre-K for All' initiative.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kentucky Make America Healthy Again task force meets for first time
Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, discusses her resolution to establish a Make America Healthy Again Kentucky Task Force to implement the Trump administration's health policies. Feb. 27, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd) During the first meeting of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Kentucky Task Force, lawmakers said they want to address food deserts and food quality, childhood obesity, mental health and health care costs, among other things. Members and non members had a slew of ideas for what the task force should focus on — including education, diabetes, personal responsibility around health, the importance of physical fitness, agricultural partnerships, chronic illnesses, dental care, cancer and other topics. Co-chair Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said the task force could 'chase a lot of rabbits' but should stay focused. She and co-chair Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, want to place emphasis on food quality and availability. In 2023, 753,410 Kentuckians were food insecure, meaning they don't have enough to eat and may not know where their next meal will come from. Meanwhile, the 'big beautiful bill' Republicans in the U.S. House passed in May shifts to state governments some of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food to low-income Americans. The Kentucky General Assembly created the MAHA Kentucky Task Force this year as a way to implement the Trump administration's principles in the commonwealth. Hot button topics like fluoridated water will come up during the interim, Funke Frommeyer said, but 'I don't think you'll hear that in our committee.' In the 2025 session, a bill to make fluoride in water optional in Kentucky passed the House but not the Senate. Task force members, in addition to Funke Frommeyer and Lockett, are Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville; Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville; Sen. Craig Richardson, R-Hopkinsville; Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville; Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville; Rep. Robert Duvall, R-Bowling Green; Rep. Adam Moore, D-Lexington; and Rep. Marianne Proctor, R-Union. Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield, who is not a task force member but shared his thoughts during the Wednesday meeting, said 'the work that will be done here will touch every committee that we have in the legislature.' 'We forget that we don't live and work in a vacuum, and everybody's going to be impacted by this, said Meredith, a retired hospital executive. 'I've been preaching for the last year about the unsustainable growth in health care costs, particularly in the United States. If we don't get control of this, I truly believe it's going to cause our economy to collapse.' The next task force meeting is July 10 at 3 p.m. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ground is broken for multimillion-dollar religious garden, 70-foot cross in Northeastern Kentucky
Jerry and Charlotte Lundergan with the Rev. Augustine Aidoo of Saint Patrick Church between them get help from others in breaking ground June 3, 2025, for a six-acre religious garden and 70-foot cross at the church cemetery in Maysville. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jack Brammer) Religious garden, giant cross to rise in Maysville: Jerry Lundergan's vision MAYSVILLE — On a sun-splashed Tuesday morning, former Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan, along with his wife, Charlotte, and several others, heaved shovelfuls of dirt heavenward to break ground for a multimillion-dollar religious garden and 70-foot cross at Saint Patrick Cemetery. Lundergan, a well-known Lexington entrepreneur who owns several companies in the food services and hospitality industry and emergency disaster services, wants to turn six acres in the front of the historic cemetery in the village of Washington in his hometown of Maysville into a religious site that he thinks may attract tens of thousands of people each year. The project will feature a replication of the Garden of Gethsemane near Jerusalem where the New Testament says Jesus prayed the night before his crucifixion. It will contain life-size bronze statues of Christ and the main characters in the 14 Stations of the Cross. They are representations of events in Jesus' life on his way to his crucifixion. The planned cross will stand seven stories high. Lundergan is aiming at a completion date of early next April for Easter services and envisions tens of thousands of visitors each year. A minimal fee may be charged but nothing like the admission prices at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Northern Kentucky that sometimes go over $100, he said. Lundergan noted that any proceeds would go to maintain the garden and cemetery and support Saint Patrick Church. Lundergan acknowledged Tuesday that the project will cost several million dollars. No tax dollars are to be used, he said, but the state may sell to the church at appraised value 2 ½ acres of surplus land in front of the cemetery — on what is known as old U.S. 68— to be used for parking. The bishop of Covington, the Rev. John Curtis Iffert, has leased land to Lundergan, who plans to give the entire garden to Saint Patrick Church once it is completed. Lundergan unveiled the first Station of the garden at the groundbreaking ceremony that attracted about 120 people. It shows Jesus speaking to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion. Reto Demetz, an Italian sculptor who designed the statues, was on hand to talk about his work. Other professionals involved in the project are Lexington landscape designer John Carman of the CARMAN firm and Betty Vento of Mentor, Ohio, who is an expert on religious statues. But the day belonged to Lundergan, who thanked his wife and their five daughters for their support and said they were fulfilling a dream. Daughter Alissa Lundergan Tibe moderated the hourlong ceremony. He recalled how he visited the cemetery as a boy with his parents, who attended St. Patrick's Church, and where he was baptized, married and someday will be buried in its cemetery. He spoke of his love for the church and Maysville. His comments received a standing ovation. The Rev. Augustine Aidoo of Saint Patrick Parish prayed that the project becomes 'a beacon of hope' while several public officials touted its potential economic development effects as well as its religious message. Maysville Mayor Debra Cotterill said the project's 'economic implications are enormous' with many visitors. It is to have a welcome center with a gift and snack shop that will be on the site where the groundbreaking was held. Mason County Judge Executive Owen McNeil predicted the project 'will attract visitors from around the globe,' and state Rep. William 'Buddy' Lawrence, R-Maysville, said it will attract national and global attention. David Cartmell, mayor of Maysville for 20 years and now a city commissioner, said the project will become 'iconic' for the region. 'This is a big, big day in Maysville,' he said. Lundergan plans to post a website soon keeping interested people informed of the development of the project. He said it could be reached by searching for Gethsemane Garden Maysville. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration terminates award for Kentucky carbon capture project
The sign outside one of the corporate offices for utility Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) A federal award funding a collaboration between Kentucky's largest utility, the University of Kentucky and other partners to implement a new system capturing greenhouse gas emissions is among two dozen energy-related awards the Trump administration terminated last week. The $72 million award terminated by the U.S. Department of Energy funded the testing of a carbon capture system on a natural gas-fired turbine operated by electric utility Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities at its Cane Run Generating Station in Jefferson County. Carbon capture refers to technologies that seek to reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels by capturing and storing carbon dioxide before it's released into the atmosphere. The utility described the project last year as an 'important step in assessing the future viability' of carbon capture technology for natural gas-fired power plants. LG&E and KU, which serves more than 1 million customers in the state, would have captured a portion of carbon dioxide emissions to be potentially reused by a nearby manufacturer, according to a press release. Liz Pratt, a LG&E and KU spokesperson, in a statement said the utility was 'disappointed' the award was terminated but remained 'focused on driving innovation and important research and development in this space.' 'Together with our project partners, we will review our options for advancing this important research project,' Pratt said. Among the other awards terminated Friday by the DOE included a number of other carbon capture and storage projects and a project by multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo that sought to add batteries to decarbonize production facilities including in Shelbyville, Kentucky. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright in a Friday statement said canceling the approximately $3.7 billion in total awards was 'in the best interest' of Americans. 'While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,' Wright said in a statement. Investment into carbon capture systems played a large role in the energy policy of the former Biden administration, which sought to require utilities with coal-fired power plants operating past 2039 to capture 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from the plants or have those plants retire by 2032. That carbon capture requirement also applied to new natural gas-fired power plants. The Trump administration has swiftly reversed course, reportedly planning to eliminate any caps on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants. Supporters of carbon capture technologies generally say it's necessary in transitioning to clean energy and addressing industries that are hard to decarbonize, while skeptics, including environmentalists, question whether the technologies will allow for the further burning of fossil fuels. Byron Gary, an attorney with the environmental legal organization Kentucky Resources Council, told the Lantern the award termination fits into the Trump administration's 'broader strategy' of 'trying to undermine climate regulation.' E&E News reported Friday that the Trump administration is expected to argue the U.S. power sector, a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, doesn't contribute 'significantly' to climate change. Gary said while his organization would rather see investment into zero-emission renewable energy paired with utility-scale batteries, the award terminations appear to ensure carbon capture technology isn't a 'viable option' for the future.
