Author

Liam Niemeyer

Liam Niemeyer

Liam covers government and policy in Kentucky and its impacts throughout the Commonwealth for the Kentucky Lantern. He most recently spent four years reporting award-winning stories for WKMS Public Radio in Murray.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

East Kentucky Power Co-op selected for federal funding to build or buy renewable energy

By: - September 5, 2024

A Kentucky electric utility serving more than 570,000 homes, farms and businesses across 89 counties is getting a federal funding boost to invest in renewable energy.? East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), based in Winchester, is one of 16 rural electric utilities across the country selected to receive a portion of $7.3 billion through the U.S. […]

No dice for ‘risk-free’ gaming machines in Kentucky, advises AG Coleman

By: - September 4, 2024

The manufacturer of a so-called “risk-free” gaming machine is hitting the pause button in Kentucky after Attorney General Russell Coleman said the machines are illegal under a ban passed by lawmakers last year.? Bob Heleringer, an attorney for Prominent Technologies, told the Lantern the company strongly disagrees with Coleman’s advisory but is directing businesses with […]

New 4-year contract approved for KY Fish and Wildlife chief who has clashed with Beshear

By: - September 4, 2024

The board overseeing Kentucky’s wildlife management agency has reappointed its chief executive Rich Storm, including board members appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear who in the past has clashed with Storm and the department. With no discussion, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously on Aug. 30 to give Storm a new four-year contract as […]

Utilities that opposed Kentucky’s new energy planning commission are now part of it

By: - August 29, 2024

Gov. Andy Beshear has filled two seats on a new energy planning commission with utility executives who, like Beshear, opposed the commission’s creation. Kentucky lawmakers earlier this year created the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission (EPIC) to slow the retirement of power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Investor-owned utilities and environmentalists opposed the […]

Trees are ‘medicine,’ UofL research finds

By: - August 27, 2024

LOUISVILLE — A research project years in the making through the University of Louisville, The Nature Conservancy and other partners has found planting thousands of trees and shrubs in a south Louisville neighborhood has improved the health of hundreds of residents.? The University of Louisville’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute launched the Green Heart Louisville […]

Profile photo of Rodney Andrews wearing glasses.

Nuclear industry eyes Kentucky but don’t expect nuclear power plants anytime soon

By: - August 23, 2024

FRANKFORT — The director of an energy research center at the University of Kentucky told state lawmakers Friday it’s not likely a nuclear power plant will be built in Kentucky over the next 10 years, though some nuclear energy companies are interested in moving to the state.? A new state law passed by the GOP-dominated […]

KY housing shortage will worsen without action, low-income renters most vulnerable, says study

By: - August 21, 2024

LOUISVILLE — A leader of a national real estate research firm says if no action is taken over the next five years on Kentucky’s housing shortage, more Kentuckians could be forced to live in substandard housing, live with family or friends in crowded spaces, deal with severe housing costs or become homeless. Patrick Bowen, the […]

Fiscal path clear for another cut in Kentucky’s income tax, lawmakers hear

By: - August 21, 2024

Kentucky’s state budget director told lawmakers Wednesday that fiscal thresholds established by the GOP-dominated legislature before the state income tax can be lowered have been met at the end of this fiscal year.? That means Kentucky lawmakers are likely to vote to reduce the state’s income tax rate by another half-percentage point to 3.5% during […]

Some of the poorest Kentuckians pay the highest power bills because their houses leak energy

By: - August 20, 2024

Investor-owned Kentucky Power faced strong criticism last year when it asked to increase its electricity rates in response to “historic” economic decline among the 20 Eastern Kentucky counties it serves.? The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) ultimately slashed the proposed rate hike by over two-thirds, approving a 5.66% increase in residential bills. But as part […]

Kentucky is an outlier with costly single-bid road paving contracts, new findings show

By: - August 19, 2024

New findings from Kentucky legislative researchers show the state awards significantly more road paving contracts to a single bidder than other nearby states, generally driving up the overall costs of the contracts.? Legislative Research Commission staff presented the new findings to a committee of lawmakers Aug. 15 as a part of releasing an LRC report. […]

U.S. Supreme Court won’t stop states from blocking Title IX changes

By: - August 16, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected efforts by the Biden administration to temporarily put on hold a federal court’s decision that blocks a central part of new Title IX rules for schools from going into effect.? The order by the justices allows a decision made by Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District […]

Bridges wears an orange tie as he speaks with Justice, who wears a red tie.

Kentucky’s housing shortages receive legislative scrutiny

By: - August 14, 2024

Kentucky doesn’t have enough housing. On that even the state’s lawmakers can agree. But the reasons for the shortages differ from community to community, exacerbated by natural disasters in some counties and a booming economy in others.? A task force, established by the GOP-dominated legislature earlier this year to better understand the state’s housing needs, […]