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.

Kentucky’s largest cities are seeking public input to develop climate plans

By: - January 18, 2024

Kentucky’s largest cities are vying for millions of federal dollars aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are turning to residents of surrounding communities for help. Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green are developing climate plans as a part of the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, something the cities undertook after the state government declined […]

Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, speaks before a Senate committee.

GOP bill would ban KY cities from requiring landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers. None do.

By: - January 17, 2024

Kentucky cities could not require landlords to take federal low-income housing vouchers, also known as “Section 8” vouchers, for rent under a bill passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday. Housing and tenant advocates, who strongly oppose the proposal, say it could potentially stop efforts by Kentucky’s two largest cities to prevent housing discrimination.? Bill […]

House Republicans unveil two-year state budget with over $1.7 billion in one-time spending

By: - January 16, 2024

Republican leadership in the Kentucky House of Representatives filed bills representing a much anticipated two-year state budget Tuesday with over $1.7 billion in one-time expenditures, legislation that lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature will discuss and craft over the coming weeks.? House Bill 1, filed by House Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, lays […]

Eastern Kentucky city restoring water service amid ongoing water shortage

By: - January 11, 2024

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says all customers of an Eastern Kentucky city’s water system should have water service restored as of Thursday as the city has faced an ongoing water shortage spurred by drought.? Beshear in a Thursday press conference said some customers in higher elevations of Fleming-Neon’s water utility in Letcher County could still […]

’We desperately need something:‘ Kentucky lawmakers urged to put $200 million into housing

By: - January 9, 2024

FRANKFORT — Without the help of a friend, Regina Quillen doesn’t know where she would go.? She lost virtually everything in her Letcher County home, a place that her father built and where she raised her children for 23 years, in the deadly flooding that hit Eastern Kentucky in July 2022.? She invested thousands of […]

Some Republican Party officials in Kentucky defend Jan. 6 rioters,?echoing Trump rhetoric

By: - January 8, 2024

On the third anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, some Republican activists in Kentucky rallied support for those who stormed Congress and asserted that information about the violence of Jan. 6, 2021 is being withheld from the public. The Republican Party of Kentucky’s central committee narrowly approved a resolution to that effect on […]

Israeli government invites Kentucky lawmakers to private viewing of Hamas attack footage

By: - January 4, 2024

FRANKFORT — The Israeli government has invited Kentucky lawmakers and statewide office holders to a private viewing later this month of “raw footage” of Hamas militants’ attack on Israeli civilians and military, killing more than 1,200 with scores held hostage, on Oct. 7 of last year. The email invitation sent Thursday morning to lawmakers from […]

A wind turbine stands tall during the evening.

Kentucky’s largest utility testing wind’s energy potential with state’s first utility-scale turbine

By: - January 3, 2024

Kentucky’s largest utility has built what it says is the state’s first utility-scale wind turbine in an effort to test the potential of wind energy.? The wind turbine, which Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) constructed at the end of last year with its parent company PPL Corporation, stands at 165 […]

Osborne says Kentucky House budget will dip into record ‘rainy day’ fund, mum on what for

By: - January 2, 2024

FRANKFORT — The GOP speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives says he expects House Republicans’ two-year budget proposal to utilize some of the state’s record “rainy day” fund balance, though he declined to say how much or for what.?? House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, in a Tuesday afternoon press conference said crafting the statutorily-mandated […]

A billboard with the words, "OUR COMMUNITY IS NOT FOR SALE" with the logos of the Frankfort Plant Board and Cable 10 below it.

Frankfort commission voices support for city utility as state senator pushes to sell its telecom

By: - December 20, 2023

The Frankfort city commission unanimously approved a resolution earlier this week offering “unwavering support” to its city utility in light of a Republican state senator’s efforts to force a change in control of its telecommunications business. The Lantern previously reported state Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, has been advocating for Frankfort’s utility, the Frankfort Plant Board […]

Republican lawmakers mostly mum on Beshear’s budget. Can they find common ground?

By: - December 19, 2023

When Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear unveiled his $136.6 billion two-year budget proposal on Monday, he told reporters he had started “good conversations” with the GOP-dominated legislature and already had meetings with leadership of both chambers.? His budget proposal — which calls for 11% across-the-board raises for school employees, paying for universal preschool and fully […]

Beshear unveils his state spending plan: teacher raises, universal pre-K, water infrastructure

By: - December 18, 2023

FRANKFORT — Newly reelected Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear unveiled? a proposed two-year state budget —? 15 days before the Republican-dominated legislature is scheduled to convene — and began selling his ideas to a statewide audience on KET Monday night. The $136.6 billion spending plan, what Beshear called the “largest budget that we’ve seen in history,” […]