Author

Sarah Ladd

Sarah Ladd

Sarah Ladd is a Louisville-based journalist from West Kentucky who's covered everything from crime to higher education. She spent nearly two years on the metro breaking news desk at The Courier Journal. In 2020, she started reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic and has covered health ever since. As the Kentucky Lantern's health reporter, she focuses on mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, children's welfare, COVID-19 and more.

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

Camuel issues an apology for comment on transgender health care law

By: - September 14, 2023

A Democratic candidate for State Representative apologized Thursday for a comment she made that caused transgender Kentuckians to condemn her words.? “As a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, I stand firmly in support of the rights of all LGBTQ+ Kentuckians, including transgender Kentuckians,” Adrielle Camuel said in a statement shared to social media Thursday. […]

Northern Kentucky University gets new president

By: - September 14, 2023

Northern Kentucky University announced a new president on Wednesday who previously spent 14 years as a communications professor there.? Cady Short-Thompson is NKU’s seventh president and was voted upon unanimously Wednesday by the Board of Regents.? “I am ecstatic to return home to NKU, where my professional journey began, and to give back to the […]

Whooping cough cases on the rise in Kentucky

By: - September 8, 2023

FRANKFORT – Kentucky is seeing an uptick in cases of pertussis, more commonly called whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory illness.? As of Sept. 13, there were 56 cases confirmed to the Kentucky Department of Public Health, a spokeswoman said, though other cases are being investigated. That total is up from 2022, during which there […]

U.S. appeals court hears opposing arguments on Kentucky trans minors’ health care

By: - September 1, 2023

The Trevor Project, which aims to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, also has trained counselors available around the clock. Reach them at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/, or by texting START to 678678.? A three-judge federal panel on Friday heard opposing arguments over Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, after first hearing […]

McConnell gets all-clear from congressional physician

By: - August 31, 2023

The attending physician for the United States Congress on Thursday signed a letter giving Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell the all-clear a day after he? appeared to freeze while speaking to reporters.? Dr. Brian Monahan wrote that McConnell, from Kentucky, “is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned.”? McConnell’s office said Wednesday that […]

More dove fields added for upcoming Kentucky season

By: - August 25, 2023

Kentucky hunters will have more dove fields for the upcoming season, the state’s Fish and Wildlife department said Friday.? Dove season opens in Kentucky on Sept. 1. Fish and Wildlife has signed “voluntary agreements with private landowners” in West and Central Kentucky to add two public fields for dove hunting.? These two new fields – […]

University of Louisville wins $11.7M to study links between disease, microorganisms

By: - August 24, 2023

University of Louisville researchers hope to better understand conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and diabetes and how to best treat them through a nearly $12 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. Over the next half-decade, the researchers will study connections between microorganisms like bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses and protozoans and diseases, […]

Employers, KCTCS team up to help Kentucky workers pursue education

By: - August 24, 2023

Kentucky companies who offer tuition assistance to employees as well as flexibility at work can now earn the designation “Education First Employer” through a new statewide initiative announced this week.? At least 45 companies have already signed up to be Education First Employers. The program also requires them to partner with colleges in the Kentucky […]

What to know about Kentucky’s dominant COVID-19 strain?

By: - August 23, 2023

The “vast majority” of Kentucky’s COVID-19 cases are now the variant EG.5 – also known as “Eris” – according to Louisville infectious disease expert Dr. Mark Burns.? This variant is “slightly more contagious … but overall not very different from the original omicron” strain, Burns told press Wednesday.? EG.5 is an omicron descendant, according to […]

Yes, it really is that hot. Take care.

By: - August 22, 2023

Central Kentucky could see heat indexes higher than 100 degrees this week, according to the National Weather Service, which has issued a hazardous weather outlook.? The NWS says a slew of Kentucky counties will see heat indexes reach around 100 degrees Tuesday.? Temperatures will be in the mid-90s Wednesday to Monday with heat indexes over […]

Economist urges Kentucky lawmakers to end certificate of need law as hospitals warn against repeal

By: - August 21, 2023

FRANKFORT – Kentucky would be “well served by the improved access to health care” if it were to repeal certificate of need laws, a retired economics professor told a legislative task force charged with examining the state’s CON structure on Monday.? Professor Emeritus John Garen, who worked at the University of Kentucky but presented his […]

Kentuckians support more public spending for child care, survey finds

By: - August 17, 2023

Most Kentucky voters surveyed in June said access to high-quality child care is essential to their ability to work, but they say the state isn’t doing enough to ensure they have it.? Also, 75% of parents and 64% of voters are more likely to vote for a governor candidate in November who supports access to […]