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.

Kentucky officially unveils COVID-19 memorial in Frankfort?

By: - May 24, 2023

Kentucky officials unveiled a new memorial honoring those lost to COVID-19 at the Capitol Wednesday.? The installation, called “United We Stand. Divided We Fall,” is an Amanda Mathews design and sculpture.? Matthews is the CEO of Prometheus Art in Lexington. She sculpted the Nettie Depp statue, the first of a woman to be displayed in […]

Meet some of the Kentuckians answering 988

By: - May 19, 2023

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.? LOUISVILLE – When Sunshine Randolph was an undergraduate student, her stepfather died by suicide.? “It really does kind of rock your world,” she said of the experience, which drew her to […]

Public ‘Celebration of Life’ for the late Rep. Lamin Swann announced

By: - May 17, 2023

The public will get the chance to share memories about the late Kentucky Rep. Lamin Swann at a “Celebration of Life” service scheduled for Thursday.? Swann died at age 45 on Mother’s Day Sunday after being hospitalized for days with a “significant medical emergency.”? “Beyond our faith, what comforts us is knowing the positive and […]

Kentucky Blood Center announces summer donation incentives

By: - May 12, 2023

Saying the need for blood “doesn’t take a vacation” the Kentucky Blood Center is asking the public to donate in the coming months. As part of an “SOS” – Save our Summer – campaign, the center will give away tickets to amusement park Kings Island, LexLive movie tickets, gift cards, Rupp Arena concert tickets and, […]

COVID-19 national emergency declaration ending. Virus is still here.

By: - May 11, 2023

LOUISVILLE – The national COVID-19 public health emergency declaration expired Thursday, but Kentucky health experts caution that the virus isn’t gone. “We have to remember that the disease has not gone away,” said Dr. Dan Goulson, the chief medical officer for CHI Saint Joseph Health. He spoke during a Thursday press conference featuring several Kentucky […]

Celebration of life for Virginia Moore June 11

By: - May 10, 2023

A “Celebration of Life” for Kentucky’s Virginia Moore is set for June 11 at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.? The service will be from 1 p.m. to 5 ?p.m. that day, a Sunday, in View Pointe Hall on the top level of the Ali Center at 144 North Sixth Street in Louisville.? Moore, 61, […]

Officer Nickolas Wilt, hospitalized since mass shooting, making progress

By: - May 9, 2023

A Louisville police officer who was wounded trying to stop a mass shooter in early April is no longer on a ventilator, the Metro Police Foundation said Monday.? Officer Nickolas Wilt took a gunshot to the head on April 10 while responding to a shooting at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville. He’s been hospitalized […]

Some Kentucky lawmakers want to tackle gun violence through a public health lens

By: - May 9, 2023

This story mentions suicide and gun violence. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.? LOUISVILLE – Nearly 100 Kentuckians have died from gunfire so far this year — and some lawmakers think a public health approach is the best way to halt […]

Louisville man fined for bringing infected deer head into Kentucky

By: - May 8, 2023

A Louisville man brought the intact and infectious head of a deer from Wisconsin into Kentucky, the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources said Monday.? The department is seeking civil damages in a first of its kind suit, the department announced in a statement.? That’s because the 8-point buck’s head tested positive for the […]

A conversation with Silas House, Kentucky’s new poet laureate?

By: - May 4, 2023

LOUISVILLE – Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, author Silas House saw early the power of representation in literature.? Lead character John-Boy in the award-winning television series “The Waltons,” for example, was his “hero.”? Here was a young country boy who, like House, dreamed of writing.? “I didn’t know anybody who wanted to be a writer,” […]

Challenge to Kentucky’s anti-trans law filed in federal court

By: - May 3, 2023

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius are suing to block part of a law they’ve called the worst anti-trans bill in the United States.? This suit comes more than a month after the legislature passed controversial Senate Bill 150, which bans […]

University of Kentucky reports record medical school graduates, many staying in state?

By: - April 25, 2023

The University of Kentucky says a record number of medical students – 190 – will graduate from its College of Medicine this year.? And 42% of graduates will stay in Kentucky for their medical residencies. That number is up from 25% in 2017 and 30% in 2018, according to UK, which hopes the numbers will […]