Justice
After an abortion for fetal anomalies, she hoped IVF would build her family. Now that’s in doubt.
This is the fifth installment of an occasional States Newsroom series called When and Where: Abortion Access in America, profiling individuals who have needed abortion care in the U.S. before and after Dobbs. The first installment can be found here, the second installment is here, the third is here, and the fourth is here. Anne […]
Federal appeals court blocks Title IX guidance challenged by 20 states, including Kentucky
The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled against Biden administration guidance on how schools should protect students from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The court ruled Friday that the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education is invalid, upholding a lower court ruling. Kentucky is among the 20 states that […]
Parents go to federal court to save bus service to Louisville’s magnet schools
Two parents have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Jefferson County Public Schools’ plan to drop bus service to most magnet schools this fall, claiming it violates the rights of their children to continue education at schools they currently attend. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville Thursday, comes two months after the board […]
Judicial watchdog criticizes Beshear’s involvement in Kentucky Supreme Court election
FRANKFORT — A judicial watchdog is raising concerns about Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s endorsement of a candidate in a state Supreme Court race, an election that is supposed to be nonpartisan under Kentucky’s Constitution.? The second-term governor will be the special guest at a fundraiser later this week for Supreme Court candidate Pamela Goodwine, a […]
Kentucky attorney general opposes syringe exchanges despite evidence of their efficacy
The leader of the agency that makes grants from the state’s opioid settlements declined to support funding for a syringe-exchange program, saying Attorney General Russell Coleman does not support such programs — which are considered a key tool for reducing harm to people who inject drugs. Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission Director Chris Evans, who […]
Multiplying trauma: Kentucky set to add more kids to its troubled juvenile jails
A state law taking effect next month will require more kids charged with violent offenses to be held in Kentucky’s troubled juvenile jails — at a time when all eight of the youth detention centers are under federal investigation for possible abuses. That worries Devine Carama, who directs the One Lexington program to tackle gun […]
Kentucky Republicans stand by Trump, blame Democrats for former president’s convictions
Republicans in Kentucky’s congressional delegation have denounced the guilty verdicts against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while the lone Democrat said the New York jury has shown that in this country “no one’s above the law.” The Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) posted a statement Thursday night blaming the Biden […]
New rules protect pregnant workers, but red states sue over abortion provisions
Natasha Jackson was four months pregnant when she told her supervisor she was expecting. It was 2008, and Jackson was an account executive at a rental furniture store in Charleston, South Carolina — the only female employee there. “I actually hid my pregnancy as long as I could because I was scared about what could […]
Sallie Bingham, foundation she endowed face off in court over future of Hopscotch House
LOUISVILLE — Tucked away on a 412-acre farm in eastern Jefferson County, Hopscotch House, a rambling, five-bedroom farmhouse dating to 1848, was envisioned as a peaceful sanctuary for women artists and writers when the Kentucky Foundation for Women acquired it in 1987. But its plan to sell the house has triggered an acrimonious battle with […]
Juvenile justice: ‘From nothing to something and then right back to nothing’
The mood was celebratory as Kentucky and federal officials crowded into the Capitol Rotunda on a cold January day in 2001 to announce the end of five years of federal oversight of the state’s problem-ridden juvenile justice system. “We’re never going to slide back to where we were in 1995,” said then-Juvenile Justice Commissioner Ralph […]
Power plant debate helps push lobby spending to new high for Kentucky legislature
FRANKFORT — Legislation affecting power plant retirements helped drive spending to lobby the Kentucky legislature to a new high of $12.4 million during the 2024 session. A bill that created new hurdles for utilities that want to retire power plants fired by fossil fuels spurred investor-owned utilities and power cooperatives to spend much more than […]
Kentucky Supreme Court allows Kulkarni to stand in Tuesday primary, despite challenge
LOUISVILLE —?The Kentucky Supreme Court will allow Louisville Democratic Rep. Nima Kulkarni to stand as a candidate in Tuesday’s primary election after she has faced legal challenges to her candidacy paperwork.? The Supreme Court granted the representative’s motion to remain in the 40th House District Democratic primary, reversing a decision from the Kentucky Court of […]