Lexington Herald-Leader
Wendell Berry, influential writer, dies at 92
Poet, novelist and essayist Wendell Berry, whose prophetic warnings about nature and the contemporary world from his Henry County farmhouse reached millions of readers across the world, died Monday, the New York Times reported. He was 92. The New York...
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Dembo urges Congress to step in, stop Trump’s Canada tariffs
Zach Dembo, Democratic candidate for Congress in Central Kentucky, says Republican President Donald Trump is going to drive up prices for Americans even further by deepening his trade war with Canada. In an interview Tuesday with the Herald-Leader,...
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Former Clintwood workers face uncertain path to recover wages
Hundreds of former coal miners may lose their most direct path to recovering wages and benefits they say they were owed after an Eastern Kentucky coal operator laid them off without notice earlier this year. A federal bankruptcy judge dismissed the...
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Lexington council member addresses recent mass shooting
After a shooting at Charles Young Park killed a 16-year-old and injured four others, the area’s council member says the city needs to double down on community events, youth programming and connecting local workers to high-paying jobs. The shooting...
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Lawyer apologizes for posts by accused shooter’s mother
The attorney of an 18-yearold man charged in connection with a mass shooting in a Lexington park Saturday apologized for a recent string of social media posts by the defendant’s mother. Jametrius Griffin, 18, appeared by video conference for his first...
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Lexington council moves forward 2027 property tax rates
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council took an initial vote on setting property tax rates for 2027. Those rates aren’t really changing. Each August, the council sets rates for the following year. But the city government doesn’t earn all that much...
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AG appoints coal industry veterans to panel shaping Kentucky energy policy
Two executives with deep ties to the coal industry have been nominated to join a state commission that is gaining a larger role in determining Kentucky’s energy future. Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Friday that he was...
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Feds cut ties with KY’s Network for Hope organ donor group
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in Lexington Wednesday to announce the federal government is ending its contract with Kentucky’s organ donation organization. Network for Hope has come under scrutiny in recent...
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Republican Adams rules out 2027 run for governor
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams promised he’d make a “major announcement” at Fancy Farm — though it wasn’t the one many Kentucky political observers thought it would be. Adams announced he is not going to run to become Kentucky’s next...
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Andy Beshear pressures Thune to address McConnell’s absence
Gov. Andy Beshear is pressuring U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune to address Sen. Mitch McConnell’s ongoing absence and encouraging others to join him in the effort. During a live call-in broadcast that aired on SiriusXM Progress Wednesday...
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KY utilities vow data centers will pay their own power costs
PIKEVILLE All four investor-owned companies operating in Kentucky signed President Donald Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge Thursday, joining a growing federal initiative to protect residential power bills from energy-intensive data...
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Rocky Adkins pitches himself as ‘a fighter’ for Kentuckians
Rocky Adkins is banking on his public service experience and relationships to win the 2027 race for Kentucky governor. Adkins, who announced Tuesday morning that he’s running in the 2027 gubernatorial Democratic primary, told reporters at a launch...
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Ex-FCPS financial head denies blame for budget problems
Rodney Jackson, the former executive director of financial accounting, budget, and benefits services at Fayette County Public Schools, said at Monday news conference that he was not responsible for the district’s financial problems and that allegations...
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US, Iran exchange strikes for fifth straight day
The United States attacked Iran anew and explosions were reported in several parts of the country Wednesday night and Thursday morning, as the countries clashed for a fifth straight day over the Strait of Hormuz, the major shipping route that has...
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Fayette school board chair says no settlement offer made to superintendent
Fayette school board chair Tyler Murphy said Monday no settlement offer was extended to suspended Superintendent Demetrus Liggins. Liggins, who has been on leave since June, said through his lawyer on Friday that he had agreed in principle to resolve...
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Fayette schools face budget shortfall, more cuts likely
Fayette County school officials said Wednesday the district will likely end its fiscal year in the red and additional cuts to the current-year budget will likely be needed to offset the budget shortfall. Acting Director of Finance and Benefits Amy...
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Two more flood deaths reported in Kentucky, Beshear says
Two additional deaths have been reported in last month’s devastating flooding, raising the death toll in Kentucky to six, Gov. Andy Beshear said. The new deaths were reported out of Hardin and Jefferson counties. Beshear did not provide the victims’...
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Coroner identifies 3 victims of flood in Madison County
The victims from a deadly flood in Madison County over the weekend have been identified. Madison County Coroner Jimmy Cornelison identified two of the victims as John Powell, 57, and Patricia Beck, 51. They died in a flooded basement of an apartment...
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Fayette County school board says no to reinstating Liggins
The Fayette County Board of Education “will not rescind its actions” in placing Superintendent Demetrus Liggins on paid administrative leave while a legal firm conducts a review of his employment, school district lawyers said Wednesday. The district...
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US waives Iran sanctions after talks; Lebanon fighting abates
The United States waived sanctions on Iran for 60 days from Monday after the first talks under a nascent peace deal, while officials reported a sustained lull in fighting in Lebanon under the agreement aimed at ending hostilities across the...
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UK finalizes deal with Batt to be new athletics director
Kentucky has hired former Michigan State and Georgia Tech athletics director J Batt as the 11th athletics director in program history. Batt, 44, will replace Mitch Barnhart — who is retiring after serving in the role for 24 years — later this summer...
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Developer of 7-story apartments near UK drops project
A Colorado developer will not pursue building a sevenstory student apartment complex near the University of Kentucky after intense pushback from downtown Lexington residents. Bruce Simpson, a lawyer for Titan Investments, said the group, which has...
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Trump taps Nate Morris for ambassador role in South America
President Donald Trump has nominated former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Lexington businessman Nate Morris to become the next U.S. ambassador to Colombia. Morris’ nomination was one among dozens that Trump sent to the Senate Monday evening;...
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Churches support Lexington Pride Festival
While a small group of antiLGBTQ+ Christian protesters paraded up and down Oliver Lewis Way demanding attendees “repent of their filthiness,” those protesters were the minority voice of Christians who showed up to the 18th annual Lexington Pride...
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Iran War lifts 2nd inflation reading to highest since 2023
measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve accelerated in April to a threeyear high, reinforcing the central bank’s budding support to consider raising interest rates if price pressures do not ease. The personal consumption...
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Lebanon: Israeli airstrikes kill 12 amid escalating tensions
At least 12 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported on Tuesday, as fears mounted of a further escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed HezFurther bollah. The attacks late Monday in the Bekaa Valley in...
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Gorton, Carter advance to Lexington mayoral election
Two-term incumbent Mayor Linda Gorton will face off against real estate broker Raquel Carter in the November general election for Lexington mayor in the primary Tuesday. Gorton got the most votes in the seven-way race, though by a noticeably smaller...
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KENTUCKY ELECTION RESULTS
Precinct worker Jonathan Jewett watches as a voter casts their ballot in the 2026 primary election at Julius Marks Elementary School, May 19, 2026, in Lexington, Ky. Voters went the polls on primary election day across Kentucky to decide who will be on...
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Neighbors appeal mental health clinic approval
A month after Lexington’s Board of Adjustment voted 4-2 to approve a mental health clinic in Chevy Chase, two sets of neighbors have filed their own appeals with the Fayette County Circuit Court to overturn the decision. Eight nearby property owners —...
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Bravoh! Lexington Opera House celebrates storied history
was 1973, and Linda Carey had been living in Lexington for years, but she’d never heard of the Lexington Opera House. Then one day she opened the Lexington Leader, and, she recalled, “there was a little blurb, probably an inch by 2 inches, that said,...
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US and Iran explore short-term deal to end fighting
The United States and Iran edged toward a temporary agreement to halt their war, sources and officials said Thursday, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved. The emerging plan...
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DeVaux puts female trainer in Derby winner’s circle
Eighty-nine years after Mary Hirsch became the first woman trainer to enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby, Cherie DeVaux completed the journey. All it took for women’s sports history on North American horse racing’s biggest stage was a hard-charging,...
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Is this the year a Japanese horse wins the Kentucky Derby?
Kate Hunter wants to disrupt the norms of the Kentucky Derby. In fact, there’s nothing she’d rather do than help create a seismic change in a cherished American sports tradition. Hunter, among other duties, serves as a Japanese representative for...
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Central Kentucky’s Bluegrass nurtures top Derby runners
The road to the Kentucky Derby, the biggest race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds in America, if not the world, starts right here in the Bluegrass. Kentucky is not the “Horse Capital of the World” because the Kentucky Derby just happens to be here. It’s...
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Appalachian groups sue Trump over mining oversight rollback
A coalition of Appalachian environmental legal firms are suing President Donald Trump’s administration over its effort to roll back federal oversight of surface mining regulators. Appalachian Voices, the Citizens Coal Council and the Sierra Club are...
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Lt. Gov. Coleman launches run for governor in 2027
Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, who has run and won alongside Gov. Andy Beshear twice, announced Monday that she will run for governor in 2027. Coleman’s announcement serves as the unofficial kickoff to the 2027 campaign. No other prominent...
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Fayette schools address enrollment decline factors
Fayette County Public Schools had about 800 fewer students in March 2026 than March 2025, according to recent data shown to the school board from Steve Hill, director of pupil personnel. Enrollment data provided by the district shows there were 40,159...
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Lexington board approves controversial mental health clinic
A chorus of boos and jeers erupted Monday night after the Lexington Board of Adjustment voted 4-2 to approve a permit for an inpatient mental health clinic at 319 Duke Road in the Chevy Chase neighborhood. The vote allows Roaring Brook, a mental...
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Israeli strikes in Lebanon threaten shaky US-Iran ceasefire
Intense Israeli attacks in Lebanon threatened to derail the shaky U.S.-Iran ceasefire Thursday, as the Trump administration prepared for talks with Iran. Confusion also persisted over the status of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that Iran...
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‘Whole civilization will die tonight,’ Trump threatens Iran
Donald Trump reiterated his ultimatum for Iran to agree to a ceasefire deal or face a major military escalation, as both sides kept up attacks in the sixth week of the war. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I...
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New compromise Kentucky budget increases health care spending
The final version of the state’s executive branch budget bill made it through the Kentucky legislature with little time left to spare. Though the bill, House Bill 500, was still not available to the public as of Wednesday afternoon, it was on its way...
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Franklin judge voids impeachment of Fayette Judge Julie Goodman
A Franklin Circuit Court judge on Tuesday voided the impeachment of Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman, saying she committed no offenses or misconduct that rose to the level of impeachment. The ruling by Judge Phillip Shepherd nullifies a House...
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Bevin faces potential jail time for contempt of court
This story first appeared in the Kentucky Lantern. A judge sentenced former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to 60 days in jail unless he posts a $500 bond and complies with a court order after finding him in contempt of court for failing to disclose his...
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After arrival of ICE at airports, long lines persist
Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were deployed at airports across the nation Monday, but their exact purpose was unclear, and their presence did not ease the pain of many travelers. Between 100 and 150 ICE officers were sent to the...
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These Kentucky basketball players love their dogs
The day before Kentucky’s game at Tennessee earlier this season, Otega Oweh and Andrija Jelavic were scheduled to meet with reporters at 10:30 a.m. on campus to preview the rivalry matchup. Jelavic was there right on time. But UK’s top basketball star...
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GOP Senate debate centered on Iran, Trump and McConnell
After months of saturating airwaves with ads, Kentucky’s three leading GOP Senate candidates were on TV Monday night for a different reason: the first debate of the primary season. Much of what viewers saw — especially the candidates’ efforts to prove...
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Trump implores Kentuckians to vote Massie out at rally
President Donald Trump wants Northern Kentucky voters to know that incumbent 4th Congressional District Rep. Thomas Massie has got to go. While Trump’s stop in Hebron Wednesday was intended to focus on his message on affordability heading into this...
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Kentucky’s Senate candidates divided on how to regulate AI
Artificial intelligence is likely the most transformative technology of this generation. It’s already reshaping industthoughts ries and raising questions about energy, the environment and the future of the workplace. What role will it play in...
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Kentucky AD Barnhart retiring after 24 years at school
Athletic director Mitch Barnhart is retiring after more than two decades at Kentucky. UK confirmed the news in a letter from President Eli Capilouto. “Some people occupy a position,” Capilouto wrote. “They do good work, create a sense of stability...
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War expands as US, Israel, Iran ramp up regional strikes
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran reverberated across the region for a fourth day, with oil and gas prices surging and the world adjusting to a conflict that President Donald Trump says has no fixed timeline. Iran sent a fresh wave of missiles at countries...
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Staffers say Dunbar needs fixing amid rodents, leaks
In the face of multiple building maintenance issues including smoke in the building last week, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School staff and parents are asking Fayette County Public Schools officials to renovate the building. The theater auditorium...
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Eastern KY residents fight proposed landfill at mine
Tensions are rising in an Eastern Kentucky community over whether the county government will permit construction of a 450-acre, privately owned and operated landfill on an abandoned surface mine. Residents near the former Premier Elkhorn mine...
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UK to purchase prominent corner property near campus
University of Kentucky plans to buy a prominent corner property near campus that is home to several restaurants and a liquor store. The UK Board of Trustees will vote Friday on plans to purchase Coliseum Plaza at the corner of Rose Street and Avenue...
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New Highlander added to lineup at Toyota Kentucky
Another of Toyota’s U.S.made electric vehicles will be assembled in Kentucky. Following a $1.3 billion investment to retool assembly lines at Toyota Kentucky in Georgetown, the Japanese automaker said it will build its 2027 Highlander at the assembly...
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Lexington to seek advice for better winter storm response
After frustration from residents over the city’s response to Winter Storm Fern, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said the city needs to revisit its approach, including by looking at other places with more experience battling harsh winters. Thursday, Gov....
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Democrats outline demands for immigration restrictions
Democrats say they will not support a spending bill needed to keep the Homeland Security Department running past Feb. 13 without new restrictions on federal agents who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Congress had been...
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Embattled KY Rep. Grossberg settles for reprimand
The long saga between Rep. Daniel Grossberg and the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission came to a quiet end on Monday when the Louisville Democrat and his attorney agreed to a settlement and reprimand just before a public hearing into his conduct...
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Details emerge about winter storm deaths in Kentucky
A Louisville man living in the streets was found without shoes before he died, a Pulaski man died in a travel trailer that lost heat in the storm, and ambulances couldn’t get through the storm fast enough to help one man suffering a heart attack and...
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Winter storm debilitates South, encasing cities in ice, snow
In Oxford, Mississippi, oaks and magnolias drooped like willows Monday, sagging under the ice glazing their branches. That is, of course, if the trees still stood, as many had not, crashing onto houses and vehicles and getting tangled in utility lines....
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KY Senate race: Barr, Cameron, Morris’ paths to nomination
This is one of the most consequential election years in recent Kentucky history. For the first time in 16 years, a seat in the U.S. Senate is opening up. And, it’s not just any seat. Love him or hate him, Mitch McConnell put his thumb on the scales...
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Hundreds brave cold to celebrate MLK Jr. with Lexington march
marched through bitter cold and wind in downtown Lexington Monday to celebrate the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Lexington-area residents said showing up Jan. 19 was particularly important given the current political climate,...
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No major shakeups as filing period ends for KY elections
The dust has finally settled on the filing period to run for office in Kentucky this year. Though there were no major candidates to file in the final hours — and certainly no soliloquy from a former governor like Matt Bevin’s 2023 spectacle — the...
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Beshear bets on modest pre-K start in budget address
The funding request from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for a pre-K for all initiative looks different from what he pitched two years ago. And this year’s ask could be seen as a more politically savvy move as spendconscious Republicans are increasingly...
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An early look at who’s likely to run for governor in 2027
The year is 2026, and there are plenty of elections to watch this May and November. But with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear term-limited from running again, the 2027 governor’s race is already garnering plenty of attention. The Herald-Leader caught up...
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KY Fish & Wildlife chair defies AG’s resignation demand
The chair of the board overseeing Kentucky’s fish and wildlife management agency says he will retain his post, despite calls from the state attorney’s general office that he resign due to ineligibility. Fish and Wildlife Commission Chair Chuck Meade...
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Beloved Lexington pediatrician to hang up her stethoscope
One of the first times I met Dr. Rebecca Bosomworth, I had been sitting in her office trying to nurse a 4-day-old newborn who had screamed for what seemed like the entire time we were there. I’d been up all night with him, and I was an emotional...
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A year after deadly KY raid, public still wants facts
Drivers along a stretch of Main Street near the intersection with West Dixie in London have grown accustomed to the sight of signs and battery-operated candles near the tire cenaside ter, just down the road from the police station and city hall. On...
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Bourbon maker Jim Beam shuttering distillery for 2026
One of Kentucky’s largest bourbon producers apparently is pausing whiskey production at the end of the year. Jim Beam, which is one of the largest makers of American whiskey in the world, is planning to shut down production in Happy Hollow in Clermont...
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Three proposals for new city hall: How one rose to the top
The city of Lexington is in final negotiations with the Lexington Opportunity Fund for a renovation and overhaul of the Truist bank building at 200 W. Vine St. for a new city government building. After approval by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County...
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About 1,600 to be laid off as Ford repurposes BlueOval SK
About 1,600 Kentuckians will be laid off as Ford Motor Co. repurposes its battery manufacturing capacity and facilities in the Bluegrass State to make energy storage systems for data centers, utility companies and large-scale industrial and commercial...
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New high-tech basketball gym opens in Lexington
Cage Davis stood inside the three-point arc Tuesday, waiting for a machine to feed him a basketball. The 10-year-old Squires Elementary School student launched the ball over nets — designed to get shooters to adjust their form to the correct arc — and...
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Perry County center will be refuge for free-roaming horses
The problem of Eastern Kentucky’s free-roaming horses just eased a little bit, thanks to the creation of a new refuge in Perry County. The Appalachian Horse Center is a new farm that will try to save Kentucky’s wild horses, as it celebrates their...
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Federal immigration operation starts in New Orleans
Federal authorities announced the start of an immigration enforcement operation in New Orleans on Wednesday, the latest front in the Trump administration’s crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that its targets would...
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