The Courier-Journal (Louisville)

Bourbon burden lifted

In a shocking blow to President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court ruled the president lacks the authority to impose broad sweeping tariffs — creating much needed relief for those in Kentucky’s bourbon industry. In a Feb. 20 ruling, the high court issued...

MORE STOPS. LESS CRIME?

LOOKING AHEAD

Rising inventory and stabilizing prices defined the Louisville area housing market last year. Years of incredibly limited home inventory continued to improve in 2025, with just shy of 23,000 homes hitting the market, translating to more options for...

Louisville councilman to keep pursuing ban on ICE masks

Louisville Metro Councilman JP Lyninger is not letting up. Amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, the Democratic councilman has twice pushed to amend Louisville’s ban on wearing face masks in public to prohibit local, state and federal...

TACKLING LITERACY

Kentucky lawmakers are again seeking to change how children can learn to read, proposing a bill that would ban a teaching method called “three-cueing.” Three-cueing — a form of instruction associated with balanced literacy programs like Reading...

10 controversial bills that are advancing

FRANKFORT – Legislative sessions in Kentucky can get contentious. Ask anyone who followed the 2023 General Assembly, which brought out scores of opposition as anti-transgender legislation moved forward, or the 2018 session, defined by teacher protests...

FIRST LOOK

The public is getting its first look at the proposed conversion of downtown Louisville’s Humana Building, which could be converted into part of a 1,000-room hotel development. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg shared renderings of the $600 million to...

Louisville removes illegal donation bins, citing fraud

Louisville’s unlicensed donation bins are soon to be has-beens. Across the city, only four donation bins are licensed. The rest, officials say, will go. On Feb. 9, Louisville Metro Department of Codes and Regulations officials started the process of...

CONSTRUCTION DISRPTION

Orange barrels, heavy equipment, “Road Closed” signs — they’ve become a common sight along roadways in Louisville. For months, projects on some of the metro area’s major highways and thoroughfares, including Interstates 64 and 265 and surface streets...

Trump repeals key EPA climate finding

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his administration have rescinded an Obama-era scientific finding on climate change that has served for nearly two decades as the legal underpinning for federal regulations targeting man-made greenhouse...

How the state’s hopes for huge investment crumbled

For a quarter of the workers in Lewis County, about 1,000 people, getting to work means driving an hour or more each way. As massive economic investments have sprung up in other parts of the state in recent years, this winding stretch of the Ohio...

Doors open for more horse racing workers

With the white twin spires looming in the distance on an overcast day last May, a handful of grooms and hot walkers stood beside a barn in jeans, work boots and University of Kentucky ball caps. A group of journalists asked questions about the...

Barr holds Senate race fundraising lead in KY

Kentucky’s U.S. Senate primary is about 15 weeks away, and year-end campaign financial disclosures released at the end of January have given us a closer look at where candidates stand as they enter the stretch run. On the Republican side, U.S. Rep....

Legal matters

It was another expensive year for Louisville Metro Government in 2025, with the city agreeing to spend more than $12 million to settle lawsuits over things like alleged misconduct by jail and police officers, auto accidents, employment issues and...

Makeover

The recently vacated Humana Building will undergo a sweeping transformation into a dual-tower, 1,000-room hotel, marking a first-of-its-kind conversion of one of downtown Louisville’s signature office towers. The 525,000-square-foot Humana Building,...

Former prosecutor running for Congress

Running for Congress wasn’t the plan. A Lexington native who spent time as a Navy JAG officer, Zach Dembo had landed “the dream job for a public serviceminded lawyer” when he joined the federal prosecutor’s office in his hometown in 2021 after stints...

UP IN SMOKE

Jefferson County industrial facilities reported releasing more than 2.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals to local air, water and land in 2024 — a slight uptick from the previous year, but still a general improvement over historical emission...

Journalist sees parallels between labor, tenant unions

As rents continue to rise, cities across the country have started to see renters fight back, forming tenant unions, holding rallies and even withholding rent from landlords. This week’s Sunday cover dives into the Kentucky Tenant Union, a relatively...

Shutdown

The Senate began advancing legislation to fund the government and avoid an extended shutdown on the afternoon of Jan. 30, breaking an impasse that had held up the bill. Senators began voting on seven amendments to the funding package. The bill had...

GE Appliances brings new water filter manufacturing

GE Appliances is once again investing at its global headquarters in Louisville. The appliance manufacturer, a Haier company, announced Jan. 28 it would bring a new advanced manufacturing operation to Appliance Park, 4000 Buechel Bank Road, with the...

Could this new bill have prevented toddler’s death?

E hvery four hours, as the pain medication began to wear off, Alyssa Burns asked the trauma nurses the same question. Where’s Cammie? Where was her baby girl, who loved yellow, especially yellow flowers. It had been one of those perfect fall days...

Not clear if facilities in the Louisville area may be closed in 2026

Following decreased fourth quarter revenue, shipping and logistics giant UPS has announced a plan to globally reduce operational positions by up to 30,000 and close more than 20 facilities across the company in 2026. UPS CFO Brian Dykes said during a...

More dangerous cold follows snow and ice

Following the weekend winter storm, Kentuckians are bracing for continued cold temperatures and wind chills, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service in Louisville. Louisville will be under an extreme cold warning from 7 p.m....

Amazon deliveries are getting cleaner, quieter

At Amazon’s warehouse on Durrett Lane, the day’s deliveries begin with a choreographed swarm of workers carting thousands of packages through the loading bay to columns of waiting vans. Once packed with bags and boxes, the vans disperse in all...

HOUSING THAT HEALS

On a cold morning in mid-December, Aaron Sammons woke up to the comfort of four walls around him, a roof above him and a mattress beneath him. He enjoyed a warm cup of coffee and listened as Christmas music softly drifted from the radio. On the table...

Temps plummet amid major U.S. winter storm

As part of a major winter storm that is forecast to spread heavy snow, sleet and dangerous ice and affect tens of millions of Americans across two dozen states through the weekend, cold air blasted into the central United States on Jan. 23, sending...

Her husband was killed in a KY prison

Robert Anthony Broyles, Jr. had just days left on his prison sentence at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex. He’d kept his head down and had done his time, taking classes to better himself and shorten his incarceration, his wife said. He had a...

Frigid

Jefferson County Board of Education members have approved closing two schools at the end of this school year, making a small dent in the massive budget deficit the district is currently operating under. King and Zachary Taylor elementary schools,...

STILL FOR NEWCOMERS?

When Marcos Perez left Cuba in 2024 to come to the United States, he thought his chances of earning a high school diploma were behind him. He was starting a new life far from home as a senior, aged 18, who needed to work. When he arrived in Louisville,...

Tire dumping plagues Kentucky’s waterways

Millions of discarded tires are strewn across Kentucky’s 90,000 miles of waterways, illegally chucked from bridges, rolled downhill or washed away by floodwaters — plaguing the state’s most important natural resource with a non-decomposing source of...

Presentation reveals JCPS budget cuts

Hundreds of Jefferson County Public Schools employees are set to lose their jobs and two schools will close if cuts proposed by Superintendent Brian Yearwood are approved. JCPS released initial details about a proposed 2026-27 draft budget, which...

71 days later ...

Charred vehicles, oil-tinged water and memorial wreaths still stand as reminders two months after the deadly Nov. 4 crash of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville, which took 15 lives and limited access for the many dozens of businesses in the area. Crews...

NARROW LIVING

The long, narrow and humble shotgun house, ubiquitous in Louisville’s oldest neighborhoods, tells a remarkable story of working-class and architectural history, traced back across rivers, seas and centuries. ●The shotgun house has its North American...

FLOUR POWER

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – If you close your eyes, you could imagine you’ve wandered into the world of Willy Wonka. The heavenly redolence of cocoa powder is all around, so much a treat to the nose that you might wonder what smells so good in the oven and...

Are these Louisville’s wackiest intersections?

Unlike Pittsburgh, built on a triangle, or the District of Columbia, with spokes intersecting its grid, the city of Louisville’s block grid is pretty straightforward thanks to early city designers like John Corbley and William Pope, and later Abraham...

Task forces’ legislative ideas

Multiple task forces that met during the 2025 interim period have released their recommendations for new state laws ahead of the 2026 legislative session. Task forces, also known as special committees, consist of a bipartisan group of legislators...

Crump ‘never stopped following what I loved’

Diane Crump, the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby, died Jan. 1, according to a social media post from her family, after being diagnosed in late 2025 with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. She was 77. Crump spent final days at...

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

It’s all about money for Kentucky’s 2026 legislative session. State lawmakers will return to Frankfort on Jan. 6 for the 60-day session, where one of the main priorities will be crafting the state budget. Kentucky sets a biennial state budget during...

These Louisville businesses closed or relocated in 2025

A number of Louisville-based businesses announced their decision to close in late 2024 and early 2025. The Courier Journal reported on a number of these announcements as they came throughout the year, speaking to a number of business owners and...

Room to help others

As temperatures plummet, a local church is opening its doors for the homeless as part of a new temporary shelter location. This January, Grace Immanuel United Church of Christ in Butchertown is allowing a group of 14 men to stay overnight from January...

5 unique city services tax dollars help fund

With a $1.2 billion budget, Louisville Metro Government is sure to offer resources and services that fly under everyday citizens’ radars. From neat mobile apps to language translation services, there are dozens of resources — paid for on the...

The greatest jockey you’ve never heard of

FLORENCE, Ky. – As a winter wind whipped through the paddock, a few fans stood in hoodies and winter coats, hands buried deep in their pockets. The jockey donning a thin maroon-and-white race silk envisioned his next ride. ● If he felt the cold, he...

THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACES

Bourbon legends such as E.H. Taylor and Pappy Van Winkle have been immortalized through bourbon brands. ● And while their memories live on in bourbon collections all over the world, many of the most famous historical figures in the bourbon industry are...

Ready or not

structure,” he added. “Coming up with the strategy is a great thing. Coming up with the finances to do the repairs, that’s another thing. Where does the money come from?” The recent spate of historic storms has been punishing for local governments,...

Sniffing out electronic evidence

FRANKFORT — What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a police dog? • Maybe an athletic Belgian Malinois latching its jaw onto a trainer’s padded protective suit? Or sniffing for drugs around the outside of a car? • Or perhaps a...

50 years puts him in a league of his own

In a digital age defined by endless options, Terry Meiners, the veteran drive-time voice of NewsRadio 84 WHAS, has accomplished what few in media ever do — he has risen above passing trends and remained a relevant force for nearly 50 years. “I am so...

Historic run for economic growth

Since Gov. Andy Beshear took office in December 2019, Kentucky has been on a historic run, securing more than $43 billion and 65,000 jobs in private sector investment announcements. Beshear has continually emphasized the importance of economic...

DNA test unexpectedly connects KY father, daughter after 47 years

Heather Lally spent 47 years convincing herself she didn’t need a father. She’d never met the man her mother dated briefly in the mid-1970s, but he’d made it clear he didn’t want to be part of her life. After he died, she lost all hope of ever having...

‘They need the chance to be able to thrive’

Thirty-one years ago, Tomeka Cannon was so afraid that she called an ambulance as her eightmonth-old daughter, Laneesha, had her first seizure. That initial, terrifying episode eventually progressed into about a dozen seizures a day. Doctors...

DATA CENTRAL

Alec Willis moved to Monrovia, Indiana, weeks before learning he would soon have a new neighbor: a 390-acre Google data center campus that will require twice the electricity of all Indianapolis households combined when operational, according to a...

FOOD TREND?

For a city named after a famous king of France and one obsessed with restaurants, a term invented by the French, you’d think Louisville would be oozing with places to enjoy croissants, confits and foie gras. But, Louisville’s RSVP to the French cuisine...

Big ticket projects

The SDF Next Program, which has brought a new baggage claim area and parking upgrades to the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, is entering its latter stages with some big ticket projects. Announced in late 2019, the multiyear series of...

It was the fire fight of their lives

Marcus Hudson instinctively craned his neck toward the night sky. A sharp explosion had echoed through the air, and for a brief moment, he needed to know whether a metal pressure relief valve was about to barrel down on his head. In front of the...

TRAINING ISN’T ONE OF THEM

WARSAW, Ky. – In the three years since Bud Webster was elected to be Gallatin County’s top lawman, he has made significant accomplishments. As sheriff, he brought back 24/7 law enforcement coverage to the rural northern Kentucky county. His deputies no...

Ford, SK On to end EV battery partnership

Ford Motor Co. and South Korean conglomerate SK On have parted ways on their joint electric vehicle battery endeavors — including on the massive $5.8 billion BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale. The battery park in Hardin County, which was announced...

TROUBLE BREWING

Mike Safai sips a coffee in the Bardstown Road shop that bears his name, and monitors a chart on his phone showing the commodity price for a pound of coffee soaring higher than it has in nearly half a century. Behind the surging line on his screen is a...

Snow day

Louisville residents will face frigid temperatures and the potential for additional snowfall after an overnight winter weather system covered the city with snow Dec. 12. More than 4.5 inches of snow was recorded at the Louisville Muhammad Ali...

Righting a wrong

The bill to end the longest federal government shutdown in the nation’s history put U.S. Rep. James Comer in a bind. Comer, a Kentucky Republican and former state agriculture commissioner who’s considering running for governor in 2027, has been a...

Should liquor stores be spread out?

Louisville Metro Council members have asked city planning officials to consider creating new regulations for liquor stores, including requirements that could bar them from setting up shop within a certain distance from another liquor store or sensitive...

‘Cracking down’

As President Donald Trump’s administration continues to put transportation rules and regulations at the forefront of his second term, a new initiative which the administration believes will make the truck and bus driving industry safer is underway –...

Housing programs could lose millions in funding

Louisville’s housing programs for the homeless are in danger as the Trump administration makes deep cuts to grants for permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing. In November, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2026...

TRAFFIC JAM

In his first year in office, state Sen. Aaron Reed heard plenty from constituents about issues at Kentucky Driver Licensing Regional Offices. ● The freshman Republican lawmaker from Shelbyville understood where they were coming from. After all, the...

PROTECTING CHILDREN

The two letters on her gold necklace express more than the initials of Ashley Nation’s two daughters. They signify her fight — not just for her kids, but all kids. Not solely because of her past, but because of their futures. Nation is a survivor of...

KENTUCKY DISASTERS

Kentucky state Sen. Robin Webb held up a thick black binder stuffed full of white paper. The binder, which she hefted in the air during a Nov. 21 meeting in Frankfort, contained the many recommendations the Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task...

THE FIRST SNOW

The sun rose in Louisville Dec. 2 to reveal a winter wonderland arriving earlier than usual for this time of year. The latest snowfall proved to be the highest-ever recorded for Dec. 2, with an official total of 4.7 inches measured at Muhammad Ali...

Mark Stoops out at UK

LEXINGTON – It’s over. After 13 seasons guiding the Kentucky football program, Mark Stoops was fired, the university announced Monday. News of his firing was first reported on Sunday by Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated. The SEC’s longest-tenured...

Norton West sees nearly 60K patients in first year

Nearly 59,000 people have received care at the $90 million Norton West Louisville Hospital since it opened one year ago. When the hospital officially opened Nov. 11, 2024, it marked the first hospital to open west of Ninth Street in over 150...

A look at TIFs

Aparticular type of incentive, called tax increment financing, typically makes headlines a few times in year in Louisville when developers seek the incentive from local or state government. • The focus is usually on the project connected to the...