Justin Hicks

The Kentucky Board of Elections received an envelope with a powdery substance matching postmarks of threatening letters received by election officials in 32 other states.

The Charles Booker Senate campaign posted, then immediately deleted, this fully AI attack ad against Andy Barr - which ironically spends a lot of time hitting Barr on alleged support for data centers. Thankfully, I was able to screen record it before it got removed. (Not stellar audio)

My latest on fundraising and PACs in Kentucky's statewide races next year, where Rocky Adkins is jumping out to a huge $$$ lead in #kygov race. And sweet interactive map with @justinhicks.lpm.org!

In the neighborhood…

My latest 👇 (I made interactive charts!!! 📈📉)

Here in Frankfort for the first legislator listening session on data centers. We have 9 lawmakers here today (all Dems except for Rep. Grossl). We’ve got a pretty full house here today People came from all over the state (ex. Madison, Pike, Carroll, Mercer, Jefferson, etc)

Records uncovered by @storiesbyjess.bsky.social and @g-nizzle.bsky.social show JCPS Chief Academic Officer Nathan Balasubramanian ordered staff to cancel a student production of “Ragtime” by duPont Manual High School’s Youth Performing Arts School.

My latest on ARC, which has just been ordered to pay $18M to creditors and is down to just 8 facilities in Kentucky.

An editor’s farewell to Bluegrass Politics:

As Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear continues testing the waters for a potential presidential run in 2028, his new book “Go and Do Likewise” hit shelves Tuesday. Here are 5 new revelations we learned from his book:

JCPS allows 49 tech firms to collect or process a range of deeply personal information about students: their birthdates, ethnicity, disabilities, medical history, whether they are homeless or in foster care, their family’s economic status, and much more. From @storiesbyjess.bsky.social of KyCIR:

Clerks office says Spencer withdrew from the race at about 4:30 pm today @kentuckypublicradio.org Following LPM investigation, one school board candidate disqualified, another withdraws www.lpm.org/investigate/...

McClatchy laid off 12 journalists at the Lexington Herald-Leader and eliminated a majority of its positions, as a part of its deep, nationwide layoffs. It leaves the second-largest newspaper in Kentucky with just two reporters left to cover city and state government.

McClatchy hedge fund absolutely gutted my hometown paper, where I learned to love journalism. Devastating.

The famed Kentucky author and activist Wendell Berry died at age 92 in his hometown of Henry County.

Hundreds of residents paying taxes to and living in neighboring counties were recently told they’re actually Louisville Metro voters. www.lpm.org/news/2026-08...

I got files from LMPD’s investigation of the death of a woman crushed by a Louisville city garbage truck’s hydraulic claw. Here’s what they tell us about the fatal accident.

Commentary from Jim Branscome and Bill Bishop: When the last reporter leaves: Kentucky’s spreading news desert kentuckylantern.com/2026/08/05/w...

Family friends have told me they are at the hospital with her now and she is frail but she is released to their / the hospital care.

UPDATE: A federal judge in Louisville just ordered the release of a Ugandan woman who says she was denied medical care for sickle cell anemia while in custody of ICE.

The projects do seem to stir emotions among the locals, but I wouldn't put happiness at the top of the list, per examples in Kentucky.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright spoke at the Paducah announcement, saying “Artificial intelligence: It just makes every one of us in this room smarter … a little bit more productive. I haven't met anyone who didn't want to be smarter.”

In response to my question, the Louisville FBI office tells me: “The criminal investigation into ARC related to Medicaid fraud is still ongoing.”

Dallas Waterford of tiny Harrodsburg, Kentucky told me later that he can’t stand @aoc.bsky.social and thinks she’s a communist, but… he agrees with her on data centers, and doesn’t want one in his community.

I spoke with Democrat Rocky Adkins about his run for governor of Kentucky. He says he'd be a governor that would be able to find common ground of legislation with the GOP supermajority, and expects to do better in urban areas than his 2019 run. He also says he's "evolved" on abortion laws. #kyga26

Tom Loftus with a big find here: In a court filing, former London Mayor Randall Weddle’s attorney said the pre-trial discovery process revealed that Gov. Andy Beshear’s chief fundraiser deleted text messages. 👀

While some news agencies salivate over any morsel of information on a Kentucky elected official, at LPM and @kentuckypublicradio.org we’re doing basic fact checking - and found two people trying to represent districts they don’t even live in. Local. News. Matters. www.lpm.org/investigate/...

State officials are pushing back on claims by the Jefferson County Clerk, David Yates, that voter assignment errors identified in an LPM News investigation are not limited to Louisville. www.lpm.org/news/2026-07...

Absolutely incredible piece from our @justinhicks.lpm.org and @byrobertor.lpm.org out. Voters from more than 1,800 Louisville households may have cast incorrect ballots due to a clerical error. In the case of extremely close elections, it could have made a difference

The work of @justinhicks.lpm.org to uncover this massive amounts of errors has spurred the Jefferson County Clerk’s office to conduct an audit of all 600,000 addresses in Louisville

Really great work by @justinhicks.lpm.org and @byrobertor.lpm.org on this!

Outstanding journalism here. Great investigating & reporting. Excellent presentation. Yet another example of why @lpm.org deserves our support. Thank you @justinhicks.lpm.org & @byrobertor.lpm.org.

Investigative, community-driven reporting at its finest right here: @justinhicks.lpm.org and @byrobertor.lpm.org uncovered technical errors that mis-assigned some Louisville voters to the wrong precincts - which affect what races they can vote in - in the May primary election.

My original story —> www.lpm.org/news/2026-06...

Here at the Medicaid oversight and advisory board meeting in Frankfort. Staff has just opened the second overflow room. Supporters of the Lee Speciality Clinic have come en masse to fight back against major cuts affecting roughly thousand disabled Kentuckians

A coalition of Kentucky Power customers are calling for increased transparency and rate review ahead of a state audit of the far-eastern Kentucky utility company. www.lpm.org/news/2026-06...

Read this incredible investigative article by @morgreports.lpm.org & @justinhicks.lpm.org. www.lpm.org/investigate/.... Full of relevant facts. Fairly presents differing perspectives. Powerfully tells a compelling human story. What is sickening & outrageous to me in it will no doubt delight MAGA.

Pope Releases Encyclical On Perils Of Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Strategy

Judge Johnson issued a bench warrant for Matt Bevin’s arrest for defying her order to show up in person for the sentencing hearing. She also extended her deadline for one week for Bevin to turn over all financial documents requested. Bevin can get out of the first arrest warrant if he pays a fine.

At former Gov. Matt Bevin’s sentencing hearing. He was ordered to appear and is instead here on Zoom. Jonah Bevin’s atty says another bench warrant should be issued for him…

Today is a really hard day here at NPR. We're losing some good people, including people I'm very close to. The reasons for the layoff are complicated. We lost a lot of federal money, gained a lot of donations, but NPR isn’t sure how sustainable those donations will be in the future.

We analyzed a lot of public data and records to make this report. Check out the interactive map by @justinhicks.lpm.org that shows how ICE shuffles people through Kentucky detention centers.

With nearly $100M spent on campaign ads in federal races, including some that were competitive for the first time in years, more Kentuckians turned out to vote in this year’s primary election than recent cycles. This fueled unfounded conspiracies online, particularly around Thomas Massie’s loss:

It’s been one year since a devastating tornado destroyed multiple neighborhoods in London, Kentucky, killing 17 people in Laurel County. Residents are still working to rebuild their homes, many with future disasters in mind. From @justinhicks.lpm.org