Kentucky Lantern

Kentucky Lantern The Kentucky Lantern provides factual, fair, independent journalism.

Commentary by Chris Woolery of Mountain Association6 million U.S. households would have to choose food or heat, medicine...
05/23/2025

Commentary by Chris Woolery of Mountain Association

6 million U.S. households would have to choose food or heat, medicine or air conditioning.

Trump plan to end funding for energy assistance program would have deadly consequences in Eastern Kentucky, forcing people to choose between food and heat.

John Paul Shanks had already handwashed his clothes, after pre-soaking them in Gain detergent, and hung them to dry. Liv...
05/23/2025

John Paul Shanks had already handwashed his clothes, after pre-soaking them in Gain detergent, and hung them to dry. Living outdoors in this Western Kentucky town has given him a lot of experience in making do.

“I’m probably one of the only people you’ll see that can just sit there and lay on a piece of concrete with a pillow or nothing and go to bed,” Shanks said. “That hardens you up.”

This is the final story in a Lantern series about homelessness in Western Kentucky. Read the earlier articles here. CENTRAL CITY — Sitting on his bed at the Central Inn on a bitterly cold January day, John Paul Shanks had already handwashed his clothes, after pre-soaking them in Gain detergent, an...

No Kentucky Home: Episode 3Pastor Jennifer Banks and other leaders of Abundant Life Church were not sure what to expect ...
05/22/2025

No Kentucky Home: Episode 3
Pastor Jennifer Banks and other leaders of Abundant Life Church were not sure what to expect when the mayor of this Western Kentucky town called a meeting to talk about their plans for helping people who are experiencing homelessness.
They soon heard that the church’s plan — they had dubbed it the “Beacon of Hope” — was setting off alarms.

A church's plan to buy and transform a Central City motel into housing and a service center for the unhoused meets resistance.

Reaction in Kentucky to the “big beautiful bill” Republicans in the U.S. House passed early Thursday ranged from alarm t...
05/22/2025

Reaction in Kentucky to the “big beautiful bill” Republicans in the U.S. House passed early Thursday ranged from alarm to applause.

Kentucky reaction ranges from alarm to applause as U.S. House passes budget bill making deep cuts to Medicaid which covers 1 in 3 Kentuckians’ health care.

No Kentucky Home: Episode 2Courtney Phillips found a corner and laid down two quilts and her sleeping bag and put her c...
05/22/2025

No Kentucky Home: Episode 2

Courtney Phillips found a corner and laid down two quilts and her sleeping bag and put her comforter on top. Her backpack served as a pillow and her dog Joker as a source of warmth. She slept there for weeks, angry and hurt that circumstances had dropped her on cold concrete.

Courtney Phillips, 32, slept for weeks in a parking lot until Abundant Life Church gave her shelter and access to a shower. She quickly got a job.

Commentary by Melissa McDonald, executive director of Feeding KentuckyWhy Kentucky food banks are pushing back against a...
05/22/2025

Commentary by Melissa McDonald, executive director of Feeding Kentucky

Why Kentucky food banks are pushing back against a plan that would shift responsibility for nutrition assistance to the states.

Federally funding nutrition assistance is the only way to ensure it’s there when needed. A plan to shift costs to states would leave more people hungry.

The U.S. Department of Justice is pulling back from a consent decree aimed at reforming the Louisville Metro Police Depa...
05/21/2025

The U.S. Department of Justice is pulling back from a consent decree aimed at reforming the Louisville Metro Police Department, saying such actions are “handcuffing local leaders.”
The consent decree came in response to the police killing of Breonna Taylor and an investigation that exposed a pattern of constitutional violations by Louisville police. It was meant to last five years.

The U.S. Department of Justice is moving to end consent decrees aimed at reforming policing in Louisville and Minneapolis.

No Kentucky Home: Part 1 of a series Pastor Jennifer Banks was still a relative newcomer to this Western Kentucky town o...
05/20/2025

No Kentucky Home: Part 1 of a series

Pastor Jennifer Banks was still a relative newcomer to this Western Kentucky town on the night in September when she watched through a security camera as a police officer brought a woman in a wheelchair to the church and “dumped her in our parking lot.”

This story is the first of a series about homelessness in Western Kentucky. CENTRAL CITY — Pastor Jennifer Banks was still a relative newcomer to this Western Kentucky town on the night in September when she watched through a security camera as a police officer brought a woman in a wheelchair to t...

Muhlenberg County stands out for its rich musical heritage.It's not extraordinary, though, in another respect: The strug...
05/20/2025

Muhlenberg County stands out for its rich musical heritage.
It's not extraordinary, though, in another respect: The struggle to come to terms with what it owes the people whom many of us (me included) conveniently keep on the far outskirts of our minds.

A standout for its musical heritage, this Kentucky place has something in common with many others: Rising homelessness and conflicts over how to respond.

Even though overdose deaths have declined over the last three years, Kentucky still has one of the highest rates of opio...
05/20/2025

Even though overdose deaths have declined over the last three years, Kentucky still has one of the highest rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) in the United States, according to a national report released Tuesday.

Though overdose deaths declined over the last three years, Kentucky still has one of the highest rates of opioid use disorder in the country.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says at least 14 people are dead after tornadoes, wind and hail tore across Kentucky Friday e...
05/17/2025

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says at least 14 people are dead after tornadoes, wind and hail tore across Kentucky Friday evening into Saturday morning. Beshear said he expects the death toll from the storms to rise.

"One of the hardest days our communities and region have faced," say lawmakers from the region.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says at least 14 people are dead after tornadoes, wind and hail tore across Kentucky and he expects the death toll will rise.

An official with the union that represents Weather Service employees said the office in Jackson, Ky., was one of four th...
05/17/2025

An official with the union that represents Weather Service employees said the office in Jackson, Ky., was one of four that no longer had a permanent overnight forecaster after hundreds of people left the agency as a result of cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, the initiative led by Elon Musk that is reshaping the federal bureaucracy.

The office in Jackson, Ky., is one of several left without an overnight forecaster after hundreds of jobs were recently cut from the National Weather Service.

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