Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting

08/29/2024

Officials with the U.S. Justice Department said they believe Kentucky is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by relying too much on psychiatric hospitals.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that Kentucky’s state government is unnecessarily placing Louisvillians with serious mental illnesses in psychiatric hospitals.

08/22/2024

A delayed report shows what many lawmakers have already heard: Kentucky’s road paving industry has little competition and lots of single-bid contracts, which is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

A delayed report shows what many lawmakers have already heard: Kentucky’s road paving industry has little competition, lots of single-bid contracts.

08/20/2024

Witnesses found Eddie Vinson’s body in flames near the corner of Elliott Avenue and 26th Street in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 7, 2015. He’d been beaten, set on fire and left for dead. Now, the men who were sent to prison for his murder are appealing their convictions — each arguing that new information unearthed by the Kentucky Innocence Project casts doubt on the investigation that led to their arrest and the trial that put them behind bars.

Two men were put in prison for a 2015 murder. Now, they say police and prosecutors missteps should spark a new trial.

08/17/2024

This week, the Radio Television Digital News Association honored LPM reporters with a national Edward R. Murrow Award. The Murrow award is one of the news industry's most prestigious and is given to reporters who "exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community."

Louisville Public Media reporters spent months uncovering the dirty world of disaster clean-up that followed the devastating 2022 floods in eastern Kentucky.

08/14/2024

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg named Paul Humphrey interim LMPD chief in June. The move makes him the sixth chief in just four years. Will he have enough time to make meaningful change?

The Louisville Metro Police Department's new interim chief, Paul Humphrey, said that tackling violent crime and implementing changes to the department will take time.

08/13/2024

Two years ago, 7-year-old Ja’Ceon Terry was living at a foster care facility in Louisville when he was restrained by two staff members until he stopped breathing. The coroner ruled his death a homicide. But prosecutors have yet to bring criminal charges against any of the people involved in his death.

Ja’Ceon Terry’s death was ruled a homicide. But no one has yet to face criminal charges.

08/12/2024

Have you registered yet? We can't wait to see you tomorrow morning for a conversation with Louisville's education reporters.

Join reporters from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and the Courier Journal to talk all things back-to-school at Louisville Public Media headquarters next Tuesday morning.

08/08/2024

Public school students in Louisville are going back to school this week, and we want to talk about it — with you! Come meet KyCIR’s Jess Clark and the Courier Journal’s Krista Johnson on Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 7:45 a.m. to hear about how they report on JCPS and what storylines to watch as the school year unfolds. You’ll also have time to ask them questions.

RSVP ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/KYCIR-Morning-Debrief

08/05/2024

The FBI is seeking information amid a health care fraud investigation into Addiction Recovery Care, a high-profile and fast-growing treatment provider for substance use disorder. The company runs over 30 treatment centers in Kentucky.

Addiction Recovery Care, or ARC, runs over 30 treatment centers in Kentucky. Now it’s under federal scrutiny.

07/23/2024

Single-bid jobs are costly. That's what legislative analysts reported to the General Assembly last December. But state leaders have yet to fulfill their promise to address the issue. KyCIR previously reported that nearly a third of all road work contracts awarded between 2018 and 2021 went to single bidders — costing taxpayers $9.6 million more than state officials’ estimates.

Prompted by research from legislative analysts late last year that showed a lack of competition drives up road paving costs, Kentucky lawmakers said they’d issue a full report on the issue by January this year. They haven't done it.

07/19/2024

We want to hear from you! The future of the state’s largest school district is uncertain as Republican lawmakers begin discussions about restructuring. Send us a voice note explaining why you think it's a good or bad idea: ➡️ [email protected]

After a year of turmoil, the future of the state’s largest school district is uncertain as Republican lawmakers begin discussions about restructuring. We want to know what you think.

07/11/2024

Next week a group of 13 people will start talking about the future of Kentucky’s largest school district — including whether it should even exist.

A principal, a teachers’ union member, two parents and a ‘school choice’ advocate — these are some of the members of a new task force that could help decide the future of Jefferson County Public Schools.

07/09/2024

Data from a Jefferson County Public Schools survey shows what many feared — low-income students and students of color are most impacted by cuts to magnet transportation.

07/02/2024

After Louisville police denied our request for copies of search warrants earlier this year, we sent an appeal to the state's attorney general — and won. Now the city is suing us to try and keep the files secret.

Local officials want a judge to reverse a Kentucky Attorney General decision that found Louisville Metro Police violated the state’s open records laws.

06/24/2024

The University of Louisville Hospital has given a 23 year old Louisville woman an impossible choice: Either take her father, who is undocumented, off life support by Wednesday or see him put on a plane back to Guatemala, a country he hasn’t seen in 30 years. https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2024-06-24/an-undocumented-louisville-man-had-a-seizure-and-is-in-a-coma-uofl-hospital-wants-to-send-him-back-to-guatemala

06/24/2024

Starting next month, more kids who are charged with gun-related felonies will be automatically prosecuted as adults. In Louisville, it will likely be Black children that bear the impact.

Starting next month, more kids who are charged with violent crimes will be automatically prosecuted as adults. In Louisville, police data show most will be Black.

05/29/2024

Police in Louisville shot and killed two people this month. Mayor Craig Greenberg offered few additional details this week.

05/29/2024

Louisville Public Media has won four regional 2024 Edward R. Murrow Awards for work from WFPL News and KyCIR teams.

05/24/2024

Congratulations to 89.3 WFPL News Louisville and Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting news teams! 🏆 View the winners at LPM.org/Murrow24.

Louisville Public Media has won four regional 2024 Edward R. Murrow Awards for work from WFPL News and KyCIR teams.

05/23/2024

A decade after its creation, the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods is still fighting for funding. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s proposed spending plan would bring more cuts.

05/10/2024

McDonald’s employees called the police in Louisville to deal with an off-duty Jefferson County Public Schools security officer, who they say was drinking beer in his car and passed out in the drive-thru lane.

McDonald’s employees called the police to deal with an off-duty Jefferson County Public Schools security officer, who they say was drinking beer in his car and passed out in the drive-thru lane.

05/09/2024

A majority of Kentucky justices did not file financial disclosures last year and did not file their reports on time in 2024, adding to existing criticisms that the state’s judicial transparency rules are among the worst in the country.

05/09/2024

This primary season, Kentucky has 125 Congressional and state legislative races on the ballot, but a lot of those will be essentially decided by the end of the May 21st primary.

By the end of Kentucky's primary this year, the outcome of more than half of the state’s legislative races will be all but decided. In a number of races, only one candidate or members of just one party are running.

05/09/2024

In Louisville, police can collect your cell phone data with the help of a controversial tool that costs thousands of dollars. But they won’t talk much about it.

05/08/2024

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg says his budget proposal is a “reset.” Take a deeper look at how he wants to change city spending.

04/23/2024

Odor complaints reached a record high in 2023. Sewer officials promised to work on the issue in 2019. What’s changed?

03/13/2024

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is moving one step closer to building a prison in Letcher County despite concerns of locals, activists.

03/04/2024

A sweeping Republican-backed crime bill could lead to more incarceration, which could bring problems for many Kentucky jails that are already overcrowded with people in state custody.

The sweeping Republican-backed crime bill could lead to more incarceration, which could bring problems for many Kentucky jails that are already overcrowded with people in state custody.

02/27/2024

State lawmakers could soon remove a mandate that requires the chemical fluoride to be added to Kentucky’s water supply — despite warnings from dental professionals.

02/16/2024

A Kentucky Republican wants to pass a law that would allow industrial companies to avoid being fined for excessive pollution. The issue, according to ethics experts, is that he works for one of those companies.