Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/author/katehoward/)
Kate Howard is KyCIR's managing editor and a veteran investigative reporter. She worked at The Tennessean, the Florida Times-Union and the Omaha World-Herald before coming to Kentucky.
If Louisville closes its juvenile jail, it’s still unclear whether the state would open a new facility or send Louisville youth to other regional detention centers.
A state senator who pre-filed a bill that would broadly restrict access to public records said the bill was authored by someone else, and he’s open to making changes based on transparency concerns. State Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, said in an interview with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting on Monday evening that he’s listening to criticism about his proposed legislation. As written, it would exempt several state agencies and local officials from having to release personnel records, disciplinary records, financial information and other information to the public. If this bill were to become law, records custodians could be held personally liable and fined for releasing private information — and requesters seeking records for an “improper” purpose could be ordered to pay attorney’s fees in a subsequent lawsuit. The bill defines “improper” as a request that’s frivolous, or intended to cause someone to violate the provision.
We brought you groundbreaking stories about everything from infestations in public housing to workplace deaths and widespread sexual harassment complaints in state government. Take a look back at some of our most popular investigations, and see what’s happened since they published.
Twenty-eight states and territories regulate workplaces themselves, rather than defer to the feds. Some of these programs are effective; others, like Kentucky’s, fall short.
A prosecutor thought Grant Oakley’s workplace death might be grounds for a homicide charge. He turned to the state investigation for proof.
A ProPublica analysis found election computer servers in Wisconsin and Kentucky could be susceptible to hacking. Wisconsin shut down its service in response to their inquiries.
Judge Phillip J. Shepherd on Wednesday questioned whether protecting names has the effect of protecting public agencies — and making it easier to cover up wrongdoing.
Read the indictment alleging Jerry Lundergan and a campaign worker made illegal contributions to Alison Lundergan Grimes’s campaign and conspired to cover it up.
The judge said he’s concerned about “a lax culture” of tolerating sexual harassment across state government — and that employees with multiple unsubstantiated complaints against them could escape scrutiny if the court allowed them anonymity.
Though black youth are less than 27 percent of Louisville’s youth population, they represented more than 75 percent of the youth bookings in Louisville’s secure detention center last year.