By Linda Blackford | Editor
Good morning. Have you ever started to read a story and gotten goosebumps? That’s how I felt when I started today’s lead piece by Kentucky Lantern founder Jamie Lucke. She followed the three-year-long saga of a Hopkinsville mother whose son was killed in a horrific car crash. There are many twists and turns that raise questions about police competence and government transparency. Justice still eludes Nancy Tucker and her tireless quest to get the truth.
In other news, reporter Liam Niemeyer does his occasional roundup of data center news. The upshot? People still don’t want them in Kentucky.
People don’t want measles either, and yet they aren’t doing the one thing that could stop them now that Kentucky has reached a new high of cases.
And in Commentary, lawyer Richard Dawahare looks at the horrifying botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, and why Kentucky should stop trying to get the death penalty up and running again.
Hope it’s a great week!
Nancy Tucker has spent the past three years trying to get the truth of what happened in her son’s death. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Jamie Lucke)
By Jamie Lucke
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — As kin gathered at her home three days before Christmas, Nancy Tucker expected her son Adrian to drop by during his dinner break. She knew he was excited to see the family. But she wasn’t worried when he didn’t show; he must have been held up at work.
A few hours later his girlfriend called screaming. “They’re saying Adrian has been in an accident and somebody is killed.”
Many of the attendees at the Mercer County Fiscal Court meeting brought signs expressing opposition to data centers. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)
By Liam Niemeyer
Lexington could extend its temporary ban on data center construction. Mercer County rejected regulations that would allow hyperscale data centers. And a Carroll County ethics board is looking into dealings surrounding a proposed hyperscale data center.
Health officials urge Kentuckians to talk to their health care provider about getting the the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.(Getty Images)
By Sarah Ldd
Kentucky has now confirmed more than 100 cases of measles as the state grapples with its highest case load this century.
During a Thursday morning press conference, Gov. Bill Lee discussed the failed execution of Christa Pike on Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2026. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
COMMENTARY
By Richard Dawahare
On the night of Sept. 30, Tennessee strapped Christa Pike to a gurney and tried to kill her. More than an hour and two doses of pentobarbital later, witnesses could still hear her breathing. She told the execution team her arm felt like it was about to burst. Her lawyers say she remains hospitalized in critical condition. Four months earlier, Tennessee’s team spent more than an hour trying and failing to place an IV line in Tony Carruthers.
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