By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Monday!
Hope it’s a great last week of August for you. Summer is usually the busiest time for road crews, but reporter Liam Niemeyer discovered that Kentucky’s road projects have dropped dramatically. Why that is has become yet another political football.
Kentucky is one of 18 states that still taxes menstrual products; a judge ruled that a case challenging that tax can move forward.
And a new visa rule could deeply hurt American universities, including the University of Kentucky.
Kentucky road paving projects have dropped dramatically in the summer of 2026. (Getty Images)
By Liam Niemeyer
State road projects across Kentucky have dropped dramatically this summer, usually one of the busiest times for road crews.
Kentucky is one of 18 states that still tax period products, according to Period Law. Two women are trying to change that. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Sarah Ladd)
By Sarah Ladd
A lawsuit arguing that Kentucky’s tax on menstrual products is unconstitutional will be allowed to proceed through the courts, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Melissa Logan Bellows ruled Thursday.
Flags of many nations fly at the University of Kentucky outside Bradley Home, home to offices for international students. (University of Kentucky photo)
COMMENTARY
By Kumble Subbaswamy
When I led major research universities, I saw a simple truth up close: in the physical sciences, engineering, and computing, we could not have staffed our laboratories or taught our core courses without international graduate students. That is not sentiment; it is arithmetic. And a rule the Department of Homeland Security finalized in July now threatens that arithmetic — here in Kentucky as much as anywhere.
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