By Linda Blackford | Editor
Thanks to the awesome Lantern staff who filled in with the newsletter while I was on vacation. Summer hasn’t gotten any quieter, it seems, and the news just keeps ticking up, along with our temperatures.
Ok, that was an inadvertent pun I just made because one of today’s stories from our national partners is one of my current fears/obsessions. Yes, ticks. It’s such a terrible year for them, they’re everywhere, they have the power to make us vegetarian, and that’s one of the better outcomes. Are you itchy yet? Read what states are trying to do to get ahead of this scourge.
Now back to our usual programming: Tom Loftus looked at the most recent fundraising by Gov. Andy Beshear’s PAC, and it’s fascinating as always. And speaking of the governor, he was asked on Thursday about the severance package for UK AD Mitch Barnhart, and he did not hold back.
In Commentary, Berry Craig recounts a fascinating episode in Kentucky history when, gasp, socialists held sway.
Thanks as always for reading!
A dog walks along a wooded trail in a Maryland park. Ticks are commonly found in wooded and grassy habitats, and the lone star tick has expanded well beyond its historic range in the Southeast. (Photo by Amanda Watford/Stateline)
By Amanda Watford
The tiniest menace of summer doesn’t care if you’re hiking through the woods, walking the dog or pulling weeds in your backyard.
It just wants a ride and a meal.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke at a campaign event at the River Place in Des Moines June 7, 2026 in support of Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
By Tom Loftus
FRANKFORT – Two big Andy Beshear supporters from outside Kentucky provided the lion’s share of the money donated to Beshear’s super PAC between April 1 and June 30.
Mitch Barnhart (University of Kentucky)
By Lantern Staff
Gov. Andy Beshear criticized the $3.2 million payout to retiring University of Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart on Thursday, stating his disapproval despite the fact the funds were privately raised.
This church cemetery near Viola, Ky. features a headstone carved with the words “Christian socialist.” (Photo by Berry Craig for the Kentucky Lantern.)
COMMENTARY
By Berry Craig
Democratic socialism is on the rise in some blue states, but socialists are still rare in ruby red Republican Kentucky.
That wasn’t always so.
Six-score years ago, Louisville hosted the Christian Socialist Fellowship movement’s first national convention. The movement even spread to the Jackson Purchase, arguably Kentucky’s Trumpiest territory today.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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