
By Linda Blackford | Editor
Good morning! We know that Thursdays are always busy, partly because Gov. Beshear nearly always has a press conference that day. This Thursday was no exception. The Team Kentucky update featured an executive order from Beshear stopping data centers from “harmful impacts” on Kentuckians. Those impacts include rising electricity costs. Reporter Liam Niemeyer has the story.
Beshear also expanded his pilot Pre-K for All program to his father’s hometown of Dawson Springs, which was hammered by tornadoes in 2021.
In other news, Mitch McConnell says he’s been discharged from the rehabilitation hospital he’s been in nearly a month.
And in Commentary, Al Cross dissects the Fancy Farm political picnic.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, center, said Thursday he’s signing an executive order to protect Kentuckians against the potential impacts of data centers. Kentucky Public Service Commission Chair Angie Hatton, left, and Energy and Environment Cabinet John Lyons, right, stood next to Beshear. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer).
By Liam Niemeyer
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says he’s signing an executive order to protect Kentuckians “against any harmful impacts from potential data centers,” directing the state utility regulator and environmental protection officials to take specific actions on data centers.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, left, with his wife, former Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, on Sunday, July 26. (Provided by McConnell’s office)
By McKenna Horsley
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell says he has been discharged from a rehabilitation program after a seven-week absence from the Senate.
McConnell, 84, was hospitalized in June and said on July 12 he would enter a rehabilitation center.

In this aerial view of Dawson Springs on Dec. 13, 2021, homes are heavily damaged from a tornado three days prior. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
By Sarah Ladd
Gov. Andy Beshear is expanding Kentucky’s “Pre-K for All” pilot program again — this time to his dad’s hometown of Dawson Springs.

US Rep. James Comer shakes hands with a supporter on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, at the annual St. Jerome Picnic in Fancy Farm, Ky. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)
COMMENTARY
By Al Cross
FANCY FARM, Ky. – The three-day political cavalcade that ends at the Fancy Farm Picnic was less about this year than next year.
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