By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Monday!
Start out your morning with a smorgasbord from campaign finance guru and Lantern contributor Tom Loftus, who has plenty of juicy details about who’s giving and who’s spending.
We hear a lot about data centers these days, and how to protect ratepayers from their huge costs. Turns out people in Washington, D.C. are worried about that, too.
Political columnist Al Cross breaks down the Democratic primary for governor, the match-up between two members of Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration: Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and policy advisor and former legislator Rocky Adkins.
Mornings with the Lantern are a great way to start the week, and we’re grateful you’re here.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn speaks to the crowd at his annual fish fry, with guest speakers Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, of California, behind him, on Friday, May 29, 2026. (Photo by Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
By Tom Loftus
UK Trustees give more money to Beshear, plus updates from Kentucky Strong, a book buy, and Mitch McConnell’s war chest.
President Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable event at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The event promoted the administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge that seeks to cap utility prices in communities that have new data centers. (Screenshot from White House livestream)
By Amelia Twyman
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the addition of Republican governors, legislators, utility services and tech companies into his voluntary pledge aimed at keeping data center construction and operation costs off the shoulders of American consumers.
Lt. Gov. Jaqueline Coleman and former state Rep. Rocky Adkins have declared in the Democratic primary of the 2027 Kentucky governors race. (Kentucky Lantern photos by Arden Barnes)
COMMENTARY
By Al Cross
FRANKFORT – The Kentucky Democratic Party is having a one-on-one primary election for governor, its first in more than 50 years. Those primaries were usually contests between two factions, one moderately liberal, the other more conservative. This one may turn out that way, but now the candidates’ differences are less ideological or issue-based than their styles, their geographies and their generations.
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