By Linda Blackford | Editor
We all know that population loss in Kentucky’s rural areas hurts in all kinds of ways, but what about elections? What if you need a new mayor and no one signs up to run? That’s happening right now, as reporter Liam Niemeyer explains.
Also, he threatened it and now he’s done it. Streamer Hasan Piker has filed a $72 million defamation lawsuit against Kentuckian, Mitch McConnell protege, Trump defender and CNN pundit Scott Jennnings.
Speaking of Trump, his lawyers appear to be getting ready to challenge a lot of elections around the country. They’re laying the groundwork right now, according to one our Washington bureau stories.
And in Commentary, constitutional law expert Joshua Douglas explains why, despite the Trump plans, we shouldn’t be too worried about election monitors coming to Kentucky.
recent photo of Herbie Hardin by the Fairfield, Kentucky sign. (Courtesy of Herbie Hardin)
By Liam Niemeyer
It started as an idea years ago among his buddies: Why not be the mayor?
Thirty-year-old Herbie Hardin has lived near Nelson County’s city of Fairfield his entire life, riding his bike as a kid down the street to visit his aunt. It was an easy decision for him to move there, a city with a little more than 100 people, when a friend wanted to sell a home in 2021.
GOP pundit Scott Jennings spoke live on CNN from the Fancy Farm political picnic on Aug. 5, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony)
By McKenna Horsley
Progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has filed a defamation lawsuit against Kentuckian and conservative political commentator Scott Jennings seeking $72.5 million in damages.
Early voters line up at the Midtown Mall in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. (Yereth Rosen photo/Alaska Beacon)
By Jonathan Shorman
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over the limits of federal authority.
A polling location is open for early voting at Paristown Hall in Louisville on Saturday in May, 2026. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)
COMMENTARY
By Joshua Douglas
Tensions are high during the last week of the election season. But that reality requires us to be even more clear-eyed on what the law requires and what will happen on the ground on Election Day.
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