By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Wednesday!
So a few weeks back, I wrote a column about how the book banning scene had calmed down considerably across Kentucky. Turns out I had not talked to enough people in Daviess County, where things are definitely not calm. So I asked journalist and Owesnboro native Rainesford Stauffer to tell us about how the politics over the public library have spilled into all corners of life, including this election.
In other news, our national desk has written stories on two topics that affect our state: What happens to women when states enact abortion bans, and how the federal government is cracking down on organ donation groups, which has been a particularly painful story here.
And in Commentary, I noticed that several pundits were saying Kentucky could be a national bellwether on election night. Well, perhaps.
Have a great day and thanks for reading!
The Daviess County Public Library has become the center of a political maelstrom. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Rainesford Stauffer)
By Rainesford Stauffer
OWENSBORO, Ky. – On Oct. 1, incumbent Daviess County Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen was at the Rooster Booster forum when he brought up “the major unspoken issue of this campaign.” That issue was the fairness ordinance, which was aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ individuals but was rejected in 2020 by the fiscal court.
But then Castlen brought up the second, more timely topic: “Our library: I’ve worked to get a more conservative board that has relocated books to the adult section that, if they were made into a movie, would be an X-rated movie.”
In the first three years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, more than 900 women faced criminal charges for conduct related to their pregnancies, according to a new report. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
By Sofia Resnick
In the first three years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, more than 900 women faced criminal charges for conduct related to their pregnancies, according to a new report.
The Organ Transplant Service teams at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center started using robotic surgery for kidney transplants in 2018. Nationwide, more than 109,000 people are on waiting lists for organ procurement. (Photo courtesy of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center)
By Nada Hassanein
Federal regulators are cracking down on the nonprofits responsible for coordinating organ donations, aiming to begin shutting down substandard groups by early next year.
Election Day at the Landsdowne Elementary School precinct in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern Photo by Arden Barnes)
COMMENTARY
By Linda Blackford
A week before Election Day, several pundits and prognosticators have predicted that Kentucky’s 6th District congressional race could be a kind of national bellwether for a potential blue wave throughout the country.
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