By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Monday!
Many of you already know Deborah Yetter because of her years of superlative coverage at the Courier-Journal. We are lucky that she likes to keep working. Today she gives us a truly heart-wrenching story of one woman and mental illness, and the many ways Kentucky is not answering those complicated needs.
This weekend, the Kentucky Democratic Party had its annual dinner, and like the Republican Party dinner earlier this summer, we went. It sounded like a cast of thousands, speakers that is, interrupted by the tragic mass shooting in Kentucky about a mile away. Just like Fancy Farm, folks are more interested in next year’s governor race than this year’s midterms.
When it comes to data centers, the news is coming at us so fast that we have trouble keeping up with it all. So we’ve started a new feature, a periodic roundup of big and small news on data centers, whether it’s communities, governments or developers.
Speaking of data centers, today’s Commentary looks at whether they are a good economic bet for our state.
Have a great week!
The revolving door between the streets and jail for mentally ill people does not help them improve. (Getty Images)
By Deborah Yetter
Considered severely mentally ill, the young woman from Frankfort has spiraled downward since adolescence.
Now 22, she has had multiple encounters with police, been diagnosed with illness ranging from schizophrenia to psychosis and, in the past four years, has been hospitalized on emergency court orders 20 times—with stays ranging from one to 27 days. She has been discharged repeatedly to homeless shelters.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, right, talk to reporters ahead of the Kentucky Democrats’ Forward Together Dinner. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)
By McKenna Horsley
LEXINGTON — There was one elephant in the room during the Kentucky Democrats’ dinner Saturday evening — the upcoming primary for governor.
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey noted to the sold-out room that he had to speak between the two Democratic candidates — Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Rocky Adkins, a former adviser to Gov. Andy Beshear.
“Awkward!” McGarvey said to laughs in the room. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. We love you both.”
Electricity transmission lines reach across the Ohio River and connect to the Mill Creek Generating Station in Jefferson County. Electricity prices are a crucial part of the data center debate in Kentucky. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)
By Liam Niemeyer
Louisville passed a data center pause, where a data center developer is proposing another project. More details are emerging about a hyperscale data center proposal in Mercer County. And one Kentucky think tank’s analysis argues data centers could see massive tax breaks.
Plenty of news is happening and new details are emerging about hyperscale data center proposals around the state, and the Lantern has those stories from last week and more in this round-up.
A server room in a data center. (Photo by Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
By Lane Boldman
When Kentucky’s biggest data center project eyes a former steel mill in Eastern Kentucky, and one of the few remaining aluminum smelters in the United States is sold for conversion into a data center, it may sound like reuse and reinvestment. But for workers, manufacturers, and Kentucky families who are already navigating rising electric bills, the expansion of data centers raises a deeper question: who really benefits when these facilities move in, and who pays the price?
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