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By Linda Blackford | Editor

Happy Sunday, hope you’re having a wonderful weekend.

This week we had some very important and serious news about mental illness, data centers, voting, and more ICE detainments. Then we had some fun with the annual ‘I Voted’ sticker contest at the Kentucky State Fair. Sometimes you need some Elmo in flames, and we will not apologize.

Thanks, as always for reading. You might tell a friend to subscribe, you might donate, or you might check out our awesome Instagram account @kentuckylantern.

The revolving door between the streets and jail for mentally ill people does not help them improve. (Getty Images)

‘Like a war crime.’ Mentally ill Frankfort woman moves from streets to jail.

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.

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Raelynn Short, of Allen County, casts a ballot in the 2026 “I Voted” sticker contest at the Kentucky State Fair with help from her mom, Stacey Simmons. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

Lincoln, Elmo and the Lizard Man: KY voters to choose next ‘I Voted’ sticker at state fair

By McKenna Horsley

Lizard Man, Elmo, Abraham Lincoln and more are on the ballot for a heated race to decide which Kentucky student’s “I Voted” sticker will be available during November’s election. 

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NEWS OF THE WEEK

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