Murray State University and WPSD-TV have agreed to a settlement in response to an open records lawsuit filed last year by the Paducah-based news station. The two parties reached an agreement, according to court records filed on Wednesday, to settle a lawsuit the television station filed in 2023 stemming from an investigation into the relationship between Murray State administrators and WKMS, an NPR member station. WKMS is licensed to Murray State University and operates on the university’s campus, and WKMS staff members are employed through the public university.

In a republic, the form of government that the U.S. Constitution prescribes for states, the will of the people is supposed to be exercised through elected representatives. In Kentucky, we call our government a Commonwealth, a term borrowed from our mother state, Virginia, meaning that it should serve the wellbeing of the people.

The Kentucky Public Library Association membership recently elected Tammy Blackwell as its new chair during the organization’s annual conference in Owensboro this March. Blackwell also serves as director for the Marshall County Public Library System in far western Kentucky. The library leader served as the group’s vice chair last year. Now, she hopes to advocate for the state’s public libraries and promote the ways those institutions are evolving to meet the needs of their patrons.

On April 22, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could radically change how cities respond to the growing problem of homelessness. It also could significantly worsen the nation’s racial justice gap. City of Grants Pass v. Johnson began when a small city in Oregon with just one...

Kentuckians who are not registered to vote must complete a registration by 4 p.m. Monday, April 22, to be eligible to cast a ballot in the May 21 primary. Voter registration can be completed online through the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website or in person at the Christian County Clerk’s Office in the old courthouse building, 511 S. Main St.

This column was written by Constance Alexander, a Hoptown Chronicle board member, as part of a series recognizing National Poetry Month. Until Rahul Mehta’s “Feeding the Ghosts,” I — a night owl — clung to a lifelong aversion to morning people and their “Early bird catches the worm” philosophy. Reading the poems in this stunning collection, however, has persuaded me, like Mehta, to seek sustenance in the dawning day.

FRANKFORT — The GOP-dominated Kentucky Senate confirmed nearly all of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s appointments to a board governing the state’s wildlife management department following pushback from sportsmen’s groups over the Senate failing to do so in past years. Senators in the final hours of this...

The more scientists learn about the health risks of PFAS, found in everything from nonstick cookware to carpets to ski wax, the more concerning these “forever chemicals” become. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now believes there is no safe level for two common PFAS – PFOA and PFOS...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The GOP-dominated Kentucky legislature easily overrode nearly all of Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes Friday on the next to last day of this year’s legislative session, cementing a number of Republican priorities into state law. In total, Republican supermajorities in both legislative chambers...

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In what he said could be his last speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Whitney Westerfield assured his colleagues that “the politics … are safe” to support a law that would temporarily remove firearms from Kentuckians at risk of harming themselves or others.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Long before there were text messages, email, cell phones or computers small enough to slip into a purse — back in the Neolithic when public records were created on IBM Selectric typewriters — the Kentucky Open Records Act protected personal privacy. The Kentucky Open...