Warmer temperatures and higher humidity are moving into the region today and we can kiss the funtimes goodbye for a bit. Scattered storm chances follow into the overnight hours and into Saturday. You’ve got some active patterns to look forward to in the middle of next week, too. [WXorNot]
Y’all got the hantavirus yet? Have your meemaws and poppops lost their minds from Fox and Facebook yet? Is your mom clocking in to her part-time job as Chief Hantavirus Expert at the hypochondria factory every day? If they’re driving you crazy, here’s something to help: Bethany Kinney, the communicable disease team lead nurse for the Barren River District Health Department, said the risk of hantavirus is low in Kentucky. “The risk of hantavirus is low here in Kentucky, and right now there are no identified close contacts from the current outbreak here in Kentucky,” Kinney said. [WBKO]
Stop the presses because the Kentucky Democratic Party has gained voters for the first month in years. That’s because a primary election is coming up on the 19th, of course. They don’t actually try to register voters anymore for some reason. According to the Secretary of State, between April 1 and April 20, overall registration rose by 9,883 voters, while 3,146 voters were removed: 2,432 who were deceased, 366 felony convicts, 205 who moved out of state, 53 duplicate registrations, 36 adjudged mentally incompetent, 31 who voluntarily de-registered, and 23 identified as non-citizens. Republicans make up 48% of registered voters at 1,610,910, growing by 3,915 at a 0.24% increase. Democrats make up 41% of registered voters at 1,374,537, growing by 1,168 at a 0.09% increase. Independents/Others make up 11% of the electorate at 379,997, growing by 1,725 at a 0.46% increase. [Press Release]
Seems everybody is waking up now that Bowling Green has started to fight back. Let this serve as a lesson: Stuff is happening here and it’s the fastest growing county in the Commonwealth for a reason. A new data center in Hancock County could involve a total investment of up to $14 billion, according to the company developing the project and filings by the local utility — an eye-popping sum that would represent one of the largest single investments anywhere in Kentucky. [Courier-Journal]
Imagine being 102-years-old and looking like you’re in your 60s. That’s reality for one Bowling Green resident! Yes, there are tons of more important things going on but anyone who has lived this long deserves some hype. [BG Daily News]
What are you doing Saturday at 5:00 P.M.? Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure is playing – for free – at The Capitol. 416 East Main Street in Bowling Green. Why aren’t you making plans to attend right now??? Do it. You know you love how weird and wholesome it is. [Visit BG & The Capitol]
State General Fund and Road Fund receipts data have been released in Frankfort and it’s not looking great. The only thing that’s on the ups is increased sales tax revenue because you’re being robbed at the cash register. They’re up 5.8%! Everything else is collapsing. Corporate and limited liability taxes are down a whopping 28.1%. Individual taxes are up 16.1%. Property taxes down 6.4%. Cancer stick taxes down 8.3%. Coal severance up $5.9 million. Investment income down $7.2 million for the month of April, down $26 million for the year. And the Road Fund? It’s down 3.3% to $170.4 million all while the governor is gutting fees to keep our roads maintained. Motor fuel revenue fell 1% in April despite gas prices being sky-high and motor vehicle usage taxes have dropped 6.4%. So stop letting these politicians, regardless of their political bent, lie to you about how wonderful the economy is here in our beautiful Commonwealth. [Press Release]
We wanted to be supportive of this May Day demonstration in BG because gas prices are insane and everyone in power has lost their mind. How is everyone so messed up and mean? Doesn’t matter the Party, either. Unfortunately, the kids photographing the event and writing the story don’t yet have enough basic knowledge of history to understand they’re perpetuating and spreading disinformation. And the handful of people who showed up are just as in the dark. But they’ll sure get mad enough to argue with you. That’s right, meemaws, your liberal writer here is telling you that many of the liberals have also lost the plot. It’s the economy, kids. Leave the antisemitism and Russian/IRGC propaganda at home. And you righters need to quit it with the militia cosplay downtown. [WKU Herald]
William Paul, son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, has apologized for antisemitic remarks made to a New York congressman at a bar in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. Antisemitism like this isn’t just reinforced by Soviet-era propaganda and Russian/Iran/IRGC terror-backed campaigns on TikTok and other social media platforms. It’s reinforced at home and allowed to fester at home. Home. It starts at home. One doesn’t say things like that and not mean them. [Herald-Leader]
Three local students are among 82 seniors who recently graduated from the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science’s Class of 2026. Justin Colgate from Caverna, Antonio Reyna from Barren County High School and Anderson Leea Slinker from Barren County High School were among the 82 graduates. [WCLU]
The Historic RailPark and Train Museum is working to raise funds to restore the windows of the 100-year-old L&N Depot in Bowling Green. Organizers say the project is part of a larger effort to preserve the historic building, which has played a key role in the city’s development. In the early 1900s, local leaders raised $1 million to ensure the Louisville & Nashville Railroad chose Bowling Green as a stop along its line. [WNKY]
Hold on, this is wild, make sure you move any beverages away from your devices before you read the next sentence. WBKO said, in writing, that a group of white men carrying confederate flags, modified Betsy Ross 13-star flags, wearing 3-percenter logos, shouting racist and antisemitic epithets have a motive that “remains unknown.” Astounding that WBKO and Gray Media would force a black employee to say something like that. We support the free speech rights but a mainstream media outlet denying what’s right in front of its eyes is wild. [More WBKO]
We’ve got thousands here in the community who wish they could access Medicaid and Medicare in order to survive life a little easier but these shysters ruin it for everyone else. An investigation by the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office has resulted in the indictment of two people for Medicare fraud. Chandra Branch, 56, and Evans Mitchell, 67, of Bowling Green, each face two counts of devising or engaging to defraud in a scheme to defraud the Kentucky Medical Assistance Program. [WKYT]
The Beshear Administration is attempting to claim unemployment levels have fallen but what they’re doing is comparing March 2026 data to March 2025 data and that means absolutely nothing. Every administration does it but this is bad and is being whitewashed. Here’s the data from their very own unemployment press release yesterday, starting with the good stuff: Woodford 3.5%; Todd 3.6%; Fayette and Scott 3.7%; Campbell, Franklin, Jessamine and Oldham 3.8%; Boone, Caldwell, Carroll, Graves and Kenton 3.9%. The bad stuff: Lewis 8.4%; Wolfe 8.3%; Magoffin and Martin 7.8%; Elliott 7.1%; Menifee 7%; Jackson 6.9%; Lawrence 6.7%; Carter 6.6%; Wayne 6.5%. All this means there is roughly 100,000 people officially unemployed in Kentucky. Oh, you want Bowling Green data? Okay. 71,748 employed; 3,001 unemployed. 4% unemployment. For the entire Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, it’s 90,777 people employed; 3,984 unemployed. 4.2% unemployment. This is good news for BG. [Press Release & If You Wanna See the Data]
We hear through the rumor mill that some of these people may have ties to trafficking locally. Six people were indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury Monday on charges connected to an alleged human trafficking operation, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. [WDRB]
The current governor won his first statewide election for the seat against the most-hated man in the country at the time – Matt Bevin He barely squeaked by. He didn’t win because of some blue wave or because of policy. The second go-round, he won against the second-most-hated man in the country, Daniel Cameron. Cameron was embroiled at the time in controversy surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville. And he was black in a statewide race during a general election. The governor again barely squeaked by. Had the man had a credible opponent in either campaign who wasn’t a veritable disaster, Kentucky would have a Republican governor. One cannot use the current governor’s wins as a methodology for winning elections here or elsewhere. [Kentucky Lantern]