On Track

Thousands of Kentuckians are voting every day, and about three-fourths of absentee ballots in Kentucky have been returned. With this Friday’s “In Conversation” we're just four days from Election Day 2020. COVID-19 has turned voting on its head, with more than 60 million Americans having already voted. What do all these numbers mean? What do professionals who follow and cover politics think? What d...

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced this week that the state had the highest number of new COVID-19 cases on a Monday and Tuesday since the pandemic started. The positivity rate is the highest in two months. Like most states, Kentucky is experiencing a dramatic spike in cases, with experts worrying about how much worse the spread will be as we head into holidays and flu season. On this week’s...

Breonna Taylor’s name has become a national and international battle cry on the issue of police brutality against Black women. But Taylor isn’t just representative of a cause. In Louisville, she’s one of us. And many people in the city’s Black community see her death as the continuation of a struggle for racial equity that goes back generations. Over the course of 2020, Louisville’s Black citizens...

Experts say about 40 people a year in Kentucky, mostly women, die as a result of domestic violence. Around one in four of them filed a domestic violence report with authorities before they were killed. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month, and no one immune to its impact. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are victims of physical violen...

Last week, the city and the world got the long-awaited answer on what specific criminal consequences, if any, would happen to the police involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. The results of last week’s grand jury proceeding led only to the indictment of former Louisville Metro Police detective Brett Hankison on several charges of wanton endangerment, for bullets that traveled into a neighbor’s...

The eyes of the world have been on Louisville for months, following the death of Breonna Taylor. Would the three officers involved be indicted on criminal charges? Would there be protests, and if so, how would they turn out? This week, the city — and the world — got the answer. The grand jury decided that Brett Hankison would be charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, and with the other...

The Louisville Urban League and more than 50 community organizations have petitioned the city to address issues in the Black community, including a review of the Louisville Metro Police Department by an independent, non-traditional agency. The letter also asks for an immediate re-evaluation of the 2020-20201 city budget, so a $50 million Black Community Fund can be added. “The time has come to giv...

March 13, 2020. The date will live in the memory of Breonna Taylor’s family, friends, and community. Her death, at the hands of the Louisville Metro Police Department, has been featured in news stories, television specials, social media, magazine covers, even billboards financed by Oprah Winfrey. Throughout 2020, there have been sustained international protests for several Black people killed by p...

It’s 2020. Which means that everything is weird or different. That includes the Kentucky Derby. Which is why it’s on the first Saturday in September this year, instead of May. It also means that there will be more jockeys, owners, trainers, staff and media on hand than spectators to watch the famous Run for the Roses because no fans will be allowed in due to COVID-19 concerns. So, on this week’s I...

When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” he wasn’t talking about the tale of one global pandemic. The one we’re in now has brought obvious changes — like the impact on businesses, education, and the economy — but no one could anticipate the changes to society beyond the obvious. Like the impact on social services, supply chains and the different ways we ha...

Velveeta cheese, the Panama Canal, button-down Polo shirts and the Kentucky Derby are all older than the American woman’s right to vote. One hundred years ago this week, the 19th Amendment was ratified, which gave women the right to vote in America. And even though not all women were given that right, it was a step on the road to equality for women in a country that’s been around for 244 years. Th...

The challenges that the Appalachian region faces aren’t just Appalachian problems; they're American problems. Those problems include addiction, poor health outcomes and the need for communities to make a transition from fossil fuel extraction, and they will largely determine whether we, as a nation, can meet challenges of inequality, climate change and economic recovery. Far from being a backwater...

If you’ve ever looked at historical photos of downtown Louisville, you might have been struck by how busy and bustling it looked. Loads of people were out and about going to work, wearing fancy outfits to the theater, and shopping at department stores. But mid-century “urban renewal” efforts changed downtown, putting parking lots and high rises where multi-use buildings and pedestrian-friendly sid...

The Fancy Farm Picnic is known through the state as the place where political candidates come to stump, kiss babies and encourage the eating of pounds of meat. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, and numbers in the state spiking uncomfortably high, politicians won’t speak at the picnic this year. How are politicians campaigning differently this summer? And what will Fancy Farm be like without the rhet...

Getting children and teens ready to go back to school takes on a different meaning this year, as COVID-19 infection rates are spiking around the country and here in Kentucky and Indiana. On this week’s “In Conversation,” we explore the decisions educators, administrators and parents have to make to keep students and teachers safe. We also talk about how parents are weighing the pros and cons of se...

Demonstrators across the country who have been demanding an end to racial injustice and excessive police violence have also been calling for the removal of Confederate monuments and other public displays that for many evoke slavery, white supremacy and oppression. Some protesters have taken matters into their own hands, tearing down statues themselves. This week on In Conversation, we jump into th...

The coronavirus pandemic seems to be changing our relationship with drinking and drugs. Liquor sales are booming. Drinking socially wasn’t an option for a while, so people who never drank alone found themselves mixing up cocktails for one. And why wait for happy hour when most hours of the day are the same? Meanwhile, folks with serious substance use problems saw their weekly meetings move to Zoom...

The stage is set for the November General Election in Kentucky. The state’s primary was delayed until June 23 because of the coronavirus, and it took a week for all the votes to be tabulated because most of them were absentee mail-in ballots. In Kentucky’s closely watched Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, retired Marine pilot Amy McGrath held off a late charge by state Rep. Charles Booker to win...

Many states that have reopened their economies from coronavirus shutdowns are seeing a dramatic surge in COVID-19 infections. Some have reinstated certain restrictions, and Texas has paused its reopening plan. Gov. Andy Beshear and state health officials say Kentucky remains in a plateau, but the commonwealth continues to record scores of new coronavirus cases daily, with many recent ones tied to...

Kentucky’s primary election is Tuesday, June 23rd, and the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way most Kentuckians cast their ballots. The primary was postponed from May to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and for the first time, Kentuckians are being allowed to vote by mail, or vote in person early without providing an excuse. Most Kentucky counties will have only one voting location, but a fede...

Camden, New Jersey was once considered one of the most violent cities in the country. Now, it’s a case study in police reform. The city completely dissolved its police department in 2012 and put together an entirely new one, focused on community engagement. Crime in Camden dropped by almost half. As pressure grows in Louisville to make sweeping changes to LMPD, we want to know what drastic police...

The fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville and the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police have sparked protests around the world. In Louisville, the family of David McAtee wants more answers after the popular barbecue stand owner was shot to death this week by law enforcement as they tried to clear a crowd from a parking lot to enforce a curfew. Police say surve...

More than half of Kentucky's deaths from coronavirus have been people who lived or worked in long term care facilities. As of this week, 240 residents and two staff members have lost their lives to the virus. This week we talk about how our long-term care facilities are faring right now, what circumstances that make these facilities so vulnerable to the virus spreading, and what Kentucky is doing...

Restaurants are reopening this week at 33% capacity — but as a business owner recently wrote to us, “We aren’t getting a 66% discount on our bills.” This week on “In Conversation,” we talk about restaurants reopening and the challenges they still have ahead of them. Chef Edward Lee joins us to talk about what the Lee Initiative has done to help restaurants during the shutdown, what they’ve been he...

On Wednesday, April 22nd WFPL's reporters went out into the community to capture a moment in time amid the coronavirus outbreak. They interviewed some people and gave recorders to others so they could document their day. And then we compiled these snapshots from Coronavirus Day 47. On this episode, we'll hear the results, and talk to some of the reporters who participated in the project.