Jared Bennett

Reporters asked Gov. Andy Beshear about a recent investigation into the eastern Kentucky flooding cleanup process at press conferences Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Both times the governor said he had not read the entire piece, but that the state would “do our best” to address the concerns raised by survivors.

An investigation by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found failures in the state and federal government’s attempt to clean up debris and dangerous materials left by catastrophic flooding in July 2022.

Residents and some Letcher County officials say FEMA’s strict regulations about debris removal and infrastructure repair have left large piles of debris and unfinished work throughout Appalachian eastern Kentucky and may have contributed to the damage last weekend.

Judge Thomas Wingate wrote that “the Department of Revenue improperly collected debts of UK HealthCare using impermissible means to collect unliquidated sums.”

The Kentucky Department of Corrections evacuated 117 people held at the Letcher County Jail after intense flooding.

Forty-six people on home incarceration have died since 2017 in Louisville, including seven in 2022 alone, according to data KyCIR requested from Metro Corrections.

In a complaint issued on May 19, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board based in Cincinnati accuses the office management, led by Chief Public Defender Leo Smith, of violating federal labor laws by “failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith.”

UK HealthCare has powerful debt collection tools at its disposal thanks to its partnership with the Department of Revenue, which can garnish wages, levy bank accounts or intercept tax returns to get at money allegedly owed to the university — all without a court order.

Candle factory workers weren't trained for emergencies before deadly tornado collapse, lawsuit claims.