Joe Sonka
Enterprise Statehouse ReporterJoe Sonka is Kentucky Public Radio’s first enterprise statehouse reporter. He joined the team in October 2023.
Joe has covered Kentucky government and politics for nearly two decades. He grew up in Lexington and moved to Louisville in 2011, covering city and state government at LEO Weekly and then Insider Louisville. He became state government reporter for the Courier Journal in 2019 and was a lead reporter for the newspaper's 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on former Gov. Matt Bevin's controversial pardons just before leaving office.
You can email Joe at jsonka@lpm.org and find him at non-Twitter apps such as Threads (@joesonkaky) and BlueSky (@joesonka.bsky.social).
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Well-funded political action committees are preparing to spend on competitive Republican primary races for the Kentucky General Assembly, with one side supporting candidates from the “liberty” wing of the GOP and the other supporting more establishment candidates. -
The judge ruled against the petition seeking to disqualify Kulkarni as a candidate over an error on her filing with the secretary of state’s office, but the petitioner will appeal. -
The 2024 legislative session of the Kentucky General Assembly wrapped up Monday, with Republicans landing a major anti-crime bill and ignoring a request of Gov. Andy Beshear to fund universal pre-K and give teachers a raise. -
A bill to add new restrictions on Kentucky electric utilities seeking to retire coal-fired power plants was supported by a collection of rural electric cooperatives, but opposed by two for-profit utility companies that serve most of the state. -
The new law would allow Kentucky to issue medical cannabis licenses to businesses as early as this summer, increasing the odds that cannabis will be available for patients at dispensaries beginning 2025. -
The GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature overrode nearly all of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes on Friday, the second to last day of the session. -
A PAC funded by the Jefferson County Teachers Association is picking sides in seven Republican primary races for the Kentucky House, choosing candidates who support public education in an effort to shape a less-hostile GOP supermajority caucus. -
The budget bills outline $33 billion of state government spending over the next two years, with Republicans lauding it as a historic investment in Kentucky education and Democrats criticizing it as falling too short. -
Legislation to amend the Kentucky Open Records Act cleared a Senate committee despite bipartisan criticism that it would undermine government transparency, though a controversial part of the bill was rejected. -
A GOP lawmaker believes his bill to move up the licensing timeline for medical cannabis businesses in Kentucky will pass into law before the end of the session.
