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 BlueSky (@joesonka.lpm.org).
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Companies tied to Chicago-based Cresco Labs submitted 128 expensive applications for Kentucky medical cannabis licenses. They landed two, delivering the most coveted cultivator operation back to Cresco. -
The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a law in December that limits the power of the Jefferson County school board, but will soon rehear the case. -
The Louisville graduates were temporarily authorized to work under a federal program for international students, but had their legal status terminated in a federal database. -
Kentucky’s state auditor is investigating the process for how medical marijuana licenses were awarded last year, which was criticized by local hemp farmers. -
The advocacy group for Kentucky businesses spent more than $150,000 to lobby the state legislature in the three-month session, paying 14 lobbyists. -
Cuts to federal agencies and grants for museums and libraries will have a large impact on the Kentucky Humanities Council and the ability of Appalshop to preserve its flood-damaged historic archives of the region. -
The Kentucky General Assembly passed bills making major changes to Medicaid, pollution regulations and worker safety rules, but Beshear says he cannot implement them without specific appropriations. -
Kentucky’s GOP-controlled legislature quickly voted to override nearly all of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes on 29 bills and resolutions. -
The Kentucky General Assembly's Republican supermajority sped more than 100 bills to passage ahead of the governor’s veto period. Some of the most contentious measures were heavily amended before the public could give their input, or even read them. -
Medicaid, concealed carry and telework ban: Friday was the final day for the Kentucky General Assembly to pass legislation that is veto proof, with some notable bills making the cut, and some left behind.
