The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting(KyCIR) is a nonprofit digital newsroom. It is focused on watchdog journalism related to the U.S. state of Kentucky. Launched in 2013, the center is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a service of Louisville Public Media, the NPR member organization in Louisville. Kate Howard has been the KyCIR's managing editor since 2018. [1]
The publication is funded by its parent non-profit corporation, Louisville Public Media, which has a board of directors that includes members recruited from the University of Louisville, the Louisville Metro Government, and the community at-large. [2] Its meetings are open to the public. Louisville Public Media's origins began with WFPL, a 10 watt FM radio station owned by the Louisville Free Public Library that began broadcasting in 1950. It now operates three full NPR stations–news/talk WFPL, classical WUOL-FM, and adult album alternative WFPK.
KyCIR incorporated in 2013. Its independence is claimed to be assured by a firewall between it and its funding individuals and organizations, and it publishes its list of donors annually. It is supported primarily by member donors, who contribute 59% of its revenues, as well as another 31% from local philanthropists and organizations, and it also receives grants and support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Louisville's Courier-Journal wrote that KyCIR was "augmenting those of traditional media" and that "When it comes to participating in a democracy, the more fact-based journalism, the better." [3]
In 2017, KyCIR's staff included R.G. Dunlop, Kate Howard, Alexandra Kanik, and Eleanor Klibanoff. [4]
It has published stories critical of the University of Louisville including regarding accounting problems and misspending by the university's foundation. [5]
In recognition for reporting it did in 2015, the Center won two Green Eyeshades Award first-place awards, an award of the Society of Professional Journalists that acknowledges the work of journalists in the Southeast U.S. The stories chronicled a patronage system that rewards jailers who actually don't have existing jails, and widespread health problems in county jails. [6] [7] [8] In another story which received regional recognition, the KyCIR reported on the banishment of a mentally ill man from Carrollton, Kentucky by the sheriff, in violation of court orders, sending him to Florida. [9]
In December 2017, the KyCIR released "The Pope's Long Con", the results of an investigation of an evangelical minister and state representative, Dan Johnson, who had been accused of molestation of a 17-year-old family friend. The story, the product of over 100 interviews and reviews of over 1,000 documents, detailed Johnson's long history of arson, insurance fraud, illegal alcohol sales and preposterous claims that included raising of the dead and tales of claimed heroism at the Twin Towers. The next day, the pastor denied everything, blaming his problems on "NPR", which he said was out to get him. A day after that he killed himself, catapulting the Center into the national limelight. The Center's membership grew after the story's publication. [10] [11] The story won KyCIR a 2017 Peabody Award. [12]
The Frazier History Museum, previously known as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Frazier International History Museum, is a history museum located on Museum Row in the West Main District of downtown Louisville, Kentucky.
The Kentucky School for the Blind is an educational facility for blind and visually impaired students from Kentucky who are aged up to 21.
The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the public library system in Louisville, Kentucky, and the largest public library system in the U.S. state of Kentucky.
James R. Ramsey is the former president of the University of Louisville, located in Louisville, Kentucky, and the former president of the closely related University of Louisville Foundation. He was president from 2002 until 2016 and helped turn Louisville from a commuter school to a more campus-oriented university with a strong focus on research. In 2016, he was asked to step down after a number of scandals, but remained president of the foundation.
Since it earliest days, the economy of Louisville, Kentucky, has been underpinned by the shipping and cargo industries. Today, Louisville, Kentucky is home to dozens of companies and organizations across several industrial classifications.
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WFPL is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial FM radio station in Louisville, Kentucky. The station focuses on news and information, and is the primary National Public Radio network affiliate for the Louisville radio market. WFPL is now owned by Louisville Public Media and was originally owned by the Louisville Free Public Library. When the station came on the air in 1950, it was the first library-owned radio station in the country.
Carol Sutton was an American journalist. She got her journalism degree from the University of Missouri. In 1974 she became the first female managing editor of a major U.S. daily newspaper, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. She was cited as the example of female achievement in journalism when Time named American Women as the 1975 People of the Year. During her tenure at the paper, it was awarded the 1971 Penney-Missouri Award for General Excellence and in 1976 the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for its coverage of school desegregation in Louisville. She is also credited with significantly raising the number of minority reporters on staff.
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Kentucky Public Radio, doing business as Louisville Public Media, is a non-profit organization that operates the three National Public Radio member stations in Louisville, Kentucky—news and talk WFPL, classical WUOL-FM, and adult album alternative WFPK.
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Attica Woodson Scott is an American politician who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 41st district from 2017 to 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky on March 6, 2020, when Governor Andy Beshear's office announced the first confirmed case in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and declared a state of emergency to ensure all entities had the necessary response resources. As of January 1, 2023, 1,667,275 cumulative cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, with 17,694 deaths.
John Austin Clark is an American music director and keyboardist. He plays piano and historical keyboards, including harpsichord, organ and fortepiano. He is a founder and current director of Bourbon Baroque.
As of April 2022, there were about 3,700 electric vehicles registered in Kentucky.