Latest news with #Herald-Leader
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Richmond state rep says she'll be ‘true Trump MAGA voice' in U.S. Congress race
A state representative from Richmond is seeking the U.S. House of Representatives seat being left by Rep. Andy Barr. Deanna Gordon, a four-term Republican representative, announced Wednesday morning that she would enter the fray in the race to replace Barr for the 6th Congressional District. In a statement sent to the Herald-Leader, Gordon said she'll be a 'true Trump MAGA voice' in Washington. 'The American people delivered President Trump a clear mandate last fall: America needs a new direction focused on American job growth and economic opportunity, not one fixated on DEI initiatives, transgender ideology and failed progressive policies,' Gordon wrote. Gordon joins a crowding field. Fellow state Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, has been in the race for months and Ralph Alvarado, the former state senator who currently leads the Department of Health for the state of Tennessee, has indicated he'll likely run as well. Two prominent Democrats have declared for the 6th Congressional District. Cherlynn Stevenson, a former member of Democratic House leadership, and David Kloiber, a former Lexington city councilman and mayoral candidate, are both vying for the nomination. Gordon's entry into Kentucky politics started with a bang. She defeated C. Wesley Morgan, a controversial politician who ruffled feathers within the party ranks, in a GOP primary contest in 2018 and survived a tight challenge — winning by just 24 votes — in the general election against Morgan Eaves, who is now the executive director of the Kentucky Democratic Party. Since gaining office, Gordon has kept a relatively low profile in the General Assembly, serving on various committees and paying close attention to local issues like the disarmament process at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County. An audiologist by trade, the release from Gordon's campaign states that she 'helped build the largest audiology clinic in Kentucky.' That's a reference to Bluegrass Hearing, which she sold a few years ago. She has since started a Richmond-based clinic called 'Hear at Your Service.' Gordon focused her early messaging on her small business background, saying she would serve the 'working class, not the Wall Street elite.' She also touched on the popular conservative issues of cracking down on illegal immigration and limiting government spending. 'We need a Congress that never backs down from trimming government, ending failed progressive policies pushed by Ivy League institutions, and securing the border by having the backbone to not only build a wall, but deport those here illegally, no questions asked,' Gordon wrote. 'Central Kentucky isn't looking for a puppet or the next in line – they want someone who understands real-world problems and fixes them, not kicks the can down the road while being more concerned about the consequences of the next election.' The 6th Congressional District is anchored by Fayette County, which makes up about 44% of the population. The county's centrality is a part of the reason why, with Barr gone, some Democrats think they could flip the district blue for the first time since 2012. Fayette County has reliably voted Democrat in most recent elections. The other counties in the 6th Congressional District, in order of population, are Madison, Scott, Jessamine, Montgomery, Woodford, Mercer, Bourbon, Garrard, Fleming, Estill, Powell and Nicholas. Aside from Fayette, the other counties in the district generally lean Republican.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Is Thomas Massie vulnerable to a Trump-backed challenger? Northern KYians weigh in
President Donald Trump says he's going all-in on a primary challenge against Rep. Thomas Massie. But will it work? It's an open question for Northern Kentucky Republicans, who are anticipating a GOP primary challenger to step up and get the support — both rhetorical and monetary — of Trump and his network. The president has promised to 'be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard' against Massie, lambasting the congressman as 'lazy,' disloyal and 'nonproductive.' 'He votes, 'NO!' on everything, because he thinks it makes him cool, but he's not cool, he's a LOSER,' Trump wrote on social media earlier this week. A political action committee, 'MAGA KY,' has been set up specifically to beat Massie in 2026, with members of the Trump network ready to lead the charge. No candidate has been publicly tapped by the president or his network as of yet. Dating back to Trump's first term, the president's feud with Massie is nothing new — it's notable, though, that the president has endorsed him as recently as 2022 — but it's reached a fever pitch in the last few months. Massie was one of the lone Republicans to stand against Trump's budget bill on the grounds that it spent too much, and the 4th Congressional District representative's opposition to the Trump administration's actions in Iran resulted in Trump's most recent tirade. If voters like Charlie Coleman, a former local elected official in Campbell County, are any indication, then Massie might be in trouble. Coleman has supported Massie in several previous election cycles, even visiting the congressman's farm to pick up yard signs in 2020. Now, he says he's likely to support a primary challenger if the challenger gets the president's backing. 'I like Thomas personally, but I'm not supporting his position,' Coleman said. 'To be a part of a team, you gotta follow your leadership. I support the president, and I wish Thomas did.' But few think Massie will be a pushover, even if he draws Trump's full firepower. The congressman and his allies think his brand in the district — and among a nationwide group of grassroots donors — is strong enough to weather the storm. Massie told the Herald-Leader earlier this week that his name ID among GOP voters in the district is in the mid-70s, a pretty high mark for a congressman. He didn't discount Trump's popularity in the district, but said it would be tough to erode his own support among voters who already know him and, based on his electoral results, like him. 'If I were running against Donald Trump, I'd be in trouble. It'd be a fair fight and he might even have the upper hand,' Massie told the Herald-Leader. 'The thing is, I'm not running against Donald Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump aren't moving to the district I'm running (in). 'I'm going to be running against somebody nobody's ever heard of, and I've got enough name ID and brand right now that somebody's gonna have to work really hard to erode that.' State Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, is among Massie's closest allies in Frankfort. She was among the first of many legislators in the state GOP's unofficial 'Liberty' wing, a group that often aligns with and receives political support from Massie. She thinks the type of voter that Coleman represents is off base. The more common reaction to the latest in the long-running tiff between Trump and Massie, she said, is like that of someone watching two friends fight. While they still love both of their friends, they think one of them is in the right. 'Folks will say, 'I love our president, but he's wrong about Thomas Massie,'' Maddox said. 'Overwhelmingly, I believe they support him.' There's also the problem of finding a suitable challenger. Maddox pointed to the most recent primary contenders who tried to run 'to the Trump' of Massie. None of them netted more than 19%, even in 2020 when Trump was the sitting president and he was upset with Massie's alleged 'grandstanding' over forcing an in-person vote during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of those challengers have gone on to achieve political success. 'Effectively, they are going to alienate themselves from any future aspirations they may have in this congressional district and beyond,' Maddox said. 'History is very foreboding.' Some Democrats in the region agree that finding a challenger will prove difficult. Marisa McNee, a Kenton County resident and former spokesperson for the Kentucky Democratic Party, said that there's a coalition issue: The Republican Party in the region is still split between more establishment Republicans who don't actually like Trump, or Massie and Trump supporters who, by and large, support Massie. She referred to those 'establishment,' largely business-oriented Republicans as 'chamber Republicans' after the chamber of commerce. 'The chamber Republicans are deeply hated by MAGA world. They're just not aligned. You'd have to find someone who's comfortable in one world and palatable to the other,' McNee said. 'That's the game they're trying to play, and that's why it's tricky.' That group of chamber Republicans has largely disliked Massie for a while, she said. But an embrace of Trump from one of their ranks would likely come across as disingenuous. 'If you hate Massie, do you like Trump? I don't know anyone who fits in that category, personally,' McNee said. Adam Koenig, a former Northern Kentucky state representative, 'can't stand' Thomas Massie. 'He's ineffective. He's a waste of space, to be perfectly frank,' Koenig said. 'He does no constituent services. He doesn't meet with a lot of people. I believe his support is not even a mile wide, but it's definitely not an inch deep.' Koenig served for more than a decade in the General Assembly before he was taken out in a wave of successful Massie-backed primary challengers in 2022. He said Massie's lack of tangible accomplishments for the district might play well for an opponent. 'You'd like to think that someone could run a race on 'The man has never done anything. Where else could you get paid $180-some thousand a year and have no accomplishments but keep your job,'' Koenig said. Speculation over who might heed Trump's call to take Massie down has abounded in the weeks since the president's first tilt with the congressman. The two names most circulated are state Sen. Aaron Reed, R-Shelbyville, and state Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill. Neither has responded to requests for comment from the Herald-Leader. When national outlet Axios first floated Reed's name he responded by calling it 'fake news.' However, the Navy Seal veteran and gun store owner has very publicly praised Trump's actions in the Middle East and interacted on social media with the same Trump-aligned consultant promising to lead the charge against Massie. When that consultant, former Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris Lacivita, posted a photo of a soldier throwing a frag grenade, Reed responded 'that move looks familiar.' Some hoping to unseat Massie think activation of more affluent suburban areas of the district like Oldham and Shelby counties outside of Louisville, where Reed is from, could serve to moderate the primary electorate. Two prominent Oldham County politicians signaled to the Herald-Leader that they would not jump in the race: Attorney General Russell Coleman and former AG and current U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Cameron. A Coleman spokesperson told the Herald-Leader 'he is going to serve the full term he was elected to,' which runs out in 2027. Cameron's spokesperson said he was 'focused on (the) Senate.' Scott Jennings, a Republican public relations executive whose pundit role on CNN has catapulted him to stardom during the Trump era, has been mentioned as a possibility, though most of the chatter has centered around a potential run for U.S. Senate. Massie believes that the most effective challenger would be a person without much a voting record, whose views on the issues are therefore more malleable and less easy to pin down for attack ads. Koenig did not have any prescription for a formula to bridge the worlds of 'establishment' and MAGA, but as someone who has previously been courted to run against Massie he said the money will absolutely be there. 'The money is ready for someone viewed as legit. You've just gotta find someone who's viewed as legit,' Koenig said. Massie hinted that he could raise up to $10 million if put through the ringer of a competitive Trump-backed primary. Trump's attacks have largely boosted his grassroots fundraising, he says. According to a post on social media, Massie raised more than $154,000 from Sunday to Wednesday and has about $1.5 million on hand. He also mentioned super PAC money. It's possible, some have speculated, that a Massie supporter who also happens to be the richest man in the world might help. Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has shown love for Massie on his social media platform, X, where the congressman has 1.3 million followers. Musk, a similarly science-minded spending hawk, has had his own issues with Trump in recent weeks following a stint where he led Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. Though Musk helped power Trump's reelection with huge outside spending efforts, he announced plans to cut back on such political spending last month. Even if there is a spending gap between Massie and his opponent, state Rep. Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, the Massie ally who unseated Koenig, thinks the money won't matter. 'People have known him for the 12 years that he's been in office and they've seen how he's fought against the party all the time; I mean, he was instrumental in taking John Boehner out as speaker' Doan said. 'And even when the whole Republican Party structure tries to clap back at Thomas, he seems to survive it.'
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Q&A: Rep. Thomas Massie on ‘living rent-free' in Trump's head, Iran and GOP primary
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie's opposition to President Donald Trump's strikes against Iranian nuclear sites has left him on something of an island among his Republican colleagues in Washington. It's also made him significantly more famous, attracted thousands in campaign donations, and resulted in the most serious threat against Massie's political career yet from Trump himself. The president, in a lengthy post to social media Sunday, called him 'weak' and 'ineffective.' 'Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,' Trump posted. 'Actually, MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him.' Massie recently filed a war powers resolution in an attempt to block the U.S. from involvement in a war that had at first involved only Iran and Israel. The administration went ahead Saturday and bombed three Iranian nuclear development sites, attacks that elicited Iranian retaliation Monday in the form of missiles fired at a U.S. military base in Qatar. Late Monday, Trump claimed that a ceasefire had been brokered between all parties. The spat between Trump and Massie is just the latest in a long history of conflict between the two. Massie has held his Northern Kentucky-centric congressional office since winning office in 2012, but the increased severity of the comments from Trump has many in Kentucky and Washington wondering: Could a Trump-endorsed candidate beat Massie in a GOP primary? Massie thinks not. 'If I were running against Donald Trump, I'd be in trouble. It'd be a fair fight and he might even have the upper hand,' Massie said. 'The thing is, I'm not running against Donald Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump aren't moving to the district I'm running (in). 'I'm going to be running against somebody nobody's ever heard of, and I've got enough name ID and brand right now that somebody's gonna have to work really hard to erode that.' The congressman shared his increasing concern about the war in Iran, the state of the Republican party and more in a wide-ranging interview with the Herald-Leader Monday afternoon, saying history won't 'look kindly on Donald Trump for doing this.' He also revealed the substance of his interaction with Trump during a recent meeting of the House Republican caucus, where he claims Trump went on a long rant about the superiority of his genetics versus Massie's. Hours after Massie spoke with the Herald-Leader, Trump declared that a ceasefire deal had been reached. As of Monday evening, Iranian officials said that no such deal had been struck 'as of now.' The following interview was lightly edited for length and clarity: H-L: We're talking now as Iran is retaliating against the US with strikes targeted at a military base in Qatar. What's your response? What are you thinking in this moment? TM: Well, it was never really Trump's decision as to whether this was going to be a limited engagement. It was always Iran's. It depended on their response. And I guess the good news here is even if they're somehow able to stifle my war powers resolution — which might get a vote as early as July 14 — the War Powers Act that everybody is citing as the authority for Trump to carry out the initial attack requires him to withdraw from all hostilities within 60 days if he doesn't get a positive vote from Congress. So, the irony of this is he's likely to be back at Congress asking for a vote in the next couple months. H-L: Is there anything about this situation that could change, within reason, that would get you to a yes vote or to support further engagement in Iran? TM: No, the longer this goes on, the more I'll be opposed to it. You know, there's a big contingency within Trump's coalition that were on board because he didn't start a new war in his last presidency, and we were under the impression he wouldn't start a war under his second presidency, and I would include in that coalition (Vice President) JD Vance and (Director of National Intelligence) Tulsi Gabbard, who obviously now have jobs to do and can't be as vocal as they would be otherwise. There's a big coalition here. I think he's cleaving right down the middle the base that got him elected. H-L: I've heard you make those comments before about growing anti-interventionist strain within the party. If it is such a big strain, why are you on an island right now as the only person taking a strong stand against this within the party? Is everyone else just afraid of pushback from the president? TM: I think they're afraid of pushback from the president, and I think they're afraid of AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee). You know, as we shop my war powers resolution for co-sponsors, my staff hears from other staff that the other members are concerned about upsetting AIPAC. I would point out there is one outlier to to your observation, and that's Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is all-in opposing the war with Iran. H-L: This isn't the first time you've been opposed to the president in a high-profile manner, and you've said in previous iterations of the conflict that it would 'blow over.' Do you still think this feud between you and Trump will blow over? TM: I think the difference now is there are people who think they can make money on the feud. Allegedly, two of his campaign people are going to work for a super PAC to try to take me out. If they can find donors for that effort, I'm sure they'll find somebody who will run for Congress and convince them to do it, but it's going to be an uphill battle for that person. These aren't exact numbers, but the last poll we did, my (favorable/unfavorable) in the district was like 62-12. They have to change a lot of minds and/or get a lot of people to vote that don't normally vote, and they're trying to do that in a midterm when people are going to be even more disengaged. H-L: Speaking of polling, you probably saw the one they put out that said 52% would support a Trump-backed candidate that wasn't you versus 23% that support you. What do you make of that? TM: That's a poll that is commissioned to talk somebody into running against me, and we have screenshots of what we think is the same poll. What they do is they ask, 'would you vote for Massie and would you vote for somebody running against him?' Then they run this whole battery of negative information and they ask the question again. Unless they show you the poll and all the questions on it, I think you should take it with a grain of salt. My advice to anybody who's thinking about running, especially if they're going to spend six months or a year of their life and some of their own money, is to go out and pay for their own poll before they let somebody talk them into running based on that poll, because the 52-23 is very far off of any poll we've ever done. H-L: It's not a small thing to rail against the president. He's the de facto leader of your party and this is arguably his biggest moment yet. Why pick this fight now? TM: I don't pick the fights. The fights pick me. I have been consistently, since the day I got here, against more war in the Middle East. This is a flip-flop on the part of President Trump. I'm staying the course, and he's done a 180. H-L: Do you agree or disagree that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon? I don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but I don't think you can go around and bomb everybody that's developing a capability you don't like. I mean, the message to Iran now, and especially after Libya, is if you don't get a nuclear weapon, you will get bombed at some point, and any country who has a nuclear weapon is not going to get bombed. I think it increases the appetite of these countries that have the industrial means to develop a weapon to do so, and we're going to be chasing our tails. In five years, you're probably going to be able to type into AI, particularly one that's not regulated, 'What's the easiest way to build a nuclear weapon given the facilities that I have' and it will give you an answer better than any team of engineers could give you. Does that mean we can start bombing anybody who has AI because it brings the time to develop a nuclear weapon down from five years to five months? it's just it's not a sustainable foreign policy to bomb everybody that has military capabilities that you don't approve of. H-L: Should the U.S. then just accept it as an inevitability that most countries with resources will have a nuke in the near future? TM: It's an inevitability that there will be countries who can be six months away from a nuclear weapon just simply by being first-world countries. More and more countries are going to be able to threaten us, and in response to that we should be strengthening, for instance, our own missile defense systems or our own borders. H-L: Whatever side of this that you're on, I think everybody would agree that right now is an historic moment. How do you think history will see your actions? TM: I don't think history is going to look kindly on Donald Trump for doing this. I don't know that history will remember me. It didn't work out, historically, for George Bush to lose 4,492 soldiers in Iraq, and I think that's what Trump is flirting with here, which is absolutely ruining his legacy and tying himself up so much that he can't get things done domestically. H-L: Who do you think will run against you? What do you make of the two names — (state Rep.) Kim Moser and (state Sen.) Aaron Reed — that have been floating around? TM: I think if I were recruiting somebody to run against me, I would look for somebody who doesn't have a voting record. If you want to beat a politician, you should run somebody against him who's not one. There's already somebody in the race, by the way, and they're going to have to try to talk that person out of the race, I guess. I guarantee it's not the one they want. (Niki Lee Ethington, a registered nurse from Taylorsville, filed paperwork to run against Massie as a Republican in March of this year.) H-L: What about your situation? TM: Just looking at my own situation right now, almost every cycle, I go into the cycle with only $200,000 in the bank. Then if I get a real race, I have to raise a million. On our last finance report, I had like $1.3 million, and we've, we've raised $100,000 in the last 24 hours. Every time Trump attacks me, we've raised $100,000, $50,000 – we raised $370,000 earlier this year, inside of a week. The problem is that he gives oxygen to me when he attacks me. I've posted everything he's said about me, because, this is his problem: He gives me more status every time he attacks me. Dogs don't bark at parked cars. You can't say at the same time that I'm irrelevant to the discussion in Washington, D.C., and then acknowledge that I'm living rent-free in the president's head. He told our conference, in front of 200 other congressmen, he said something like this: He goes 'Is Massie here?' and I raised my hand, and he said, 'You know the thing about Massie, he's very much like (Sen.) Rand Paul. You can never get him to vote for anything. They're both from Kentucky, and they have the same hair.' And then he goes, 'Actually, I like Massie's hair better.' And then he goes into this thing about MIT. He said, 'You know, my uncle — it's in front of 200 Republicans — my uncle was Professor John G. Trump. He went to MIT. He was there 41 years – it's a record I've got. And you know, I went to Wharton, which is the hardest school to get into, and so my genetics are better than Tom Massie's.' He spent 15 minutes of his hour-and-a-half speech, it felt like, speaking about me in front of our entire conference. I think what annoys him is what I say is true, and I'm not wavering, and he can't bully me. He's been able to bully just about everybody here. H-L: So what's he doing then? TM: His motivations are different from the consultants who are going to make money on this race, but what he's doing by attacking me is keeping the other horses in the barn. He knows I'm not going to change my position. It's a warning shot. Just take the first horse that gets out of the barn, give it a flogging and let the other horses watch. This is like the warden at the prison: The first inmate goes over the wall, you beat the crap out of him. The problem is he hasn't caught this inmate yet. H-L: Let's say Trump really does follow through on his threat to go to the district and really rally around a single candidate. Do you think, honestly, that your brand is stronger than Trump's in the district? TM: I mean, we know the numbers on this. We know them down to a percent. He's got more name ID, obviously. He's got 99% name ID, and the other 1% of respondents made a mistake on the poll. Mine is, like, probably mid-70s name ID, which is really high for a U.S. congressman, and we're talking about Republican primary voters. If I were running against Donald Trump, I'd be in trouble. It'd be a fair fight and he might even have the upper hand. The thing is, I'm not running against Donald Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump aren't moving to the district I'm running (in). I'm going to be running against somebody nobody's ever heard of, and I've got enough name ID and brand right now that somebody's gonna have to work really hard to erode that. H-L: The PAC circling the race is claiming they'll spend 'whatever it takes.' Do you think you can withstand a huge spend? TM: A Trump endorsement can dry up all the money for most candidates, but guess what? That ain't working on me. He's increased my notoriety and people appreciate it, even people who support Donald Trump. This gets to your question about whose brand is better. There are people who love Donald Trump and who love me, even though he's attacking me and I've got a fundraising base of thousands of donors nationally who don't give two wits if Donald Trump endorsed me. In fact, some of them would give me more money if Donald Trump's on the other side. If I could sit down and have coffee with the person they recruit to run against me, I would tell them two things: one, 'Please do your own poll before they drag you and your family through this for a year.' Number two would be, 'You do realize I can raise millions of dollars? Like, there will be super PACs for me.' The third thing would be, 'Go talk to the last three people who tried it,' because I think in those cases, sometimes what happens is the promised support and things that never materialized. H-L: What about $20 million? TM: At $20 million, there's a sanity question here. Who's going to spend $20 million when you're looking at midterms, where $20 million could mean the difference between a majority and not a majority? Trump gets impeached in the instance of not a majority. I would say this: If each side spends $10 million, or if one side spends $10 million and the other side spends $20 million, you're saturating the airwaves. You're on Hulu and the Disney Channel at that point. It's hard to move the needle with the next $10 million. I don't know if I could raise $20 million, but I could win if somebody spends $20 million and I spend $10 million. H-L: Win or lose, your notoriety has increased tremendously over the last week, let alone year, let alone five years. Are there any other offices that interest you right now? Any chance you'll be on the ballot for, say, governor in 2027 or Senate in 2028? TM: I don't think I would run for Senate. It's the same circus with different monkeys. I would consider running for governor. H-L: Even if Jamie Comer (representative for Kentucky's 1st Congressional District) runs? TM: I don't know. I'd probably talk to Jamie. He and I are good friends. He is absolutely the person from Kentucky in the House I talk to the most. H-L: Let's say Trump does go all-in. And let's say you pull it out. You beat the chosen candidate. Trump makesan in-person appearance or two with this person, they get a bunch of money from a Kentucky MAGA, the new PAC. What would that mean for Trump's political standing and legacy? TM: I think it'd be a blow to him, and it would elevate me. I think ultimately, that's the one reason Trump might not pull the trigger is because he hates to lose. I think it's why he didn't pull the trigger in 2020 and in 2022 I think it's why he endorsed me. He is worried about his political legacy and he hates to lose, and if somebody got in this race and wasn't doing well, Trump would blame them and throw them under the bus because he's worried about his legacy. I'm not that worried about mine — politically anyway.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lexington council approves $540 million city budget. Here's what's in it
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council unanimously passed a $540.2 million spending plan Thursday that includes money to improve sidewalks, millions for sewer system renovations and raises for most city employees. The budget is for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and includes no tax increases. It is the largest budget in the city's history, up 7% from two years ago, which was the first time the budget surpassed $500 million. Mayor Linda Gorton's budget proposal included $28.2 million for improvements to the city sewer system; 3% raises for all non-union city employees; $19.2 million for street improvement projects, like connecting sidewalks and installing new traffic lights; and $3.4 million for new snow plows and street salt. The council added nearly $1 million in additional spending. It added five positions, including an additional social worker for Lexington's Community Paramedicine Program and a deputy director of accounting. The total cost to add that staff is $305,508.32. Most of that money comes from decreasing spending in other budgeted areas, like lowering the cost of allotted overtime for the fire department. Gorton's budget included funding for 16.5 new positions. With council changes, the new budget has money for 21.5 new positions. 'I am always concerned when positions are added because the cost of salaries and benefits will continue in future budgets,' Gorton told the Herald-Leader. Last year, Gorton vetoed personnel expenses added by the council, but that was ultimately overridden. Gorton doesn't plan to make any vetoes this year, spokeswoman Susan Straub said. City council also added $500,000 to the budget for Lextran, the city's bus service, to run two pilot programs. The downtown connector pilot program will run a bus on weekends from 4 p.m. through midnight connecting downtown to the distillery district. A second pilot program will test micro-transit, a government-funded rideshare service — like Uber or Lyft — for trips where Lextran buses don't go. The budget uses $18 million in bonding or borrowing, the smallest debt since the COVID pandemic. That includes $6.2 million for new city, police and road management vehicles, and $3 million to design a new training facility for the Lexington Fire Department. The budget includes $14 million for paving, the same amount as last year's budget.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A medical marijuana dispensary could soon be opening at this Lexington location
In our In the Spotlight stories, Herald-Leader journalists bring you continuing coverage of news and events important to our Central Kentucky community. Read more. Story idea? hlcityregion@ A former Frisch's Big Boy in Lexington's popular Hamburg shopping district could soon be the site of a medical marijuana dispensary complete with a drive-thru and knowledgeable budtenders ready to answer questions. That's according to Casey Flippo and Sean Clarkson, the two Arkansas entrepreneurs behind the project, who spoke to the Herald-Leader in a June 3 interview. In 2021, the two founded Dark Horse Cannabis, where Flippo is the CEO, and Clarkson, the chief financial officer. The establishment comes as the private sector mobilizes following Kentucky's launch of a medical marijuana program earlier this year. The state's Office of Medical Cannabis has awarded limited but transferable licenses for production and sales, and as of Jan. 1, qualifying Kentuckians can apply for a medical cannabis card. Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Kentucky. Flippo said the process for demolishing the interior of the former restaurant, situated in a shopping center between Sir Barton Way and Man O' War Boulevard, has already begun. It's located at 1849 Alysheba Way. 'We have been seeking permitting approval with the city of Lexington,' Flippo told the Herald-Leader, adding the plan is to 'open the doors mid-November at that facility.' The 5,500-square-foot dispensary wants to offer 'compassionate care' discounts to qualifying patients, Flippo said. There's also potential to accept online orders for pick up via the drive-thru, so patients 'never have to get out of the car,' Clarkson added. 'It's a quick and easy process for our patients, especially those that are handicapped in some way, or elderly,' Clarkson said. Clarkson anticipates patients will likely want to meet with dispensary staff in-store at least initially after its opening for questions about products and their use. 'As they're getting familiar with the product availability, they're going to want to talk to budtenders,' Clarkson said. 'I believe that we will probably end up employing somewhere between 30 and 40 individuals,' at the site, Flippo added. The idea is for staff to be 'extremely knowledgeable about the medicinal applications and appropriate use of the cannabis that's being dispensed,' Flippo said. That said, there will likely be many obstacles to clear before the business can open its doors to the public. 'It's historically pretty challenging to prop up cannabis markets' quickly, Flippo said. Chief among the obstacles: finding a supplier who can stock the dispensary's shelves with products. Kentucky's medical cannabis program only allows for edibles, oils, tinctures, vapes and raw plant material. State law requires the plant material, which must be produced and tested in the commonwealth, to be vaped — not smoked. Raw plant material packaged in Kentucky must be labeled 'not intended for consumption by smoking.' State rules also require medical marijuana cultivators to stand up secure, indoor facilities for growing, cultivating and harvesting the plants. The state's first medical cannabis cultivator broke ground on a facility in Monticello this spring. In Winchester, Cresco Labs cut the ribbon in April on a cultivation facility that promises to be the one of the state's largest. Phase one construction on that facility, which includes a 5,000-foot plant canopy, is expected to be completed by the fall. 'We believe … that the market should be set to open sometime in late Q4 of this year,' Flippo said, adding his dispensary is targeting an opening during that window. KYLX Acquisition Company LLC now holds the state license for the dispensary planned at 1849 Alysheba Way in Lexington. KYLX recently acquired it from ZenLeaf LLC, which was the original licensee awarded via a state lottery held last year. Kentucky held series of state-run lotteries last fall to award medical cannabis business licenses. The lottery to award Fayette County's two dispensary licenses was held in December. In April, Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball announced a probe into the lottery process amid ongoing concerns out-of-state companies with deep pockets were able to flood it with applications, thus tilting it in their favor. Dark Horse was identified as one of those companies in a series by Louisville Public Media, which also found Clarkson had ties to 350 of the new businesses created in the month leading up to the application deadline. Asked for his response to concerns about too few Kentucky hemp farmers being awarded licenses, Flippo said he was 'very sympathetic' to those who did not win, especially given the application fees were thousands of dollars and were not refundable. Ultimately though, Flippo defended the process for awarding the business licenses. 'Our experience with the [Office of Medical Cannabis] and the governor's office was nothing short of spectacular. I think that they put a phenomenal program together,' Flippo said. In working with the Office of Medical Cannabis, Flippo said, 'I would argue that it's probably one of the most successful cannabis market launches in the U.S.' Herald-Leader reporter Janet Patton contributed to this story. Do you have a question about Lexington or Kentucky for our service journalism team? We'd like to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@
