States Newsroom launches Kentucky Lantern

States Newsroom, the nation’s leading network of state-based nonprofit news outlets, has launched the Kentucky Lantern to provide free, high-quality, non-partisan reporting on the crucial issues affecting the Bluegrass State. With the launch of the Kentucky Lantern, States Newsroom now has 31 outlets and provides state news coverage to over 60% of the country.

Jamie Lucke will lead the Lantern’s newsroom as editor-in-chief. Lucke has more than 40 years of experience as a journalist in four states. In 2012, Lucke received the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Walker Stone Award for her editorials in the Lexington Herald-Leader. She has also been the recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi and Green Eyeshade awards. Her work has been honored by the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation, the National Mental Health Association, the Alabama Education Association, and the Muscoda (Alabama) Improvement Association. She grew up in Morehead and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

Additional members of the Kentucky Lantern’s newsroom include:

• Sarah Ladd, Reporter: Ladd is based in Louisville. The Kentucky native has been the recipient of many state and national awards and was on a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist team for the coverage of the protests over Breonna Taylor’s death by police. In her previous role as a reporter for the Courier Journal in Louisville, Ladd reported on racial justice protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the abortion debate. A West Kentucky Community and Technical College and the University of Kentucky graduate, Ladd is currently completing a master of fine arts in writing at Spalding University.
• Liam Niemeyer, Reporter: Most recently the assistant news director at WKMS Public Radio in Murray, Niemeyer has won two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and two first place awards from the Kentucky Broadcasters Association for his coverage on agriculture, infrastructure, diversity and culture in rural communities. Niemeyer previously worked as a journalist at radio stations in Alaska, Wyoming and his home state of Ohio. He is a graduate of Ohio University.
• McKenna Horsley, Reporter: Horsley was previously a reporter at The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Virginia, where she covered local government. The Kentucky native also spent time as an education reporter for The State Journal in Frankfort. She has been honored by both state press associations. She grew up in Greenup County in northeastern Kentucky and graduated from the University of Kentucky where she was the Kentucky Kernel’s managing editor. She is pursuing a master of fine arts degree in writing from Spalding University.

“We are excited to launch our 31st outlet and to have an award-winning team join our network to help provide high-quality, unbiased reporting,” said Chris Fitzsimon, director and publisher of States Newsroom. “Lucke and her all-star team will focus on the most important issues and stories coming out of Frankfort.”

The launch of the Kentucky Lantern comes after Pew Research Center cited States Newsroom and other nonprofit newsrooms as key to filling the void in statehouse coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to Pew, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.

Last year, States Newsroom announced major plans to expand its footprint to have independent newsrooms in roughly 40 states and launched News from the States, a comprehensive source for statehouse news across the country. Recently, the organization expanded its reach by launching new content-sharing partnerships with eight independent nonprofit outlets, including The Texas Tribune, to host their reporting on News from the States.

States Newsroom, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is funded by the generous contributions of readers and philanthropists. States Newsroom is committed to supporting fact-based, non-partisan news to the public at no cost and ad-free.

Other States Newsroom affiliates and partners are:

• Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com
• Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com
• Arizona Mirror – azmirror.com
• Colorado Newsline – coloradonewsline.com
• Florida Phoenix – floridaphoenix.com
• Georgia Recorder – georgiarecorder.com
• Idaho Capital Sun – idahocapitalsun.com
• Indiana Capital Chronicle – indianacapitalchronicle.com
• Iowa Capital Dispatch – iowacapitaldispatch.com
• Kansas Reflector – kansasreflector.com
• Louisiana Illuminator – lailluminator.com
• Maine Beacon – mainebeacon.com
• Maryland Matters – marylandmatters.org
• Michigan Advance – michiganadvance.com
• Minnesota Reformer – minnesotareformer.com
• Missouri Independent – missouriindependent.com
• Daily Montanan – dailymontanan.com
• Nebraska Examiner – nebraskaexaminer.com
• Nevada Current – nevadacurrent.com
• New Hampshire Bulletin – newhampshirebulletin.com
• New Jersey Monitor – newjerseymonitor.com
• Source New Mexico – sourcenm.com
• NC Policy Watch – ncpolicywatch.com
• Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com
• Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com
• Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com
• South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com
• Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com
• Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com
• Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com

In addition to its network of 31 state-based outlets, States Newsroom has content-sharing agreements with eight leading nonprofit newsrooms: CommonWealth (Massachusetts), Connecticut Mirror, Honolulu Civil Beat (Hawaii), Mountain State Spotlight (West Virginia), Mississippi Today, Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont), and WyoFile (Wyoming).