“Laws have changed, rules have changed, and obviously the world has changed, and some of the disasters we’re seeing,” Kevin Vogelpohl told LINK nky before the Oct. 7 Florence City Council caucus meeting. “This is going to take a lot of the red tape out of it.” Vogelpohl, Boone County Emergency Management Director, was in […]
Author Archives: David S. Rotenstein
Posted inNews
Boone County needs foster parents
Boone County has 170 children in foster care, according to a briefing by Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services social services clinician Clyde Jamison. At the Oct. 7 Florence City Council caucus meeting, he briefed the members on foster care services in Kentucky and on local conditions in Boone County. Kentucky has 8,605 children […]
Posted inCulture
Showboat pioneer who borrowed famous name once called NKY home
What you need to know For most of his life, Ralph Emerson Gaches lived and worked along the Ohio River. He owned and operated showboats, including one that became the model for novelist Edna Ferber’s 1926 book (and later Broadway show and movie), Showboat. Dubbed the “Barnum of the rivers,” Gaches and his first wife […]
Posted inNews
Longtime Boone County leader Charlie Walton remembered
Charles “Charlie” Walton was a beloved Boone County resident who died Aug. 25 at age 78. Members of his family attended the Sept. 30 Boone County Fiscal Court meeting to receive state and county proclamations commemorating his contributions as a teacher, school administrator and elected official. “Recently, we lost a pillar of our community,” said […]
Posted inCulture
Florence officer opens home to child headed to foster care: ‘His prayers were answered’
In October 2024, Florence police officer Michael Stanaland and Corporal Kelli Chapman responded to a call to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. At the Sept. 23 Florence City Council meeting, Florence police chief Jeff Mallery presented Stanaland with a distinguished service award for what happened in the aftermath of the call. “Not […]
Posted inNews
Florence approves new tax rates, electric franchise ordinances
At its regular Sept. 23 business meeting, Florence City Council unanimously approved two ordinances, one establishing a bidding process for a non-exclusive electric franchise and the other lowering taxes for a second consecutive year. The electric franchise ordinance enables the city to solicit bids and award rights to electric utility companies to install and maintain […]
Posted inBusiness
Is Florence getting a Wawa?
Florence City Council discussed plans at its Sept. 23 meeting for a new Wawa food market and gas station. The proposed development, which is expected to be completed in 2027, is situated at the intersection of U.S. Highway 42 and Hopeful Church Road. Florence Director of Community Development Todd Morgan briefed council members on the […]
Posted inNews
Florence closes in on new electric franchise agreement
The City of Florence is one step closer to soliciting bids for a non-exclusive electric franchise for electricity infrastructure work inside the city’s transportation rights-of-way. In August, the Florence City Council discussed the electric franchise agreement and at its Sept. 16 special meeting, the council had its first reading of an ordinance to advertise the […]
Posted inNews
$100K in opioid settlement funds awarded to Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky
Florence City Council awarded the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, known as CHNK, $100,000 to address mental health issues and substance use disorders. CHNK Executive Director Rick Wurth accepted a symbolic oversized check from the council at its Aug. 26 regular business meeting. “There are two fundamental poisons in our groundwater as Kentuckians and these poisons […]
Posted inNews
Florence discusses plans to transform five East Side properties
Florence is reimagining its East Side, with City Administrator Joshua Hunt unveiling draft plans for five city-owned properties. Hunt briefed the Florence City Council at its Aug. 26 regular business meeting on upgrades to the properties. The discussion centered on proposed master plan improvements for five East Side properties. “Some of them we’ve owned for […]
