You’re reading part of our 2026 LINK nky Readers’ Choice Awards. Explore the full guide, including winners for food & drink, shopping, services and more here. It was always Jeff and Mandy Kaplan’s dream to own a restaurant. Now they do, less than three miles from where they live. Jeff and Mandy met 30 years ago when he was working […]
Author Archives: Kenton Hornbeck
Kenton is a reporter for LINK nky.
Email him at khornbeck@linknky.com
Twitter.
Posted inCulture
New NKY Regional Trails Plan maps out 934 miles of trails across Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties
What you need to know After years of preparation and planning, regional officials unveiled the NKY Regional Trails Plan – a comprehensive master plan outlining a network of paved and natural-surface trails spanning Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties. The plan, developed with input from 45 local governments, nonprofit leaders, and economic stakeholders, promotes a “braided […]
Posted inNews
Boone County to study whether street-legal UTVs should be allowed on county roads
What you need to know Boone County Commissioner Chet Hand asked fiscal court staff to formally evaluate the possibility of allowing street-legal utility terrain vehicles on certain county roads. Hand, who made the inquiry during the Boone County Fiscal Court meeting on Tuesday, cited multiple instances of when members of the public advocated for expanded […]
Posted inNews
Boone County unveils transportation plan to guide growth through 2050
What you need to know Boone County has updated its countywide transportation plan for the first time since 2017. When the previous plan was released, county officials concentrated on developing local infrastructure to support increased commercial and residential growth. This time, their focus shifted to managing the growth that had already occurred. The update was […]
Posted inNews
Florence Juneteenth celebration connects community to history and culture
What you need to know Florence and the Black community are intertwined through a history rooted in the establishment of early freedmen’s communities following the emancipation of slavery. The city is home to the First Baptist African American Church, founded in 1870 by the Trustees of the Colored Baptist Association. The church had an active […]
Posted inCulture
Boone County preservation plan aims to safeguard history while guiding future growth
What you need to know From Boone County’s Ohio River valley to its rolling hills, the county is peppered with landmarks and buildings that mark its significance to the region’s history. Boone County contains more than 1,600 historic buildings, nearly 600 archaeological sites, over 225 cemeteries, and more than 100 properties listed on the National […]
Posted inNews
Drees’ 224-unit Hebron townhome project advances in rezoning process
What you need to know Drees Homes, a Fort Mitchell-based homebuilder, is seeking to build a 224-unit townhome complex off North Bend Road in the Hebron area. The homebuilder first introduced its proposal to the Boone County Planning Commission at a public hearing on June 3. Fast-forward to Wednesday, June 17, when the planning commission’s […]
Posted inNews
Florence approves second Planet Fitness to account for growing demand
What you need to know The City of Florence will be getting a second Planet Fitness after the city council voted to approve a proposal from Midwest Fitness Partners, a company that operates dozens of gyms across the country. The city council approved an ordinance on Tuesday, authorizing the development of a two-story, approximately 33,000-square-foot […]
Posted inNews
Another Nine aims to make golf more accessible as indoor franchise expands
What you need to know Another Nine co-founders Ethan Grob and Brett Jewell started their business with the goal of increasing accessibility to the game of golf, a sport that’s traditionally notorious for high up-front costs. From 2019 to 2025, the participation base has grown by 41%, with the sport approaching 50 million total participants, […]
Posted inBusiness
Layoffs, lost sales & stalled growth: The toll of Ohio’s THC drink ban and how Kentucky is benefiting
What you need to know Fifty West Brewing CEO Bobby Slattery said his Cincinnati brewery has lost millions of dollars in revenue opportunities since Ohio prohibited the sale of hemp-derived THC beverages outside of licensed cannabis dispensaries earlier this year. In late 2024, Fifty West launched its line of hemp-derived THC beverages, Sunflower, which generated […]