Last week in NKY local government, Covington set up an affordable housing committee, Newport Schools’ bade farewall to its superintendent and Sen. Rand Paul heard concerns from local leaders. Keep reading to find out what happened in local government over the past week and what you need to know for this week. What happened last […]
Author Archives: Nathan Granger
Posted inNews
Sen. Rand Paul hosts community forum with local leaders
United States Sen. Rand Paul hosted a community forum with regional leaders Friday morning to discuss issues pertinent to the region and hear concerns from local communities. Paul fielded questions at Covington City Hall from the attendees while also expounding on his own policy platform and the state of the country generally. He began the […]
Posted inNews
Newport superintendent, school board agree to part ways
Tony Watts will conclude his role as the superintendent of Newport Independent Schools at the end of this school year after he and the district’s Board of Education agreed to mutually part ways. The board members and Watts came to the agreement after over two hours of deliberation in closed session at a special meeting […]
Posted inNews
Affordable housing alternatives in NKY: Tackling cost, supply
Matt Mains stood before the Kenton County Planning Commission in September. Mains, a development manager with Drees Homes, was seeking a zoning change that would allow for a development with homes priced between $350,000 and $550,000. He responded to pushback from commissioners, who felt the prices seemed too steep. “Right now it’s nearly impossible to […]
Posted inNews
Opposition to Site Readiness Initiative continues in Kenton County
Outcry against the possibility of more industrial development in the southern end of Kenton County, a comparatively rural part of the region, continued this week at the most recent meeting of the Kenton County Fiscal Court. “We are not going away,” said county resident Rhonda Shank at Tuesday’s meeting, encouraging the fiscal court members to […]
Posted inNews
Newport Schools cuts seven positions, keeps alternative school open
The Newport Board of Education voted to eliminate seven non-teaching staff positions at a special meeting Wednesday night. The vote came just a week after the district sent out non-renewal letters for 30 teaching jobs and one central office position in the face of ongoing financial troubles. The district’s alternative school, the Newport School of […]
Posted inNews
Sanders Development Group chosen as new developer for IRS site
Cincinnati-based Sanders Development Group will be the next developer for the Covington Central Riverfront site, located on the old site of the IRS building. This follows the approval of two development agreements Tuesday night. “With what the city invested, they were really intentional around creating a walkable community,” said Sanders Group Principal Robert Sanders (not […]
Posted inNews
Covington establishes committee on affordable housing development
This week, the Covington City Commission committed to two concrete actions to address the city’s affordable housing concerns. The first is to establish a committee that will issue recommendations to the city commission on housing. The second is to instruct the city manager to identify 10 city-owned properties for sale. The proceeds will fund efforts […]
Posted inNews
Covington calls for ‘status quo’ budget amid economic uncertainty
Covington kicked off its budget talks Saturday, with Mayor Ron Washington and City Manager Ken Smith urging a “status quo” approach as economic uncertainty looms. “With the current uncertainty of our federal government, there’s a lot of rumors or whatever that’s in the community,” Washington told the other meeting attendees at the beginning of the […]
Posted inNews
Ballots are secret, right? Inside the court case over ballot inspection
If you go down to the county clerk’s office and make a public records request, can you examine ballots cast in an election? A case moving through the Kentucky court system involving a Boone County resident aims to answer that question, and the most recent ruling in the case, made at the end of April […]