LINK nky Frankfort Correspondent Rebecca Hanchett is new to LINK Media, but she’s not new to Northern Kentucky.
Much of her family still lives in Grant County, where her grandfather, Lester Mullins, was active in regional NKY politics. Hanchett spent her early years in Florence, where her family lived while her father served with the Northern Kentucky Area Development District. When her dad took a job with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the family moved to Lexington where Hanchett attended public school and college.
A University of Kentucky alum with a bachelor’s in journalism, Hanchett began her professional career as a news reporter in London and Richmond, Kentucky. She eventually left the newspaper world in the late 1990s for Frankfort, where she was hired as an assistant public information officer at the Legislative Research Commission.
Hanchett covered more than 20 legislative sessions and five gubernatorial administrations for the commission over more than two decades. Her work earned dozens of state writing awards through the Kentucky Association of Government Communicators, which she served as president in 2018.Â
Hanchett took early retirement from the LRC in 2020 to start a freelance journalism career. She comes to LINK nky after two and half years as a nationally published legislative writer covering the sports betting industry for Catena Media.Â
Covering the 2024 Kentucky General Assembly is a welcome challenge, Hanchett said. The 2024 legislative session begins Tuesday, Jan. 2.Â
Readers can send tips and information to rhanchett@linknky.com.