Kentucky
Violent holiday weekend sees mass shootings in Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky
CHICAGO (AP) — A shooting at a block party in Detroit left two people dead and more than a dozen wounded, capping a violent holiday weekend in the U.S. that also saw mass shootings in Kentucky and Chicago.
More than 100 people were shot in Chicago, 19 of them fatally, over the long Independence Day weekend, when there is often a spike in violence. One mass shooting Thursday in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, left two women and an 8-year-old boy dead. Two other children were also critically injured.
“We cannot take our eyes off the ball,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said at a Monday news conference. “We cannot stop thinking about the people who have been victimized by this crime.”
City officials announced plans for an emergency resource center to open Monday evening for people struggling with trauma, while Mayor Brandon Johnson blamed the pervasive violence on years of disinvestment and poverty, particularly in the city’s Black neighborhoods. Johnson, who took office last year, said Chicago has not received enough federal resources for victims and that he recently renewed a request for help.
The four-day weekend in Chicago saw a spike in violence compared with the same time period last year when 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded.
“We are losing a piece of the soul of Chicago,” Johnson said at the news conference. “We will not let criminal activity ruin and harm our city.”
In Detroit, two people were killed and 19 were wounded early Sunday in a shooting at an illegal block party on the city’s east side that was attended by more than 300 people, Detroit Police Chief James White said Monday during a news conference.
Nine weapons and more than 100 shell casings were found at the shooting scene, White said. Fifteen young women and six young men were shot and two of them died — a 20-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man, he said.
“You’ve got a multitude of people that are engaged in this behavior. This isn’t one suspect, one group being targeted. This is a group of people who are essentially engaged in a shootout,” White said.
Asked if Detroit has ever seen so many people injured in a single shooting, White said he wasn’t sure.
White announced Detroit’s new block party strategy, which includes the establishment of a response team that will specialize in making sure residents comply with the rules governing block parties. Police must now treat 911 calls about illegal block parties as “Priority 1” runs.
Mayor Mike Duggan said shootings occurred at six illegal block parties in Detroit over three days starting July 4, leaving 27 people wounded and three dead. He said nearly 40% of the shooting victims lived outside Detroit — some traveled as far as 50 miles (80 kilometers), lured to the parties through social media.
“This is not your neighbor’s family’s party got large. These are intentional pre-planned events looking to attract people from miles away,” Duggan said. “People are coming here carrying illegal weapons, planning to party into the wee hours of the evening believing that the neighbors and the Detroit Police Department will not the stop these lawless gatherings.”
Shootings during the holiday weekend also took place in California and Kentucky, where police say four people were killed and three others wounded in an early morning shooting during a party at a home. The shooting suspect later died after fleeing the home in Florence, Kentucky, and driving into a ditch during a police chase, authorities said. Florence is a city of about 36,000 people located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Cincinnati, Ohio.
See Triple Crown winners in Kentucky Derby history
Take a look at the 13 elite thoroughbreds who have claimed the ultimate prize in horse racing: the Triple Crown.
Intrepido is one of 20 horses expected to enter the 2026 Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
Spots for the Run for the Roses are earned by gaining points through a series of Kentucky Derby prep races that began last September.
The post-position draw for the Kentucky Derby is set for Saturday, April 25. Post time for the Kentucky Derby is set for 6:57 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.
Intrepido will enter the Kentucky Derby off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4. He currently ranks 17th on the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard with 38.
Buy tickets here for Kentucky Derby 152
Color: Bay.
Bred in: Kentucky.
Sire: Maximus Mischief.
Dam: Overly Indulgent, by Pleasantly Perfect.
Price tag: $385,000 at 2025 Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Owners: Dutch Girl Holdings (Michele Arthur); Irving Ventures (Ruben Isla). First Derby for both.
Trainer: Jeff Mullins. He’s 0 for 4 in the Derby, best finish with Buzzards Bay (fifth) in 2005.
Jockey: Hector Berrios. First Derby.
Record: 2-1-0 in six starts.
Career earnings: $342,800.
Road to the Kentucky Derby points: 38 (No. 17).
Last race: Fourth in Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4.
Running style: Has displayed early speed but raced off pace in Santa Anita Derby.
Notes: Intrepido has done all of his racing in California, winning as a 2-year old at Del Mar and Santa Anita. This year, he finished second in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis before heading to the Santa Anita Derby. … Mullins is in the Derby for the first time since 2005 but had the morning-line favorite in 2009 with I Want Revenge. He was scratched the morning of the race because of an ankle injury. … Intrepido is a ridgling, which means he has at least one undescended testicle.
What they’re saying: “I didn’t (expect that),” Mullins said after Intrepido worked a quick 47.4 seconds for four furlongs on April 19 at Santa Anita Park. “But we often get what we don’t expect.”
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.
Kentucky
Northern Kentucky Education Council honors NKY educators with 2026 Excellence in Education Awards
Sadiqa Reynolds was removed from the University of Louisville board of trustees last week, as the Kentucky Senate did not confirm her appointment before they adjourned the 2026 legislative session.
Reynolds, the former president of the Louisville Urban League, was appointed to a six-year term on the board last April by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
Under state law, gubernatorial appointees to boards must be confirmed by the state Senate during the subsequent legislative session in order to stay in that position. While the Republican supermajority filed and passed more than 50 resolutions to confirm appointees, none were filed to confirm Reynolds.
Reynolds told Kentucky Public Radio this week that she was not given any reason for why the Senate failed to confirm her, but suspected Republicans wanted her out due to her open criticism of the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in education by President Donald Trump and the legislature.
“Attacks on education are attacks on our democracy,” Reynolds said. “There is no honor in following the lead of Kentucky Republicans when they are hellbent on destroying any gains we have made in this country.”
Reynolds added that it was “a badge of honor” to be rejected by Senate Republicans.
“Fascists refused to confirm me,” she said. “One little woman with one voice. I have never felt more powerful.”
Asked why Republican leadership did not confirm Reynolds, a Senate GOP spokesperson replied that “there was no resolution filed by a Democrat or Republican for the Senate to consider.”
Republican senators — who make up 84% of the chamber — filed all of the 50-plus resolutions to confirm Beshear appointees. Only one Senate bill filed by a Democrat was passed into law this session.
Senate Democrats did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the chamber not confirming Reynolds.
Scottie Ellis, the spokesperson for Gov. Beshear, replied in a statement that Reynolds “is an accomplished leader and University of Louisville alumna who cares about the direction of the school and served on its Board of Trustees with pride and integrity. Her removal is the latest politically motivated move by the Republican-led General Assembly, who are ultimately hurting UofL and its students with this baseless action.”
Asked to comment on Reynolds’ removal from the board of trustees, U of L spokesman John Karman said it was “not our decision,” adding that “the university is appreciative of Trustee Reynolds for her service and grateful for her contributions as a member of the Board of Trustees.”
Reynolds was critical not just of the Trump administration’s actions targeting DEI initiatives, but legislation passed into law by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2025 to ban all DEI initiatives at public colleges. She added that she pushed the university not to “overcomply” with such efforts and challenge them legally, or “at least explain the impact of compliance to the legislators and to the public.”
“People are so afraid to ask questions and challenge them, and I was not afraid,” she said. “Republicans have heard what I said and didn’t like it.”
Reynolds was not the only Beshear appointee to not be confirmed by the Senate. Though Republicans filed a resolution to confirm Michael Abell to the Fish and Wildlife Resources Commission, they did not vote on it before the legislature adjourned.
Responding to Abell’s removal last week, Ellis said the Senate GOP “once again refused to confirm a commissioner nominated by the Kentucky sportsmen and appointed by the Governor. This is now the eighth time they have done so. Kentuckians should be very worried about the operations at Fish & Wildlife.”
Reynolds was formerly a judge and top aide to former Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, until she was named CEO of the Louisville Urban League in 2015. She left that position in 2022 to become CEO of the Perception Institute, a New York City think tank that counters bias and discrimination. Reynolds stepped down from that position last fall to focus fully on the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, a West End sports complex she pushed for while at the Urban League.
The Louisville Urban League president that succeeded Reynolds in 2022 was fired after four months, then filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit alleging she was wrongfully terminated for airing concerns about its finances and allegations of conflicts of interest involving the sports complex. A mistrial was declared in that case, and a new trial was granted last month.
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