Kentucky

Here's how and why we made our Kentucky voter guide

Published

3 weeks ago

May 9, 2024

Press Room

Here's how and why we made our Kentucky voter guide

November elections get all the glory.

But this year more than half of the state races in Kentucky will be decided by the end of the primary election.

For some candidates, filing their paperwork to run has essentially secured them their office because no one else filed to run against them. In 20 races, the candidate who wins the primary will not face an opponent in the general election, meaning they’ll basically get the job.

Last year, however, only 14.5% of Kentucky’s registered voters cast a ballot in the primary.

Local, state and federal leaders are responsible for making decisions that directly impact people’s daily lives. We know Kentuckians care about the direction their state is headed and are eager to learn more about their elected leaders.

So we created a free, interactive voter guide to help Kentucky voters get informed about the candidates they’ll see on their ballots in May.

What’s in it?

The 2024 Voter Guide from Kentucky Public Radio includes the names, party affiliation, district and other official election information for every candidate you’ll see on your ballot.

In contested primary elections, we have a brief biography and some information about the candidates’ top priorities. We also chose five organizations that advocate for issues and policies across political ideologies, including: Kentucky Right to Life, AFL-CIO, Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and the Sierra Club.

When you enter your address into the voter guide, it will display the candidates who you will see on your ballot, based on the district you’re in for state and national elections. People who reside in Louisville will also see the contested Metro Council races that will appear on their ballot.

How did we decide what to include?

We committed to reporting out candidate information on all the contested primary races. There are many races in which only one candidate is running. We chose not to invest our resources in those races because voters will not have the opportunity to decide between candidates. We plan to elucidate on all candidates in our voter guide for the general election.

There is only one municipal election that we dedicated resources to cover: Louisville Metro Council races. Thirteen Metro Council seats are up for grabs in the general election this year, and some districts have very competitive primaries.

We divided the candidates across reporters at LPM in Louisville, WKMS in Murray, WEKU in Richmond and WKYU in Bowling Green. It was their job to reach out to the candidate to invite them to participate in the voter guide process. We built a Google form that candidates could use to give us biographical information and tell us about their top political priorities. We reached out to each candidate at least three ways: by mail, by phone and by email.

After the participation deadline passed, reporters reviewed the candidate entries. For candidates who participated, they reviewed the information and fact-checked it. For candidates who did not participate, reporters researched their background and what they have said publicly about their priorities in office, including on their campaign websites, social media and taped interviews. In some cases, we couldn’t find verifiable information on the candidate, and that is noted in the voter guide.

Editors reviewed more than 180 candidate entries over multiple rounds of edits. Then, we brought in our data reporter to build the tool itself.

How did you build it?

A lot of complicated processes go on underneath each election. In this primary, there are at least five different geographic boundaries that determine which candidates you can vote for: your U.S. House district, Kentucky Senate district, Kentucky House district, Kentucky Supreme Court district and your county – for the purpose of electing a commonwealth attorney. Then, if you’re in Louisville, there’s also Metro Council districts.

Underlying this voter guide is some code that takes your address and compares it to six different maps in a matter of milliseconds. It finds which districts are applicable to you. The code then cross-references your districts with the information our reporters collected on each candidate. And then – voila! – it displays just the candidates and information you need to know about.

Finally, each candidate has a checkbox under their name. You can click on it to “select” the candidate you want to vote for. Then, when you get to the bottom of the page, you can get a simplified “cheat sheet” to take to your ballot box that shows you just who you want to vote for.

Sylvia Goodman contributed to this reporting.

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Kentucky

Kentucky baseball vs Illinois prediction, odds for NCAA tournament regionals

Published

6 hours ago

June 1, 2024

Press Room

Kentucky baseball vs Illinois prediction, odds for NCAA tournament regionals

LEXINGTON — Kentucky jumped to an eight-run lead Friday and then held on for a 10-8 win over Western Michigan in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament’s Lexington Regional.

Illinois never trailed in a 4-1 win over Indiana State in Friday’s nightcap.

Now, the Wildcats and Fighting Illini are set to square off Saturday.

UK, 41-14 on the season and the NCAA Tournament’s No. 2 overall seed, captured a share of the SEC regular-season title for only the second time. Illinois is a regular-season conference champ as well, winning the Big Ten for the first time since 2015.

Get to the game: Looking for Kentucky baseball tickets in the Lexington Regional? Here are the best options for the 2024 NCAA Tournament

Here’s what to know about UK’s NCAA regional matchup against Illinois at Kentucky Proud Park, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. Saturday:

Kentucky baseball vs Illinois prediction in NCAA regional bracket

Kentucky 5, Illinois 4: On paper, this matchup is like splitting hairs. Illinois averages 8.2 runs per game; Kentucky is at 8.1. The expected starting pitchers, UK’s Trey Pooser and Illinois’ Cooper Omans, have nearly identical rates in hits allowed per nine innings (7.01 for Omans, 7.14 for Pooser) and walks + hits per innings pitched — better known by its acronym WHIP — that has Pooser (1.18) slightly ahead of Omans (1.24). When teams are this evenly matched, give the most infinitesimal of edges to the squad playing in its home venue. In this case, that’s the Wildcats, who escape with a one-run victory to improve to 2-0 at the regional.

Kentucky vs. Illinois odds in 2024 NCAA tournament

Odds courtesy of BetMGM. Odds will be updated as they become available.

Spread: N/A

Moneyline: N/A

Over/under: N/A

Kentucky baseball odds to reach 2024 College World Series BetMGM

Odds courtesy of BetMGM. Odds will be updated as they become available.

Kentucky: The Wildcats have the fifth-best odds at +1000 to win the College World Series, per BetMGM.

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

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Kentucky

McCoy helps Kentucky hold on for 10-8 win over Western Michigan

Published

13 hours ago

May 31, 2024

Press Room

McCoy helps Kentucky hold on for 10-8 win over Western Michigan

LEXINGTON, Ky. — James McCoy hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs to break out of a hitting slump and Kentucky held on for a 10-8 victory over Western Michigan on Friday in the opening game of the Wildcats’ home regional.

What You Need To Know

Kentucky held on for a 10-8 victory over Western Michigan in the opening game of the Wildcats’ home NCAA regional

Western Michigan (32-22), the Mid-American Conference Tournament champions, rallied and put the potential go-ahead run on base in the ninth

Kentucky now is 41-14 in 2024

Kentucky will face the winner of Indiana State and Illinois on Saturday night at 6 p.m. ET.

The No. 2 overall seed Wildcats (41-14) got off to a hot start after earning the highest seed in program history and winning just their second Southeastern Conference regular-season title. They jumped ahead 8-0 through the first four innings before Western Michigan (32-22), the Mid-American Conference Tournament champions, rallied and put the potential go-ahead run on base in the ninth.

Western Michigan loaded the bases with two outs off Robert Hogan on Josh Swinehart’s single, a hit batter and a walk.

Hogan got a flyout to left field from Grady Mee to end the threat and earn his first save. He allowed two hits and struck out four in 3 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his first save. Cameron O’Brien (2-0) got the win with one scoreless inning.

Western Michigan starter Brady Miller (6-6) allowed six runs, four earned, in two innings.

Kentucky will face the Indiana State-Illinois winner on Saturday.

McCoy had a double and scored twice for the Wildcats in addition to hitting his sixth home run of the season — in the second inning. He snapped out of a 0-for-21 batting slump.

Mitchell Daly added a pair of doubles and two RBIs.

Western Michigan chased Kentucky starter Dominic Niman with a five-run fifth inning. CJ Richmond’s two-run double in the sixth pulled the Broncos within two and capped the scoring.

Kentucky will face the winner of Indiana State and Illinois on Saturday night at 6 p.m. ET.

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Kentucky

Kentucky basketball under Mark Pope: Transfer portal news, 2024 roster, targets, recruits by top UK insiders

Published

20 hours ago

May 31, 2024

Press Room

Kentucky basketball under Mark Pope: Transfer portal news, 2024 roster, targets, recruits by top UK insiders

The Kentucky Wildcats are one of the most storied programs in college basketball. That’s why the hiring of Mark Pope sent shockwaves following John Calipari’s departure after Kentucky failed to make it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. The Wildcats haven’t won a national championship since 2012, but fans are hoping Pope can be the coach to end Kentucky’s title drought. Pope has the experience needed to lead the Wildcats to the promised land, having won a national championship as a player at Kentucky in 1996. However, Pope’s biggest undertaking will be rebuilding a Kentucky basketball roster following the mass exodus of players after Calipari’s departure.

Pope has already hit the college basketball transfer portal hard and has multiple commitments in the Class of 2024, but there’s still plenty of work to be done on the Kentucky basketball recruiting trail. If you love the Wildcats, or just want the latest roster updates and college basketball transfer portal news, be sure to see what the proven team of insiders are saying at CatsPause, the 247Sports affiliate that covers Kentucky.

The team of insiders at CatsPause.com are providing up-to-the-minute scoop on the latest intel surrounding the Kentucky basketball coaching transition and roster changes. CatsPause has built a solid reputation over its 20+ years covering the Wildcats, and has deep-rooted sources inside and around the Kentucky athletic department. And right now, CatsPause is offering 50% off the first year of an annual subscriptions*, so now is the time to sign up.

The team at CatsPause has full coverage of who is coming and who is going on the Kentucky basketball roster. Head to CatsPause now to see all the insider info.

Kentucky basketball roster departures

Pope had to hit the ground running when he was named Kentucky’s new head coach since several members of last year’s Kentucky basketball roster have departed Lexington. Forward Zvonimir Ivisic is the first player to follow Calipari to Arkansas, and guard/small forward Adou Thiero followed after playing his past two seasons with Coach Cal. Aaron Bradshaw joined Ohio State, and guard Joey Hart will be on the Ball State roster next season. Point guard D.J. Wagner will follow Calipari to Arkansas.

Justin Edwards, Rob Dillingham and Ugonna Onyenso have all made the final decision to declare for the Draft. Kentucky will also be without top scorers Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves next season since both players graduated. Join CatsPause to see the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster changes.

Kentucky basketball news, roster

Pope and his staff have had quite a bit of success rebuilding Kentucky’s roster through the transfer portal. They’ve signed eight players in the transfer portal, including two centers in Brandon Garrison and Amari Williams. Garrison was productive at Oklahoma State as a freshman, averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He knocked down 57.2% of his field goals and was disruptive on the defensive end of the floor, averaging 1.5 blocks and 0.8 steals per game.

Williams was an effective scorer for Drexel last season, ranking second on the team with 12.2 points per game on average. He also led the Dragons in rebounding (7.8) and blocks (1.8) per game. Williams made 51.7% of his field goals, so he and Garrison will both be reliable scoring options for the Wildcats in the post next season. Join CatsPause to get the latest on all of Kentucky’s roster additions.

How to get insider Kentucky basketball roster updates

Pope could also be bringing at least one big-time BYU player with him, so be sure to join CatsPause to see who that is and get the rest of the insider roster news.

Who are the top names Kentucky basketball is pursuing under coach Mark Pope, and what former BYU player could land in Lexington? Go to CatsPause to see their insider information, all from a team of reporters with years of experience covering the Wildcats, and find out. And reminder, CatsPause is offering 50% off the first year of an annual VIP membership*, so subscribe now before it’s too late.

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