Kentucky
Recent $167m lottery winner arrested for allegedly stealing $12,000 in Kentucky
A man who recently won a $167m Powerball lottery jackpot stands accused of stealing the relatively paltry sum of $12,000 after breaking into a house in his home state of Kentucky on Saturday, according to authorities who arrested him.
James Farthing’s arrest on Saturday on counts of burglary and illicit marijuana possession reportedly was at least his third since winning Kentucky’s most lucrative lottery prize ever.
Farthing, 51, was allegedly captured on surveillance cameras at the side door of a woman’s home in Lexington before unlawfully entering the place, police wrote in an arrest citation that was reported by the local news outlet WKYT. The break-in victim heard a loud noise consistent with a door being busted open, and she realized $12,000 was missing from the home after Farthing broke in, officers alleged in the citation.
Police later found Farthing at a casino and harness-racing track and took him into custody in connection with the alleged burglary. Officers said they added the illegal marijuana possession count after searching his car and finding the herb along with multiple blunts, including one that had burnt out in his vehicle’s ashtray.
Farthing had spent most of his life in and out of incarceration before he, his mother and girlfriend bought the winning ticket for a $167m Powerball jackpot awarded in April 2025, according to the Smoking Gun website.
Hitting that jackpot left them with deciding whether to collect the full amount in annual increments over 29 years or immediately in a one-time, lump sum of $77.3m.
Farthing and his family said they would talk with a financial adviser before choosing the better option for them.
As Farthing put it, the win resulted from playing the odds. “I’m always buying [lottery tickets] ’cause I’m like, ‘Somebody’s gotta win,’” he later told WKYT.
It was a matter of days before he recorded another brush with the law – when officials in Florida said he hit a hotel guest in the face, kicked a deputy and violated his parole conditions by leaving Kentucky without permission.
He pleaded guilty to that case in early March as part of a deal requiring him to pay $1,000 in fines but sparing him any additional jail time, WKYT reported.
Furthermore, in February, Kentucky authorities arrested Farthing on allegations that he tried to intimidate a participant of a legal process. Investigators said the alleged victim in that case reported meeting Farthing and being pressured into ingesting a marijuana edible. The woman later reportedly called police and reported that people with a weapon wanted to hurt her.
Officers who responded to the scene alleged that they found marijuana and a gun. And as the alleged victim was being questioned, police accused Farthing of sending her a text message which read, “Why would you do this to me? Unreal. I’d never hurt you.”
Farthing was tentatively due in court in the burglary case on Monday and on the intimidation charge on Thursday. He also reportedly has an separate hit-and-run case pending.
Jim Obergefell talks LGBTQ+ rights 10 years after Supreme Court ruling
Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide, looks back on its impact 10 years later.
Happy Pride Month!
About 9% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, and some places are safer for and more welcoming of those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Here’s how Kentucky ranks compared to other states.
How Kentucky ranks for being welcoming, safe for LGBTQ+ members
Kentucky ranks No. 35 out of 50 states for being welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Out Leadership’s State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index. While the commonwealth has climbed eight spots since 2019, it earned about 41 out of 100 possible points, receiving a B- grade.
The report comes as national scores continue to decline. The average state score has fallen for four consecutive years and now sits at 53.1, with 26 states scoring below 60, Out Leadership founder and CEO Todd Sears told USA TODAY.
The index suggests acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. has declined in recent years, reversing progress that once improved the well-being and safety of LGBTQ+ communities, Sears said.
“When we started this index eight years ago, the goal was to show Americans the issues that were still live but invisible — HIV criminalization, conversion therapy, where state legislators actually stood — because once marriage equality passed, a lot of people assumed the work was done. It wasn’t,” Sears said. “What we’ve documented since is a genuine regression.”
This year, Out Leadership added 12 new indicators measuring the effects of policies affecting LGBTQ+ people, including restrictions on bathroom access, pronoun and name use and gender-affirming care for adults. Sears said the additions were made to better capture policies that have increasingly affected LGBTQ+ residents and their families.
“For the last several years, we simply weren’t capturing forces that were already hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families,” Sears said.
SafeHome.org also ranks Kentucky on the lower side for LGBTQ+ safety. The state ranks No. 27 out of 51 jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C., and received a score of 80.7 and a B- grade.
The rankings are based on a score that combines state laws affecting LGBTQ+ residents and hate crime data. Researchers evaluated laws across several policy areas using input from a survey of more than 1,000 LGBTQ+ people and paired the results with FBI hate crime statistics before calculating the final scores.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY Network. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.
Kentucky got consecutive home runs from Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell to take a 9-6 lead over West Virginia. Chase Alderman and Nile Adcock combined to record five consecutive scoreless innings. The Bat Cats were three outs away from reaching — and hosting — a super regional.
West Virginia had other plans.
Free passes, a balk, and a three-run home run from Paul Schoenfield plated five runs in the ninth. It was absolute chaos in Kendrick Family Ballpark. Kentucky snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
That sets up one final game between the Wildcats and the Mountaineers again, but this one could sting for some time. Jeff Drummond and myself are reacting to the crushing loss by taking a look at what went wrong, how it got off the rails so quickly. and what could be on the horizon for tomorrow.
Smash that play button.
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There is a ton of stress right now in Lexington as Mark Pope and the staff are trying to land Milan Momcilovic, but this recruitment is being stretched out, which isn’t good for Kentucky. It sounds like the Wildcats have the highest offer NIL money wise, but he still hasn’t committed which has Kentucky fans scratching their heads.
Since Momcilovic pulled his name out of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night, Kentucky fans have felt pretty good about him being a Wildcat, but with the Wildcats being the hot name in the recruitment, fans wanted this done sooner rather than later. The other schools that are involved in this recruitment are Louisville and Arizona.
Louisville has spent a ton of money this offseason, but it sounds like they still have more in the tank, knowing their offer isn’t far off from Kentucky’s, according to reports. Arizona hasn’t offered as much as these two schools, so if Momcilovic were in it for the money, one would imagine that he ends up at Louisville or Kentucky.
When it comes to his system fit at these two schools, he fits in well with what both Pope and Pat Kelsey want to do. These teams want to shoot the three-ball a ton, and Momcilovic is the best shooter in college basketball. Both Kentucky and Louisville are in need of some shooters, so he would be a massive addition to either of these rosters.
Knowing the Wildcats had a ton of early momentum in this recruitment, Big Blue Nation wanted this to be a done deal late last week or early this weekend. It is midday on Sunday, and there is no word on his recruitment. It is head-scratching for Kentucky fans knowing that the Wildcats have a massive offer on the table, but he still hasn’t picked Kentucky.
While I do believe he will end up in Lexington, it is definitely a little bit concerning that he hasn’t done it already, knowing the Wildcats have thrown a ton of money his way. Pope knows how important adding a player like Momcilovic is to the upside of this team, so if he isn’t able to land him, things could get ugly next season in Lexington.
There is a world where he could commit later this evening, but if this keeps drawing out over the next few days, it really seems like Momcilovic might not want to be a Wildcat unless he is looking for more NIL money.
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