Kentucky
Starting 5: Olympic champions highlight Kentucky’s 2024 Hall class, Jay Bilas to lecture
Kentucky’s 2024 Hall of Fame inductees include Olympic and NCAA champions.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (2016-2018 track and field), John Cropp (administrator/coach), Henrik Larsen (2018 rifle), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (2018 track and field), Jodie Meeks (2007-2009 men’s basketball) and Corey Peters (2006-2009 football) recently were chosen.
The new Wildcats Hall of Famers will be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend on Sept. 20-21.
Camacho-Quinn is the first athlete in Puerto Rico history to win two Olympic medals. She won gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics and bronze at the Paris Olympics. At UK, she was a two-time NCAA champion in the 100 hurdles and was part of the 2017 4×100 relay team that finished first at the national meet. She holds the program record in the 100 hurdles.
Cropp worked in multiple roles in UK athletics during his 22-year tenure. One of his most prominent accomplishments was being a founding administrator for the Kentucky softball program in 1997. After he retired, the softball stadium was named after him in 2013.
Larsen won a gold medal in the smallbore competition at the 2022 ISSF World Championships. In one year with the Wildcats, he won the 2018 NCAA air rifle individual national championship and set program records in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate. He was named the 2018 NCAA Shooter of the Year and NCAA Freshman of the Year.
McLaughlin-Levrone is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and holds the 400 hurdles world record. In one year at Kentucky, she was an NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles and broke the collegiate record (52.75 seconds). She was an SEC champion in the indoor 400 and outdoor 400 hurdles and 4×400 relay.
Meeks played on seven teams in 10 seasons in the NBA. He holds Kentucky’s single-season record for 3-pointers made (117) and has the second-most points scored in a season (854).
Peters played 13 years in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars. In his senior year at Kentucky, he recorded 56 tackles, including 12 for loss, and four sacks. He earned All-SEC first-team honors and was named UK’s Outstanding Defensive Player.
Louisville women’s golf head coach Whitney Young will be inducted into the Class of 2024 Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame.
Young competed for Glasgow High School in the 1994 Kentucky State Championships as a fourth grader. At 13 years old, she became the youngest winner of the Kentucky Amateur in 1998. She also won the 1999 and 2000 titles.
She was a four-time AJGA Polo Golf All-American and represented the United States in the 2002 PING Junior Solheim Cup.
Young was a three-time National Golf Coaches Association All-American at Georgia and a four-time first-team All-SEC honoree.
Young started as an assistant coach with the Cardinals, but she has been the head coach for the last five years. Young has led the Cardinals to two regionals. In 2021, they hosted the regional for the first time in program history.
More information on the ceremony will be released later.
More: Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club to host Solheim Cup. What to know about LPGA Tour event
ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas will give a lecture Sept. 6 at Bellarmine’s Frazier Hall.
Bilas plans to discuss name, image and likeness activities in Division I sports, the transfer portal and the evolving landscape of college sports.
The lecture is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., and admission is free. Those who plan to attend are asked to register by Sept. 2 at the Wyatt Lecture registration site.
Louisville basketball mailbag: Which players stood out in Pat Kelsey’s unofficial debut?
Trinity High School senior pitcher Colton Cravens recently announced his commitment to Northwestern.
As a junior, Cravens struck out 26 batters and recorded four wins with a 2.30 ERA in 24 ⅓ innings.
Kentucky high school football preview: What to know about Louisville-area teams, players
- Racing Louisville FC will host Chicago Red Stars at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
- Louisville City FC will visit Hartford Athletic at 7 p.m. Saturday.
- The Louisville Bats will host the Gwinnett Stripers in a six-game series. Games begin at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and at 7:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The last game of the series is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Aug. 25.
- Louisville men’s soccer will host Jacksonville at 5 p.m. Thursday.
- Louisville women’s soccer will host New Hampshire at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Then, the Cardinals will visit Northern Kentucky at 5 p.m. Aug. 25.
- Bellarmine men’s soccer will host Evansville at 7 p.m. Thursday. Then, the Knights will visit Northern Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25.
- Bellarmine women’s soccer will host Asbury at 3 p.m. Aug. 25.
Know of a story you think should be included in our weekly Starting 5 notebook? Send your idea to sports reporter Prince James Story at pstory@gannett.com for consideration. You can follow him on X at @PrinceJStory.
Kentucky
Virginia woman arrested 30 years after newborn was found in a Kentucky landfill
More than three decades after a newborn’s remains were discovered in a Kentucky landfill, investigators say advances in forensic science have finally led to an arrest.
Jennifer Cummins of Fairfax County, Virginia, was taken into custody on January 6 in connection with the death of an infant known for decades only as “Baby Jane Doe,” Kentucky State Police announced this week.
The case dates to 1991, when a sanitation worker discovered the remains of a baby girl at the former Richmond Landfill in Madison County, near Eastern Kentucky University.
Despite early investigative efforts, authorities were unable to identify the baby or determine who was responsible, and the case eventually went cold.
Kentucky State Police detectives recently reopened the investigation using modern forensic tools and updated investigative techniques. With assistance from the State Medical Examiner, it was determined that the infant was born alive and healthy before being placed in a dumpster on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.
The new information ultimately identified Cummins as a person of interest. In late 2025, the case was presented to a Madison County grand jury, which returned an indictment charging Cummins with murder.
“Even after decades of time that has passed, with the collaboration of new technologies, advancements, and persistence, we’ve been able to discover new leads in this case,” said Kentucky State Police Trooper Justin Kearney. “That’s why it’s so important for people to know these cases never go cold to us.”
Authorities have not released details about Cummins’ relationship to the child or the specific circumstances surrounding the infant’s death.
Kentucky State Police say the investigation remains active, and that investigators say they are still seeking the public’s help to resolve some unanswered questions.
Cummins is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center while awaiting extradition to Kentucky.
Kentucky
Kentucky Transfer WR Hardley Gilmore IV Commits to Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Montavin Quisenberry isn’t the only former Kentucky wide receiver to switch out blue for red this offseason.
Hardley Gilmore IV announced Thursday that he has committed to the Louisville football program.
He’s the fifth Wildcat to transfer to the Cardinals in this cycle, following Quisenberry, who committed earlier in the day, cornerback D.J. Waller plus defensive ends Jerod Smith II and Jacob Smith.
Gilmore is also the 11th portal pickup for UofL in the last three days, and their 15th transfer commitment overall in this cycle, beginning to offset 23 portal defections that UofL has seen so far. The 14-day transfer window officially opened up this past Friday, and is the only opportunity for players to enter following the removal of the spring window.
Despite Kentucky’s instability at quarterback this past season, Gilmore put together a productive 2025 campaign. Playing in all 12 games while starting five, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound receiver caught 28 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown. His reception and yardage total was second on the team to Kendrick Law.
The Belle Glade, Fla. native got immediate playing time as a true freshman in 2024. Appearing in seven games, Gilmore was able to haul in six passes for 153 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown vs. Murray State.
While Gilmore has shown high end potential on the field, he comes with some off-the-field baggage from last offseason. Last January after opting to transfer to Nebraska following his true freshman season, he was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching someone in the face at a storage facility in Lexington. Then this past April, he was dismissed from the Huskers for unknown reasons, and wound up returning to Kentucky.
“Nothing outside the program, nothing criminal or anything like that,” Huskers head coach Matt Rhule said at the time regarding Gilmore’s dismissal. “Just won’t be with us anymore.”
Gilmore and Quisenberry are the first of likely multiple transfer pieces that Louisville will add to their wide receiver room. Between graduation and the portal, the Cardinals are losing six receivers – including Chris Bell & Caullin Lacy.
In their third season under head coach Jeff Brohm, Louisville went 9-4 overall, including a 4-4 mark in ACC play and a 27-22 win over Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Cardinals have won at least nine games in all three seasons under Brohm, doing so for the first time since 2012-14.
More Cardinals Stories
(Photo of Hardley Gilmore IV: Jordan Prather – Imagn Images)
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Kentucky
Spotted lanternfly confirmed in 8 new Kentucky counties. About invasive insect
Spotted lanternflies congregate on grapevines
This undated video provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture shows adult spotted lanternflies on grapevines in Berks County.
PROVIDED BY PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, PROVIDED BY PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Entomologists have confirmed spotted lanternflies in eight more counties in Kentucky during 2025, according to a recent announcement.
These include Fayette, Franklin, Harrison, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Trimble and Woodford. The invasive insect was first found in the commonwealth in October 2023, in Gallatin County, and spread to counties including Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Grant, Henry, Kenton and Owen in 2024.
Here’s what to know.
What is a spotted lanternfly?
In short, the spotted lanternfly is a moth-like bug that’s not supposed to be in the U.S. The bugs tend to be red with black and/or white spots on their wings, according to the Department of Agriculture.
They’re native to China and first showed up in the U.S. in 2014. They’ve mostly been found in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the USDA reports, but they’ve also been found in Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.
One of the things that makes them so risky as an invasive species is that the eggs are thought to travel well, on everything from packages being shipped to moving boxes on U-Hauls.
Why are spotted lanternflies dangerous?
Spotted lanternflies can pose a major threat to the things such as orchards, vineyards and logging facilities. How? They tend to swarm and devour what they land on quickly, causing serious damage.
Their “waste product” — known as “honeydew” — can also attract molds and other bugs that further damage plants.
They pose a threat, according to the USDA, to everything from almonds, apples and hops to maple, oak and pine trees and more.
Is the spotted lanternfly in Kentucky?
Yes. The Kentucky Office of the State Entomologist said in a post to Facebook that the spotted lanternfly was confirmed in eight new commonwealth counties during 2025.
The species has been located in 16 counties total — Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Owen, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Trimble and Woodford.
What to do about spotted lanternflies
The biggest thing you can do, according to the USDA, to help control the spread of the spotted lanternfly is to keep an eye out for them.
It is recommended that you inspect trees, plants and other surfaces on your property for bugs. It’s best to do that around dusk, the USDA says, because that’s when bugs tend to congregate, making them easier to spot.
Signs that a plant may be infected include the plant oozing, becoming moldy or developing a fermented odor, according to the USDA. You may also see a “buildup of sticky fluid” beneath the infected plant.
The agency also recommends you keep an eye out for egg masses on everything from plants to boxes that hold things such as holiday decorations and often sit unattended for much of the year. If you spot an egg mass, you should scrape it “into a plastic zippered bag filled with hand sanitizer, then zip the bag shut and dispose of it,” according to the USDA.
In Kentucky, you should report sightings to your Department of Forestry regional office or reach the UK at 859-257-7597 or forestry.extension@uky.edu. UK experts also ask that anyone who finds one send a picture with the location to reportapest@uky.edu.
Contributing: Mary Ramsey, The Courier Journal. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.
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