Derek Operle
News DirectorA native of western Kentucky, Operle earned his bachelor's degree in integrated strategic communications from the University of Kentucky in 2014. Operle spent five years working for Paxton Media/The Paducah Sun as a reporter and editor. In addition to his work in the news industry, Operle is a passionate movie lover and concertgoer.
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A western Kentucky nonprofit hopes to bring public art to one of Paducah’s Southside neighborhoods – but they want residents’ input first.
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Planners with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are conducting open house meetings across the state in hopes of assessing the public’s desires when it comes to passenger and freight railway transport.
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The far western Kentucky community of Hopkinsville came together Friday to celebrate the legacy of the late bell hooks, a Black intellectual, poet and author from the city who went on to become one of the most celebrated in the modern feminist canon.
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A group of at least 20 masked individuals took to the streets in downtown Paducah Sunday, many of them carrying Confederate or white supremacy-related symbols.
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Kentucky’s state mineral, coal, is a rock and its state rock, Kentucky Agate, is a mineral. A bill that would swap the two to be geologically correct advanced out of a House committee Thursday.
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A pair of legislative proposals that aim to lay the groundwork for “Kentucky’s nuclear energy ecosystem” advanced out of a state Senate committee Wednesday.
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The Paducah City Commission approved last week a pledge of $500,000 to Columbia Art House, the group fighting to save the former theater, for the restoration of its deteriorating facade. Those funds are contingent on Columbia Art House raising $1 million by June 30, 2026.
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A new bill introduced in the Kentucky Senate this week would create a group to support the development of nuclear energy in the state.
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Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Division for Air Quality led a meeting in far western Kentucky on Tuesday to inform Calvert City residents about long-term health risks caused by chemical emissions in the area.
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Independent pharmacies in Kentucky have been closing by the bunch in recent years. It’s not for lack of people needing prescriptions or choosing to get their medicine at chain stores, though.