Jared Bennett, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting

The labor practices of a Mayfield, Ky., candle factory are coming under scrutiny after at least eight people died in a tornado. Some question why so many employees were there as bad weather descended.

More than 10,000 people are currently held in Kentucky prisons, and nearly 8,000 have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began. This infection rate of nearly 80% is among the worst nationally, according to a new report by the advocacy group Prison Policy Initiative.

The state has approved about a third of debt waiver requests — and most people can’t even apply.

For over 460 days, as the pandemic shut down visitation across the state, incarcerated people and their loved ones relied on the prison system’s costly phone calls and emails.The Kentucky Department of Corrections and Securus Technologies reaped big rewards.

Kentucky will pay Covington-based private lab Gravity Diagnostics to test for the coronavirus at a rate of $51 per test, according to the Master...

The agency tasked with Kentucky’s coronavirus testing has been dealing with funding issues, struggling to keep up with technology and retain qualified staff.