The only news better than students returning to the classroom is knowing that one expense families won’t have to cough up is the cost of school supplies.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:50 a.m. on June 11 to include Josephine Sculpture Park and Focus On Race Relations Frankfort as organizers.

Following 15 months filled with isolation, the city and downtown businesses are hoping residents and visitors are ready to get out and mingle this summer in the entertainment destination center (EDC) called the MIX District.

Known usually for the politicians who pass through a few months each year, Frankfort will now be recognized as the hometown of Wan’Dale Robinson, Kentucky’s Mr. Football 2018, thanks to two signs that will greet visitors to the capital city.

Franklin County Magistrate Michael Mueller’s recent call for more communication between city and county elected leaders on shared functions like economic development was music to our ears.

Frankfort’s search for a new city manager has had more twists and turns than an amusement park roller coaster ride. One moment it seems as though the city commission is making progress in its search for a new leader and the next moment it is doing a loop-de-loop and is right back where it started.

It’s time to celebrate area high school graduates, and once again this year Whitaker Bank and The State Journal are partnering to spotlight the Class of 2021 in a special Virtual Graduation.

The Franklin County Humane Society has asked the fiscal court for $200,000 in additional funding for a new animal shelter, and as county leaders work on the fiscal 2021-22 budget in the coming weeks, we believe they should pony up the money.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently,” claims noted American investor, business tycoon and philanthropist Warren Buffett, whose net worth of more than $100.6 billion as of last month makes him the seventh-…

It's that time of the year again. The State Journal will launch its annual Frankfort’s Faves readers choice awards on Monday with a new twist. The community will nominate the candidates to be included on this summer's voting ballot in each of more than 100 categories.

It should come as no surprise that two counties consistently among the top 10 of the state’s 120 counties for voter turnout percentage also have another statistic to brag about. Neighboring Woodford County and Franklin County are neck-and-neck in the race to fully vaccinate residents against…

Sometimes in life we all need a do-over. And that’s exactly what the Franklin County Board of Education agreed to give 223 students enrolled this year who showed interest in using 2021-22 as a supplemental school year.

From driving their tractors to school to planting student-grown flowers and plants on St. Clair Street in downtown Frankfort, high school students in the Franklin County and Western Hills FFA programs were out in force Friday to raise awareness of the importance of agriculture in our community.

Hoping to reach pockets of the population that have yet to be inoculated against the coronavirus, the Franklin County Health Department announced this week that it is teaming up with community partners to offer four walk-up vaccination clinics next month.

The ongoing debate over whether to allow backyard chickens in the City of Frankfort is the cluck of the town, with advocates and opponents divided on the issue. We don't have a strong opinion either way.

It’s not every day that college students get an opportunity to wear history, but that is just what Kentucky State University baseball players were planning to do Wednesday until Mother Nature intervened with a rare late April measurable snowfall.

At last week’s Kiwanis Club of Frankfort virtual meeting, a Kentucky mother shared the touching story of the 18-month wait she and her family endured while her young son, Jacob, who was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, was on the list for a lifesaving heart transplant. Sarah Gilber…

The Franklin County Health Department this week heeded the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kentucky Department for Public Health and Gov. Andy Beshear by pausing use of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine out of an abundance …

Last week, the Frankfort Plant Board vote unanimously to award a nearly $7.1 million contract to a Lawrenceburg firm to build a replacement water reservoir in the Tanglewood neighborhood — a project that was once a point of contention and expensive litigation between FPB, the city and the ne…

Wednesday was “a good day for democracy,” according to Gov. Andy Beshear, who signed a measure to expand early voting in the state in a rare collaboration between the Democratic governor, the bill’s GOP sponsors in the legislature and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams. We couldn’t …

Hoping to draw attention to and put a positive spin on a hot-button topic, every April the Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky volunteers, advocates and elected officials have placed 2,700 pinwheels — each representing 20 children born in the commonwealth every year — in a grassy area along the ste…

We commend the Frankfort Plant Board’s decision to hire an outside consultant to assess a proposal for a 150-acre, 20 megawatt (MW) solar facility, which would be funded by a private developer at no cost to the local government entities — City of Frankfort, Franklin County Fiscal Court, Fran…

It is no secret that the thousands of colorful tulips that emerge from the flowerbeds leading up to the Capitol make a beautiful backdrop for spring photos. And yet it happens every year: Someone gets the bright idea that they can get a better shot if their subjects stand in the middle of th…

Unlike postseason basketball games where the outcome is decided in the span of two hours, the 15 members of the Bondurant Middle School academic team had to wait a little more than a week to find out the final results of the Kentucky Association for Academic Competition (KAAC) Governor’s Cup…

It’s officially spring in Kentucky. The weather is warming, daffodils are in bloom and, as certain as the seasons turn, the Franklin County girls basketball team is once again 41st District champions — for the eighth consecutive year.

With limited in-person access to state lawmakers and large rallies out of the picture due to the coronavirus pandemic, activists and lobbyists have had to get imaginative to attract elected officials’ attention to their causes during this year’s legislative session.

For the past year The State Journal has worked with the Franklin County Health Department on a daily basis in order to give our readers the most up-to-date coronavirus statistics and the latest information.

March Madness is upon us, and while the University of Kentucky likely won't be in the field for the first time since 2013, the NCAA Tournament is shaping up to be a fun one. Louisville, despite an early exit from the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, looks to be a safe choice for an at-l…

When the Kentucky River swelled past its banks and spilled over Blanton’s Landing last week some residents in the community questioned the practicality of the riverfront development that would create entertainment and recreational opportunities for visitors and locals alike.

Though there has been more attention paid this week to the rising Kentucky River running beneath it, the Broadway Bridge — more pointedly, the decision on whether to rehabilitate it, replace it or let the state remove it — has been a hot button topic in the capital city lately.

In one of the best known speeches in American history, at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln said "that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that gov…

Each year, we branch out from our normal community news coverage to tackle a larger undertaking — weaving together the stories of the people, businesses and organizations that comprise the fabric of our everyday lives in Franklin County.

From the rugged outdoors to the hardwood and the classroom, if you haven’t been paying attention you may have missed the amazing feats three female high school seniors have accomplished in the past few weeks.

Gov. Andy Beshear’s announcement Thursday that Frankfort will be the home of a new regional state COVID-19 vaccination center will be a game-changer in the local fight against the virus, which has claimed the lives of 40 Franklin Countians.

For the second time in less than a year, the Frankfort City Commission on Monday took a vote to remove its city manager. Unlike the last go-around in August when leaders opted to fire then-City Manager Keith Parker “without cause,” interim City Manager Tom Russell will stay in his post a lit…

Last week newcomer Sen. Adrienne Southworth, R-Lawrenceburg — the first Republican to hold the Senate District 7 seat, which includes Franklin County — filed a bill that would prohibit face mask requirements during a state of emergency across Kentucky.

Just days after the legislature overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of bills that will limit his ability to order COVID-19-related restrictions via executive powers, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a restraining order to temporarily block one of the new laws, saying it “could cr…

When the city purchased the former Pic-Pac building from Frankfort businessman and Rebecca Ruth Candy owner Charles Booe late last year, it did so without specifying a permanent use for the prime real estate on soon-to-be-revitalized West Second Street.

If and when the much-talked-about riverfront development at Blanton’s Landing comes to fruition, we believe it could be a gamechanger for downtown Frankfort because the Kentucky River continues to be an untapped resource snaking through the center of the city — serving as a constant reminder…

With the coronavirus continuing to rage in communities across the country — including Franklin County — it may seem that 2021 is already shaping up to be a continuation of last year. But it doesn’t have to be.

If opponents of water fluoridation have their way, state lawmakers could weaken regulations for adding the chemical to the water supply, creating a trickle down effect for tap water users in Franklin County.

Following yet another motor vehicle accident on KY 151 (Graefenburg Road) last week, perhaps now is the time for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to review the posted speed limit on the thoroughfare that many motorists use to bypass U.S. 127.

Just days after Franklin County High School head football coach and teacher Eddie James announced he was leaving the Flyers program and was introduced as the new coach at Class 5A Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, the coach had a change of heart.

If the House of Representatives has its way, civil lawsuits involving state government will no longer be heard in Franklin Circuit Court.

We are all for peaceful protests and citizens making their voices heard. However, what happened at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and during a May 24 Patriot Day/Second Amendment Rally at the Kentucky Capitol were anything but.

Does Frankfort need or want a large sports and activity center at Lakeview Park? That is the question a panel of local leaders is hoping to answer after the Franklin County Fiscal Court recently approved a request for proposals for a feasibility study or master plan for the 132-acre park.

A cynic might argue that anything would top 2020, but count us as bullish about 2021 in our community, state and nation.

We’d be remiss to close the books on 2020 without extending heartfelt appreciation to you — our readers and advertisers — for your loyalty and support during a year that was as challenging to our business as any in more than a century of continuous publication.

The good news about a curiously aggressive and ill-timed decision to curtail the powers of Frankfort’s city manager is that it can be reversed by the incoming city commission as fast as the outgoing commission enacted it.

Virginia O’Hanlon, 8, wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the response was printed as an unsigned editorial on Sept. 21, 1897. Its message especially rings true as we close out 2020.