Joe Sonka
Enterprise Statehouse ReporterJoe Sonka is Kentucky Public Radio’s first enterprise statehouse reporter. He joined the team in October 2023.
Joe has covered Kentucky government and politics for nearly two decades. He grew up in Lexington and moved to Louisville in 2011, covering city and state government at LEO Weekly and then Insider Louisville. He became state government reporter for the Courier Journal in 2019 and was a lead reporter for the newspaper's 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning series on former Gov. Matt Bevin's controversial pardons just before leaving office.
You can email Joe at jsonka@lpm.org and find him at BlueSky (@joesonka.lpm.org).
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Kentucky has a system to cut the income tax rate annually, so long as budget triggers are met. A new bill passed out of the legislature makes hitting those triggers easier. -
The Kentucky Senate passed legislation that would redirect $8.5 million of funding away from the Center for Rural Development, months after it nearly used the funds on a controversial land deal. -
An unusual coalition says they want to ensure Kentucky doctors aren’t afraid to give life-saving abortions. Reproductive rights advocates say their plan could make things worse for women. -
A Kentucky bill that would subject hemp-derived beverages to new regulations and ban certain products advances further, over the objections of the hemp industry. -
With little notice, Kentucky’s GOP is pushing sweeping changes to the state’s budget trigger system for annual tax cuts, as well as business tax incentives. -
A bill that would give Kentucky’s public universities an additional path to firing tenured professors has cleared a Senate committee, moving one step closer to final passage. -
A veteran-owned business in Jeffersontown had all of its federal contracts with Veterans Affairs abruptly canceled, but three were restored last week. -
This week in Kentucky: Tariff threats disrupt the bourbon industry, Republican lawmakers acknowledge "validity" of environmentalist concerns over a water bill, and students voice concern over a bill to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher education. -
The bill passed earlier in the week with a late amendment to ban the sale of all hemp-derived beverages in Kentucky, but lawmakers dropped that provision on the Senate floor. -
A fast-moving bill that could subject many rural water supplies in Kentucky to pollution may have hit a bump in the road, with a GOP chairman acknowledging “validity” of concerns.
