Opinion – Al Cross: Steve Cawood was always a volunteer for Appalachia
If you wanted to make a movie about the pain and progress of Kentucky’s Appalachian coalfield in the last 60…
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Opinion – Al Cross: George Clooney, featured in Esquire, still strikes a rare balance — and is funny too
George Clooney is such an international celebrity, the latest magazine cover story about him may get barely a second notice…
Opinion – Al Cross: Kentucky Republicans help make FCC back off
“Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish suppress views that the government disfavors.” –Supreme Court…
Opinion – Al Cross: We need calm, compelling voices from the middle — and we all have a role to play
I got a surprise phone call last week from the other side of the world, where an American expatriate was…
Opinion – Al Cross: Rural Democrats hold a key to party’s revival
Democrats all over America are trying to fix their party. Last weekend, in 30 hours in the heart of rural…
Al Cross: Will MAGA label work for Nate Morris in bid for Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seat?
FANCY FARM, Ky. – Just how MAGA is Kentucky? More pertinently, how MAGA are Kentucky Republicans? And most proximately, how…
Opinion – Al Cross: Can Gov. Andy Beshear hit ‘big-league pitching’ in possible White House bid?
Gov. Andy Beshear said one reason he went to South Carolina last week was to see his 16-year-old son Will…
Opinion – Al Cross: Medicaid helps us all; prepare to be hurt
Nearly 1 in 3 Kentuckians are covered by Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income Americans. If you’re not among…
Opinion – Al Cross: How are Kentucky pols meeting the moment?
Welcome, Derby visitors, virtual and in person. Each year, for you and regular readers, we offer an update on the…
Opinion – Al Cross: Elected Republicans fear Trump, Musk, money and voters
For 236 years the United States has benefited from a government built on effective checks and balances among its three…
Opinion – Al Cross: Mitch McConnell’s last chance against Trump
Donald Trump has been back in office one month, and his job-approval ratings are his highest ever – but lower…
Opinion – Al Cross: Three heroes, 80 years ago this week, echo today
Eighty years ago this week, on successive days a few miles apart in eastern France, three rural Americans risked their…
Opinion – Al Cross: The political life of late President Jimmy Carter — and his connections to Kentucky
The political life of Jimmy Carter had several threads in Kentucky, which in turn influenced the state’s political and economic…
Opinion – Al Cross: Holiday ‘gifts’ for Kentucky political figures, a 44-year tradition continued
Ed Ryan wasn’t the first political commentator to “give Christmas gifts” to political figures, but he and his successors as…
Opinion — Al Cross: Robert Gable’s death is a call for truth bells to ring
Robert Gable, who died at 90 on Nov. 29, will be remembered by the Kentucky political world as the man…
Opinion – Al Cross: McConnells influence goes underground
“We’re in the personnel business,” Sen. Mitch McConnell has said ever since he concluded the biggest piece of business in…
Opinion – Al Cross: Trump’s win puts Beshear firmly in the hunt to succeed him
Donald Trump’s victory was a wrecking ball to the Democratic Party, but a boon to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Had…
Opinion – Gex Williams: Amendment 2 will allow Kentucky schools to catch up with rest of nation
As a member of the General Assembly who supports more education choice for parents, I am responding to my friend…
A review of ‘The Price of Power,’ a book about Mitch McConnell by journalist Michael Tackett
By Al Cross Kentucky Lantern Mitch McConnell has been the subject of four biographies: one by himself, one by a critic, one by…
Opinion – Al Cross: Amendment 2 — if it’s such a good idea, why so many off-base arguments
Kentucky still isn’t doing right by its schools and their students. Teacher pay has slipped behind competing states, and many…
Opinion – Al Cross: When McConnell leaves, who will slice the bacon for us?
Mitch McConnell is on his way out – first as Senate Republican leader, at the end of this year, then…
Opinion – Al Cross: Every presidential election is different, but ‘hope’ is a very real thing
Every presidential election is different, and comparisons are chancy in a changing nation, but I find myself thinking about the…