From busing to COVID-19 to stolen guns: 6 Courier Journal investigations you must read (2024)

Investigative journalism is one of the key missions of The Courier Journal, shedding light on crucial issues and often inspiring action and change.

Already in 2021, we've delved into numerous topics that matter to our readers, including the legacy of busing in Louisville, record homicides in the city, the proliferation of guns across Kentucky andthe police killing of Breonna Taylor.

As we pass the year's halfway point, here's some of what we've brought to light:

January: Record homicides in 2020

Last year,173people in Louisville were victims of criminal homicides, according to metro police — shot, bludgeoned, strangled or stabbed to death.Another 20 people were slain in homicides investigated by other Jefferson County police agencies or in cases that didn't result in criminal charges.

The number of slayings in 2020 dwarfs anything Louisville has seen — obliterating the previous record of 117 criminal homicides in 2016. And Black men have been hardest hit.

Reporters Kala Kachmar, Lucas Aulbach and Jonathan Bullington examined some of the reasons behind the violence, including its connection to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also explored the search for solutions.

February: "The Last Stop: The legacy of busing in Jefferson County Public Schools"

For more than 45 years, Jefferson County Public Schools has bused students across town to desegregate classrooms. Now, the district plans to end a critical piece of that plan, saying it's unfair to families in the majority-Black West End.

In a multipart series, Mandy McLaren and Olivia Krauth pulled back the curtain on busing the myths surrounding the district's desegregation efforts.

Read the series: The Last Stop: Louisville's troubled busing legacy may be nearing its end

Among their findings:

• For thousands of JCPS students, "busing" never ended. Roughly 6,500 middle and high school students from the West End — the majority of them Black — are forcibly bused to suburban schools under a decades-old policy. But in 1984, the Jefferson County Board of Education voted to end forced busing for suburban students.
• JCPS' proposal to end busing draws support — and criticism.The proposal, which the district calls “dual resides,” would allow West End students to choose a neighborhood school or a suburban school.Supporters of the plan say it would end a decades-long injustice, while critics say it will unravel decades of integration efforts.
• Busing benefits are a mixed bag. Limited data obtained by The Courier Journal revealed West End elementary students who attended East End schools performed better on state tests than their peers who stayed behind in western Louisville. But the difference in achievement was not substantial enough to come close to bridging the gap with their East End classmates. Meanwhile, many in the community applaud the district's assignment plan for achieving more diversity in its schools.
• As white residents fled the West End, officials over time closed dozens of schools outright or turned them into selective magnet schools.Today, only nine neighborhood schools — or schools without a sizable magnet population —remain in the West End. Most are highly segregated by race and class. All but one is considered failing by the state.
• A portion of JCPS' elementary schools has rapidly resegregated. JCPS' nationally lauded elementary "cluster" system, which pairsadvantaged areas with impoverished communities for integration purposes, is failing — particularly at preventing a growing divide between elementaries in the West and East Ends. And greater resegregation is on the horizon.

March: Kentucky and COVID-19

Reporter Matt Mencarini explored why Kentucky fared better than most neighboring states during the pandemic.

Experts agree no state handled the crisis well, but Mencarini found Kentucky fared less poorly than its neighbors after reviewingcoronavirus cases, deaths and unemployment rates, coupled with interviews with experts.

For example, Kentucky was better able to slow the spread of the disease. While some governors issued stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. Andy Beshear instead issued executive orders to limit what residents could do outside their homes, reducing capacity in bars, restaurants and stores.

Beshear also stressed unity when he talked about fighting the virus. Often, particularly at the federal level, health messages were coupled with political messaging, which experts said undercuttheir effectiveness.

May: Questionable expenses roil Indiana airport

Reporters Jonathan Bullington and Matt Mencarini investigated questions surroundingmileage and other expenses from the part-time manager of the Clark County Regional Airport in Sellersburg, Indiana.

Their story illustratedthe outsized power often granted tosmall-town, quasi-governmental bodies that control public property but largely operate out of the public eye.

Airport manager John Secor's first contract with the South Central Regional Airport Authority allowed him to bill for mileage he logged duringdaily inspections and trips for meetings, paid him $250 a month for his cell phone and $395 a month asreimbursem*nt for use of a hangar.

The deal he reached with the airport boardboosted hisannual salary of$28,700 in 2018-2020 by $13,400, on average. And nearly all of that extra pay came tax free.

But one board member's questions about Secor's pay and whether he truly drove all themiles he expensedleft the small airport's leadership in turmoil, mired in distrust and hounded by concerns over lax accounting practices.

May: "Awash in Guns"

This three-part series by reporter Jonathan Bullington exposedhow a proliferation of legal and illegal guns has flooded the streets of Louisville and beyond, and how the city and state are unable — or unwilling — to stop these deadly weapons from falling into the wrong hands.

The nearly yearlong investigation by Investigative Reporter Jonathan Bullington relied on thousands of public records and interviews with more than two-dozen people.

Among itskey findings:

• Thousands of guns were reported stolenin neighborhoods acrossLouisville over the years, swiped from unlocked cars, homes, gun shops and police officers. At least 1,000 stolen guns werelater carried by children, clutched by suicidal men or tied to crimes such asrobberies, drug deals and murders.
• Kentucky’s federally licensed gun dealersare a constant target of gun thefts and straw purchases. And only a fraction of these dealersareinspected each year by a federal agency that perenniallystruggleswith stagnant budgets and staffing.
• Unregulated gun dealsflourish online, where sellers easily sidestepsocial media banson private sales of guns and ammo.
• Police in Kentucky take thousands of guns off the streets every year. A state law puts many of them right back.

The results have been felt most acutely in Louisville, where one person is shot every 12 hours, casualties inan epidemic of near-unimaginable bloodshed disproportionately inflicted upon the city's Black communities.

January-June: Breonna Taylor coverage

Since the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020, Courier Journal reporters, including Tessa Duvall, Darcy Costello, Bailey Loosemore, Hayes Gardner and others, have covered every aspect of thecase that helped spark a racial reckoning locally and globally. The coverage from 2020 was honored in both the breaking news and public service categories of this year's Pulitzer Prizes.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and emergency room technician, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police offices attempting to serve a search warrant at her apartment as part of a broader narcotics investigation. After police used a battering ram to force entry into Taylor's apartment, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot that struck Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly. Walker later said he thought an intruder was breaking in.

Three officers fired 32 rounds in response, striking Taylor six times. She died in her apartment hallway without receiving medical attention.

Here are some of our 2021 stories about Taylor, her case and her impact on the community:

The importance of Jefferson Square:‘You need to be reminded of Breonna’: How a tiny city park became the heart of a movement

Has Louisville enacted enough reform?: Would Louisville police reforms have saved Breonna Taylor?

Family keeps fighting: ‘We’re still angry’: Breonna Taylor’s aunt continues fight for justice

Breonna's Law across America: In cities and states across the US, Breonna's Law is targeting deadly no-knock warrants

Why police reform died in Kentucky: In the state where Breonna Taylor died, police reform bills fall on deaf ears

More: 'Better late than never': Louisville to release investigative files in employee misconduct

A single shot wasn't safe: Cops shouldn't have fired a 'single shot' at Breonna Taylor's home, LMPD investigator says

Did officers downplay the risk?: LMPD investigator accused officers of purposely underplaying risk of Breonna Taylor search