Stephen Reily

Government likes saying “Buy American” but doesn’t like doing it - USDA cuts funding for schools and local farmers and calls the best way to invest taxpayer $ in our communities a “left-wing effort”. lpm.org/news/2025-04-2…

A city without a healthy public transit system cannot succeed. Do we want Louisville to succeed or fail? courier-journal.com/story/news/loc… via @courierjournal

Local groups look to help Kentuckians get criminal records cleared lpm.org/news/2025-01-0…

@adamhedelen My father in law did this on his own property in Jefferson County every Christmas. I had never heard of it growing up in Louisiana.

Christmas question: any farm kids other than me have memories of shooting mistletoe outta treetops? If so, where are you from? Interested if this is a Kentucky thing, a Southern thing or just a country thing.

@imperfecttl SO true - thank you. I always think of a quote attributed to Jerry Garcia (which may or may not be true): “don’t be the best. Be the only.” We need to find the ways Louisville can do something no other city can do. And then “own that lane.”

What’s frustrating about Louisville is that it doesn’t own a lane. Derby: Louisville is a Midwest city for 11 months a year. Southern for one. Bourbon: Has bourbon trail/tours but doesn’t lean into vice. Downtown: Not centered around locals.

@auroraems (3) with city-county merger, we've failed to use it to develop the kind of bold and shared county-wide vision that it might have made possible. Instead, it reinforced complacency. But another prob here is focusing more on mistakes we made than on what we can get right - onward!

@StephenReily Curious about your thoughts on mergers that took place and its impact on the last 50 years: city and county school systems and the impact of busing right after this article vs current school choice models, more recent merger of city and county government?

I wrote this to reflect on how little has changed over the last 50 years in Louisville AND how what defines us can also inform a vision for growth that offers opportunity for all. Can Louisville envision a positive vision for its future? courier-journal.com/story/opinion/…

@auroraems What good questions! I can only try to answer that (1) busing revealed that the idea in the 1974 profile that Louisville had avoided racial conflict was illusory (2) JCPS is too complicated for me, but so big that it's surely hard to maximize benefits for students.

@wrightsteenrod Thanks for being a great sounding board - time to add your thoughts about essential workers into this mix.

@StephenReily Great commentary!

@DanBorsch 2/2 there was really bad pollution here in the past, and I think it paired up with elitism to diminish the appreciate of manufacturing. And we have been slow to embrace our unique regional identity: Southern? Midwestern? Northern? Yes!)

@StephenReily Would you share what you consider to be some of the decisions the city has made that have led to this outcome and what you think our top priorities moving forward should be?

@DanBorsch As for priorities, my best ideas are in the op-ed. But also: just as a strong downtown is a sign of a strong city (not its cause), I think we should focus on logistics not as the source of growth but as a critical support for a growing manufacturing industry.

@HDHarrington3 @smarkreilly What I'm positioning myself for is to be a voice for growth and progress in Louisville, and - as I say in the op-ed - to make space where I can for others to speak up in their own way and inspire a bolder future for our city.

@smarkreilly @StephenReily Someone positioning to run for Mayor perhaps? Hmmm

Very interesting article by @StephenReily.

Sadly for Kentucky, AppHarvest was a fraud before it started and both its founder and lead investor are shape-shifters, counting on gullible Americans who will buy their latest message. They may even believe it themselves. But we don’t have to. nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/…

@mjfree 💙

WALZ: “Surround yourself with smart women and you’ll do just fine!” 💙 IF U LOVE THIS GUY!!!! x.com/bhaviklathia/s…

If I were Tim Walz I would has asked JD Vance: As you know, Mr, Smarty Pants lawyer, the Constitution prohibits anyone from being elected President more than twice. If Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 and in 2020, how can he be elected again in 2024?

@mpabate Congratulations! Very important work.

Very proud to have represented the CJ in this important ORA case. This one is a BFD (as they say) in the government transparency world. No more blanket denials for “pending investigations.” And the AG’s attempt to help police circumvent a 2013 decision was soundly rejected.

Happy paperback publication to this baby! Available at ⁦@carmichaelsbook⁩ and wherever 📖s are sold. Also audiobook available—read by the ✍️

@DrRickyLJones The backlash in Kentucky has so far been many multiples greater than any progress that resulted from needed investments in diversity and equity. You’re right that it’s clear where elected officials want us to go: further back than we were before.

I recently traveled to Frankfort, KY and bore witness to a GOP white supremacist rally disguised as a legislative hearing on education. It was reminiscent of Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts in the 1950s. The racism and lies are appalling. Read about it.👇🏾 courier-journal.com/story/opinion/…

@TheRemuseum and I thank you #museumconfidential for the chance to talk and @Philbrook for being a model of opening up the museum (and its stories) as a model of public service!

American Museums Have New Missions. Have Their Operations Caught Up? While more American museums center the public in their mission statements than ever, there exists significant gaps between trust and transparency aspirations and reality. By @StephenReily observer.com/2024/07/how-am…