Derek Operle

Because of the growth in digital programs, libraries are now better able to target population segments and programs that can help them to build connections and community.
By Derek Operle
Marshall County Public Library System director Tammy Blackwell
Fewer than 7,000 people rode Kentucky’s passenger rail service in 2022. Fulton had the highest ridership, punching just over 2,500 tickets.
By Derek Operle
A train passes the Amtrak station in Fulton, Kentucky. (WKMS photo by Derek Operle)
More than 100 community members and officials gathered Friday at the Pennyroyal Area Museum to pay tribute to Hopkinsville's pioneering Black author and feminist, bell hooks.
By Derek Operle
bell hooks way street sign
Paducah Mayor George Bray said that the group’s activity on Sunday was concerning but that he believed it was protected under First Amendment rights.
By Derek Operle
white supremacists walking with flags
Restoration efforts for a shuttered Paducah theater have received a boost — thanks to a half million dollar pledge from the city.
By Derek Operle
paducah theatre facade
Craig Richardson, a Hopkinsville attorney, will represent Senate District 3 after he was the lone candidate to file for the seat that Sen. Whitney Westerfield will not seek again at the end of his current term.
By Derek Operle
Vote-polling-places
The Round-leaved Sundew is an insect-eating plant with leaf blades covered in reddish, glandular hairs tipped with a sticky, glutinous secretion capable of trapping and digesting its prey.
By Derek Operle
The Round-leaved Sundew, or Drosera rotundifolia, is a small, insect-eating plant with leaf blades covered in reddish, glandular hairs tipped with a sticky, glutinous secretion capable of trapping and digesting its prey. The first population of the plant was recently identified in Kentucky. (Photo from Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves)
Murray has been home to Terrapin Station for more than 35 years, but no other store that specializes in new and used vinyl records has found success in far Western Kentucky in recent years.
By Derek Operle
vinyl record shop
More than 200 community members, officials and relatives of victims of the crash came to the site Monday to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.
By Derek Operle
crash site sign with soldiers backs
Limón was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2022 and named to a historic second term earlier this year.
By Derek Operle
Ada Limón, the Kentucky-based writer who currently serves as the U.S. Poet Laureate, is among the 2023 class of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant" recipients. (MacArthur Foundation photo)
The Kentucky writer has a goal to help people engage with poetry and the natural world.
By Derek Operle
Seven national parks will have poetry installed as public art as part of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s signature project, "You Are Here." An anthology of original nature poetry, curated by Limón, is also planned for release in April 2024. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress)
Because of the growth in digital programs, libraries are now better able to target population segments and programs that can help them to build connections and community.
By Derek Operle
Marshall County Public Library System director Tammy Blackwell
Fewer than 7,000 people rode Kentucky’s passenger rail service in 2022. Fulton had the highest ridership, punching just over 2,500 tickets.
By Derek Operle
A train passes the Amtrak station in Fulton, Kentucky. (WKMS photo by Derek Operle)
More than 100 community members and officials gathered Friday at the Pennyroyal Area Museum to pay tribute to Hopkinsville's pioneering Black author and feminist, bell hooks.
By Derek Operle
bell hooks way street sign
Paducah Mayor George Bray said that the group’s activity on Sunday was concerning but that he believed it was protected under First Amendment rights.
By Derek Operle
white supremacists walking with flags
Restoration efforts for a shuttered Paducah theater have received a boost — thanks to a half million dollar pledge from the city.
By Derek Operle
paducah theatre facade
Craig Richardson, a Hopkinsville attorney, will represent Senate District 3 after he was the lone candidate to file for the seat that Sen. Whitney Westerfield will not seek again at the end of his current term.
By Derek Operle
Vote-polling-places
The Round-leaved Sundew is an insect-eating plant with leaf blades covered in reddish, glandular hairs tipped with a sticky, glutinous secretion capable of trapping and digesting its prey.
By Derek Operle
The Round-leaved Sundew, or Drosera rotundifolia, is a small, insect-eating plant with leaf blades covered in reddish, glandular hairs tipped with a sticky, glutinous secretion capable of trapping and digesting its prey. The first population of the plant was recently identified in Kentucky. (Photo from Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves)
Murray has been home to Terrapin Station for more than 35 years, but no other store that specializes in new and used vinyl records has found success in far Western Kentucky in recent years.
By Derek Operle
vinyl record shop
More than 200 community members, officials and relatives of victims of the crash came to the site Monday to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.
By Derek Operle
crash site sign with soldiers backs
Limón was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 2022 and named to a historic second term earlier this year.
By Derek Operle
Ada Limón, the Kentucky-based writer who currently serves as the U.S. Poet Laureate, is among the 2023 class of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant" recipients. (MacArthur Foundation photo)
The Kentucky writer has a goal to help people engage with poetry and the natural world.
By Derek Operle
Seven national parks will have poetry installed as public art as part of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s signature project, "You Are Here." An anthology of original nature poetry, curated by Limón, is also planned for release in April 2024. (Image courtesy of Library of Congress)