Dozens of participants in the Work Now Kentucky program have cleaned up more than 630 vacant lots across Louisville since early July.A stimulus grant of about $4 million dollars is funding the summer jobs program, which has enabled Metro Public Works to employ three times the usual number of crews to weed overgrown lots.Mayor Jerry Abramson says there are thousands of vacant lots in the city that need attention.“Most time the problem is directly related to the inability to find the owner and as a result you then have an enormous hurdle to jump over to ultimately get ownership of the property,” he said.Several Louisville Metro Council members have launched an initiative to publish the names of property owners who have neglected their lots. The list is expected to be out later this month.(Story by WFPL intern Simon Levine)
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.