February 25, 2026
- Ben Spalding
- Feb 25
- 2 min read
Good day Community,
I am starting a weekly local newsletter so people can stay in touch with their community with the flurry of news coming out of the rest of the world
At the Campaign Level,
This is a new section I am putting in to post stuff like canvassing events and other campaign trail related events.
Starting next week, every Thursdays at 6pm, I plan on hosting canvassing events! We will meet at Iroquois Library at 6pm, have a quick training session and depart according to our map. The whole event shouldn't last more than an hour and a half.
At the Community level,
There was the Lunar New Year Festival at the StrEatery! There was fun, food, merriment, and even a lion dance. Many community east-Asian owned restaurants were there and I want to take this section to highlight the ones that you can visit right now in our community!
Mak Mak is a street barbeque style restaurant with several scrumptious options. It's so good that I'm vegetarian and I recommend the pork skewers.
Anko Sushi is a delicious sushi spot that serves up some of best dishes. I recommend the spicy tofu bowl, it's a lot of food and each bite leaves you craving the next one
Dalats Cafe is a comfy little boba spot with incredible Bahn Mi. Like it will leave your jaw dropping. I very highly recommend their combo which is a boba and a bahn mi.
At the City level,
The TARC Board of Directors has approved a bus fare increase. The standard adult fare will go from $1.75 to $2.25. The result of this means that it is $5.50 to make a round trip. Doing this round trip daily, 5 times a week for a month comes up to $110.00.
The rate comes as a result of a predicted budget shortfall by as much as $30 million by the middle of 2026. As Metro Councilman I plan on voting for TARC budget increases because I know not everyone can afford a car or afford to use rideshare apps like UBER to get everywhere.
At the State level,
Kentucky Senate Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in the Kentucky Supreme Court. The Kentucky Supreme Court blocked public funding for charter schools in a unanimous ruling. They said the following:
Charter Schools aren't common schools,
They can cap enrollment and use lotteries
They operate outside of local school board oversight
This is good for a number of reasons, primarily that public schools remain public and public funds aren't used as a rebate for the already wealthy. Believe me I celebrated the day I found this out and now you can too!
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