Introducing Know Your Kentucky: Meet the team behind this Herald-Leader journalism project

Earlier this year, the Herald-Leader announced several changes aimed to better meet reader demands. At the heart of those changes was more — more news, more investigations and more meaningful coverage of Lexington and central Kentucky.

Also among those changes was the addition of a new regional journalism desk focused on serving the community and our readers.

Part of what we’d like to bring you is more of what you want, and as such we’ve assembled a new team to answer your questions, look into topics that interest you and provide you timely information on how you can better navigate the news and the community.

We’re calling the project Know Your Kentucky.

And we’re taking your questions on what you’d like to read more about. Find our submission form below, or email us at ask@herald-leader.com.

With the team nearly staffed, I’m proud to introduce the central service desk: reporters Aaron Mudd and Meredith Howard, as well as the editor (that’s me), Jackie Starkey.

Aaron Mudd, reporter based at the Lexington Herald-Leader

Aaron joins the Lexington Herald-Leader as a reporter on its utility desk – helping locals understand the news and what it means for them.

Previously, he worked as a beat reporter covering education for his hometown newspaper, The Bowling Green Daily News. As a graduate of Western Kentucky University, he studied journalism, politics and government and believes no community prospers without the tireless daily work of dedicated local journalists.

When he’s not on the clock, Aaron enjoys reading or exploring medieval cities, cyberpunk dystopias or the American Wild West through open world video games.

Contact Aaron with local stories you want covered by emailing him at amudd@herald-leader.com, and help him achieve world domination by following him on Twitter at @NewsByAaron.

Meredith Howard, reporter based at the Belleville News-Democrat

Meredith joined the team as a service journalist in March after graduating from Baylor University in December with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Previously, she was a reporter grantee for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and freelanced for the Illinois Times. She worked for the Baylor Lariat, and she was the editor-in-chief of The Lamp at Lincoln Land Community College when she was in high school.

She knows local journalism relies upon community engagement and wants to hear your thoughts, questions and concerns.

Contact Meredith via email mhoward@bnd.com or check out her Twitter @News_MeredithH.

Jackie Starkey, editor based at the Lexington Herald-Leader

I joined the Herald-Leader in January to lead the central service desk, covering news for Kentucky, as well as the State College area and greater Pennsylvania, and the coverage area of the Belleville News-Democrat.

I’m proud to be a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where I studied mass communication. Before joining McClatchy, I worked as the politics and government reporter for the Carteret County News-Times in coastal North Carolina. I spent my last three years there as managing and digital editor.

You can reach me via email at jstarkey@herald-leader.com or follow my work on Twitter at @jackiesreports.

Here’s our general form to gather information from the community. You may see it at the bottom of our news stories. You can also email ask@herald-leader.com.