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🐣 Easter Eggstravaganza Brings a Full Day of Family Fun Back to Lake Reba
RICHMOND, Ky. — If your kids are the kind who start talking about Easter eggs the minute spring shows up, Richmond’s 47th Annual Easter Eggstravaganza is absolutely worth the short drive from Berea. The event is set for Saturday, April 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Lake Reba Park softball fields, and…
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AI’s Hunger for Power Is Reaching Kentucky
By Chad Hembree | Published March 25, 2026 BEREA, Ky. — For a long time, artificial intelligence sounded like a software story. Faster models. Smarter chatbots. Better image generators. But the deeper this boom gets, the clearer it becomes that AI is also a power story, an infrastructure story, and increasingly, a Kentucky story. The…
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Landmark Social Media Verdict May Send the Wrong Message
A California jury has handed down a verdict that is already being called a landmark in the growing wave of lawsuits against social media companies. In Los Angeles, jurors found Meta and YouTube liable for negligence and for failing to warn about harms tied to their platforms. The jury awarded $6 million to a now-20-year-old…
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🌸 Churchill’s Spring Market Brings a Charming Afternoon to One of Berea’s Most Historic Spaces
BEREA, Ky. — Berea’s spring calendar is blossoming beautifully, and one particularly delightful event is the Churchill’s Spring Market, set for Saturday, April 4, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at 100 Churchill Court. The market is being promoted as a lovely indoor gathering featuring local vendors, boutique shopping, and sweet treats, all nestled within…
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🌌 From Earth to the Universe: Berea College Planetarium Invites Audiences to Look Up
BEREA, Ky. — If you missed the Berea College Planetarium’s recent presentations of Solar Superstorms, do not worry. Another journey into space is right around the corner. The Planetarium’s next featured show is From Earth to the Universe, scheduled for Friday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 5 at 4:00 p.m. at the…
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If Song Lyrics Are Everywhere Online, Why Is AI Still in Trouble for Using Them?
BEREA, Ky. — This is one of those AI fights where a lot of regular people are going to look at the lawsuit and say, “Come on now.” If you want the lyrics to almost any hit song in history, you can usually find them online in seconds. So when massive music publishers sue AI…
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“Finally” Brings Broadway Dreams to Life at The Spotlight Playhouse
BEREA, Ky. — There is something especially meaningful about a show like “Finally” A Broadway Revue. It is not just another production on the calendar. It is a rare chance for performers to step into songs they have loved for years—songs they may have always wanted to sing but never had the opportunity to perform…
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Europe Wants to Regulate AI Before It Builds It
Europe’s Back in Silicon Valley — and It Still Feels Like the World’s Digital Referee By Chad Hembree | Published March 25, 2026 BEREA, Ky. — The European Union is back in Silicon Valley, and once again the message seems to be exactly the same: before America’s biggest tech companies build the future, Brussels would…
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Your AI Chats May Not Be Private — and “Delete” Doesn’t Always Mean Gone
BEREA, Ky. — A viral headline making the rounds lately says a federal judge basically declared your AI chats “public record.” That is entirely too broad. But the warning underneath that headline is real enough that ordinary users, business owners, and anyone handling sensitive information needs to pay attention. In United States v. Heppner, a…
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🐣 Community Easter Egg Hunt Returns to Hurricane’s This Sunday
BEREA, Ky. — Berea families will have a familiar spring tradition to look forward to this weekend as the Community Easter Egg Hunt at Hurricane’s returns on Sunday, March 29 at 3:00 p.m. Located at 124 Mini Mall Drive, the event is promising to be a massive draw. Organizers are advertising more than 5,000 hidden…
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🚆 Final Weekend for Murder on the 518 Shows Just How Far the Bluegrass Players Have Come
BEREA, Ky. — The Bluegrass Players are wrapping up their run of Murder on the 518, and if you have not seen it yet, there are only two chances left to catch it. The final performances are Friday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 28 at 8:00 p.m. at The Spotlight Playhouse. And…
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From the Boardroom to the Back Office: AI “Employees” Are Already Here
BEREA, Ky. — There’s a new round of headlines making the rounds about Alibaba launching so-called “AI employees”—entire teams of automated assistants that can run parts of a business without any coding. It’s being framed like something futuristic. Like the next phase of AI. But from where I’m sitting, that future has already been here…
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🎩 Spotlight Acting School Heads to Whoville with Seussical the Musical
BEREA, Ky. — If you have been waiting for the right time to get involved with Spotlight Acting School, this may be it. Our next production is Seussical the Musical, a bright, funny, imaginative show that brings together some of Dr. Seuss’s most beloved characters for a stage adventure full of music, movement, heart, and…
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🎭 Last Chance to See Disney’s Frozen JR. — and a Great Time to Discover Spotlight Acting School
BEREA, Ky. — This is the final weekend to catch Disney’s Frozen JR. at The Spotlight Playhouse. For anyone who has been curious about what Spotlight Acting School is all about, it is also the perfect time to come out and see it for yourself. There is something genuinely special about watching young performers take…
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AI Job Disruption Isn’t Just Coming From Big Companies—It’s Already Happening Around Us
BEREA, Ky. — There has been a lot of talk lately about big companies making massive moves with artificial intelligence. One recent example is HSBC—one of the largest banks in the world—naming David Rice as its new Chief AI Officer. That sounds like a big, top-level decision. And it is. When a major international bank…
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🎬 OpenAI Pulls Back on Sora — And I’m Not Sure What Comes Next
BEREA, Ky. — I’ll be honest—this one stings a bit. Over the past few months, Sora wasn’t just another flashy AI demo to me. It felt like a genuine glimpse of where creative work was headed. It was the kind of tool that didn’t just assist—you could actually build with it. So hearing the news…
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🎭 Spotlight Acting School Launches New Performance Workshop for Teens and Adults
BEREA, Ky. — A longtime Berea theater program is expanding to welcome older students and adults to the stage. Spotlight Acting School, part of The Spotlight Playhouse, has announced a new Performance Workshop open to participants ages 14 through adult. The program will combine weekly acting instruction with rehearsals for a full production. For more…
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📱 Google Cuts Play Store Fees and Opens the Door to Third-Party Stores. Here’s What That Could Mean for Consumers, and Why Apple Still Feels Two-Faced.
BEREA, Ky. — Google is making a major change to how Android app purchases work. The headline is simple: the old “30 percent app store tax” is effectively dead. It is being replaced with lower fees, more payment choices, and a smoother path for third-party app stores to exist on Android without feeling like an…
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💻 A Skeptic’s Take: Why Apple’s New MacBook Neo Is Hard to Ignore
BEREA, Ky. — I have never been shy about my biggest frustration with Apple. Their products are often excellent, but the company’s business model is built around a tightly controlled ecosystem. You buy the hardware, you use Apple’s operating system, you live inside Apple’s rules, and you get nudged toward Apple services. That approach has…
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🐾 Inside the Madison County Animal Shelter: What It Does, How It Works, and How to Help
BEREA, Ky. — Most people think of an animal shelter strictly as a place to adopt a pet. That is part of the story, but in Madison County, the shelter is also tied closely to public safety and animal welfare enforcement. The Madison County Animal Shelter is operated through the county’s Animal Care and Control…