Divya Karthikeyan

Hello. I'm an audio and digital reporter in Louisville, KY. I like to tell stories —big and small — about who benefits from power, and who loses out.

My Latest Work

Louisville Public Media •

Tamika Palmer fights for her daughter, Breonna Taylor, by opposing Daniel Cameron

It’s 5 p.m. on a recent Tuesday in west Louisville’s Russell neighborhood, and a team of canvassers are knocking on doors ahead of Election Day.There’s a familiar face in the group: the mother of a Black woman who would have celebrated her 30th birthday this year, had her life not been cut short by Louisville police.Palmer emerged as a figure in the racial justice movement that created a riptide in America after police killed her daughter.Now, Palmer is working to defeat Cameron as he runs for g...
Louisville Public Media •

Safer Kentucky Act, which punishes homelessness, will take effect soon

Last month’s Supreme Court decision on a case involving the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, held that people experiencing homelessness can be arrested for outdoor camping even when they have no other options.The federal decision doesn’t require local governments to enforce bans on outdoor camping but in Kentucky, they’ll have to. That’s due to the Safer Kentucky Act, which makes street camping a class B misdemeanor and a $250 fine on repeat offenses.Republican state Representative Jason Nemes from...
Louisville Public Media •

Some Baptist women don’t see themselves in Southern Baptist Convention priorities

Reverend Linda Barnes Popham no longer reads the Southern Baptist Convention digest. It reminds her of the family that ousted her.Popham is head pastor at Louisville’s Fern Creek Baptist Church. It was one of the first churches formally removed last year by the SBC for having a woman pastor, Popham herself. She could not attend the convention in Indianapolis this year. So, she learned about the narrow failure of a vote banning women pastors when a friend called to tell her.The effort’s failure is...
Louisville Public Media •

Louisville mayor’s plan to defund environmental agencies could worsen food insecurity

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s proposed budget effectively eliminates funding for two local agencies that help farmers working to address food insecurity.The agencies subsidize native plant gardens or high tunnels for growing vegetables, and they educate people new to gardening and growing plants. Both the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District and the extension agency offer free soil tests for local residents to help check the soil for lead and other chemicals.LeTicia Marshal...
Louisville Public Media •

A federal discount internet program has ended. Here’s how it affects Louisvillians.

Last year, the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) took over internet service at Parkway Place, an affordable housing complex in west Louisville’s Algonquin neighborhood.Nischia Granger lives there. She has chronic diabetes, and she relied on the internet to make doctors’ appointments and manage her insulin.Her internet was free under a two-year contract between Spectrum and Louisville Metro Housing Authority. When that expired last year, the ACP filled the gap.While her internet wasn’...
Louisville Public Media •

Unhoused residents, service providers in Louisville concerned about Safer Kentucky Act

On a recent rainy Thursday morning, outreach worker Angel Sivado got into her packed SUV. She was ready with snack bags and harm reduction tools like Narcan and fentanyl test strips for people struggling with substance use issues.Sivado works for the Louisville service organization St. John Center, and was doing her daily rounds to check on clients across the city.Tagging along in the backseat was Clayton, who didn’t want us to use his full name. Sivado said the plan was to take him to the hotel...
Louisville Public Media •

This Hanukkah, Jewish Louisvillians find different meanings in the Festival of Lights

From family-focused celebrations to an interfaith peace vigil calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, members of the city’s Jewish community are expressing their faith in myriad ways.Cantor David Lipp leads the Adath Jeshurun synagogue in Louisville. On the first night of Hanukkah, families brought menorahs from home to light with members of the congregation.Lipp took them through how to observe the lit candles on the menorah. Parents and grandparents crowded around the table and guided their children...

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