Louisville Krampus Celebration founder Steve Vessell shares the folklore behind Krampus, how the tradition took hold in Louisville, and what continues to draw people to the community surrounding this dark holiday icon.

Louisville Free Public Library’s new executive director, Heather Lowe, shares her journey into this new role, her hopes for the library, and a few cozy reading recommendations for the winter season.

As Kentucky faces rising need for pet care and support, the leader of the Kentucky Humane Society discusses how a new service center could reshape care for pets and families.

As the Festival of Faiths highlights its theme of “Sacred Belonging,” Berea College professor and bell hooks center founder M. Shadee Malaklou reflects on hooks’ legacy and the practice of radical inclusion.

Americana Community Center has served Louisville’s refugee and immigrant communities for over 30 years. Last month, the nonprofit hired Ricky Santiago to be its new executive director. Santiago talks with LPM about the financial challenges Americana has weathered, his hopes for future sustainability, and the resurgence he believes the organization is making.

Across Kentucky, families are feeling the squeeze as the cost of living keeps rising, while wages have barely moved. We spoke with Jason Bailey, the founder and executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, a progressive think tank, about what’s driving essential costs up across Kentucky, and what we should be watching as we head into the holiday season.

November is Family Literacy Month — a chance to focus on how families, schools and communities support reading. Here in Louisville, Felicia C. Smith, president and CEO of the National Center for Families Learning, leads two-generation literacy work that connects adults and children. We spoke with Smith about the state of literacy in Kentucky, what family literacy looks like in practice, and where families and educators can make the biggest difference.

Janice Clarke opened a Jamaican restaurant Elliment in downtown Louisville earlier this year, and it’s already become a gathering spot and resource for Louisville’s Jamaican community. Last month, Clarke’s native country of Jamaica was devastated by Hurricane Melissa, the strongest recorded hurricane to ever hit the island country. We talked with her about how she came to start the restaurant, and how she is raising money and collecting non-perishable food and new and gently used clothes to send to Jamaica amidst the recovery.

Unlike a lot of places in greater Louisville, access to groceries in west Louisville can be difficult, especially for those who don’t have their own transportation. Since 2019, the nonprofit Change Today, Change Tomorrow has worked to narrow the gap between needing food and having access to it. We talk with Taylor Ryan, the organization’s founder and executive director, about what her organization does and what more it wants to do to help feed the West End.

Until a year ago, Louisville’s West End hadn’t had a hospital in 150 years. But last November, Norton West Louisville Hospital opened its doors and has since provided care to thousands of patients. Corenza Townsend, the hospital’s chief administrative officer, helped plan the hospital from the start. We talk with her about how the first year has gone and how Norton plans to celebrate this milestone.

It’s the end of the growing season, when pumpkins shrivel on porches and leaves blanket our yards. But instead of sending that fall waste to the landfill, gardeners can turn it into something useful. Seamus Allman is the urban horticulture manager at Louisville Grows, where he helps residents care for community gardens and build healthier soil. We spoke with Seamus about composting pumpkins, reusing leaves, and how to prepare gardens for the next season.

Louisville-based nonprofit Nile Orphan Care is working to help hundreds of orphans in South Sudan, a country that’s experienced decades of conflict and civil war.

October is Women’s Small Business Month, and here in Louisville, Amanda Dare has built a platform that celebrates women-led shops year-round. She's the founder of Woman-Owned Wallet Feminist Gift Shop in NuLu and creator of the Woman-Owned Walking Tour — a map that highlights local businesses owned by women. LPM's Ayisha Jaffer spoke with Amanda about Louisville’s women-owned business community, her feminist gift shop and other business ventures, and the growth and challenges facing female entrepreneurs today.

It’s Halloween season, when bats appear in holiday decorations and spooky stories. But beyond their eerie reputation, bats are year-round neighbors in Kentucky and a vital part of our environment. Matthew Springer is an associate extension professor of wildlife management at the University of Kentucky. His work focuses on wildlife ecology, human-wildlife interactions and conservation outreach. We spoke with Matthew about Kentucky’s bat species, the threats they face, and what people can do to support them.

In Louisville, access to prenatal and postpartum care is still a challenge for many families. One leader working to close those gaps is Shemika Whiteside, Executive Director of Zora’s Cradle, where she helps families with everything from milk and diapers to housing, therapy, and advocacy.

The event has expanded from a grassroots graffiti jam to a festival hosting more than 170 artists, raising the city’s profile in the street art community.

A Louisville group dedicated to encouraging outdoor events and camping in the Black community will have its second annual camping event this weekend. Brittiney Griffin is the founder of Black Azz Camping. She talks with LPM’s Michelle Tyrene Johnson about the event and her group’s mission.

Every October, spooky stories resurface — and here in Louisville, few loom larger than the Goatman, also known as the Pope Lick Monster, said to haunt a railroad trestle in eastern Jefferson County. Michael Book is the author of “The Legend of Pope Lick.” He spoke with LPM’s Ayisha Jaffer about the Goatman’s origins, the dangers around the legend, and how it lives on through the upcoming Goatman Festival.

Sadiqa Reynolds announced last month that she was stepping down as CEO of the Perception Institute, a think tank based in New York City, to focus fully on the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center. Reynolds was a longtime leader of the Louisville Urban League. Reynolds sits down with LPM's Michelle Tyrene Johnson to talk about what brought her focus back to Louisville, and this weekend’s Artists and Afros event, an art show she started last year.

The Louisville Book Festival is back October 11, and at its center is local author and therapist Deedee Cummings. On this episode, Deedee talks about this year’s Festival, her new children’s book “Hope in the Nick of Time,” and why access to diverse stories matters now more than ever.