KENTON
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 39— AUGUST 28, 2026
THE VOICE OF NKY
linknky.com
From shelving books to leading the library:
Dave Schroeder closes a nearly 40-year chapter By Haley Parnell
D
ave Schroeder remembers taking a career aptitude test in the fifth or sixth grade. One of the results that came back was that he had a good aptitude for working with people and should consider becoming a librarian. “ I have learned that the overwhelming majority of people are kind and generous, and you know, just interested in their community and interested in learning more,” Schroeder said when asked what he has learned about people in his almost 40 years of working at Kenton County Public Library. Retiring as the library director this month after holding the position since 2006, Schroeder reflects on his time, starting at the library as a shelver at the Covington branch in 1986. He was about to start college as a history major, and like all college students, the Ludlow native wanted to earn his degree with as little debt as possible. So Continues on page 3
Kenton County Library Director Dave Schroeder retires after nearly 40 years with the library system. Photo provided | Dave Schroeder
Spotted lanternflies are here to stay in Kentucky. What happens now? By Nathan Granger
“T
hey are really beautiful,” said Rocky Brockman, “but they’re also really destructive.”
Brockman, an entomologist and horticulturalist at the University of Kentucky’s Boone County Extension Office, was talking about the spotted lanternfly, an invasive planthopping bug that is now officially at home in Kentucky. When they were first spotted in Northern Kentucky in late 2024, researchers instructed residents to report the pests as they found them. Now, people no longer need to report them. They’re here, and they’re not going away.
An adult spotted lanternfly. Photo provided | U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
“We really expect them to get worse, proba-
bly pretty significantly worse over the next few years,” Brockman said. “To some extent, they’re going to be something that we have to learn to work with.” So, what’s significant about our new planthopping neighbors? True bugs Spotted lanternflies are native to east Asia and belong to a category of arthropods called fulgorid planthoppers, included in a category entomologists refer to as “true bugs,” rather than insects, according to Brockman. They were first documented in the U.S. in Pennsylvania, and have since spread to 18 other states and the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Flock cameras draw strong public opposition p7 A decade of ‘connecting the dots’ at NKY Chamber p10 A 12-year bond that started with a match p12
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