KENTON
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 44 — OCTOBER 3, 2025
THE VOICE OF NKY
linknky.com
Police call changes lives for child, officer’s family By David S. Rotenstein
I
n October 2024, Florence police officer Michael Stanaland and Cpl. Kelli Chapman responded to a call to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. At the Sept. 23 Florence City Council meeting, Florence police Chief Jeff Mallery presented Stanaland with a distinguished service award for what happened as a result of that call. “Not to get into the specifics of the call, it involved a child the cabinet was seeking placement for,” Mallery said. “At one point during the interaction, a staff member jokingly said to officer Stanaland, ‘You could take the child home.’” Instead of brushing the comment off, Stanaland called his wife, Tessa. The couple agreed to take the child in. “What was intended to be a temporary placement, a few days to maybe a couple months, turned into something much Continues on page 3
Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery, left and officer Michael Stanaland at the Sept. 23 Florence City Council meeting. Stanaland received a distiguished service award. Photo by David S. Rotenstein | LINK nky contributor
SparkHaus to power NKY’s entrepreneurs By Kenton Hornbeck
I
t’s not about the building itself, but the people inside that make it special.
That’s the message Dave Knox wanted to resonate with people during the grand opening of SparkHaus, the new capital building of Northern Kentucky’s entrepreneurial community. Knox is executive director of Blue North, a Covington-based nonprofit that connects entrepreneurs to critical resources. “Those people inside are what make a community,” Knox said. “They’re what makes a civilization that is dreaming to be better than they are, dreaming to do things that have never been done before, and that’s what we’re working on.”
The SparkHaus sign from inside the building. Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky
SparkHaus, at 727 Madison Ave. in the heart of Covington, is the culmination of
years of collaboration among the region’s entrepreneurial, economic, political and philanthropic communities. On Sept. 22, those stakeholders gathered again at a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the opening of a project that they promise will strengthen the reputation and capabilities of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among those joining Knox were Covington Mayor Ron Washington, Kenton County Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann, state Sen. Chris McDaniel and Christine Russell, executive director of the Northern Kentucky Port Authority. Three years ago, the building that would become SparkHaus was vacant. Opened as a Montgomery Ward department store in 1929, it had been home since the 1970s to Sims Furniture. In 2022, Sims closed its Covington store and moved to Norwood, Ohio.
Prosecutors asked to drop charges against journalists p5 Fire chiefs ask mayors to help fund training center p6 Childhood memories flavor menu at Carmelo’s p10
Continues on page 4
Want to get NKY news every day? Subscribe to our email newsletters
SCAN ME!