Victor Puente
Morning News Anchor
Lexington, KY
:no_upscale()/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/gray/c53dfd70-0d3b-4f27-806c-37b52c097165.png)
I was born in Germany to parents serving in the Army.
I grew up in Clay City, Kentucky and developed a love of journalism while writing for my high school newspaper.
After graduating from Eastern Kentucky University I started working as a news videographer at another station in town, before joining WKYT to be a multi-media journalist. I shoot, write, and edit my own stories.
I also anchor our WKYT This Morning show with Kristen Kennedy.
Updated: Dec. 2, 2022 at 12:36 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
We’ve done several stories about holiday meals going up, but one item might not be available at all.
Updated: Dec. 1, 2022 at 2:50 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
The November bus crash sent 18 students and the driver to the hospital. The bus went over an embankment on Route 40 and, like a lot of Kentucky roads, there is no guardrail.
Updated: Nov. 29, 2022 at 4:56 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Our latest Good Question deals with the location of the World Cup.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2022 at 5:24 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Next year’s primary election is still a few months away, but there is an important deadline this month.
Updated: Nov. 25, 2022 at 11:43 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
Our latest Good Question deals with the midterm election.
Updated: Nov. 24, 2022 at 12:19 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Thousands of runners showed up for the annual Thoroughbred Classic 5K at Keeneland.
Updated: Nov. 23, 2022 at 2:05 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
A lot of you are going to be eating turkey on Thanksgiving, but why that specific animal?
Updated: Nov. 22, 2022 at 12:16 PM EST
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
If you fried your turkey on Thanksgiving, you can turn in your used cooking oil to be recycled for free on Friday, Nov. 25, at Redwood Cooperative School, 166 Crestwood Dr., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Updated: Nov. 22, 2022 at 10:12 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
WKYT Sports Director Brian Milam says of the 216 schools eligible to make the playoffs, only 27 didn’t. That means 87.5% of teams make it to the postseason.
Updated: Nov. 14, 2022 at 1:01 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
With the addition of MeTV to the WKYT line-up in October, the WKYT First Alert Weather radar channel moved to channel 27.6.
Updated: Sep. 30, 2022 at 4:20 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
As Hurricane Ian lashes parts of South Carolina, people in southwest Florida are beginning to pick up the pieces from the storm.
Updated: Jul. 6, 2022 at 10:14 AM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff, Chad Hedrick and Victor Puente
A solemn week continues for a Kentucky community as four heroes prepare for the journey to their final resting place.
Updated: Jul. 1, 2022 at 12:07 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
In a town this small, it’s no surprise that it feels like everyone knows someone involved.
Updated: Dec. 1, 2021 at 11:32 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
Tuesday, a federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s mandate that requires government contractors to get the COVID-shot.
Updated: Nov. 24, 2021 at 5:46 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
A new massive park complex is coming to Richmond.
Updated: Nov. 24, 2021 at 4:53 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Over the last few days, we’ve shown you Sam Dick’s career over the years, the stories he’s told, and the impact he’s made on the anchor desk.
Updated: Nov. 23, 2021 at 11:40 AM EST
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
A cemetery in Nicholasville is working to clean up tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Updated: Nov. 22, 2021 at 4:55 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
The group was put together by Attorney General Daniel Cameron after the death of Breonna Taylor to review the state’s search warrant policies.
Updated: Nov. 17, 2021 at 5:57 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Legislators heard from county attorneys who said a decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court earlier this year is having a direct impact on their ability to prosecute some DUI cases.
Updated: Nov. 15, 2021 at 5:34 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Athletic leaders from three Kentucky universities all gave their input on how it would work on Monday.
Updated: Nov. 12, 2021 at 11:49 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
Saturday marks 20 years since Jessamine County deputies Captain Chuck Morgan and Deputy Billy Walls were shot and killed in the line of duty.
Updated: Nov. 10, 2021 at 5:27 PM EST
|By Victor Puente
Employees said they want to have more say in the vaccination requirement
Updated: Nov. 10, 2021 at 9:58 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
The new management group behind the Kentucky Theatre hopes to reopen the historic venue soon, but they need more money.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2021 at 11:52 AM EST
|By Victor Puente
Police gathered at a scene on West Main Street near Newtown Pike early Friday morning.
Updated: Nov. 5, 2021 at 10:08 AM EDT
|By Victor Puente and WKYT News Staff
The crash happened Friday morning at the intersection of Man O’ War Blvd. and Habersham/Victoria Way.
Updated: Nov. 4, 2021 at 4:21 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
President Joe Biden had previously said workplace COVID requirements would be coming. Thursday, we learned what they are.
Updated: Nov. 3, 2021 at 6:03 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Officer Daniel Ellis was killed in the line of duty on Nov. 6, 2015. Since then, family and friends have created a memorial 5K run this time each year to keep Ellis’ memory alive and do good in the community.
Updated: Nov. 1, 2021 at 5:57 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
The bourbon industry is celebrating after the European Union’s tax on American whiskey and Kentucky bourbon will end.
Updated: Oct. 28, 2021 at 4:46 PM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
Toyota is proposing a major expansion at its Georgetown manufacturing plant.
‘This isn’t acceptable’: Beshear addresses controversy gaining national attention at Ky. high school
Updated: Oct. 28, 2021 at 10:21 AM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
Several parents have said they upset about inappropriate actions at an assembly at Hazard High School.
Updated: Oct. 27, 2021 at 6:03 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Ty Abner had organized some events to raise money for the charities he cared about. And now, his husband and neighbors are making sure those go on.
Updated: Oct. 25, 2021 at 11:53 PM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
A man is dead and another man has been arrested after an assault that happened in a parking garage in downtown Lexington.
Updated: Oct. 21, 2021 at 5:44 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
UK Football’s Wan’dale Robinson is pushing for change in our commonwealth. He’s using his story and his foundation, to do it.
Updated: Oct. 20, 2021 at 11:12 AM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
There are now two parallel investigations into the death of UK student Lofton Hazelwood.
Updated: Oct. 19, 2021 at 9:13 AM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
According to the UK Police Department, officers were called to the Farm House Fraternity around 6:20 p.m. Monday about an unresponsive student.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2021 at 5:41 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
The Kentucky Retail Federation said shopping early should be a priority.
Updated: Oct. 14, 2021 at 11:56 AM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Slow down and move over: that’s the message Lexington Police and travel experts are sharing.
Updated: Oct. 8, 2021 at 4:54 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
The law puts money toward a tax credit to let students move to schools, public or private, outside their district. Lawmakers narrowly passed the bill back in March.
Updated: Oct. 6, 2021 at 6:10 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron wants to defend an abortion law passed in 2018 that was struck down by an appeals court.
Updated: Oct. 5, 2021 at 5:37 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Many people thought extra unemployment money was keeping people at home, but that funding has stopped and businesses aren’t seeing much of a difference.
Updated: Oct. 4, 2021 at 5:53 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
University of Kentucky Police were in riot gear to keep tabs on the crowd after the Florida win, which is something officers are gearing up for again this weekend.
Updated: Oct. 1, 2021 at 5:55 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
A new report found more than 90,000 people need to go back to work to get Kentucky to pre-pandemic levels.
Updated: Sep. 30, 2021 at 5:38 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
KSP's new crime data paints a picture of addiction in the commonwealth, and just how much of an impact the pandemic made on a crisis gripping our region.
Updated: Sep. 29, 2021 at 6:11 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Experts say Ford's new massive investment is pushing the commonwealth into the future and bringing high-tech jobs along with it.
Updated: Sep. 28, 2021 at 6:04 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Central Kentucky Ford dealerships said the newly-announced Ford battery plant is going to be a big boost for them.
Updated: Sep. 27, 2021 at 4:38 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
As the pandemic altered life in 2020, new crime statistics reveal the number of violent crimes committed in Kentucky increased to their highest levels in more than a decade.
Updated: Sep. 24, 2021 at 4:10 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
For Colton Ryan, the Broadway show "Dear Evan Hansen," will always have a special place in his heart.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2021 at 5:54 PM EDT
|By Victor Puente
Doctors said efforts to get vaccinated last year led to a mild flu season. But with hospitals already at capacity, a bad flu season could overwhelm hospitals.
Updated: Sep. 14, 2021 at 11:59 AM EDT
|By Victor Puente
The Kentucky National Guard is at Baptist Health Lexington. The hospital is overrun with COVID-19 patients and is also having staffing issues.
Updated: Sep. 10, 2021 at 11:49 AM EDT
|By WKYT News Staff and Victor Puente
As we continue to set records with hospitalizations, one of Lexington largest hospitals will be getting some help from the National Guard.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/DOZ4CXVM4BEIDM6BH2RKZV3CEI.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/CLJ2X5OB5ZIVFJBGTNEIMQYWV4.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/LIGIRJUNVFCXXK65FSNJFEAGEU.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/QKLOE27ZBJDOVJCQMX2NCQPC2U.png)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/IHZUERUYY5HLDMFUNMZ5REIVXE.png)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/TOAS3KKJ4NHL7G2UJ3R53SWPQY.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/ERESMJUIHZCOPGIZPD7NJW5ETY.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/C4SR54XNIJGV3FCXZKQAAANU5Q.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/DNZIHZSADRCJ5NEGN7J2OIAP5M.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/H7SV6K55NVGZRB3OIC5A7VHDYU.jpg)