Koszul property and finite linearity defect over $g$-stretched local rings

The linearity defect is a measure for the non-linearity of minimal free resolutions of modules over noetherian local rings. A tantalizing open question due to Herzog and Iyengar asks whether a noetherian local ring $(R,\mathfrak{m})$ is Koszul if its residue field $R/\mathfrak{m}$ has a finite linearity defect. We provide a positive answer to this question when $R$ is a Cohen-Macaulay local ring of almost minimal multiplicity with the residue field of characteristic zero. The proof depends on the study of noetherian local rings $(R,\mathfrak{m})$ such that $\mathfrak{m}^2$ is a principal ideal, which we call $g$-$stretched$ local rings. The class of $g$-stretched local rings subsumes stretched artinian local rings studied by Sally, and generic artinian reductions of Cohen-Macaulay local rings of almost minimal multiplicity. An essential part in the proof of our main result is a complete characterization of one-dimensional complete $g$-stretched local rings. Beside partial progress on Herzog-Iyengar's question, another consequence of our study is a numerical characterization of all $g$-stretched Koszul rings, strengthening previous work of Avramov, Iyengar, and \c{S}ega.