This week, NPR’s Howard Berkes released an investigation into federal records that show more than 2,000 coal miners are now suffering from the most severe form of black lung disease, Progressive Massive Fibrosis, or PMF. Berkes found that despite clear warnings two decades ago, the mining industry and government regulators did little […]
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Grant Oakley’s second day of work was the last day of his life. Seventeen, sandy-haired and tall, Grant liked to fish, tinker with motorcycles with his father, Mike, and play tuba in the school marching band. He was excited in the fall of 2015 when he landed his first part-time […]
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After decades of addiction to heroin and prescription opioids, Wendy Crites finally made a clean break. “For the first time in my life I just wanted to be off of it,” she said from her home in Ranson, West Virginia. “I hit rock bottom.” Last year the ReSource profiled Crites, […]
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In October, 2016, NPR, Ohio Valley ReSource and its partners reported that West Virginia billionaire coal baron Jim Justice, who was running for governor as a Democrat, owned companies that owed roughly $15 million in overdue taxes and mine safety fines. This week, Gov. Justice, who is now a Republican, […]
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A new report from the National Academy of Sciences says the coal mining industry needs a “fundamental shift” in the way it controls exposure to coal and rock dust in order to prevent lung disease among miners. Despite improvements such as an Obama-era rule to strengthen monitoring and control of dust in […]
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“Why don’t you just fire the guy?” The question came in a press availability with President Trump soon after he learned that federal agents, acting on information from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, had raided the offices of his personal lawyer, Robert Cohen. The president visibly warmed to the question. Arms crossed, he answered, […]
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