Last summer Melissa Anderson was unemployed and trying to keep her Pike County, Kentucky, home from falling into foreclosure. “I built it,” she said. “And, you know, for me to lose that home would have been devastating.” Anderson was among more than 800 people who applied for a little more […]

Fifty years ago there were around 65 birth facilities in West Virginia. Now, there are only 24, which means pregnant women have to travel farther to give birth and, often, for prenatal care. Take Deana Lucion, for example. Lucion was 20 weeks pregnant when the last remaining obstetrician in McDowell […]

At a time when we ought to see fewer deaths from coal mining, the number of fatalities has increased compared to last year. The greed of coal tycoons and politicians (who are sometimes one and the same) is the reason. In the first seven months of 2017 there have been […]

The Perry County Public Library in Hazard, Kentucky, lies along Black Gold Boulevard — a name that nods to the wealth the coal from these hills has generated. On a recent Tuesday evening, however, the library was the venue for a hearing about the full costs of extracting that coal. […]

The Sapling Center provides services and support for young people experiencing crises. The demand for the service has prompted a mental-health organization to add four more centers in rural Eastern Kentucky by the end of September. Sixteen-year-old Holly slides her bracelet aside to reveal a tattoo of the tree of […]

Appalachia can stake its future on Donald Trump’s claim to restore coal jobs to their 20th century heyday. Or, Appalachia can rise to the task of creating a new breed of jobs to match the evolving digital economy of the 21st century. Consider one ripe possibility: U.S. firms that once […]