The outcome of the 2016 Presidential election exposed the general disconnect between the way rural and urban Americans view the trajectory of the country. Over the last few decades, rural Appalachian communities have witnessed economic downturns and their associated impacts in an overwhelmingly personal manner. Related to these outcomes, another […]

It seems like everyday we hear the siren calls of a coming job apocalypse. A new report out of the PwC says that 38 percent of all jobs in America are at risk of being automated. Mostly affecting jobs that require little to no education. This could include entire industries […]

Coal country’s economic woes took center stage at the Environmental Protection Agency as President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to undo parts of President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy. The president was flanked by coal workers and industry figures and defenders, such as West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and […]

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: being a young conservative in 2017. For starters, my name is Kayla Kuntz, and I am 25 years young. I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Latrobe, a small town 40 miles southeast of the city. While Pennsylvania is […]

Recently, I picked up our morning copy of The Washington Post to see “Accident, Md.”, my tiny home town, on the dateline. A Post reporter ventured into far western Maryland, so-called “Trump Country” in the heart of Appalachia, to find out how Trump voters feel about the new Administration. On […]

Danny Ferguson didn’t like what he saw happening in Lincoln County, West Virginia, where he grew up. The downturn in the coal industry had hit hard, and young people had few job options beyond some fast food places. “We don’t have nothing else for them to be employed,” Ferguson said. […]