Commentary

Students enter the classroom in Godley, Texas, on August 5. Godley is a town of approximately 1,000 residents about 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The school district is among the first to open in Texas for the fall term. Photo: AP Photo/ LM Otero
Students enter the classroom in Godley, Texas, on August 5. Godley is a town of approximately 1,000 residents about 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The school district is among the first to open in Texas for the fall term. Photo: AP Photo/ LM Otero

Commentary: Rural Schools’ Crumbling Infrastructure Was a Health Threat Even Before the Pandemic

Parents had to worry about the safety of their school children long before COVID-19 became a problem. It’s time to invest in education to address these disparities, starting with the pandemic relief package. Rural schools are sick, and it’s not just the coronavirus. As the nation’s gaze turns to the […]

Read More

The Jobs We Earn*: The Progress Made Toward Economic Equity Wasn’t Given to Us, It Was Won

Last week, The New York Times editorial board published, “The Jobs We Need,” an opinion  piece addressing the important issues of corporate power, wages and the workplace. The editorial rightly points out that average worker’s wages in the United States have not kept up with inflation nor productivity growth, while […]

Read More

The Hidden Costs of Appalachia’s Trail Economy

Driving between Pocahontas and Boissevain in southwestern Virginia, it’s easy to miss the mouth of Haynes Branch tucked into the woods along State Route 644. Like much of central Appalachia, this landscape of hills and hollows west of the Bluestone River in Tazewell County owes its existence to water. There’s […]

Read More