Rebirth of a Nation: The Klan’s Long Shadow Falls in Charlottesville
Hours after white supremacists’ violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protestors killing one woman and leaving scores hospitalized, President Trump read a strategically vague, equivocal statement from his private golf club in New Jersey. He blamed “many sides” for the violence and […]
Appalachia Can’t Close the Health Disparity Gap Until it Fixes its Hospitals
Appalachia is falling behind the rest of the United States in key health metrics. Financial instability in the region’s health care industry, a devastating opioid crisis that still is unfolding, and ongoing socioeconomic challenges mean that the disparity will likely get worse before it gets better. A study published this […]
With Two New Trump Appointees, FERC is Ready to Open the Tap on Appalachia’s Pipeline Boom
In the past few years, Appalachia has seen an explosion of plans for pipeline infrastructure from utilities and natural gas companies wanting to transport gas from the abundant Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to markets in the Southeast, East Coast, and Midwest. “It’s a […]
Gianetta Palmer: Made in America, but Uninsured
At 100 Days in Appalachia, we asked our readers to tell us their health care stories. As repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act remains the most talked about issue under the Trump Administration, we wanted to shine a light on how health care policy has and would affect those […]
With Trump, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice Announces he’s Becoming a Republican. Again.
Last year, Jim Justice defied the odds for a Democrat in West Virginia, defeating a Republican by 7 percentage points to become governor even as Donald Trump carried the state by 42 points among the same set of voters in the general election.. On Thursday, Justice defied expectations by dramatically […]
A 40-Year-Old Federal Law Literally Changed the Appalachian Landscape
Forty years ago, President Jimmy Carter signed a law that literally changed the face of Appalachia. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) was intended to replace a state-to-state patchwork of rules for strip-mining with a uniform federal standard. Four decades later, however, environmentalists say the law […]
The Rural Advantage: Rural Upbringing Raises Kids’ Future Earnings, Study Shows
Rural areas are more likely to have a combination of factors that help poor children succeed in the labor market later in life. Raj Chetty’s massive national study turns conventional wisdom on its head about the best places to grow up. You wouldn’t know it from national news reports that […]
‘We’re People – We’re Just Wired a Little Different.’
The weekend of July 29, 2017 brought the first gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer festival to Wheeling, West Virginia with several hundred attending the Ohio Valley Pride. We talked to some of the attendees about why they came to the event: “Today, I was around people like me. I […]
Amid Threats of Violence and Planned Protests, Trump Will Hold Re-election Rally in West Virginia
The city of Huntington, West Virginia had less than a week’s notice that the president would be hosting a re-election campaign rally in its largest downtown arena. President Trump publicly made the announcement on July 28 — amid a busy time for the President and his still-evolving administration. The announcement […]
What Congress Can Learn from West Virginia About Tax Reform and Budgets
Republicans controlled both chambers of the legislative branch but still found themselves divided, struggling to pass a law while a maverick executive kept the press hanging on every word. That could describe what’s playing out in Washington, D.C. — but it also applies to the West Virginia Legislature and Governor […]