This article was originally published by Ohio Valley ReSource. In a conference hall in Pikeville, Kentucky, this September, Gov. Matt Bevin led an eager audience in a countdown. When the audience reached “One!,” a map on the screen behind the governor lit up with the promise of a high-tech future. […]
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Who has the right to tell the story of a place? My friend Jeremy B. Jones is a man of Appalachia, but you wouldn’t know it by his accent. He plays a little banjo, but not, I believe, as an affectation. Jones has an essay in the book “Appalachian Reckoning: A […]
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In many rural areas, a lack of banking options has led to an increase in predatory lending. In eastern Kentucky, a new nonprofit is fighting back. Erica Knight had been in charge of her own money since she was 16, when she had her first job. “I was always very […]
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When rumors began circulating among the community of country music scholars that famed documentarian Ken Burns was turning his attention toward country music, I had mixed feelings. To be sure, such a national platform for the telling of the genre’s history would provide an opportunity for a national— and even […]
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The small, southern West Virginia town of Kermit has had more than its fair share of national headlines regarding its struggle with the opioid crisis. But few stories focus on the people themselves. Earlier this summer, West Virginia Public Broadcasting visited Kermit to ask residents how they think the town […]
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Spend a Monday at the Boone County, West Virginia, courthouse, and you’ll see judges and public attorneys overwhelmed with a surging number of child abuse and neglect cases. Mondays are reserved in Boone County for abuse and neglect hearings. Circuit Judge Will Thompson for Boone and Lincoln counties said he usually gets […]
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