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Floyd’s Friday Jamboree, Flooding And Fracking Fluid Inside Appalachia

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This week, we begin our journey through Appalachia in Floyd, Virginia, at the Friday Night Jamboree.

We’ll also check in with volunteers from across the country who are coming together to help those in Eastern Kentucky dealing with flood damage.

And we’ll learn about the people who worked toward securing women the right to vote.

All that and more this week Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Floyd’s Friday Night Jamboree 

We begin this week’s show in the community where our host, Mason Adams, lives — Floyd, Virginia. It’s a sprawling county of about 15,000 people on the Blue Ridge Plateau, catty-corner to Roanoke and Blacksburg. There’s one stoplight in the county, and it’s in the town of Floyd — a tiny place home to about 500 year-round residents. If you’re there on a weekend, you may find yourself at the weekly Friday Night Jamboree. Mason Adams has more.

Cleaning Up In Eastern KY

In eastern Kentucky, people are still cleaning up and trying to recover from floods in late July. People in mountain towns are struggling to rebuild homes and lives. But as Cheri Lawson reports, despite those challenges, neighbors continue to help each other.

During the flood recovery, neighbors help neighbors, but volunteers are also streaming in from across the country. Stu Johnson reports on one agency coordinating flood recovery activities.

Celebrating The Right To Vote

2020 was the 100-year anniversary of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution — that’s what granted women the right to vote. Now, West Virginia lawmakers want to build a memorial to celebrate the 19th amendment, and they created a committee to make it happen. To learn more, reporter Chris Schulz sat down with committee members Renate Pore and Susan Pierce.

Fracking Fluid Hosts Forever Chemicals 

Lately, people have been finding more and more per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — known as forever chemicals. They’re appearing at dangerous levels in Appalachia and across the country. The Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Front brings us a story on how PFAS are found in fracking fluid — and the devastating impact they’re having on human health.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by John Wyatt, Del McCoury, Tyler Childers and many, many musicians at Floyd’s Friday Night Jamboree.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Alex Runyon is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

You can find us on Twitter and Instagram @InAppalachia.

You can also send us an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.