On this West Virginia Morning, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival in Pineville, Kentucky has staged a formal dance for nearly a century that has remained the same for generations. Folkways Reporter Will Warren takes us for a visit.
Manchin Courts ATV Companies to Build Vehicles in W.Va.
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U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is hoping to attract more manufacturing jobs to southern West Virginia. And he wants to encourage ATV companies to build their vehicles here.
The Hatfield and McCoy Trail System has helped to bring new economic opportunities to the southern coalfields in the state. A report prepared by Marshall University said the ATV trail system created an estimated economic impact of more than$38 million in 2019.
Sen. Manchin showed off the backwoods trails on Monday to ATV company executives with Polaris, Kawasaki and Honda. The trip into the woods was also meant to highlight West Virginia’s expanding ATV and tourism industries. Manchin hopes the tour might convince the companies to build their brand vehicles in the region.
According to a release from Manchin’s office, Kawasaki business leaders agreed that the state has the ability to play a key role in “future growth of the powersports industry in the U.S.”
Still, no plans to build a facility have been announced.
The Hatfield-McCoy trails consist of 10 trail systems covering 900 miles throughout nine counties.
The United States Postal Service announced Monday it would pause its implementation of further mail network changes until January 2025, which could impact a mail processing facility in West Virginia.
Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who’s running for Senate, is just one of a handful of high flyers in West Virginia who decided it was time for a change of pace.
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Jobs & Hope, a West Virginia program that provides job training to residents with substance use disorders, celebrated its 500th graduates during a ceremony in Charleston Wednesday.
A book from an academic researcher covering rural Appalachia shows how marginalized rural communities can create change by forming grassroots coalitions.