This week, coal power can be expensive. Utilities run coal-fired power plants harder in the winter and summer when demand is high. Also, two films made in West Virginia shot to the top of Netflix’s streaming charts. The state wants to encourage even more movies to be made in West Virginia by helping keep production costs down. And, an Eastern Kentucky pharmacist serves vegan food for the holidays.
WVPB news anchor and journalist Beth Vorhees is retiring today. We invite you to watch this look back on her three decades of excellence covering West Virginia public affairs:
Beth founded or shaped the programs that have come to define West Virginia Public Broadcasting: The Legislature Today, Inside Appalachia, and West Virginia Morning.
She also leaves her mark as a mentor to dozens of journalists, including Death, Sex & Money host Anna Sale, NPR Newscaster Giles Snyder, and her replacement on The Legislature Today, Ashton Marra.
(Watch this video from former colleagues George Manahan, former Mountain Stage executive producer Andy Ridenour, and Inside Appalachia host Jessica Lilly.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A96rO2xSqlc
Today, a group of WVPB members have pledged $12,000 in additional gifts when 200 or people people make a sustaining gift to West Virginia Public Broadcasting in honor of Beth’s career: https://secure.wvpublic.org/donate/
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Lots of public radio listeners know acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In the fall, WNYC released Our Common Nature, a podcast that follows the musician and producer Ana Gonzalez as they explore the country. This included a visit to West Virginia. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Gonzalez about the podcast and what she and Yo-Yo Ma learned along the way.
"Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire" is a young adult novel set in Appalachia. Written by West Virginia native Don Martin, the book follows the story of a witch-in-training who uses her magic to help a forgotten mountain coal town. It was an instant New York Times bestseller after it was released last year. Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Martin about the book and his podcast "Head on Fire."
Kathleen Driskell is Kentucky’s current poet laureate. Driskell has authored six poetry collections, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker and Rattle, among others. Her most recent is Goat-Footed Gods. Inside Appalachia producer Bill Lynch spoke with Driskell about living next to the dead and America’s most lethal cryptid.
On this West Virginia Week, the state budget is headed to Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a statewide public camping ban bill moves forward, and Inside Appalachia visits Good Hot Fish.