Midwives have a long and storied history in Appalachia. Can they help decrease the region’s high C-section rate?
On this week’s Front Porch podcast, we talk to two women who help “catch babies” in West Virginia: Leila Nichols, director of Midwifery Services at FamilyCare, and Staysha Quentrill, Strong Start Peer Leader at FamilyCare Birth Center.
The World Health Organization says 5 – 10 percent C-section rate is ideal. That rate is 33 percent for the whole U.S., and 36 percent in West Virginia – the 5th highest rate in the nation.
Nichols gives 7 reasons for the high C-section rate.
Women being told they can’t have a vaginal birth
Induction methods
Continuous fetal monitoring
Women not being given enough information about vaginal birth after C-section
Casual attitudes toward surgery
Reimbursements are higher for C-section
More convenient for provider
Bonus information – what NOT to do if you’re the partner for a woman having a baby. Subscribe to “The Front Porch” podcast on iTunes or however you listen to podcasts. An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above. Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
He’s been beaten and berated for doing his job, but despite the dangers, Bob Aaron says he still loves being a T.V. reporter.
Those dangers made international news when two young reporters in Roanoke, Va. were shot and killed by a former co-worker on live T.V.
On this week’s Front Porch Podcast, Aaron tells funny and touching stories from his 50 years as a reporter, and answers the question, what keeps you going?
Aaron was investigating a complaint about animals being mistreated in a remote area of Clay County, W.Va. The farmer’s son confronted him.
“I decided I wasn’t going to get out of the road. I was on public property,” Aaron said. “I had a couple of second thoughts when I saw the guy was about 100 pounds heavier than me.
Man attacking Bob Aaron with tripod.
“He actually picked up the tripod I was using and swung it at me,” hitting Aaron and sending him to the hospital.
The man received three months home confinement and must pay the station for damaging the equipment.
When Sheriff’s deputies allowed him to get beat up
When Aaron worked in Waterloo, Iowa, he went to a mobile home park where a man was holding his wife with high-powered rifle.
Two of the man’s brothers jumped Aaron. It was cold and icy, a real “hockey fight,” Aaron said. But none of the deputies came to his aid.
“I was amazed that nobody was helping me,” he said. “Everyone was perfectly happy to let this guy beat me up while I was out doing my job.”
Why? Because police felt his station has compromised an earlier investigation.
When a dangerous situation was diffused by a lack of skill
Aaron went to cover a murder on the Logan-Boone County line, and ran into a potentially dangerous situation.
“The relatives were throwing rocks at me,” he said. “But their aim was pretty bad, so it didn’t become an issue.”
On covering labor strikes
One strike in Rum Creek, West Virginia became violent. Miners took their stand on a low-water bridge.
They would use steel cable to chain cars on the bridge. Coal trucks became battering rams, knocking the cars aside, while picketers ripped mirrors off the trucks.
One day, police attempted to clear the bridge. A woman was knocked over, and the crowd became agitated. Aaron worried about his safety.
“But instead, they push me up to the front, to get good video of what’s going on.”
On covering accident scenes with respect for the victims
“People say, ‘That’s my wife, that’s my brother, you can’t shoot that.’” Aaron said.
“You certainly don’t want to get in a fight with the father of some little child who’s been killed in an accident because you’re taking pictures there. You try to be tasteful and understanding,” he said.
“We’re not going to take pictures of an uncovered, dead drowning victim, naked, being loaded in an ambulance.”
On how the Virginia shooting changes things
WCHS staff have received training from police about “situational awareness.” They’ve been advised to carry an emergency trauma kit to stop bleeding.
Aaron says they were told this: If you are conscious five seconds after something happens, you have 80 percent chance of surviving it, but you have to do something to take care of yourself.
“The troubling thing about this is, maybe this is the first shooting of its kind, like Columbine was the first shooting of its kind. And you always wonder if some nutjob will decide to take advantage of this situation and do this someplace else.”
On why he keeps at it, after five decades
“I guess I like to be where the action is. I like to be on the street.”
Bob Aaron is a senior reporter/producer for WCHS/WVAH-TV in Charleston-Huntington. He’s worked for WCHS for 33 years.
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
Ten years ago, Jennifer Hill was trying to figure out how she, her mother and brother could survive Hurricane Katrina.
On this week’s The Front Porch podcast, Hill tells the fascinating story of how her family fled her New Orleans apartment to find fear and chaos inside the Superdome.
But Hill also talks about the amazing camaraderie of her “Katrina family” – the people who found and supported each other as they escaped.
And she speaks about her random flight to West Virginia, and why she’s stayed here ever since.
Outside the Superdome and walkway to Convention Center during Katrina
These photos come from her “Katrina family” member Linda Veches’ Facebook profile,, Hill says: “These are the pics we took with her camera phone (back when the technology was a bit iffy). Linda was a part of the amazing survival group we formed in the later days of that week.”
And here is an email Hill sent Veches days following their landing and separating in Huntington:
There is not a day that goes by that you do not enter my thoughts, conversations and prayers. I am so fortunate to have met you and it is still hard to put into actual words what you each mean to me.
Linda, your courage, humor and extreme survival skills gave me strength.
Hill’s Katrina family
Stephanie, your calm and serene demeanor kept me still while chaos reigned around us.
Francette, your spunk, tenacity, wit and charm made our time together bearable and can I dare say enjoyable.
It is strange to some and even sometimes to me that I look a back and smile at our stay at the ‘camp.’ My best memory is Friday night, we had all cleaned up to some degree and we sitting, campfire style, discussing our future day of steak and wine and relaxation. I pray that through all the trials and tribulations this past year that at some point you were able to enjoy that dinner.
My sincerest hope is that at some point in the future we can all be together again and I will be the first to lift my glass and toast to the most courageous, brilliant and beautiful women I know.
Forgive me my lapses in communication. I was never the best pen pal but I do love you all!!!
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
Can West Virginia comply with President Obama’s Clean Power Plan? And if so, at what cost?
Those are the questions Randy Huffman is trying to answer. Huffman is Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
Huffman came on “The Front Porch” podcast to talk about how his agency is dealing with Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants.
Here are 10 takeaways from our interview with Huffman that will (hopefully) help you understand the Clean Power Plan’s impact on West Virginia.
1. West Virginia DEP feels blindsided by EPA
Huffman says the EPA did not work with his staff on the plan, even though federal officials consulted with national environmental groups.
So when the final plan was announced earlier this month, Huffman says he was shocked. West Virginia utilities would have to reduce their emissions rate by 37 percent – not the 27 percent they’d seen in an earlier draft.
“We never did get a good answer in any of the briefings we had about why they changed the number…We didn’t see that coming,” he said.
West Virginia’s target is among the most stringent — 29 states have easier targets, 17 harder, percentage-wise (only 47 states are involved at this time, because Alaska and Hawaii are special cases, and Vermont has no significant fossil fuel power.)
West Virginia must achieve a 2030 emissions rate of 1,305 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour, compared to a less stringent goal of 1,620 lbs CO2/MWh under the proposed rule.
Credit Forbes.com
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West Virginia has some of the heaviest CO2 emissions by its power plants in the country.
2. About the “Just say no” option
Many coal-state officials, including Senate President Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, want states to refuse to cooperate with the EPA.
First of all, Huffman says there’s no rush to declare the state’s strategy. The deadline to make that decision is September 2016.
“You don’t ever say no until you need to say no, which is over a year away,” he said.
Huffman says taking the “Just say no” path could be risky.
“If ‘Just say no’ is your position, what you’re saying is, I believe I’m going to win in court, and if I lose that, I am willing to accept the federal plan,” Huffman said.
The feds are likely to impose a cap and trade scheme if the state loses in court and does not have an alternate plan, he said.
“You won’t have a seat at the table if you just say no.”
3. Anything is doable, but…
Is it even possible for West Virginia to comply?
Environmental consultant Evan Hansen of Downstream Strategies says yes. He issued a report recommending an “All of the above” approach – less coal-fired power, more renewables, and increased energy efficiency.
Huffman replies, “With enough money, you can do anything.”
But doing so could mean increase the risk of blackouts, and lead to the shutdown of major power plants, he said.
Credit Cecelia Mason / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Mount Storm power plant in Grant County
“We can comply, if we shut down John Amos Units 2 and 3, Fort Martin Units 1 & 2, Mount Storm Unit 3, Grant Town Unit 1A…yeah, we have to take nearly 4,000 megawatts coal power production to comply.”
4. Compliance option 1: Reduce the rate of CO2 emissions by 37 percent
This option is hard, Huffman said, because West Virginia is almost entirely reliant on coal-fired power. You can’t reach it by merely shutting down existing coal power plants.
“What’s really important to understand about a rate is that, if we only had one (coal-fired) power plant left in the state…it’s not going to meet the target.”
And unlike most other states, West Virginia has NO utility-run natural gas power plants – although several are planned.
5. Compliance option 2: Total CO2 reduction
The state also could seek to reduce the total emissions produced here, not just the rate.
Huffman says this is “probably more achievable if there is a cap-and-trade mechanism built into it.”
Credit WV Division of Tourism, David Fattaleh
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Willow Island Power Plant shut down recently, one of several in West Virginia
It’s like the salary cap in baseball, he said – you could have higher emissions, but you’ll pay a penalty for it.
6. We’ve already made some progress toward meeting the goal
Since 2012, almost 3,000 megawatts of coal-fired electricity generation has been shut down in West Virginia.
Mostly, this is a reaction to other EPA rules about mercury and other pollutants. And these were mostly older, less efficient plants.
West Virginia needs about 3,820 megawatts more in reductions to reach EPA goals.
7. Utilities need certainty
“We need to understand how power plants work. A lot of elected folks out there, and a lot of others in various industries are calling for us to shake our fist at EPA and all that,” Huffman said.
“Electric power plants, they don’t operate that way. They need certainty. They need long lead times to make investments. They want to know the rules, and at the end of the day, they’re going to get there. It might be extremely expensive.”
8. The W.Va. Legislature will have the final say on the state’s response to EPA
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill to give them more information and oversight in the state’s response. House Bill 2004 requires the DEP to produce a feasibility study within 180 days of release of the EPA rule (the final rule is expected to be released in September, Huffman said.)
The report will create a number of if-then scenarios, Huffman said.
The new law also requires the DEP to get legislative approval before they submit a plan to the EPA. That EPA deadline is Sept. 6, 2016.
Without the law, there would be no requirement to take this plan to the Legislature. Huffman says with the new law, they are required to receive legislative approval.
(Editor’s note: Expect a special legislative session next summer – just in time for the 2016 election season.)
9. Obama is “betting the farm” on global cooperation
Huffman said that by itself, the Clean Power Plan has a tiny, tiny impact on global temperatures.
“By itself, it doesn’t do anything. It’s necessary the rest of the world participate or it’s not going to have any impact,” he said.
“Global issues require global solutions. I think that’s what the President is trying to do, but we’re betting the farm on it. If the rest of the world doesn’t want to play, by the time we figure that out, it will be too late for the U.S., economically. Now, if the climate change issue is real and not addressed, it could be too late for everyone on the planet.”
Credit Bassmaster.com
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WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman, in his spare time, is a competitive sports fisherman.
10. Pressure on coal-fired power won’t go away with a new President
“You can’t elect that away…it’s not going to change to the degree people think. There’s a mood across the country about what fossil fuels are, and you’re not going to elect that away,” Huffman said.
“If we just fight and think that we’re so obviously right that we’re going to win, we’ll lose.”
BONUS info: Huffman is a native West Virginian, an avid sports fisherman and the Support Group Commander in the 130th Airlift Wing in Charleston.
“I enjoy working with people who have different perspectives that are willing to come to the center. I don’t have much for folks on either side that want to stay way off to the left or right and argue…I don’t have much use for that.”
DISCLOSURE: Scott’s wife works for Huffman as the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, which may explain Scott’s first question on this week’s podcast of “The Front Porch.”
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
1. Building Block 1: Operate coal plants more efficiently
Almost 3,000 megawatts already shut down in the last two years – not directly because of the Clean Power Plan, but because of new rules on mercury and other pollution.
They were somewhat more inefficient, older plants – cutting another 3,800 megawatts of coal-fired power would require closing newer facilities, Huffman said.
2. Building Block 2: Run gas plants more often, coal less
WVDEP says this is not a good option for West Virginia, as the state does not have any natural-gas-fired power plants, nor are any under construction. Several are in the planning stages.
3. Building Block 3: Ramp up renewable power
The EPA now believes renewables could rise to 28 percent of the electricity supply by 2030
WVDEP says the EPA is unrealistic, and that West Virginia would need to expand its wind capacity to seven times its current size in order to reach its targets.
4. Building Block 4 – increase energy efficiency
WVDEP views EPA’s efficiency estimates as grossly out of whack. Evan Hansen of Downstream Strategies says that West Virginia can make big improvements here.
Over the past century, Charleston’s two newspapers brought down corrupt politicians, exposed injustice, and served as West Virginia’s first draft of history.
And now, the Charleston Gazette and Charleston Daily Mail are joining into one newspaper. Why is this happening, and what does it mean for West Virginians?
Gazette-Mail Publisher Susan Shumate says the combination is necessary for financial reasons. A federal agency recently filed a $1.3 million lien against the newspaper for missing payments to its pension plan, according to the West Virginia Record.
But in an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Shumate says the new newspaper also will be more than the sum of its parts.
Hear our interview with Shumate on The Front Porch podcast on iTunes or however you listen. Here are five takeaways from our interview with Shumate:
1. Why the announcement was made on Sunday, July 19
Charleston was one of the last two-newspaper cities in the country, and one of the smallest. With declining print revenues, publishing two papers was unsustainable.
“Financially, for Charleston newspapers, it wasn’t an option any longer,” Shumate said.
Shumate confirmed that the announcement was timed to coincide with the expiration of a federal judge’s settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit. So July 19 was the first possible day they could combine the newspapers.
“There’s nothing positive about somebody losing their job. But the Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail really haven’t had the deep news cuts that other news organizations have had to have,” she said.
Credit e-wv, The West Virginia Encyclopedia online. / Ned Chilton, Charleston Gazette, Governor Arch Moore, WV House of Delegates
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Ned Chilton, Charleston Gazette, Governor Arch Moore, WV House of Delegates
Ned Chilton, father of Susan Shumate, was a former Gazette publisher, and coined the phrase “sustained outrage”
2. Why the announcement wasn’t shared with most staff in advance
With 77 journalists in both newsrooms, if they had known in advance, someone would have leaked it. And Shumate said she wanted readers to give the combined newspaper a chance, and not pre-judge it.
“People are passionate about their papers. They really are. By showing them the example of what we can do without letting people worry about it, and fret and say, ‘Oh, my news coverage is going to change in a month, my news coverage isn’t going to be the same…’
“There’s never an easy way to announce this.”
3. Why Shumate believes the combined newsroom will be better than two separate papers
Efficiency. In the past, each paper would have sent its own reporter to a meeting about the landslide at Yeager Airport.
This week, one reporter covered the meeting, and the other filed a story from the site of the landslide.
“It’s making the stories better, deeper, and for me, more fulfilling,” Shumate said.
In the past, the Gazette may have 7-8 local stories on a given day. One day this week, there were 19.
She said readers are telling her, “I used to be able to whip through my paper in the morning and go through my day, and now I’m having to carve out a chunk of time,” to read everything.
Shumate doesn’t think the loss of competition between newspaper reporters is an issue. In the digital age, there’s still plenty of other competition, she said.
Credit Andrew Brown via Twitter: @Andy_Ed_Brown
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The first weekday combined edition of the Gazette-Mail
4. Why the Gazette-Mail is requiring all newsroom staff to re-apply for their jobs
Right now, 77 people work in the Gazette-Mail newsroom, she said – 45 from the Gazette, and 32 from the Daily Mail (one DM position was vacant.)
The goal is a combined newsroom of 65.
There is no master plan for how many employees will be on each “beat” – sports, government, etc. Also, there’s a chance the new newspaper may have new and different beats than the old ones.
Shumate says the employees themselves are helping to shape the combined organization.
“We will have been able to dream up the super newsroom or the dream newsroom,” she said.
“It’s great seeing the staff in the newsrooms putting their stamp on what they think the newsroom of the future will be.”
5. What the focus of the combined newspapers will be
“I see our future and our business model being able to really dig into the local stories,” Shumate said.
Some of their priorities, in no particular order, include:
Better multimedia presence, such as online video
More in-depth and investigative reporting
Local news
Government – state and local
Entertainment – what’s going on this weekend, what can you take your kids to do
Sports – high school, WVU, Marshall, etc.
6. Why they are keeping two separate opinion pages – one literally and figuratively on the left, the other on the right
“I think the Charleston Gazette readers and Charleston Daily Mail readers identify with those pages, and that was the core reason they subscribed to either one of those papers,” Shumate said. “By keeping those, we really want readers to feel we are embracing what they want.”
7. What the mission statement is for the combined newsroom
“Cover everything fairly and evenly,” Shumate said.
“I don’t think you’re necessarily doing a great job if you don’t get criticism from both sides. A newspaper’s job tends to be watching what’s going on in the community. And not everyone is going to like what you say.”
8. How the Gazette-Mail will monetize digital readers (web traffic) – or not
“That’s the question every news organization is asking right now. And it’s very difficult. It’s an industry-wide question, and one that nobody has a great answer for,” Shumate said.
“Every conference you go to is, (the question is) how are you going to monetize the web traffic?”
9. How the Gazette-Mail will continue the legacy of “Sustained Outrage” begun by her father, Ned Chilton, and continued by her mother, Elizabeth Chilton
“It makes me proud when I think of how my parents led with honesty,” Shumate said.
“Any great newspaper has that strong adversarial tone,” she said. The combined newsroom will allow all reporters more time to investigate stories.
“That is their dream job. They want to get to the bottom of the story. They want the whole truth,” she said.
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
