On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginians have struggled to find affordable housing for years. The pandemic made things worse as demand increased. A lack of available housing inventory – or land on which to build – is exacerbated by a shortage of laborers and skilled tradesmen to build the houses.
On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginians have struggled to find affordable housing for years. The pandemic made things worse as demand increased. A lack of available housing inventory – or land on which to build – is exacerbated by a shortage of laborers and skilled tradesmen to build the houses.
Caroline MacGregor continues our radio series “Help Wanted: Understanding West Virginia’s Labor Force” with a look at how a shortage of workers is affecting the housing industry.
Also, in this show, workers continue to excavate contaminated material from the site of a train derailment earlier this year in East Palestine, Ohio. The accident just across the state border, sent toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water. Several government agencies are on the scene to coordinate the response.
In a new episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from residents who say they don’t know who to trust. Some worry about delays and misinformation while others think things are going as well as they can. We listen to an excerpt.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from residents who face daunting challenges. Some say government agencies are doing their best at ongoing cleanup, while others say delays and inconsistent information leave them uncertain about their safety and unclear about whether they can go home.
In the aftermath of a disaster, people search for assistance and answers.
Since a rural Ohio train derailment sent toxic material into the air, soil and water earlier this year, people in East Palestine have needed help. Some look to the government for that support, while others aren’t sure who to trust.
In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from residents who face daunting challenges. Some say government agencies are doing their best at ongoing cleanup, while others say delays and inconsistent information leave them uncertain about their safety and unclear about whether they can go home.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
An East Palestine, Ohio resident watches a black plume rise over his town, in February 2023, after a controlled detonation of derailed Norfolk Southern tank cars filled with vinyl chloride.
Credit: NPRUntil the Norfolk Southern derailment, Jami Wallace was an East Palestine resident. She lived just over a mile from the accident site. Now, she’s moved with her family to East Liverpool — about 30 minutes away. She has a law degree and a background in Political Science and Public Administration. Now, as president of a response group for her community — the Unity Council — she finds herself a de facto spokesperson for a town still in crisis.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingA yard sign near the center of East Palestine.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingMacklain Hersman works in IT and says he lives within the official disaster area. He has history in East Palestine. In fact, his house has been in the family for three generations.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingMark Durno, an EPA response coordinator, takes questions from concerned East Palestine residents.
Courtesy Stephanie ElverdEPA Community Involvement Coordinator Diane Russell discusses the air monitoring data that the EPA has collected for the East Palestine area.
Courtesy Stephanie Elverd“East Palestine is quite a conservative area, but what I saw whenever things happened was I saw people who were on the right, who were on the left, who were somewhere in the middle, and some people who didn’t care at all, come together to demand answers and demand justice. Personally, I was proud of that, and that’s part of the reason why I’m here…that beauty in coming together, that solidarity, is what everyone should have all the time.” — Timothea Deeter, East Palestine resident
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
This week on Inside Appalachia, a Virginia Tech researcher challenges deeply held ideas about the purity of natural springs. Also, we meet the folks behind Angelo’s Old World Italian Sausage. They still use a family recipe that’s been handed down from generation to generation for over a century. Customers love it.
This week, a Virginia Tech researcher challenges deeply held ideas about the purity of natural springs.
Also, we meetthe folks behind Angelo’s Old World Italian Sausage. They still use a family recipe that’s been handed down from generation to generation for over a century. Customers love it.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Angelo’s Old World Sausage is available in stores in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.
Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Angelo’s Old World Italian Sausage is from a family recipe that goes back over a century to the Calabria region in southern Italy. It’s become a grocery store favorite in West Virginia.
Folkways Reporter Zack Harold spoke with the makers of Angelo’s Old World Italian Sausage and heard a story about sausage-making spanning generations.
Water Woes And The Trouble With Spring Water
It’s an old story in Appalachia: failing water systems leaving people afraid to drink from their taps. In McDowell County, West Virginia, people have relied on bottled water and mountain springs for decades, but maybe those alternate sources aren’t so pure.
Researchers at Virginia Tech have been looking into water inequity in the region. Mason Adams spoke with professor Leigh-Anne Krometis about what she’s found.
A Picture Of Peerless City
“Peerless City” is a documentary about Portsmouth, Ohio, a city that’s been alternatively described as the place “where southern hospitality begins” and “ground zero for the opioid epidemic.”
Filmmakers Amanda Page and David Bernabo wanted to go beyond slogans, though. Bill Lynch recently spoke with them about the film, and about Portsmouth’s complexity.
Inflation Hits Eastern Kentucky Hard
Recent reports show inflation is down from what it’s been over the last two years, but people in places like Letcher County, Kentucky are still feeling the pinch.
WEKU’s John McGary has the story.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Dirty River Boys, Hot Rize, Hank Williams, Jr., Ron Mullennex, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Tim Bing and Noam Pikelny.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
Proposals to build two ethane cracker plants – one in Wood County, West Virginia, and another in Belmont County, Ohio – have fizzled.
A petrochemical manufacturing hub predicted six years ago in the mid-Ohio Valley didn’t materialize.
Proposals to build two ethane cracker plants – one in Wood County, West Virginia, and another in Belmont County, Ohio – have fizzled.
Cracker plants produce the building blocks of plastic products. In 2017, the chemical industry and the Trump administration predicted that the Ohio Valley, with its proximity to shale gas reserves, would become a hub for that process.
According to the report, competition from China and a build-out of petrochemical manufacturing on the Gulf Coast discouraged investment in the Ohio Valley hub.
On this West Virginia Morning, students at WVU protested the school’s proposed program cuts on Monday, and we hear about new documentary “Peerless City.”
On this West Virginia Morning, students at West Virginia University in Morgantown protested the school’s proposed program cuts on Monday. Chris Schulz has more.
Also, in this show, slogans like “the city that never sleeps” or “the gateway to the west” can help give a community identity, but cities change over time. Filmmakers Amanda Page and David Bernabo explore change and slogans in Portsmouth, Ohio with their documentary “Peerless City.” Bill Lynch spoke with them about the film.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.
Teresa Wills is our host.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
A new federal grant is expected to support a three-year, rural internal medicine residency program aimed at improving the needs of rural communities in Appalachia.
A new federal grant is expected to support a three-year, rural internal medicine residency program aimed at improving the needs of rural communities in Appalachia.
Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and the Holzer Health System in Gallipolis, Ohio, are collaborating on a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
“Since first partnering with Holzer to establish a family medicine residency in 2017,” said Dr. Paulette S. Wehner, vice dean of graduate medical education at the School of Medicine. “We look forward to using our expertise to build a rural internal medicine residency that will provide a high-caliber training experience and retain graduates to serve as primary care physicians for our area.”
The new grant, which is going to the Marshall Community Health Consortium — composed of the Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall Health, Cabell Huntington Hospital and Valley Health Systems — will focus on creating a pipeline of primary care physicians trained specifically to care for patients in rural areas.
Internal medicine residents will conduct their first year of training in Huntington and their final two years at Holzer Health System.
According to a press release, this model allows trainees to learn firsthand how to address health care barriers in rural areas and treat a wide range of conditions they are likely to experience in practice.
The consortium is expected to work toward achieving initial accreditation in 2025 and welcome its first residents in July 2026.
The Appalachian Regional Commission reports the number of primary care physicians in Appalachia is 21 percent below the national average. That rate jumps to 40 percent below the national average in distressed Appalachian counties.
