Podcast – Us & Them Story Archives - Page 2 of 34 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Us & Them: Navigating Post-Pandemic Medicaid

Medicaid is undergoing a major review to determine the eligibility of millions, but not everyone is getting the notice. For this Us & Them, we look at changes to a health care safety net program that serves more than 90 million low-income Americans.

Our health care systems continue to struggle from aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The most recent example spotlights Medicaid — a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage for more than 90 million Americans with limited resources. After several years of continuous coverage, now everyone must reapply for eligibility.

In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay reports more than a quarter of West Virginia residents rely on Medicaid for their healthcare. It pays for three-quarters of West Virginia’s nursing home residents, and nearly half of the state’s school kids use Medicaid to pay for their annual checkups. However, the application process is finding many ineligible because of changes in personal information and contact data that weren’t updated in the system.

Join us as we look at the ‘unwinding’ of Medicaid, as millions of the nation’s most vulnerable struggle to maintain their health coverage.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Tricia Brooks, a research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, parses out the nitty gritty details behind Medicaid access to explain how Medicaid coverage changed under the pandemic. The re-enrollment process for Medicaid involves millions of people, but the government cracking down on eligibility isn’t new. Like many safety net programs, Brooks told Us & Them’s Trey Kay that Medicaid is vulnerable to the push and pull of politics in Washington.

“In 2018, there were efforts made by the administration at that time to have a chilling effect on Medicaid and Medicaid enrollment for kids dropped by one million kids. And that same year, the uninsured rate for kids went up by a half a percentage point. We’d gotten down to about 5 percent uninsured kids. If we’ve lost 3.5 million, we’re talking about another 50 percent increase in the share of uninsured children in this country. And that would be a real travesty after decades of working to try to bring health coverage to almost every American child.” — Tricia Brooks, Georgetown University Center for Children and Families

*Photo Credit: Georgetown University*

Director Craig Robinson oversees Cabin Creek Health Systems, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in West Virginia. Cabin Creek, like other FQHCs, exists to give low-cost care to people in need. Robinson showed Trey Kay the 14-page Medicaid application the government sent out after the COVID-19 health emergency ended. He said people are required to fill it out and send it back, to determine their ongoing eligibility for Medicaid coverage.

“I’ve actually tried to complete it [the form] myself. And I couldn’t get through it because I couldn’t understand what they were asking for. They want to know about the situation of everybody in the family, including their medical situation. They want to know about your assets, and I had no idea that assets mattered in terms of Medicaid eligibility. I thought it was all income. But they’re asking for, what’s in your checking account, what’s in your savings account kind of thing. How do I fill this out in a way that I don’t mistakenly declare myself ineligible?” — Craig Robinson, director of Cabin Creek Health Systems, Charleston, West Virginia

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Jake Van Horn is a psychologist and community impact officer for Cabin Creek Health Systems in Charleston, West Virginia.

“It’s extremely short sighted to think that the upfront or initial investment in something like Medicaid doesn’t pay you dividends, in the long run. A community being better put together. Having better health care creates better employees, creates better employment opportunities, creates growth, creates better parents, creates better kids, creates better caregivers. People not struggling so much to maintain basic health, does create a more advantageous society.” — Jake Van Horn, Cabin Creek Health Systems, Charleston, West Virginia

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Katie May, psychologist and clinical director for Cabin Creek Health System’s Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Program, said that many of her substance use disorder patients don’t have time to parse through Medicaid’s 14-page re-enrollment form that’s full of legalese.

“Some of them might be experiencing homelessness. I was on Medicaid during graduate school and just graduated a while ago. And so when they started doing these annual reviews again, I was getting call after call from Medicaid to do my reviews and I was thinking, ‘How are my patients missing these reviews? They won’t leave me alone.’ But it’s also a privilege that I’ve had the same phone number for 15 years and that I have an address forwarding that they were able to keep up with me. Some of my patients, for various reasons, have a different cell phone number every couple months. Whether it’s their phone is being stolen; they’re losing their phone; they can’t afford a service and are having to change services. So, yes, a 14-page application, but that’s even if they get it. And then my patients are coming in and the first time that they’re finding out about this is us telling them, ‘Oh, it looks like your Medicaid has expired.’ And then there’s panic, of course, because that’s how they get their treatment. That’s how they get lifesaving medication.” — Katie May, Cabin Creek Health Systems, Charleston, West Virginia

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

It’s true that publicly funded medical insurance opens the door for a lot of Americans to take better care of their health. Deedra Toppings, from Branchland, West Virginia, has had significant health challenges, some of which came during the pandemic when she was not working and eligible for Medicaid. COVID-19-era policies gave Deedra’s family a taste of stable insurance that actually worked for them. But when she returned to work, the circumstances changed. As Medicaid returns to business as usual, people are losing resources that made their lives better.

“I feel like we’re being punished because we want to work and we want to better our lives and make sure our children have what they need. When I didn’t work, and we didn’t want more for our lives, we would get the Medicaid and it would help with the hospital bills, the doctor bills, whatever. But because we both want to work, I mean, we do not make a ton of money, we don’t have extras, we don’t have all of this stuff. It just kind of feels like we’re punished, because when we work, then we don’t get the help that I necessarily need for my health.” — Deedra Toppings, Branchland, West Virginia

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

James Hairston, 63, is a disabled coal miner living in St. Albans, West Virginia. He told Trey Kay that his disability occurred when “1,800 pounds of sandstone and coal” collapsed on him and pinned him to the mine floor. Hairston and his wife are both disabled. He used to get Medicaid benefits, which meant he could use home health care. That provided help with household chores and meals. He didn’t see it as a handout, just some help. Under the COVID-19 emergency declaration, Hairston couldn’t be removed from Medicaid. But once that ended, the state reported that he made too much to qualify.

“It’s a real hurting feeling. I’ve worked to provide a good living for my wife and kids. It’s hard for me to look at it and say, ‘Well, you know, you cut me off.’ And I didn’t bring this pain and all this stuff to myself. It’s just, I mean, I love what I was doing and I miss it so bad and I still had a lot of good years left in me.” — James Hairston

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

James Hairston shows the crack in the miner’s helmet that he was wearing the day the mine ceiling fell in on him and ended his coal mining career.

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Eric Hicks works with a range of Medicaid clients, including James Hairston, through the local home care company he runs called Right At Home. Right At Home is a nationwide franchise and in West Virginia, most of the company’s business comes from Medicaid patients. Hicks says when the government stops paying for a person’s home care, it puts families in a bind. Most times, they’ll try to find friends or family to help out. If that’s not available, the only other alternative is often a skilled nursing facility.

Trey Kay asked Hicks what Medicaid gives someone like James Hairston. The answer is simple: autonomy.

“There is absolutely a place for skilled nursing facilities and the services that they provide. When a person graduates from in-home care, that’s where they go, because we cannot meet all their needs. But it’s that gap in between, that people want to stay at home and they have the ability to stay at home if they have a little bit of assistance. They want to have all their things that they have at home and not be forced to leave their home to go to a place that they’re not comfortable with. A lot of people don’t want to be in a more institutionalized setting, they want to be able to comfortably have as many of their family and friends over to visit whenever they want to come by, not be restricted by time constraints, et cetera.” — Eric Hicks, president of Right at Home, Charleston, West Virginia

*Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Check out our colleague Emily Rice’s AP of the Virginias award-nominated series Unwinding Medicaid.

Us & Them: The Geography Of Abortion

State borders are now all important in determining access to abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, West Virginia’s only abortion clinic has moved across the border to Maryland to continue providing abortions.

State borders are the new front lines in the nation’s abortion battle. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the evolving geography of abortion.

Since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned federal abortion rights, 21 states have either banned or restricted abortion access, including West Virginia. Meanwhile, West Virginia’s neighbor, Maryland, is one of 22 states that are protecting abortion rights and expanding access.

Kay follows the decision of Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to move its abortion services from Charleston to a new clinic just over the border near Cumberland, Maryland. The move was intentional, because Western Maryland, like West Virginia, is a so-called abortion desert. The two regions have some deep political and cultural similarities. Western Maryland Republicans say they feel ignored by the overwhelmingly liberal, Democratic legislature in Annapolis. They say the new abortion clinic is not wanted or needed in their part of Maryland, and they blame the clinic’s presence on the fallout from Roe v. Wade’s defeat.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Katie Quiñonez stood in the waiting room of the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, located about 10 miles south of Cumberland, Maryland. Quiñonez is executive director of this health center. She is also the executive director of the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, which is located in Charleston and was West Virginia’s only abortion clinic until that state banned abortion in September 2022. The West Virginia center still provides reproductive health services, but in the summer of 2023, the Women’s Health Center relocated its abortion services to the Maryland clinic which is less than two miles from the West Virginia border.

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Subsequent to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in June 2022, Gov. Jim Justice signed a measure into law that banned abortions in West Virginia, with limited exceptions. Justice called the signed bill the “protect life” law. The law bans abortions in West Virginia except in cases when the mother’s life is in danger, or instances of rape and incest that are reported to law enforcement in a timely manner. Any abortion must be performed in a hospital within eight weeks for adults and 14 weeks for minors.

“I believe wholeheartedly that it does one thing that is absolutely so important. It does protect life.” — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Abortion access in the U.S. varied widely even during the Roe v. Wade era. Some states had lots of clinics, others had just a few. But every state had at least one. That changed when Dobbs ended the federal right to an abortion and let states come up with their own regulations.

Now, abortion access has become even more fragmented and deeply polarized. Fourteen states, including West Virginia, have essentially banned abortion. They have become what some call “abortion deserts.” Seven states have imposed stricter legal limits, while 22 states have moved to protect abortion rights and expand access. Maryland is one of those states.

In May 2023, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore approved laws that do several things. They allow a wider range of medical professionals to perform abortions. They maintain the privacy of abortion-related medical records. And they shield doctors and others from criminal investigations by states with more restrictive abortion laws.

“I’m very proud to sign legislation that will protect access to abortion in Maryland. In this moment of serious consequences for women and for all Marylanders, Maryland can and will lead on this issue of abortion access. And I want to say to all women who are out there who are wondering what will happen. Who are worried about their future. Please hear me loud and clear. Maryland will always be a safe haven for abortion access and abortion rights.” — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore

*Credit: Gov. Wes Moore’s X (Twitter) Post*

Maryland Democrats, who control the state’s legislature, want abortion rights written into the state constitution. The General Assembly has placed a reproductive rights amendment on the ballot for November 2024. Democratic Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk chairs the House Delegates’ Health and Government Services Committee, where the amendment was first considered. She said an abortion rights amendment is necessary, even though Maryland has been a reliably blue state for a long time.

“It’s necessary because we feel very strongly that we want Maryland to remain a state that protects abortion access. On the ballot this November, Maryland voters will once again be able to affirmatively and resoundingly say their reproductive freedom should be a constitutional right. It is the highest protection that we can give our constituents.” — Maryland Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk

*Credit: Maryland Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D), MD 21*

Maryland’s drive to protect abortion rights and access has attracted OB-GYNs to the state including Dr. Anne Banfield. She moved her practice to a hospital system in Southern Maryland after working for 13 years at a hospital in Elkins, West Virginia.

“I had spent a lot of years trying to recruit to our practice there and working a lot of shifts, taking a lot of calls. And then on top of that, you know, trying to advocate within the state, trying to advocate at the state government level to protect reproductive rights in West Virginia. And I got this great opportunity in Maryland, which is a very friendly and protective state from a women’s health and reproductive health standpoint. And we saw the writing on the wall, and I knew I was coming here and I was going to have to work less in a more friendly environment, and I just couldn’t pass that up. I don’t think I would have left otherwise.” — Dr. Anne Banfield, OB-GYN

*Credit: Dr. Anne Banfield/MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital*

Cresta Kowalski is the president of the Mountain Maryland Alliance for Reproductive Freedom. She said prior to the opening of the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, her group had been exploring how to bring an abortion clinic to Western Maryland.

“We were like, okay, a five to 10 year goal would be an indie clinic out here in mountain Maryland. And then in January, I get an email saying, ‘Hi, I’m Katie Quiñonez and my friend Ramsie Monk and I work with the Women’s Health Center of Charleston and we’d like to speak with you.’ And they had already found the location and it was perfect. It was made for the operation … I was relieved that we could have options for people that didn’t have options.” — Cresta Kowalski

*Credit: Cresta Kowalski/Facebook*

Michael Mudge is the pastor and founder of Bethany House of the Lord, an evangelical Christian church. He and several other anti-abortion advocates from Western Maryland came together to form Abortion Free Allegeny. He said their goals are to let people know about the clinic, organize demonstrations against it, and raise awareness about pregnancy support centers and other abortion alternatives. Mudge said he and others opposed to abortion do not like having a clinic in their backyard, but he knows it has a right to be there.

“What we’re dealing with here in Allegheny County, Maryland, is a direct result of the Dobbs decision. The West Virginia Legislature took the opportunity after the Dobbs decision to pass legislation effectively banning abortion. And the Maryland state legislature, as in many other states, has responded to the Dobbs decision by radicalizing even more their pro-abortion legislation. So, we’re caught up in the middle of that. It’s just that here, we’re in a part of Maryland that doesn’t fit well in Maryland.” — Michael Mudge

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Mudge referred to the political segregation that has deepened in Maryland as it has across the country.

There’s the rural, conservative, Republican Maryland of the western panhandle, the eastern Chesapeake Bay, and the counties north of Baltimore. And there’s the urban, liberal, Democratic Maryland of Baltimore City, Annapolis and the D.C. suburbs that dominates state politics.

David Karol, an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, said it wasn’t always like this.

Karol said his students were surprised to learn that in the presidential election of 1988, Republican George H. W. Bush won Maryland while Democrat Mike Dukakis won West Virginia.

“Which, you know, is just shocking to students, because that’s a complete reversal of the alignment that we see today,” Karol said.

“The [Maryland] legislature has been Democratic for about 100 years. The governorship has occasionally gone to Republicans, but seldom. And in presidential elections, Maryland has voted Democratic consistently since 1992.” – David Karol

*Credit: David Karol/University of Maryland*

Republican Mike McKay has represented Western Maryland in the Maryland General Assembly since 2015, first as a delegate and, for the last year, as a senator. He said his constituents have felt out of step with their overwhelmingly liberal Democrat fellow Marylanders. In 2021, then-Del. McKay and five other Republican lawmakers floated the idea of Garrett, Allegeny and Washington counties seceding from Maryland to become a part of West Virginia. They wrote a letter to the Republican leaders of West Virginia’s legislature to gauge their interest. It was a very, *very* long shot.

“We sent a letter and it became a dumpster fire, to be perfectly honest,” said McKay. “Everybody went crazy – ‘How are you leaving?’ Yada yada yada. And two of our members backed out. And the rest of us out of respect really just went our separate ways.”

McKay said his constituents are more aligned with West Virginia on abortion, too. He described himself as “pro-life” and said the Women’s Health Center of Maryland is not wanted or needed.

“I had a reporter from the Washington Post call me and do an interview, and she asked me, ‘How do you feel about this abortion clinic just moving across the state line, across the Potomac?’ I said, there’s never been a need for it. If there was a need for Planned Parenthood to move here, if there was actually this need, they would have been here by now. We have had women’s health clinics here for years. Probably 90 percent of everything that Planned Parenthood provides for women. And it’s important. That 90 percent is important to urban and rural women. It’s the abortion part that I say has been forced on our community, because Annapolis and Charleston had totally two different views, and our community has had to deal with the aftermath.” — Sen. Mike McKay

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Katie Quiñonez said she’s not forcing anything on Western Maryland.

“We did a market analysis and looked at what health care was available in those counties in mountain Maryland. And we found that not only was there not an abortion provider, the nearest abortion providers for the people living in mountain Maryland were at least 100 miles away in any direction. But there was also a real lack of reproductive health care, outside of a hospital system located in Cumberland. And then beyond that, we met directly with folks on the ground living and working in those communities to determine that, yes, there is a need here. Not only do we need abortion access, we need reproductive health care.” — Katie Quiñonez

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

This is what abortion care has become after the fall of Roe: a state-by-state fight over access, where abortion rights are determined by the lines on a map. The state line that divides West Virginia and Maryland runs through mountain communities that are alike in their topography, their culture and their political affiliations.

But on one side of that state line, abortion is legal, while on the other side, abortion is a criminal offense.

Us & Them: Expungement — Between Hope and Danger

More than a quarter of the adults in West Virginia have a criminal record. That includes cases of all types, some with arrests that never progress to a conviction or jail time. Yet the records can show up years later in a background check and make someone ineligible for a job or a place to live. On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay looks at the road toward a second chance. Nearly every state now has some sort of process to seal or expunge a record depending on the crime. But some say giving a clean slate to someone with a record is dangerous.

It’s estimated that more than a quarter of the adults in West Virginia have a criminal record. That includes cases with one arrest or more, but no conviction or jail time. Those records can still show up years later in a background check and make someone ineligible for a job or a place to live.

On this Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the road toward a second chance. Nearly every state now has some sort of process to seal or expunge a record depending on the severity and type of crime, for people who want to take steps toward their future.

In this episode, we look at the process which can be complicated and time consuming. Some say it has given them hope — while others suggest there are dangers in shielding potential employers from the truth about people they might hire.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Marie Bechtel is a lawyer with Legal Aid West Virginia. She focuses most of her practice on helping clients expunge convictions and other unlawful activity from their criminal record. Her work is funded through West Virginia’s Jobs and Hope program, which was created to help people who are re-entering from the criminal justice system and are looking to overcome barriers to employment. Expungement cases are only a small part of what Legal Aid does. Since 2018, they have taken on approximately 1,200 expungement cases.

*Courtesy Photo*

Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Carrie Webster says the number of expungement cases that come before her court is on the rise. Webster says prosecutors determine a person’s eligibility and she reviews their record.

“The nature of the offense, the person’s entire criminal history, and the passage of time between — time that they were charged with the offense or seeking expungement — whether it was an arrest that resulted in a dismissal or a conviction. And then I look at what they are doing now and if I can establish that, you know, whether it be through letters or some form of employment and the reason for it, a lot of times it’s for employment. Sometimes it’s because, you know, ‘I’m ashamed. I was 24 years old and I got off on the wrong side of the track, and I ended up being with the wrong crowd, and I got a drug conviction. Now I’m, 45 years old, I’ve got two children, and I hate to tell them that their dad’s a convicted felon. And I’ve worked for the last 15 years with the union, I haven’t touched drugs in 10 years, I’ve got steady employment…’ Those are the kinds of cases where I may expunge a felony. And I’ve expunged just a couple felony convictions where the majority unbelievably are sometimes arrested, even when there’s not been a conviction, they just want the arrest expunged.” — Honorable Judge Carrie Webster

*Credit: Charleston Gazette-Mail*

Amber Blankenship hoped to expunge her criminal record. However, West Virginia law says Blankenship could only expunge one of her two felonies, since they occurred at different times. Legal Aid did not take her case because she would still have a felony on her record. Blankenship says obtaining an expungement is more than just getting a “clean slate.” She says despite working hard to turn her life around, the record of her past holds her back.

“I believe that every human is redeemable, including myself. And it’s really hard to come back from that, because you are facing consequences every day, for something that you’ve made great changes to turn your life around. But, you know, those collateral consequences, they still exist, and they are still preventing West Virginians from going back to work after they’ve faced consequences for their actions.” — Amber Blankenship

*Credit: Courtesy Photo*

Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, chairs the Committee on Finance for the State Senate in West Virginia. Us & Them host Trey Kay spoke with Sen. Tarr back in 2019 about the “Second Chance” laws that legislators passed then. Tarr was one of the lone members against that legislation and Kay wanted to know if the senator’s position had changed.

“My position has not changed. I think that any time that an employer is evaluating an employee to whether or not they’re a fit for their organization, that they should have the right to ask any question they want and be able to pursue that answer.” — West Virginia Sen. Eric Tarr

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Troy Young successfully worked with Legal Aid to expunge his criminal record after a 2013 felony drug conviction. Young spent no time in jail, but his arrest and conviction had serious consequences.

“You can’t judge somebody by their past. God is the only one out here that can judge somebody like that. Like, people learn from their mistakes. There’s people I hear that don’t learn from their mistakes and they keep repeating it over and they keep relapsing… But if they’re still in treatment, at least they’re in there. They’re trying to do better. They really are trying. Give them the benefit of the doubt and let them try.” — Troy Young

*Courtesy Photo*

Us & Them: Caught Between Two Worlds

Our nation’s capital can make and break careers. In a very short period, Cassidy Hutchinson went from being a complete political outsider to traveling on Air Force One with the President of the United States. She tells Us & Them host Trey Kay about life on either side of the political divide.

American politics is now a very ‘us and them’ world. Insiders know the privilege of power, but loyalties can shift and elections can make doors slam shut.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked in the Trump administration, knows both sides. She was a dedicated White House staffer who’s best known for her stunning testimony to the January 6 committee.

Us & Them host Trey Kay spoke with Hutchinson about her memoir Enough, which offers an intimate portrayal of life on the inside and a failed effort to stay in power. Hutchinson faced decisions some of her former superiors refused, including those who defied subpoenas to testify before a Congressional committee.

This episode provides a front row seat to the beginnings of a legal saga that may hold an influence over this year’s elections.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, was sworn in before testifying to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol on June 28, 2022.

*Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo*

Cassidy Hutchinson photographed outside of the White House at a time when she was a student at Christopher Newport University and participating in the White House Internship Program.

*Courtesy of the White House*

Cassidy Hutchinson and Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany stand behind as former President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One after a campaign event in Wisconsin.

“So within not even three years, I went from being a complete outsider to traveling on Air Force One with the President, almost everywhere he went. I’m at the last rally. It was in Wisconsin. I just sort of took a moment to myself and I just started walking around weaving in and out of all the supporters. I wanted to take that moment in. I’m looking around at all of these people … and I caught myself thinking, ‘These people are being duped. These people are being lied to,’ and they’re looking at him with so much hope and faith in their eyes. And I caught myself thinking that and I just sort of like snapped myself out of it. I felt like I was completely caught between two worlds.” — Cassidy Hutchinson

*Credit: Tom Brenner/Reuters*

Watch Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol.

Learn more about Cassidy Hutchinson’s book Enough.

Us & Them: 2023 Had Some Serious Trust Issues

As we close out 2023, we look ahead to a new year with a landscape partially defined by fear and mistrust. Many Americans say their confidence is shaken. They feel like every institution — from the government, to the banking system, to corporations, to religion, to the news media — are corrupt. What to do when so many of us can’t trust the institutions that hold our society together?

It’s the time of year to look back on where we’ve been and prepare for what’s ahead.

Us & Them host Trey Kay has been reflecting on 2023, and a theme that’s been consistent — trust, or more importantly, our lack of trust in each other and our institutions. In this episode, we’ll explore how that reality could shape the year to come and its social and political landscape.

Kay will also remember several people he met during the year who have passed away unexpectedly and reflect on the work they were so passionate about. We’ll hear from friends and colleagues about how their legacies will continue.

In 2024, there’s a lot at stake and the Us & Them team will keep learning about it all in our conversations across the divides.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Ethan Zuckerman is a professor from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s spent years studying trends in civic and public life and wrote a book called *Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them*.

“The biggest danger is that the most likely response to mistrust is to exit the arena and sit on the sidelines. If you feel like every institution, from the government, to the banking system, to corporations, to religion, all the way down, if you feel like all those games are rigged, all those decks are stacked, there’s a completely rational thing to do, which is just to withdraw from the public sphere.” — Ethan Zuckerman

*Courtesy Photo*

Christopher Regan writes for publications such as the Charleston Gazette-Mail and The Atlantic, and he’s a former vice chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party. In 2022, Regan wrote a widely discussed piece for the Gazette-Mail, that suggested Manchin’s reelection in 2024 looked questionable. He said the electoral math just wasn’t there for the two-term senator. It turned out that he was right.

“Sen. Manchin does not like to lose. He is not a ‘fight the good fight and lose and come back another day’ kind of guy. He likes to win every time. He only lost one race in his 40 plus year political career. And he took it so poorly. In 1996, when he lost his primary, that he ended up helping the Republican win the governorship in West Virginia. He had won only narrowly against Patrick Morrisey in 2018, despite the fact that Patrick Morrisey is not nearly the politician that his new opponent is, Jim Justice. Jim Justice is very popular. The environment’s only gotten worse in West Virginia. And it just didn’t look good for him to win at all. And he could have been beaten badly.” — Christopher Regan

*Courtesy Photo*

Listen to the episode that featured Chris Regan’s prediction that Sen. Joe Manchin would not seek reelection: Manchin In The Middle.

Joanna Tabit was a circuit court judge in Kanawha County, West Virginia, and led a juvenile drug court for about seven years. Judge Tabit passed away at the end of September — leaving behind family and friends who were all touched by her presence in their lives.

“There’s a recognition that incarceration and placement for these kids in detention facilities is not the answer to this problem. And when we can work with adults, frankly, in the community and we can work with youth in the community, the outcomes regarding their treatment and their future and their ultimate success in the community are much greater.” — Joanna Tabit

*Courtesy Photo*

Gregory Howard is chief circuit judge in Cabell County, West Virginia and oversees the Adult Drug Court.

“[Judge Joanna Tabit’s death] was just a real tragedy. She was just a shining star in the judiciary and she was a great friend and a mentor to me. I’ve known her for years, a couple of decades now, actually. And I was just heartbroken by the loss. I listened several times to the interview that [Us & Them] did with her on the **Court of Second Chances** last year, and it was just amazing to listen to her in action, singing at one point during your, during court she was just an amazing lady, so vibrant, just gone way too young, but I miss her.” — Gregory Howard

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Listen to the episode that featured Joanna Tabit and Gregory Howard: Court Of Second Chances?

Ashley Omps died in October 2023. She worked as a lobbyist and testified at the West Virginia State Capitol before the Senate Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. She told this group of powerful strangers about the worst experience in her life — a time when she was incarcerated in the Eastern Regional Jail after an intense, traumatic event, and said she was denied mental health treatment. Omps said it was uncomfortable to share her personal story, but it made a difference. West Virginia law has changed, because people like Ashley took their stories to the capitol.

“I was in jail for three months on my first offense. I lost my daughter, my home, my career, and my 21 acre farm that I had successfully managed for 12 years. That was three years ago. And since then, I’ve been incarcerated for 15 months. Not for new charges, but for technical violations of failed urine analysis. I’m sharing my story here today because I believe we can work together to come up with long lasting solutions to the jail overcrowding and find alternatives to incarceration that actually help people heal from trauma, recover from substance use disorder, and feel a part of the community again.” — Ashley Omps

*Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Listen to the episode that Ashley Omps was featured in: Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars In West Virginia.

Deborah Ujevich is the interim executive director for the West Virginia Family of Convicted People. Ashley Omps worked with this organization.

“I think that the best thing to do for Ashley, to honor Ashley, was just to continue this work. She was so passionate about it. She was so good at it. She was just naturally good. I know some of the voting records of some of these legislators and how unfriendly they are. There are certain ones that are just lost causes. They don’t want to hear about second chances. They don’t want to hear about rights for incarcerated people. They don’t want to hear about rights for anybody who is justice impacted in any way. She didn’t know these, like political background things, and she would just run up to anybody and just start pouring it out, and it flowed from her so naturally, and she didn’t frame it a certain way because all I know this person is generally hostile to our issues. She didn’t know those things. So she was so open and so natural about it. And she just was a breath of fresh air. I know that’s a cliche to say, but it really is true. She loved what she did and people loved her. I saw some of the most hostile to our causes, legislators literally hug her.” — Deborah Ujevich

*Courtesy Photo*

Darrin Lester passed away in 2023. He had spent a good amount of time incarcerated and subsequent to his release, he devoted much of his time helping incarcerated people transition from prison to functioning in society. Trey Kay met Lester when working on an episode about medical care behind bars. Darrin spoke about his experience early in the pandemic. In August 2020, he contracted COVID-19 while at Mt. Olive Correctional Center.

“I have a fever that’s hovering between 103 and 105, and you give me Tylenol and cough medicine and they did that. And I put me in that room and there was other than come and check on my vitals. They wasn’t planning on taking me anywhere. There was a new nurse who had, she maybe been there maybe a month or so. And she had duty that night in the infirmary. And she took my vitals and she called a doctor at home and said, ‘man, we got to do something with him.’ And the doctor said, ‘okay, take him to the hospital.’ That’s how I got treatment. When I get to the hospital, I got to Montgomery Hospital, and when I get there, within 15 minutes, the doctor says, ‘man, he’s in stage 4 kidney failure, and he has double pneumonia.’” — Darrin Lester

*Courtesy Photo*

Alice Moore, who died in September, was a member of Kanawha County Schools Board of Education. In 1974, she objected to a new series of language arts textbooks, which sparked a turbulent public controversy that made national headlines and impacted how textbook publishers produced educational material. This photo shows Moore at a pivotal meeting during the textbook controversy reviewing transcripts as protesters watch through the board office auditorium windows.

“I felt like I was standing still and the world was just flying in circles around me. There was a whirlwind alright, and all I did was just stand where I had always stood and it was driving liberalism crazy.” — Alice Moore

*Credit: Charleston Newspapers*

Trey Kay visited his friend Alice Moore at her home in Acton, Tennessee in July 2023. It was their last visit.

*Credit: Amy Tillman*

Listen to Us & Them episodes that feature Alice Moore in:

Us & Them: Bidding Farewell To My Unlikely Friend, Alice Moore

Sometimes friendships show up when we don’t expect them. That was true of Us & Them host Trey Kay’s friendship with Alice Moore — a conservative Christian county school board member, who sparked a turbulent textbook controversy in Kay’s home county back in the 1970s. Kay and Moore saw education, religion, homosexuality and Trump very differently, but were still dear friends.

Friendships that last through the years can be a remarkable gift.

In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay remembers his dear friend Alice Moore who recently passed away. Kay talks about the gentle kindness that defined their relationship, which stretched across the divides of their social and political beliefs.

Moore made West Virginia — and national — headlines in the 1970s over a contentious and violent conflict focused on public school textbooks. As a county school board member, Moore opposed new language arts textbooks because they offended her religious and political views. Kay says his documentary on the Kanawha County Textbook War introduced him to Moore and opened the door to a friendship that has taught him about relationships, politics and people.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

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