Find videos, resources and activities for teaching civic education in WV classrooms.
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
While millions of addictive pain pills flooded West Virginia, a generation of Appalachians grew up with a parent addicted or abusing drugs. Hear some of their stories on this week’s classic episode of Inside Appalachia.
In the United States, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death. Appalachian communities are among some of the hardest hit by this issue. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), West Virginia has the highest rate of drug overdoses in the country, with Ohio and Kentucky ranking in the top five.
It destroys relationships, families and communities. What’s it like to be addicted to something? What’s it like when your addiction makes all the rules, even how you care for your kids and whether you live or die?
We’ll hear the story of Kristina Weaver, or Breezie, who grew up in southern West Virginia with a father who struggled with addiction. Her father, David Siers, died in June of 2015 of a heroin overdose.
We teamed up with producers Matt Shafer Powell and Jess Mador, with WUOT’s podcast Truckbeat. We’ll hear from recovering addicts, their families, as well as members of law enforcement, such as Sheriff Jack Stockton, whose own son suffers with addiction.
In W.Va. the five counties with the highest per-capita drug overdose-related death rates are concentrated in the southern parts of the state. All of them are coal-communities.
According to West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Boone, Mingo and Wyoming counties are three of six counties in the state experiencing an economic downturn similar to that of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Those poor economies could be influencing addiction rates. A study by the Department of Health and Human Resources found that between 2010-2014, adults with incomes lower than $25,000 in counties with the highest drug overdose rates (Boone, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Raleigh and Wyoming) were significantly more likely to suffer from poor health, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression than other counties did.
Music in today’s show was provided by Sam Keenan, Ben Townsend, Jake Schepps and Michael Howard.
Our producer is Roxy Todd. Our editor this week is Glynis Board. Our audio mixer is Zander Aloi.
We’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail us at feedback@wvpublic.org. Find us on Twitter @InAppalachia or @JessicaYLilly.
On this West Virginia Week, another round of school consolidations in the state, the Republican caucus lays out plans for the upcoming legislative session and a Nashville poet and songwriter channels a connection to LIttle Jimmie Dickens. ...
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThis week, a poet and musician draws inspiration from a distant family connection to the Grand Ole Opry’s Little Jimmy Dickens. Also, for 15 years, a Virginia library has been hosting a weekly Dungeons & Dragons game for teens. And, a taxidermist in Yadkin County, North Carolina found her calling before she could drive a car.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsA lot of people who came of age listening to the Grand Ole Opry know Little Jimmy Dickens. With his clever songs and his rhinestone-studded outfits, the West Virginia native influenced a generation of performers. Now he’s remembered in a new book of poetry.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsFor some Americans, this year’s political earthquakes hit close to home. Trey Kay reflects on federal budget cuts, the elimination of programs and agencies and the resulting layoffs of hundreds of thousands of workers. 2025 was also a year highlighting escalated immigration enforcement, and the deployment of National Guard troops in U.S. cities. One of those missions resulted in the tragic loss of a West Virginia National Guard soldier. On this end-of-year episode of Us & Them, we examine how today’s culture-war battles are reshaping the nation’s foundation.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
