Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
Us & Them: 2025 — Changing Definitions, Upending Institutions
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As we count down to the end of 2025, Us & Them host Trey Kay looks back at the year’s whirlwind of actions and reactions.
Each week presented fresh moves in the agenda President Donald Trump outlined during his campaign. First it was a reshaping of the federal government from the Department of Government Efficiency known as DOGE, Elon Musk’s initiative, which slashed budgets and agencies and workers. At the same time, additional resources for the Department of Homeland Security led to a significant increase in the number of immigration arrests and detentions by federal agents. The use of National Guard troops in U.S. cities tests the limits of the president’s authority while those in the Mountain State mourn the death of a soldier shot in the nation’s capitol.
We look at how one-time culture war talking points are reengineering America’s defining institutions.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation.
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Trey Kay stands before a rainbow in the summer of 2025, as Congress debated a bill to rescind federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Although the cuts threaten organizations like West Virginia Public Broadcasting and programs like Us & Them, Kay says he is choosing to remain hopeful.
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Through my work on Us & Them, I’ve spent years in rooms with people who don’t trust each other, while still encouraging conversation… This year, those rooms felt different. Quieter. More cautious. More guarded… A nation without guardrails doesn’t become freer. It becomes more fragile… The only thing that has ever brought us closer together is to listen to each other. It’s not about agreement or surrender — but it’s a stubborn decision to stay in the room together. To keep talking… It may be the last guardrail we still control.”
Federal funding for arts and culture has been curtailed. Trey Kay looks at the reasons in the latest Us & Them. Also, the state board of education has approved another round of school closures and consolidations, the state Legislature is expected to take up several bills in the coming session to address foster care and children who are homeless, and U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was laid to rest Tuesday at the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton.
There are 15,101 students experiencing homelessness in the state, according to a report given to the Joint Committee on Children and Families during December interim meetings. These are students outside of foster care. Of those, 86% are living with others, 5.4% are staying in shelters, 4.3% are in hotels and motels, and 4.3% are unsheltered. The committee discussed a number of bills Monday they plan to introduce when the regular session begins in January. The hope is to create clearer pathways for children to find permanent stability.
