Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom

Many cryptids are said to lurk in the shadows of Appalachia, including West Virginia’s Flatwoods Monster.

In three Appalachian states, data show state and local police arrested more people for ICE in recent months, including during a national surge in immigration arrests this summer.

Newspapers are shutting down and shedding reporters across the country, especially in Central Appalachia. Andrew Henderson sat down with a Lexington Herald-Leader reporter who was recently laid off alongside a dozen colleagues.

Wendell Berry made famous his community of Port Royal, Kentucky, through his writings about agrarian philosophy. The Appalachia Mid-South Newsroom caught up with his hometown newspaper to reflect on Berry's life and legacy in Henry County.

The mayor of Gallatin, Tennessee says a hyperscale Meta data center is the city’s largest taxpayer and has done a lot of charitable giving in the community. But two years into operation, residents in the northern Tennessee town still have concerns about its effect on utilities, the environment, and property values.

Dolly Parton paved the way for generations of Appalachian performers, who looked to her as a source of inspiration.

Elon Musk’s xAI runs one of the nation’s largest data centers in Memphis. It’s powered by about 60 gas turbines that emit a loud, unsettling noise.

Dollywood opened the park the day after Dolly Parton’s death to carry on the country music icon’s legacy and honor her spirit saying “the show must go on.”

As data center proposals spring up in communities across Kentucky, residents want more answers about their would-be neighbors from developers and their own public officials.

Mine safety advocates are calling on the Trump administration to do more to protect coal miners amid increasing rates of black lung disease reported among working miners in central Appalachia.

Opposition to hyperscale data centers is stoking bipartisanship in Kentucky, with Republicans and Democrats finding common cause in their resistance to local proposals.

Residents across Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have packed public meetings in recent months to speak out against data centers, with a recurring concern being how they could affect the cost of electricity.