Curtis Cress sat in the gravel beside a railroad track in Harlan County, Kentucky. Tall and thin with a long, black beard, Cress is every bit a coal miner, or, he was until a month ago.
Joe Oliver and Tony Brown peered into the dark crawl space beneath a Letcher County, Kentucky, home. Already, they could see problems. The crawl space had been blocked off with just a thin sheet of plywood; the posts supporting the house rested on uneven blobs of poured concrete; the whole place reeked of mold.
A conservation group chose Earth Day, April 22, to announce the purchase of a massive property in Appalachian forest to protect habitat and help wildlife adapt to the challenges of climate change.
Maple syrup has been produced in the Ohio Valley for centuries. But now a new generation of farmers is tapping into that long tradition to grow a new kind of small business.
NPR is reporting that more than two thousand coal miners are now suffering from the most severe form of black lung disease, Progressive Massive Fibrosis, or PMF. And despite clear warnings, investigative reporter Howard Berkes shows, the mining industry and government regulators did little to stop it.
On a cool but clear November day about a dozen residents from eastern Kentucky’s coal mining region crowded into the lobby of an office building in the small town of London, Kentucky. That’s where Kentucky’s powerful senior senator, Mitch McConnell, has his local field office.
ByJeff Young & Mary Meehan & Benny Becker•Nov 27, 2017
Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
As coal country looks for a new path forward, some communities are looking to their public schools. Many are changing not just how they prepare students but how they can help meet economic and social challenges. In a new series, Changing Course, reporters at the Ohio Valley ReSource track the work of a Kentucky school cooperative.
Eastern Kentucky residents have access to more mental health providers than the rest of the state, but proportionately, there are fewer primary physicians in the Appalachian region.
A new report shows just how far Appalachia has fallen behind the rest of the country on key health measures such as rates of cancer, heart disease and infant mortality. Researchers say the region’s health gap is growing and they hope the data they’ve compiled will spur new approaches to health care.
