A Year After The Floods, Trump And Coal, This West Virginia Week

Recovering from substance use disorder is hard at the best of times. How did people working on recovery during the February 2025 floods hold on to their sobriety? As we approach the one-year anniversary of those deadly floods, we wanted to check in on this often overlooked issue....

A challenge lawmakers are struggling with this session is how to pay for public schools in a state where there’s falling enrollment, especially in rural counties. Also, the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom explains snow mold....

On this West Virginia Week, seven mining operations are to close, the state Senate votes to ban abortion medication by mail, and Gov. Patrick Morrisey presses for tax cuts....

On The Legislature This Week, two senators tell us how the state needs to change its school funding, which has remained largely unchanged for decades. We also hear lawmakers discuss reforms to the state’s response to water crises....

On this episode of The Legislature Today, in this school year alone, the state Board of Education has been asked to approve 19 school closures or consolidations. News Director Eric Douglas speaks with Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, a member of the Senate Education Committee, and Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, to discuss what needs to be done to fix the issue. ...

This week on Inside Appalachia, we talk with East Tennessee’s Amythyst Kiah. Her new album contemplates the cosmos. Also, hair salons are important gathering places where Black women can find community. And, West Virginia poet Torli Bush uses story to tackle tough subjects....

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah released "Still + Bright" last year, which featured guests like S.G. Goodman and Billy Strings. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Kiah from her home in Johnson City, Tennessee at that time. We listen to an encore of that conversation....

America continues to wrestle with racial division, but music has often been a space where those barriers are challenged. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay revisits a 1960s moment when a band refused to perform unless a mixed-race couple was allowed to dance — and paid the price for taking that stand. It’s a story about courage, consequences and the uneasy intersection of music and race in America....

The struggle against racial discrimination has hundreds of years of history in the United States. On the next episode of Us & Them, Trey Kay looks at the intersection of music and race in the 1960s. It’s about a band that took a stand against racism – and musicians who suffered the consequences....

Three years after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some of those who joined a successful $600 million class action lawsuit have been paid. But some have not. Also, Gov. Patrick Morrisey pushes for his tax cut and the House of Delegates debates elections and employment bills....

Gov. Patrick Morrisey has made his case for a 10% state income tax cut – but not everyone is convinced that’s the way to go. Assistant News Director Maria Young spoke with Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, to learn more....

Financial leaders in the House of Delegates discuss the difference between the governor’s budget numbers and the budget state lawmakers are crafting at the Capitol now. Also, we hear the latest from our occasional series on the cosmos above West Virginia, "Almost Heavens."...

On this West Virginia Week, ICE arrests in West Virginia include 650 people, some lawmakers consider changing how residents vote, and rock climbers embrace the cold to scale a frozen waterfall....

On The Legislature This Week, House Finance leaders provide us with some insight into the state budget process. We also hear about lawmakers’ ideas to change local elections, as well as a bill restricting abortion medication in the Senate....

While the West Virginia Legislature may consider hundreds of bills during the 60-day session, there is only one thing they are required by the state constitution to do and that is to pass a balanced budget. The state is not allowed to operate in a deficit. News Director Eric Douglas spoke with House Finance Committee Chair Vernon Criss, R-Wood, and Minority Chair of House Finance Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, to discuss the process for creating the state budget. ...