Jan 21 Agriculture Hemp Prices Crash Leaving Ohio Valley Farmers Feeling Burned Ohio Valley farmers planted more than 27,000 acres of hemp last year — about four times more than in 2018 — to cash in on a booming market for popular CBD products made from the crop. Yet with that growing boom, the price of CBD-rich hemp has crashed, dropping more than 75 percent in just […] By Liam Niemeyer Jan 21 Agriculture Hemp Prices Crash Leaving Ohio Valley Farmers Feeling Burned Liam Niemeyer
Jan 14 Agriculture Ohio Valley Farmers Cautiously Optimistic About U.S.-China Trade Deal The Trump administration is set to sign a deal Wednesday with Chinese trade officials for what they call “Phase One” of a trade agreement after almost two years of false starts and costly, retaliatory tariffs. Ohio Valley farmers are cautiously optimistic the truce will be a turning point, but some are skeptical about the details […] By Liam Niemeyer Jan 14 Agriculture Ohio Valley Farmers Cautiously Optimistic About U.S.-China Trade Deal Liam Niemeyer
Jan 14 Economy More Unpaid Appalachian Miners Stage A Coal Train Blockade For the second time since summer, eastern Kentucky coal miners are blockading a railroad track to protest unpaid wages. The new blockade, which was started Monday afternoon by Quest Energy miners, echoes the months-long blockade by Blackjewel coal miners over the summer and speaks to a growing discontent in Appalachian coal country. “It’s hard to go […] By Sydney Boles Jan 14 Economy More Unpaid Appalachian Miners Stage A Coal Train Blockade Sydney Boles
Jan 3 Uncategorized Regional Reaction To Iran: Ohio Valley Lawmakers Split On U.S. Killing Of Iranian Commander Congressional members around the Ohio Valley offered mixed reactions to the U.S. airstrike that killed one of Iran’s top military officers and pushed the two countries closer to war. Most statements from regional lawmakers pointed to Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani’s record of orchestrating violent attacks on U.S. personnel, and many Republicans praised President Donald Trump […] By Jeff Young Jan 3 Uncategorized Regional Reaction To Iran: Ohio Valley Lawmakers Split On U.S. Killing Of Iranian Commander Jeff Young
Dec 20 Health Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis After years of leading the nation in overdose death rates, Ohio Valley communities are looking for new ways to deal with the addiction crisis. A national nonprofit organization promotes and partners with programs that do just that. The Addiction Policy Forum celebrated new ideas at events in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia to honor programs […] By Aaron Payne Dec 20 Health Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis Aaron Payne
Dec 13 Energy & Environment Two Decades Of Resistance: Coal River Mountain Watch Takes Stock At 20 Coal River Mountain Watch’s history of resistance to mountaintop coal mining is plastered across the wood-paneled walls of the group’s modest office in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Framed photos, many of demonstrators being handcuffed, dot the walls. In the back of the building, a floor-to-ceiling length tapestry depicts the “true cost of coal” as envisioned […] By Brittany Patterson Dec 13 Energy & Environment Two Decades Of Resistance: Coal River Mountain Watch Takes Stock At 20 Brittany Patterson
Dec 6 Health Mountain Air: Youth Help Identify Causes Of Ohio Valley’s High Lung Disease Rates Isabella Back, 18, pulls her jacket tight around herself as she crosses the gravel driveway. “So we’re going about 10 feet from my house to my dad’s workshop,” she says, and pushes through a door in a big, red barn. The Kona, Kentucky, shop is crowded with cluttered work tables and hulking machines, and the […] By Sydney Boles Dec 6 Health Mountain Air: Youth Help Identify Causes Of Ohio Valley’s High Lung Disease Rates Sydney Boles
Nov 26 Health Study Shows Ohio Valley’s Premature Deaths Driving Down National Longevity Rates A new medical study shows that after decades of increasing life expectancy across the country, people are living shorter lives. And that trend is in part driven by premature deaths among people in the Ohio Valley due to the opioid epidemic, suicide and alcohol abuse. The article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American […] By Mary Meehan Nov 26 Health Study Shows Ohio Valley’s Premature Deaths Driving Down National Longevity Rates Mary Meehan
Nov 8 Economy Portal 31: How A Closed Mine Opened New Prospects For One Coal Town Devin Mefford is sitting in the squat metal buggy of a modified mantrip, the train-like shuttle coal miners use to travel underground. Mefford is dressed for work, in a hardhat and a navy shirt and pants with lime green reflective stripes. It’s a uniform his father and grandfather — both Kentucky coal miners — would […] By Brittany Patterson Nov 8 Economy Portal 31: How A Closed Mine Opened New Prospects For One Coal Town Brittany Patterson
Oct 11 Agriculture Grassroots Growing: Hemp Farmers Form Cooperatives Amid Growth And Uncertainty Tony Silvernail swings a heavy machete at a stalk of bushy hemp and chops the plant near the root, grabbing the five-foot-tall shoot with his sun-weathered hand. It’s an unusually hot October day on his farm, Beyond The Bridge LLC, tucked in the hills outside of Frankfort, Kentucky. But the heat doesn’t faze Silvernail, sporting […] By Liam Niemeyer Oct 11 Agriculture Grassroots Growing: Hemp Farmers Form Cooperatives Amid Growth And Uncertainty Liam Niemeyer