Appalachia

A road sign for a nearby hospital along a rural road outside Sandwich, Ill., in April.

Health & Safety

Getting Health Care Was Already Tough In Rural Areas. The Pandemic Has Made It Worse

10:04am October 07, 2020

by Will Stone

One in four rural households report being unable to get medical care for serious problems, due to the pandemic, according to a new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard.

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Arts

Appalachian Photos of Cecil Sharp On Display In Yadkinville

7:09am January 27, 2020

by David Ford

The exhibit The Appalachian Photographs of Cecil Sharp 1916 to 1918 is on display at the

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West Virginia and its counties. From The Third Rainbow Girl, by Emma Copley Eisenberg.

Books
Arts

In True Tale 'The Third Rainbow Girl,' Townspeople Accuse One Another Of Murder

2:22pm January 21, 2020

by Rachel Veroff

Emma Copley Eisenberg's book offers a deep-dive into rural Appalachia — and digs into questions of how misogyny and bias can take root inside a community — as she tracks a double murder.

Paul Williams (left) helps Scott Beatty build his 'backpack' guitar. It has a smaller body, meant to easily fit in a pack. Beatty is in the Culture of Recovery program which teaches instrument making to people recovering from addiction.

Health & Safety

'A New Start' — In Recovery And Learning To Make Musical Instruments In Appalachia

2:04pm December 06, 2019

by Caitlin Tan

In a region ravaged by job loss and addiction, a musical tradition provides a lifeline for people in recovery.

Brian Benczkowski, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's criminal division, announcing arrests for illegal opioid sales in April. On Wednesday, he revealed another 11 arrests of doctors for illegal distribution of opioids.

National

U.S. Accuses 11 Doctors Of Illegally Peddling Opioids In Appalachian States

4:02pm September 25, 2019

by Bill Chappell

"We will find you and ensure that the justice system treats you like the drug dealer you are," said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski.

Dispatches From A 'Dopesick' America

4:08pm August 21, 2018

by Dave Davies

Author Beth Macy details opioids' odyssey from medicine to scourge, in her book about young heroin users, their long-suffering parents, doctors, drug company executives, cops, judges and drug dealers.

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This map shows 11 recent proposed and approved natural gas pipeline projects in Appalachia.

Natural Gas Building Boom Fuels Climate Worries, Enrages Landowners

7:53am July 17, 2017

Companies are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve thousands of miles of pipelines from Appalachia. It's an agency that almost never says no.

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In an image from the first Foxfire book, students in 1969 look on as Hobe Beasley, John Hopper and Hopper's wife suspend a hog for finishing the work of scalding and scraping.

The Foxfire Book Series That Preserved Appalachian Foodways

11:00am March 17, 2017

by Tove Danovich

Foxfire started as a class project at a Georgia high school in the '60s, but soon became a magazine, then a book, and even a way of teaching about the region's simple, self-sustaining way of life.

A Nigerian chef travelled to Kentucky and found common ground in food with those he met.

Dinner in Appalachia: Finding Common Ground In Trump Country

7:00am January 07, 2017

Appalachia is thousands of miles from Nigeria. But at a potluck dinner in rural Kentucky, natives of the two places found points of connection between their cultures.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health sent a mobile testing unit to a fire station in Wharton, W.Va., in 2012 to screen coal miners for black lung disease.

Lawmakers Seek Better Count Of Advanced Black Lung Disease Cases

8:44pm December 21, 2016

by Howard Berkes

In response to an NPR investigation that shows 10 times the number of cases as currently reported, members of Congress are asking three federal agencies to work together to obtain an accurate count.