It wasn’t long ago that Tonya Jones felt she couldn’t be out and proud in her eastern Kentucky hometown of Pikeville. She used to drive three hours to Lexington for any semblance of an LGBTQ-friendly community.
It was already difficult to get an abortion in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, but it’s about to become almost impossible after the U.S. Supreme Court left it up to states to decide reproductive rights.
Those on the front lines of food pantries and food banks in the Ohio Valley are trying to meet the ballooning demand, though they expect to see more hunger and need in the months ahead.
A framed picture of Barbara and Billy Patterson standing on the dirt where their North 6th Street home once was now sits on a sparkling new counter in their newly rebuilt home.