/ Citizens stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 because they say they didn t trust the November 2020 Presidential Election results.
Our country is seeing a new flavor of partisanship.
We practice a tribalism that’s so intense and personal, it defines much of our life. Who we call friends. Which family members we relate to. Even, how we cast our vote. What drives the divisions between us?
On this episode of Us & Them, we ask how central a lack of trust is to this polarization. After a year of extraordinary social, racial, political and economic upheaval, some people say they’ve lost trust in one another, our institutions and our government. Polls show distrust is as high as it’s been in six decades. What do we risk if we’re unwilling to trust in our fellow Americans?
Denison Baldwin and Thomas Felts were part of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, ca.1912.
This week on the show, we’ll hear an interview with historian Bob Hutton, who recently wrote an article about the Baldwin-Felts gunmen, who did the dirty work of Appalachia’s capitalists, even against their neighbors.
We’ll also meet instrument-makers who are determined to find a way, even if it’s using the remnants of a refrigerator box, and women who are using poetry to undercut the wrong ideas people have about mountaineers. And author Robert Gipe has just completed his trilogy, which concludes the turbulent story of several generations of an eastern Kentucky family. At the center of his first book “Trampoline” is Dawn Jewell, a spitfire whose mother struggled with addiction. Gipe’s new book “Pop” follows Nicolette, the daughter of Dawn Jewell. Nicolette struggles to cope with her environment, and her family, while working to make something for herself. In this case an
Published April 15, 2021 at 8:57 AM EDT Listen • 15:20
On this
West Virginia Morning, we bring you updates on education and COVID-19 news. Then, a sit down with reporter Emily Allen all about the state s overcrowded jails and what lawmakers have proposed to fix the issue. Our final story comes from a recent episode of
Us & Them when host Trey Kay visits Pocohantas County, a place that can hear Mars but doesn t have reliable broadband.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.
Listen • 15:40
On this
West Virginia Morning, we explore the pandemic’s impact on drug use. Also, we have updates from the state legislature and a conversation about extreme changes in weather.
The West Virginia House of Delegates has passed a bill protecting businesses, health care providers and individuals from being sued because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dave Mistich has more.
The House of Delegates voted in favor of rolling back regulation of oil and gas tanks under the Aboveground Storage Tank Act. Emily Allen reports.
At a state board of education meeting Wednesday, several of West Virginia’s largest teacher unions had sharp criticism for bills under consideration in the state legislature. Duncan Slade has more.
Fatal Overdoses: Pandemic is Especially Deadly for West Virginians Battling Addictions
The COVID-19 vaccine continues to roll out but there’s no obvious fix for other long term medical consequences of the pandemic.
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the deadliest year ever for overdose deaths in the twelve months between June 2019 and June 2020. Lethal overdoses were up by 20%. Isolation, anxiety and boredom, three triggers for drug abuse, have created the so-called mental health ‘shadow pandemic.’
And for West Virginia, an existing shortage of healthcare professionals means there are not enough workers for hospitals, clinics and treatment centers that are seeing more patients in distress.