The incendiary, heartbreaking "Coal Country," a play drawn from interviews with survivors and family members of the deadly 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, made a splash Off-Broadway. Here's a reaction to its staging for the first time in the Mountain State, 35 miles from where the tragedy fueled by corporate malfeasance that killed 29 miners occurred.
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FIRST/PERSON: On the streets in “the capital of pain”
There are mayapples unfurling on the banks of the Kanawha River in the darkness of West Virginia's capital city. There are humans sleeping there, too, on this cold and rainy April night, and we are among them.
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A West Virginia hero’s life to be showcased June 23 at 2022 FestivALL Charleston
"The Wake Up Call," a documentary about the remarkable and heroic international life of West Virginia native Dave Evans, will be screened Thursday, June 23, 2022, in West Virginia's capital city as part of the citywide FestivALL Charleston 2022.
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Many Fights, One Big Fight
A new history of Local 1199 chronicles the history of a small, respected union that represents the overlooked and previously unrepresented workers of Local 1199. The book conveys the human longing for fairness within an often heartless industry.
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The barriers to Black West Virginians getting the mental health care they may need
barriers that impact mental health for Black West Virginians include a scarcity of Black mental health professionals and mental health resources, stigma, lack of proper mental health education, poverty, racism, substance abuse, and incarceration.
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‘Day 34 of Russia’s Cowardly Invasion of Ukraine’
'The Ukrainian fighting force has bested the Russians in every category. All the big bear can do is cowardly lob cruise missiles from a distance that destroy towns and kill innocent citizens.'
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10 Illuminated Thoughts About Life on Manchin Island
The stakes are high in WV senator Joe Manchin's Build Back Better gamesmanship. What happens now that he blew up negotiations — and now it looks like they're coming back together?
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Multifest still a beacon of the need for the Black press
Like many injustices Black newspapers fought head-on, solutions arose only when the Black press first drew attention to them. A look at the West Virginia Beacon Digest and the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta.
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‘Desperate’ highlights fight for clean water in West Virginia coalfields
The fight for clean water is central to "Desperate," which tells the story of coal mining communities in southern West Virginia battling Massey Energy and Don Blankenship, for clean water.
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How West Virginia’s new vaccine law opens the door wider to politicizing public health
Beginning January 2022, it will be significantly easier for West Virginians to claim exemptions from employer COVID-19 vaccination mandates. That raises all sorts of red flags.
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When Socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs was sent to Moundsville Prison for making a speech
The story of how Socialist firebrand Eugene Debs once landed in the state penitentiary in Moundsville WV illustrates "how easy it is for Americans to vilify their own citizens and, when seized by fear or fashion, step on each other’s rights," says John W. Miller in this reprint from the Moundsville Blog.
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RE/PRINT: ‘Almost Heaven ’Til We Get There’: Black Miners and Blair Mountain
"I’m a sixth-generation West Virginian. My children are seventh-generation. My generational claim to Appalachia is subversive. It talks back to cavalier anti-Black stories of poor white redneck hillbillies and to the white people who claim an entire region as their own."
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ELEPHANT ANKLES: Life with Long COVID
"This is a good day. I have been sick for months, but I did not die. I am happy to be here. I can do this, but I reserve the right to whine. I also reserve the right to be angry.'
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RE/PRINT: Only 7 states have passed the CROWN Act. Could West Virginia be next?
While advocates of the CROWN Act promise they'll be back for the 2022 Legislative session, they're also looking beyond the WV Capitol to make change to confront white beauty standards in West Virginia.
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RE/PRINT: Community Seeks Police Reform After Shooting On Charleston’s West Side
On April 30, Charleston Police officers shot a 33-year-old Black man, while attempting to make an arrest on Charleston’s West Side. The incident has left many in the community wondering why police resorted to shooting the man who had brandished a knife.
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SPOTLIGHT: Who is saying what as the Opioid Trial begins
If the first day of a landmark trial involving the nation’s three largest opioid distributors is any indication, a lot of fingers will be pointed elsewhere by those distributors in the coming weeks.
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CLIMATE: “Why do you care about the climate crisis?”
The West Virginia Climate Alliance is a recently formed umbrella group that includes many key players and groups in West Virginia on the front lines of addressing climate change. So, why care about the climate crisis, anyway?
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SPOTLIGHT: To do or not to do? What the 2020 WV Legislature passed—or didn’t
The West Virginia Legislature has concluded its 60-day session after passing nearly 300 bills. What were they doing — and not doing this session? Erin Beck of Mountain State Spotlight details what got done and didn't.
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SOCIAL/MEDIA: Recalling a life ended too soon in WV’s capital city
The shooting death of an 18-year-old student-athlete killed April 7, cast a pall over West Virginia's capital city, as yet more senseless gun violence robbed a family and community of a bright light.
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Overdose deaths soar amid pandemic in West Virginia, which already had the highest rate in the U.S.
Drug overdose deaths are up more than 40% in West Virginia, an increase likely driven by the coronavirus pandemic. "People are dying at mass rates," says one Boone County administrator.
