Homeless on the streets of Huntington WV in a time of pandemic is as difficult as it ever was. Douglas J. Harding hears first-hand about life on the streets of West Virginia's second largest city as cold weather sets in.
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What now, West Virginia?
Want a shopping list of the challenges West Virginia faces in addressing Covid-19, the future of energy, poverty, a Legislature full of white guys, and beyond? This Mountain State Spotlight post-election roundup has you covered.
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EDITORIAL | “Pills & Suits,” a Justice Project Video
In an illustrated excerpt from Pulitzer-winner Eric Eyre's "DEATH IN MUD LICK," he describes WV Attorney General's Patrick Morrisey's entanglement with one of the huge pharmaceutical companies that helped spawn the opioid crisis, and the devastation that continues to affect families.
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EDITORIAL | A Shelley Moore Capito Reader
We present for your reading and viewing interest a selection of three items pertinent to the candidacy and further office-holding of the Republican senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito.
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POEM | “The Greats” by PJ Laska
‘The Great Tower/ The Great Wall/ The Great Power/ Conquering All/ The Great Look/ The Great Weave/ The Great Assets/ Of Make-Believe … ‘ | A Poem by PJ Laska
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EDITORIAL: The Art of the Trumpian Limerick
As Donald Trump's first term limps towards its end, we drop in on a Trumpian chronicler. West Virginia poet and writer Colleen Anderson has been chronicling Trump's misrule for four years now—in limericks.
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EDITORIAL: “The West Virginia Hills” and the Race for WV Attorney General
On the one hand in this year's election contests in West Virginia, you've got state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and his Trump-Adoring, Big Pharma connections, and Affordable Care Act Torpedoing Ways. On the other hand, there's labor lawyer Sam Brown Petsonk. Here's are two minutes about that.
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COVID CHRONICLES | One in Eight Million
We begin our new occasional series 'Covid Chronicles' with a personal report from WestVirginiaVille's Minister of Paragraphs, Connie Kinsey, who was just recently diagnosed with a—we pray it stays that way—mild case of Covd-19.
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Some formerly incarcerated West Virginians can’t vote. Others can, but may not know it.
The hue and cry has gone out—get out there and vote! But in West Virginia, advocates say education about voting rights for people with prison time or records, as well as after they get out, is often unclear—and that changes are needed to keep former inmates from being disenfranchised.
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MINI-DOC | “What’s In a Name?” The Deeper Story Behind a WV Confederate Legacy
The removal of a Confederate general's name from the former Stonewall Jackson Middle School in West Virginia's capital city this Summer was more than just a cosmetic change. In 2020, America confronted the wounds that have haunted the country’s existence. The renaming of the school laid bare that history.
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As opioid trial looms in West Virginia, the firms being sued get huge COVID-19 contracts from the Trump administration
The "Big Three" prescription drug firms responsible for fueling the devastating toll of West Virginia's opioid crisis are earning praise and contracts from the Trump adminstration as a key trial holding them to task approaches Oct. 19
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WV governor ‘tweaked’ a Harvard COVID map. Their experts say the state’s changes are flawed.
The adminstration of WV Gov. Jim Justice has relied on outdated COVID-19 data for determing each county’s risk level and altered the methodology for determining the total number of cases. A Mountain State Spotlight reprinted investigation.
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8 DAYS AFTER 9-11: At a Buddhist Retreat in the West Virginia Hills
"First, I'd like to answer this question. What should we do? We should send some kind of force and capture these people. And put them in jail for life — never release them! That is a very compassionate act! Compassionate toward all other beings and for themselves.” He pauses.“That is not an unkind thing to do."
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VIDEO: “Say Their Names”
There are a lot of names of black people, killed by police officers on this list. Below are all the names on the list. Some famous, a few historic. All of them individuals who were loved, who had dreams. Who, like you and I—had issues and challenges, joys and loves. Trying to figure out life, in all its messiness and pain.
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VIDEO: Pulitzer Prize-winner Joins West Virginia Investigative Non-Profit
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eric Eyre will be joining the investigative staff of the new West Virginia non-profit watchdog outfit Mountain State Spotlight.
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DRAGLINE: The Pro-Pipeline Editorial by the Pipeline Industry CEO/Publisher
“It’s damn easy to figure out what has been lost,” Doug Reynolds wrote in his West Virginia newspapers, “but for the life of me I can’t ascertain who won.” What Reynolds fails to mention is what exactly is losing: his natural gas pipeline construction company.
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TRAILER: A Peek at “Bye-Bye, Stonewall” mini-doc
Here's a peek from the trailer to WestVirginiaVille's upcoming mini-documentary, "Bye-Bye, Stonewall," on the years-long backstory on how a school in a black neighborhood in West Virginia's capital city finally got free of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson's name and mug.
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VIDEO: When the Confederate Flag Cuts and Runs
We direct your amusement to this Tiffany Thouartdope Finkton insta-rap. She made it after capturing a special moment outside the Kaoard of Education meeting to consider renaming Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Charleston WV. The fellow who arrived with a Confederate flag was definitely not reading the room.
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VIEW FROM THE PLAYGROUND: On Changing Stonewall Jackson Middle School’s Name
As adults decide the future of Stonewall Jackson Middle School's name at meeting Monday, July 6, 2020, we visited a playground in Charleston WV to find out what a group of students thought about the idea.
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POINTS of VIEW | ‘If You’re Silent About Your Pain’
A LETTER TO NEUTRAL COLLEAGUES: "I realize you may be actually confused about whether blacks are offended or feel pain from reminders of that dark period. Zora Neale Neale Hurston once said: "If you're silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it." So, I will clarify that we are offended. We are in pain."
