Appalachia
Some states are cutting higher ed in rural areas. What if Kentucky tried the opposite?
HAZARD — Haley Autumn Dawn Ann Crank thinks she might like to become a teacher. There’s a shortage of teachers in this corner of Kentucky, and Crank, who has eight siblings, gets kids. “I just fit in with them,” Crank said during a shift one February day at the Big Blue Smokehouse, where she works […]
$1.3 billion investment to turn Eastern Kentucky coal mine into hydropower ‘battery’
FRANKFORT — An Eastern Kentucky coal mining site set to become a giant hydropower battery is getting a significant boost from the federal government.? Florida-based Rye Development is in line for an $81 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for its Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage Project.? The funding is provided through the Bipartisan […]
Stivers wants to further explore a four-year university in Hazard, endow collaborative research
Senate President Robert Stivers wants another study on how to expand higher education opportunities in Southeastern Kentucky.? This time, the Manchester Republican is sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 132 calling on the Council on Postsecondary Education to study turning the Hazard Community and Technical College into a four-year residential university.? Study: Building a new public university […]
National Prayer Breakfast brings Biden, GOP together for brief reprieve from sniping
WASHINGTON — Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli performed inside the U.S. Capitol’s cathedral-like Statuary Hall on Thursday morning for the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event attended by members of Congress and the president. The ceremony featured numerous prayers, including one that Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn and New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand delivered […]
Two additional ‘higher ground’ communities announced in southeastern Kentucky, bringing total plans to seven
Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration last week announced plans for “higher ground” developments in Floyd and Letcher counties, bringing the total to seven, as part of rebuilding efforts from floods in 2021 and 2022. The 92-acre Grand View site off U.S. 23 in the Letcher County town of Jenkins will have room for 115 homes partially […]
Report: Flood insurance cost a barrier to Eastern Kentucky recovery
The cost of flood insurance is a large recovery barrier for people living in Eastern Kentucky flood plains, says a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Researcher Matt Klesta reported what locals have said: Flood insurance is too expensive for most residents. Also, floods have made affordable housing problems worse and driven locals […]
Letcher prison opponents urge Congress to reject Rogers’ ‘fast-tracking’ provision
More than 185 organizations — from across Kentucky and the nation — are urging Congress to reject “fast-tracking” construction of a federal prison in Letcher County. A Sept. 19 letter to leaders and members of congressional appropriations committees urges them to remove language that Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky put into a House appropriations bill […]
Group organizes around rental housing issues in northeast Kentucky
When community organizers started knocking on doors in Boyd County, they were ready to listen to what people had to say about the biggest issues in their lives. What surprised the canvassers was how ready residents were to talk. “It was just house after house after house of people talking to me for 20 or […]
Calipari talks resiliency at Appalachian Regional Commission gathering
ASHLAND — Reflecting on his Appalachian roots, University of Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari spoke of the resiliency he sees in his upbringing, his players and Kentuckians.? Calipari, who grew up in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, and has family ties to West Virginia, spoke in conversation with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on the opening […]
One arts gathering flees, another cancels after confrontation in Harlan County
This story has been updated with a statement released Wednesday ?by Pine Mountain Settlement School. An Appalachian arts nonprofit’s gathering at Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County ended abruptly last weekend after local residents objected to the group’s presence in the chapel, raising concerns among attendees about their safety. A statement issued by the […]
Fourth ‘higher-ground’ homesite for Eastern Kentucky flood victims will be in Knott County
Another residential community to house survivors of last summer’s Eastern Kentucky floods will be in Knott County, along Chestnut Ridge Drive, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday.? The news, along with the Thursday announcement of a Floyd County site, come on the heels of the one-year anniversary of devastating floods that killed 45 people. Flooding began […]
After flood anniversary, Beshear says $2 million will secure Floyd County rebuilding site
The day after the one-year anniversary of devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced plans to provide 34 single-family homes to house flood survivors. Beshear said Thursday that $2 million in Community Development Block Grant funds will be given to the county to acquire two vacant lots — a total of 34 acres […]