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Taking Flight: Coalfield Students Have High Hopes For Drone Industry Jobs
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Student teams from across the coalfields of eastern Kentucky came together at the Knott County Sportsplex, bringing with them drones that they themselves had built. It was time for the… Read More
On Strike: Migrant Workers On Visa Program Claim Unfair Pay
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Workers on a tobacco farm in Garrard County, Kentucky, are entering the third week of a strike over claims that they have not received the pay guaranteed by a federal… Read More
A “Like” From Zuck: Facebook Founder Visits Rural KY
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in West Virginia and Kentucky over the weekend to see some innovative ways that schools are using new technology. Zuckerberg has been traveling… Read More
Coal Country Tech Job Program Heads For New Round
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Last summer Melissa Anderson was unemployed and trying to keep her Pike County, Kentucky, home from falling into foreclosure. “I built it,” she said. “And, you know, for me to… Read More
Country Connection: Rural Residents Ask FCC To Improve Internet Access
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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More than two million people across the Ohio Valley live in areas that lack any optionfor fast and reliable internet service. This week some of them had a chance to tell… Read More
Without A Net: Rural Residents Band Together For Internet Service
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Nearly half of the people living in rural parts of United States don’t have access to broadband internet, the high speed connection required for common uses many of us take… Read More
Black Lung Update: Federal Researchers Seek Allies In Appalachia
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Federal health researchers are visiting health clinics and medical schools in the Appalachian coalfields to recruit allies to fight a resurgence of black lung disease. The worst form of the… Read More
Defunding Appalachia: Coal Communities Resist President’s Budget Cuts
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Danny Ferguson didn’t like what he saw happening in Lincoln County, West Virginia, where he grew up. The downturn in the coal industry had hit hard, and young people had… Read More
Troubled Waters: A Coalfield County Loses Trust In Water And Government
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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On any given day in Martin County, Kentucky, the water system loses more water to leaks than it delivers to paying customers through their faucets. The water system is under… Read More
Fighting For Breath: Black Lung’s Deadliest Form Increases
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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At the age of 38, a coal miner named Mackie Branham Jr. was diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, a debilitating and terminal form of an illness that was supposed to… Read More
Justice Delayed: Billionaire Candidate’s Coal Companies Owe $15M in Taxes, Fines
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The Democratic candidate for governor in West Virginia has never held public office. Jim Justice is instead running on his record as a businessman. He runs coal mines, farms, and… Read More
Mountains Of Evidence: Questions About Coal’s Most Controversial Practice May Finally Be Answered
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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The prestigious National Academy of Sciences recently announced a comprehensive study on the health effects of the controversial coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal. For coalfield residents who have… Read More
The Prison Builder’s Dilemma: Economics and Ethics Clash in Eastern Kentucky
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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You are Letcher County, Kentucky. You are rural, mountainous, and in the heart of the central Appalachian coalfields. Your economy is not in good shape. Fox News has called your… Read More
Net Gains: How Broadband Brings Jobs To Eastern Kentucky
By: Benny Becker | Ohio Valley ReSource
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Kentucky is working on a multimillion dollar plan to bring broadband internet to the eastern part of the state, home to some of the country’s most impoverished places. A federal report released… Read More