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Remembering the WV Teacher Strike with Brad McElhinny

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Brad McElhinny almost missed the first rumblings of the teacher’s strike.

This issue was on almost nobody’s radar screen until MLK Day, when Brad stumbled into West Virginia Education Association president Dale Lee at a teacher’s rally at the Capitol.

“‘Lee said, ‘I know out there, people are talking about a strike’…and my ears perked up and I asked, ‘You said strike, you just don’t drop that work casually, right?’

“And he said, ‘No, we don’t,’ and before you knew it, thousands of teachers in the Capitol…and if you keep a scorecard, pretty well won.”

On this week’s Front Porch podcast, the WV Metronews reporter recounts the teacher’s strike from beginning to end, and we debate its ongoing effects on West Virginia and the nation.

Also, SNAP work requirements, the Gazette-Mail purchase, and Led Zepplin.

Welcome to “The Front Porch,” where we tackle the tough issues facing Appalachia the same way you talk with your friends on the porch.

Hosts include WVPB Executive Director and recovering reporter Scott Finn; economist Jessi Troyan of the free-market Cardinal Institute; and liberal columnist and avid goat herder Rick Wilson, who works for the American Friends Service Committee.

An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available at wvpublic.org and as a podcast as well.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org

The Front Porch is underwritten by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Gazette-Mail. Find the latest news, traffic and weather on its CGM App. Download it in your app store, and check out its website: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/