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Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
When Renate Pore looked into the state’s history ratifying the 19th amendment – which ultimately granted women the right to vote – she was surprised to learn what had gone on in 1920 in the West Virginia Legislature.
The story revolves around missing state Sen. Jesse Bloch of Wheeling, who had gone to California on vacation while the legislature was in a deadlocked vote on the amendment. Bloch returned to West Virginia to break the tie in favor of women’s voting rights.
“After I did all that research, I thought, ‘This would make a really fun play,’” Pore, 79, said.
She began looking into the story as the country was getting ready to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage, and after a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pore’s idea will come to the stage this weekend in Charleston. The show runs Oct. 14-15 and begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Culture Center.
Pore teamed up with West Virginia playwright Dan Kehde and director Susan Marsh-Minnerly.
“We hope we can make this story accessible, and we hope young people will come out and think about how important the right to vote is and how hard women (and some men, too) worked 100 years ago to make this happen in our country,” Pore said.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Coles and Theresa “Red” Terry have been fighting over the Mountain Valley Pipeline nearly since it was first proposed in 2014. The project connects natural gas terminals in Virginia and West Virginia with a 303-mile pipeline that stretches across some of Appalachia’s most rugged terrain. Almost immediately after construction began, protestors tried to block it by setting up and living in platforms in trees along the route.
Here’s a story about a unicorn. Well, it’s really a story about an artist in Appalachia who lost her mojo. And it’s about the woman who helped her get her mojo back. With the help of the unicorn.
On this West Virginia Morning, shortly after the first COVID-19 case hit West Virginia four years ago, our way of simple day-to-day living drastically changed. Many of those alterations dealt with how we went shopping. Randy Yohe spoke with West Virginia Retailers Association President Bridget Lambert on COVID-19’s effect on retail – and how our shopping lives have forever been changed.