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Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom

NPR and Member stations in Appalachia and the Mid-South have launched a collaboration aimed at strengthening local news coverage and bringing more stories from this region to the rest of the country.

The new Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom is a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky.


Story Pitches: If you have story ideas that might be a fit for the Appalachian + Mid-South Newsroom, we'd love to hear them. Just reach out to Deputy Managing Editor John Boyle at [email protected]

Low-head dams pose risks in Appalachia, but some people aren’t ready to see them go

By Pierce Gentry|Shepherd Snyder|Aprile Rickert

September 30, 2025

Water rushes over the top of a low-head dam.

State officials in Appalachia have labeled low-head dams as public safety hazards, with some even being responsible for deaths. But some community members are hesitant to have the fixtures removed.

Filed Under: Environment, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Army Corps of Engineers, dam, Tennessee Valley Authority, water

Plants, pollinators and people: The push to restore the Ohio River Basin

By Morgan Watkins, LPM

September 27, 2025

A field next to the river

A new plan to protect and restore the waters of the Ohio River Basin recommends dozens of regional solutions to tackle interlinked environmental problems.

Filed Under: Environment, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, invasive species, Ohio River, water pollution, wildlife

National Quilt Museum program aims to stitch together math, fiber arts for students

By Derek Operle

September 25, 2025

Paducah Tilghman High School students measure angles on display in quilt during a field trip to the National Quilt Museum.

A new initiative pieced together by the National Quilt Museum is using the fiber arts to teach K-12 students about geometry and other mathematical principles.

Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Music, Education, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Murray State University, National Quilt Museum, topstory

Kentucky hemp company suing Tennessee over ‘discriminating’ hemp law

By Lisa Autry, WKU Public Media

September 24, 2025

A Kentucky company says a new Tennessee law regulating hemp discriminates against
out-of-state businesses.

Filed Under: Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, hemp, medical marijuana

Disability services in Appalachia face defunding under proposed federal budget cuts

By Chris Schulz, West Virginia Public Broadcasting

September 22, 2025

A person puts their hand over an older person's hand that's holding a cane.

Advocates are concerned funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration could eliminate some forms of disability services, including all University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

Filed Under: Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, disabilities, Trump Administration, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University

In America’s EV battery belt, Kentucky is next test for the UAW

By Lisa Autry, WKU Public Media

August 26, 2025

The BlueOval SK plant is located off I-65 in Glendale, KY.

Nearly 1,500 workers at a massive electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky have an important election coming up. Hourly workers at the BlueOval SK Battery Park will vote on whether they should join the United Auto Workers Union.

Filed Under: Business, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, BlueOval SK, electric vehicles, Labor unions

Tick-borne meat allergies on the rise and impacting a wildlife rehab in Bowling Green

By Derek Parham, WKU Public Radio

August 23, 2025

The Lone Star tick, common to the southeastern U.S., is responsible for inducing meat allergies in some people, scientists say.

An estimated 400,000 people have been impacted by Alpha-Gal syndrome across the U.S.

Filed Under: NPR News, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, ticks, wildlife

The most radioactive place in East Tennessee has been cleaned up, says EPA

By Pierce Gentry, WUOT

August 21, 2025

An overgrown sign outside the former site of an American Nuclear Corporation facility in Clinton, Tenn. reading, “DO NOT ENTER, U.S. E.P.A. Superfund Removal Site, NO TRESPASSING,” as seen on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and local government gathered in Clinton on Tuesday to celebrate the completion of cleanup at the site.

After radioactive leaks in the 1970s, the American Nuclear Corporation abandoned its Clinton, TN site. It sat empty for decades until the EPA stepped in. Cleanup is now complete.

Filed Under: Environment, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Environmental Protection Agency, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, superfund, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

How one rural Tennessee town pushed back over a proposed bitcoin mine and won

By Pierce Gentry, WUOT

August 19, 2025

The Mountain City Board of Mayor and Aldermen hear from locals at a town hall meeting on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. In a packed room of 50, 11 residents voiced their concerns that plans to build a 30 megawatt bitcoin mine in a residential part of Mountain City were being rushed by city leaders without proper input from the people who live nearby.

The tech industry is increasingly eyeing rural communities to warehouse servers for cryptocurrency mining and data storage. In Mountain City, locals pushed back.

Filed Under: Business, WPLN News Tagged With: AMSN, Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, CleanSpark, data center, East Tennessee, Hurricane Helene

‘They’re not allowed to speak to us’ National parks clam up amid Trump staffing cuts

By Derek Parham, WKU Public Radio

August 15, 2025

A national park ranger.

The Trump administration has cut staff by more than 24% at the National Park Service since January. Republicans in Congress are proposing more cuts.

Filed Under: Environment, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Great Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave, National Parks

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