Appalachia News

At the turn of the 20th century, the phonograph and the radio exposed the mountain people to new influences, and took mountain music across America.

The high production and labor costs of accessing deep coal reserves, federal regulation, and competition from natural gas and western coal mining has crippled the Appalachian coal industry.

Go Watch This is a weekly feature at PennLive where we and readers recommend lesser-known movies and shows worth watching, so long as it's easily available on DVD or online.

The Wise County Sheriff's Office needs your help finding a missing teen. 15-year-old Emily Elizabeth Maine was last seen Monday morning at the Fas Mart next to Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.

Coal production in Southern West Virginia and the rest of central Appalachia will continue to plummet over the next 30 years, according to a new report that examines multiple stresses that are pressuring the region's mining industry.

A new report says hard times are expected to continue for the coal industry in Central Appalachia, which at one time was the hub of the nation's coal production.

Appalachian activists gather outside the Washington, D.C., Environmental Protection Agency office to demand an end to mountaintop removal coal mining.

Residents of Appalachia brought over 100 gallons of polluted drinking water to the Washington, D.C. offices of the Environmental Protection Agency this week to call attention to the plight of communities afflicted by mountaintop removal coal mining.

Appalachia resident Robert Patrick was one of about a dozen people who attended Wednesday's informal hearing at the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to encourage DMME to not reconsider its decision to deny the Ison Rock Ridge permit.

Some folks have been frustrated by the sunshine lately. I can see their point if they misinterpreted the forecast.

Columbus, Ohio - Nationwide, only one in ten people with substance abuse disorders receive medical intervention, opposed to nearly 90% of those with diabetes - a problem that becomes exponentially worse in the Appalachian region, where deaths from prescription drug overdoses have jumped 360% in the last decade.

Mountain lovers everywhere high-fived today when the news came down that the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has denied a surface mine permit for the Ison Rock Ridge mine in southwest Virginia.

May 7 - Yesterday afternoon, a coalition of Appalachian and national groups pressed the Environmental Protection Agency for stronger protection for their waters from the most extreme form of coal mining, mountaintop removal.

Mabry Mill is one of the attractions to be found on the scenic road, completed in 1987.

The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history. It came in 1921 after decades of worker exploitation in the West Virginia coal mines, and violent repression of union organizing by company-paid private detectives and public law enforcement.

Appalachian Entertainer and actor Randall Franks joins historic country music luminaries such as A.P. Carter of the Carter Family, Pop Stoneman of the Stoneman Family, Uncle Dave Macon and Fiddlin' John Carson in the Independent Country Music Hall of Fame.

Entertainer and actor Randall Franks of Ringgold joins historic country music luminaries such as A.P. Carter of the Carter Family, Pop Stoneman of the Stoneman Family, Uncle Dave Macon and Fiddlin' John Carson in the Independent Country Music Hall of Fame.

April 30--ABINGDON, Va. -- Tyler Hughes fell in love with the music of the Carter Family Fold seven years ago.

The Herald-Leader drew attention to the pressing issue of the undeniably poor health of many people in rural Appalachia, but in ascribing this problem to surface coal mining in the region, the editorial did a disservice to its readers.

Activists Dump Coal Waste at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington DC.