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-Lexington/Richmond, WKMS-Murray and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky.
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Ahead of Oscar Smith’s execution Thursday morning for the murder of his wife and two of her children, people close to the case have expressed a wide span of thoughts and emotions leading up to this day. -
Tennessee will execute Oscar Franklin Smith this week, while a lawsuit challenging the state’s new lethal injection protocol makes its way through the court system. -
On Thursday, Tennessee plans to carry out its first execution since 2019 by means of lethal injection. It’s the fourth scheduled execution date since 2020 for Oscar Smith, who was convicted of killing his estranged wife Judith Smith and her two sons Jason Burnett and Chad Burnett in 1989. -
In Tennessee, prosecutors can charge people for crimes committed by another person, even if they weren’t directly responsible. Activist groups are working with state legislators to change that. -
Monarch butterflies are migrating through parts of the South and Midwest as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeks public comment on a proposal to list them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. -
From the purple dwarf crested iris to the elusive yellow lady’s slipper, over 1,500 flowering plant species are blossoming at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. -
Business owners and city officials in Nashville have implemented a program that uses an opioid reversal kit created in West Virginia to bolster harm reduction efforts in the city’s tourism district. -
It's been 15 years since the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia. Family members and others from the community gathered over the weekend to remember those who lost their lives in one of the worst mining accidents of the past half century. -
Saturday marks the 15th anniversary of the deadliest mine disaster in more than half a century at the Upper Big Branch mine. Appalachia Mid-South Newsroom's Justin Hicks recently interviewed survivor Stanley "Goose" Stewart at his home in West Virginia. -
A steel industry conference in Kentucky this week brought together business leaders coincidentally as President Donald Trump announced varying tariffs across the globe. There were mixed reactions, but everyone agreed the volatility is challenging.
