West Virginia

Protest

Keeping Our Children Safe After the Parkland High School Shooting

In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Florida, the debate has been wide-ranging, from gun safety to arming teachers. All agree students must be safe, so why not look at architecture? The NRA has some tips.

February 28, 2018 - The Architects Newspaper

Will GOP Reconsider Redirecting Amtrak Funding After Train Crash?

Republican lawmakers got a first-hand lesson in train safety Wednesday when their chartered Amtrak train hit a trash truck at a grade crossing in Virginia, killing one in the truck. Trump's infrastructure plan redirects Amtrak and transit funding.

February 2, 2018 - Bloomberg News

tennessee

What is Appalachia, Really?

If you want to understand rural America, critics say, look beyond Hillbilly Elegy.

December 16, 2017 - Chitucky

Mason-Dixon Tangent Stone 66: Maryland side

The Mason-Dixon Line Is Turning 250 Years Old

The traditional dividing line between north and south will celebrate a major birthday this weekend.

October 9, 2017 - Pittsburg Post-Gazette

West Virginia Becomes the Seventh State to Hike Gas Taxes, But Not by Much

Democratic Gov. Jim Justice signed legislation to increase its 32.2 cent state gas tax by about 3.5 cents per gallon and add substantial hybrid and EV fees. He also signed legislation to increase and expand road and bridge tolling.

July 2, 2017 - The Herald-Dispatch

Gas Pump

New Year's Day State Gas Tax Increases, Decreases, and What Lies Ahead

Pennsylvania, the state that had the highest gas tax last year, saw the highest gas tax increase of 7.9 cents per gallon, the final increment of a 2013 law. Michigan's 7.3 cents tax increase, signed into law in 2015, is the second largest increase.

January 11, 2017 - Tax Justice Blog

Fund Clean Energy - Stop HRL Coal Fired power station - withdraw federal grant

Clean Power Plan Showdown in U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday

The Obama Administration's most powerful environmental initiative, the Clean Power Plan, was put on hold by the Supreme Court last February. It was heard by 10 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on September 27.

September 28, 2016 - The Associated Press

Paris Climate Agreement Signed, but Troubles Loom in the U.S.

On Earth Day, NPR looked at the intersection of the Paris Climate Agreement, which Secretary of State John Kerry signed at the U.N. on Friday, and President Obama's Clean Power Plan which has been given a pause by the Supreme Court.

April 23, 2016 - NPR

Coal Mining and Power Station

Hillary Clinton's Surprisingly Blunt Message to Coal Workers

The message was so atypical for a politician wooing votes. "We'll put coal miners out of business," Hillary Clinton warned the audience at Sunday night's Democratic Town Hall in Columbus, Ohio, giving credence to President Obama's "War on Coal."

March 15, 2016 - Courier-Journal

Supreme Court Puts Obama's Key Climate Initiative on 'Hold'

In an unusual move that doesn't portend well for the EPA initiative, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Power Plan Rule that reduces emissions from existing power plants be suspended while it is heard by the Court of Appeals this summer.

February 10, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

Michigan Governor Finds Himself at Center of Flint Water Crisis

A case is made that Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan is analogous to former President George W. Bush's bungling of the crisis resulting after Hurricane Katrina touched-down on the Gulf coast in August 2005.

January 14, 2016 - MSNBC

State Gas Tax Changes, Up and Down, Took Effect January 1

In case you were wondering if any state gas taxes, other than Utah as previously posted, changed on New Years Day—eight others did, but only slightly, due to required, automatic adjustments. Most telling was that more went down than up.

January 6, 2016 - Tax Justice Blog

Controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline Project Moves Forward

This week Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas submitted permits to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a 550-mile natural gas pipeline across three mid-Atlantic states.

September 22, 2015 - WRAL

Coal Mining

Appalachian Coal's Last Wheezing Breath

As the nation abandons old-school West Virginia coal, a scarred and cratered landscape remains. Can residents build a new economy and overcome the legacy of an often-brutal industry?

September 18, 2015 - Grist

West Virginia Communities Respond to a Growing Number of Food Deserts

Communities in West Virginia are organizing and working to fill their needs for healthy, fresh food as grocery stores in the region close.

July 15, 2015 - WV Public Broadcasting

Mountain Removal Coal Mining Down 62 Percent Since 2008

The mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky can much less likely to be stripped and gutted for the purposes of coal extraction that they were even a few years ago as natural gas continues its ascendance.

July 9, 2015 - The Courier-Journal

Charleston Planning a Bike Infrastructure Update

The capital of West Virginia has hired Alta Planning and Design to undertake a ten-month process to update the city's bike and trail plan.

March 21, 2015 - The Charleston Gazette

Crude-by-Rail's New Workhorse No Better than the Old Workhorse

The new oil tank cars were supposed to be key to preventing the fiery explosions associated with oil-train derailments. However, four recent explosions since Feb. 14, with two occurring last Thursday and Saturday, all involved the new tankers.

March 10, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Cause of Crude-by-Rail Explosions Identified

The Wall Street Journal's senior energy reporter, Russell Gold, is interviewed on NPR about the February 16 derailment and explosion in West Virginia of an oil-train hauling 109 tanker cars of Bakken crude from North Dakota.

March 6, 2015 - NPR

Oil Train Derailment in W.Va. Results in Fiery Explosion and Oil Spill

A 109-car oil train carrying crude from North Dakota derailed Monday afternoon, causing a fireball that was still burning Tuesday morning. Initial reports had at least one tanker leaking oil into a tributary of the Kanawha River, closing water plants

February 17, 2015 - The Charleston Gazette

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