Amidst everything else, the Trump regime has quietly killed off the U.S. Forest Service 🌲
“One hundred and ninety-three million acres of your national forests… just handed, on a silver platter, to the people who’ve spent their entire careers trying to destroy it.”
www.hatchmag.com/articles/tru...
I appreciate y'all introducing me to the Public Universal Friend.
I very much look forward to reading your book, @jbethiejean.bsky.social. Thanks for all the solidarity work you do.
In hew new memoir, Beth Howard invites white Appalachians to fight for racial and economic justice.
“The truth is every single one of us can have a chance at the world we deserve. If working-class white people choose solidarity with Black and brown people instead of siding with whiteness.”
I appreciate y'all reporting on this event. Great stuff.
The number of people, and the quantity of decision makers, who attended surprised me. I had the chance to speak with several, and most were very enthusiastic about our chances.
Western North Carolina hasn't been this close to getting passenger rail restored since it was discontinued in 1975.
This weekend's nationwide demonstrations look to be historic in number.
Many Appalachians in Western North Carolina are expected to show out against what they view as the further "erosion of fundamental constitutional rights."
commonappalachian.substack.com/p/no-kings-r...
I'm a sucker for maps of Appalachia.
Here's a comparison between what's considered Appalachia according to ARC and where the Appalachian mountains are located.
In its latest research report, the NC Rural Center uses recent data to investigate the status of housing recovery in the hardest hit parts of Appalachian North Carolina.
Here's a look at some of the household damage.
You can read the rest of their report here: ow.ly/G0iQ50Y8nHY.
Added to my list.
Counties throughout western North Carolina are preparing for Winter Storm Fern this weekend. Here's a noncomprehensive guide of shelters that have been announced across the region.
www.bpr.org/climate-envi...
Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina has officially released its new documentary, "A Dream for the Future."
I have to admit, sitting in the audience last week during the formal launch event, I teared up seeing this area I love showcased on the big screen.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkPj...
Map of Alabama showing arthritis prevalence by county (28.1%-43.6%). Cherokee & Coosa counties have the highest prevalence (43.6%, 42.2%). 36.1% of Appalachian Alabama adults have arthritis. This means that more than two out of every three adults in Alabama's Appalachian counties are living with arthritis. Counties with high prevalence are concentrated in the northeastern part of the state, with Cherokee and Coosa counties having the highest prevalence.
#DidYouKnow
Cherokee and Coosa Counties have the highest prevalence of arthritis in #Appalachian #AL, at 43.6%% & 42.2%, respectively, compared to the state rate of 34.2% and the national rate of 27.7%
Learn more:
https://www.appli.org/alabama
So this happened in Appalachia! There was some Land Back!
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 Post-Gazette to Publish Final Edition and Cease Operations May 3, 2026 Block Communications, Inc. and the Block family are saddened to announce that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to publish its final edition and cease operations on May 3, 2026. Over the past 20 years, Block Communications has lost more than $350 million in cash operating the Post-Gazette. Despite those efforts, the realities facing local journalism make continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable. Recent court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism. We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. The Block family is proud of the service the Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century and will exit with their dignity intact. ###
NEW: Publishers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announce they are shutting down the newspaper on May 3, 2026.
Hours ago, the Supreme Court of the US declined to extend a stay on a court order for the paper to pay its journalists following the end of a 3-year strike.
Most of these Appalachian counties are Tier 1, which means they "need the money more but have less resources to compete for it. They need the extra help. But due to a number of systemic issues, counties that need help don’t always get it, and changes in tier rank are often arbitrary."
North Carolina’s 2026 economic distress designations are here.
And several counties in Appalachia, those directly impacted by Hurricane Helene have been downgraded, meaning they are considered more economically distressed than they were in 2025.
Source: carolinapublicpress.org/73725/helene...
Burke's state parks have struggled to hire. NCDHHS warns these changes will make recruitment even harder.
Dr. Edhegard's concern: rural North Carolinians will "drive a longer distance for care" as providers turn patients away or close their doors.
The NC Dept of Health and Human Services has a 23% vacancy rate. Broughton Hospital: 329 open positions. J. Iverson Riddle: 242 unfilled roles.
Officials say the benefits package "has historically been a factor in our favor." That advantage is eroding.
It's not just employees feeling the squeeze. Local healthcare providers like Dr. Anna Edhegard at Foothills Family Dermatology anticipate a 50% decrease in revenue due to lower reimbursement rates.
"Small practices like mine have no leverage," she says.
"People are looking to go to work in other places," says Suzanne Beasley of the State Employees Association of NC.
The problem: newer state employees (hired after Jan 2021) no longer get healthcare benefits in retirement. Now premiums are soaring too.
State Treasurer Brad Briner announced in August that employees would pay steeper premiums in 2026—increases ranging from 32% to 220% depending on salary level.
Monthly premiums jumped from $25 to as high as $80 for some workers.
Burke County has the 4th-highest concentration of state employees per capita in North Carolina. That means changes to the state health plan hit us harder than almost anywhere else in the state.
My latest for The Paper on what's at stake: www.thepaper.media/as-state-hea...
$7.7 million of this is going toward rebuilding the municipal golf course in East Asheville.
Surely there's an expansive list of better ways to allocate this funding. Folks are still living in temporary housing. Small businesses are still repairing and recovering from damage to their storefronts.
The healthcare crisis is not abstract policy; it's a 69-year-old in Morganton weighing whether to stop taking heart and diabetes meds he cannot afford, and a 20-year-old nephew making $13 an hour who still cannot realistically buy affordable healthcare coverage.
www.thepaper.media/federal-stat...
Tom Andrews takes 11 medications. His wife takes 18. They have $6,000 in savings. Due to mounting healthcare costs, Medicare cuts, and expired ACA subsidies, they'll soon have to choose which life-saving drugs to keep
My latest for Common Appalachian:
commonappalachian.substack.com/p/those-are-...
Vance’s version of Appalachia is full of intentional victims held back by laziness and government dependency. Kingsolver’s Appalachia looks starkly different: a place populated by fiercely independent people whose connection to their land and willingness to work make them easy to exploit. (3/13)
Dozens of pro-immigration demonstrators gathered at four locations around Morganton on Saturday, protesting federal immigration raids that have swept through western North Carolina.
I spoke with several protestors in rural, Republican Burke County about what brought them out to protest yesterday.
An investigation by the @washingtonpost.com shows that many areas of the Eastern U.S., including Central #Appalachia, are vulnerable to extreme rainfall and #flooding. Mountains, economic challenges and infrastructure along waterways make preparing for and recovering from floods more challenging.
I'm sorry you've had to deal with so much incredulity, on top of experiencing the ongoing and worsening effects of climate change on a region you care about so deeply.
Thanks for the work you're doing, Alaina.