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 Media in Kentucky.
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Across the country, old railroads have been converted into multi-use trails for folks to get out and enjoy nature. An ambitious vision to connect communities in West Virginia to Pittsburgh via rail trail is taking a big step towards completion. -
Miracle Fields are a kind of accessible baseball diamond growing in popularity that can accommodate players with disabilities. -
As the longest continuously held sporting event in the country, the Kentucky Derby has developed its own eccentric culture over more than 150 years. Here's a look at the Run for the Roses from the perspective of a first-time attendee. -
The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously running sporting event in the country. Despite its long history, horse racing is still evolving with the emergence of new technological advancements. -
In Kentucky, prize purses for winning horse racers have risen sharply in recent years. Those purses have been fueled in large part by the growth in state-sanctioned gambling on historical horse race machines. -
After chugging through a decadelong project, restoration of a steam locomotive that sat idle in Nashville’s Centennial Park for more than 60 years is nearing completion. -
The largest known deposit of the critical mineral fluorspar in the United States is underneath parts of far western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Some say its applications in artificial intelligence could reawaken the region’s mining industry. -
Tennessee state police are exploring using facial recognition software. The state attorney general supports a lawsuit claiming the same technology illegally violates your privacy. -
The federal government is running out of a key ingredient for nuclear weapons: high-purity depleted uranium. Now they want to manufacture it in rural Tennessee. -
Longtime Louisville & Nashville Railroad employee Charles Castner died last month at the age of 97. He co-wrote a book in 2024 on one of L&N’s most powerful steam locomotives, the Big Emma.
