Appalachian Newspapers Above the Fold

This week, Russ, Nicole and Austin meet via Zoom to talk some about how the response to COVID has changed our lives as journalists and also what we at Appalachian Newspapers are doing to support the need for good information in our communities at this time.

In a different kind of episode thanks to social distancing, Russ is joined by First Baptist Church of Pikeville Senior Pastor John Lucas to talk about how “church” has changed since the rise of the COVID-19 scare and also discusses the basis for hope in the Christian faith.

This week, Russ, Austin and Nicole are joined by Dr. Leigh Ann Ford, a licensed psychologist and Lindsey Wilson College assistant professor, who reached out to our newspapers on an important topic — the reality of the need for a focus on mental, as well as physical, health during the time of COVID-19. She offers some information on how to understand what's going on with us right now, as well as some tactics and strategies for dealing with the anxiety. Then Russ, Austin and Nicole discuss the issues surrounding our reporting of COVID-19 and how we will handle that going forward.

In this weeks episode Nicole finally gets to speak about her appearance on the Kelly Clarkson show tomorrow with Former Rosie the Riveter Georgia Pelfrey Syck (Story Here). We also have some news from Sen. Mitch McConnells office about the overturning of the latest School funding issue and finally we break down some general information about the Coronavirus as to what local and state officials are saying on the issue. 

This week we take a look at a story that will be appearing in all of our papers about the growing issues with Cyber security, robocalls, phishing emails and even text scams. Nicole sat down with a local expert from Community Trust Bank on the issue. We shift focus just a little bit after that and move into Pikeville where City Officials have been in communication with Suddenlink about the issues with service in the area.

In this week's episode, Russ and Nicole discuss the U.S. Senate race, which has been making its way into the region, a legislative measure which could make changes to the way you're informed about government activities and some good news on tourism throughout our coverage area. Thanks for listening. If you have questions, comments or concerns, drop Russ an email at, cassadyr@gmail.com.

Sorry for missing last week everyone, but this weeks main topic of discussion will be the biggest reason for us missing last week, and that is the rain and flooding the the Eastern Kentucky area. The flooding has caused numerous problems for the area with mudslides, rock slides, and even a train derailment that happened this morning (Thursday).As always thanks for listening and if you enjoy what you're listening to click that subscribe button to stay up to date on when we release episodes.

This week we come back in with some more news in the e-sports world in Kentucky but, we primarily focus on the new development area on the South side of Pikeville with the announcement of the new Fazolis and the new area being built up around the industrial park.Make sure so subscribe, comment and, like on whatever your preferred podcast listening platofrom is.

Russ, Nicole and Austin talk about a diverse grouping of subjects, from the Pike County Clerk's request for tens of thousands of dollars in supplement funding, to the rise of ESports and a Kentucky minor league baseball team's usage of a common phrase for we Appalachians. Come on in and join us, y'all.As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

In this week’s episode, Russ, Nicole and Austin discuss a Pike County situation in which miners, alleging they hadn’t been paid, stopped a coal train and got their demands met; Gov. Beshear’s State of the Commonwealth Address and calls for “unity”; and a very special 100th anniversary being recognized this year in Matewan, West Virginia.As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

This week we are joined by Pike County Judge Executive Ray Jones to talk about the recent passing of the resolution to make Pike County a Second Amendment Sanctuary County and about gun control in general.As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

For the first episode of the New Year we take a look back at 2019 and some of the larger stories in our coverage area.As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

In this final episode of 2019, Russ and Nicole discuss the horrific deaths of more than a dozen horses in Floyd County, legislators’ words to a local fiscal court and the ongoing fight against meth trafficking, plus a discussion of holiday movies. Merry Christmas y’all!As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

This week we take a quick trip to Lexington where the 606 represented Eastern Kentucky by bringing back four state championships in football, mainly focusing on the events leading up to the 2019 UK Orthopaedics/KHSAA Gridiron bowl surrounding Johnson Central vs. Boyle County and how Eastern Kentucky rallied around each other.We follow that up with some conversation about the new Govoner Andy Beshear and some of the things going on around the Capital.As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

From a galaxy not so far away (the Appalachian News Conference room) we bring you this episode of Above the Fold, we dive into some local news in Martin County where trouble continues with the city officials, and we take a look at the coming weeks for Gov.-Elect Andy Beshear and how our local officials are keeping an optimistic outlook for bipartisanship in the upcoming general session.Finally we take a look towards social media and the democratic election coming up, and how Disney's Baby Yoda is outscoring candidates in the election in reach, what that might mean for the election, and some ramblings about Star Wars. (Sorry we got of on a tangent but we real it back in pretty quickly, I think).As always if you like what you're listening to give us a follow, a like and subscribe that way you don't miss out on any of the Above the Fold Episodes.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week we are coming at you a day early because of Thanksgiving, we take the time to bring in Austin Blankenship to talk a little bit out the Mountain Water District and the water loss issue.And on the lighter side of things we take some of our favorite Turkey recipes sent in by kids in the coverage area and read some of those to the listeners.Thanks for listening and make sure to be safe during the holidays.

While you're at it, drop us your best dad joke in comment section, and we might even read a few of our favorites on next weeks episode.Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Nicole talk about several topics, including the conclusion of the race for Kentucky governor, local school threats and how authorities are responding and some pre-Christmas goings-on in our coverage area.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week is all about the election, I know last week was as well but, this week we take a look at the aftermath and what is to follow.First we start off with the statewide elections, mainly focusing on the tight gubernatorial race where we saw Andy Beshear come out on top Tuesday night with around 5,000 votes. It doesn't stop there, as Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has filed for a recanvass of the votes cast on Tuesday.With the recanvass at hand we talk about what this process and beyond and what all this could mean for the presidential election in 2020.After going around the state we bring it a little closer to home where Elkhorn City voted to go wet in the coming months, and Austin Blankenship gives us some insight into what that vote looked like leading up to Tuesday as well as where the City of Elkhorn stands after election night.We will be taking next week off and moving a few things around in the coming weeks as Chris Anderson will be leaving the Above the Fold Podcast to pursue other adventures, where we wish him the best of luck, so stay tuned for an all new feel to the Podcast as Staff Writers Nicole Ziege and Austin Blankenship jump on board to keep the train rolling.As always be excellent to each other, and have a good day.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.Its election time in Kentucky, and you know what that means, a lot of political talk.This week Russ and Chris take a dive into some of the local elections being held in Pike County as well as the state wide elections going on.We start in Pike County with a little bit of sign talk concerning the Pike Family Court race, continuing with some talk about signs we go over to Elkhorn City where the community will be voting on a Wet/Dry vote.After all of this we start on the Governor's race for Kentucky, we keep this a little brief as we had the chance to conduct phone interviews with Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General and Democratic Candidate Andy Beshear.We didn't set a time limit for each candidate and we wanted to have the interviews in the entirety for the listeners of the podcast.Thanks for joining us on this weeks Above the Fold, as always be Excellent to each other and have a good week.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.There's a lot of big news going on in our area, this week we are joined by News-Express Staff Writer Austin Blankenship to kind of help us break down and take a deeper dive into all of the big stories we have going on.We start off in Floyd County with Gov. Matt Bevin's recent announcement to re-open the Otter Creek Correctional Facility as a State prison in Wheelright, we stay in Floyd County and move over to Prestonsburg where the Prestonsburg City Council has recently decided to forgo raisin property taxes.Then we take a trip over into Johnson County where we talk about the laws surrounding the legal Hemp and CBD products, and finally we take a look at some big breaking news coming from Mingo County, where the Williamson Memorial Hospital recently filed for Bankruptcy protection and what that means for the Hospital as well as the residence of Mingo County.Stay tuned next week as we will have a special election Episode with interviews from Gov. Matt Bevin as well as his Dem. opponent Andy Beshear.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week we change things up and are joined by our first guest, Wes Wilson, Director of the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Tug Valley Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to talk about the great events that the county of Mingo are putting on.Russ and Chris dive deeper into the special types of things that keep Tug Valley and Mingo County going and raising the bar for the rest of the counties around.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.Our Appalachian coverage are was hit hard again this week with the information of around 500 job losses in the coal industry. Russ and Chris take a deep dive into some of the causes and effects of these losses and what we can do going forward.And everyone knows what time of year it is, the flu season, we'll take a look at where you can go to get your flu shots in the area, as well as some tips on what to do if you think you have the flu.As always be excellent to each other and thanks for listening.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.We're back this week and with some big news coming out around Kentucky regarding testing scores.The scores have been released based on the new 1-5 star rating system and Russ and Chris dive deeper into the scores around the coverage area.After taking a look at the testing scores from around the area we take a trip over to Perry County and really the coverage area and talk about some of the overcrowding and under funding issues with the jail system in the mountains.We also take a quick step over into Martin County to see how the water problems are being addressed and how some of the issues are slowly starting to creep up in our surrounding counties.Thanks for joining us on Above the Fold, and as always be excellent to each other.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Chris talk about a few things that haven't hit the papers, Gubernatorial Campaign finances, looking at how much money has been donated to each of the candidates since the Primary election in the Eastern Kentucky Region.After all of the political talk we turn our attention to an uplifting story out of Johnson County and a recovering addict reform story, as well as a look at whats coming up in and around the area, especially the long and divers list of events coming up at the Appalachian Wireless Arena in the upcoming months.As always, be excellent to each other and thanks for listening.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Chris cover a headline out of Pike County involving Human Trafficking and Child Pornography, and they take a look at the RCC Big Shoal lawsuit being filed in Pike County for reimbursement of the $400,000 loan paid to the company and the Pike County government looking to recoup that money from the company.We also dive into the Pike County School board decision to say no to the States plan on a few of the local elementary schools.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Chris take a look at the turnout and discuss some of the topics from the Donald Trump Jr. and Governor Matt Bevin Rally, then we move towards Johnson County where Kentucky Power recently donated $45,000 to the Johnson County School district to support a section of curriculum covering economic development in the area.Then we move over to Perry County where Sykes and Intuit recently announced a new partnership that will bring in 300+ jobs to an area where Sykes recently just had to release around 170 people a few month ago.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Chris is back in the office to go over a few things with Russ, including Donald Trump Jr. visiting the Appalachian Wireless Arena, New Drug addiction treatment program at Williamson Memorial and local investors' $1.2 Million lawsuit against EnerBlu.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.Chris is out this week so Russ is joined by News-Express Staff Writer Coty Blankenship.Join Russ and Coty as they cover some of the topics from around the area like Economic development in Floyd County with new business Webb Metal Fabrication set to open, $21 Million Dollars set to be coming back to former Eric C. Conn clients that have been reinstated as well as the possibility of Trump visiting Eastern Kentucky at some point in the near future to help with Mitch McConnell and Governor Matt Bevin re-election campaigns.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This weeks episode is all on a positive note for the Region as Russ and Chris take a look into the Riverplace Rehabilitation center opening in Pikeville, the Coal Country Benefit concert taking place at the Mac Arts Center next weekend as well as the adventure tourism taking place in Mingo County, and a brief discussion about the hiking and walking trails in Hazard and Perry County.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Chris tackle the return of Coal Severance to Eastern Kentucky and what that means for the counties in our coverage area and they break down how much money each of the counties are set to receive.Then they take a look at the Hope House closing its doors after a recent murder investigation in Perry County and what the could mean for the community.And finally we follow up on the Court series with a "Why don't you report on..?" and break down the types of things that we can, can't and shouldn't report on and how we handle when you call in with tips.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.Russ and Chris introduce what could be a new segment on the show in Talking Court, Talking Court is a breakdown of how the court systems in Kentucky work and it's a chance for our listeners to interact a little more and ask any questions about how the system works.We also talk about the upcoming election and McGrath's trip into Eastern Kentucky over the past week and as always a breakdown of the events going on in our area over the upcoming weekend.As always, Be Excellent to each other and thanks for listening to Above the Fold.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This Week Russ and Chris dive into the data provided by the Washington Post about the pills being prescribed in Eastern Kentucky and Southwest West Virginia, as well as some more talk about hard times coming from loss of Coal Severance in how it is starting to impact our Volunteer Fire departments in the area.And on the lighter side of things Russ and Chris go into Mingo County where the River has came a live this summer with all kinds of different summer activities from floats to fishing.And don't forget to stick around until the end when Russ breaks down a list of events going on to help kids with their needs in going back to school.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Chris is out and Russ is joined by Appalachian News-Express staff writers Austin Blankenship and Nicole Ziege to cover the special session taking place in Frankfort starting tomorrow and what some of our local representatives had to say on the issue as well as the shooting in Hazard and, to wrap it all up a list of some of the back to school programs being offered to kids int he area to help them get back into the swing of school with free haircuts and supplies.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.This week Russ and Chris have a discussion about Amy McGrath's announcement to run against House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the upcoming 2020 election.As well as the increase in Meth arrests around the area and, on the lighter side of things about the upcoming Block Party to celebrate Dueling Barrels one year anniversary in Pikeville.

Don't forget to hit the like or subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Podbean or Spotify so you can stay up to date with Above the Fold.And with that out of the way this week Russ and Chris dive a little deeper into Gov. Matt Bevins announcement to bring coal severence back to Eastern Kentucky, as well a look into the new drug Fentanyl making its way into our coverage area, and a brief discussion about the Economic Development around the Region.As Always thanks for listening.

Chris Anderson is back in the office this week for Episode 6 of Above the Fold and he and Russ cover something a little more on a national scale dealing with transparency in the Government and how that effects people locally, as well as cover things of this nature from around the area.Russ also gives a breakdown of all of the 4th of July events around the area in the upcoming week.

This week Appalachian News-Express News Editor Chris Anderson is off so Russ is joined by The Paintsville Herals News Editor Aaron Nelson and the cover some of the upcoming budget discussions in Pikeville and Paintsville and the surrounding areas, as well as covering a little bit of the recently released Matt Bevins statement about his Pension plan and how that will effect Eastern Kentucky.And on a lighter note Russ and Aaron have a conversation about tourism and the Renaissance of locally owned and ran restaurants in the Paintsville main street are.

In this weeks installment of Above the Fold Russ and Chris talk about the previous weekend in Pike County and the events going on around the Region including REO Speedwagon at the newly named Appalchian Wireless Arena, "It's a Jeep Thang" held in downtown Pikeville along with a double Main Street Live weekend.We also take a second to talk about the Tax settlement that will help the Region as a whole, and take a look ahead at the Perry County Fair and some of the events planned to go on in Perry County.Make sure to subscribe on Spotify, iTunes or, Podbean to keep up to date with Above the Fold. As well as checking out any of our social media pages or websites."Be excellent to each other" and thanks for listening.

This week Russ and Chris go over some of the naming rights to stadiums as the former East Kentucky Expo changes its name and ventures into the Appalachian Wireless Arena, as well as some of the pension exchange between Gov. Matt Bevin and the Kentucky State Senate.

This week Russ and Chris take a look into the evolving Betsy Layne Testing story, as well as the ARC Report covering Appalachia.

In the first Episode of the new Above the Fold Audio podcast News-Express News Editor Chris Anderson and Regional Editor Russ Cassady talk about Tuesday evenings primary election results and how the races are shaping up moving forward.Russ also runs down a list of Memorial Day Weekend events that everyone should take the time to try and attend for the men and women who served our Country.Be excellent to each other and thanks for listening.