Coal towns left behind by empty promise

Editorial December 17, 2022

One of the few good things to come out of the West Virginia Legislature this past year has been nothing more than an empty promise. In 2021, the Legislature cobbled together a workgroup that toured the state’s coalfields, holding listening sessions and townhalls in former coal towns ...

‘Owe my soul to the company store’

Editorial October 7, 2021

Right-leaning commentators such as Connor Sen and Ben Winck are heralding the future of Amazon “company towns” as a way to lift the working class. Left-leaning commenters, particularly on social media, are raising the specter of 19th and 20th century coal towns (cue “Sixteen Tons” by ...