This story originally appeared in the July/August 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus. The great virtue of West Virginia workers was never that they were the smartest in the world—although they have proven to be plenty smart. West Virginia workers also never claimed to possess superior…
This story originally appeared in the May/June 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus. West Virginia’s secret government warehouse isn’t quite what I thought it would be. It was easily visible from the interstate, although I suppose that could be part of a hiding-in-plainsight strategy. Driving…
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014. My conversation with songwriter Todd Snider started off pretty normal. Normal, at least, considering Snider’s confessed love of psychedelic drugs. We talked about Snider’s upcoming appearance on this Sunday’s “Mountain…
This story was originally published in the May/June 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus. When Sam Burdette first visited the Tri- State Greyhound Park in Cross Lanes in the mid-1980s, he didn’t even know how to read the program. The sheets of paper were filled with…
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday, May 7, 2010. This morning, State Schools Superintendent Steve Paine will dub more than 200 West Virginia eighth-graders “knights and ladies of the Golden Horseshoe” for their knowledge of state history. But there’s…
This story was original published in the March/April 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus magazine. In late October 2011, storm winds brought down trees all around James Ball’s home near Danville, making the road to his home impassable. It was a terrible time to have a…
This story was originally published in the March/April 2015 issue of West Virginia Focus magazine. Talking with Bill Cole, you get the sense he doesn’t use phrases like “over the moon” very often. But that’s how the baritone-voiced, serious-faced Senate President describes his frame of…
This story originally appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail on Aug. 28, 2012. FAIRVIEW, W.Va. – Kent Leonhardt wants you to make him the state’s next agriculture commissioner. He promises he’ll work hard to improve food safety and increase the number of farms in West…
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. Pat Long came to West Virginia on a motorcycle. He almost left on one, too. It was Groundhog Day 2012 and Long, who was 84 at the time, was riding…
This story was originally published in the Charleston Daily Mail on Nov. 6, 2013. NELLIS, W.Va. — William Gunnoe noticed his safety lamp had stopped burning. Gunnoe, a section foreman at the Nellis No. 3 Mine in the Boone County with 19 years’ experience, knew…