skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump announces sweeping new tariffs to promote US manufacturing, risking inflation and trade wars; Arizonans experience some of the highest insurance premiums; U.S. immigration policy leaves trans migrants at TX-Mexico border in limbo; Repealing clean energy tax credits could raise American energy costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Donald Trump announces worldwide tariffs. Democrats decry 'Liberation Day' as the economy adjusts to the news. And some Republicans break from Trump's trade stance.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural schools face budget woes even as White House aims to dismantle the Department of Education, postal carriers argue against proposed USPS changes, fiber networks to improve rural internet may be supplanted by Musk's satellites, and PLAY BALL!

I Love Mountains Rally Tops off Weekend Capitol Sit-In

play audio
Play

Tuesday, February 15, 2011   

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Fourteen protesters camped out at Gov. Steve Beshear's office last weekend in a three-night sleepover protesting the practice of mountaintop removal. Hundreds more joined them Monday on the State Capitol steps for what's dubbed the "I Love Mountains" rally.

With chants including "Save our water" and "Old King Coal has got to go," the protesters demanded an end to the method of surface mining that environmentalists claim has buried more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams.

Slias House, a Kentucky author and playwright, says mountaintop removal is doing more than ruining the region's air and water.

"The bigger issue, I think, is that it's killing a culture. It's changing a people's way of life. We identify as mountain people, and when those are taken away, what do we have left?"

Grassroots activist Teri Blanton was among those who hunkered down for the weekend slumber party at Beshear's office. She's angered over politicians' rhetoric blasting the EPA for clamping down on the coal industry, and says the governor is way off track in protecting those she calls the polluters.

"Well, you know, the EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency, and he should be asking them for help. And he should be protecting the protectors, rather than pressuring the protectors."

Patty Wallace of Louisa, Ky., believes eastern Kentucky will be left in the dust if policymakers keep resisting a move toward sustainable green-energy jobs.

"We've got to save our mountains. And we're not here against coal mining as mining. We're for the miners, but we've got to start changing our jobs now, go to alternative energies, and it's obvious. "

Talks between the protesters and the governor came to a stalemate Friday afternoon. In House's eyes, protecting jobs and saving the environment are not the clashing interests some may think.

"We believe that you can have jobs, but also respect the land. You can have jobs that are responsible and respectful, and mountaintop removal is not. It's not respectful to the land or to the people."

Concerned citizens, church groups and activists also want Beshear to withdraw a lawsuit he filed against the EPA over what he called "arbitrary and unreasonable regulations" on the coal industry. U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who attended Monday's rally, is co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, which he says would effectively end mountaintop removal.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Since March 8, the Trump administration has attempted to arrest or deport at least six additional pro-Palestinian foreign students across four campuses, including Columbia, Tufts, Cornell and Georgetown universities. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A recent arrest on the University of Cincinnati campus is sparking outrage among civil rights advocates, raising new concerns about student speech…


Social Issues

play sound

Some Colorado lawmakers are scrambling to protect voter rights after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to require proof of citizenship …

Environment

play sound

A group of Florida middle schoolers is tackling water pollution in an unconventional way - by collecting scientific samples while surfing and skateboa…


Health and Wellness

play sound

"Uplift Wisconsin" is just one of the latest casualties from a $210 million cut in federal health funds to the state. The "warmline" operates seven …

Among Montana workers' compensation cases, those in the construction industry are the most costly, according to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. (Andrey Popov/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A Montana legislative committee this week heard a bill to revise workers' compensation laws. Among opponents were workers who have navigated the …

Social Issues

play sound

As many Minnesotans dig out from an early Spring snowstorm, the future of a federal program that helps low-income households pay their heating bills …

Social Issues

play sound

Backlash is mounting across the U.S. in response to the Trump administration's consistent push to cut federal staffing and programs. North Dakotans …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021