PNS Daily Newscast - March 8, 2021
Nationwide protests in advance of trial of former Minneapolis police officer charged in the killing of George Floyd; judicial districts amendment faces bipartisan skepticism in PA.
2021Talks - March 8, 2021
After a whirlwind voting session the Senate approves $1.9 Trillion COVID relief bill, President Biden signs an executive order to expand voting access and the president plans a news conference this month.
Public News Service - WV: Rural/Farming

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- To help the next generation of farmers, a West Virginia community farm group is raising funds to acquire land for future growers and beef up a sustainable agriculture economy in a former coal region. Ian McSweeney, director of the Agrarian Trust, said the national organization

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As congressional Democrats call for an investigation into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's recent cost-cutting measures at the U.S. Postal Service, small-business owners in West Virginia say they are relying on the post office more than ever to keep their companies afloat during

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A rural phone cooperative based in Appalachia has brought some of the fastest Internet in the United States to mountain communities, which has led to what some call an economic miracle in the depressed region. Since 2009, the Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative connected 18,000

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A new report says expanding Medicaid is really paying off for rural West Virginians. Rural areas typically have real disadvantages – higher unemployment and poverty, fewer doctors and in some cases, financially strapped hospitals. But Kelli Caseman, director of Ch

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Congress may not be able to finish the farm bill by the end of the month, when the old one expires. One deadlock is a controversial plan to cut access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Josh Protas, vice president for public policy with Jewish hunger-relief

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After a contentious public hearing and changes by the House Judiciary Committee, a West Virginia surface owners group is now in favor of a gas-pooling bill. A central provision of what supporters call co-tenancy legislation would let drillers take the natural gas from a l

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A solar co-op is helping West Virginia farmers cut their energy costs. The agricultural co-op program, run by West Virginia SUN, helps line up grants and tax credits it says can cut up-front costs of solar installation in half. And, said Autumn Long, co-op coordinator with Wes

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Health care providers say a Republican bill that includes Medicaid cuts would threaten West Virginia's school health services. Medicaid pays much of the cost for school nurses and therapists here, and for more than 50 school-based community clinics, many in rural areas.