Hometown Stories

Roanoke writer Beth Macy has seen her bestselling book Dopesick turned into a Hulu miniseries staring Michael Keaton. In this episode of Hometown Stories, veteran reporter Joe Dashiell talks with Macy about turning stories into screenplays, sticking up for Appalachia and her brief but tough cameo on set.

In the mid 1900s, polio outbreaks hit some communities hard - driving families to isolation and creative solutions to keep their children safe. Now, improved sanitation and vaccine campaigns have successfully eradicated most polio strains. Only one wild poliovirus strain remains. Dr. Bill Petri, Chair of the Polio Committee of the World Health Organization, joins us to talk about what's next in the fight against what he says is an ancient disease.

In the summer of 1950, the rural community of Wythe County, Virginia had the highest number of polio cases per capita of anywhere in the country.

In this episode of Hometown Stories, we examine the "Summer Without Children."

What does it take to start your day? Opinions are as varied as there are ways to prepare your cuppa joe. 

September 29th is National Coffee Day.

Our Editor Ben Riquelmy is using the day to find out which brew is best in the Hometown Stories series, Lighter Fare

The Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia is home to the largest fully steerable telescope in the world. From inside the observatory, people like newly named director Dr. Jim Jackson, are looking at the cosmos beyond us and within us. In this episode of hometown stories, Dr. Jackson helps us take a look at what's on the horizon for the observatory and beyond.

The Department of Health and Human Services is making it easier for more health care providers to prescribe a drug that could help people suffering from addiction. How might it make a difference for rural American in general and Appalachia in particular? That's the focus of our conversation with addiction expert Cheri Hartman,

We invited Christine Baldwin, a peer recovery specialist from the Roanoke Valley's Hope Initiative, and Dr. Robert Trestman - the Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine for a conversation

In our roundtable discussion, we talk about resources for people looking for help for their substance use disorder

2020 will be the worst year on record by far for fatal overdoses for Virginia. That was the grim hindsight projection forecast by one of the Commonwealth's top medical leaders. But why? And what's being done to stave off the power of the poppy in communities hit hard by both the opioid crisis and COVID-19? In this episode of Hometown Stories, part one in our series Bridging the Great Health Divide, we're taking a fresh look at the epidemic inside the pandemic. And we're looking at the bridges people in these communities are building to bring hope to those who need it most.

A Virginia WWII pilot left his cap behind when he returned home from the European theatre. No one knows why. And up till now, no one in his family knew it even existed. But with the help of two strangers, a history buff in the Netherlands and a gemologist in Italy, Lt. E.B. Thrasher's family gets a present that allows a glimpse into the past. In this episode of Hometown Stories, the cap comes home.