-Former WMMT reporter and DJ Sylvia Ryerson (aka Sly Rye) speak on WNYC’s nationally syndicated program The Takeaway. She along with story contributor Michelle Hudson and host John Hockenberry discuss her project Restorative Radio which connects those incarcerated in prisons across Central Appalachia with their loved ones at home.

-The National Academy of Sciences is launching a comprehensive study of how mountaintop removal coal mining affects the health of those who live nearby. WMMT’s Benny Becker reports for the Ohio Valley ReSource, on how past efforts at research ran into roadblocks and delays.

-WMMT’s Kelli Haywood spoke with two community college professors in southeastern Kentucky about ways the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is working to prepare their students to adapt to a changing economy in eastern Kentucky through the STEAM model of education.

In this episode of Mountain News & World Report, learn how the Farmacy program started in Letcher County, Kentucky is becoming a model for health and economic transition nationwide. Hear youth from Appalachia talking about their perceptions of their eastern Kentucky home and whether or not they can stay. And reporting on the Trans-Pacific Partnership by Becca Schimmel of the Ohio Valley ReSource.

-Joe’s Drive-In Chicken (aka Joe Pack’s) is celebrating 50 years as a Letcher County, Kentucky business this year. How does a family business survive 50 years in a boom and bust economy? This story was created with Malcolm J. Wilson of Humans of Central Appalachia.

-A community health forum was recently held in Whitesburg, Kentucky including representatives from the University of Kentucky, Kentucky Homeplace, Mountain Comprehensive Health Care, and the federal agency – National Institutes of Environmental Health and Sciences. The forum’s goal was to collect the information about what the community views as its top health concerns. WMMT reporter Benny Becker highlights the forum.

-WMMT reporter Kelli Haywood explores the impact that the region’s opioid addiction problems are having on our ability to transition the economy now and the ramifications for the future.

-Aaron Payne, from the Ohio Valley ReSource, gives the latest update on CARA (Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act).

-In celebration of what would have been the 92nd birthday of Kentucky Civil Rights activist, Anne Braden, filmmaker and reporter Mimi Pickering shares stories of Braden’s early work and experiences from the film she made along with Anne Lewis – Anne Braden: Southern Patriot.

-To celebrate the 108th birthday of Appalachian writer Harriette Simpson Arnow, hear an excerpt from the 1987 Appalshop Film by Herb E. Smith - Harriette Arnow 1908-1986.

-WMMT's Rich Kirby interviews Appalshop filmmaker Herb E. Smith, maker of the 2000 film - The Ralph Stanley Story, on the life and passing of bluegrass great Dr. Ralph Stanley.

-From the Humans of Central Appalachia project and Malcolm J. Wilson, we feature the story of Morgan Canty, a 21 year old young man of color from Bristol, TN who encourages us all to act out what we know best - getting to know our neighbors. (And, he has the voice of an angel!)

-Kara Lofton, health reporter for West Virginia Public Radio, speaks with UMWA members and others about the recent rally in Lexington, Kentucky and what the stalemate in Congress surrounding shoring up retirement benefits for miners and their families will mean for their future.

-Hear audio recordings of the late balladeer and organizer Sarah Ogan Gunning and those close with her and her family from Mimi Pickering’s 1988 Appalshop Films release – Dreadful Memories.

-The Cowan Creek Mountain Music School just ended its 15th year with a record attendance. WMMT reporter Kelli Haywood covers how the music school, Cowan Community Center, and others are exploring a new way of organizing the community for the greater good of all – the Letcher County Culture Hub.

This episode of Mountain News & World Report considers the efforts of central Appalachians to create resources to address critical public health needs. From our very beginnings, we have had to develop our own way of caring for our communities. As illustrated in the audio for the third segment of this show, through trial and error, and a little ingenuity, we have found remedies that work to bring better health to the people. When John Long and Elizabeth Barret released Nature’s Way in 1973 through Appalshop Films, many mountain folks were still going their entire lives without ever seeing a doctor. Babies were born at home. Fevers were sweated out. Pain was treated with a poultice of herbs. Effort was put behind the troubleshooting of the communities’ healthcare needs and the successes were adopted and passed down through generations as tried and true.

The need to give an effort to the crises of our people is evident in the story of our second segment – Beldon Scott Mullins. He is a twenty year veteran of law enforcement in Wise, Virginia and shared his story with Malcolm J. Wilson as part of the Humans of Central Appalachia Project. Mullins has seen the use of drugs change in his community over his years in the force, and he grieves about the impact on the people.

In our first story from WMMT reporter Kelli Haywood, you will hear of the year long effort of public health professional and Whitesburg, Kentucky resident, Danielle King, to see a clean needle exchange program created for Letcher County. Recent reports from the CDC has placed 54 Kentucky counties at the highest risk in the nation for an epidemic of HIV and Hepatitis C brought on by the use of intravenous drugs. King and her colleagues have worked to investigate what operating a needle exchange to address this problem might entail and they have put forth a public education campaign to move the need for a program along to a reality. However, it seems like a needle exchange is still far from an actuality for Letcher County. Haywood also speaks with Dr. Rafael Rangel, Director of the Pike County Health Department, who’s experience in finding support and funding for creating a needle exchange program in neighboring Pike County is in deep contrast to that of King and her colleagues. Dr. Rangel’s program begins July 6, 2016 in Pikeville. Jon, a recovering addict, describes to Haywood the first time he was subjected to intravenous drug use at the age of twelve when his true informed consent was not possible.

In this episode of Mountain News & World Report, we highlight two regional happenings-- the Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival here on the grounds of Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky starting Friday June 3rd and going through Saturday, June 4th, and the SOAR Innovation Summit which will be held at the Pikeville Exposition Center on Monday, June 6th. In the Seedtime rundown you will hear a clip from the Tom Hansell film, After Coal which compares the Appalachian coalfields experience to that of the coalfields of South Wales who have already had to transition their economy away from mining. Also, in that segment, Appalshop Archive shares with us a clip of a 1981 Headwaters film of Lee Sexton and his former fiddle player, the late, great Marion Sumner.

Then, to end the show, WMMT reporter Benny Becker discusses the future of the SOAR – Shaping Our Appalachian Region with Jared Arnett-- SOAR's executive director, and with Willa Johnson who works with youth through the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) and an online learning platform called The Holler.

Having access to life saving healthcare in the eastern Kentucky mountains as in all of rural Appalachia has always been a struggle. Obstacles to receiving proper healthcare are numerous including lack of doctors and especially specialty doctors, transportation issues, no insurance or low income, and no childcare. Because of these barriers, eastern Kentucky is among some of the poorest in the nation for health outcomes. In this episode of Mountain News & World Report, we examine how eastern Kentuckians have made a life within the limitations of this reality, and how sometimes we take our health into our own hands. Not only this, but we see how healthcare has been a support to the economy in eastern Kentucky and how our old and new ways of receiving it cannot be ignored for our future.

An act of marking one’s pleasure at an important event or occasion by engaging in enjoyable, typically social, activity… that is the formal definition of a celebration. As we know, sometimes the need for having a celebration precedes the cause. In this episode of Mountain News & World Report, we are looking at – Reasons to Celebrate. Our show begins in Harlan County, where Benny Becker met George Ella Lyon, a native East Kentuckian, who is currently serving as the state’s poet laureate. Her works spans many genres including poetry, novel, picture books, and children’s literature.

For our next segment, we visit the small towns nestled along the banks of the Clinch River in Virginia. WMMT Contributor Rich Kirby takes us there to note the celebration of the Clinch River Valley Initiative. A coalition of public and private groups sought to have a patchwork of land spread across 130 miles of the Clinch River declared as a state park in spite of its unconventional layout to help the area realize its potential as a major tourist attraction.

Documentary filmmaker, Sellus Wilder, who is running for the democratic nomination for Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seat, visited WMMT studios during his recent driving tour of eastern Kentucky. His new documentary, “The End of the Line“ tells the story of how grassroots organizing defeated the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, and the film celebrates the power of everyday people, working together. WMMT does not endorse political candidates, but as a public service, we welcome interviews with anyone running for political office. Kelli Haywood spoke with Sellus Wilder on April 25th when he passed through Whitesburg to meet with local citizens and community leaders.

For the final piece, we add the voice of Elizabeth Ramey as part of WMMT’s ongoing collaboration with Malcolm J. Wilson and Humans of Central Appalachia. Elizabeth’s story brings our exploration of celebration home to family.