This week I had the pleasure of interviewing two of the candidates for the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Wise County -- and in this clip, I interview Chad Wilson.

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing two of the candidates for the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Wise County -- and in this clip, I interview Robert England.

This week on the show kicks off our election interviews with candidates across Southwest Virginia running for various positions in 2023. Today I chat with two candidates who are running for the Wise County Circuit Court Clerk: Robert England and Chad Wilson. Tune in as we chat about their backgrounds, what made them decide to run, and what their primary responsibilities would be if they were elected.  

Join me this week as I chat with former U.S. Senator Jim Webb about his

initial decision to run for the Senate, the campaign issues he focused

on, what he is most proud of during his time in the Senate, what his

biggest challenges were, and what he thinks about the filibuster and

term limits.

Join me on this episode as we chat about two meetings that happened in Southwest Virginia on Valentine's Day: the Bristol VA City Council meeting and the Washington County Board of Supervisors.

What are the next steps in terms of addressing the landfill in Bristol? I talk with Joel Kellogg, co-founder of HOPE for Bristol, about the petition that was presented to the Bristol VA City Council.

You may have also heard a bit about the Washington County Board of Supervisors meetings over the past couple months involving the topic of abortion. Can they legally restrict businesses from moving into the county? What does it mean when someone says VA is a Dillon Rule state?

It has now been a little over a year since we covered the Bristol VA Landfill on this program for the first time.  Join me today as I chat with Samuel Weddington, Senior Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Bristol, Tennessee, Jackie Nophlin, a resident of Bristol, Virginia, and the President of BAMA and Pastor of Household of Faith Community Church, and Dr. Don Evans, Licensed Engineer in both VA and TN who has been providing his expertise towards solving this humanitarian disaster.  What has changed in the past year and what are the next steps?   What can citizens do to help with this massive humanitarian and environmental disaster?

On this week's show, I chat with Jennifer Hayes Clark (University of Houston) about what happened last week with the vote for Speaker McCarthy, and what we can expect over the next two years with this U.S. House Republican majority. We also discuss the rules package that was adopted on Monday, and George Santos (NY-3).

The holidays are here, which means getting together with family and friends.  While that might sound like a wonderful time of the year, it can also be extremely stressful.  So often those get-togethers turn to politics – and why wouldn’t they? With high inflation, multiple tragedies, and the midterm elections, it’s hard to escape talking about politics all together.  If (or rather, when) politics comes up at our dinner tables this holiday season, how can we start to bridge any partisan divides that have developed between our families and friends?  This week I chat with Chris Gates, director of Philanthropy Bridging Divides, a national trans-partisan effort to explore how philanthropy can help bridge ideological divides in America, about how we can better engage in civil discourse.

The 2022 midterm election is finally in the books – and now everyone’s attention has already shifted to the 2024 presidential election.  Will Joe Biden run again, or will there be a new Democratic candidate for president?  Will DeSantis or Trump clinch the GOP nomination – or will another challenger step into the fray?  At this point, it is anyone’s guess.

This week the show focuses on the alignment of voters with the American political parties.  Are the parties what they used to be, and are we actually experiencing a “realignment” in American politics? Join me as I chat with Lee Peterson about realignment theory and what may be the future of the two major American political parties.  Lee is an international political consultant and has worked in more than 50 countries across the globe. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Listen in this week as I and a few students from my Congress class (Trey Stidham and Kelli Parks) chat with Silas House about all things politics and Appalachia.

Silas House is the nationally bestselling author of the novels--Clay's Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; and Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012, and Southernmost (June 2018)--as well as a book of creative nonfiction--Something's Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and three plays.  His new novel, Lark Ascending, was just released in September.