Eastern Kentucky
Grant will help Eastern Kentucky organization fix more houses
The Kentucky Association of Health Plans has given a $50,000 grant to Saint Vincent Mission in Floyd County, which the organization says will go toward building a new warehouse. With the extra storage space in David, the organization says it can hold onto more materials and fix 15 more houses annually in an area that […]
Some ‘in limbo’ more than a year after deadly floods hit Eastern Kentucky
More than a year after four feet of water flooded her house, Nancy Herald still doesn’t know when – or if – she’ll return to the home that’s been in her family for nearly five decades. Driving past the homeplace, even, is too painful. Sometimes she goes inside; sometimes she just passes quietly. And sometimes, […]
Fourth ‘higher-ground’ homesite for Eastern Kentucky flood victims will be in Knott County
Another residential community to house survivors of last summer’s Eastern Kentucky floods will be in Knott County, along Chestnut Ridge Drive, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday. The news, along with the Thursday announcement of a Floyd County site, come on the heels of the one-year anniversary of devastating floods that killed 45 people. Flooding began […]
After flood anniversary, Beshear says $2 million will secure Floyd County rebuilding site
The day after the one-year anniversary of devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear announced plans to provide 34 single-family homes to house flood survivors. Beshear said Thursday that $2 million in Community Development Block Grant funds will be given to the county to acquire two vacant lots — a total of 34 acres […]
More help for undergrads’ basic, child care needs could up Kentuckians’ earning power
Kentuckians need better access to child care and basic needs like food and housing to ensure higher postsecondary degree attainment, a statewide report released Monday says. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, with funding support from the Lumina Foundation, released the 2023 Strategies and Recommendations to Address Students’ Basic Needs. The report is the result […]
Property for proposed aluminum mill back with local authority, Beshear says
Property once eyed for an aluminum mill in northeastern Kentucky is again under local control, Gov. Andy Beshear said. He announced Thursday that Unity Aluminum has transferred more than 240 acres to the Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Authority, an economic development group that manages the multi-use business park near I-64 between Grayson and Ashland. During […]
Kentucky’s population shifted older in a decade. Here’s how and why it matters.
Kentucky’s population is shifting older, new data shows, with the oldest counties in the western part of the state. Counties with colleges and military clusters are home to the younger populations, according to analyses of new Census data by the Kentucky State Data Center (KSDC). Eastern Kentucky is aging faster than the rest of the […]
Bearing flowers and tradition, the next generation takes on the duty of Decoration Day
This story was first published in The Daily Yonder on May 21, 2021 and is is republished here under a Creative Commons license. While their friends are cannonballing into the city pool this weekend, my sons will spend the day in an Eastern Kentucky cemetery, placing flowers on the graves of relatives they never knew. […]
A conversation with Silas House, Kentucky’s new poet laureate
LOUISVILLE – Growing up in Eastern Kentucky, author Silas House saw early the power of representation in literature. Lead character John-Boy in the award-winning television series “The Waltons,” for example, was his “hero.” Here was a young country boy who, like House, dreamed of writing. “I didn’t know anybody who wanted to be a writer,” […]
How flood cleanup left Kentucky disaster victims feeling violated and vulnerable
This article is republished from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. On a steamy day in August, Don Young dug through the rubble that used to be his home. He was desperately trying to salvage the most precious possessions representing the life he’d made in the Letcher County community of McRoberts. Floods last July ravaged […]
Second ‘higher ground’ site for rebuilding flooded Eastern Kentucky communities is near Hazard
Gov. Andy Beshear on Tuesday announced a second site on higher ground in flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky — this time near Hazard — where plans call for initially building about 150 houses. The project would be partially funded by the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund in partnership with local nonprofit builders, says a release from […]
Months after Eastern Kentucky floods, survivors weigh the future
JACKSON — When the 2021 Eastern Kentucky floods came, Nancy Herald’s basement filled to the rafters. She lost roughly 50 years of cherished Christmas decorations stored along the concrete wall, along with the washer, dryer and refrigerator. Because of that experience, the family thought they’d be ready when the 2022 floods came more than a […]