Lori McKinney is making art work for her—and her community—in Princeton. Lori McKinney doesn’t have any trouble defining herself: She’s an artist—a musician, mostly—who is interested in all things creative. She has a harder time explaining the RiffRaff Arts Collective. That’s where McKinney lives, works, and makes art. It’s also a base of operations of sorts for McKinney’s continued efforts…
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The King Coal Highway is an audacious plan to remake southern West Virginia—1,200 feet up. Imagine a farm with strong, suntanned workers plucking vegetables from long rows and placing them in crates. Behind a distant fence, pink and black pigs root and grunt. Row crops, in another direction, give way to fruit trees. It might make you think of California—but…
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These women mix, mingle, and make money in the stock market. On the first Tuesday of every month, a group of some 30 women from all walks of life meets at a Morgantown eatery or home to catch up and talk current events. But the monthly gathering isn’t some get-together for those fabled “ladies who lunch.” These ladies are part…
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What happened to all the talk about year-round school? It’s not easy, overcoming agrarian roots. But this school year, 2014-15, marks a step along the way. It’s the first year every county school district in the state is required to not only schedule but actually achieve 180 days of instruction—even if making up snow days means continuing well into June….
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Appalachian women have always been strong figures. These women bring that mountain spirit to everything from technology and manufacturing to activism and law, in every part of the state. West Virginia Focus celebrates them—and expresses Great Expectations for their up-and-coming sisters. Living Local Alisa Bailey thinks Charleston—not to mention the state as a whole—is poised for a renaissance, and she says…
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