The Rural Blog: New way of assessing food healthy vs. unhealthy could improve diets, but cut profits
What does ultra-processed food sound like? It sounds like the polyglycerol polyricinoleate in Hershey’s chocolate or the tripotassium phosphate in…
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Constance Alexander: Celebrating the ‘Big stories from the small places we call home’
“Flyover country” is the dismissive description some big city folks use to describe rural America. Ariel Lavery disagrees. As host…
Benjamin Hamm to become director of IRJCI Aug. 16 as founding director Al Cross enters semi-retirement
The University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which is dedicated to helping sustain local journalism in…
Constance Alexander: IRJCI national summit at UK draws rural community journalists from across nation
The agenda for the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America started at 8 a.m. Friday morning and featured 19…
Amye Bensenhaver: The public is also at fault for allowing our lawmakers to evade accountability
Compounding the problems veteran political writer Al Cross identifies in his recent column in The NKyTribune — aptly titled, “Kentucky…
Data shows rural Americans are least likely to wear masks, less likely to know which are most effective
Rural Americans are less likely than urban and suburban Americans to wear any kind of mask, less likely to understand…
Appalachian Voices report shows region needs billions to clean up abandoned coal mines
A new report found that it will cost Appalachian states billions to clean up abandoned coal mines, much more than…
The Rural Blog: Overcrowding, lack of resources spur rural-jail death spike; incarceration is ‘catch-all’
The Rural Blog America’s smallest jails have some of the highest death rates in the nation, spurred by overcrowding and…
Bill Straub: Al Smith was a character in every sense of the word — and made a big mark on Kentucky
The story goes that Charles de Gaulle, president of France, was riding in the backseat of his limousine with one…
Commentary: Is our political system properly serving public-health system? We need reason, not a rant
By F. Douglas Scutchfield and Al Cross Kentucky Health News The new viral disease, Covid-19, began in China, which continues…
Rural colleges make big changes to stay afloat; ‘What’s a university without a history major?’
The Rural Blog Many public universities in smaller towns are in crisis mode as enrollment and state funding continue to…
Rural Blog: Appalachia at high risk of HIV, hep C, but many factors hamper testing, monitoring, treatment
Bloodborne diseases like HIV and hepatitis C are an increasing threat to public health in Appalachia, but the stigma associated…
Bill Straub: Bevin stiff-arming state’s media does disservice to public and pursuit of accountability
WASHINGTON – Ben Bradlee, who would go on to become the legendary editor of The Washington Post, once wrote a…