Transcript

5.22.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill ven Arsdale. We
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will begin with the edition dated May twenty first, twenty
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twenty five, which the publishers have donated to a RADIOI
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as a reminder. RADIOI is a reading service intended for
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people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
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it difficult to read printed material. The first story is
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Chance of a Lifetime Leccher Central High School Band students
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chosen for two week concert tour of Europe. Two Lecher
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County Central High School band students will get the chance
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of a lifetime this summer when they begin a two
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week concert tour through Europe. Ben Lewis, seventeen of Partridge
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and Paisley Fields eighteen of Jenkins will leave June twenty
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fifth to begin three days of rehearsals at the University
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of Life, Louisville, and then board a plane for London
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on June thirtieth. They and other students from around the
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state will perform in six nations United Kingdom, France, Germany,
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Switzerland and the Netherlands over the next fifteen days. The
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trip is part of Musicians Abroad, a nationwide program that
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arranges foreign concert tours by young American musicians. Neither Paisley
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nor Ben has been out of the country and said
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they are looking forward to the experience. Yes, I'm very excited, Paisley, said,
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a senior at LCC. Paisley said each of the students
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had to raise about eight thousand dollars just to go
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on the trip after being nominated by LCC band director
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Rob Sheeler. We've raised the majority of it, but we're
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working on raising spending money because we have to change
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it over to different kinds of money, she said. Ben
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said the two will be playing with a concert band.
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Both play multiple instruments, but she will be playing piccolo
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on this trip and he will be playing tuba. In
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addition to piccolo, she plays flute and violin and sings
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in the high school's rock band. Ben also plays multiple
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instruments and plays guitar in the rock band. I play tuba, bass, guitar, cello, trombone,
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but I can play just about anything, Ben said. Schuler
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said he nominated several students for the band, but the
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others weren't able to work it out. The whole process
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of being able to go to the meetings and raise
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the money is a pretty big undertaking, he said. The
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eight thousand dollar cost was hard for everyone, but he
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said the Weisberg Rotary Club donated money and the members
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of the community have supported the effort, as well as
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parents raising money personally for the trip. It's a big
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chunk of money, but when your child gets a once
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in a lifetime opportunity, you have to do Sheeler said.
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He said the experience really is a one that they
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might never get to have without the Musicians Abroad program.
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He said, even ignoring the trip, just the fact that
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they get to practice with professional musicians, attend rehearsals at
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the University of Louisville, and then perform in front of
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so many audiences in a two week period is something
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that can't be replaced. For me as a band director,
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that's enough. But they also get to go and travel Europe,
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and that's just unreal, he said. Paisley Fields is the
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daughter of Jessica Branham and Chad Fields. Ben Lewis is
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the son of Anthony and Brandy Lewis. The next story
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is some writers angry over new law that would make
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ATVs legal for road use a plan to make some
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side by side off road vehicles legal for street use,
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led to an unexpected response from residents. Anger. However, members
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of the lesser Fiscal Court pointed out that it's illegal
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to ride off road vehicles on the highway now, and
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the state law that opting into would allow residents to
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ride legally if they buy insurance and add safety equipment
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to their side by sides to make them street legal.
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The Court voted Monday to pass the first reading of
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the ordinance, which is required by state law for the
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county to participate. It gives folks that want a ride
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on the road a way to do that legally. Judge
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Executive Terry Adams said if the Court passes the ordinance
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to opt into the new state law, it will take
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effect on June twenty seventh. Sheriff Billy Jones posted a
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notice about the new law on his department's web page
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and was deluged by nearly two hundred comments from people
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complaining that the law would require them to buy license
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tags and insurance and buy expensive equipment. Jones, who was
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appointed last fall, said he was shocked by the response.
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It's not like it's the world's best kept secret. Jones said,
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it was on the front page of the Mountain Eagle,
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it was on the county TV station, It's been on
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every TV news station. People complaining blamed Governor Andy Basheer, Democrats,
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the Fiscal Court, and Jones for the law, but it
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was introduced by members of the Republican majority in the
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Senate and passed both houses, both of which are controlled
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by veto proof Republican majorities. Basher allowed it to become
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a law without his signature. Jones said he was trying
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to get ahead of the rush because there is a
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lot of work to do to get ready for inspections.
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Under the new state law, special purpose vehicles that may
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be licensed include an all terrain vehicle, utility terrain vehicle,
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mini truck, pneumatic tired military vehicle, or full size special
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purpose built vehicle, including a vehicle that is self constructed
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or built by the original equipment manufacturer, and a vehicle
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that has been modified. It does not include those listed
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as low speed vehicles in Kentucky law, which includes scooters
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and farm and construction equipment. Jones said Monday that one
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of the big problems now is that kids are driving
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side by sides on the highway He told the court
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he and his wife went to church one Wednesday and
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an ATV pulled up beside him at a red light,
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pulling a trailer with a large lawnmower on it. The
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driver looked to be twelve years old, he said. The
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court voted five to one on Monday to pass the bill,
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with District two Magistrate Kenny Anderson voting no. Anderson said
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he didn't like that the legislature forced it on us
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and suggested it will keep tourists out of the state
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if they have to license their side by sides to
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drive them on the road. Magistrate Jack Banks said Tennessee
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and Virginia already require drivers to have license plates to
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ride on the road, and Magistrates Deb Collier and Cheddy
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Smith said riding on the highway is already illegal and
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there is no way to make it legal unless the
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county approves the ordinance and opts into the state law.
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The court had approved a resolution adopting the state law
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last month, but Adams said he learned it must be
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in ordinance form rather than a resolution. The court first
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took up the law at the request of the First
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Frontier Trails, a tourism organization created to help build ATV tourism.
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The next headline is FEMA says it will leave here
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May twenty fifth. Residents and business owners in Lectter County
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who have experienced damage or losses caused by the February
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severe storms and floods have until the end of this
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week to apply for federal er disaster assistance. The deadline
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to apply for the assistance is May twenty fifth. If
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you haven't yet applied for FEMA assistance, there are several
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ways to do it online at Disaster Assistance dot gov.
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Visit the Disaster Recovery Center in Wisburg inside the Letcher
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County Recreation Center now through Saturday between the hours of
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nine am and seven pm. Use the THEMA mobile app.
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Call the FEMA helpline at eight hundred sixty two one
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three three sixty two. It is open seven am to
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ten pm Eastern time. Help is available in many languages.
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If you use a relay service such as video Relay
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Service VRS, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your
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number for that service. FEMA works with every household on
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a case by case basis. FEMA representatives can explain available
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assistance programs, how to apply to FEMA and help connect
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survivors with resources for their recovery needs. When you apply,
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you will need to provide a current phone number where
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you can be contacted, your address at the time of
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the disaster and the address where you are now staying,
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your Social Security number, a general list of damage and losses,
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banking information if you choose direct deposit, if insured, the
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policy number or the agent and or the company name.
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Survivors should keep their contact information updated with FEMA, as
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the agency may need to call to schedule a home
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inspection or get additional information. Disaster assistance is not a
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substitute for insurance and is not intended to compensate for
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all losses caused by a disaster. The assistance is intended
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to meet basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts. The
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next story is up to one fourth of states coal
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miners have black long showing the need to maintain funding
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of federal agency. Between a fifth and a quarter of
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Central Appalachian miners have complicated black lung. A study by
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the largest black lung clinic in Kentucky indicates underlining the
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need to maintain funding for the National Institute of Safety
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and Health NIOSH certifies b readers who examine miners for
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the disease, offers miners screening for black lung researches the disease,
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to set limits for dust, and tests protective masks. It
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also sets health and safety standards for other industries. The
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agency was gutted by the Trump administration two weeks ago
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as part of wider cuts aimed at agencies that regulate
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the mining industry, including the NIOSH, the Office of Surface
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Line Reclamation and Enforcement, and the MIND Safety and Health Administration.
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Some INIOSH employees in the Coal Division in Morgantown, West Virginia,
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the Cincinnati office, and the World Trade Center Health Program,
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which provides services to first responders and survivors of the
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terrorist attacks on September eleventh, two thousand and one, were
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re hired after pushback from labour leaders and members of Congress.
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Junior,
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was questioned about the cuts at congressional hearings May fourteenth.
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The workers were re hired the night before. The Other
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agencies employees have not been rehired, and there are still
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deep cuts to the NIOSH budget. There are large job
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losses at offices in Spokane, Washington, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which
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also deal with mind safety. The regulatory cuts may be
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good for coal company profits, but they're not good for mind,
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said doctor Brandon Crumb, a radiologist and certified bee reader
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in Pipeful. It's good for production, it's good for revenue
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for the coal companies up to a degree, but it's
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bad for the health of the miners. There will be
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more fatal and non fatal accidents. That's the short term,
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and in the long term, more significant black lung cases.
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Crumb said, We're already at some of the highest levels
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of black lung we've ever seen, and when you add
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this on top of it, it's just an extreme negative
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for the miner, especially for their lungs. To make matters worse,
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Crumb said, the black lung cases he is seeing now
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are a whole different monster from what we were seeing
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when our grandfathers had black lung. Of the eight hundred
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seventy seven miners in the study his clinic conducted, one
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hundred ninety one had complicated black lung, twenty four have
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either already had lung transplants or are on the list
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for long transplants, and ten point five percent of the
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one hundred ninety one had lungs that were one hundred
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percent impacted. When these miners came to his office, Crumb
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was seeing men in their late thirties and early forties
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with the lungs of sixty five year old miners. One
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was just twenty six and already had complicated black lung.
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Pulmonary function testing completely flip flopped what the understanding of
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complicated black lung was thought to be. For the last
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thirty years. This disease was primarily thought to be a
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restrictive disease on pulmonary function testing, which means the lungs
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are really fibrotic they can get air out. Crumb said, actually,
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obstruction was our most common finding. That was completely opposite
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from what everybody thought, and that was a big thing
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because when they found obstruction, the coal companies blamed it
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on smoking. But of the miners in the study, forty
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one percent had a non significant history of smoking. More
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than half had never smoked. Crom was a coal miner
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before attending college and becoming a doctor, and his parents
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and grandparents were in the coal business. His grandfather died
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of black lung. I think the misconception is you're either
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on the side of the miner or you're on the
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side of the coal company. You've got to get these
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two sides working together to be able to mind coal
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have jobs, but do it in a safe way, he said.
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The sad part is black lung disease is one hundred
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percent preventable. Crom acknowledges that getting companies and miners to
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work together to reduce black lung is unlikely. I've been
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doing this for fourteen years and have been interviewed by
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people all over the world, but I've never had one
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coal company call me, he said. Not one coal company
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has ever called, or asked or shown one inkling of concern.
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I don't foresee that happening. In the next headline, Regions
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leaders urge Kentucky's federal delegation to safeguard key health policies investments.
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Advocates from across eastern Kentucky gathered last week to discuss
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the devastating impacts of federal cuts to programs that provide
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critical health services to the region's families. Critical programs such
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as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program SNAP, the Low
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Income Home Energy Assistance Program LHEAP, and those that prevent
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black lung disease have been or are facing federal cuts.
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Speakers urged Kentucky's congressional delegation to stand up for their constituents,
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especially Representative Hal Rogers, whose district will be hardest hit.
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An astounding forty four percent of Eastern Kentuckians in Representative
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Rogers's district rely on Medicaid and twenty three percent rely
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on SNAP. Rogers also has more Black Lung Benefit recipients
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in his district than any other member of Congress. Over
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four thousand, five hundred mining families receive black lung benefits
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here in Kentucky's fifth District, and many more live with
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the disease. Families in the region also bear some of
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the highest energy burdens and power bills in the state,
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making LHAP a critical program for keeping the heat on.
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You would be hard pressed to find someone in Eastern
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Kentucky who doesn't rely on or have a loved one
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who relies on one or more of these programs, said
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Courtney Rhodes, black lung organizer at Witsburg based Appalachian Citizens
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Law Center. Cuts to these programs will leave many Kentuckians
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without access to basic necessities. Our community deserves dignity, health
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and safety, said Savannah Davis, certified community health worker at
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Access Family Health. These are just statistics. There are neighbors.
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Led by Kentucky Representative Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the Energy
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and Commerce Committee, the proposed budget reconciliation legislation would cut
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the Medicaid budget by seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars
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over ten years. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that eight
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point six million Americans would lose Medicaid and become uninsured,
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with anywhere from one hundred ninety seven thousand to two
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hundred eighty two thousand Kentuckians having their Medicaid coverage terminated
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due to the red tape of work reporting requirements Alone,
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thousands more Kentuckians will fall through the cracks of health
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care coverage because of the elimination of subsidies that make
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health insurance less expensive and newly added copay requirements, which
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could lead to delayed or rationed care. Uncompensated care will
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also become a burden on our hospitals and safety net providers,
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which could lead to decreased access to care and loss
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of jobs. With the decline in the coal industry, we
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depend on healthcare. It's our largest employer, said doctor John
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Jones of Hazard. It's not just the healthcare of the
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person that's at risk, it's the jobs that go with it.
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I'm afraid what you would see with Medicaid cuts would
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be similar to the decline in the coal industry. People
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who depend on the Medicaid dollars for their jobs, nurses, doctors,
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pharmacists will have to leave the area because the jobs
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just won't be here. SNAP was used by over two
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hundred and seventy six thousand households in Kentucky last month.
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In hal Rogers's district, twenty three percent of households use
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the program, spending a total of three hundred twenty three
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point ninety seven million dollars through SNAP in twenty twenty three.
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On May fourteenth, the House Agriculture Committee passed SNAP funding cuts.
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Kentucky Policy estimates that these cuts will shift up to
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one hundred ninety million dollars of responsibility onto Kentucky's state
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budget each year, leaving food assistance for almost five hundred
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eighty thousand individuals and one point three million dollars in
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revenue to farmers uncertain. I understand how critical these programs
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are to keeping our operations viable, said Emily Foster, manager
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of the Red River Gorge Farmer's Market and farm owner.
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As a market manager, I see first hand the positive
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impact that SNAP and double dollars have on our community.
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Many of our customers have shared how excited they are
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to use their Nutrition Assistance dollars at the market. They
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appreciate being able to support local businesses they believe in
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and make food choices they feel good about for themselves
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and their families. For many Eastern Kentuckians, electric rates have
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increased over the last year, making LAP even more critical
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as families struggle with inflation and rising costs of many
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goods and services. LHAP is a lifeline that keeps seventy
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five thousand Kentucky households safe, healthy, and housed by helping
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them afford basic energy needs. Cutting this program would force
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vulnerable families and seniors to choose between electricity and essentials
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like food or medicine. That's a choice no one should
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have to make, said Sarah Pierce, Housing and Energy Affordability
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Program Coordinator at the Metropolitan Housing Coalition. William McCool, president
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of the Black Lung Association of Southeastern Kentucky highlighted an
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issue that impacts Eastern Kentucky more than any other region
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in the country, the black lung epidemic. Amid an increase
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in black lung diagnoses, Epidemiologists and staff who specialize in
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researching and screening for the disease have been laid off
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as the Trump administration delays the implementation of life saving
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protections from silica dust. Over the last few days, some
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of the staffing cuts at the National Institute of Occupational
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Health and Safety in IOSH related to black lung disease
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monitoring and prevention have been temporarily reversed, but many programs
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remain inoperable, and the MIND Safety and Health administrations pause
21:28
on the enforcement of the silica dust rule remains in effect. Today,
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miners have to cut through more rock. The easy coal
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is gone. MSHA should never have paused the enforcement of
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the silica rule, said McCool. We know that many miners
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today are still being exposed to too much dust. Their
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health is in jeopardy, and it's important to do whatever
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we can to prevent black lung disease. Together, these programs
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support the health and well being of Eastern Kentuckians and
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the local economy. Advocates are looking for action from Representative
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Rogers to protect Medicaid SNAP and LHAP as House budget
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and reconciliation bills go to the floor, and for Senator
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McConnell to curb damages when the Senate moves forward with
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their reconciliation bills. Though Rogers and McConnell have both supported
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the Trump administration's actions to revitalize the coal industry, both
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have remained silent on actions that jeopardize the health and
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safety of miners. Kentuckians are looking for them to step
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out as leaders on the issue of black lung disease
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because the coal economy is impossible without healthy coal miners.
22:44
The next story is more tornadoes and fewer meteorologists make
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for a dangerous mix that's worrying US officials. As nasty
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tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky, a depleted the
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National Weather Service was in scramble mode. The agency's office
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in Jackson, Kentucky had begun closing nightly as deep cuts
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by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency began hitting, but
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the Weather Service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to
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stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly
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twenty people in the Jackson Office's forecast area. It's a
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scenario likely to be repeated as the US is on
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track to see more tornadoes this year than in twenty
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twenty four, which was the second busiest tornado year on record.
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Forecasters said there was at least a ten percent risk
23:39
of tornadoes Tuesday for ten point six million people in
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parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Weather Service veterans
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expressed concern about the agency's ability to keep up in
23:52
the face of the cuts. Rich Thompson, lead operations forecaster
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at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said
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the job is getting done, but he acknowledged that staffing
24:05
cuts have made it harder on us. It has made
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it hard on the local offices just to make sure
24:11
that we have all of our important duties covered. But
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I mean most of the people take those important duties seriously,
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so we're going to do what it takes to cover it.
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Thompson said, I hope we're not in the same staffing
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situation long term. It would be hard to sustain this
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for months. Or years. N WS spokesman Eric of grove
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See said the Jackson office remained fully staffed through the
24:37
duration of the event, using surge staffing and had support
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from neighboring offices. A leaner Weather Service is seeing more
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extreme weather. The Storm Prediction Center had tallied eight hundred
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and eighty three local tornado reports this year as of Monday,
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which was thirty five percent higher than average for this
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time of year. Many former Weather Service employees, especially those
25:02
fired by the Trump administration, remain connected to the agency's
25:06
inner workings. They describe an agency that's somehow getting forecasts
25:11
and warnings out in time, but is also near the
25:14
breaking point. They'll continue to answer the bell as long
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as they can, but you can only ask people to
25:20
work eighty hours or one hundred and twenty hours a week,
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you know, for so long, said Elbert Joe Friday, a
25:27
former Weather Service director. They may be so bleary eyed
25:31
they can't identify what's going on on the radar. Tom
25:36
di Liberto, a Weather Service meteorologist and spokesman who was
25:40
fired in earlier rounds of the job cuts, said the
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situation is like a boat with leaks, and you have
25:46
a certain amount of pieces of duct tape, and you
25:48
keep moving duct tape to different holes, at some point
25:52
you can't. As of March, some of the Weather Service
25:56
offices issuing tornado warnings Friday and Sunday were above the
26:01
twenty percent vacancy levels that outside experts have said is
26:04
a critical threshold. These include Jackson with a twenty five
26:09
percent vacancy rate, Louisville with a twenty nine percent vacancy rate,
26:14
and Wichitak, Kansas, with a thirty two percent vacancy rate.
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According to data compiled by Weather Service employees and obtained
26:21
by the AP, technologies used to predict tornadoes have significantly improved,
26:29
but radar can't replace a well wrested staff that has
26:32
to figure out how nasty or long lasting storms will
26:35
be and how to get information to the public, said
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Karen Kociba, managing director of the Flexible Array of Messinets
26:43
and Radars Farm Facilities, a network of weather equipment used
26:48
for research. There really are not enough people to handle everything,
26:53
said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Howard Bluestein, who chased
26:58
six tornadoes Sunday. If the station is understaffed, that could
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affect the quality of forecasts. Former Weather Service Director Louis
27:08
Eucccellini said budget cuts have drastically reduced the number of
27:12
weather balloon launches, which provide critical information for forecasts, and
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Weather Service workers aren't being allowed to travel to help
27:21
train local disaster officials for what to do when they
27:24
get dangerous weather warnings. He said, this concludes the reading
27:31
of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been billed and
27:34
Arsenale Now please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf
27:39
of everyone here at Radio I thank you for listening
27:43
and have a good day.