Kentucky General Assembly tinkers but doesn’t change way it spends severance funds

Kentucky General Assemb...

The Kentucky General Assembly came to a close last week, and its accomplishments (or lack thereof) leave much to be desired for eastern Kentucky. A bill to make permanent scholarships for coal county students attending coalfield schools passed, but beyond that, little was done to support...
Severance Tax Dollars Need Stronger Overall Strategy

Severance Tax Dollars N...

This blog is cross-posted at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. The House version of the new state budget takes $20 million of coal severance money the governor’s budget had allocated to region-wide programs and local governments and shifts money to over 400 earmarked local...
Economic Freedom Zones are a bad idea for eastern Kentucky

Economic Freedom Zones ...

Not too long ago, we wrote about the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s “Appalachia Proud” agricultural branding and education program. Tucked into that program is a call for eastern Kentucky to become an "Economic Freedom Zone." While the agricultural...

Ken Ward Jr. on the Wes...

It's been weeks and West Virginia is still struggling with the aftermath of the massive chemical spill that poisoned the drinking water of over 300,000 residents. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette has been providing top-notch coverage of the spill, and continues to ask the...
What is the promise of a Promise Zone?

What is the promise of ...

Earlier this month, President Obama announced a new initiative to fight poverty in some of the neediest places in the country – including southeast Kentucky. The Promise Zone Initiative is a new program that gives these communities priority for federal funding, and technical...
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War on Poverty 50 Years Later

War on Poverty 50 Years...

The news has been abuzz this week about the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, and our little corner of the world is getting more attention than it usually does. Since the War on Poverty was launched from Martin County, Ky., national media outlets rushed to Inez to take another look...
MACED releases new report; calls for creation of economic development planning body

MACED releases new repo...

In a report released today, the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) calls for the creation of the Appalachian Planning and Development Fund (ADPF), a planning body that would create and develop an economic development plan for eastern Kentucky and oversee...

“It doesn’t take ...

The latest issue of LEO Weekly, a news magazine out of Louisville, features a cover story on the coal severance tax. “Reclaiming Kentucky,” by Willie Davis, explores the questions so many of us have been asking for some time: what is the best use of the severance tax?...