Us & Them
220 episodes - English - Latest episode: 25 days ago - ★★★★★ - 383 ratingsWe tell stories from the fault lines that separate Americans. Peabody Award-winning public radio producer Trey Kay listens to people on both sides of the divide.
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Episodes
Us & Them: Another Small Town Paper Down
March 26, 2024 04:00 - 119 MBOur country’s divides often reveal themselves in our choices and habits, including how and where we get our information. As the economics of the media landscape have imploded, the economics of the industry have forced changes. In the past two decades, online sites have taken over much of the income stream from classified ads and general advertising. That has led newspapers and broadcasters to slash thousands of jobs. Many local news outlets have gone out of business and there are no...
Us & Them Encore: Dicamba Woes
March 13, 2024 04:00 - 49.4 MBThere's a nationwide rift among farmers over the use of dicamba, a popular herbicide. A 2024 federal court ruling has halted dicamba's use, but the Environmental Protection Agency has given the green light for farmers to use existing supplies this year. In this episode of Us & Them, we revisit a story from our archives that delves into the intense battle unfolding in farm country. Originally designed to help soybean farmers combat 'pigweed,' dicamba has proven controversial becaus...
Us & Them: Navigating Post-Pandemic Medicaid
February 21, 2024 20:01 - 71.5 MBOur healthcare systems continue to struggle from aftereffects of the pandemic. The most recent example spotlights Medicaid - a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage for more than 90 million Americans with limited resources. After several years of continuous coverage, now everyone must reapply for eligibility. In the this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay reports more than a quarter of West Virginia residents rely on Medicaid for their healthcare. It pays fo...
Us & Them: The Geography of Abortion
February 07, 2024 05:15 - 75.8 MBState borders are the new front lines in the nation’s abortion battle. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the evolving geography of abortion. Since a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned federal abortion rights, 21 states have either banned or restricted abortion access, including West Virginia. Meanwhile, West Virginia’s neighbor, Maryland, is one of 22 states that are protecting abortion rights and expanding access. Kay follows the decision of Women’s Heal...
Us & Them: Expungement — Between Hope and Danger
January 24, 2024 05:30 - 95.1 MBIt’s estimated that more than a quarter of the adults in West Virginia have a criminal record. That includes cases with one arrest or more, but no conviction or jail time. Those records can still show up years later in a background check and make someone ineligible for a job or a place to live. On this Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the road toward a second chance. Nearly every state now has some sort of process to seal or expunge a record depending on the severity and type of cr...
Us & Them: Caught Between Two Worlds
January 10, 2024 05:15 - 76.8 MBAmerican politics is now a very ‘us and them’ world. Insiders know the privilege of power, but loyalties can shift and doors can slam shut. Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked in the Trump administration knows both sides. She was a dedicated White House staffer who’s best known for her stunning testimony to the January 6th committee. Us & Them host Trey Kay talks with Hutchinson about her memoir “Enough,” which offers an intimate portrayal of life on the inside and a failed effort to sta...
Us & Them: 2023 Had Some Serious Trust Issues
December 21, 2023 05:15 - 59.2 MBIt’s the time of year to look back on where we’ve been and prepare for what’s ahead. Us & Them host Trey Kay has been reflecting on 2023, and a theme that’s been consistent - trust, or more importantly, our lack of trust in each other and our institutions. In this episode, we’ll explore how that reality could shape the year to come and its social and political landscape. Kay will also remember several people he met during the year who have passed away unexpectedly and reflect on th...
Us & Them: Bidding Farewell To My Unlikely Friend, Alice Moore
December 13, 2023 05:15 - 38.8 MBFriendships that last through the years can be a remarkable gift. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay remembers his dear friend Alice Moore who recently passed away. Kay talks about the gentle kindness that defined their relationship, which stretched across the divides of their social and political beliefs. Moore made West Virginia — and national — headlines in the 1970s over a contentious and violent conflict focused on public school textbooks. As a county school board memb...
Us & Them: Diminished Trust In Science
November 21, 2023 05:15 - 95.1 MBOur confidence is eroding. Polls and surveys report we’ve lost trust in one another and in some of our most essential institutions. As a followup to September’s event at WVU on trust in the media, Us & Them host Trey Kay has a new conversation focused on our trust in science. The COVID pandemic presented examples of our differing confidence in science and medicine. We continue the abortion debate with the central question of when life begins. A few decades ago, evolution was in the ...
Us & Them: Potluck & Politics
November 08, 2023 05:15 - 55.3 MBIn this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay invites his dinner party guests to gather once again for some fresh conversation across the divide. Kay’s friends, old and new, all share a favorite dish at the potluck meal while offering honest and sometimes raw accounts of how the social and political issues of the day affect them. Kay guides the conversation through a range of potential minefields - including the indictments of former President Trump, trust in elections, allegations of...
Us & Them: Diminished Trust In The News Media
October 25, 2023 04:30 - 71.4 MBTrust is in short supply in America as social and political divides continue to erode our faith in our democratic republic. National surveys and polls show that people distrust each other as well as our government and institutions. Us & Them host Trey Kay recently partnered with West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media for a conversation focusing on diminished trust in journalism and the news media. He spoke with special guests Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executi...
To Friend or Unfriend? That Is The Question
October 11, 2023 04:30 - 80.8 MBMany Americans are getting good at ignoring friends and relatives who disagree with them. Roughly four in ten registered voters say they don’t have a close friend who supports the opposing party’s candidate according to a Pew Research study. Think how often you’re tempted to unfriend someone on social media. However, some lifelong friendships seem to beat those odds and the people in them say it enhances their understanding of the world. On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay hear...
Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars In West Virginia
September 27, 2023 16:53 - 119 MBOvercrowding and understaffing have pushed West Virginia’s prisons and jails to what many believe is a crisis point. On this episode of Us & Them, we hear what incarceration is like for someone in a mental health crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people with mental illnesses are caught up in a criminal justice system that was never intended to treat them. In a recent special session, West Virginia lawmakers earmarked $30 million to address staffing shortages and provide pay raises an...
Trust: East Palestinians Not On The Same Track
September 13, 2023 04:15 - 119 MBIn the aftermath of a disaster, people search for assistance and answers. Since a rural Ohio train derailment sent toxic material into the air, soil and water earlier this year, people in East Palestine have needed help. Some look to the government for that support, while others aren’t sure who to trust. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from residents who face daunting challenges. Some say government agencies are doing their best at ongoing cleanup, while others say...
Us & Them Encore: The Right To Compete
August 23, 2023 16:30 - 119 MBAt least 20 states have laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on girls and womens sports teams. On the next episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the battle over gender and sports. Kay talks with transgender athletes who say they want to be who they truly are as they compete on the playing field. We hear from a state lawmaker who says the new laws are not anti-trans, but rather designed to protect girls and women from unfair competition playing against trans...
Us & Them Encore: Leaving The White Bubble
August 09, 2023 04:15 - 43.2 MBTravel is an activity some people use as a classroom. Leaving the familiar lets us learn about culture, history, the environment and many other topics. Us & Them host Trey Kay joined a small group to travel through America’s southern states learning about the country’s racial past and the impact of the Civil Rights movement today. This immersive journey took them across several states to places that have come to define periods in America’s racial history—from Charleston, South Caro...
Us & Them Encore: Court of Second Chances?
July 26, 2023 04:15 - 119 MBThis episode of Us & Them was first released in December of 2022 and since then, it has received a regional Edward R. Murrow award from the Radio Television Digital News Association for best podcast. We've updated the episode and want to share it with you again now. In West Virginia there are nearly 50 specialized court programs designed to help teens and adults kick their drug addictions. Drug courts divert people away from incarceration into a rigorous, court-monitored treatment ...
Us & Them: SNAP — Do The Hungry Get More Policy Than Nutrician?
July 12, 2023 04:30 - 52.4 MBMore than 12 percent of Americans, or 42 million people, need help getting enough food to eat. In West Virginia, that number is about 18 percent. That help comes from a federal program called SNAP - the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps. The Mountain State is one of the top recipients of SNAP benefits - nearly 45 percent are older adults or families with someone who’s disabled while nearly 60 percent are families with children. The government’s f...
Us & Them: Who Gets Stuck Behind Bars In West Virginia?
June 21, 2023 04:30 - 71.3 MBWest VIrginia’s state prisons and jails are overcrowded and understaffed. Just over half of those who are incarcerated have not yet been found guilty of a crime, they’re in a cell because they can’t make their bail. Many of those people are poor and a disproportionate number are Black. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay takes a look at what contributes to the racial disparities in our justice system. Black people make up about 3.5% of West Virginia’s population but 12% of t...
Us & Them: Larry Bellorín’s Unwritten Song
June 07, 2023 04:30 - 74.5 MBLarry Bellorín began making his living as a singer, multi-instrumental musician and music teacher when he was a teenager in Venezuela. His career was interrupted abruptly in 2013 when Venezuela’s state-run economy crashed and socialist President Nicholas Maduro cracked down on opponents and folks like Larry, who refused to choose sides. He and his family fled to Raleigh, North Carolina and have added their names to a huge backlog of asylum applicants. Larry worked construction and t...
Us & Them: The ‘Toxic Stew’ Of School Discipline
May 24, 2023 04:30 - 59.5 MBAcross the nation, students of color and those from poor families are more likely to be suspended from school and data from West Virginia reflects this national trend. In fact, research shows when a teacher thinks a student of color is misbehaving on purpose, they’re more likely to get suspended or expelled. Missing just two days of school each month makes a student less likely to graduate which has a big impact on their prospects for the future. On this episode of Us & Them, host T...
A Fiddler Contemplates The Fate of the Mountain State
May 10, 2023 04:30 - 89.6 MBPhillip Bowen grew up playing the fiddle. The 38-year-old learned classical violin as well as how to improvise on the fiddle, combining musical styles and genres. Now, the West Virginia native has turned to song writing, becoming a phenomenon on social media. Bowen releases his first album soon, with a wide range of offerings. Us & Them host Trey Kay talks with Bowen about his music and the songs that focus on memories of things past as well as the Mountain State reality of today. B...
Us & Them Encore: The Gun Divide
April 26, 2023 04:30 - 119 MBUs & Them was recently honored with a first place award for best documentary from Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters. Our episode called “The Gun Divide” looks at gun ownership in America, and the way our social, political and racial divisions fuel gun purchases. 2020 showed a historic rise in gun violence. Guns killed a record 45,000 people, the majority of them by suicide. Us & Them host Trey Kay explores the foundations of the Second Amendment and the cultural and historical...
Diminishing OB Care In Rural America
April 11, 2023 04:30 - 35.3 MBChildren are the future - it’s a common refrain. However, in isolated, rural communities across America, there are people traveling many miles from their home to deliver babies. Since 2010, nearly 150 rural hospitals have shut down - a victim of the financial stresses facing U.S. health care. One survey finds that about 40 percent of rural hospitals lose money offering obstetric care, since it costs $18,000 on average to have a baby. So, when small hospitals look at cost-cutting mea...
Changing A State's Mind About Health
March 23, 2023 04:15 - 95.2 MBWest Virginia often ends up at the bottom of national health reports — the rates of obesity and diabetes, conditions that can lead to cardiac and kidney disease. The region’s legacy of active, manual mining work has given way to a more sedentary lifestyle that relies on processed food to feed families quickly and cheaply. More than a decade ago, Huntington, WV made headlines as the “fattest city in the nation.” That spotlight led to some changes with doctors and dieticians focusing ...
Compassion Fatigue
March 08, 2023 05:15 - 61.4 MBHomelessness has been on the rise since 2016 and the pandemic only exacerbated an acute shortage of resources to help people living on the streets. Now, many communities are struggling to provide support as some homeless people turn away from emergency shelters and remain in outdoor encampments. In Charleston, West Virginia, the city’s opioid response program also now focuses on homelessness. Outdoor encampments have been a focus at the state legislature as debate continues over how...
Us & Them: Re-Entry
February 22, 2023 05:01 - 119 MBAmerica’s prison system incarcerates millions of people, but at least 95% of all state prisoners are released after they serve their sentence. Some struggle to navigate that transition successfully. On this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay hears about the challenges of reentry. How do we want men and women coming back after prison? How do victim advocates feel about programs designed to help formerly incarcerated people succeed on the outside? Some suggest an important starting poin...
The Fight For The Youth Vote
February 08, 2023 05:30 - 48.9 MBNothing divides Americans like politics. At the same time, young people are showing up to vote. Turnout in America among 18 to 29 year olds shot up in the 2020 election to 55% — a level of participation not seen since the 1970s Recent voting trends also show the number of young people engaging in conservative politics is on the rise. In 2020, four in ten young people — from 18 to 29 — voted for former President Donald Trump and Trump won that youth vote in seven states. In this Us &...
The Housing Struggle
January 25, 2023 16:13 - 47.5 MBAmerica is staring down the barrel of its long term housing issues. Now, there are added complications and divisions created over the last few years. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the outcome of the country’s housing shortage. While rent increases have slowed, nationally, costs are still well above where they were pre-COVID. If you’re trying to buy a house, mortgage rate hikes make it prohibitively expensive for many. These days, emergency pandemic relief prog...
Finding Your Family
January 06, 2023 22:26 - 99.2 MBInternational adoption helped many Americans build families, but a dark side victimized poor people in developing countries. The practice began in the 1950s to help Korean War orphans and more than 70 years later hundreds of thousands of children born in other countries are part of a complex cultural legacy. By the early 2000s, corruption scandals scaled back or shut down programs in some of the most popular countries for adoption - South Korea, Romania, Russia, and Guatemala. On th...
2023: Where Do We Go From Here?
December 19, 2022 05:30 - 119 MBIt’s been a year in America with lots of big political news and some very disturbing events. Supreme Court decisions are reshaping the nation’s policies as violence and shootings continue to take lives. Us & Them host Trey Kay has been traveling around asking people “How’s America doing?” and “Why do you think that?” Trey spent Election Day in a swing district in Pennsylvania talking with voters about the state of America. Some worry financial strains have made things worse while ot...
Court of Second Chances?
December 07, 2022 05:30 - 38.9 MBIn West Virginia there are nearly 50 specialized court programs designed to help teens and adults kick their drug addictions. Drug courts divert people away from incarceration into a rigorous, court-monitored treatment program. They are intense experiences, some more than a year long. Participants are drug tested regularly and require monitoring devices. Graduation rates across the country show success rates from 29% to more than 60%. There are many supporters within the justice sys...
Reimagining A Region
November 21, 2022 05:30 - 95.1 MBImagining the future is at the core of this episode of Us & Them. Earlier this fall, we held a day-long workshop to hear ideas and talk about what can make the future a reality. The Civic Imagination Project based at the University of Southern California works with cities across the country to get residents thinking about new directions and possibilities for their communities. We invited people from the Upper Kanawha Valley with a range of backgrounds and experiences to discuss thei...
Us & Them: Post-Roe Mountain State
November 09, 2022 05:30 - 98.1 MBThere’s a lot of energy and movement on abortion policy and law this fall. Some states have defined their position with five states offering ballot measures to protect or further restrict access to abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, plenty of people feel like one side has won...and the other has lost. But how is this power shift playing out for people on the front line of the issue? How are individuals and groups facing what comes next in this pos...
Please Pass The Politics
October 26, 2022 04:30 - 47.5 MBIt’s time for our Us & Them dinner party crew to share a meal in person! This remarkable group of people has been meeting for two years, virtually, to talk across their social and political divides. There’s a lot they disagree on and there are moments of awkward concern at the table as they navigate that space. In this new episode, we’re together to talk and listen and try to understand a little more about each other. Our guests agree that sharing food and views enhances a sense of ...
Manchin Is Us & Them
October 05, 2022 04:15 - 103 MBU.S. Sen. Joe Manchin may be redefining the nation’s political landscape by reconfiguring the middle. While some say he’s tough to predict, others insist Sen. Manchin’s consistency has come to serve as an important political reference point. As the spotlight shines on the toxic battle between left and right, a man with decades in public office recently helped deliver a rare compromise bill through Congress. For the past two years, Joe Manchin has seemed to be at the center of the po...
Manchin In The Middle
September 21, 2022 13:00 - 119 MBWest Virginia’s U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is the man in the middle. For years, Manchin has used his deciding vote in the Senate to stand up to Pres. Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, but recently a surprise agreement changed everything. In this episode of Us & Them, we look at the outcome of that legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act. Many are asking, “Who is Joe Manchin?” The important compromise on climate legislation in the bill is producing a transformation to Manchin’s polit...
Do We Have A Hearing Problem?
September 07, 2022 17:57 - 34.5 MBWhatever you call what happened at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, a rally - a protest - a riot - or an insurrection, the congressional investigation and hearings are forging new territory. On this episode of Us & Them, we look at who’s watching the hearings, who’s not and why. What some call a clarifying moment in our nation’s experiment in democracy is surprisingly forgettable to others. Host Trey Kay listens to a range of opinions about what that day meant and finds a new layer...
Us & Them Encore: Blair Mountain
August 24, 2022 04:30 - 47.1 MBMore than a hundred years ago West Virginia was home to our nation’s most violent labor uprising. For some, the Battle of Blair Mountain was a watershed moment when coal workers decided their rights were worth fighting and even dying for. The armed insurrection pitted 10,000 coal miners against 3,000 heavily armed coal industry guards and state troopers. The conflict came to a head because of the social and economic forces that hit West Virginia’s coal country after World War I. I...
Us & Them Encore: The Dental Gap
August 10, 2022 04:30 - 32.9 MBMany West Virginians have trouble with their teeth. In fact, there’s a big gap between folks who can reliably access an affordable dentist and those who can’t. That’s no surprise when half the state’s counties have fewer than six dentists. A recent national ranking shows West Virginia is second to last in overall oral health care. A state report shows that by third grade, 56 percent of children show signs of tooth decay, and 12 percent of adults have had all their teeth extracted. ...
The Right To Compete
July 27, 2022 04:30 - 59.5 MBMore than a dozen states have new laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on girls and womens sports teams. Recently, three states have limited medical care or treatment that supports gender affirming therapy. On this episode of Us & Them, the battle over gender and sports. We’ll hear from transgender athletes who say they want to be who they truly are as they compete on the playing field. We’ll hear a lawmaker who says the new laws are not anti-trans, but rather des...
Us & Them Encore: Kingwood March Exposed a Raw Seam of Rage
July 13, 2022 04:15 - 30.2 MB2020 presented new levels of outrage over police killings of Black and Brown people in this nation. Police killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which prompted protests, marches and rallies to denounce racially motivated police brutality. A Black Lives Matter march in Kingwood, West Virginia set up a flash point for that tiny town. Black protestors and their allies faced off with white people who say Kingwood has no race problem. The angry white crowd outnumbered BLM marchers and s...
Vaccines: Now For Us, Later for Them
June 22, 2022 04:15 - 47.5 MBCharges of vaccine hoarding and global protectionism are coloring the debate over our response to new strains of COVID with vaccinations. The World Health Organization reports so far, only 16% of people in low-income countries have gotten a single vaccine dose. That compares with 80% in some high-income countries. The role vaccinations can play in shortening or ending the pandemic is still critical although COVID fatigue may prevent people from getting their first dose or continuin...
Doctors Hit Socials To Cure Disinformation
June 07, 2022 04:30 - 25.5 MBHealthcare workers are the glue in our public health system. They’ve seen firsthand the impacts of messaging around COVID-19 — the good, the bad, and the downright dangerous — especially on social media. That firehose of information shaped our experience of the pandemic. The internet has also catapulted dangerous misinformation about the virus and treatment into mainstream public opinion. It’s a crisis some healthcare workers are taking to task themselves. In a new Us & Them episode...
The Gun Divide
May 25, 2022 04:10 - 59.5 MBAmerica has roughly 400 million guns in circulation. Our divisions - social, political and racial - and our fear of those differences fuel even more gun purchases. 2020 showed a historic rise in gun violence. Guns killed a record 45,000 people, the majority of them by suicide. In this episode of Us & Them we explore the foundations of the Second Amendment and the cultural and historical beliefs and myths that contribute to our very American divide over guns. Gun ownership is at reco...
Dicamba: Things Have Gotten A Bit Ugly
May 12, 2022 04:15 - 71.3 MBThe weedkiller dicamba has created a divide between people who work the land in Arkansas. In a new episode from the award-winning program Us & Them (from PRX & West Virginia Public Broadcasting), their team follows up on a story that’s gotten ugly over the past few years. A newer version of the herbicide is designed to give soybean farmers a way to combat pigweed, a tenacious plant that can take over soybean fields. However, there's evidence that the chemical can evaporate from whe...
Us & Them: Who Can We Trust?
April 28, 2022 04:15 - 59.5 MBOur trust can be tested by many things, both personal and professional. Political fractures make us question those we disagree with. The shifting science of a pandemic presents challenging scenarios for healthcare leaders. As COVID cases continue to rise and fall, Us & Them wanted to hear from people who’ve landed at different points along this trust continuum. Some don’t trust information or data about the coronavirus or the vaccines; from science, from healthcare, from government....
Us & Them: Books Under Fire
April 14, 2022 04:15 - 29.8 MBAmerica’s public schools are once again in the crosshairs of our nation’s culture wars. Some parents want more say in what and how their kids are taught — especially topics like racial history and gender studies. These parents say schools are pushing a social agenda they don’t agree with. The call for more parental involvement includes increased challenges to the books used in classrooms. Last year, those cases quadrupled with challenges against nearly 1600 individual titles. Educat...
Us & Them: Critical Race Theory
March 23, 2022 04:30 - 59.5 MBAmericans are looking back to reassess their history and origins. George Floyd’s murder launched a global movement to assert the critical role that race plays in American law and society; however, even before Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation and the world, there were efforts to redefine America’s origin story. Now, there are fresh fracture points in how we see ourselves and how we teach our history. A focus of this debate is on a little-known academic and legal concept c...
Historically Black Currently Adapting
March 10, 2022 05:05 - 43.6 MBBorn from an era of segregated educational opportunities when Black students were not welcome at predominantly white schools, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been focused on surrounding students with Black excellence. Today, HBCUs are no longer exclusive. In fact, some schools — like Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD — are actively recruiting a more diverse population to provide a more global experience to prepare graduates for the future. In West Vi...