The Mountain Citizen of Inez, Ky., wins the 2025 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism

A scrappy little newspaper that has fought for more than 30 years for clean water and open government in its Appalachian county is the winner of the 2025 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism.

The Mountain Citizen is a weekly paper serving the 11,000 people of Martin County, 231 square miles along Kentucky’s northeastern border with West Virginia. For decades, the Citizen has been the key watchdog on the local water district, which has long had problems providing clean and adequate supply, and on coal companies and local government.

Tap water in Martin County often runs brown, and the Citizen’s efforts prompted state Public Service Commission investigations of the Martin County Water District in 2002, 2006 and 2016. This year, the paper revealed that a state agency had failed to correctly calculate Martin County’s scores in a water-funding competition for poor and underserved counties, and that in 2018 the county’s water was some of the most corrosive in the nation, more so than in Flint, Michigan, in 2015.

“The Mountain Citizen has spent decades overcoming obstacles and opposition to inform its community about serious problems with its water supply and other important issues,” said Benjy Hamm, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism. “Its work represents the best of rural journalism and everything the Gish Award was established to honor – courage, integrity and tenacity.”

In recounting the paper’s water work, owner Lisa Stayton wrote, “When you live here and see your neighbors carrying bottled water into their kitchens, you understand this is about survival. And you worry because you know that many of your neighbors can’t afford to buy bottled water and are drinking tap water that you wouldn’t drink yourself.”

The paper’s water reporting began in 1993, when it revealed that a coal company had so badly cracked the bed of a creek that it had to put a plastic liner in the creek to keep its water out of an underground mine. The paper reported several coal-slurry spills, then got an important scoop in 2000 when it obtained and published maps of a defunct mine that was the conduit for a massive spill from a surface-mine pond, which polluted streams and valleys with an estimated 250 million tons of waste.

When the Citizen forgot to renew its corporate charter in 2000, its corporate name was legally claimed by the water district’s board chairman, who had been the subject of critical reporting by the newspaper. The paper kept using its name, defying a court order, and was fined for contempt of court, but after two years the state Court of Appeals threw out the charge and the fine.

Though the paper’s future was in jeopardy, then-Editor Gary Ball, a former coal miner, continued its strong stances. When the state attorney general’s office announced it would have investigators in the field for the 2002 general election, he told the Lexington Herald-Leader that they were “paper tigers” who were six weeks late, since the groundwork for vote fraud is laid well before an election.

In 2003, the Citizen reported that the county schools spent nearly $250,000 on travel over four years, including airfare for spouses of board members, prompting the schools to refuse complimentary copies that the newspaper had sent to all classrooms. In 2012, the paper challenged the school board’s private discussion of the superintendent’s contract and was upheld by a binding opinion from the state attorney general. In the same year the attorney general ruled the paper was entitled to child-abuse records withheld by the state.

The Citizen was founded in 1990 as a consolidation of the Martin County Mercury and The Martin Countian, a newspaper that had won national attention for the crusading reporting and editorial stances of owner-publisher Homer Marcum. The Citizen took similar approaches; when the school system was no longer required to publish the names and salaries of teachers, the paper did that on its own. It withstood competition from other newspapers and by 2001 was the county’s sole paper.

The award is named for Tom and Pat Gish, who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Kentucky, for more than 50 years. Their son and successor, Ben Gish, is on the award selection committee. “I read The Mountain Citizen regularly (we trade subscriptions),” he wrote. “They do a really good job.”

Stayton and the Citizen will receive the Gish Award Nov. 13 in Lexington, Ky., at the annual Al Smith Awards Dinner of the Institute for Rural Journalism. The dinner will also include presentation of the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by Kentuckians to Bill Estep, who recently retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader after chronicling the stories of Appalachian Kentucky for more than 40 years.

 

The keynote speaker will be Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies.

Other Gish Award winners have been the Ezzell family of The Canadian Record in the Texas panhandle; Jim Prince and Stanley Dearman, current and late publishers of The Neshoba Democrat in Philadelphia, Miss.; Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian for her work at The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and Jacksonville Daily Progress in Texas; Stanley Nelson and the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La.; Jonathan and Susan Austin of the Yancey County News in North Carolina; the late Landon Wills of the McLean County News in Kentucky; the Trapp family of the Rio Grande Sun in northern New Mexico; Ivan Foley of the Platte County Landmark in northwestern Missouri; the Cullen family of the Storm Lake Times-Pilot in northwest Iowa; and Les Zaitz of the Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon.

In 2019, the award went to three reporters whose outstanding careers revealed much about the coal industry in Central Appalachia: Howard Berkes, retired from NPR; Ken Ward Jr., then with the Charleston Gazette-Mail; and his mentor at the Gazette, the late Paul Nyden. In 2020 the award went to the late Tim Crews of the Sacramento Valley Mirror; in 2021 to the Thompson-High family of The News Reporter and the Border Belt Independent in Whiteville, N.C.; in 2022 to Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record of Huntsville, Ark.; in 2023 to Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News in Texas; and in 2024 to Eric Meyer and the Marion County Record in Kansas.

Eminent domain would allow town to take 21-acre farm

Eminent domain allows the government to seize private 
property for public use. (Photo by Richard R, Unsplash)

A 21-acre farm in Cranbury, New Jersey, is at risk of being seized by the government to develop affordable housing, Faith Bottum from The Wall Street Journal reported. 

If the government is successful, the farm, which belonged to the Henry family for 175 years, would be given to a private developer.

The township wants to seize the land to comply with the Mount Laurel doctrine, a 1975 ruling by the Supreme Court of New Jersey that required towns to provide affordable housing.

“Cranbury needs to create 265 new affordable units over the next decade,” Bottum wrote. The Henry farm would be able to house 130 of those units.

The ability for the government to take private property for public use is known as eminent domain. But under the Fifth Amendment, private property cannot be taken without just compensation.

Yet why would the sale of private property to private developers constitute public use when the affordable housing units will not be available for everyone in the town?

The precedent for this is a 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court which held that a Connecticut city’s decision to seize private property and sell it to private developers constituted public use. The rationale by the judges was that it served a larger public purpose as part of an economic development plan that would benefit everyone.

Scientists 'drill, baby, drill,' and find freshwater deep beneath the ocean floor off the North Atlantic coast

The U.S. already faces a freshwater crisis, brought on by drought, higher temperatures, overuse and pollution. But a scientific dig into the North Atlantic seafloor more than 50 years ago could offer a surprising solution. "It found, of all things. . . fresh water," report Calvin Woodward, Carolyn Kaster and Rodrique Ngowi of The Associated Press. 

Fast forward to this summer, when researchers were following up on the past discovery. "A first-of-its-kind global research expedition [is] drilling for fresh water under the salt water off Cape Cod," AP reports. Researchers pulled thousands of water samples from what is now "thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer stretching from New Jersey as far north as Maine."

Do these freshwater troves exist in coastal areas around the globe? Scientists agree that it's likely that the aquifers exist in shallow salt waters around the world. Even so, the "secret fresh water" comes with a litany of challenges, from how to get it to the surface without harming surrounding marine life to questions about who owns it.

As data centers and record heat in some areas rapidly slurp up fresh water, researchers and world leaders are motivated to finance a different kind of drilling. AP reports, "No one globally had drilled systematically into the seabed on a mission to find freshwater."

Under-ocean water samples are being analyzed to discover where they came from, how old they are and what microorganisms thrive in water hidden under the ocean. The discovery and sampling are so dramatic that some scientists are ecstatic. Geophysicist Rob Evans, whose 2015 expedition helped point the way, told AP, “There’s a ton of excitement that finally they’ve got samples.”

Apply by Oct. 20 to host a journalist with support from Report for America

Applications to receive support for a reporter for your local news organization through Report for America will open on Sept. 15. 

Report for America is an organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. 

The deadline for newspapers to apply to host a reporter is Oct. 20. You may review a sample application here: http://bit.ly/4oLOt71  

Host newsrooms receive the following benefits: 

• A reporter committed to the newsroom for two years 
• Half of the salary of the reporter will be paid during the first year and 33% of the salary the second year 
• Training and mentoring for the reporter 
• Assistance with fundraising to cover the newsroom’s portion of the reporter’s salary through Report for America’s Local News Sustainability Team 
• Access to a network of other host newsrooms for collaboration

Questions can be directed to recruitment@reportforamerica.org.

Forest Service reverses course and provides federal wildfire fighters with masks

Masks are still not allowed while wildland firefighters
do strenuous fire suppression work. (Adobe Stock photo) 

In a 180-degree turn from tradition, the Forest Service will provide wildfire fighters with personal protective equipment to guard them from toxic gases and particles found in wildfire blazes.

The change reverses a "decades-long ban that exposed workers to toxins known to cause cancer and other serious diseases," reports Hannah Dreier of The New York Times. "They were only allowed to wear bandannas, which offer no protection against toxins."

New Forest Service guidance encourages wildfire firefighters to "mask up and even suggests that they shave their facial hair for a better fit," Dreier writes. The change is the first time the Forest Service has admitted "that masks can protect firefighters against harmful particles in wildfire smoke."

The Forest Service's new stance developed following "a series of articles in The New York Times that documented a growing occupational health crisis among wildfire crews," Dreier explains. Following the Times reporting, the Forest Service, which "employs the largest share of the country’s 40,000 wildland firefighters, has come under intense scrutiny by Congress."

To that end, Forest Service chief Tom Schultz was grilled by members of the Federal Lands subcommittee "about what he was doing to protect firefighters," Dreier writes. Schultz told committee members, "We need to continue to focus on safety as we move forward, including this issue.”

Despite the new guidance, wildland firefighters are allowed to wear masks only for less laborious duties. Deier reports, "They remain banned during arduous work, like digging trenches to contain wildfires, because the Forest Service says they may cause overheating."

Local journalists who cover community planning can use EPA's 'Walkability Index' to help with stories

Visitors to wine and water tourist-haven Door County, Wis., might be surprised that the county has few sidewalks, which leaves the area with below-average walkability scores (in yellow and orange). Click to enlarge.

When local officials include walkability in their community plans, it benefits the environment, local businesses and residents. It's also an important factor for journalists to understand and explore.

To help measure walkability, the Environmental Protection Agency offers a National Walkability Index for "zoning boards, planners and public works departments [and] the reporters who cover them," reports Joseph A. Davis for the Society of Environmental Journalists. Access the index here.

The EPA's tool uses high-quality data, and "It’s mapped," Davis adds. "There’s an intuitive, searchable, zoomable online map product with an easy-to-use, fast interface."

Walkability ratings include things such as "sidewalks, crossings, transit stops, etc. Ultimately, these things are drawn from the EPA’s Smart Location Mapping database," Davis writes. "The EPA sorts places into rural, suburban, urban and downtown."

This database can help journalists report on what planners refer to as the "built environment," Davis reports. "Walkability requires good local government decisions and adequate local resources. That means money. . . . A lot of local government decisions and resources go into walkability."

Uncovering your community's walkability data is just the beginning of a story. "You still have to talk to people on the street, … er, sidewalk," Davis adds. "As always, check and groundtruth everything you can."

Quick hits: Newspaper sitcom; free child care; inspiring cave cleanup; soybean field discovery; dark sky ruminating

Can a sitcom about journalism capture its 'grit, humanity, and relentless optimism'?

Keeping a local newspaper alive is one thing, but revitalizing one staffed with employees who list texting and tweeting as their most recent writing ventures is an entirely different story. Meet Peacock's new mockumentary, "The Paper," which depicts the life and times of the struggling Toledo Truth Teller newspaper and its quirky staff. "Members of the news community weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry," writes Gretchen A. Peck of E&P Magazine. "For publishers and editors. . . the [show] raises big questions: can a sitcom capture the grit, humanity, and relentless optimism of real journalism?" The trailer is here.

New Mexico will be the first state in the union to offer free child care to all its families, regardless of income. "The state has been working to lower child care care costs since 2019, when it created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department," reports Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. The new policy rollout in November will allow all families access to the state’s child care assistance program without meeting eligibility criteria and will remove any copay requirements. Families are expected to save an average of $12,000 per child.

Hidden River Cave's kaleidoscope-like Sunset
Dome is a popular tourist attraction.

What was once a heavily polluted cave in Horse Cave, Ky., is now a point of community pride and a tourism draw. "For generations, the cave was all but lost to the town on top of it. Miles of caverns and waterways brimmed with sewage that sent a putrid stench up from the depths and across downtown," reports Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times. "The restoration of Hidden River Cave is one of the most remarkable examples of a cave cleanup. . . . Last year, 30,000 people, more than 10 times the town’s population, toured the cave."

Some ranchers prefer the beaverslide for stacking hay.
(Photo by Linda Teahon, Offrange)

No need to purchase fancy machinery to stack hay bales -- a beaverslide is much cheaper and simpler to own. "The haystacking device consists of a wide, sliding fork at the base of a ramp and a cable pulley system rigged to the ramp’s underside," explains Katie Hill for Offrange. "Ranchers use a team of horses or a motorized vehicle to pull one of the cables perpendicular to the beaverslide, which in turn hoists the fork up the ramp, bringing a giant pile of hay up with it. . . .At the top of the ramp, the hay falls to the other side, forming three-story piles that can reach 25 tons in weight."

It hadn't been seen or touched by humans for 2,000 years, but this summer, artifact hunter Ben McGhee unearthed the discovery of a lifetime: "A hoard of 51 Native American blades buried in a Missouri soybean field," writes Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "Based on the location, and the lack of percussion flakes or hammer stones within immediate proximity, McGhee believes the cache was transported to its present location, close to the water’s edge, for trade access." Native Americans traded the blades, which could be more precisely carved into arrowheads.

Glacier National Park is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. Visitors can see the Milky Way from St. Mary’s Glacier, pictured here. (Photo by Ray Stinson, National Park Service)

In places where the cover of night is treasured, skies filled with stars, glowing planets and the Earth's solitary moon light the way. For many people, dark skies offer a window into thoughtfulness and mystery. "There is a feeling of possibility, timelessness, and, potentially, of fear, in the night sky," writes Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. Some rural places "claim the preservation of dark skies as a core value. They protect a visitor’s experience of wonder and mystery. . . There are 152 dark sky 'places' in the continental United States." Find dark skies here. 

US-China trade war has hurt American soybean sales

American soybean farmers head into the harvest without
sales to China. (Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar, Unsplash)

One quarter to a third of American soybean exports were purchased by China before the US-China trade wars began in 2018, Keith Bradsher from The New York Times reported.

Now American soybean exports to China have fallen to zero. China has boycotted buying the crop in retaliation of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on Chinese imports. China now buys soybeans from Brazil.

“The pain is being felt in Midwest states, especially Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. For the first time in many years, American farmers are preparing to harvest their crop this fall with no purchase orders from China,” Bradsher wrote.

Farmers in rural China are also facing the impact of the trade war.

Because of rising demand, soybeans can fetch higher prices, and thus some farmers in Heilongjiang Province (where the greatest output of soybeans in China comes from) are turning a profit.

However, the crop yield from Chinese soybean farmers in Heilongjiang Province is not enough to supply all of China, and many farmers in the area do not want to grow soybeans because it requires more effort and overall is less profitable than corn. At the same time, rural areas face labor shortages as the youth move to the cities for higher paying jobs.

Report: Coal dust from active mines is more toxic, but mining inspectors fail to sanction coal mine owners

Healthy lung versus black lung. (CDC graphic)

Despite increasing rates and severity of black lung disease in Appalachia, coal mining operators continue to avoid U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration harsh consequences meant to protect coal miners from toxic levels of coal dust and its more lethal counterpart, silica, report Michael D. Sallah, Jimmy Cloutier and Mike Wereschagin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

MSHA inspectors have repeatedly documented "dangerous levels of dust spewing in the mines — conditions that can prompt a temporary shutdown of an underground workplace — but failed to impose any penalties, only to find the companies violating the same thresholds again," the Post-Gazette reports.

When black lung disease began surging in 2009, the MSHA launched a campaign to clamp down on coal operators, but critics say the stricter sanctions on mine owners have not produced safer work conditions for miners.

If anything, mining is more deadly for workers who have to drill deep into silica-producing sandstone and limestone to reach coal beds. The Post-Gazette reports, "Fine particles of silica cut into the lungs, creating deep scars and inflammation, forcing the patients to use oxygen and eventually choking off their ability to breathe."

The impact of silica on today's coal miners is startling. Sallah writes, "In central Appalachia, one in every five people who have worked in the mines for at least 25 years is suffering from black lung disease."

Equally troubling is how many active mines ignore regulations and escape enforcement. "Hundreds of coal dust samples pulled from mines since 2014 were found to be breaking the limits without any disciplinary action taken by MSHA," the Post-Gazette reports.

Coal operators could lessen dust exposure, but those changes to ventilation and processes would cost "roughly $100 million a year," the report explains. 

Mine operators continue to push for their right to choose how they protect workers from coal dust.
Over the past year, one mine in Kentucky "showed a silica level eight times the safety threshold," the Post-Gazette reports. "In West Virginia last year, the level was six times over the limit."

IRS union objects to closing in-person taxpayer assistance offices in six states

Closed TAC offices could create filing obstacles for
some taxpayers. (Adobe Stock photo)

As the IRS moves to close nine taxpayer assistance center (TAC) offices in six states, rural and underserved areas may find it harder to file and pay their taxes. The National Treasury Employees Union asked the IRS to reconsider the closures, reports Sean Michael Newhouse of Government Executive. The IRS planned the closures to cut overhead costs.

While the agency promised its closures won't result in job losses, closing in-person tax offices will make it harder for some U.S. residents to handle their taxes. Doreen Greenwald, NTEU's president, issued a statement saying, "These communities will have to drive longer distances, possibly 100 miles or more to meet with the IRS and get their questions answered.”

TAC offices slated for closure on Nov. 30 are: Altoona and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Elmira and West Nyack, New York; Owensboro and Paducah, Kentucky; Walnut Creek, California; and Wheeling, West Virginia.

The IRS also promised TAC closures won't reduce taxpayer services, which Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents West Nyack, N.Y., questioned in a letter to Scott Bessent, the acting IRS commissioner: "Closing this office without providing a suitable replacement will impose an undue burden on my constituents. . . .Forcing them to travel farther distances — often without reliable access to transportation — adds unnecessary barriers to fulfilling their obligations as taxpayers.”

The planned closures are a reversal of IRS outreach efforts. Newhouse writes, "The IRS had used funding from President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to open or reopen 54 centers, bringing the total number to more than 360."

Particularly for rural populations, which often have few tax service options nearby or can lack reliable broadband for online communication, TAC offices serve as a way for rural folks to file correctly and on time. Greenwald said, “Reducing the number of customer service centers reverses the progress that the IRS has made when it comes to being accessible and helpful to the American people."

Iowa's water is polluted with farming nitrates and pesticides, but a potential solution challenges the 'status quo'

Crop and animal farm runoff has polluted at least
four Iowa rivers. (Adobe Stock photo)

In agriculturally dominated Iowa, what's good for corn producers gets top billing while residents face a deluge of polluted water. "In Iowa, which by some measures has the most polluted water in the U.S., people who advocate for the environment are widely scorned as enemies of farming," reports Peter Waldman of Bloomberg.

In a state where farmers spread copious amounts of pesticides, nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen-rich manure, towns like Remsen, which is surrounded by Iowa corn country, are "saturated with pollution," Waldman writes. "Researchers have linked trace exposures to nitrate in drinking water to cancers, birth defects and thyroid disease. Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the U.S., after Kentucky."

Although concerned citizens, including many farmers, have pushed for fewer pesticides and nitrates, most efforts failed. "The state government has crushed almost every effort to hold farmers and agribusinesses accountable for their increasingly dirty footprint," Waldman explains. Last year, the EPA ordered Iowa to "add parts of four rivers to the state’s list of impaired waters needing cleanup, including the drinking supply for about a fifth of Iowa’s population."

Even with some of the state's drinking water in question, the state complained about the EPA's sanction, which the Trump administration lifted. Waldman reports, "Now even the feds defer to Big Ag, led in Iowa by the industry’s undisputed champion in the state, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation."

Remsen is located in eastern Plymouth County, 
in the heart of Iowa's corn belt. (Adobe Stock photo)

Without support, Remsen's water continued to be polluted. Despite investigations, area wells were allowed to fill with possibly toxic nitrates. "From 2016 to 2020, Remsen’s five-year rate of colorectal cancer, one of the cancers associated with nitrate exposure, was 19% higher than Iowa’s," Waldman adds. "By 2017, the shallow wells that supplied Remsen’s drinking water were so loaded with nitrates they had to be shut down."

Farming without so many nitrates and pesticides is possible. Matt Liebman, a retired agronomy professor at Iowa State, told Waldman, "What it takes to grow food with less pollution isn’t a mystery. . . .But the solution threatens the status quo. You can’t sell as much fertilizer, hybrid seeds or animal feed. For those companies, the solution is the problem.”

Suicide awareness in rural communities can help save lives

As we launch into Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, an outline focusing on how and why more rural residents die by suicide, paired with resources on how friends and family members can help, may save lives.

Due to unpredictability in everything from weather to political strife, farming is more financially stressful than most other professions. It also tends to be more solitary, which can make farmers more vulnerable to excessive worry, depression and despair.

"Signs of stress in the farm economy are everywhere you turn, and with corn futures hitting fresh lows, crumbling commodity prices are painting a dreary outlook for 2025, and the financial pressures are causing another bleak reality: farmer suicides are also on the rise," reports Tyne Morgan for Farm Journal.

If a farmer in your community looks like they need support, there are resources and approaches neighbors can take, including encouraging a call to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or chat on 988lifeline.org, or texting HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor.

Farm Journal provides a "toolbox" with what to look for and how to help here.

The availability of firearms in rural homes is a significant reason why more rural people commit suicide. "Rural gun deaths exceed urban rates by 28% because of increased suicide rates," reports Sarah Melotte for the Missouri Independent. Guns are considered the most lethal choice for a person contemplating suicide.

Graph by Sarah Melotte, from CDC data

Rural communities that support waiting periods for gun purchases and red flag laws may be able to  decrease suicide rates. Mellote explains, "Waiting periods could help rural communities in the American West that have some of the highest suicide rates in the country. . . . Red flag laws allow law enforcement or concerned family members to petition a court to remove firearms from individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others."

While the intention of a person's drug overdose can be unclear, some are determined to be suicides. Drug overdoses are not inherently unique to rural residents; however, awareness of those who may be more vulnerable may help prevent a suicide due to drugs.

In 2020 alone, nearly 92,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. According to the CDC, about 5% to 7% of those overdose deaths were recorded as intentional. "Because it can be difficult to determine whether overdose deaths are intentional, the actual numbers are likely even higher."

To address the numerous reasons for suicide and interventions available for all communities, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides a range of resources. Additionally, the Rural Health Information Hub has offers a program clearinghouse specifically curated for rural communities.

Finally, suicide is complicated for children and adolescents to understand. The University of Utah offers an age-by-age guide for talking to children about suicide.