Us & Them: Dinner Party — Charleston 2026
Sep 24, 2026
Show notes
For this episode of Us & Them, it’s time for another Dinner Party.
Host Trey Kay brings together a group of West Virginians from both sides of the political aisle to break the number one rule of entertaining: they talk politics. Over a potluck meal, the guests share their views on some of the issues shaping the conversation ahead of the midterm elections, with the hope of understanding their differences a little better and perhaps even finding some common ground.
This gathering took place in Charleston just a few weeks before the midterm election and brought together a mix of Dinner Party veterans and first-time guests of all ages. It is the first of three Us & Them Dinner Parties planned across West Virginia this fall, with another gathering in Huntington before Election Day, and a third in Morgantown just after the votes are cast.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation, Daywood Foundation and the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, the NPR app and wherever you get your podcasts.
Jay Gould has attended every Us & Them Dinner Party since the gatherings began. Gould is a retiree who describes himself as a conservative Democrat but says since such a thing doesn’t exist, he now registers as a Republican. Gould remains skeptical about the integrity of the 2020 Election and election security overall. He supports requiring voters to show photo identification. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“[The 2020 election will] never be totally solved, but, I think this photo ID voting… I've got to use it on everything else. If I go buy a beer, I'm 73 years old, I got to show them my driver's license. ... You gotta have it for so much other things, why such a fight about it?”
— Jay Gould
Charleston attorney Elliot Hicks, center, describes himself as progressive on social issues and more moderate on fiscal matters. In the Dinner Party discussion, he pushes back on Jay Gould’s support for voter ID requirements, saying that seemingly neutral voting rules can place heavier burdens on poor and minority communities. Rev. Darick Biondi, left, and E Provost, right, are also pictured. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“The problem, the big problem is not just that it's being done, but where it's being directed. All of the polling issues that we have are being directed at minority neighborhoods so they can suppress the vote. ... I can compromise with everybody on just about everything. I mean, I'm a mediator. This is what I do. But I can't compromise with somebody who is willing to have the vote of people I care about diminished. Can't do it.”
— Elliot Hicks
Marshall University student Michael Borsuk is a returning Dinner Party guest who describes himself as a proud Republican in the middle of the conservative spectrum. During the discussion about election integrity, Borsuk says he supports requiring voters to prove citizenship but believes requiring a passport sets the bar too high. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“I'm writing a column about this for the Wheeling paper about the “Save America Act,” which has been one of President Trump's pieces of legislation. And the argument being made for it is too costly to implement. I mean, it requires a passport, which, for voting, I believe is too high of a bar. ... Go down to making a Real ID and amending the Real ID Act of 2005 to allow for that to count as proof of citizenship, and work with the states to get grants to get people to be able to prove citizenship to get the Real ID.”
— Michael Borsuk
Jennifer Keener is director of outreach at Heart & Hand Outreach Ministries in South Charleston and chairs the West Virginia Behavioral Health Planning Council. Us & Them host Trey Kay invited her to the Dinner Party after his sister shared Keener's poem “Build a Bigger Table,” which grew out of her work with people experiencing poverty and food insecurity.
“One of the things that we get pretty regularly [at Heart & Hand Outreach Ministries] are discounted birthday cakes. So they're the ones that nobody buys, and they have to be thrown away or given to a food pantry, and we have great volunteers that go pick those up, and you would not believe how excited people get over getting one of those cakes that's about to expire. And it's not just kids, it's elderly people. Like, it's a real treat for them.
“And I thought to myself, ‘What is wrong with that?’ Like, I just gave someone who can't pay their water bill, who probably doesn't have enough food to eat at their house because they're at a food pantry, we just gave them some joy. ... Being a human, to me, isn't about surviving. It's about being able to have joy and comfort and caring for one another.”
Listen below to Jennifer Keener read her poem “Build a Bigger Table.”
E Provost is a Marshall University political science student who describes herself as an independent progressive. Provost, the first openly LGBTQ guest to participate in an Us & Them Dinner Party, says personal encounters can sometimes break down assumptions that political divisions create. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“I remember at a job I used to have, one of my coworkers came up to me the day after I trained him and said, ‘I just realized that gay people are just like everybody else.’ And I was like, well I'm happy that I'm the one you're saying that to and not someone who's a lot meaner.
“His truck broke down, and I started driving him home every night. And I was like, ‘Ask me any question. Anything that you have, I don't care how invasive it sounds because the issue is that people don't know people. ... Feel free to ask me the most offensive thing you can possibly think of because I will happily give you an answer.’ It's just having real-life human interactions with people changes everything.”
— E Provost
Charleston City Council member Frank Annie, left, enjoys dinner and conversation during the Us & Them Dinner Party. Annie, who describes himself as politically right of center, also works as a medical researcher and says federal cuts to scientific research and changes in public-health leadership concern him deeply. Michael Borsuk, right, is also pictured. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“The current administration with level of science, not only medical, but STEM outside of it, it's [federal budget cuts] an extinction level event. ... When the DOGE cuts happened, and I can't be more clear with this, when we had 22-year-olds that didn't understand the difference between ‘transgenic' and ‘transgender’ in their cuts of government programs, then we're just throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That's the wider science. That's engineering, that's everything.”
— Frank Annie
Juliet Terry is a government affairs and communications consultant who describes herself as a moderate Republican conservative. The daughter of a physician, Terry strongly supports preventive vaccinations and says that resistance to vaccines has become as much a question of identity and personal freedom as one of medicine. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“I don't think there's anything you can do to convince the anti-vaxxers to change their minds. Because they're saying they don't trust science, and yes, they might have had a bad experience or know someone who had a bad experience. Statistically, that is a very small number of people. These are people who just have a firm conviction about personal freedoms. ... It is a sociological issue. It has nothing to do with medicine, and I don't see that divide getting crossed with science.
“I think the pendulum eventually swings back on everything, and that's why I've got friends who, they freaked out during the first Trump administration. They're freaking out now. And I'm like, ‘Just run your clock down. Everything ends.’”
— Juliet Terry
Rev. Darick Biondi, left, is a pastor in West Virginia’s Upper Kanawha Valley who describes his politics as “liberationist,” somewhere between Christian socialist and Christian anarchist. At the Dinner Party, Biondi connects his Christian faith to political questions involving poverty, immigration and economic justice as Charleston attorney Elliot Hicks, right, listens. Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Immigration in particular for me is, it is one of those scapegoats that will always be there. In Scripture itself, in the Christian canon, Old Testament and New Testament, it says more than, I believe it's 500 times that we are called to protect the immigrant. The unborn is mentioned maybe five to 10 times. But the immigrant is told to be protected over 500 times.
“And folks that claim they follow Jesus, they claim they love this carpenter from Nazareth, they claim that the cross is the most influential moment in human history for them, will then treat immigrants as if they are subhuman individuals, and it enrages me.”
— Rev. Darick Biondi
How The ‘Coolest Thing’ Contest Shows Diversity In Manufacturing, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 23, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, the votes are in – more than 3,200 of them – and the winner of the inaugural Coolest Thing Made In West Virginia competition will be announced next week. It’s down to the final five. Assistant News Director Maria Young caught up with Bill Bissett, president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, which is hosting the contest, to find out more about the finalists.
Also, a bat found in Kanawha County has tested positive for rabies. Kanawha-Charleston Health Officer Dr. Steven Eshenaur said the presence of rabies in the region should serve as a reminder to never approach an animal that appears to be injured or sick.
And, lawyers made their cases in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Tuesday afternoon about how the West Virginia Legislature's oversight of education will be executed.
Finally, the total number of employed West Virginians increased slightly in August, and the unemployment rate fell, but there were job losses in critical fields.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Communication Challenges For Emergency Personnel, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 22, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, two federally important facilities located in West Virginia require a strict limit on radio frequency interference. But for decades – increasingly as communication systems have become more advanced – those limits have made it difficult for emergency crews and first responders in Pendleton and Pocahontas counties to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. Now the results of a lengthy federal study show exactly how precarious the situation is.
Assistant News Director Maria Young caught up with Pendleton County Emergency Management’s Rick Gillespie to find out what the study shows and what happens next.
Also, pursuing a nursing degree in West Virginia just got a little easier for students from rural counties and areas experiencing a shortage of health professionals.
And, a nonprofit environmental organization has created a resource booklet to help landowners understand a proposed transmission line.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Ostrich Burgers Take Off At Kentucky Farm, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 21, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, in recent years, physicians across the country have monitored surges of a condition known as Alpha-Gal Syndrome, which can cause allergic reactions to red meat. Hannah Saad with Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom member station WKMS reports that, now, farmers, restaurateurs and the afflicted are flocking to a new source of protein.
Also, with just over six weeks until state and federal midterm elections, West Virginia Democrats are launching their Kitchen Table Tour this week. The tour includes a series of rallies to be held in Marion, Kanawha, Cabell, Boone, Hancock and Jefferson counties.
And, educators will come together in Charleston later this week to learn to better support students in the state’s public schools.
Finally, over the weekend, a triple bronze star veteran of the Korean War celebrated his 98th birthday in Raleigh County with family and friends, fellow veterans, community members and Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Coal Gets A Lifeline And WMUL Wins A Murrow, This West Virginia Week
Sep 19, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Week, the coal industry gets a lifeline, the U.S. Secretary of Education comes to Cabell County, and WMUL wins a Murrow – again.
Bill Lynch is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week's biggest news in the Mountain State. It's produced with help from Bill Lynch, Chris Schulz, Eric Douglas and Maria Young.
Encore: The Love Of Competition, Inside Appalachia
Sep 18, 2026
Show notes
One thing about Appalachians, we can get competitive.
We’re proud of our local food. Love a good hunt. And enjoy competition with friends. We learn the rules and celebrate our victories. But there’s more to competing than just winning or losing.
This week, Inside Appalachia, we’ll meet competitors who are keepers of beloved Appalachian traditions.
Musgrave Reports From The Mountain Mushroom Festival
Tina Caroland shows off a morel mushroom at the Mountain Mushroom Festival in Irvine, Kentucky. Caroland has demonstrated how to fry morels at the festival for about 15 years. She purchased morels for this year’s cooking demonstration because Caroland and her family were slow to find morels at the start of this season. Photo Credit: Nicole Musgrave/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Each spring, people take to the woods in search of morels, a seasonal favorite throughout Appalachia, and they inspire all kinds of competition.
Folkways Reporter Nicole Musgrave went to the Mountain Mushroom Festival in Irvine, Kentucky and found people looking for the most mushrooms — the biggest mushrooms — and the tastiest way to eat mushrooms.
An Accident Of Appalachian History Led To A New Style of Pizza
In Wheeling, West Virginia, people are passionate about their pizza. People there say that an accident of history led to a new style of pizza – Appalachia’s contribution to America’s great regional pizza traditions. Folkways Reporter Zack Harold visited DiCarlo’s Famous Pizza to find out more. Photo Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Ever live in a place where there’s a competition between two restaurants, and people sort of decide which team they’re on?
Folkways Reporter Zack Harold says people in Wheeling, West Virginia are passionate about their pizza.That’s because an accident of history led to a new style and a who’s better/who’s best contest that’s been going on for decades.
Brave Kids Continue Eisteddfod Tradition
A former Eisteddfod director, D. Merrill Davis, presents a student on stage. Generations of students have performed in the Jackson Eisteddfod program, which began in 1922 and continues today. Photo courtesy Sherry DiBari
Eisteddfod is probably not a word that rolls off the tongue of everyone in Appalachia. But in Wales, it refers to a traditional music competition that goes back nearly 1,000 years. Immigrants brought the tradition to southern Ohio, where it's endured for generations -- thanks in part to some brave kids.
Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has this story.
Playing To Eat And Eating To Play
Jared Kaplan holds the game he designed with Chris Kincaid. Photo Credit: Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Another competitive tradition that’s endured for generations is weekly board game night. Whether with family or friends, we play Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, and sometimes even Candyland.
Folkways Reporter Clara Haizlett reported on a board game that matches West Virginia’s favorite cryptids with some of its favorite places to eat.
A Southern Ohio Town Honors The Appalachian Connection To The NFL
Appalachia’s connection to professional football has always been a little loose. Lots of pro players have come out of Appalachia, but there’s really only one Appalachian NFL team – the Pittsburgh Steelers, or two if you count the Atlanta Falcons, as a listener recently argued we should.
It turns out, at least one other professional team has Appalachian DNA – the Detroit Lions. That franchise began as the Portsmouth Spartans in Portsmouth, Ohio, just across the river from Kentucky.
Sports fan and WVPB Reporter Randy Yohe has this story.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Charlie McCoy, The Steel Drivers, Larry Groce, David Mayfield, and Dean Martin.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.
You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
And you can sign up for our Inside Appalachia Newsletter here!
Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Decades-Old Musical Tradition Pays Tribute To Welsh Immigrants, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 18, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, in southern Ohio, there’s a musical tradition that goes back nearly 1,000 years and 4,000 miles. For Inside Appalachia, Folkways Reporter Capri Cafaro has this story.
Also, for decades, two West Virginia counties have had extremely limited access to wireless communications that first responders need in emergencies. But a solution could be on the horizon.
And, the state treasurer has helped establish a new scholarship at his alma mater.
West Virginia Morningis a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Chris Schulz, Eric Douglas and Maria Young.
Eric Douglas is our news director. Teresa Wills is our host. Maria Young is our producer.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
MU Radio News Program Rakes In Prestigious Awards, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 17, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, in August, the student-led team that produces the news for WMUL at Marshall University learned they had won an Edward R. Murrow award for Outstanding Newscast for the second year in a row. One of the big reasons students and staff alike list for the overall success of the program is Chuck Bailey, who is entering his 42nd year on faculty. Over that time, WMUL has won more than 2,700 awards in total.
News Director Eric Douglas, a Marshall journalism alumnus, but not in the radio program, sat down in a classroom studio with Bailey, the student news director Emma Johnson, and the Director of the Marshall School of Journalism and Mass Communications Rob Quicke, to learn more.
Also, state police will soon have more resources to expand DNA testing capacity.
And, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health says a fourth person has died from measles-related complications.
Finally, volunteers were hard at work in the central part of the state Wednesday for the United Way of Central West Virginia's annual Day of Caring.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Exploring Appalachian Lore, History Through Plants, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 16, 2026
Show notes
Also, a new digital system is designed to make background checks for child and adult protective services faster and more efficient.
And, the Trump administration threw another lifeline to coal generation Monday. The federal government will drop limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Finally, state leaders reacted positively to that announcement by the EPA Monday allowing power plants to stop the capture of their carbon dioxide emissions.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Data Center Proposals In Neighboring Pennsylvania, This West Virginia Morning
Sep 15, 2026
Show notes
On this West Virginia Morning, data center proposals are popping up in West Virginia – and in neighboring Pennsylvania, where one small community is juggling seven different potential projects. From The Allegheny Front, a public radio program based in Pittsburgh, we hear from that community and their concerns.
Also, West Virginia has tried several approaches to addressing a persistent teacher shortage in schools, and one scholarship is showing results.
And, proposed legislation to ensure the safety of children who withdraw from public school was the subject of a hearing before the Joint Legislative Committee on Children and Families.
Finally, the state has seen five major flooding events since February 2025, but FEMA has given very little direct support to return people to their normal lives.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:49 a.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
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