Eastern Standard

•  Tom Eblen in conversation with Barbara Kingsolver about her best-selling Appalachian novel, Demon Copperhead. In this interview, Eblen explores Kingsolver's views of media portrayals of her home region, and how she provides such detailed and intimate insights into the plight…

Pushback against efforts to teach that slavery was beneficial to the enslaved, and a grad student's discovery of the largest single slave auction in US history. We hear about existing assets that make southeastern Kentucky attractive to business. And, a…

(Photo by Jeanne Marie Hibberd)

Part Three of the series explores preparations for the 2027 closure of the project and how the loss of its highly skilled workforce, as well as generous federal support for an enhanced emergency response system…

Shepherd Snyder and Crystal Jones with Maintenance Supervisor Harvey Riggins (Photo by Jeanne Marie Hibberd)

For the past five years, the most lethal chemical weapons on earth have been undergoing a challenging disposal process in a special facility at Blue…

(Photo by Jeanne Marie Hibberd)

The first episode in a series of three full-length programs about the mission to eliminate a 523 ton stockpile of chemical weapons stored for generations at the Blue Grass Army Depot just outside Richmond, Kentucky. 

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Two Kentucky organizations work to protect art from future natural disasters (Image: Shutterstock)

Learn about a pair of efforts to recover, preserve and protect artifacts of Kentucky arts and culture.

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There’s a new kid in class. Goes by the…

Coming up on this week's edition of Eastern Standard: Through its chamber of commerce, the Kentucky business community lays out a strategy to meet a list of goals. They range from getting more Kentuckians into the workforce to improving child…

(Photo courtesy of Shaker Village)

“Theatre of the mind” is a hallmark of public radio and ever so often we offer Eastern Standard as a stage for locally written, acted and directed productions. This edition is devoted to our latest…

(Photo by Chris Begley)

The human toll and destruction of the massive flash flood that struck southeast Kentucky on July 27-28, 2022 is remembered one year later. Housing is our focus as the loss of thousands of homes remains a…

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More than $1 billion in federal pandemic aid funding to support Kentucky child care ends on September 30. This week's edition of Eastern Standard explores the implications for children, working parents, employers and the economy. 

Kentucky Student Voice Team co-founder Andrew Brennen

In this episode of Eastern Standard, hear from Andrew Brennen, a central Kentuckian who is doing the work to emerge as a potent national voice on behalf of civil rights and youth engagement…

The local and regional summer events calendar is full of great entertainment and cultural options. In this hour of Eastern Standard we explore six of those live stage and music events. Featured interviews include Lexington Theatre Company co-founder and Artistic…

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A conversation with aspiring middle school teacher Audrey Gilbert, Kentucky Student Voice Team board member and national and state president of “Educators Rising”, an organization that encourages high school students to become teachers. 

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 “Durable Skills” expert Tim…

A call for balance in the scales of justice (Image: Shutterstock)

"The Fear of Too Much Justice: Race, Poverty, and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Courts." Author, Kentucky human rights attorney Stephen Bright, is Tom Eblen's guest 

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Site of former slave jail in Lexington, KY

As the Juneteenth celebration of freedom from slavery approaches, a conversation with UK historian and Eastern Standard series host Gerald Smith about his new book, “Slavery and Freedom in the Bluegrass State…

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Exploring the implications of Artificial Intelligence for trust in human interactions. Our guest: UK computer scientist Brent Harrison. 

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Tornado Alley has shifted eastward and now includes Kentucky. The details from Kentucky State Climatologist Jerry Brotzge. 

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Eastern…

(Photo: R. Classen for Shutterstock)

The struggle between a coal industry watching its market decline and a power generation industry determined to shift to renewables. Dan Gearino, a reporter with the Pulitzer Prize winning Inside Climate News, on renewable energy…

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Artificial Intelligence, art and copyright: what is legal? What is not? Do we even know? Questions for UK law professor Michael Murray who specializes in AI, Art and Copyright law and protection. 

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Melisse Brunet has programmed…

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Live performances of chamber music will return to central Kentucky with the revival of the Lexington Chamber Music Orchestra. The LCO has been absorbed by the successful Chamber Music Festival of Lexington. Our guests: Festival executive director Cacey…

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• A call on state legislators from the Kentucky Black Caucus to act against gun violence and an appeal from Lexington’s Mayor and the mothers of two young shooting victims to put down the guns. 

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• Eastern Standard reporter…

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• Counties hosting bourbon aging warehouses pushback against the state legislature vote to end the state’s barrel tax. Our guests: Lexington Herald-Leader reporters Janet Patton and Austin Horn. 

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• Brooke Gentile and Katie Harvey from the Organic Association of…

Thousands of landslides in eastern Kentucky and no insurance. The latest in our series on a Code of Ethics for professional journalists. High school theatre bounces back from Covid and flooding. And a special guest: Billy Joel’s longtime drummer -…

The stories we tell, and why. (Photo by Jeanne Marie Hibberd)

• Why do we tell stories? And is folklore truth, fantasy or something in-between? Our guest: JeanMarie Rouhier-Willoughby, Professor of Russian Studies, Folklore and Linguistics at the University of Kentucky. …

Journalism's tech transition is all but compete (Image: Shutterstock)

• Six months after the flood of ’22 in Eastern Kentucky and the numbers are in: 9-thousand homes, damaged or destroyed. Rebecca Shelton from the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center walks us through…