We 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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There are so many young people in the U.S. who are not in school, working or training for work, that there’s a name for it. They are ‘disconnected youth,’ and while West Virginia’s rate has dropped in recent years, it’s still one of the highest in the nation. Just under 12%, or 24,000, young people are in this category, and they can be tough to track down because there’s a stigma attached to this status. However, some programs are trying to bridge the gap - to connect with young people and help them train for a job and a career. On this Us & Them episode, we’ll find out why some young people g
Us & Them: What We Hide — Examining The Collateral Damage Of Addiction
Housing is becoming less affordable for many people. As a result, more cities and towns grapple with growing homeless populations. Hundreds of cities across the nation now have laws that prohibit camping on public property to discourage encampments and illegal activity. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay moderates a community conversation in Morgantown about that city’s approach to housing. Morgantown is one of five West Virginia cities with a public camping ban. Local advocates say there are twice as many homeless people as there are shelter beds available. This year, lawmakers did n
Many West Virginians have trouble with their teeth. In fact, there’s a big gap between the 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. National rankings consistently put West Virginia at or near the bottom in overall oral health care and a state report shows that by third grade, 56% of children show signs of tooth decay. Twelve percent of older adults have had all their teeth extracted. But as Us & Them host Trey Kay learns in this award-winning encore episode, there are new approaches
This year, West Virginia lawmakers made significant changes to drug and alcohol treatment programs funded by Medicaid, which many people use. The new legislation ties Medicaid payments to patient outcomes rather than the number of patients served. The Mountain State has the nation's highest overdose rates, and overdose death rates among Black residents exceed those of any other group. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay learns how Medicaid funding supports organizations working in recovery and what that work looks like on the ground. This episode of Us & Them, recently honored with a R
Daniel Johnston, a visual artist and singer-songwriter from West Virginia made his mark in the indie music scene of the1980s. His raw and unpolished style earned him a label as an outsider artist, and a place in the state’s Music Hall of Fame. Johnston recorded his best-known songs on cassette in his parents’ basement in Hancock County. Songwriters saw past the lo-fi production values and musicians like Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain championed his work. Johnston was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his 20s, and as his fame grew, his mental health struggles increased. He died in 2019 at age 58, leavi
Hundreds of thousands of kids rely on America’s foster care system. West Virginia has the highest rate of foster care placements of any state - four times the national average. Foster care is most often needed because of parental substance use, mental health challenges, poverty and neglect. Six-thousand Mountain State kids are in foster care, but there’s a shortage of licensed foster homes and residential facilities and that’s why nearly 400 kids live in out-of-state institutions. On this Us & Them, an encore episode finds more than half of all states have seen their number of licensed foster
Psychedelic drugs are getting attention from the Trump administration as treatment potentials for some mental health conditions. An executive order from President Trump fast tracks research and access to the drugs, which can carry health risks. On the latest episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay checks back on someone who’s been using an illegal psychedelic called ibogaine to help people kick addictions. Ibogaine can alter brain functions and is used in some countries to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and drug withdrawal symptoms. Twenty years ago most U.S. doctors wouldn’t touch the drug and p
The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence arrives at a moment when Americans are arguing not just about politics—but about our nation’s history. As President Donald Trump calls for the removal of what he labels “divisive” history from public institutions, a new documentary from Ken Burns revisits the American Revolution with all of its complexity, contradiction, and competing visions of freedom. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay brings together professors and students at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia along with community members for a public conversa
For some Americans home ownership is a way to build wealth for future generations. But West Virginia presents the complexities and nuances of that reality. The Mountain State has the nation’s highest homeownership rate but the second lowest personal income rate. And much of the state’s housing is old and needs repair. In one West Virginia county, 67 percent of the homes are more than 80 years old and half rate below normal on standard quality measures. By several measures there are 500,000 people living in such conditions. In this encore Us & Them — which was recently honored by the Virginias
There are more challenges now for people who live at the intersection of addiction, homelessness and the criminal justice system. New laws in about a dozen states echo aspects of the 2024 Safer Kentucky Act, which enhances penalties for violent crimes, drug crimes, shoplifting and carjacking, and bans public camping. On this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay returns to Kentucky to check on the consequences of the new tough-on-crime law. In cities, the demand for long term and transitional housing remains acute, while in small town Appalachia the access to any social safety net can be
Children are often described as the future. But in many rural communities across America, the path to bringing a child into the world is getting longer — sometimes literally. Across the country, families are traveling farther and farther from home to deliver babies. Since the end of 2020, 124 rural hospitals have closed or announced plans to close their labor-and-delivery units — about two closures a month. As small hospitals struggle with rising costs and staffing shortages, obstetrics departments are often among the first services to disappear. In this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey
America’s overdose crisis keeps changing shape. In recent years, provisional CDC data have shown a sharp national decline in overdose deaths — even as public officials warn the street drug supply remains volatile and some communities see signs of a rebound. That uncertainty is also reshaping the recovery world — especially around opioids. Some people find abstinence-based recovery works best. Others rely on medication-assisted treatment (MAT), using prescribed medicine like methadone or buprenorphine to stabilize a person and reduce the risk of relapse. But MAT has long divided the recovery co
The U.S. continues to struggle with racial discrimination and this episode of Us & Them looks back at a moment in the 1960s when music and race intersected. America’s popular music scene is a racially integrated space and there are times when it provides a place to heal the nation’s divides. Host Trey Kay shares a story about a band that took a stand against racism and the musicians who suffered the consequences. Kay heads to the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame to talk with West Virginia musicians of different generations as they talk about their experiences past and present in the local musi
For this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears about the challenges to America’s incarcerated population as they re-enter society. At least 95% of all state prisoners are released after serving their sentence, more than 600,000 people each year. The re-entry process requires essential tasks; accessing identification materials, birth certificates and sometimes social security materials. How well do programs designed to help formerly incarcerated people succeed? Some people suggest recognizing past traumas may be a powerful step to help people make a new life after they serve their ti
In this encore episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay shares the story of a simple song written more than 250 years ago that now has a profound and universal legacy. John Newton wrote the hymn Amazing Grace to connect with Christians and over decades it’s been sung to a number of melodies. However, addition to its religious origins, it is now a popular folk song and an anthem for civil rights which transcends divisions and speaks to people across time and faiths about shared pain, hope and forgiveness. Newton’s creation may have been inspired by his past as a slave and captain of a slave ship. Bu
Many people know Thurgood Marshall as the first African American U.S. Supreme Court justice, however, first he had a long and distinguished career with the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. On this episode of Us & Them, Trey Kay hosts a community conversation highlighting Thurgood Marshall’s legacy and sharing excerpts from a new Maryland Public Television documentary “Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect.” Marshall was the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education case which declared racial segregation in public schools un
As we count down to the end of 2025, Us & Them host Trey Kay looks back at the year’s whirlwind of actions and reactions. Each week presented fresh moves in the agenda President Donald Trump outlined during his campaign. First it was a reshaping of the federal government from Elon Musk’s efficiency department, which slashed budgets and agencies and workers. At the same time, additional resources for the Department of Homeland Security means a significant increase in the number of immigration arrests and detentions by federal agents. The use of National Guard troops in U.S. cities tests the lim
We’re an aging nation. Today 16% of Americans are over 65. In the next few decades that will double as the youngest Baby Boomers move into old age. But in West Virginia, that future is now. It’s the third oldest state in the nation and more than 20% of its residents are over 65. At the same time, West Virginia’s birth rate is low because young people are leaving. That generational imbalance will increase in coming years. The numbers show a growing crisis. Senior care has shifted from a nursing home model to one focused on aging in place. The cost of care is lower the longer people stay in thei
America’s crime rates have prompted President Donald Trump to deploy federal agents and National Guard troops in a handful of major cities. On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at what data and statistics can really tell us about the level of violence in our country. Crime continues to be one of the defining issues for the Trump administration, and the president refers to “out of control” crime numbers to deploy soldiers on city streets and support his actions while using federal agents to sweep up undocumented immigrants. However crime rates are inconsistently reported and the an
America’s housing shortage continues to put affordable homes out of reach for people across the country — from small towns to big cities. While West Virginia has the nation’s highest level of homeownership overall, many residents still struggle to find something that works for their budget. In fact, nearly 140,000 West Virginians spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the squeeze in two places—Philadelphia and southern West Virginia—finding that while inventory has improved, costs remain well above pre-pandemic levels a
This episode first aired in 2023, focusing on the strategies to motivate young voters and we’re sharing it again in the wake of the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA. Kirk, a renowned conservative youth organizer, was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University. Nothing divides Americans like politics — but young voters continue to matter. Host Trey Kay talks with journalist Kyle Spencer, whose book Raising Them Right traces how conservative organizers spent years building a youth movement on campuses. Spencer says the growth was st
As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, attention is focused on the relevance of the American Revolution to our country today. The new episode of Us & Them spotlights a recent community event at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va with host Trey Kay and three top historians to talk about the realities of our revolutionary past. Ken Burns’ upcoming PBS series The American Revolution shines a light on the war that transformed 13 colonies into a nation. This timely episode of Us & Them revisits America’s origin story with fresh eyes,
Just as America faces some of its most critical political divides, our criminal justice system suffers from a lack of public trust. How are these dual crises interwoven? In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay talks with legal scholar David Sklansky, a Stanford professor who co-directs the school’s Criminal Justice Center. In his new book “Criminal Justice in Divided America,” Sklansky says reforming the nation’s justice system may be at the core of recovering our democracy. In fact, he says there are clear approaches and solutions to help reform what’s broken and that even the basic conce
Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 as America’s Baby Boom generation ages. By 2040, the number of people 85 or older will more than double and the need for caregivers will grow dramatically. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay moderates a community conversation focused on some of the unique caregiving needs in West Virginia where nearly 21% of the population is over 65. We’ll also hear excerpts from a recently released PBS documentary called Caregiving from producer Bradley Cooper. With the potential for Medicaid cuts over the next decade, access to caregiving programs may be a challenge
