On April 5, several more than 20 mine rescue teams geared up and traveled to Montcoal, hoping to find trapped miners alive at Upper Big Branch. Teams train monthly in mock emergencies to prepare for such situations. Recently, our reporter (Jessica Lilly, pictured center) went with a mine rescue team from Brooks Run, a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources, to get a closer look at rescue efforts. 

A small community in Monongalia County is working with West Virginia University officials to turn an abandoned coal mine into a memorial park for coal miners. The Everettville Historical Association seeks to commemorate the more than 100 miners who died in a mining explosion there more than 80 years ago.(Pictured: Federal mine #3)

Early Childhood Development was the theme for an event attended by business and other community leaders in Charleston last month. The Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation was created in 1993 by Senator Jay Rockefeller to diversify the state’s economy and give existing industries the tools to compete in the global economy. A nationally-known advocate for education reform, Geoffrey Canada (pictured), gave the keynote address during the group’s inaugural speakers lunch.

Free Wheelchair Mission is an international non-profit organization that raises money to buy wheelchairs for the poor and disabled in third world countries. An outpouring of support from citizens in the upper Ohio Valley area recently prompted the organization to open a pilot office in Wheeling.

On primary election night, May 10, 1960, presidential candidate John Kennedy took to the podium at the Kanawha Hotel in Charleston to declare his victory. That speech can be heard on line in a new exhibit on the website of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. “Battleground West Virginia: Electing the President in 1960” contains hundreds of documents and newspaper articles, more than 100 photographs, and two dozen audio and film clips, even advertisements and political cartoons. Joe Geiger, the Director of Archives and History says the online exhibit provides a great educational resource.

When the weather warms up, rock climbers leave their climbing walls behind and head for the real thing.  Enthusiasts at a local Pennsylvania hotspot tell why millions of Americans are attracted to this fast-growing sport.