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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Leah Willingham

'It was like a heartbeat': Residents at a loss after newspaper shutters in declining coal county

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Months after Missy Nester ended The Welch News' 100-year run, she can barely stand to walk through the office doors of the newspaper her mother taught her to read with growing up in West Virginia's southern coalfields. It’s still too painful.

The Welch News owner and publisher's desk is covered with unpaid bills and her own paychecks — a year's worth — she never cashed. Phones that used to ring through the day have gone silent. Tables covered with typewriters, awards and a century's worth of other long-abandoned artifacts are reminders that her beloved paper has become an artifact, too.

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