Lynn Oldshue
ReporterLynn Oldshue is an APR Gulf Coast correspondent. She is from a newspaper family and grew up on a catfish farm in Yazoo City, MS. She always wanted to be a journalist but got a late start after her two boys grew up. Lynn is part of the APR team that won a national Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a documentary on the long-term impact of the BP oil spill. Lynn is also the creator of the blog and Facebook page Our Southern Souls that tells the stories of people across the South. She has published a book of stories from the first six years of Souls. She enjoys wandering, photography, and riding her horse.
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COVID-19 hit the live music industry hard in Alabama. Full-time musicians were left with few places to play. Mobile musician and folk artist Abe Partridge had time on this hands and followed a different pursuit. He attended serpent-handling churches across Appalachia* with the goal of painting pictures of some of the pastors. That plan took an unexpected turn when he heard the music at these religious events. It was powerful and possibly not heard by outsiders. . APR Gulf coast correspondent Lynn Oldshue takes it from there… -
Today is Veteran's Day, but each year there are fewer World War II veterans to honor. In 2022, only 167,284 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are still alive, reports the US Department of Veteran Affairs. -
Alabama’s Central Data Repository says over sixteen thousand Alabama residents were treated for substance abuse in 2021. Close to two thousand of those were in Baldwin County. Limited resources also make recovery even harder in south Alabama. Most of the leaders in local recovery have been there themselves. -
The Alabama Public Radio news team is examining the issue of keeping skilled and educated workers from leaving the Gulf coast. This on-going series of reports is called “Should I stay, or should I go.” Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Washington D.C., Charlotte, and Chicago are consistently ranked at the top of the lists for best places to live for young Black professionals. They are also the top destinations for many raised in Mobile who are seeking higher salaries and better opportunities for career growth. -
The voting rights marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma back in 1965 are iconic moments in civil rights history. The attack on demonstrators known as “bloody Sunday” led to the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Now, sites related to the Selma marches is getting some much needed attention. Doctor Martin Luther King, junior planned the demonstrations at what’s now known as the Jackson House. During the march to Montgomery, the activists slept at three campsites. Both the Jackson home and the first of the overnight camping spots are now privately owned and efforts are underway to keep them alive. APR Gulf Coast Correspondent Lynn Oldshue has more on work to preserve this piece of history. -
Tomorrow is National Overdose Awareness Day. The Centers For Disease Control says the number of drug related deaths in Alabama jumped by 20 percent last year. -
Progress may be coming at a cost for one family in Marengo County. State planners have been working on what’s called the West Alabama Corridor for almost thirty years. It’s a four-lane highway to cut time on the drive between Tuscaloosa and Mobile. The upside is that the highway may bring connectivity and development to the rural counties of the Black Belt. Then, there’s the apparent downside. Parts of the highway may be built on private property taken by the State. APR Gulf coast correspondent Lynn Oldshue spoke with the Moore family who’s fighting to save their homes in the town of Dixons Mills. -
Clinics that provided abortions in Alabama are dealing with a new reality. So are their patients. Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe versus Wade. Within hours of that decision, a Montgomery federal judge ended an injunction against Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act. The measure makes almost all abortions in the state a felony. An estimated one in four women will have an abortion in their lifetimes. That is now much harder for women in Alabama. -
A relic of the Civil War is now a symbol of Alabama Pride month. The annual observance recognizes the state’s LGBTQ community. The cannon stands guard in a small median in the middle of Government Street in Mobile -
The State of Alabama does certain things to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. There’s treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues as well as coaching and mentoring. This is a story about stories. The point is who the writers are and what the experience might mean for them.
