 The Appalachian Regional Commission held its annual conference in Ashland, Kentucky, September 11th and 12th. The conference's theme was Appalachia Rises and focused on the importance of resiliency and collaboration throughout the region. As a federal co-chair, I believe that there is a lot that we can do in bringing groups together to work together that we're not really 13 individual states, we really are a region. So opportunities like this where we come together and then we have a great staff in Washington that comes and is able to work face-to-face, person-to-person with these groups talking about entrepreneurship, workforce development, the topics that these individuals are dealing with at their home places. So hopefully people are meeting each other, they're finding out they share a lot of the same commonalities, a lot of the same challenges and so by setting down and talking to each other, they may be able to start working out the solutions together. At Appalachian Wireless, we have the best service and the best deals right now. Save up to $500 on iPhone 13s and 14s, all models, all gigabytes with trade-in. Maybe go for an iPhone 12 for a penny, a penny with a two-year contract. We're not leaving out Samsung, save up to $350 on select Samsung devices including the S23. It's a win-win this month at Appalachian Wireless, the service, the savings, y'all got to jump on this deal right now. At Appalachian Wireless, we get you because we are you, we are Appalachian Wireless. During the conference, ARC's Inspire initiative awarded nearly $14 million to 43 projects supporting Appalachians recovering from substance use disorder, including $1.5 million for programs in eastern Kentucky. Now, we have 12 other states that we respect that are here, but we're really proud of what eastern Kentucky is doing. Most of the ideas that are moving eastern Kentucky forward come from eastern Kentucky and we get to highlight those and the leaders while providing additional funding. But today we're also talking about regionalism in a way I've never seen, with more states working together on economic development opportunities and investments than I've ever seen. Now, we are one country, but especially in Appalachia, we face the same challenges. So having people less worried about whether a new business is right here or just on the other side of a border, it helps all those states, it helps all those counties, and it helps all our people. For more information about ARC, go to ARC.gov. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.