Charleston Gazette-Mail - Last week was an eye-opener at the Legislature. Read the full article. Not because Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, compared vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany. Not because Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, got so upset with the shady, secret, closed-door backroom dealings going on that he blurted out a curse word on the Senate floor.
Economy
Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia’s COVID-19 death toll reached 4,219 Wednesday, including 2,878 deaths of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals since vaccines became available, a point state coronavirus czar Dr. Clay Marsh drove home during the state COVID-19 briefing. Read the full article. Since COVID-19 vaccines became available last December, the virus has killed 3,102…
Associated Press, Opera News - West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.6 in September, the lowest rate since August 2008. Read the full article. Total unemployment grew 1,200 over the month and the number of unemployed state residents dropped by 2,100 to 36,000, WorkForce West Virginia said in…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.6 in September, the lowest rate since August 2008. Read the full article. Total unemployment grew 1,200 over the month and the number of unemployed state residents dropped by 2,100 to 36,000, WorkForce West Virginia said in a statement.…
Yahoo News - An Illinois Democrat has been criticized after dismissing West Virginia’s economy as “irrelevant" to his party's key climate policy in the social spending package. Read the full article. The Clean Electricity Performance Program would reward utilities that adopt renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, penalizing utilities that do not make the transition. The…
Jackson Newspapers - Patricia Kelly, owner of Precious Memories Kid Care, said it's always been difficult finding childcare employees, but the pandemic has made it worse. Read the full article. COVID-19 caused several of Patricia Kelly's childcare employees to leave. For some, they quit out of caution to stay safe and healthy, others were terminated because…
Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed in recent months, as a wave of new delta variant cases has left its mark on the job market. After adding an average of 889,000 jobs per month in May, June, and July, the nation added only 366,000 in August and only 194,000 in September, leaving the…
The Build Back Better Act, currently under consideration in Congress where West Virginia’s Senator Joe Manchin will be a deciding vote, would create bold, long-lasting change for West Virginia families, workers, and our state’s economy. The legislation contains landmark policies that will create millions of good jobs nationwide, while also addressing crucial needs in the…
Mountain State Spotlight, Beckley Register-Herald - When Gov. Jim Justice announced earlier this month that he had put hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief aid into West Virginia’s unemployment trust fund, he said it would lead to a “massive reduction” in business costs. Read the full article. But, for many West Virginia businesses,…
New York Times - So Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will be responsible for putting together the Democratic climate plan. This is both understandable and terrifying. It’s understandable because Democrats need the vote of every one of their senators, which means doing whatever it takes to get skeptics on board. It’s terrifying because Manchin might end…