West Virginia Watch - West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey has formally asked the federal government to disallow the state’s food assistance program from paying for soda. Morrisey submitted a request for a waiver to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to make the change, the governor announced in a video message Tuesday. Read the full article.…
Economic Security
Charleston Gazette-Mail - AmeriCorps is a vital engine for progress in our state, and the recent decision to cancel $3 million in AmeriCorps grants in West Virginia represents a major setback. These cuts threaten to derail disaster response efforts, disrupt support for students who need it most and weaken the infrastructure of national service at…
West Virginia Watch, Beckley Register-Herald - Provisional data shows that overdose deaths in West Virginia declined by an astonishing 43.5% in the last year. Nationally, overdose deaths fell 27% over the same period, the largest one-year decline ever. While researchers are still analyzing the data, declines in overdose deaths have coincided with increased Medicaid coverage…
Charleston MetroNews - As Congress moves toward making significant changes to the federal Medicaid program, Congressman Riley Moore of West Virginia expressed support. Read the full article. Moore said the changes being considered maintain services for those who need the health insurance safety net while reducing spending. The proposals do institute more rigorous requirements that are anticipated…
WOWK - On this week’s episode of Inside West Virginia Politics, we discuss ambulance services, the transformation of West Virginia State University, budget issues and the work of Soledad O’Brien. Read the full article. In Segment One, we talk to Tom Susman of the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority about rising costs of emergency services. In…
Boston Globe - A music and art festival nestled in an Appalachian river valley wouldn‘t immediately seem like a place where President Trump’sDepartment of Government Efficiency would be top of mind. Read the full article. But outdoorsy locals at the annual Cheat River Festival last weekend were indeedruminating on the many ways the long arm…
Engineering News-Record East - West Virginia is gearing up to capture a big part of the booming data center market with new legislation that would allow developers to create independent microgrids to power their data centers. Read the full article. The Power Generation and Consumption Act, which is now awaiting Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s signature to become…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - “It’s kind of the perfect storm,” said Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. “All of the spending and tax cuts are starting to hit the budget at the same time that those temporary revenue factors helped us make the case for the tax cuts have…
West Virginia Watch - West Virginia has a foster care problem, and despite lawmakers introducing several bills to try to address the issues, only one of those passed both chambers. The governor has yet to sign it into law. Read the full op-ed. That one bill — House Bill 2880 — passed on the final night of…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s head has been on the cloud. Read the full article. But when it comes to attracting data centers, local government leaders say he’s leading West Virginia in starting off on the wrong foot. Their concerns didn’t stop a Morrisey-backed bill to entice data centers — server-populated warehouses that power…