West Virginia Watch - If you scroll through social media or watch the news, you’ll see our members of Congress and special interest groups practically begging West Virginians to believe that the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” (HR 1) is good for us. But West Virginians know a bad deal when we see one. This legislation…
OpEds
West Virginia Watch - The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has garnered much media and lawmaker attention recently with a press release decrying the state’s jobs numbers. While they are right that the numbers are lackluster, West Virginia’s flagging economic landscape is not a recent phenomenon. Read the full op-ed. West Virginia had the ninth worst job…
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Legal News Online - In a Gazette-Mail story from July 10 about the growing cost of the Hope Scholarship, West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack admitted something that has never been said aloud before. “[H]is office believes only about 10% of the more than 10,000 students who received the Hope Scholarship last year were…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - In West Virginia, we believe in showing up for one another — whether it’s helping a neighbor change a tire, holding a food drive or pitching in to help clean and rebuild after a flood. It’s who we are. But right now in Congress, some of our elected officials are turning their…
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…
West Virginia Watch - Last week West Virginians sent a clear message: Don’t cut Medicaid. Read the full op-ed. In overwhelming numbers, families, advocates and health care providers turned out to reject House Bill 3518, and called on their legislators to reject this dangerous proposal that would have automatically eliminated the Medicaid expansion — and with…
WV Watch - As an educator and parent, I have seen firsthand the power of public schools to help our students achieve brighter futures and bring our communities together. But I have also watched the underfunding and politicization of public education in West Virginia over the past decade and the consequences for our state’s students. …
West Virginia Watch, Beckley Register-Herald , Ohio Capital Journal- Two hundred workers were laid off from the Bureau of Fiscal Service in Parkersburg. Thousands from the Department of Veterans Affairs (including at least 10 in West Virginia). And hundreds each from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Caring for our veterans,…
West Virginia Watch, Beckley Register-Herald, Spirit of Jefferson - At his first press conference as governor last week, Patrick Morrisey promised that under his watch state government will be “more efficient and effective than ever before.” He indeed has a powerful opportunity to increase government efficiency through comprehensive and thoughtful agency reviews, but he may…
Spirit of Jefferson - If we want to understand what is happening in West Virginia jails and prisons, we must listen to the people inside them. The Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) has taken a step in that direction. Read the full op-ed. On Monday, the agency released a new policy that allows people…