OpEds

Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia’s bridges, dams, drinking water, roads and wastewater have received a D grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and 24% of the state’s residents live in a broadband desert. Furthermore, 54% live in a child care desert and 19% of children in the state live in poverty. Read the…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - The pandemic has shone a bright light on longstanding needs of families in West Virginia and across the country — needs that, when unaddressed, make families less financially secure, slow our economy and widen the gap between the richest in our country and everyone else. Read the full op-ed. The COVID-19 relief…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - The past year has been a difficult one for our state’s families, businesses and communities. West Virginians are resilient and hard-working, but we still need to work together to emerge from the pandemic. Read the full op-ed. That’s where government can be most helpful: meeting and solving big challenges together that no…

Martinsburg Journal - Over the last 40 years female incarceration in West Virginia has exploded, growing by a staggering 2,731 percent from 1978 to 2019. Over the same period, the state’s population has declined by nearly seven percent. What could explain such exponential growth in female incarceration as our overall population has declined? Read the…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - Since the pandemic began, America’s billionaires have grown their wealth by a staggering $1 trillion. At the same time, families in West Virginia and across the country are facing increasing hardship and difficulty meeting their basic needs as the health and economic effects of COVID-19 drag on. Read the full article. In…

Beckley Register-Herald - Today, the Supreme Court of the United States will take up a case that could upend our health care system. California v. Texas, a lawsuit brought by 18 state Attorneys General including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, seeks to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA). Read the full article. If all or…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginians help one another. Without thinking twice, we take meals to parents who’ve had a new baby, form ad hoc neighborhood child care arrangements when schools close because of the coronavirus pandemic and pick up groceries for our at-risk elderly neighbors. Link to op-ed here. Our people know that working together…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - President Trump’s recent executive actions are far too meager, ineffective and legally dubious to address the crisis that families in West Virginia and across the nation are facing. Link to op-ed here. Only Congress can enact a federal relief response plan that is robust enough to address the immediate and ongoing needs…

Beckley Register-Herald - Across our state, West Virginians are continuing to bear the brunt of the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. Food insecurity is spiking, families are facing eviction from their homes because they can’t afford rent, parents are struggling to balance child care and work, and officials are scrambling to figure out how…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - Around the country, states are seeing dramatic increases in Medicaid enrollment as furloughed workers and their dependents lose their job-based health insurance and turn to Medicaid for coverage during the coronavirus pandemic. Read op-ed. Since March, West Virginia has seen an increase in Medicaid enrollment of approximately 24,000 people, but that is…