One theory, and a plausible one, as to why U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin backed off on a run for governor is that he can read the economic tea leaves as well as anyone else. Read article. I’ve covered state government long enough to recognize that the state economy consists of a series of down stretches…
WVCBP in the News
Charleston Gazette-Mail - While West Virginia made progress years ago in decreasing the number of uninsured people in the state, a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday suggests that progress may be slowing after no change in the rate of insurance coverage between 2017 and 2018. Read article. In 2018, 114,000 — or 6.4 percent…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch, Logan Banner, Fayette Tribune - On Wednesday, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy released a report on wage theft in West Virginia. Wage theft can be defined in many ways. Some examples are minimum wage violations, overtime violations, illegal deductions, employee misclassification, and tipped minimum wage violations. Read full op-ed. Working…
House Bill 162 was one of those bills that got lost in the shuffle during the 2019 legislative session, mainly because the of the jockeying back and forth in the West Virginia Legislature on the omnibus bill. Read editorial. HB 162 (which passed the House of Delegates during one of the special sessions, 95-0, with…
Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Martinsburg Journal, Wheeling Intelligencer - After a think tank raised concerns, Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday the creation of a committee to ensure all West Virginians are counted for the 2020 U.S. Census. Read article. Justice, in a press release Friday, said preparations are underway for creating a Complete Count Committee to…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Before West Virginia can make any substantial progress in lowering its incarceration rates, Lida Shepherd, with the American Friends Service Committee, said that residents here — and everywhere — need to shift the way they think about “wrongdoings.” Read article. “We need to shift the idea of what we consider bad behavior, and…
WOWK-TV - The economic upswing is being credited to a significant increase in coal production, and the construction of natural gas pipelines across the Mountain State. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, West Virginia had the highest state economic growth rate in the first quarter of this year. It also had the highest growth for…
Huffington Post - In the world according to Donald Trump, West Virginia is “producing record setting numbers and doing really well” ― a complete reversal from when he took office, when “it was practically shut down and closed for business.” Read article. In the actual world, West Virginia has increasing poverty, more deaths than births each…
Wheeling Intelligencer - Leaders of the Northern Panhandle chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union met in Wheeling Monday to discuss three goals the organization has, outlining their trajectory for the next three years. Read article. Eight local residents attended the meeting, held at the First State Capitol building on Eoff Street for the Campaign Kickoff…
The consequences of deindustrialization manifest in many different ways. Read/Listen. Sherry Linkon and John Russo, two prominent scholars in working class studies, have written several books and articles about this topic, and at this point, they find you can easily make a list of what will happen when industry leaves. Let’s run down it. In…