Charleston Gazette - Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin touted changes in the state's business climate, new business investments and workforce training initiatives in his State of the State address Wednesday night. Read"We've created a business climate where companies are encouraged to innovate, expand and create new jobs," Tomblin said. "Companies across the country and around the…
WVCBP in the News
Charleston Gazette - West Virginia has retained a strong AA+ bond rating, despite financial issues that could require the state to take another $85 million out of its Rainy Day Funds this year, according to a bond rating report issued by Fitch Ratings. Read Fitch cited West Virginia's sizable reserve funds as a financial strength,…
Associated Press, Martins Ferry Times Leader, Hagerstown Herald-Mail - Starting Thursday, West Virginia's lowest-paid workers will get a raise and businesses will have one less state tax to pay. ReadWest Virginia is increasing its minimum wage and nixing its business franchise tax, two of the laws effective New Year's Day.For operators of aboveground storage tanks,…
Charleston Gazette - Of the more than 12,000 West Virginians who have enrolled in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15, more than half are newly insured, according to an announcement Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ReadAccording to the DHHS, 12,283 people enrolled in…
Beckley Register-Herald - Political payback is a wonderful thing, at times. ReadTwo of West Virginia's newly-elected Congressional members were appointed to their chambers' Appropriations committees, a much sought after appointment usually reserved for politicians with years of political capital.Congressman-elect Evan Jenkins and Senator-elect Shelley Moore Capito were named to the powerful Appropriations committees, where members…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - According the 2013 American Community Survey, one in three children in West Virginia under the age of 5 lives in poverty. It's something the Our Children, Our Future Campaign to End Child Poverty in West Virginia is focused on. The group met at the state capitol yesterday to reveal the…
West Virginia Public News Service, Hampshire Review - Along with expanding Medicaid to the working poor, West Virginia will change billing rules to provide more behavioral health services though the program. Read The Department of Health and Human Resources is preparing to accept Medicaid billing from independent, licensed, masters-level clinical social workers. The West Virginia…
Charleston Gazette - When people think about their wages, annual salaries and expenses it's not always easy to compare current costs to past costs and figure out just what has changed financially. ReadThe minimum wage, created in 1938, has gone up over the years. But if wage increases are calculated using inflation rates, those increases…
The State Journal - President Barack Obama announced a landmark agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping Nov. 11 that aims to cut back carbon dioxide emissions on a global level. ReadTo some, this comes off as a deal that would destroy the coal industry, as China accounts for almost half of the world's coal consumption;…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - The report is called Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction Opportunities for the West Virginia Power Sector. It was spun out of an annual conference on anticipated rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the EPA's Clean Power Plan, Rule 111(d). An environmental consulting firm based in Morgantown, Downstream Strategies,…