West Virginia Public Broadcasting - It could be argued that West Virginia has never been "owned" by her inhabitants. Before European settlement, of course, ideas of land ownership were not in vogue. Then King Charles II rewarded many loyal friends with large swaths of land and by 1730s, 800,000 acres in what would become West…
WVCBP in the News
Charleston Gazette - In six West Virginia counties, the top 10 landowners control at least 50 percent of the private land. Not one of the state's 10 largest landowners is headquartered in West Virginia. Read These findings in a new report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and the American Friends Service…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - A finding nearly four decades ago that West Virginia's biggest landowners are headquartered out of state remains true today, according to a study released Monday by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Read The report, "Who Owns West Virginia in the 21st Century?," is coauthored by the West Virginia Center…
Charleston Gazette - Much of West Virginia is still owned by large, mainly absentee corporations, according to an updated examination of landownership being released today. Read Twenty-five corporations own nearly 18 percent of the state's roughly 13 million private acres, according to the report produced by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and…
Charleston Gazette - With Medicaid expanding to cover those who make up to about $15,000 a year, West Virginia could save millions of dollars over the next few years by using Medicaid funds for treating eligible inmates, a health policy analyst said. Read Brandon Merritt, of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, estimates…
West Virginia Metro News - Thousands of fast food workers across the United States are uniting to continue the call for a higher minimum wage and the ability to unionize. Read The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour or about $15,000 a year for full-time work. On Thursday, those workers and labor organizers…
West Virginia Public News Service - Less than 1 percent of West Virginia's jobs come from Marcellus shale drilling. That has many asking how much the state can count on that industry for its future. In a recently released study, the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative found drilling and related work accounted for .8 percent of…
Charleston Gazette - Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said thousands of West Virginians celebrating Thanksgiving will be plagued by "devastating" reductions in federal food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Department of Agriculture's Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Read In his weekly Wednesday column, Rockefeller wrote, "It's a time of gratitude and…
Charleston Gazette - Last winter, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy predicted that the snowballing Marcellus Shale gas boom and spinoff industries will create 30,000 high-paying West Virginia jobs by 2020 and 58,000 by 2035 -- vastly outstripping the fading coal industry. Read Projections in a three-part study titled "America's New…
West Virginia Public News Service - Kentucky political leaders across party lines are looking for ways to diversify their state's economy, after big job losses hit the coal industry. Some feel West Virginia leaders need to do the same. On Dec. 9, Kentucky will host a Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) symposium in Pikeville to…