West Virginia Public New Service and Hampshie Review - As West Virginia considers extending health care to the working poor by expanding Medicaid, one worry has been widening a program that some have said has an unsustainable budget. However, recent figures show that the threat is subsiding. The Congressional Budget Office has sharply cut its…
WVCBP in the News
Charleston Gazette - Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's proposed budget cuts could put the squeeze on college students who are trying to cover higher tuition costs, according to a policy brief released Friday by the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. Read
Spirit of Jefferson - With 30 percent of West Virginia children under age six living in poverty, the time for action is long overdue. In West Virginia, more than one in four children are currently in poverty. This is simply unacceptable. We can do better. All of our children deserve a chance to succeed and…
Charleston Gazette - Advocates for Medicaid expansion say Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is right to carefully consider the option -- but the sooner he decides, the better. Read "I think it's good that West Virginia is taking a good long look at expansion and weighing the options," said Ted Boettner, executive director of the West…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - The Senate's Select Committee on Children in Poverty is continuing to gather information on how they can best help the children of our state. Today, that committee heard that early education programs may be the best way to impact poverty rates in the long run, a position Gov. Tomblin supported…
To cut the federal deficit, several Congressional leaders, as well as the White House, are talking about the possibility of modifying how Social Security benefits are calculated. Read Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is currently calculated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released annually by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Charleston Gazette - Senator John Unger told a story this week about speaking to a group of third-graders. He told them how the Legislature works, and they pretended to be senators. You can imagine the kinds of bills they proposed. Longer recess. Second lunch. Read But the thing that stopped the state Senate majority leader…
Daily Athenaeum - McDowell County has a rich history of coal mining. The southernmost county in West Virginia paints the picture of coal's impact upon the state. In the early 1950s ,the county had a population of more than 100,000 and was the largest coal producer in the world. Read During the subsequent decades, as…
Charleston Gazette - While West Virginia has reduced the number of seniors living in poverty, child poverty is a growing problem, according to a report released by two organizations Tuesday. Read The state's senior poverty rate fell from 39.2 percent in 1969 to just more than 10 percent today, the report stated. It was released…
West Virginia Public News Service - West Virginia - and the United States as a whole - have dramatically reduced poverty among seniors, and a growing movement says it's time for the state to do the same for children. Read Census figures say the portion of West Virginia seniors living below the poverty line has…