In March 2023, the Charleston City Council approved a $111.6 million budget for the 2024 fiscal year.[1] Once again, the city dedicated one-fifth of its budget ($23.0 million) to uniformed Charleston Police officers for wages, benefits, pensions, insurance, and equipment.[2] Of the $12.3 million budgeted for wages, $2.6 million was allocated for overtime pay.[3] Read…
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Charleston Gazette - West Virginia’s Legislature is moving forward with a costly and ineffective bill targeted at only the poorest West Virginians. ReadThe bill, SB 348, would create a three-county pilot program to begin drug-testing recipients of cash assistance. The costs of the drug screening would be deducted from the TANF recipients’ monthly check and…
West Virginia's legislature is moving forward with a costly and ineffective bill targeted at only the poorest West Virginians. The bill, SB 348, would create a three-county pilot program to begin drug testing recipients of cash assistance (a.k.a. WV Works/ TANF). The costs of the drug screening would be deducted from the TANF recipients' monthly check…
Registration Open for Race Matters Summit in Lewisburg Registration is open for the Summit on Race Matters: Continuing Conversations, taking place in the Alumni Center of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine on November 10 and 11, 2015. The conference will offer a unique opportunity for people from throughout West Virginia to continue the…
Open enrollment for 2023 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace coverage begins today, November 1. The Marketplace has been a critical feature of our health care system since its introduction in 2014. It provides quality health coverage for families who are not eligible for employer-sponsored coverage, Medicare, or Medicaid. The ongoing public health emergency triggered by…
Our new fact sheet highlights how SNAP restrictions harm vulnerable populations that face barriers to work, negatively impact retailers, and increase demand on the state's charitable food sector. Read the full fact sheet here. Excerpt below: Overview The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) is the most powerful anti-hunger tool…
The passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) included a little-heralded provision to permit states to expand coverage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to children of public employees. So far, at least seven states have benefited from allowing public employees to enroll their children in CHIP. If West Virginia were to adopt…
On Sunday, Gazette gossip columnist Phil Kabler pointed out that John Raese - a West Virginia Republican politician and owner of Greer Industries in Morgantown - "was No. 2 among the top 100 purchase card vendors in the state, making $12,998,945 off the state in 2012." The fact that Mr. Raese receives so much money from…
The vast majority of school-age children in West Virginia attend and receive their education through the public school system, and West Virginia’s state constitution requires "a thorough and efficient system of free schools." But a growing Hope Scholarship voucher program is diverting public resources away from the public education system and the nearly 250,000 children…
After hearing from the coal industry about their desire for cut in the severance tax, SB 705 was quickly introduced and sped through the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, and is already on 2nd reading in the Senate today. In its current form, the bill cuts the severance tax on coal from 5% to 4%…