Breaking News

Local Columns

Doubling Down on West Virginia

You’ve likely seen the news that Antero Resources, already West Virginia’s largest natural gas producer, purchased the assets of another large producer in our state. When it closes, Antero’s production will total over four billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, representing nearly half of all natural gas produced in the state. Additionally, Antero will become the fourth largest independent natural gas operator in the United States as a result of this transaction. Every cubic foot of that production, all of it, will be from West Virginia. The same day Antero Resources ...

Finding a New Approach to Homelessness

On Dec. 1, the city of Wheeling withdrew its only legal encampment zone’s exempt status, continuing to employ restrictive actions against people suffering from homelessness. As updates continue to emerge about Wheeling’s homelessness issue, it is safe to say: encampment bans do not solve the issue of homelessness. It only makes the path to escaping homelessness even harder through criminalization. Because one in three people experiencing homelessness have substance abuse issues and two-thirds of those people have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, barriers to accessing housing and ...

West Virginia Is Subsidizing Instead of Treating Addiction

West Virginia spends enormous sums on Medicaid-funded drug treatment, yet overdose deaths remain the highest in America. Addiction-driven homelessness is rising and our workforce participation is the lowest in the nation. Last year alone, the state spent more than $240 million on Suboxone and methadone-based programs. A system this expensive should not produce results this poor. It is time the state of West Virginia demanded accountability. And yes, there will be pushback from the industry. The truth is unavoidable: our treatment system is failing, and we are paying for failure. ...

Where the Buck Stops

I was very pleased last Monday to hear Gov. Patrick Morrisey say that the decision to leave behind a volunteer contingent of West Virginia National Guard members was his. “I made the decision to have the word come down that we would ask the people if they wanted to volunteer,” Morrisey said during his first press conference with West Virginia media since the shooting on Nov. 26 of two Guard members during their Washington, D.C., deployment by an Afghan national, one of whom died. I was pleased because the weekend after the shooting, a number of social media posts were made on the ...

Restoring a Government That Helps, Not Hurts: On Hunger, Housing and Health Care for the Holidays

Housing. Hunger. Healthcare. Across West Virginia and the country, a survival crisis is hitting us right at the winter holiday season. And instead of helping alleviate it, our government is making it worse. That must stop. This split between a government that helps versus a government that hurts is on full display in Morgantown and Wheeling. Morgantown is trying to help by opening an emergency winter-weather survival shelter. Wheeling, by contrast, is evicting more than 70 people from a city-established homeless camp, even though local shelters are already full and ...

Congress Must Strengthen Health Benefits for All

Congress is finally getting back to work after the government shutdown, and it’s critical that lawmakers act on legislation to address the most significant financial burden facing West Virginia families: health care. Both parties agree this issue demands attention. With health care once again at the forefront of the national conversation, and with leaders searching for common ground, Congress should start by passing the Strengthening Benefits Plan Act of 2025. Few Americans realize that billions of hard-earned dollars are currently locked away in overfunded 401(h) accounts, sitting ...