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Let Babydog Eat Cake

You’d be forgiven if you were to think that West Virginia only has one U.S. senator instead of two. Because based on appearances, Sen. Jim Justice appears to be doing the bare minimum. Sure, Justice is casting votes. If he has missed any, I’m unaware. The same goes for committee meetings. Justice is attending meetings, casting votes, and sometimes making speeches, though many times those speeches have little to do with whatever the committee is discussing that day. But is doing the bare minimum enough? One of my favorite movies is “Office Space.” In one scene, a server played ...

A Path To Solve West Virginia’s Water Problems

For many years, numerous water systems in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle have been in distress. Whether it’s from industrial pollution, lack of adequate supply or simply limited infrastructure investment, many communities have been impacted and left with no or limited access to this vital resource we call water. I grew up in the Ohio River Valley where I graduated from Paden City High School, West Liberty State College and West Virginia University. I still have family and friends who are part of the region. It’s hard to witness what many residents have had to endure when it ...

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Last week, I covered the final two days of permanent injunction hearings to block a June directive from the West Virginia Board of Education to county boards of education to continue to enforce the state’s compulsory vaccine law and not accept religious exemptions approved by the Department of Health and made possible by Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s January executive order. I’m not going to rehash all of the particulars. You can read my coverage of both days. But I wanted to use my column to focus on last Thursday morning’s testimony by Dr. Mark McDaniel, the acting state health ...

Politicians Fight Culture Wars, West Virginia Loses Jobs

A recent local news headline read: “Manufacturing plant moving from West Virginia to Ohio, creating new jobs.” This is an unfortunate sign of the times for our state, which has lost the job-creating momentum created after business-friendly Republicans took control back in 2015. Unfortunately, a lot of Republican politicians seem more focused on fighting culture wars and creating new opportunities for lawsuits than growing our economy. Even though a majority of West Virginia voters want their leaders focused on economic growth, many legislators prioritize hot-button social ...

President Donald Trump Really Is Man in the Arena

If you are one of millions of Americans who watch the news, and are angry about current political events, please permit me to explain how our TV news media works. The media is not paid by you, the American citizen, for the morning news. All of those reporters, journalists, and talking head commentators are paid with corporate advertising dollars; the pharmaceuticals, car companies, beverage makers, tech giants, etc. And all of them are multinational corporations, which means their loyalty is to their investors, and not to the United States of America. Like that media, our two-party ...

Strong Public Schools Vital to West Virginia’s Future

Well-educated students who are prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st Century are vital to our success as a state. Today’s students will have unprecedented opportunity to succeed in life if they are properly educated and prepared. Earlier this month, West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty pointed to important facts regarding the West Virginia school-age population and regulations regarding school funding. Mr. Hardesty correctly points out that in order to improve public education, legislators must remove regulations put in place by their predecessors that ...