Breaking News

Letters to the Editor

Reconsider Mineral Valuations

Editor, News-Register: Concerning the proper valuation of tax on mineral rights in West Virginia. While the West Virginia legislature is in session, I wonder if they may be able to suspend the current bill that is now law in order to correct any errors in the math equation. It is obviously creating a lot of confusion amongst property owners with mineral rights contracts. The West Virginia state legislature should also look into the possibility of eliminating this tax all together. I personally believe this is a double tax on mineral rights that have already been taxed when ...

Biden, Trump and the Balloons

Editor, News-Register: The political-crazy media and its blogosphere are frenzied because Biden hesitated to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon over Montana, ignoring the fact that a hard crash landing would make analyzing the balloon’s contents much more difficult. The water recovery off South Carolina’s coast didn’t gain praise from them either. Now they complain about Biden shooting down three more spy balloons. It looks like nothing will satisfy those Trump supporters. “This never would have happened under Trump,” they squawk. But of course it did, at least ...

Ending Hunger in West Virginia

Editor, News-Register: Voices of Hunger is a collective working to break the cycles of poverty that exacerbate household food insecurity, which is a precondition for the full enjoyment of the right to food. The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child alone or in community with others, have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food. It is indivisibly linked to the inherent dignity of the human person. In West Virginia, we work to humanize the experience of hunger through personal storytelling and engaging in discourse that places emphasis on ...

Biden Setting Course for Nation

Editor, News-Register: During his recent State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called for bipartisan support, while emphasizing many of his administration’s accomplishments thus far, including the creation of more than 12 million jobs, which is nearly unparalleled in American history; the rate of unemployment reaching a 54-year low of 3.4%; the 2021 passage of the much needed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill; the passage of more than 300 bipartisan bills; as well as other significant achievements. Although there is much work yet to be done in the area of inflation ...

SB 613 Bad for West Virginia

Editor, News-Register: Senate Bill 613 ignores our state health plan and 50 years of proven health care planning by essentially eliminating Certificate of Need (CON) and allowing any hospital to provide any service they wish on the “campus” of their hospital. The authors of this bill are attempting to completely gut CON by changing critical definitions that ensure need-based decisions and access to high quality, affordable care. These changes were proposed in legislation the past two to three legislative sessions by Thomas Memorial Hospital. The Senate in previous ...

Protect Youth From Big Tobacco

Editor, News-Register: As a grandparent, I am concerned about Big Tobacco’s enormous toll on our state. If nothing is done to reduce tobacco use, 47,000 West Virginia kids under 18 will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. West Virginia can and must do better. I am calling on Sen.Mike Maroney to increase funding to $16.5 million for the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation program. Our lawmakers can and must do better to protect West Virginia youth from Big Tobacco. A well-funded, fact-based tobacco control program is needed to counteract the millions of dollars that ...