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Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Problem In West Virginia Must Be Solved

Editorials

On the same day in which Gov. Patrick Morrisey celebrated an audit finding $168 million in savings across executive branch services, he also threw a scare into vulnerable West Virginians when he said the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is facing a structural deficit. He described the discovery as “problematic,” even as he said the seeds of this problem were planted in the previous administration. “We saw there were changes that were made going back pre-COVID that kept coming and coming, and then the monies that were going in have led to a situation, a structural ...

Helping High Schoolers

Editorials

“We treated you like a kid until you walk across the stage and we’re like, ‘see ya.’ That doesn’t work,” said Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert during a roundtable discussion on transforming Ohio high school education. He’s right, but what do we do about it? How do we prepare young people to move into a job market that looks nothing like it did ten years ago, let alone the structure of a public high school education was solidified generations ago. According to a report by WCMH, XQ Institute and Battelle Education gathered education experts and state ...

West Virginia Must Balance Savings And Service

Editorials

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced this week that more than $168 million in savings had been found after audits of executive branch services. And, on the surface, he was right to be impressed with what BDO USA found. Potential savings will bring up plenty of questions for the Office of Technology to answer, as recommendations included saving $865,000 by shutting down an unnecessary data center, saving $456,000 per year by canceling third-party data storage contracts (one has to wonder who will be in charge of making sure the state does not lose access to any vital data), and saving ...

Bill Flanigan Makes A Great Addition To The W.Va. Supreme Court

Editorials

West Virginia just emerged from a primary election that was glutted with negative campaigning, from the mailers stuffed into mailboxes to the TV ads running on loop. Yet there were some candidates to refused to latch onto that negativity and partisanship. West Virginia Del. Bill Flanigan was one of those candidates. And he was rewarded with becoming one of the newest justices on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Flanigan defeated incumbent Justice Tom Ewing last Tuesday, and will be sworn in as a new justice as soon as Gov. Patrick Morrisey certifies the election. Flanigan ...

Reporter's Notebook: Keeping Score And Learning Lessons

Local Columns

When it comes to elections, there are winners and there are losers. But I can't help feeling like no one really won after last Tuesday's Republican primary elections. Sure, individual candidates won and lost. But otherwise, the two factions within the West Virginia Republican Party — the dark red caucus led by Gov. Patrick Morrisey and like-minded affiliates, and the light red faction led by many of the GOP lawmakers who helped secure the Republican legislative majorities back in 2015, such as state Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha — remain at loggerheads. More than $5 million was ...

SMART529 Helps West Virginia Students

Editorials

With all the talk about the huge sums of money that were invested into political campaigns in West Virginia in an attempt to affect the primary and now the general election here, it was easy to miss another announcement. According to the state treasurer’s office, West Virginia-based account holders have surpassed $1 billion in total assets in the SMART529 program, in an attempt to greatly improve our children’s futures. “This achievement means West Virginians realize the benefit and value of investing in our state’s SMART529 plan to save for their child’s education,” said ...