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WVNCC Students Helping and Learning

Editorials

It is wonderful to see students get real-world experience in their chosen fields while helping others in need at the same time. West Virginia Northern Community College HVAC students are doing just that right now in flood-affected areas of Ohio County. Those devastating June floods destroyed dozens of homes. Those homeowners are trying to rebuild, and in many of those domiciles, new heating and air conditioning units are necessary. Professional contractors can’t keep up with all the need, so WVNCC students are jumping in to help install those units. “The students get to learn ...

A Sobering Outlook

Editorials

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland delivered some unsettling news as we roll toward the holiday season. Indicators suggest there is a 24% chance the U.S. economy was in recession last month. The Cleveland Fed represents Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, where the Ohio Capital Journal noted there have been a number of worrying indicators. Credit card debt is rising faster in Ohio than in all but four other states. We had the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country in August. In fact, hiring across the country has slowed dramatically, ...

One Governor at a Time, Please

Local Columns

Larry Pack has a good reputation as an accountant and businessman, having operated an assisted living company until selling it off a few years ago. He was an active member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. He continues to be a respected Republican national committeeman. He moved on to serve as a senior advisor to former governor Jim Justice and easily slid into a vacancy as Department of Revenue secretary during Justice’s final year in office. Pack won election unopposed as state treasurer, taking office early in January so that former state treasurer Riley Moore could be ...

Editorials

Something about the relationship between Toyota and West Virginia should be studied by those hoping to expand and diversify our state’s economy. Since the days of former U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s encouragement of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing project in Buffalo, W.Va., the partnership between the state and Japan has been rock solid. Now, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia is expanding with a nearly half-billion-dollar investment in increasing the assembly of four-cylinder hybrid-compatible engines, sixth-generation hybrid transaxles and rear motor stators. There are ...

Broadband Access Still Needs Work

Editorials

Federal money is helping a little when it comes to West Virginia’s broadband internet woes, but despite being one of the most improved states in the country on that front, we STILL are the worst connected state in the nation — worse than even Mississippi and Puerto Rico. That gives some idea of just how far behind we had fallen when it comes to getting Mountain State residents affordable access to the quality broadband internet service that is regarded as a basic utility in most of the rest of the United States. The average for connected households everywhere else is 93.2%. Here, ...

Make W.Va. CPS Better

Editorials

West Virginians knew our state’s child welfare system was a mess — and regularly failing children and families — toward the end of the Justice administration, but a report by the U.S. Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General shows us the situation may have been even worse than we thought. In a 100-case sample, the report showed the state’s Bureau of Social Services failed to comply with child abuse and neglect requirements 91% of the time: 74 reports did not include a required written notification letter; initial assessments were not completed within 30 days of ...