Taxes, teachers and term limits: What lawmakers should focus on this session

January 10, 2026

For eighty plus years, West Virginia’s leaders ignored innovation and ingenuity as the U.S. economy moved into the 21st Century. By taking an approach that gave preference to the status quo, our leaders failed to forecast necessary policy changes that could modernize West Virginia’s economy. All the while our neighbors focused on new opportunities allowing them to rocket past the Mountain State. These failures have created many of the issues that continue to hold our economy back. Since the Republican takeover ten years ago, we have seen the Legislature and the Executive branch put ...

Can the United States solve its electricity crisis?

January 10, 2026

As America moves into 2026, consumers are looking for relief from an ongoing affordability crisis. While prices for some key items have mercifully held steady—or even come down—other costs such as rent, dining out, and hospital visits continue to climb unabated. U.S. electricity—the one sector that affects all consumer industries in some way—is also racing upward. America’s electricity costs have jumped 32 percent in just the past five years. That’s a major problem for our new digital economy. Why are electricity prices rising so rapidly? Soaring power demand—particularly ...

These Nobel-prize-winning economists have a timely lesson for Congress

January 10, 2026

We live in arguably the most innovative and prosperous era in human history. My lifetime alone has seen numerous technological leaps that past generations could never have dreamed of, including the moon landing, the birth of the internet, and now the rise of artificial intelligence. But this pace of transformation is historically the exception, not the rule — and it may not continue much longer if the infringer lobby gets its way. That’s the lesson to be drawn from last year’s Nobel Prize in economics, which was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for ...

Sometimes letting go makes us stronger

January 10, 2026

There’s a specific kind of silence that settles over a house once your children have grown and moved on. It is a sound I am still trying to get used to. It is not the peaceful silence of a nap time, nor is it the soft, late-night quiet of a household that is finally at rest. No. This is a far heavier silence than any I have ever known. This is an echoing stillness that makes you realize just how much of your identity was wrapped up in the beautiful, chaotic noise of being needed. Once in a while, that stillness becomes so great that it seems as if it stretches clear down the ...

Suiting up for the 2026 legislative session

January 5, 2026

Finally, it is 2026 and things will begin ramping up from here as the new 60-day legislative session kicks off next week with the gaveling in of the House of Delegates and state Senate, and Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s second State of the State address. The West Virginia Press Association’s annual Legislative Lookahead is this Friday at the Culture Center in Charleston. The event serves as the kickoff for those in print, TV, radio, and non-profit news preparing for their statehouse coverage. Reporters will hear from legislative majority and minority leadership, executive branch ...

Looking forward into the new year

January 3, 2026

As we kick off the new year, I took a look back at my first column of 2025 in which I attempted to set a few goals – both personally and professionally – to carry me through the last 365 days. The bad news...I still have the same headshot photo this column has featured for probably the last 15 years. There were discussions to get something updated, but various schedule conflicts and other things came about and it quickly was forgotten. More people have commented on the continued use of the old photograph, especially since I’ve had my increasingly graying beard to accompany the ...