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Thoughts on the 2025 legislative session

The 2025 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature is finally done, wrapping up midnight Saturday after 60 days of floor sessions, committee meetings and debates. I get asked a lot during a session about whether I think a session was good or productive. This year I was asked for letter grades in regard to specific public policy items and how the Legislature did. I kind of regret having done that. Honestly, only you, the public, can decide whether your lawmakers adequately addressed the issues you are concerned about and voted for these people to solve. The entire 100-member ...

The annual look back at the prior year

I’ll most likely be spending a good portion of this weekend, and a few additional nights over the coming week, at the office putting in some longer hours than usual. The time has come, once again, for the West Virginia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, and I, unfortunately, am nowhere near as complete with gathering our entries as I would like. Compiling these entries typically involves a full review of every newspaper published in the previous year. I will admit, it has become a little easier over the years, as we can go through digital copies of the newspapers, ...

Trump administration calls for rate cuts as part of plan

Watching and listening to the interview on Sunday, April 6, 2025, with NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it a “false narrative” that people close to retiring may be reluctant after their retirement savings dropped last week because of the stock market downturn. Once again, the elite fail to understand how the wage workers’ 401k retirement plans work. When a retired employee separates from the employer who does not have a Defined Benefit Pension, which more than 90% of private sector workers do not have, the 401K is used to create an income ...

A defining moment for college sports and West Virginia’s youth

The recent $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA is more than a headline—it’s a seismic shift in the landscape of college athletics. This case, which directly confronts decades of inequity in student-athlete compensation, is the latest in a series of defining moments forcing us to rethink how we value the young people who power billion-dollar sports industries. The settlement compensates former athletes for lost opportunities dating back to 2016 and introduces a groundbreaking model that allows schools to pay athletes directly starting in 2025. But while the college world is ...

History in the Hills: Woven history

This month at Historic Fort Steuben, we are hosting our annual Spring Quilt show. We are in our 15th year for the show at the Fort and it is always one of my favorite events. This year, we have 45 quilts on display ranging from small lap quilts to large king-sized pieces. My colleague, Mary Snyder, does an incredible job organizing the event every year, and this year is no exception. I am always amazed at the craftsmanship of these unique objects. I grew up around quilts and quilting so, I know just a little bit of the process of creating these works of art. My grandmother was a ...

Legislators entering the final countdown

Finally, we’ve come to the final six days of the 60-day legislative session. At midnight on Saturday, April 12, the lawmakers will complete their work and adjourn sine die. The budget bill is in the process of being worked on, with the House of Delegates passing its budget Friday and the state Senate set to insert its version of the budget bill this week. The budget can be somewhat of a game, even though it’s literally the only bill required to be done. It also must be balanced in compliance with the state Constitution. But by game, I mean it’s the job of the House to defend ...