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West Virginia childcare advocates organize as Legislature fails to pass childcare bills

In a disheartening turn of events, the West Virginia Legislature has failed to pass any childcare bills at all, notably House Bill 4797, which sought to reimburse childcare providers based on the enrollment of children rather than the daily attendance. This failure to address crucial childcare issues represents a significant setback for families across the state, particularly in the realm of workforce participation. House Bill 4797 was a vital piece of legislation designed to reform the way childcare providers are reimbursed. By shifting reimbursement to be based on enrollment rather ...

West Virginia Public Service Commission is taking the next step in fire hydrant safety

Let me fill you in on the next step in our process of ensuring the safety of your fire hydrants. This is where you’re invited to get involved. As a little background, the Commission had its engineering staff do a study of the maintenance and upkeep of the state’s 50,000 fire hydrants last year. In large part, the report was good. We learned the state’s fire hydrants are maintained and functioning, but standards for upkeep of the maintenance and who has jurisdiction over studying fire hydrants was not clear. To resolve those issues, we took the matter to the Legislature this ...

A lesson in losing it all and still having faith

Another week has passed. Yet, my run of unfortunate circumstances continues. I may be breaking a record. Sadly. The arm is still in excruciating pain. Broken, not mending. My Shayley is hopefully in heaven running alongside my grandparents, my daddy and some of the best friends my life has ever known. My financial situation sucks. (And that was putting it mildly.) But God doesn’t drop money in one’s lap. So I don’t foresee any assistance in that situation. And as I reflect on the things I might lose, I need to pause from feeling sorry for myself and take inventory of what I ...

The curious case of Caiden Cowger

When writing about lobbyists in my column last summer, I wrote about Caiden Cowger, a Republican political operative and the president of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia. While Cowger’s predecessor at the Family Policy Council, Allen Whitt, was a registered lobbyist with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, Cowger has never registered as a lobbyist. As such, he also provides no expenditure reports to the Ethics Commission. Yet, Cowger actively lobbies on specific issues directly to lawmakers during legislative sessions and has acted almost as an unpaid staffer for ...

Remember the importance of poll workers

We’re under the two-month mark leading up to West Virginia’s primary election, and while there is much attention on the various candidates set to appear on the ballot, there is something else just as important we should consider. In order for the election to be as successful as we have seen in the past, there is a need for poll workers. These men and women are those willing to step forward to register each voter as they come into each polling location, making certain voters are at the appropriate place and assisting them in the event they are not. They answer any questions and ...

Time to fix household leaks

A simple household leak can cost you a lot of money. Most are simple to fix once you locate them, but leaks can be sneaky. The Public Service Commission of West Virginia is participating in Fix a Leak Week, March 18-24 by encouraging everyone to be vigilant in finding and repairing leaks in household plumbing fixtures. Did you know that across America, homes waste more than a trillion gallons of water every year? That is shocking. The average home loses almost 10,000 gallons of water per year to simple leaks. That is the amount of water it takes to wash 300 loads of laundry. And every ...