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Week one of the W.Va. legislative session

Local Columns

Well, last week was an interesting start to the 2026 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. In my previous column, I told you about the comments from former state Senate Finance Committee chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, when he told attendees of the West Virginia Press Association’s Legislative Lookahead on Jan. 9 that the Republican caucus in the state Senate had no consensus regarding a public policy agenda. Now, that seemed a bit crazy to me. I’m a former Senate communications staffer, working the last two years of the Democratic majority and first two years of the ...

Let’s be honest about what state needs

Editorials

If Gov. Patrick Morrisey is looking for a West Virginia comeback, it’s a good indication he understands the struggle has been overwhelming for far too long and hope is still hard to come by for too many Mountain State residents. But during his State of the State address Wednesday, Morrisey was determined to focus on “a West Virginia we can be proud of,” for our children and grandchildren. As he rightly pointed out, that means being honest about the fact that many in our state are still struggling to make ends meet. They are dealing with “sky-rocketing grocery bills, crushing ...

A knock on my door that takes me back ...

Local Columns

Those small pair of tennis shoes sitting by the front door can change the entire temperature of my house. Not literally, of course. The thermostat remains exactly where it always is. But the temperature shifts in that quiet, unseen way — a kind of happiness that has a way of sneaking in and warming corners of your home and your heart that you never even realized had grown cold. Yes, that is what happens every time my 3-year-old grandson, Layne, comes to spend time at my house. It is especially true on those rare nights he gets to spend the entire night. It is as if the ...

Keeping the dream alive

Editorials

On Monday, Americans of all races and religions mark the observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. We think there can be no better way to remember his legacy than by offering the text of the speech he delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the ...

Full effects of school decision yet to come

Local Columns

There was, no doubt, shock following the decision Friday morning of the West Virginia Board of Education to take over control of the Hancock County Schools system. There have been many questions since October, when financial issues were made public, as to the future of the local school district. It began with the seemingly sudden termination of the former finance director, with the board then contracting with a financial consultant to help review the budgets of the current and previous fiscal years. As revealed during Friday’s state meeting, though, problems were known in ...

PSC at forefront of promoting broadband growth

Local Columns

One of the major issues the Public Service Commission has grappled with in recent years involves our effort to support the expansion in this state of high-speed internet service, commonly called broadband. Because of the mountainous terrain of the state, broadband is often accessed through provider service lines strung on utility poles. Our Commission regulates those poles and what can be attached to them. It is estimated that the state has more than 2.5 million poles, mostly owned by the two major power companies, but also by telephone carriers like Frontier. We have been tasked ...