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What do you do when ‘normal’ seems surreal?

Pandemic. Global warming. Racial reckoning. Cold war. World war. Potential nuclear Armageddon. It’s as if the most harrowing and tumultuous events of the 20th century have been resurrected and compressed into the last two years. How do you go about the business of everyday life when it feels like the world could crumble around you at any moment? We still have to go work, even as someone else hunkers down in a bomb shelter. We still have to make dinner even as someone else starves during a drought-fueled famine. We still have to do our laundry, even as someone ...

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid 8

The ‘last bills standing’ edition There are two days left in the 2022 regular legislative session. Anything that doesn’t pass the Legislature tomorrow is effectively dead, assuming it isn’t resurrected in a special session. In our The Good, the Bad and the Stupid round-ups, we’ve talked about roughly 50 different bills. Of those, two have become law and only three have the potential to still end up on the governor’s desk before the session expires. So here are the last bills standing: Good: HB 4252 — to limit the copay for a 30-day supply of insulin to $35; to limit ...

Going to be hard for Justice to sue Kabler when Kabler is right

Of the 24 minutes Gov. Jim Justice spoke during his COVID briefing Monday, before taking questions from the press, he dedicated at least 10 minutes to complaining about — and threatening to sue — the Charleston Gazette-Mail and its reporter/columnist Phil Kabler for a “Statehouse Beat” column that published Sunday. (And an additional four minutes after Kenny Bass asked what Kabler had done to warrant being sued. The answer to which included that Kabler “negatively impacted God.”) So what was in this infamous column? Titled “Justice and Legislature’s opposition to ...

Two bills to save, and one bill to kill

The Legislature’s regular session ends  Saturday, and there are two bills we’d like to see keep going and one that desperately needs to die. If HB 4252 sounds familiar, it’s because we keep talking about it. This bill makes three important changes to state code regarding insulin copays: “Cost sharing for a 30-day supply of a covered prescription insulin drug may not exceed $35 for a 30-day supply of a covered prescription insulin, regardless of the quantity or type of prescription insulin used to fill the covered person’s prescription needs. Cost sharing for a device may ...

Sunflowers for Ukraine: The global fight for democracy

Tucked inside today’s paper, you will find a poster: A field of sunflowers in front of Ukraine’s flag with the words “Let freedom ring” written in the Cyrillic alphabet. This is one small way that we — and you, as well — can show support for Ukraine and its people as they fight Russian invaders. Sunflowers are Ukraine’s national flower, and they have become a symbol of Ukrainians’ resistance to hostile Russian forces. These yellow flowers — long associated with joy and peace — took on a new meaning when a Ukrainian woman confronted Russian soldiers. She offered ...

Harm reduction programs save lives

Last week, Kingwood City Council declined to give Health Right a letter of support to operate a harm reduction and needle exchange program within the town’s limits. At that meeting, Councilman Josh Fields asked, “How does this program make Kingwood a better place to raise a family?” We understand he was primarily referring to complaints about used needles found in parks and yards. But his comment hits at something deeper: An inability — or perhaps an outright refusal — to see addicts as people. As such, we’d like to remind Councilman Fields that every person with ...