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The best time for school shopping is this weekend

If you have back-to-school shopping to do, this is the weekend to do it. Sales tax-free weekend West Virginia is bringing back the sales tax-free weekend for school supplies, starting Friday and running through 11:59 p.m. Monday. For that window of time, select types of clothes and school supplies will be exempt from the 6% sales tax (7% in municipalities), making this the perfect weekend to get your back-to-school shopping done.        Here’s a brief list of what qualifies for the tax exemption: Certain clothing with a purchase price of $125 or ...

How do we get more affordable housing?

The affordability of housing remains a hot topic. We feel this problem acutely in Morgantown, but the lack of affordable housing is a national — even global — issue. And it’s a complex one. For the U.S., the affordable housing shortage traces its roots to the 2008 housing bubble bursting. Ever since, demand has outpaced new supply, driving up the price of existing structures.  It doesn’t help that the house-building industry has been hampered by burdensome regulation that slows the process, adds to costs and limits what can be built and where. Urban development has ...

Justice’s business, debts could cause conflict of interest

As we’ve watched the Justice family’s creditors come knocking and their business assets sold off to cover debts, we’ve become increasingly concerned about how this financial drama could impact Jim Justice’s ability to serve as a U.S. senator. And, given West Virginia’s reliably red voting history over the last decade, he is most likely to be our next U.S. senator, though we won’t count Glenn Elliott out just yet. We aren’t suggesting Justice is pursuing office with the intent to benefit himself or his family. We worry, however, that the dire financial straits of his ...

Different ideas about ‘affordable’ housing

Part of the reason Morgantown’s real estate market is so hot is because there’s a lack of available and affordable housing. So we’re not going to object to the premise of building more housing. However, we do object to the description of the potential Metro Properties development as “affordable.” As Ben Conley reported, the City of Morgantown is considering a zoning amendment that would allow Metro to build roughly 27 townhouses between Evans Street and Metro Towers (University Avenue). David Biafora described the development as separate from Metro Towers, with individual ...

Trans-athlete case great fodder for Morrisey’s campaign

At what point will Attorney General Patrick Morrisey stop picking on children? He is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education. The case centers on the 2021 law (HB 2393) barring transgender females from playing in women’s sports by specifying that youth must play on the team matching their sex at birth, not their gender identity. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 13-year-old transgender girl from Bridgeport, has been in and out of courts for the last three years, challenging the law that tried ...

Century of history as Met turns 100

There will be a double birthday celebration downtown this weekend as the city recognizes what would be Don Knotts’ 100th birthday and what is the Metropolitan Theatre’s 100th birthday as well. Festivities kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Met with its Knotts movie marathon — featuring “The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” and “The Apple Dumpling Gang” — and will run through Tuesday, July 24.  Entrance to any of the movies costs $1. There will also be presentations and performances on Saturday, Monday and ...