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Addressing W.Va.’s nursing shortage is a good start

Among the projects under West Virginia’s Rural Health Transformation Program is Mountain State Care Force, which is meant to address the shortage of healthcare workers in many of our communities. This week, the initiative awarded $201,403 to the WVU Medicine Center for Nursing Education, where it is expected to increase capacity for approximately 100 additional nursing students each year and increase access to nursing education for students from “rural and Health Professional Shortage Area communities, including Hancock, Ohio, Marshall, Tyler and Wetzel counties,” according to a ...

The harsh reality of W.Va.’s working poor

I wrote about West Virginia’s poverty level in last week’s commentary, based on U.S. Census figures. However, those numbers do tell only part of the story of the financial challenges in our state. The United Way’s ALICE report is more revealing. ALICE stands for asset limited, income ...

What a difference Save A Life Day makes

It’s no surprise an observance such as today’s Save A Life Day was born in West Virginia — a state ravaged to a greater degree than any other by the substance abuse epidemic that continues to plague us. From a humble pilot meant to increase access to naloxone and help prevent overdose death, the day has become a nationwide push to take action. In the Mountain State alone, there will be 220 events today, with the West Virginia First Foundation noting the sense of urgency means the number of events could continue to grow. Access and awareness of naloxone is essential, as is ...

On Donald Trump’s crusade against ‘dreamer’ students

The Trump administration sued D.C. and three states last week to try to invalidate their policies allowing in-state tuition for undocumented college students. It was a lamentable milestone: Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has now sued every jurisdiction that offered such assistance. This is part of a broader campaign against “dreamers,” the young immigrants who were brought into the United States illegally as children. Many remember no other country as home. College degrees are particularly important for this cohort: Degrees can lead to ...

Positive development or another problem?

"Today isn’t about a guarantee for (a) campus or a specific number or a specific promise for future investment,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said last week, as he announced the U.S. Department of Energy had done him a favor and added West Virginia as the sixth state on a list of those being considered for a nuclear lifecycle innovation campus. "West Virginia wasn’t originally part of that group, but we wanted to be, so we started working the phones, we started engaging more and more," Morrisey said. Idaho, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma and Louisiana were chosen as part of a process that ...

West Virginians need opportunities to earn way to financial security

The U.S. Census Bureau has released new figures on poverty in America, and for West Virginia the findings are mixed. I’ll get to those numbers shortly, but first here is some context: The data come from the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agencies look at poverty two ...