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Editorial

Lawmakers must prioritize recovery, not punishment

As the 2024 legislative session opens today, there are certain words already on lawmakers’ lips: drugs, addiction, substance abuse, fentanyl. And one more: punishment. Over the last few years, as West Virginia has tried to wrangle an out-of-control drug crisis, lawmakers have talked a big game on prevention and recovery services, but when it came time to put actions to words, the results focused primarily on punitive measures. This year appears no different. A 2023 West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy report acknowledged the importance of recovery residences — aka, ...

Elections’ unsung heroes: Poll workers

Now that we are officially into 2024 and the primary election (which doubles as the final election for certain municipal and county offices) is less than six months away, it’s time to talk about the most pressing issue facing West Virginia elections: a lack of poll workers. Prior to 2020, we all took poll workers for granted. No one really thought about it — there were just always people there, manning the signature books, printing the ballots and guiding voters to the voting machines. But if you stop and think about who those people were, you’re likely to recall that most of ...

Additions to Mon County prosecutor’s office sadly needed

Earlier this week, Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney Gabrielle Mucciola updated the Mon County Commission on the two new hires she’s bringing on board: Larry Hasley as the coordinator for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative and Samantha Elkins as an assistant prosecuting attorney handling abuse and neglect cases. Both are welcome additions to the prosecutor’s office, though it is reflection of the sad state of affairs that they are needed at all. The backlog of untested sexual assault evidence kits (commonly referred to as rape kits) is a nationwide issue. Some kits remain ...

Explainer: Ranked choice voting

Secretary of State Mac Warner recently released an op-ed taking a stance against ranked choice voting. Which is fine — except that he made some misleading claims. For our part, we’re going to give an overview of what ranked choice voting is and how it works. For more details, there are several great resources to learn more about ranked choice voting (often shortened to RCV) that you can explore on your own. Ranked choice voting is what it sounds like: You rank candidates running for office in order of most preferred to least. Say Mickey Mouse, Snoopy and Scooby-Doo are running ...

Want to see Tom Bloom get mayo-ed?

As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.      And Mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom may just get his wish for $10,000 for Pantry Plus More — but it’ll come at a personal cost. As a reward for the WVU Mountaineers winning the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 27, Coach Neal Brown graciously agreed to get 4.5 gallons of mayonnaise dumped over his head in exchange for a $10,000 donation to a charity of his choice — and he chose Pantry Plus More. Afterward, Bloom — one of the pantry’s co-founders — said, on the record, ...

Wriston must clarify interchange comment

Speaking of Tom Bloom — we’re joining him in calling on Department of Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston to clarify comments he made about the Harmony Grove interchange and the $70 million bridge meant to connect the Morgantown Industrial Park to the interstate until the interchange can be completed. Back in early December, Wriston said, “I would bet you a dollar against a doughnut that the minute we start that other bridge project, the federal agencies may take a harder look at the interchange.” Is he indicating that federal agencies will pick up the pace on the ...