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Joke MCCARTHY Shutdown Act raises valid points

Why should Congress get paid for shutting down the government? Maybe Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig was trolling House Speaker Kevin McCarthy when she introduced the My Constituents Cannot Afford Rebellious Tantrums, Handle Your (MCCARTHY) Shutdown Act, but we suspect many Americans would throw their support behind the legislation, even if the rest of Congress won’t. The MCCARTHY Shutdown Act (kudos to whomever successfully reverse-engineered that acronym) would withhold pay from U.S. representatives and senators for every day that the government is shut down. As Craig said in a ...

Capito’s trade-off: Higher wages, but no illegal workers

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is one of six Republicans sponsoring the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage over the course of five years to $11 per hour. After that, the federal minimum wage would be indexed to inflation. If you’re surprised, we were, too. The last federal minimum wage increase was in 2009, and at that time, it was set at $7.25 an hour. Many states do offer a higher minimum wage (West Virginia’s is $8.75), but 13 states only match the federal wage; five states  don’t have a minimum and two states ...

Inmates are still people

Alleged abuse at Hazelton must be investigated Most everything we’ve seen in the headlines recently related to jails has been about the (still ongoing) staffing crisis. But Hazelton federal prison in Preston County made headlines this past week for a very different — and disturbing — reason. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was one of three senators (two Republican and one Democrat) who wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for an investigation into alleged misconduct at Hazelton. “These reports,” the letter said, “combined with public ...

‘Greedflation’ theory no longer the fringe

“Greedflation” is an economic theory that emerged around 2021 as an explanation for the sky-high inflation we were experiencing. At first, even mainstream economists considered greedflation a left-wing fringe theory, bordering on conspiracy. But now, some mainstream and even conservative economists are starting to see some merit in the idea. In essence, greedflation is the idea that the various factors large corporations kept citing as justification for price increases couldn’t be the whole story. Yes, there was a pandemic. Yes, there was a tight labor market. Yes, there were ...

CSC upholds Dalton termination — for the wrong reasons

Last week, the Westover Civil Service Commission rightfully voted to uphold the termination of former Westover Police Officer Aaron Dalton. But the reasons the commissioners gave — or did not give — is concerning. As Erin Cleavenger reported, Dalton’s original dismissal by the police review board was based on three allegations of misconduct — two against civilians and one against fellow officers — but the commission did not agree all three were grounds for termination. The first allegation stemmed from an Aug. 25, 2019, incident in which Dalton and Officer Justice Carver ...

Local firefighter case will set statewide precedent

The ongoing dispute between the City of Morgantown and local firefighters over holiday pay has made its way to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Whatever the court decides will impact paid firefighters across the Mountain State. As Erin Cleavenger reported, International Association of Firefighters Local 313 contends Morgantown did not fully compensate firefighters for shifts worked on holidays. In a previous ruling, Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Phillip D. Gaujot said firefighters were entitled to time off or additional pay only during the legal holiday itself, but ...