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Editorial

WVU must regain, then maintain, the trust it has broken

There was nothing new in the disparate State of the University addresses given by WVU’s President Gordon Gee and by the West Virginia United Students’ Union on Monday. The stark division between the two outlooks made one thing clear: West Virginia University has badly damaged — if not completely broken — the trust of its students, faculty and staff, as well as the trust of the wider community and alumni. Trust is a fragile thing. While it can be built fairly easily, it is harder to maintain and extremely difficult to rebuild once broken. No matter how many times the ...

Discussion must start in shared reality

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney is well within his rights to defend his vote against the continuing resolution that prevented the government shutdown on Sept. 30. In fact, we appreciate his willingness to engage. However, if we are to have an honest discussion, we must have a shared understanding of reality. And, at the moment, we do not. Mooney says he voted for House appropriations bills for the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State. That is true. There is, however, a missing piece ...

Do something good and get something good

In Parking Authority partnership with Pantry Plus, 1 item = 1 forgiven ticket Every once in a while, karma is very direct: You do something good and immediately get something good in return. In this case, karma is being helped by the Morgantown Parking Authority, which will forgive expired meter tickets in exchange for eligible donations for Pantry Plus More. The donation drive runs from now until Nov. 9, and a full list of eligible items can be found at parkmpa.com. One item equals one forgiven ticket, up to two tickets; so, if you donate two or more items, you can have two ...

Congress must act before we careen off ‘child care cliff’

On Sept. 30, funding for the Child Care Stabilization Program ran out and experts warn that when the already-distributed dollars dry up, the nation will go careening off a “child care cliff.” The Century Foundation reports that more than 3 million children nationwide could lose access to child care, 70,000 child care programs are likely to close and families will lose $9 billion in earnings every year. Here in West Virginia, 23,231 children will lose access to child care, 604 centers will close, parents will lose $54 million in earnings as they cut work hours and 1,009 childcare ...

Hateful rhetoric, violence on the rise. Politicians aren’t helping

In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians and Israel’s counter-attack on Gaza, both antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in the U.S. and abroad. Some pro-Palestine groups have unfairly laid the blame for Hamas’ attack at Israel’s feet, framing the slaughter of civilians as “anti-colonial” pushback; some individuals have gone so far as to chant antisemitic slogans at rallies, including “Gas the Jews,” or by holding up images of swastikas. On the reverse side, people who have shown support for Palestinians have been doxxed or fired from jobs. American ...

It’s no secret Jim Justice’s finances are a mess. They’ve been the subject of reporting  and court cases since before Justice became governor of West Virginia. And they’ve always come across as something between a drama and a tragedy: failing empires, shady deals and the “little guy” left hung out to dry. But lately they’ve seemed more like a farcical comedy. Take, for example, the recent court-ordered repossession of a Justice company helicopter as collateral for unpaid debts. Prologue: In May 2009, Justice sold the family’s coal assets in Bluestone Resources ...