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Extra assessment for seniors common sense

More than a year ago, U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., introduced Senate Bill 2612 — the Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly Act. It’s a bipartisan effort incorporates risk assessments and prevention services for falls into annual wellness visits and initial preventive physical exams under Medicare, as well as associated services provided by physical therapists and occupational therapists. And it’s been stuck in the Senate Finance Committee since July 31, 2025. It’s hard not to wonder if its momentum hasn’t been hijacked by that other bill with the very similar ...

Technology delivers for Hope Scholarships

Technology can be a wonderful thing — when it is working properly and we understand it. Though it doesn’t always deliver on its promises, it seems one improvement in the technology in the Hope Scholarship Program IS delivering what taxpayers demand. State Treasurer Larry Pack, also chairman of the Hope Scholarship Board, said last week that TheoPay Fulfillment has increased productivity for processing orders by 42% as families start using 2026-27 school year funding. There is an AI component to that success (it reviews eligible orders under $75), but the TheoPay Self-Serve ...

Mon county makes strides in bridging digital media literacy gap

MORGANTOWN – Gretchan Utzman began her job as the The Morgantown Public Library’s “digital navigator” last week as a guide for aging populations to better understand technology as society evolves. The pilot program was announced in April by the Morgantown County Commission, in which $50,000 would be allocated to the library for digital education resources. The initiative is part of Mon County’s $8 million allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act, COVID-19 relief funding, to improve broadband access. James Spears, assistant director, said the program has launched ...

A billion-dollar bet on maybe, built next to two coal plants that already work

FirstEnergy wants West Virginia ratepayers to underwrite a 1,200-megawatt, $2.47 billion natural gas plant next door to the Fort Martin Power Station in Monongalia County — inside the same generation corridor as the Harrison Power Station. Before regulators sign off, someone needs to ask the obvious question: what happens to the two coal plants already standing on that ground? Nobody is arguing against new generation. West Virginia needs it. The question in front of the Public Service Commission is narrower and harder: should regulators hand over billions of dollars in cost ...

Trump still talking W.Va. language

Polls across the political spectrum continue to show a steady decline in Donald Trump’s approval rating. For example, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll put the president’s approval rating at 33%, down 14 points from the start of his second term. Not all polls have his numbers that low. ...

Starting and keeping small businesses going

Some public officials in West Virginia have understood for years that we need to expand and diversify our economy -- and that maybe the best way to do that is to start small. Efforts to help people start and sustain small businesses here have strengthened to the degree that a study conducted by Franchise Opportunities has named the Mountain State the leading state for new business survival. That's a big deal. Plenty of small business owners will tell you it is easier to start one than to keep one going. Franchise Opportunities chose a five-year period that included the Covid-19 ...