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Editorial

SCOTUS ethics bill all bark and no bite

Last week, the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee passed the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023. The fact the bill passed out of committee is considered a huge success, but commentators speculate it’s unlikely to go any further. Democrats hail the bill as a much-needed reform measure considering the public’s declining trust in the Supreme Court — and the revelations about Justices Thomas and Alito accepting luxury trips and other gifts and Sotomayor prodding colleges and libraries to buy her books. Republicans decry the bill as “harassing and ...

Even inmates have rights under the First Amendment

Last week, Charleston-based U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin rightfully ruled in favor of an atheist inmate who said he had been subjected to faith-based programs in violation of his First Amendment rights. We’re surprised someone hadn’t sued sooner. Andrew Miller filed a lawsuit against Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials in April 2023.  Miller says when he became incarcerated in 2021, he was enrolled in the federally funded Residential Substance Use Treatment (RSAT) program, because he had been receiving secular recovery services prior to his ...

What WVU did, didn’t consider in its review

We understand that transformations are necessary but often uncomfortable in any context. We understand WVU has no choice but to reevaluate and make changes based on current circumstances, and with that comes sacrifice and discomfort. But it seems like there are some things WVU could have done differently to make its “academic transformation” less painful. WVU hosted a Campus Conversation July 10 to explain some of the data and reasoning behind the decisions of the provost’s office. It also publicly unveiled the programs and units under formal review.  Deans and chairs from ...

Courts vs. Congress: Who overstepped?

As part of the debt-ceiling-catastrophe-diverting Fiscal Responsibility Act passed in June, Congress added a rider meant to ensure the Mountain Valley Pipeline would be completed without any further challenges or delays. The embattled MVP is years behind schedule due to lawsuits from environmental groups, most of which the MVP has lost in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. The Fiscal Responsibility Act gave blanket approval to all permits and paperwork related to the MVP’s construction. It also said “no court shall have jurisdiction to review any action” ...

Refocusing on ‘to serve and protect’

In a past life, West Virginia University sociology professor James Nolan was a Wilmington, Del., police officer. In his 13 years on the force, Nolan noticed something: “The root cause of criminal behavior isn’t in the character or decisions of a person committing a violent or illegal act. Instead, it is more directly related to the context and conditions in which the behavior emerges. I was keenly aware that the same problems were happening in the same neighborhoods since I started as an officer.” Which is part of the reason Nolan is now working on a National Science ...

W.Va. might soon join 21st century

Multiple broadband projects seek to connect unserved areas to internet The good news: West Virginia is slated to receive approximately $1.2 billion of $42.45 billion of the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program — the 11th largest allocation nationwide based on updated connectivity data looking at individual addresses instead of census tracts.  We thank our senators for helping West Virginia secure the funding we need to make internet widely accessible throughout the state. Sen. Joe Manchin, in particular, fought to have existing broadband maps ...