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Council and a manager or a mayor?

We would like to thank everyone who participated in our survey from last Sunday. We received 26 responses and eight comments. Only one person chose to have their response be considered for a letter to the editor, but we’ll share some of our other respondents’ thoughts.  (A quick disclaimer: This was not a scientifically sound survey, so it shouldn’t be taken as representative of all Morgantown city residents.)  A slight majority (15 of 26, or roughly 58%) of respondents favored a mayor-council structure of city government. One person said they used to live in ...

There shouldn’t be a special session for jail staffing crisis

There should not be a special session to address the jail staffing crisis.  We don’t say this because we don’t support our state’s corrections officers. We say this because legislators shouldn’t be rewarded for failing to do their jobs.  The West Virginia Division of Corrections has been in an official State of Emergency for almost nine months, but the state’s jails and prisons have been in crisis mode for much longer.  Last week, William Marshall, commissioner of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told members of the Oversight Committee on ...

If Mon Power buys Pleasants, only the shareholders win

“So when the company makes money the profit all goes to the stockholders and management, but when they lose money (by not investing in new tech) they want bailout cash from ‘the little people?’ I don’t think so.”   The anonymous comment above, submitted to the Public Service Commission in regard to Mon Power purchasing the Pleasants Power Station, sums it up nicely.  The story begins all the way back in August 2022, when Mon Power and sister company Potomac Edison (both subsidiaries of FirstEnergy) approached the Public Service Commission for an almost $184 ...

When lies pay, and when they don’t

If we thought last week’s 11th-hour settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems was surprising, that was nothing compared to Monday’s shocking announcement that Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News.  Fox’s statement said the conservative media outlet and its primetime host “agreed to part ways” — but it seems the network neglected to tell Carlson. He ended his final broadcast with a plug for a Fox Nation streaming special about eating bugs and the send-off “we’ll be back on Monday.”   Tucker’s abrupt exit comes in the wake of the ...

Can change in city gov’t style attract voters?

On the eve of the eve of the city council election (which will be Tuesday), we find ourselves reflecting on Morgantown’s city government.  The last couple years have been particularly tumultuous, with claims that the city manager doesn’t live in the city and an attempt to recall the entire city council, which seemed to fizzle out.  Residents of Morgantown will have the opportunity to make their thoughts on individual councilors known Tuesday, when voters will choose who will represent the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th wards for the next four years. Unfortunately, city ...

This Earth Day, combine concern with concrete action

Tomorrow is Earth Day — the one day of the year we set aside to actively think about ways we can maintain and improve our planet. In each of the last three years, we’ve looked at Earth Day from a different angle: generational concern about climate change, the intersection of personal and corporate choice and West Virginia’s extraction-based economy. Each is a facet — though they often overlap — of the same large, complex problem.  According to a 2021 Pew Research survey, the younger the generation, the more concerned it is with climate change. Fifty-seven percent of ...