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Shame on Manchin for supporting GOP ransom demands

Sen. Joe Manchin prides himself on his bipartisanship, but when it comes to negotiations over the debt ceiling, he should not support House Republicans’ ransom demands.   Manchin views himself as a deficit hawk, and he’s made it clear he’s displeased with President Biden’s rollout of the Inflation Reduction Act — even going so far as to suggest he would vote to repeal the bill he helped pass. But in this instance, Manchin needs to stand firm and condemn House Republicans for holding debt ceiling negotiations hostage in return for budget cuts.  Reducing ...

The information vacuum: The delicate balance of transparency and privacy

When North Elementary’s principal and vice principal were abruptly put on administrative leave in February, we warned about the dangers of an information vacuum: In the absence of facts, rumors will proliferate.  The information blackout didn’t just permit speculation — it allowed people to envision a variety of worst-case scenarios and prevented reputable sources from assuaging people’s fears.  Instead, the information void was filled with rumor and innuendo, spread by social media websites and word of mouth, and left to fester long enough that some tall tales ...

The obesity problem

Why distance and poverty have made us overweight U.S. News recently released its rankings for “most obese” state in America, based on CDC data. Can you guess which state was No. 1?   Yep — it’s West Virginia, with a 40.7% obesity rate.   We weren’t surprised to find our state has a significantly overweight population. It’s not that West Virginians don’t understand good nutrition or refuse to exercise. The root causes of obesity here are lack of access and affordability.  In 2018, the last year for which we were able to find data, around 25,000 ...

Maslow’s gun: Shoot first, question later

In addition to the seemingly inescapable mass shootings, wrong-place-wrong-time shootings are skyrocketing, too.  In the last few weeks, we’ve had reports of a Black teenager shot by an elderly man for knocking on his door; a young woman killed when she and her friends turned around in a man’s rural driveway; two cheerleaders shot for accidentally getting into the wrong car; two parents and their 6-year-old daughter shot after a neighbor opened fire because some kids’ basketball rolled into his yard; and five members of a family, including a 9-year-old, slaughtered by ...

Another day, another mass shooting

Another day, another mass shooting: 208 in 130 days. Likely more by the time you read this.  Seven, in fact, on Sunday alone, with 12 total over the weekend. One of the shootings on Saturday qualified as a mass murder: eight dead — including three children, ages 3, 8 and 11 — and seven injured in Allen, Texas, when a gunman opened fire at an outdoor mall.  The Gun Violence Archive is a data collection group dedicated to tracking gun deaths, mass shootings and mass murders. It defines mass shooting as an incident with “a minimum of four victims shot, either injured ...

Consequences for Huggins: What will WVU decide?

West Virginia University finds itself in a … predicament.  Bob Huggins’ inappropriate comments on a Cincinnati radio show have put the otherwise beloved basketball coach in hot water: He referred to University of Cincinnati’s crosstown rivals, Xavier University, as “Catholic f--s,” using a homophobic slur. (See yesterday’s Sports coverage for the full story.)   At the time of this writing, Huggins has issued an apology and said he will accept whatever consequences come his way, and WVU said in a statement that the situation is under review. By the time you ...