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Legislature hobbled PFAS Protection Act

In September 2022, we editorialized on the U.S. Geological Survey report on the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in West Virginia’s water, which found 37 of 279 water intake sites across the state had levels higher than the EPA’s drinking water health advisory.   Back then, we told you how “PFAS” is an umbrella term that encapsulates many related chemicals that are used in a variety of industries and products, from pots and pans (think “non-stick”) to clothes to carpets and rugs to food wrappers and even fire extinguisher foam. It’s believed ...

W.Va. sacrifices real election integrity in favor of illusion

Earlier this month, West Virginia joined several other deep-red states, including Florida and Missouri, in capitulating to the election fraud conspiracy crowd when the state opted to leave the Electronic Registration Information Center partnership. Louisiana and Alabama dropped out of the program earlier this year.  For states, and state election officials like Mac Warner, who claim to care about election integrity, this is a huge mistake.  Founded in 2012 with three Democratic and four Republican states, ERIC, as it’s known, is a bipartisan nonprofit that helps states ...

Are ‘bad apples’ too hard to get rid of?

The Department of Homeland Security, at Gov. Jim Justice’s request, launched multiple investigations into incidents involving state police after two anonymous letters were sent several months ago to the Justice administration and several lawmakers. The allegations go back years, ranging from financial fraud and misuse of funds, to stealing an unattended envelope full of money from a casino, to videotaping female officers in a state police locker room.  As investigations continue, Justice has promised transparency. That is a promise that he, his administration and the state ...

Of orange cones and orange flags

Why the state may benefit from letting municipalities share custody of roads West Virginia’s other state flower is already in bloom: the orange cone.   Pothole filling started early this year because of February’s mild temperatures, and around the time the first orange cones started appearing, orange flags seemed to sprout from street signs and stop signs in and around Suncrest.   The orange flags are part of a pedestrian project spearheaded by three neighborhood stakeholders. Vaike Haas, Tiphani Davis and Sumi Mehta secured a federal grant to create the ...

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid 11

The legislative graveyard The 2023 regular legislative session is over, and we’re bringing our “The Good, the Bad and the Stupid” series to a close. While over 300 bills passed and went to the governor for his signature, hundreds more didn’t. We’ve highlighted several bills already: ones we thought had great potential but died in committee. Today, we’ll look at several bills that passed at least one chamber but were ultimately laid to rest in the legislative graveyard.  Good: SB 124, to require boards of education to craft dating and sexual violence prevention ...

If CARES money used appropriately, audit should turn up no problems

On Monday, State Senate Finance Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury Office of Inspector General asking it to potentially look into whether Gov. Jim Justice and his administration mishandled CARES Act monies.   At issue are $28,375,985.34 in CARES money that ultimately went to non-COVID-19 related activities, like $10 million toward completing Marshall University’s new baseball stadium, as well as an unspecified amount for a minibus for Appalachian Bible College. Tarr also contends that CARES funds were improperly used for “Do It for Babydog” ...