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3 trains derail per day. They shouldn’t

An empty CSX coal train derailed in Summers County Wednesday when it crashed into a landslide, injuring three crew members. Saturday, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield, Ohio. Ironically, another Norfolk Southern train derailed in Calhoun County, Ala., yesterday, shortly before Norfolk Southern’s CEO began his testimony in front of Congress. Before the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, none of this would be news. According to the Bureau of Transportation, on average, there are more than 1,000 train derailments a year — roughly three every day. They ...

Conservative values cast aside, Congress wages war on ‘woke’

While we’ve been largely focused on what’s been happening in Charleston lately, we’ve also had our eye on Washington, D.C., and the culture war backlash happening there. Last week, Congress passed a joint resolution “disapproving” a Department of Labor rule that allows investment firms to take into consideration environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The resolution, if signed into law, would reverse the rule and forbid investment firms from using non-monetary factors when crafting portfolios for investors — even if it’s what investors want. The House of ...

Lazy legislating the culture wars

Sifting through national commentaries lately, we’ve been struck by a sense of déjà vu. Syndicated columnists, editorial boards and less-frequent commentators are addressing many of the same political issues we’re seeing here in West Virginia: Bans on gender affirming care, drag shows, “critical race theory” and abortion, as well as pushes to crack down on nonexistent voter fraud and efforts to defund public education in the name of “school choice.” The similarities between what’s happening here and what’s happening in (particularly southern and red) states across ...

Legislature’s math isn’t adding up

The House of Delegates Finance Committee advanced a $4.6 billion budget Wednesday, but it doesn’t account for upcoming changes to PEIA nor a compromise on tax cuts. Earlier in the week, Senate passed a compromise tax cut plan (SB 424), as well as a budget proposal (SB 150) that accounts for proposed changes the House budget does not. As the Senate bills are more comprehensive, we will focus on them instead. That said, the SB 424 and SB 150 are likely to change before the end of the regular session — and we hope they do, because the math isn’t quite adding up. The Senate’s ...

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid 7: In memoriam

In this special edition of “The Good, the Bad and the Stupid,” we will honor a number of bills that could have improved West Virginia for the better but  are now officially dead. All the bills we mentioned Wednesday saw no movement on cross-over day, and all have died in committee. (Though a House version of SB 158, setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage, did survive.) We would like to thank Delegate Shawn Fluharty (D-Ohio) for his valiant attempts to have Raylee’s Law amended into the expanded Hope Scholarship bill. Unfortunately, the amendment was voted down. Here ...

Double whammy for SNAP recipients

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients will suffer one blow this month when they get their March benefits, which will no longer include the pandemic-era increase despite still astronomical food prices. But they may suffer a second blow this summer if the West Virginia Legislature follows through on its mandatory employment and training requirement. A work requirement, or job training requirement, is not a bad idea.  But it has to be done correctly in order to be a boon, not a burden. And the Legislature is not doing it correctly. HB 3484 states, in part, ...