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Editorial

Time to break Big Tech’s stranglehold

Yesterday, we covered the Open App Markets Act — a bill in Congress that targets the anticompetitive practices in app stores. Today, we’ll cover its companion bill, the American Innovation and Online Choice Act (AIOCA, for short). We could also go into the specific metrics of what platforms/companies are covered under the AIOCA, but it’s safe (and shorter) to say that it will impact Apple, Google (Alphabet Inc.), Amazon, Facebook (Meta) and likely Microsoft. However, it will be up the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to name which companies will be covered ...

Bill would chip away at Big Tech duopoly

If you’re someone who still watches cable television, you may have seen commercials recently that say something along the lines of liberals are attacking the tech industry, liberals are taking away the tools small businesses need to survive, liberals are ruining your two-day shipping or, the best one, liberals are threatening national security. Of course, these commercials never say how or why “liberals” are doing these things. So what’s going on? Congress is considering two bills: the Open App Markets Act and the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, the latter of ...

Politicians’ vision for state’s financial future doesn’t fit the reality

Gov. Justice is beating the same income tax drum he banged on through most of the regular legislative session, and he’s drumming up even less enthusiasm this time around. In the latest iteration of his taxation fixation, Justice proposes to slash personal income taxes by up to 10%. This, even as legislators still have an eye on the personal property tax cut set to be on the ballot in November. Of course, how much you save depends on how much you make. So, like every proposed income tax cut, this one helps higher earners more than it helps lower earners. According to 2019 data ...

Court rightly stops Hope Scholarship

A week ago, Kanawha Circuit Court Judge Joanna Tabit ruled, correctly, the Hope Scholarship violates the West Virginia Constitution. Judge Tabit said, “The Hope Scholarship Program in my view undermines the free education system by requiring the Department of Education to take funds appropriated by the Legislature [for public education] and transferring them to the Hope Scholarship Fund, which is then tasked for dispersing funds for private education.” And that was one aspect — and arguably the strongest — of the argument made by the plaintiffs suing to stop the program: ...

Recall effort unnecessary

A group of “concerned citizens” are leading an effort to recall all seven members of Morgantown City Council. The effort — spearheaded by a man who twice ran for office, including city council, and twice lost — is based mostly on tensions between the city and firefighters and police officers. City of Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy was kind enough to speak with a member of the editorial board to clarify a few things. It is the city manager’s job to set and implement pay structures for city employees. That said, the city’s total payroll is included in ...

The Supreme Court cripples the EPA

If the rest of the nation didn’t think highly of West Virginia before, they certainly won’t now.  Because, the Supreme Court sided with Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA now has limited power to, oh, you know, protect the environment. The specific question at hand was whether the EPA, under a specific provision of the Clean Air Act, could issue “significant” rules regarding the “best system for emissions reduction,” in this case by setting carbon dioxide limits in such a way as to encourage energy ...