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Local Government

COVID relief discrepancy pushes budget session to May

CHARLESTON — West Virginia has a $465 million question with the federal government based not on any allegations of misspending — but instead over whether school systems fell short on an obligation to maintain financial support for education at levels in line with overall spending. A revelation of the hundreds of millions of dollars at issue has introduced uncertainty into the legislative budgeting process, with a special session already being planned for May when the situation could be more clear. Meanwhile, officials are working to resolve concerns of federal authorities, ...

Commission discusses plans to help those effected by the closing of Allegheny Wood Products

KINGWOOD — Approximately 125-150 Prestonians have lost their jobs with the Feb. 23 closing of Allegheny Wood Products. During this week’s Preston County Commission meeting, Roberta Baylor, executive director of the Preston County Economic Development Authority (PCEDA), gave commissioners the numbers. Baylor said the sawmill in Kingwood employed 70-100 individuals, and the dry kiln in Bruceton Mills employed about 50 workers. Baylor said a WorkForce West Virginia’s Rapid Response Team will hold a meeting at the 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. She said the sessions will give Allegheny ...

Beckley to become nation’s first Inclusive Recovery City

The City of Beckley will soon become the first Inclusive Recovery City (IRC) in the United States. On March 19, city, state, national and international leaders in recovery support will come together to sign a charter declaring Beckley as an IRC — the first in the nation, joining 26 other cities across Europe, the Balkans, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia as IRCs. A recovery city is a community that promotes visible recovery, addresses stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes and champions multiple pathways to addiction recovery. The underlying concept is that by ...

State budgeting with uncertainty due to potential COVID-19 clawback

CHARLESTON — State officials Thursday described a $465 million obligation to the federal government over COVID-19 spending on education — and that dark cloud is casting a big shadow over the legislative budget process. Legislative officials are talking definitively about a special session in May to address financial matters once major questions are closer to being resolved. Lawmakers will pass a budget during this regular session, as constitutionally required, but the end product could be more or less a placeholder. Up in the air would be surplus spending that is important to ...

House votes to remove exemptions for at-risk minors to take medicine for gender dysphoria

CHARLESTON — The House of Delegates passed a bill that would remove narrow exceptions meant to allow minors going through gender dysphoria to be treated with minimum dosages of medication if they are at risk of hurting themselves or others. House Bill 5297 passed 88-11 and now goes to the state Senate, where the exemptions were put in place just last year after discussion of teens considering suicide. “This bill continues the prohibited practice of irreversible gender-reassignment surgery and prescribing gender-altering medication for the purpose of assisting a minor with ...