Opinion

We are seeing the same photos from the frontlines, if we dare look. We are hearing the same war stories, new and old, if we care enough to listen and remember. But whether we can summon a small measure of the courage and national pride that the Ukrainians are exhibiting, facing autocracy in …

The end is near! This 2022 legislative concludes at midnight on March 13. Here’s the latest on several major bills.

I’ve got news for you: Covid is not over. Won’t be for at least a generation and perhaps longer given our underwhelming and poorly informed response to a national public health pandemic. I mean, ivermectin? Really?

VIRTUAL TOWN HALL. Please join me for a virtual town hall on Tuesday, March 1, at 530 p.m. I welcome all constituents to ask questions about what’s going on at the legislature. To participate, click on the Zoom link on my social media, email me, or call me. We will get you signed up. All the…

Within the past several days, three bills have been introduced in the West Virginia Legislature, each of which in its own way is a back-door attempt to whitewash and bury the United States’ problematic history of mistreatment of Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and non-white populations.

It’s halftime (Feb. 10) at the West Virginia Legislature. To be honest, so far it reminds me of the old Wendy’s commercial where Grandma asks, “Where’s the beef?” Here are some of the issues you need to know about.

It’s been well documented over the past several months that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin continues to work hard to find reasonable compromises to the progressive spending programs facing Congress. However, one of the most vital issues he needs to address is how West Virginia residents are forced…

It’s week three at the legislature! Here’s a recap of major issues moving forward.

For the past 17 months, it’s been my great honor to serve on the local Covid Task Force. Local leaders from all walks of life — health care, business, government, non-profits, churches, first responders, and more — work together so that we can better respond to the real world effects of the …

West Virginia is home to rolling hills, roaring rivers, and vast forests that make our state Almost Heaven. Those same treasures make for rough terrain and communities that lack access to broadband and upgraded infrastructure. Across the Mountain State, 1,545 bridges and more than 3,200 mile…

Editor’s note: This op-ed was originally published Aug. 13 in The Wheeling Intelligencer.

Recently, there has been attention on the unionization effort by the Retail Warehouse and Department Store Union AFL-CIO at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. Oddly, little attention has occurred on a major United Mine Workers of America AFL-CIO strike involving 1,100 coal miners 30 m…

The most prominent role of the U.S. Supreme Court is judging the constitutionality of laws. That role is not prescribed by the U.S. Constitution. It was not authorized by the U.S. Congress. The Supreme Court awarded itself that role in 1803 in the legal case Marbury v. Madison. Since the aut…

One “legislative session wrap-up” wasn’t enough to cover all the issues folks care about! If your calls, emails, and questions at the grocery store are any indication, you are interested in more information on bills I didn’t cover in the last column. Hopefully, this helps.

There are those who believe there is a fast track to regain socioeconomic normalcy in the country. There are clear signals that this thinking has major flaws.

Heading into the 2021 legislative session, we were unsure how much time would available for policy making here in West Virginia. Over the last year, Covid-19 had brought the state to a halt limiting our lawmakers’ ability to meet. This created a scenario with limited access, as well as added…

It’s done. The 2021 legislative session ended at midnight at April 10. Here’s a quick rundown of where several major issues landed.

Nothing surprises me in Charleston anymore, but I continue to be amazed at what happens in the people’s house.

Hundreds of children in overcrowded spaces. Looks of exasperation on the faces of those working on the ground. A porous border susceptible to trafficking of all kinds.

When I was growing up an ice cream cone was a nickel a scoop. Now, a single scoop cone at my local Baskin Robbins is $3. That’s 60 nickels. So far as I am aware, there is no shortage of cows or sugar.

The end of the session can’t come soon enough! We will finish at 11:59 p.m. on April 10. Until then, expect a furious pace of controversial bills. Here’s an overview of this week’s bills.

When I began writing this column nine years ago, I never suspected it would still be in print. Much less that it would be printed all across the state. It is my hope that the column will allow you as a citizen to look behind the curtain of the capitol. Here’s the inside scoop.

A friend recently commented that my last two columns have been “depressing.”

Gov. Jim Justice had every right to call out fellow Republican governors for playing political football with mask mandates. And we are glad that he did because it was a good look for the state.

Let’s get right to it. Here’s a rundown of the latest issues brewing in Charleston.

Every so often, someone in the West Virginia Legislature or elsewhere gets the idea that state and local governments should stop running legal advertising in newspapers. It’s an expense that can be done away with in the internet age, with no harm done to the public’s ability to know what’s g…

The carrot of a 60 percent cut in our state income tax might look juicy at first blush. But we might lose our taste for it each time we pay the consumer sales tax that would have to go up nearly 32 percent. The current sales tax would rise from 6 percent to 7.9 percent.

One of the great things about living in the U.S. is that our city and county governments are required to keep their citizens informed about their actions. One of the ways they do this is through public notices – the informational notices that have been deemed to be of importance to local con…

Terry Crews was reprimanded for it and so was the character Jamal Wallace in the film “Finding Forrester” and so was I when, as an adjunct professor of English at WVU Tech, I challenged the department chair. It happens when we have the evidence to indicate that we’re, well, right. And each t…

In West Virginia, we still value a handshake and looking someone in the eye. West Virginians keep their promises; their government, not so much.

West Virginia elected officials — at the state, county, city and school board levels — must give local residents “public notice” about government actions, plans and spending.

Former President Trump taught us more about American government than all of the college professors have in a century. That is not because the scholars were uninformed; it is because they lacked the stage setting that made Trump’s instruction a showstopper. I think we should be grateful for t…

Children’s minds are like sponges, they absorb everything. So it’s important to expose them to ideas and practices that will help them grow up to be healthy, intelligent and caring adults. Parents and teachers are their main influences, of course, but even the Public Service Commission can p…

First designated as a National River in 1978, the New River Gorge is composed of approximately 72,000 acres of land along 53 miles of one of the world’s oldest rivers – the New River – stretching from Bluestone Dam to Hawks Nest Lake. More importantly, it is home to hiking trails, globally-r…

As this Christmas season arrives, Gayle and I are reminded once again to reflect on how proud we are to be West Virginians, blessed with the riches of loving friends and family. 


Gauley Bridge Elementary was discussed at a recent board meeting. The common answer that is given when people explain why Gauley Bridge achieves at such high levels is, “they have smaller class sizes.”

If our 2020 Thanksgiving is minimal, it doesn’t matter. Thanksgiving 2120, 100 years from now, does matter.

Covid continues to dominate our lives. We seem more intent on fighting each other than fighting the spread of the virus. It’s winning; we are losing.

It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States. Since 1942 by act of Congress, and intermittently before that since the arrival of British settlers in North America, Americans have enjoyed a Thursday holiday around the end of November.

As the days get colder and shorter, many Americans will experience what we call “seasonal depression.” Lack of vitamin C, personal interactions and social events are the root for many that experience this illness. It can cause folks to lose interest in activities, feel tired or even gain wei…

As West Virginians reflect on the 2020 elections and look forward to a season of gratitude, we should be especially thankful to those who helped lead our state through another free and fair election.

Whether you choose to mask up and wait in line at a brick-and-mortar store or shop online from the comfort of your home, it’s important to beware of seasonal scams.