Put Preston school levy on Nov. ballot

July 31, 2024

Recently, members of the Preston County Board of Education mused whether it would be worth putting the failed school levy back on the ballot for November. The short answer: Yes. The long answer: There’s no harm in putting the levy back in front of voters. It was defeated in May by fewer than 600 votes — a decent but not insurmountable margin. If the BOE makes the decision to put the levy on the November ballot now, that gives them roughly three months to educate voters on its importance. That’s 90 days to help voters understand that school levies mean better teacher ...

The best time for school shopping is this weekend

July 30, 2024

If you have back-to-school shopping to do, this is the weekend to do it. Sales tax-free weekend West Virginia is bringing back the sales tax-free weekend for school supplies, starting Friday and running through 11:59 p.m. Monday. For that window of time, select types of clothes and school supplies will be exempt from the 6% sales tax (7% in municipalities), making this the perfect weekend to get your back-to-school shopping done.        Here’s a brief list of what qualifies for the tax exemption: Certain clothing with a purchase price of $125 or ...

How do we get more affordable housing?

July 27, 2024

The affordability of housing remains a hot topic. We feel this problem acutely in Morgantown, but the lack of affordable housing is a national — even global — issue. And it’s a complex one. For the U.S., the affordable housing shortage traces its roots to the 2008 housing bubble bursting. Ever since, demand has outpaced new supply, driving up the price of existing structures.  It doesn’t help that the house-building industry has been hampered by burdensome regulation that slows the process, adds to costs and limits what can be built and where. Urban development has ...

Justice’s business, debts could cause conflict of interest

July 23, 2024

As we’ve watched the Justice family’s creditors come knocking and their business assets sold off to cover debts, we’ve become increasingly concerned about how this financial drama could impact Jim Justice’s ability to serve as a U.S. senator. And, given West Virginia’s reliably red voting history over the last decade, he is most likely to be our next U.S. senator, though we won’t count Glenn Elliott out just yet. We aren’t suggesting Justice is pursuing office with the intent to benefit himself or his family. We worry, however, that the dire financial straits of his ...

Different ideas about ‘affordable’ housing

July 20, 2024

Part of the reason Morgantown’s real estate market is so hot is because there’s a lack of available and affordable housing. So we’re not going to object to the premise of building more housing. However, we do object to the description of the potential Metro Properties development as “affordable.” As Ben Conley reported, the City of Morgantown is considering a zoning amendment that would allow Metro to build roughly 27 townhouses between Evans Street and Metro Towers (University Avenue). David Biafora described the development as separate from Metro Towers, with individual ...

Trans-athlete case great fodder for Morrisey’s campaign

July 18, 2024

At what point will Attorney General Patrick Morrisey stop picking on children? He is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education. The case centers on the 2021 law (HB 2393) barring transgender females from playing in women’s sports by specifying that youth must play on the team matching their sex at birth, not their gender identity. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 13-year-old transgender girl from Bridgeport, has been in and out of courts for the last three years, challenging the law that tried ...