Editorials

Good News for Employers

West Virginia employers may be getting a little good news for next year, as the National Council on Compensation Insurance has filed a proposed workers’ compensation loss cost decrease of 13.5%, to begin Jan. 1. The change, pitched by the state’s rating and statistical agent, would mean another possible $20 million kept in the coffers of Mountain State employers. In fact, it would mean 21 years in a row of decreases since the state workers’ comp program was privatized. That’s more than half a billion dollars in savings to employers compared with workers’ comp levels before ...

Cut The Nonsense With Federal Funds

The story is becoming too familiar. Lawmakers who support spending cuts, then call for their reversal. Lawmakers who want to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, just not in the program that is politically beneficial to them. U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., has joined several Senate colleagues in a letter that seeks the disbursement of already-approved Community Development Financial Institutions funds. To be fair, some of the federal actions seem designed to force elected officials to beg for the help they pledged to their constituents. In this case, $324 million from the fund was ...

New Center a Boon for Pediatric Health

It is extremely important that the people of the Ohio Valley, especially the children, have every opportunity to lead healthy lives. The region’s children ­— and their parents — will soon find that easier with the latest announcement from WVU Medicine. The health system on Tuesday broke ground on the new Robert Sonneborn Family WVU Medicine Children’s Outpatient Center, which will sit on the campus of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. The center will serve as a “one-stop shop,” according to WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Amy Bush, for Ohio ...

Serve Ohio’s Children Well

Buckeye State residents generally think of Ohio as being a fantastic place for children to grow up. But perception does not always match reality, as WalletHub’s “2025’s States With the Most Underprivileged Children” suggests. Believe it or not, Ohio is ranked 18th on the lists of states with the most underprivileged children. Many of us might not have expected the state to crack the worst 25, let alone be ranked that poorly. But a look at the metrics tells the tale. Ohio is 16th for the percentage of children in households below the poverty line, 26th for the percentage of ...

Rail Safety Reform Cannot Be Ignored

With Congress on its August break, there are a number of important things not getting done. A couple of recent incidents in West Virginia remind us rail safety reform continues to be one of them. Last month, a minor train derailment in downtown Parkersburg closed a street, and had residents asking questions about the contents of the tanks that were leaning. Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad officials responded quickly with information (the tanks were safely sealed and empty), and a crew to get the train back on track. There were no injuries. On Aug. 3, the St. Albans Fire ...

Let’s Get Rolling on Permitting Reform

Give them a hot-button topic that doesn’t actually affect the lives of ordinary people and politicians will waste no time hopping on and digging in. But when the issue is something of great significance to the rest of us — individuals and their employers — they drag their feet. That is the case with permitting reform. Last time it got any serious traction in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Sen. Joe Machin was leading the charge on the Energy Permitting Reform Act. Now, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is bringing lawmakers’ attention back to the matter in the hope that ...