Local Columns

‘Culture War’ Legislation Is Damaging West Virginia

No one — well, almost no one — wants to be labeled a racist. That’s why, perhaps, in this Orwellian, up-is-down, down-is-up, lies-are-truth environment we live in, a racist piece of legislation is called The Anti-Racism Act of 2023 (SB130), which unfortunately appears ready to sail through the West Virginia Legislature on the wave of the Republican super-duper-majority. You see, The Anti-Racism Act of 2023 (a slight revision of The Anti-Racism Act of 2022, which failed because the vote was finished after midnight) is anything but anti-racist. Why is the bill racist? Because it ...

The ‘Woke’ Trojan Horse Coming to Our Neighborhood

Many at the Capitol in Charleston and some throughout the media are perplexed by my opposition to the deal in the works between the state and Form Energy, a startup company with the stated intent of bringing a battery-production facility to Weirton. How could I be opposed to the 750 jobs the company promises? How could I be opposed to helping the Northern Panhandle? The answer, of course, is that I am opposed to neither jobs, nor to helping our region in the Northern Panhandle. What I do stand against, however, is spending hundreds of millions of our taxpayers’ dollars to recruit into ...

Marshall Memo: Changes at the Health Department; History and Mystery; and Benwood

The Marshall County Health Department this week will be operating somewhat differently, and the following week (February 27-March 3), it will be closed as it moves to a new location at the TeleTech building on TeleTech Drive in Moundsville. Current plans call for the health department to return to normal operations on March 6. The reason for the change is that a new health department will be built on the site of its current location at Sixth Street and Court Avenue. The new health department building will be twice as large and will also include the former Journal Building, which ...

Legislative Session Passes Halfway Point

We passed the 30-day mark Thursday, marking the halfway point of the 60-day legislative session. So, how are lawmakers doing? Good question.As of Friday, there have been 1,971 bills introduced during the 2023 legislative session. Of that number, only 18 bills have completed the legislative process and landed on the desk of Gov. Jim Justice, including nine House of Delegates bills and nine state Senate bills.It’s hard to specifically compare to the same point in previous sessions, so I’m having to go off my memory and more than 13 years of experience under the golden dome, but 18 ...

Supporting Mothers and Children in West Virginia

Last fall our elected leaders responded to the opportunity presented by the Dobbs decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, and courageously voted to pass legislation severely curtailing the abhorrent practice of abortion in the Mountain State. I continue to applaud those important steps. Today, with abortion on demand now in West Virginia’s rearview mirror, we have an opportunity to begin to heal the scars left by decades under the Roe regime. We can demonstrate that we mean what we say about the inherent and immeasurable value of every human life. The Diocese of ...

Form Energy Deal a Win for W.Va. and Deserves Lawmaker Support

This past week, the West Virginia Legislature considered HB 2882, a bill that will bring 750 advanced manufacturing jobs to Weirton in Hancock County. The West Virginia Department of Economic Development is proud to have crafted a unique incentive package to win this transaction for West Virginia and enable Form Energy to build a state-of-the-art, technologically advanced manufacturing facility creating 750 new, full-time jobs in our state. Throughout America, thousands of new jobs are being created in domestic energy manufacturing. With Form Energy, we have an opportunity to lead ...