Local Columns

It’s Time To Invest in West Virginia Agriculture

As my team heads into its seventh legislative session, we once again set off to advocate on behalf of agriculture, our farmers and West Virginia’s food supply. Each and every session, we work diligently to remind our lawmakers of the value agriculture adds to the West Virginia economy and security of our citizens. Through our efforts, we have found ways to reduce burdens and barriers on our farmers, expand markets for producers, modernize our code and regulations and put in place protections for our farmland. While we still have so much to do, our priorities for this session will be ...

Session Is Off to Fast, Furious Start

The start of a legislative session can sometimes be boring. Sure, there is pomp and circumstance, the swearing in of new members, the pageantry of the State of the State. But in between all of that is a bunch of sitting around and waiting.Not so for the start of the 2023 legislative session on Wednesday. In the days leading up to the start of session, Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, told the press and public to pay attention. He warned the Senate was going to quickly pass up to 25 bills on day one.The Senate the last few years has taken day one to pass out bills, suspending ...

Rev. Darrell Cummings: Let’s Have the Discussion on Our ‘Two Americas’

On Thursday, March 14, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Grosse Pointe South High School in an affluent Detroit, Michigan suburb. The title of his talk was “The Other America.” It also said he gave the same title on April 14, 1967, at Stanford University. It is interesting ...

Chris Regan: Derrick Evans Not Fit To Serve West Virginia in Congress

Derrick Evans attacked the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6th, 2021. He filmed himself at the violent breach of the East Rotunda doors. He shouted at and obstructed the police officers trying to protect the U.S. Congress as it counted the electoral votes for the 2020 Presidential election, ...

Garrett Ballengee: Tax Reform and Groundhog Day

In the 1993 hit movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray’s sarcastic, cynical character, weatherman Phil Connors, wakes up experiencing the same day over and over again, which, as the title suggests, is Groundhog Day.  Once Phil realizes he cannot die, he begins to act as many would if they ...