Biden pulls the plug on future LNG terminals

In March 2022, President Biden promised the United States would be a reliable supplier of natural gas to European countries to replace the flow from Russia.  The landmark energy supply deal with the EU guaranteed shipments of liquified natural gas (LNG) to keep homes heated and businesses running, but with a side benefit of punishing

Library bill spurs controversy

Controversy has erupted at the State Capitol over a bill that, if it becomes law, would make it a serious crime for a librarian or museum curator to display or make available to a minor material that is obscene. Specifically, HB 4654 removes schools, museums and public libraries from the exemption in current law that

State must give teachers a substantial pay raise

West Virginia Education Association teachers’ union president Dale Lee says there is a crisis in public education in the state. Frankly, the term “crisis” is thrown around so much that it has lost a lot of its punch. However, Lee and others in public education are right to raise legitimate concerns about the current state

Science teachers should teach science, not religion

For today’s commentary, I will focus on the simple and noncontroversial issue of how life began. … on second thought, let’s not do that. Instead, let’s talk about what guidance the West Virginia Legislature wants to give high school science teachers on how to do their jobs. The Senate Education Committee last week passed SB

WV Republican Party considers major rule change for Primary Election voters

The West Virginia Republican Party Executive Committee meets Saturday in Charleston where it will consider a controversial proposal to restrict the Primary Elections, including the one in May, to only registered Republican voters. The proposal emerged from a recent meeting of the party’s Resolutions Committee. That group voted four to three to bring the resolution

West Virginia Child Protective Services needs sunlight.

Last October, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a home in Sissonville to investigate a report of suspected child abuse. When they arrived, the police made a shocking discovery. Two young teenagers were locked in a small shed. Another child, a three-year-old, was alone in the house. Deputies said the children in the shed

All Social Security payments should be excluded from state taxes

Governor Jim Justice, during his state of the state address last week, proposed eliminating the state tax on Social Security income. The state currently does not apply the income tax to single filers who make less than $50,000 a year and joint filers below $100,000, but this proposal would extend the exemption to all Social

Here’s what’s good about the West Virginia Legislature

The 2024 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature is underway, and let me confess now that I am a fan. You may think that is a peculiar view, especially since we tend to have such low regard for politicians and the political process. And, in fairness, there is a lot to dislike about politics,

What Governor Justice might say tomorrow night

Governor Jim Justice delivers his final State of the State address tomorrow night in the House of Delegates chamber, kicking off the 2024 regular session of the Legislature. As is typically the case with this Governor, it’s hard to know what he is going to say ahead of time because Justice likes to ad lib.

Senate President will push reinstatement of death penalty in WV

On April 3, 1959, Elmer Bruner was executed by electric chair at the Moundsville Penitentiary for murder. Two years earlier, a Cabell County jury had convicted Bruner of beating Ruby Miller to death with a claw hammer after she discovered him during a home burglary. Bruner was the last person executed in the state of

High tech hopes in West Virginia

The announcement by LG Electronics, the South Korean multi-national electronics company, that it has chosen West Virginia for a $700 million dollar investment has caused heads to spin. Frankly, it has been difficult to fully comprehend what the company has in mind, exactly. Let’s start with what it is not. LG Electronics is a global

The sky IS falling

The headline in Tuesday’s New York Times caught my attention: “The Debt Matters Again.” The article by German Lopez draws attention to the growing problem of the national debt, which just passed $34 trillion dollars. Lopez writes that “For years, many economists believed the country’s debt was not a problem. Interest rates were low, which

A positive sign in the state’s demographics

West Virginia continues to lose population, but the state is also gaining population. Yes, that sounds contradictory, but let me explain the results of the latest U.S. Census figures for our state. First, the state’s overall population remains on a steady decline.  The Census data show that West Virginia’s population as of July 2023 was

I’m still here… again

So, I didn’t retire… again. I reread my commentary from a year ago where I talked about retirement and ultimately decided not to. I wrote then that I had “regained a deep appreciation for my job.” This year, I did not have to “regain” that appreciation; it was already there. But I do think more

The commentary takes a holiday

Folks, the daily commentary will be on holiday through Monday, January 1, 2024.  I hope all of you daily and occasional readers and commenters have a blessed Christmas and a brave New Year! Hop

The Christmas when the fighting stopped

Has there ever been a Christmas when there was no war, no fighting in any corner of our planet?   It’s difficult to imagine since the world’s history has been a series of conquests and defenses. But there was once a Christmas when the fighting did stop, when enemies shook hands and laughed and even

My Christmas wish book

(Editor’s note: This is a reprint of a commentary I wrote a few years ago.) This time of year always makes me think of the Christmas catalog. I’m not talking about the season-specific sale circulars you still get in the mail, but rather the all-encompassing catalogs that used to come from Sears, Montgomery Ward and

Trump’s ‘poisoning our blood’ comment appeals to our worst instincts

Former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Durham, New Hampshire Saturday said this about people flooding into our country illegally: “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done.” (The full quote is below.)* I try to never use comparisons to the Nazis and Adolph Hitler when trying to make a

Grid warnings continue, but who is paying attention?

You cannot read or watch the news regularly without seeing stories about climate change. Those stories inevitably include quotes from officials and interest groups stating the urgency of replacing fossil fuels with renewables for power generation. Earlier this month, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai that “There

Border state abortions are on the rise

Data show that in recent years between 1,000 and 1,200 abortions were performed annually in West Virginia. But that was before the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe vs. Wade and sent the abortion question back to the states. West Virginia’s legislature responded in September 2022 by passing a law that prohibited abortions except in very