Who is serious about reducing spending?

The infamous criminal Willie Sutton supposedly said he robbed banks “Because that’s where the money is.”  True or not, the answer got to the heart of the motivation for bank robbery. The United State Congress, primarily the U.S. House of Representatives, is engaged in a bitter budget dispute. If no agreement is reached by the

Bloomberg’s unattainable and damaging climate goals

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $500 million dollars to a new Beyond Carbon campaign. Bloomberg wants to shut down every remaining coal-fired power plant in the country, slash natural gas plant capacity in half and block any new gas plants, all by 2030. Bloomberg’s millions will bypass Congress, which determines energy

West Virginia’s two Republican parties

It was not that many years ago that the Republican Party in West Virginia was an afterthought. Democrats held supermajorities in both the House and Senate. Republicans could fuss and fume, but Democrats had the numbers to do whatever they wanted. That paradigm has shifted completely in the last two decades. Republicans now hold 89

Congress tackles NIL, transfer rules

The rapid de-regulation of college athletics has empowered athletes to profit from their name, image or likeness, and has liberalized transfer rules to the point where athletes are free agents who are able to move from school to school, often motivated by the highest bidder. On one hand, the dramatic changes are long overdue since

Dressing down in the U.S. Senate

One of the more endearing characteristics of the West Virginia Legislature is its commitment to decorum. The House and Senate have dress codes and specific rules on behavior. The Senate rule states, “Proper business dress attire shall be worn by all those admitted to the floor of the Chamber while the Senate is in session,

Student no-shows are a chronic problem in our schools

West Virginia has too many children who fail to show up for school on a regular basis. Data from the state’s 2022-2023 Balanced Scorecard find that 28 percent of K-12 students are chronically absent, meaning they miss more than ten percent of the instructional days. That number is about the same as the previous year,

Mountaineer Nation Gets What it Needed

  “You can’t always get what you wantBut if you try sometimes, well, you might findYou get what you need.” (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, 1969) You could feel it all week in Morgantown, and the intensity of emotion just kept rising as the Backyard Brawl approached Saturday night. Every game in a 12-game schedule

The Backyard Brawl Will Determine the Arc of Neal Brown’s Career

  Saturday night’s football game between Pitt and WVU in Morgantown will be the most significant game in head coach Neal Brown’s career. Yes, there have been more important program games in the 44 years since Milan Puskar Stadium opened, and even bigger Pitt games—the 2007 13-9 loss to Pitt that kept the Mountaineers out

Capito, Capito, Moore and Justice

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Moore Capito has endorsed current Governor Jim Justice for U.S. Senate. Capito made the announcement on Talkline Wednesday, saying Justice has been a successful Governor and he is the best qualified to represent the state in the U.S. Senate. It is always questionable how much, if any, endorsements translate into votes. The

WVU is Right to Rightsize

Vox published an article a few months ago entitled, “The Incredible Shrinking Future of College.” Author Kevin Carey detailed how the declining birthrate produced an “enrollment cliff” for many colleges. Carey referenced economist Nathan Grawe’s Higher Education Demand Index showing that “Demand for regional four-year universities… will drop by at least 7.5 percent across New

Why West Virginians are Not Optimistic About the Economic Wins

West Virginia Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael is an unapologetic optimist. His glass is always more than half full, especially when he is talking about economic growth in the state. Sunday, Carmichael laid out for state lawmakers during an interim committee meeting some positive economic numbers for the state, as reported by our Brad McElhinny. “From

The Heroes of 9/11

(Editor’s note: This a commentary I wrote a few years ago on the anniversary of the attacks.) Fear is an invaluable human instinct that perpetuates our survival. Without fear, we might make any number of potentially fatal decisions each day—walk into traffic, pick up a poisonous snake, stand too close to the edge of a

WV Voters Want Higher Pay for Teachers

One of the passages of the West Virginia Constitution that I often reference is Article XII: “The Legislature shall provide, by general law, for a thorough and efficient system of free schools.” It stands out to me that the crafters of the state’s founding document included an unequivocal requirement that our state shall provide rigorous

WVU Faculty No Confidence Vote on Gee Ignores Fiscal Realities

A majority of the faculty who participated in a WVU Faculty Assembly has voted in support of a resolution expressing “no confidence” in President Gordon Gee. The motion passed with 797 for and 100 against. Eight votes were invalid. The vote reflects the anger and frustration stemming from the University administration’s proposed cuts in academic

The Reluctant Adventurer

  I am a reluctant adventurer. Home and work are my safe spaces, and routine is the glue that holds my comfort zone together. Change creates anxiety and leaves me disoriented, anxious to return to the familiar. That is one reason—but not the only reason—that I travel. I need to push myself beyond the sheltered

I’m Away

I’m going to be away for a while.  The commentary will return in early September. Hop

Mountaineer Nation Has to Have Hope

I’m hoping for a successful WVU football season, just like all Mountaineer fans. I hate the term “cautiously optimistic,” but that applies here, and I suspect many in Mountaineer Nation feel the same. Optimism, even the cautious kind, is a characteristic of the preseason. No games have been lost. No star players (usually) are injured.

The Drug Addicts Next Door

I have a firsthand view of the drug crisis. No, none of my family members or close friends are serious substance abusers, at least not that I know of, and I am not a recovering drug addict. But I see it every working day. In fact, I have a literal window into it. My workplace

The Inconvenient Truth About Green Energy

It’s not easy being green. Yes, the country is moving steadily forward with clean energy sources to replace coal and natural gas. The Inflation Reduction Act passed last year is making billions of dollars available to green energy producers. But there are challenges, lots of them, that frequently turn solar and wind projects into years-long

WVU Confronts Reality

In October 2014, WVU President Gordon Gee made a bold prediction: Enrollment at the state’s flagship University would increase by 7,000 students over the next ten years, to at least 40,000. “And we will not choose between growing in size and growing in quality,” Gee said in his University address. “We will do both.” Those were