No Income Tax at All, Listening to a Pro, and the Hurdle to be Governor

Listen to “No Income Tax at All, Listening to a Pro, and the Hurdle to be Governor” on Spreaker. Friday commentaries — even when posted on Thursday night for the early crowd — sometimes offer a chance to opine on multiple issues at a time. That’s especially true during the legislative session. A fan of

West Virginia definitely has some strong Super Bowl stories

Some former WVU and Marshall players have shined on football's biggest stage down through the years

Know Your Role

Listen to “Know Your Role” on Spreaker. My writing often reflects my influences — Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and the occasional turn from the Federalist Papers among others. History, and those who lived it, can be a roadmap for moving forward. It offers progress without relearning the hard lessons others have already paid for — a

Trump loses support on immigration

President Trump is finding out that there is a significant difference between policy and practice when it comes to immigration. A Pew Research Poll two months before the 2024 election found that six in ten voters said immigration was a very important issue to them.  That was a winning issue for Trump who promised tightened

Morrisey Dives into Senate Race, Reveals Faction Preference

Listen to “Morrisey Dives into Senate Race, Reveals Faction Preference” on Spreaker. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey wasted no time wading into a Northern Panhandle state Senate contest — even before the filing period officially closed. Around 9:30 p.m. Friday, Morrisey posted on X: “The race between conservative State Senator Laura Chapman and radical lefty

Bibles and Partisan Mandates

Listen to “Bibles and Partisan Mandates” on Spreaker. Some issues make news because they stir emotion or seem far outside the mainstream. Commentators – I’m a talk show host, not a reporter – sometimes get criticized for even talking about them. The argument goes like this: you know it’s not going anywhere, so why give

2026 Republican Primary Election may lead to Senate shake-up

The 2026 West Virginia Republican Primary is shaping up to be a battle for the control and direction of the State Senate. Nineteen of the 34 seats are up for grabs, and at least 10 races feature candidates who may be willing to challenge the existing power structure. The outcomes could have a significant impact

Social Media on Trial

Listen to “Social Media on Trial” on Spreaker. Is social media the new Big Tobacco? That’s the argument now being tested in a Los Angeles courtroom, where the first of several lawsuits against major social media companies got underway this week. At the heart of the cases is a familiar accusation: did companies intentionally design

Story of Hancock County Schools doesn’t add up

Something does not add up in Hancock County with regards the school system’s bleak financial picture. There are still questions swirling about how the county school district ended up in such a perilous financial situation that there was legitimate concern the county may not make the January payroll. Those questions lead to even more questions

Storm Also a Reminder of Opportunity

Listen to “Storm Also a Reminder of Opportunity” on Spreaker. Ice and snow frustrate us. Storms cause problems. They send people scrambling to grocery stores, make travel dangerous, and force changes to plans. In short, winter weather messes with our lives. No denying that fact. But sometimes, it comes with an unexpected upside. West Virginia

Special Education Need Exceeds Funding

Listen to “Special Education Need Exceeds Funding” on Spreaker. West Virginia has a school-finance problem, and it appears deeper than many first understood. A State Department of Education analysis indicates the cost of serving special education students exceeded the revenue available to fund those services by $224 million in fiscal year 2025. Total expenditures related

Morrisey’s tax cut bait-and-switch

Governor Morrisey started the 2026 legislative session with a bait-and-switch. During his State of the State address last Wednesday night, he proposed cutting income taxes by ten percent. His language to lawmakers and the public was specific: “I am asking the legislature to pass a ten percent income tax cut. I see a lot of

The Great Blizzard of ’78

It was a snow like no other especially in the Charleston area

School Bailout Bill Lacks Ultimate Consequence

Listen to “School Bailout Bill Lacks Ultimate Consequence” on Spreaker. House Bill 4574 sailed through committee and passed the House in a single day. The measure creates a financial safety net for county school systems that fall into fiscal peril. Brad McElhinny: House votes for $8 million emergency fund for distressed county school boards The

White House, Governors Call Out PJM on Data Center Costs

Editor’s Note: The following analysis is intended as a high-level overview. The issue is complex and highly nuanced. Additional pieces will follow as the debate unfolds, including conversations with expert guests on Talkline. Listen to “White House Calls Out PJM on Data Center Costs” on Spreaker. The prospect of data centers locating in the Mountain

This and That from Legislative Week One

Listen to “This and That from Legislative Week One” on Spreaker. The West Virginia Senate and House both gaveled in Wednesday, officially kicking off the 60-day legislative session, followed later that evening by Governor Morrisey’s State of the State address. Here are a few rapid-fire, off-the-cuff observations. One: Senator Laura Wakim Chapman published a letter

WV GOP gives the Democratic Party a lifeline

The West Virginia Republican Party has surged from irrelevance to dominance over the course of a generation. The shift took wing with the 2000 General Election when George W. Bush won the presidency and carried West Virginia while Shelley Moore Capito was elected to Congress for the first time. In 2021, Republican voter registration overtook

Can West Virginia Dems Deliver?

Listen to “Can WV Dems Deliver?” on Spreaker. Most political buzz around the Capitol is squarely focused on the Republican supermajorities in both chambers, and on the governor’s State of the State address Wednesday night. Democrats are small in number — just nine members in the House and two in the Senate — so their

Consensus or chaos in the Senate?

  The 60-day legislative session officially commences at noon on Wednesday, and it is anyone’s guess what the next nine weeks will bring. Leadership in the House of Delegates has laid out an agenda that focuses on economic development, but on the opposite end of the Capitol, it is unclear whether the Senate will have

GOP Keeps Independents Locked Out

Listen to “Commentary – TJ Meadows” on Spreaker. West Virginia Republicans have gone and done it — again — as the saying goes. This weekend’s GOP Winter Meeting presented an opportunity to re-examine the decision to close the Republican primary to Independent voters. That opportunity never saw the light of day. Instead, the issue was