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Strangely joyless

Despite the narrow victory with the passage of the “big beautiful bill,” the Republican party seems strangely joyless. You have to hand it to Donald Trump; he did a superb job in holding the GOP’s feet to the fire. However, the contradictions within the party remain evident and may ultimately undermine the founding principles of the Republicans. For MAGA, it was a mixed bag; they got the money for the border and ICE. A few tax cuts were provided for the working and middle classes. However, these are not permanent cuts; the revenue deductions for the wealthy persist for longer ...

‘Keep Kumping’ to the Wetland

AmeriCorps member in the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area continue to make a great deal of difference at Kump Education Center owned by the City of Elkins. Soon after the City first accepted the Kump property, Logan Smith and Phyllis Baxter began sending intelligent and energetic young people over to help us paint the fence, cleanout the barn, repair windows, replace plaster, and work in the wetland. In 2015 AmeriCorps member Alyssa Hanna planted 1,000 wetland plants to help channel the stream and improve water quality. After Jane Birdsong and Pam Byrne use the Trout ...

New Era

When I addressed my fellow West Virginians upon taking the oath of office, I said it was the dawn of a new era. A time to set our sights on something truly great: a future where West Virginia thrives as that shining state in the mountains. We pledged to move the needle on the things that matter: lifting our standard of living, driving educational attainment, and growing our workforce, all while defending and advancing West Virginia conservative values. Promises made, promises kept. We’ve proven that West Virginia can rise. We will rise. And not only that, we are ready to lead. ...

Great outcomes can be traced back to investing in skill building

When great results are achieved, the top leader is often asked how it happened. A frequent response is, “The credit goes to the team.”  Let’s dig deeper. What makes a team (the people who make the results happen) successful? In studying high-performing organizations, there are common themes. The biggest one is that successful companies invest considerable amounts of time and dollars in selecting and developing talent.  I was reminded of this recently at a session in which a company rolled out the key outcomes they want and need to achieve. All the outcomes made sense. They ...

Politics ain’t beanbag

There is an old saying that “politics ain’t beanbag,” meaning that the political arena can be a rough and tumble place. On one hand, I can understand West Virginia Democratic leaders jumping on the ill-timed nomination of former GOP candidate for governor and former lawmaker Moore Capito as the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. On the other hand, I don’t believe it is deserved. To make a long story short, President Donald Trump released a list of nominees Tuesday for various offices – including Capito for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District ...

Looking like one big, beautiful disaster

Here we go again. This week, the Senate unveiled, honed and passed its version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and it’s a fiscal monstrosity. What was already an oversized mess in the House has been supersized into a $4 trillion ode to unseriousness. This isn’t tax reform. It’s a bipartisan pinata stuffed with pork, gimmicks and — of course — debt. We’re told to cheer because the bill makes permanent a few pro-growth policies, including 100% bonus depreciation and research and development expensing. However, a few pearls in a vast ocean of bad policies are nothing ...