Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:

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July 20

The Journal on West Virginia’s online COVID-19 data portal:

West Virginia’s online portal to epidemic statistics (dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19) needs to be improved, state Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch said last week.

We agree. We can think of no acceptable excuse for that not occurring.

Crouch told a group of lawmakers he wants to provide more information at the website. One helpful update on a daily basis would be the state’s Rt rate. That is a term used to track the average number of people who contract the disease from someone already infected. By Monday, West Virginia’s Rt rate was 1.36 - one of the worst in the nation.

We disagree with Crouch’s idea that the dashboard should be updated just once a day. Keeping the two updates now provided is better.

The COVID-19 “dashboard” should be as detailed and current as possible. Crouch should find whatever resources are needed to make that happen.

Online: https://www.journal-news.net

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July 20

The Charleston Gazette-Mail on the renaming of a school that used to honor a Confederate general:

After taking the historic step of removing Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s name from a middle school (formerly a high school), the Kanawha County Board of Education settled on a safe choice in picking a new name.

West Side Middle School, the new name selected in a 3-2 vote by the school board Thursday, is certainly geographically accurate as it pertains to Charleston’s municipal layout. At first glance, it’s less than inspiring, given the community movement that resulted in Jackson’s name being removed.

Stonewall Jackson High School opened in 1940 to whites only. These days, though, Black people make up 42% of the student body, the highest of any public middle school in West Virginia. It’s understandable why the community would want to remove the name of a Confederate general, native to what would become West Virginia, who fought against the United States in an effort to preserve slavery.

The school board had a chance to make a complete turnabout, with several prominent Black West Virginians - African American education pioneer Booker T. Washington; NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson; Carter G. Woodson, known as the father of black history; Charleston firefighter and activist Paul Gilmer Sr.; and civil rights activist Leon Sullivan - to choose from.

Going with a geographical name is a missed opportunity to tell the Black community that their culture and their contributions are valued, while offering something in which young Black students could take pride.

However, the board and community should still be commended for removing Jackson’s name - something proposed more than once over the course of the school’s history that finally got the traction it merited.

Also worth noting, the name “West Side Middle School” received the most votes in an online survey - although that survey was only open for less than a week. Katherine Johnson finished second. Even some of those who pushed for removing Jackson’s name told the school board, in a moment of big-time grace, they preferred the West Side moniker, as it doesn’t exclude or exalt any race.

In a way, the name West Side does pay homage to the Black community in Charleston. As one reporter cracked on Twitter, “At least they didn’t rename it Elk City Middle School” - a not-so-inside joke about attempts to gentrify and rebrand parts of Charleston’s West Side.

The new name is a safe choice, but seems to be one most can get on board with. In times like these, that’s more than anyone can typically ask for or expect.

Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com

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July 18

The Register-Herald on calls for the Legislature to meet for a special session to allocate virus funds:

Del. Mick Bates is absolutely correct in demanding the governor call a special session of the West Virginia Legislature so that lawmakers may govern spending of $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funding that was allocated to the state in April.

And, now, he is not alone, as 61 delegates – including several from the Republican side of the aisle – have said, yes, indeed, the Legislature, and not the governor alone, should be deciding how and where to spend that massive amount of federal aid.

But Gov. Jim Justice wants to play king in deciding how to spend it all without the concerns of common folks being expressed in formal debate, without those closest to the people having a say.

“The suggestion box is open,” is the best the governor can offer – as he did.

Well, that’s not good enough, governor.

Our whole system of governance is built on checks and balances, with the Legislature responsible for allocating dollars to programs and projects agreed to as a political body.

As we have watched aghast as our federal government moves closer each day to autocratic governance – if not an outright banana republic – where democratic norms and institutions are being subverted for the sake of the guy in the Oval Office, we would prefer to keep democratic conventions standing, supported and robustly practiced here at home in West Virginia.

Yes, indeed, call our legislators back into special session, governor, and let’s get on with planning for how we can allocate dollars to make sure there is adequate funding for testing and contact tracing, for supplies and cleaning materials, for additional staffing and buses so that we can get our kids back to school – safely.

We saw the broad strokes of the governor’s spending plan – including some $687 million earmarked for the state unemployment compensation trust fund – but the details have escaped the general public because there was no public debate.

We know the broad parameters – $200 million for reimbursements for counties and cities, a $150 million small business grant program, $50 million for broadband expansion for education and telehealth – but, again, the details escape us.

Seems like the governor is simply sitting on one large bucket of cash – that $687 million delayed for future concerns – which is more than half of all monies received.

And then there is $100 million assigned to fund highway projects to and around hospitals. Shame on us for thinking the governor’s Roads to Prosperity bill from a couple of years ago – and a pretty big debt service that we are repaying via increased vehicle licensing fees – would have taken care of that need.

But, according to the governor, he has decided all by himself – with input from his inner circle of advisers – where all of the federal aid should go.

And forgive us if we question the Justice administration’s ability to commandeer a big recovery project. Last month we marked the four-year anniversary of the 2016 floods that devastated whole communities in southern West Virginia. From White Sulphur Springs on up to Rainelle, utter destruction. And yet, to this day, the RISE West Virginia program – under the governor’s watch – is still rebuilding homes. Although construction is finally starting on new schools, an entire class has gone through Richwood High School in Nicholas County never having set foot in a permanent high school.

It gives us considerable pause to think that the governor and his cabinet can plan for what our schools need now and on into the future of this pandemic which currently does not have an expiration date. And that, plain and simple, is why this discussion needs to happen in the light of day where we all can hear what everyone is saying and we all can see where the money is going.

Yes, in the state code, a state of emergency gives a governor extraordinary power to assume direct authority of emergency services in the state, up to and including the suspension of state laws.

But this pandemic has been with us a while – four months and counting. It is no longer an emergency but rather a long-term public health crisis that needs thoughtful planning and the voice of the people to be heard. We are concerned by the governor’s continued use of executive power for an indefinite period.

Besides, we are also aware that our state Constitution says “no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.”

This is the intent of governance, of state law, that Justice needs to consider.

The governor has done a good job in managing the state response to the pandemic, and we have said as much in the past. But should be more confident in his ability to work with those with different perspectives, especially since they were elected from every holler in the state where officials are desperately trying to figure out how to keep businesses open and vital.

Our legislators get around, they talk with their constituents and that is what has gone missing – the representative voice of the people – in the governor’s insular deliberations on how our tax dollars should be spent.

$1.25 billion with a B is a big number – about a quarter of the entire state budget this year. How that should be handled is a discussion that is meant to include – not exclude – the people of West Virginia.

Online: https://www.register-herald.com