Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:
Jan. 7
The Journal on West Virginia’s general revenue budget so far this fiscal year:
Gov. Jim Justice offered a late Christmas gift to West Virginians, telling us state revenue collections were good during December. He and state legislators need to bear in mind that we are not out of the woods, yet, however.
Going into the sixth month of the fiscal year, the state’s $4.7 billion general revenue budget was out of balance by more than $40 million. That is, actual collections were that much below projections on which the budget was based.
But Justice reported a modest turnaround in December. For that month, collections exceeded what was budgeted by $6.9 million, the governor noted. That leaves total revenue for fiscal 2020’s first half $33.4 million below expectations.
For several weeks before 2019 ended, some in the Justice administration talked of a $100 million spending cut to ensure the budget remains in balance until the end of the fiscal year on June 30. But the governor held off on that and, last week, was optimistic. He called December collections “really phenomenal.”
They were not, of course. To his credit, Justice said that although the state is “in great financial health,” officials “are always looking at all of our numbers …”
Cautious optimism seems merited. Some key budget line items performed well in December. Severance tax receipts were about $100,000 above projections.
But other critical numbers were not as good. Personal income tax receipts are $33.6 million below the budgeted figure. Consumer sales tax revenue is $2.8 million under projections. In other words, this is not an occasion for a cork-popping celebration.
Unless a sharp upturn in revenue is evident during the next couple of months, Justice should continue to consider ordering a spending cut. With half the fiscal year remaining, there is plenty of time for the budget to become a serious problem.
Online: https://www.journal-news.net/
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Jan. 6
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register on increasing jobs in West Virginia:
If West Virginia legislators about to begin their annual regular session need any reason to pursue economic development initiatives, a new national population report provides it.
From 2018 to 2019, the nation’s population increased by nearly 0.5%, or about 1.5 million people, the Census Bureau reports. Even though that is the slowest growth rate in a century, birth rates and influxes of people in nearly every state helped them gain population.
Nearly, but not all. In four states, deaths outnumbered births. They were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont - and West Virginia. Too many people in our state lack confidence in the future to have children. Too few people want to come here.
Lack of good jobs is a key to that. Clearly, then, legislators need to do what they can to make the Mountain State more attractive to providers of good new jobs.
Online: https://www.theintelligencer.net/
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Jan. 3
Charleston Gazette-Mail on the death of the founder of the West Virginia Air National Guard:
West Virginia, indeed the United States, lost a giant last month with the death of retired Brig. Gen. James Kemp McLaughlin, known to many as “General Mac.”
McLaughlin, who was 101 when he died, was the founder of the West Virginia Air National Guard, and the base in Charleston bears his name. He served in leadership positions with the Air Guard for 30 years. Before that, he piloted a B-17 Flying Fortress on 39 bombing missions during World War II. He also later led a fighter squadron in the Korean War.
A Braxton County native, McLaughlin joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 and was in Europe flying missions by the next year. In a statement on his death, the West Virginia Air National Guard recounted that, on his first mission, a bombing run over Nazi-occupied France, McLaughlin’s plane was nearly shot out from under him by a German fighter. The enemy plane was eventually taken down by one of the B-17’s gunners. McLaughlin is quoted as saying that first mission “separated the men from the boys.”
It’s hard to imagine anything like that in a modern context. The men and women who served in World War II, whether it was in the armed forces in war theaters in Europe or the Pacific, or going to a factory every day to make munitions, have earned the moniker “the Greatest Generation.” Sometimes, the weight behind that name can be overlooked, especially as the war recedes further into collective memory and the members of that generation become fewer and fewer.
Try to think of it like this: One day, you’re in your late teens or early 20s in West Virginia, and you hear reports of what is happening around the globe, but mostly you’re learning a trade, or maybe furthering your education and leading a fairly normal life. With a finger click, you’re at a massive military base somewhere in the United States you’ve never been, training to use weapons or machines you’ve only read about. Jump ahead another eye blink, and you’re behind the stick of a plane, flying in formation over a country you’ve never seen, or you’re on a boat approaching a shore lined with mines, razor wire and machine-gun nests. And, just a short time before, maybe you’d never even been outside the state of West Virginia.
If you’re still back stateside, you’re rationing food and products, like tin. You’re on an assembly line making the tanks that will be rolling across Europe, hopefully freeing millions from an evil that is very evident, but the outcome is far from certain.
It’s hard to fathom such a life. Wars are fought much differently now, and the geopolitical landscape is much more complicated. There is good reason to question why combat is occurring. Vietnam, Iraq and, now, Afghanistan, have taught the American populace again and again that they can’t necessarily trust what they see and hear from their government about overseas conflicts.
People like General Mac were fortunate not to have to face such moral ambiguity, but can hardly be envied, in fact only admired, for the sacrifices they made and the deeds - both heroic and horrible - they performed in the name of freedom.
They’ve earned their name, all right. May Gen. McLaughlin and all those who served be remembered with the reverence they deserve.
Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/
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