Columns
July 19, 2016
Columns
Nearly every day, we see another story in the news about an overdose in West Virginia. The drug crisis has hit our state hard, but it’s also a national crisis. No community is exempt — addiction doesn’t discriminate based on geography, income, education level or occupation.
July 3, 2016
Columns
West Virginians are facing tremendous hardships from last week’s devastating floods, including the destruction of property and tragic loss of life. We grieve for those that we have lost, we grieve for those who have lost everything, and we grieve for the lives turned upside down.
May 17, 2016
Columns
Five years ago when I was a state senator, two compassionate Huntington nurses, Sara Murray and Rhonda Edmunds, contacted me about a disturbing trend they'd noticed at their hospital - a drastic rise in the number of babies born who were exposed to drugs in the womb.
Issues:
March 14, 2016
Columns
West Virginians want to work, and West Virginia wants to attract new businesses to our great state. However, the war on coal has caused more mines than ever to be closed or idled. Coal towns throughout southern West Virginia and Appalachia have been devastated by mounting job losses, and we need to get West Virginians back to work here at home.
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January 10, 2016
Columns
President Obama has yet again used executive overreach to force his agenda on the American people, this time through executive actions tightening gun ownership and sales. Congress has already rejected these policies through bipartisan votes, and this action is another example of the president overstepping his constitutional authority to circumvent the people’s voices in Congress.
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December 9, 2015
Columns
West Virginia has many road projects that have been long promised but never completed. Some are actually seeing progress, like Route 35 in Mason and Putnam counties, which is on schedule to be fully upgraded. Others, like the King Coal Highway, Coalfields Expressway and Tolsia Highway remain in various stages of completion – or lack thereof.
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October 31, 2015
Columns
Going through withdrawal from heroin and other opioids is a horrific way to start one's life, but that's the reality for far too many newborns in West Virginia.
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October 20, 2015
Columns
Dear Mr. President: Welcome to Charleston, our state’s capital city, to talk about a serious problem – drug abuse. We know all too well that West Virginia has the highest overdose rate in the country, and it is difficult to find any family not touched in some way by drug abuse.
October 20, 2015
Columns
Dear Mr. President:
A good job solves a lot of problems.
West Virginia has lost good jobs — jobs in our coal mines, jobs in our schools and small businesses, jobs in the small towns and communities throughout southern West Virginia.
September 16, 2015
Columns
Just a few weeks ago, I was honored to be part of a congressional delegation to the Middle East to learn more about the terms and conditions of President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.
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