How Do We Keep People Engaged In Democracy?

Charleston, WV – It won’t be confirmed until some time, but if early numbers hold up, the 2018 midterms may well prove to set a historic high for voter turnout. Former Greenbrier delegate Ray Canterbury – who lost a close election two years ago – says “this year’s anger” has brought people out in huge numbers, but the question for him is what’s happening to long-term engagement in the democracy by citizens.

Charleston, WV – A year ago September, Patrick Cloud and his wife Sue took in her daughter’s children, who had been removed from their biological home by Child Protective Services. Like a lot of foster and grandparents in West Virginia today, Pat and Sue were stepping in because the birth parents were addicted to drugs and neglecting the kids.

Wheeling West Virginia – Garrett Kaldor is a pipeline worker and a member of Local 18 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Ask him why he crossed the river from his home in Ohio to see President Donald Trump in Wheeling, and he has a simple answer.

“As long as I’m on my feet I can pretty much swing anything that comes at me.”

Charleston, WV – Jessi Parker has a message – it maybe not be a surprise, but it’s something she wants people to know.

“I want nobody to be poor. Because it sucks. It sucks so bad.”

Parker is 24 years-old and who lives in rural Fayette County. She knows something about poverty. But she also understands struggle, and grit, and what it means to fight to get by and get better.

Digging Deeper: By Dan Heyman

[Editors Note: this article was originally published September 13th, before the senate voted on Oct 2nd not to convict Justice Davis]

Charleston, WV – The actual impeachment of one retired and three current (one suspended) West Virginia Supreme Court justices starts this week. Motions to dismiss the articles against three of the justices have failed, so now – while we are waiting for the hearing of evidence – is a good moment to pause and pull some of the threads out of what is happening.

Charleston, WV – Eric Engle, an office worker from Parkersburg says there are a lot of things he and his fiancee wants to do. But the Marshall graduate says their college debts are keeping them trapped in spite of the fact that they both have degrees and white collar jobs.

Digging Deeper: By Dan Heyman

Jared Blaylock is a 31-year-old former coal miner from Williamson in the middle of changing to a new career with the help of the Coalfield Development Corporation. The Coalfield Development program combines payed work on one of a number of projects – for example, remodeling low-cost housing, or building high-end cabinetry – with community college classes and life skills training.

Digging Deeper: By Dan Heyman

Charleston, WV – Republicans in state government are pinning their election hopes to legal changes they say are boosting economic growth. But members of West Virginia’s labor movement say a Right-to-Work law and similar provisions are forcing them to pay for people who want to “get something for nothing.”

Digging Deeper By Dan Heyman

South Charleston, WV – “It doesn't scare me. Let me take that back – it scares me a little bit for my daughter, what she is going to have to grow up in.”

Digging Deeper: By Dan Heyman

In 2016, Bill Flanigan made his first speech on the floor of the legislature. Flanigan had been named by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin as a Republican Delegate to fill an empty seat in Monongalia County, and he spoke passionately about how medical cannabis had helped him deal with his cancer treatment. Observers credited that speech with helping to kill a bill that would have increased mandatory sentences for people caught with marijuana.