Another good thing

As part of Goat Rope's continuing "It's not all bad" on again/off again series, here's another positive step for West Virginia these days. Gov. Tomblin recently announced the formation of a task force to deal with problems in the state's juvenile justice system, which are myriad. One of the major goals is to reduce the incarceration of youth and promote community-based corrections while also protecting public safety.

If that sounds familiar, Tomblin and the state legislature did something similar in 2012-2013 with the state's adult corrections system. That effort was assisted by the evidence-based research of the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments--and it's working. This one will be assisted by similar expertise from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Say what you want about Tomblin, and I often have, he's actually dealt with things like this that others kicked down the road. And he's also made some big positive decisions like the one to expand Medicaid. I wish this effort every success.