It's not all bad, continued

These days, I'm making a conscious effort to remind myself of things that my beloved state of West Virginia is doing right. And there are several. Last time around, I mentioned how WV is a leader in school/child nutrition. And my old sparring partner, the WV Department of Health and Human Resources, has done a stellar job of signing people up for the expanded Medicaid health coverage. And the decision to expand it was another good step taken by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin last year.

Something else that WV has started to get right is addressing prison overcrowding. Since passing legislation in 2013 along the lines recommended by the Justice Reinvestment project of the Council of State Governments, overcrowding in regional jails has dropped by half and the population in the state's prison system is below projections. Other steps along that line have been taken as well.

The latest positive sign is the involvement of state leaders with the Pew Charitable Trust in looking for ways of addressing problems in the juvenile justice system. I'm hoping we can take positive steps in that arena as well.