Four for the weekend

Two interesting reports have come out this week, both of which are worth a look. "Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones" looks at the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on West Virginia. It was put out by the WV ACEs Coalition.

The more I learn about ACEs and their impact over the life course, not to mention the human and other costs, the more I realize that this is a big deal with lots of implications. Things would be a lot better if we became more trauma-informed as a society.

Speaking of huge deals, WVU just released "The Economic Impact of Medicaid on West Virginia's Economy."  Condensed version (in the parlance of our time): YUGE. More on that another day.

Also, in case you missed them, here are the links to the latest episode of Wonk's World, our irreverent take on the WV legislature, and the latest Front Porch, in which we discuss the costs of the state's opioid crisis.

Sheep guts, then and now

In ancient times, the Greeks and Romans would practice augury, which meant seeking for signs on which course of action to take through various means. One method consisted of looking at sheep's intestines. Sometimes, if they didn't get the answer they wanted, they kept on cutting up sheep's guts until they they got it.

Recently, the Republican leadership of the WV legislature consulted the contemporary augurs, to wit, the WVU Bureau pf Business and Economic Research. Having a certain advantage over sheep, they came up with the desired answer right away.

The question was whether right-to-work-for-less legislation would be good for WV's economy. The political leadership wanted to hear a resounding "yes" and it got what it wanted.

Surely this has nothing to do with the fact that the Koch brothers recently gave $5 million to WVU, right?  Hmmmm. Maybe not. Maybe this was a good faith effort. But this isn't the first time plutocrats have bought shares in WVU or many other institutions of higher ed.

Meanwhile, stop calling me Shirley.

Fond memories of Montgomery and WVU Tech

There are plenty of sad stories in southern West Virginia these days, like this one about coal's decline and this one about how that decline has hit one county hard.

I was saddened by a different kind of bad luck that is about to hit the town of Montgomery in Fayette County (actually, part of it is in Kanawha too). It looks like the powers that be want to move the WVU Tech, formerly the West Virginia Institute of Technology from there to Beckley in Raleigh County.

Tech is the lifeblood of that community and has been there since 1895. There's not a whole lot to take its place.

I have a soft spot for Tech. After I finished my masters in sociology in 2000 at Marshall, I thought it would be fun to teach a college class one night a week (and to gradually earn back what I spent on the degree). I had my first chance to do so at Tech and really enjoyed it. I did one class a semester for a few years before moving to doing off campus courses closer to home for Marshall.

(It may well be the next best thing to stand up comedy, except they can only heckle you at the risk of their grades.)

And, as many have said, teaching is a great way to learn. I particularly found the Tech students interesting and challenging because many of them were studying things like engineering, which I can't even begin to contemplate. I must have seemed equally weird to them but we got along pretty well.

I've stopped teaching for now and don't know if I'll ever go back to it, but I'll always fondly remember my first class. And I wish Montgomery all the best.

Feel the noise

If you hear anything really loud next week, it just might be WV's ruling class throwing an epic hissy fit over the Obama administration's efforts to rein in carbon emissions and address climate change/global warming.

The hissy fit has been going on with peaks and valleys pretty much since 2009, but it's probably going to hit a new level.

Yesterday, I tweeted (@elcabrero) something like this:

World history WV style: the US entered WWII after Obama and the EPA bombed Pearl Harbor.

Sadly, that really isn't that much of an exaggeration.

Over at Coal Tattoo, my friend Ken Ward wonders when if ever folks here will actually deal with it. And Paul Krugman looks at the actual costs here.

At some point, I hope people here get around to facing a few facts. Like how the market, which some people worship as a god, is doing way more to coal than regulations. Or that maybe climate change/global warming is real (how bout the weather, by the way?). Or that however much coal has been and will be part of WV's economy, we're never going back to the WWII days when mines employed over 100,000 people. And that we need to have some rational, grown up discussions about what's next.

Meanwhile, apparently the nice folks at the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research didn't get the hissy fit memo. They recently released a report that forecast steady economic growth for WV over the next few years.. Here's some news coverage and here's the full report.

WEEKEND SPECIAL: CAT DENIES RUMORS

GOAT ROPE FARM-- Wu, orange kitten and all-round athletic supporter, has denied rumors that he has been tapped to coach football at WVU in the wake of the departure of Rich Rodriguez.

Wu did not return phone calls, although he issued a statement through his publicist that he is "more interested in chasing balls around than in telling other people how to do it."

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED