It's not all bad, continued

I've been making a conscious effort here to highlight positive things happening in WV...when they happen. And they do. Here are two related bright spots:

Try This WV is an effort by many groups and individuals to promote healthy lifestyles, real (and local) food, and physical activity. The long range goal is to pull WV's abysmal health statistics out of the nether regions. Try This is a combination website, conference, mini-grant program and movement. This year it awarded more than $100,000 to local groups working on healthy projects.

One group with Try This connections that is making a splash in the northern panhandle is Grow Ohio Valley, which educates about food justice even while promoting local health food.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS. Here's the correct link for the NY Times editorial on Don Blankenship/Massey Energy/Upper Big Branch that I mentioned yesterday but didn't properly link. My bad!

No surprise

West Virginia has taken several steps in a positive direction in the last couple of years, but we're still at the bottom on some indicators. Women in the state rank last in terms of earnings and workforce participation. And we're tied with our old pal Mississippi on obesity, which is one reason why efforts like Try This West Virginia are kind of important.

Along that line, the New York Times ran this item, which calls for putting the physical in education.One of several victories last years was the adoption of a state school board policy that mandates 30 minutes of physical activity per day in schools.We can beat this.

WE MAY BE CHUNKY, but at least we're not as big as this guy. Yet.

A LITTLE WIN. The Affordable Care Act got a boost in court yesterday.

More good from WV

Off and on these days, I've been blogging about some positive things happening in West Virginia (yes, there actually are some). Here's a look at several very positive things going on right in my neck of the woods having to do with child nutrition, healthy lifestyles and physical activity. And here's a special shout out to my friend Rick Goff, the rock star director of the WV Office of Child Nutrition.

I wish I could say something nice about the misogynistic and anti-labor majority on the US Supreme Court today, but that ain't gonna happen.

Two more good things

For the sake of my own sanity, I've been blogging lately about things that are going right in West Virginia these days. One has got to be Medicaid expansion and the growth in health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

I was informed by a friend in the know that over 129,800 people have been covered through Medicaid expansion alone. Around 25,000 have coverage through the exchange and around 15,000 were found to be eligible for other programs. Prior to passage of ACA, folks I know estimated the number of uninsured in the state to be around 240,000. The number of people who gained coverage this year alone is equal to 70 percent of that.

MORE GOOD. Mingo County in southern WV has its share of economic problems, but it has become a leader in promoting child nutrition, physical activity and wellness generally. Mingo just got an award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in recognition of its progress. Read more here.

OK, I'm tired and cranky, but...

...I think the definition of disgrace is to kill a bill like Move to Improve, which would promote healthy physical activity for WV's schoolchildren, while at the same time passing "the cupcake bill," which promotes obesity. Nice job, WV House Education committee. Not.

Annals of weirdness

With just over a week to go at the WV legislature, things are getting weirder and weirder. Yesterday, Republicans on the House Health Committee acted in concert to try to kill an innocuous bill, Move to Improve, which would have promoted physical activity in public schools. Apparently, exercise is socialistic. Who knew?

The sad part is that they came within one vote of doing it, largely because some Democrats on the committee felt they had more important places to be

I was particularly disappointed that one of my Republican delegates, Carol Miller, voted against Move to Improve as well, after she emailed me saying "who could object to children getting exercise?" I guess now we know the answer to that rhetorical question.

It will be interesting to see if some of these votes change if and when the measure hits the floor.

Overdetermined

Here's an interesting post from the Washington Posts's Wonkblog about why Central Appalachia's coal industry is declining. The conventional "wisdom" offered by the ruling class of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia is that all problems of the industry are caused by a black guy with an African name, but this article points out other factors, including competition from gas and cheap Western coal.

To be fair, some of the proposed new regulations on energy will impact mining, and with it tax revenues and jobs. But the biggest factor by far is the market, which the same ruling class tends to worship as a god when it's convenient to do so.

It's not going to be pretty here. I do wish the federal government would step up with plans and programs to assist mining regions hard hit by these changes.

AUSTERITY BLUES. Here's Krugman on our failure to address long term unemployment.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. Here's just one of many examples of how West Virginians are trying to promote health and wellness. For more on that, click here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Statement of intent

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was sidetracked from running for around three months with plantar fasciitis, an irritating condition which is the next best thing to having a nail in your heel. It seems to be slowly easing its grip on my foot and I've started to limp/jog again, even hitting the three mile point today (we will not discuss speed).

A while back, my daughter, La Cabrita, pointed out that there is a marathon in October in one of my favorite places, Harper's Ferry. Aptly named Freedom's Run, it coincides closely with the anniversary of John Brown's raid. And El Cabrero is all about John Brown.

It'll take me a long time to catch up to where I was this spring, running-wise, and even longer to get ready for a marathon, assuming I stay injury free. But in a year...

OK, so I've had some heart issues and two bad knees and can barely limp a few miles. Whatever. It is SOOO on.

This one's for the wild man with the beard.

THE OTHER GREAT DIVIDE. There's not only an economic gap between rich and poor. There's also an empathy gap.

SINCE I WAS ALREADY AT THE TIMES, I scooped up the latest Krugman here on the government shutdown.

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS. It looks like WV legislators are studying ways of promoting physical activity for kids.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED