Amelia Knisely
@ameliaknisely
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Investigative reporter, @wv_watch | WV native. Mom x3. Baseball fan. DMs open for story tips. Support local journalism.
West Virginia, USA
Joined December 2009
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I rode a school bus today into the most rural parts of Kanawha County — no cell service, unpaved roads.
Kids ran to the bus to get food.
The bus driver knew them by name. She said they otherwise wouldn’t have food. She said she’d be back tomorrow.
Child hunger is our crisis.
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I was let go from my job at WVPB last week following threats from DHHR about my reporting on DHHR’s treatment of people with disabilities.
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I am deeply concerned about the state of WV media. It is our job as reporters to watch & report on decision makers. In our state, one of the poorest, not everyone can drive to the Capitol where decisions are being made. Not everyone has internet access to stream meetings.
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I am looking for a job or funding to continue my investigative reporting here in WV. I want to remain here in my home state and report, especially on child welfare issues. Reach out: ameliaferrellnews
@gmail
.com.
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It must not be overlooked that this reporting focused on some of the most vulnerable people who are in state-run facilities.
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.
@stevenadamswv
contacted me yesterday with a full story about the timeline of events as some of it was done via government email accounts. I appreciate his careful reporting on state government. Thank you for asking me for a comment & please support him.
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Thank you for the support and kind words.
(Thankful for my husband — a passionate first amendment supporter — and my three daughters, who are the perfect team.)
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I’d be happy to take him on a *food tour* of rural WV, where if you don’t have a car or someone to give you a ride to a grocery store ... you’re eating from the Dollar General food section. There are no fresh fruit or vegetables there.
John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods, blames obesity on bad decisions by consumers rather than lack of access to healthy food. "It’s less about access and more about people making poor choices, mostly due to ignorance."
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Me: what flavor is it
My five year old: it’s barrel flavored
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Got sent to cover a Kmart closing.
Ran into my dad at the Kmart.
Hello, this is reporting in your hometown.
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friendly reminder to support your West Virginia journalists who don't reduce our beautiful, complicated state to tired jokes
Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, and Rachel Maddow are laughing on MSNBC at the fact that voters in Virginia care about immigration:
Maddow: “Well, Virginia does have a border with West Virginia.”
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Some good news, y'all:
@Register_Herald
has hired me to write about the legislative session, including developments with the state health department. Back to work next week. Support local news!
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Right now, West Virginia has more than $110M in unused welfare funds. Hunger numbers soared and West Virginians struggled to pay rent during the pandemic.
So, why is the money sitting unused?
🧵
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I've said this to multiple people and will now share it on here:
If 300 coal miners were losing their jobs in a span of 6 months, we'd be writing about it -- a lot. WVU is a major employer in our state (with a declining population).
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WV is a historically blue state.
Also, our people experiencing poverty aren’t a political prop.
#VoteRed2020
if you want the entire country to turn into rural West Virginia who has voted solid red for decades.
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I drove 6 hours with my baby yesterday for a necessary family trip.
Shoutout to the young male
@Starbucks
employee in Flatwoods, WV, who saw me breastfeeding in their dark parking lot and made sure I felt safe/offered water. It really meant a lot to a mom traveling alone.
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I never want to become numb to this statistic. I want better for WV.
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Two West Virginia coal barons are running for a U.S. Senate seat — one went to federal prison for a conspiracy to violate mine safety laws as 29 miners died, another was sued by the DOJ for millions in unpaid fines related to mining operations
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The vote of no confidence in President Gee has passed: 797 faculty yes, 100 no.
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Some news: I’m joining the new
@statesnewsroom
in West Virginia, where I will write about state politics and continue my reporting on child welfare and other vulnerable populations.
It’s launching later this year, and I’m thrilled WV will have more watchdog journalism.
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I gave birth to this sweet girl yesterday. Meet baby Goldie. We are both doing great.
Is this another Tudor’s Biscuit Baby?
Answer: yes
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Yes, lots of young West Virginians have left WV, and it’s worth exploring why.
But what’s usually missing in political discourse is about the ones who can’t and won’t leave, those in generational poverty, trauma & now addiction. No jobs/ grocery stores. No wonder they hurt.
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Good morning, and I have some news:
I start a new job today with
@wvpublicnews
, where I’ll continue reporting on foster care, hunger, politics and more.
I’m thrilled to join the public radio family.
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I think what is missing in the conversation about WVU is what this school means for poor kids in our state -- we still have one of the country's largest % of first generation college students. A change to its finances can affect scholarships. We don't have a plethora of colleges.
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I have two hills I will die on:
1. Appalachia and The South are not the same and should not be used interchangeably, especially when covering elections, education and poverty.
2. The terms "addicts" and "homeless people" should be removed from our writing.
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Annual reminder that space heaters are often a sign of a systemic failure — not individual blame.
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Personal news, as they say ~
This is my last week at Mountain State Spotlight. After 3 years covering poverty here, I leave immensely grateful for all those who were vulnerable with me as I told their stories.
WV is more than poverty, and our people deserve justice.
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This saga — and
@NC5PhilWilliams
’z tireless reporting on Nazis, campaign lies and more 🤯 — gives me hope that local journalism still matters. Sometimes it can feel like people don’t get outraged anymore over leaders’ scandals. We will keep digging — please keep reading.
BREAKING: Controversial Franklin mayoral candidate Gabrielle
@HansonforMayor
now headed to a likely resounding defeat, based on early vote and absentee totals:
Gabrielle Hanson: 1,788
Incumbent Ken Moore: 8,364
538
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New: More WVU campus program changes and job cuts could be announced as early as today — this time in academic support programs.
Program reviewed include the library, Honors College, LGBTQ+ Center and more.
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Local news isn’t something to “move up” from. Anyone who works in it knows the determination it takes to source in close-knit communities & earn trust from people stereotyped by parachute reporters who don’t (care to) know a holler from a hood.
Ready to move up from local
#news
or move away from
#network
life in NY? We're hiring
#Writer
/
#Producers
for CNN in
#Atlanta
. Must have at least 4 years experience in
#broadcast
#writing
and/or
#producing
.
#hiring
#journalismjobs
#newsroom
Apply here:
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The CDC is exploring a partnership with Dollar General to distribute the COVID vaccine.
Y’all know I don’t believe in Dollar Generals as grocery stores, but you better believe I’m behind this one. This would reach a lot of WV-ians without transportation.
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Universities in WV, many dealing with debt, must now pay to implement a campus carry bill, including installing gun safes in residence halls.
The legislation, which didn't come with funding, goes into effect as universities have cut faculty & programs.
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West Virginia moms are the kind you'll interview for a story about the formula shortage and the interview ends with them offering to drive and bring you some formula
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Contrary to the comment sections in every story about Manchin, there are smart and engaged voters in West Virginia.
And, there are plenty of systemic reasons why people in our state don’t vote and don’t care about what’s happening in DC.
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And of note: most
#WVU
students protesting yesterday wore red shirts & bandanas as a nod to the red bandanas worn by coal miners who famously went on strike in the 1920s around Southern West Virginia on behalf of miners’ rights.
“In West Virginia, we know that the fight isn’t pro-Coal versus anti-Coal, it’s Coal Company versus Coal Miner.”
@stopitkatie
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My dad, 68, doesn't own a computer (by choice) and doesn't have good cell service when he lives.
My point? Think of all the grandparents raising grandkids in WV. Do they have the ability or technology to facilitate distance learning? What about the ones who can't afford tech?
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Gov. Justice today said he's "very seriously considering" running for U.S. Senate, though he noted he'd continue as governor for the next two years if he was to run for the 2024 election.
"You'll know real soon," he told media today during his Covid-19 press briefing.
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Today a woman cried as she told me older West Virginians have started going food pantries for wound care items. They can't afford or access incontinence items, so they're making diapers out of towels and duct tape and wounds come later.
@WVGovernor
, I hope you read this.
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After publishing (I think!) my last story for the year, I want to say this has been one of my favorite years of my career.
I started it fired from my job, covered the Legislature then landed in a supportive & aggressive newsroom. I've learned a lot this year. Thanks for reading.
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WVU will lose 28 majors, 143 faculty.
“We plan on squeezing the $45M out almost immediately,” Pres. Gee said following the vote, which eliminated the university’s foreign language degrees and math graduate degrees for future students.
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I’ve wanted to write about WV politics since I was 20 years old. So, moments like this make me grateful for the job I have now. And, it really is an honor to work in journalism here (as a WV girl from a small town) — our readers deserve honest and fearless reporting.
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Our van with three car seats was stolen last night.
Walked out of our house this morning to take the girls to story hour at the library and it was gone.
… really have no words.
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Best thing I’ll do in 2020: Dottie Morrison Knisely arrived yesterday!
@seascoutwv
& I are thankful for this healthy, sleepy bundle who arrived a few weeks early. ✨ Name credit:
@TudorsBiscuits
.
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A child is dead. While seeking answers at the Capitol, gov chief of staff YELLED “You’re not very good at your job” at
@SagerWsaz
. DoHS told me last week in an email that insulted my intelligence that they will no longer answer any questions from me.
We are doing our job.
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Spent the last few days in the hospital with my three year old for pneumonia, RSV and a virus. She received excellent care, and we praise God she is home continuing to recover.
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Just yesterday I put an Apple tag in my wallet bc I kept misplacing it.
Today, I unknowingly dropped my wallet out of my bag onto the street. A stranger saw it, got out of his car in the rain, circled the block and found me.
Apple has nothing on the good people of West Virginia.
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Can finally share some *crazy* news.
I will be on
@60Minutes
this Sunday alongside 4 talented reporters/friends to talk about the importance & impact of local reporting.
As a WV native & now reporter, I’m so thankful to represent our state & fight for us! PS. I was v pregnant!
Nearly 2,000 communities no longer have a local news source. The vacuum has been filled by misinformation that threatens our democracy. Watch
@60Minutes
this Sunday to learn how
@Report4America
is fighting to save local journalism.
#RFAon60
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She came out swinging: "I haven’t seen any misinformation in [articles] I've read ... claiming there’s misinformation w/o explaining it is typically the tactic of someone who doesn’t like what the news is reporting, but can’t prove that anything is false."
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every few years a raccoon photo surfaces that encompasses the feeling of our nation (credit:
@KDKA
)
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Kids working in coal mines also used to be a part of life in West Virginia.
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Can't stop thinking about the presentation I heard this morning in the Joint Committee on Health on sexual assault in West Virginia.
One in 6 women here will be a victim of an attempted or completed forcible rape — higher than New York, Texas or Pennsylvania.
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The child marriage ban bill should get national attention -- there's no federal ban on child marriage.
But it's hard not to feel like the attention is in part due to our country's voyeurism of West Virginia stereotypes and what goes on in our poor state.
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Off today for a mental rest day w/ child care. Reporting on tragic child deaths, foster care and politics has affected my sleep and stress.
I'm sharing this for other reporters to encourage us all to take care of ourselves -- we tend to forget that!
Grateful to do this work.
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From my reporting in WV, I would wager there’s a good chance that the same kids who don’t have WiFi at home also don’t have a way to get to the hot spots. They also probably don’t have a way to pick up school food.
@WVGovernor
Governor reveals 848 WIFI HOTSPOTS up and running as school begins. I did not see a lot of people using the 6 million dollar project, but I was only in the parking lot of half-a-dozen schools.
#EyewitnessWV
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Stephen Baldwin has lost his Senate election (D-Greenbrier) — he has been one of the few lawmakers focused on foster care reform and was the only one pushing for more urgent welfare checks on kids last year as foster care bill was gutted.
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WVU is a land grant university rooted in a state with one of the nation’s highest child poverty rates.
Students, faculty and others were surprised to hear administrators say the number of tuition waivers were justification for cutting majors.
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WV: one of the poorest states in the country with one of the lowest rates of women in the workforce
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A thread of exciting news: I am headed home to West Virginia to write about poverty through
@report4america
. I’ll be joining my hometown newspaper,
@wvgazettemail
. This is truly a dream come true.
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LOVE this photo of a vaccination clinic at Blackhawk Mine by the great
@kennykempWV
for
@wvgazettemail
.
#wv
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Hey, world - being a full-time reporter and mom isn’t impossible, and I quite enjoy it. Bring your baby with you. It’s OK. Normalize it. Many people have stopped me and complimented my decision.
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Rep. David McKinley was one of *12* Republicans who voted YES on the bill that would provide $28 million in emergency funding to FDA to address the formula crisis.
Rep. Alex Mooney and Rep. Carol Miller voted NO.
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As WVU students arrived to campus, news broke that the university recommended cutting 32 majors and eliminating faculty. I wanted to talk to students caught in the crosshairs of a financial crisis. Dozens of underclassmen could have to find new majors.
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I am incredibly proud of our WV press corps this week for not accepting stonewalling and lies from our state about this girl’s tragic story. Local journalism matters.
@LeslieRubinWCHS
@curtisjohnsonWV
@ASaunders_WCHS
@stevenadamswv
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I feel like if Babydog goes to Washington, it will complete her metamorphosis into the dog from Pocahontas.
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One year ago today ... Pepper was on her way to
@Report4America
training and IRE. She’s now 20 months old and has attended 4 journalism conferences. She is working on her first investigative piece on snacks.
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It’s my first day of work for
@statesnewsroom
in WV (outlet name coming soon!). Looking forward to:
• speaking with West Virginians — not just for sound bites but to learn
• telling our stories
• filing 👏🏼 those 👏🏼 FOIAs
• collaborating w/ other reporters
DMS open!
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Grateful to win a
@ZengerHouse
Prize this year alongside talented reporters from the NYT, The Atlantic, The Marshall Project & The Boston Globe. Thank you for recognizing local news and congrats to the other winners.
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.
@JoeBiden
named former WV chief health officer Rahul Gupta to his transition team.
Gupta guided the state’s response to opioid crisis and the 2014 chemical leak that contaminated drinking water.
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Some exciting news: I've been selected as a 2020 Inequality in America press fellow by nonprofit
@SavetheChildren
alongside a great group of reporters. The award will allow me to continue fighting for hungry, homeless and hurting children in West Virginia.
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I am sitting in a packed room in Franklin as community discuss a plan to build a permanent homeless shelter. An article I wrote was referenced as the catalyst for this meeting. I’m always grateful to be a journalist, and today I’m thankful to be a journalist in Williamson County.
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My friend & mentor (who is too humble)
@EricEyre
was recognized tonight by the Kanawha County Commission for his Pulitzer-prize winning reporting on the opioid epidemic/drug companies. He reminded a room full of reporters that local reporters can tell our own powerful stories.
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So, to summarize:
5 deans selected to speak to the BOG get unlimited time to speak in favor of the academic transformation and future of WVU.
Yesterday, 50 speakers allotted two minutes to address the BOG. All spoke against.
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West Virginia University leaders have recommended doing away with 32 of its majors and 169 faculty jobs are on the line amid a $45M budget shortfall.
"My colleagues and I are still in shock," a professor told me.
New for
@WV_Watch
|
@statesnewsroom
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Dropped my kids off at school this morning then minutes later sat in my car to do a radio interview about the death of a child.
This feels unjust.
Reporters in WV have every right to figure out what went wrong in her story. Systems failed her. The blame game does nothing.
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Got a FOIA back from the Department of Human Services pertaining to foster care and 90% of it looks like this
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Today I am thankful for
@davidfolkenflik
’s dogged reporting.
We need journalism that also holds media to account. We've all seen stuff we keep in the vault because of fear. I hope to see change.
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We have a name: West Virginia Watch.
And a Twitter account. Follow:
@WV_Watch
We are on Facebook: West Virginia Watch
And follow our 💥ALL WOMEN 💥staff:
@caitycoyne
@LoriKerseyWV
@Leann_Ray
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New: WVU footed a $230K+ bill for Coben to fly on a private plane to Charleston and work for the governor and health department.
They spent thousands more in flights when he joined others. One trip cost more than the median household income in the state.
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West Virginia resettled only 3 refugees in 2019.
So, I went and found one of them.
He's a young man from Afghanistan now working two jobs.
His story is simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. And, he arrived amid a national debate on refugees.
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There is this thing called Appalachia
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Just drove by a line of at least 40 people — most elderly, some with walkers — in my community, Charleston’s West Side, waiting outside in 38 degrees for food.
.
@WVGovernor
, do the RIGHT and URGENT thing with CARES money. Feed our residents. Support our food banks NOW.
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From
@stevenadamswv
’s column today regarding a stream of GOP gubernatorial ads that include anti-transgender rhetoric and even mocking. I couldn’t agree more: “We’re talking about children.”
Proud of my friend for saying this.
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Went to Water Ways in Boone County today… heard multiple times over the intercom for different kids: “please report to your mawmaw’s blanket.” Love you, southern WV.
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In my 10-year reporting career, certain stories have sparked substantial reader replies -- school rezoning seemed to always be one that would elicit a lot of opinions.
But, I have to say: I have received the most reader emails ever about the proposed academic cuts at WVU.
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Update:
- family from our church is lending us a van until ours is hopefully found
- car seats have been shared from: a high school friend who is now my dermatologist; a woman who volunteered in my youth group when I was a teen; a friend from church.
I love WV. Very thankful.
Our van with three car seats was stolen last night.
Walked out of our house this morning to take the girls to story hour at the library and it was gone.
… really have no words.
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.
@Sean_Hornbuckle
introducing bill to increase teacher’s minimum starting salary to $50,000
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I haven’t felt this overwhelmed with the heaviness of work and what’s at stake in WV since the thick of the pandemic.
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After years of attempts,
@WVUFLU
just successfully amended Raylee's Law into a bill about homeschooling requirements -- and that bill just passed the House. This bill will prohibit parents facing a child abuse investigation prompted by teachers from homeschooling their children.
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Yesterday in Morgantown, multiple reporters, including myself, remarked on how great it was to be covering something in person and meeting people. COVID really changed reporting. And, some newsrooms don’t prioritize reporter travel. Local news needs reporters on the ground. 💪
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Chad Lovejoy (D-Cabell) lost his primary last night and his seat in the House of Delegates. Lovejoy has been a tireless champion for anti-hunger initiatives, and for a long time, he was the only lawmaker advocating to feed students. He was always kind & willing to speak with me.
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