Updates on recent stories of local interest
Action in the Wheeling Hospital lawsuit, the hospital’s recent Medicare ratings (one star), and the China-West Virginia energy deal
Wheeling Hospital
Kickback case moved to West Virginia
Three months ago, the United States Department of Justice joined a lawsuit against Wheeling Hospital alleging that the hospital had improperly paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors. As Health Leaders wrote at the time:
Federal prosecutors have . . .
Posted in: china and west virginiawheeling hospital
I think I found the reason why the 2017 memorandum of understanding (sorry, I meant "trade agreement") between West Virginia and China may never happen
Here's our president on Friday
Trump’s trade chief lectures his boss and gets an earful in return https://t.co/mMBb1m1TNY pic.twitter.com/ELeR9n5RmM
— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) February 23, 2019
Posted in: china and west virginiatrump presidency
West Virginia and China
As I look for topics to write about, I occasionally do a search to see what Chinese and West Virginia officials are saying about the November 2017 proposed energy deal between the two countries. Most of the time, I come up empty but today I found two differing opinions on the megadeal’s future. Phil Kabler, in today’s Charleston . . .
Posted in: china and west virginia
Some updates on previous posts and the latest polling results
Political cartoonists, China/West Virginia "understanding," and the most recent West Virginia senatorial poll
Rob Rogers' political cartoons
Three weeks ago, I did a blog post about Rob Rogers, then Pittsburgh Post-Gazette political cartoonist, whose publisher and new editor wanted the P-G to be more pro-Trump. The pressure was put on Rogers, whose cartoons are known nationally, to soften his cartoons. He refused and was fired on June . . .
Updating the West Virginia/China energy "understanding"
The governor and our local paper remain optimistic. Is it warranted?
Yesterday's lead editorial in the Wheeling News-Register, "A Win for West Virginia and Chinese," reminded me that it has been a while since I last checked in on last fall's energy "memorandum of understanding" between China and West Virginia. Despite numerous questions raised by credible sources at the time, the . . .
Posted in: china and west virginiajim justicetariffs
Credit where credit is due
Mike Myer makes an important point about the China/WV deal
In a column that makes a number of barely-connected points, Myer starts with one of his favorite themes -- why West Virginian are so special and different from other Americans:
We have a pull-ourselves-up-by-our-own-bootstraps attitude. It’s necessary. Seldom do we have any reason to look for knights in shining armor to give us . . .
Posted in: china and west virginiamike myer
Maybe we should wait to open the champagne: more on the China/West Virginia “deal”
Sunday News-Register still celebrating
Two front page articles in this morning’s paper continue the reveling following Thursday’s announced $84 billion deal (to be more precise, it was a “statement of intent”) with China. The larger article, with an accompanying picture of a gas worker, takes up almost half of the front page:
. . .