Retired miners in West Virginia are calling on Sen. Joe Manchin to protect the fund that pays for their health care.
Retired miners in West Virginia are calling on Sen. Joe Manchin to protect the fund that pays for their health care.
Disabled miners with black lung receive cash and medical benefits through the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is about $6 billion in debt. Coal excise taxes pay into this fund, but miners say the coal companies aren’t paying enough. The tax was cut in half last year when Congress didn’t reinstate the full tax.
Despite the fund’s debt, miners haven’t lost out on their benefits. But they worry that could be a possibility in the near future.
“If it comes down to where I have to choose, and I lose my benefits, to pay for my medical bills or my bills at home, I’m going to have to pay for my bills at home,” said Jerry Coleman, a retired miner of 37 years and the president of the Kanawha County Black Lung Association. “I’m from West Virginia, and we’re counting on Joe to take care of West Virginia.”
Miners applauded Manchin when he introduced the Black Lung Benefits Disability Trust Fund Act of 2021. It would have extended the full tax for another 10 years. But the bill has gone nowhere, and miners say Manchin has lost interest in the cause.
“He’s on TV, doing everything for everybody else. And when it comes to coal miners, he don’t hear nothing said about us,” said Gary Hairston, National President of the Black Lung Association.
A spokesman for Manchin said otherwise.
“Sen. Manchin has led legislation to address the black lung excise tax expiration and will of course continue to work to shore up the black lung excise tax to address the needs of our brave miners,” said Manchin spokesman Sam Runyon.
Coleman and Hairston said they’ve arranged meetings with Manchin’s office where the senator didn’t show up.
“He could be everywhere else. But for the people that’s been working for him, that voted him into office, he can’t even talk to us,” Hairston said.
June Leffler
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Jerry Coleman (right) is president of the Kanawha County Black Lung Association.
Miners and their advocates are turning their focus to Democrats’ proposed budget reconciliation, though there’s no sign that’s sure to pass.
“It’s gonna have to be included in a package, and right now this is the only package that has been proposed that would fit this bill,” said Courtney Rhoades, an organizer at the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, which advocates for miners with black lung.
Based on previous revenues for the black lung fund, the center estimates the fund is losing out on millions of dollars every week.
Democrats’ Build Back Better Act included a four-year extension to the higher excise tax. Manchin opposed the larger bill, though he supported the extension.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
A West Virginia community is trying to prevent substance abuse among teens by making sure they have all kinds of things to do. The idea is to change the culture, and it's worked in Iceland.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
Iceland went from having some of the worst teen drinking and smoking rates to some of the best. As June Leffler with West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports, the town of Fayetteville is trying to replicate those results.
JUNE LEFFLER, BYLINE: Fayetteville, W. Va., is known for its outdoor recreation. At a county park, hundreds of kids are trying out skateboarding, banjo picking and watersports as part of Project Adventure. Eleven-year-old Adriana Abarra loves the fishing.
ADRIANA ABARRA: One thing – it really helps with, like, patience. I figured out that whenever you fish, you get a lot more patient, and it’s very nice and chill. And when you get the fish on the line, there’s always this really big thrill. It’s awesome.
LEFFLER: What Adriana has gotten from fishing is exactly what organizers in Fayetteville are hoping for. Fishing teaches Adriana emotional lessons and gives her a natural high. It’s also a time she gets to spend with her mom and papaw (ph).
Researchers say such activities made a big difference in Iceland, where the percentage of teens who got drunk at least once a month dropped from 45% to just 5%. Katie Johnson of the Fayetteville Health Department believes the same thing can happen here.
KATIE JOHNSON: And so many people, if they can find their passion and follow it with their heart, they’re too busy and just too focused to want to experiment with risky things.
LEFFLER: Kids in Fayetteville have been regularly surveyed about their substance use and related risk factors. Locals like Johnson and researchers at West Virginia University found three-quarters of kids who are not part of organized clubs or sports. Changing that could delay when kids start smoking or drinking.
JOHNSON: So the later we can delay the initiation, even by one or two years, the less likely that person is to become addicted if they should try drugs later in life, and the more likely they are to graduate from high school.
LEFFLER: In theory, substance use prevention could save money and a lot of heartache. But it’s gotten a bad rap. Education campaigns like Just Say No and the D.A.R.E. program didn’t work.
ALFGIER KRISTJANSSON: If that would work, we wouldn’t have the obesity crisis; we wouldn’t have the opioid crisis.
LEFFLER: Alfgier Kristjansson is a researcher at WVU studying the Fayetteville pilot program. He’s also Icelandic and was involved in the model from its near inception. Kristjansson says Icelandic parents, schools and policymakers shook up the world kids lived in. It wasn’t just one D.A.R.E. class a week.
KRISTJANSSON: The work isn’t about drugs. It’s about healthy life and healthy community.
LEFFLER: It took some heavy lifting. Most notably, Iceland set a nationwide curfew for teens that’s still in effect today. Kristjansson says the curfew isn’t a requirement of the model, it’s just one way the Icelandic public sought to fix the problem. The model says communities, not experts, should find policies and interventions that folks can get behind.
KRISTJANSSON: If parents or caregivers are able to come together and engage with one another and see, well, we’re all in the same boat, everybody is just wanting the best for their kids, we are much more likely to see positive outcomes.
LEFFLER: Kristjansson says the change won’t be easy or quick.
KRISTJANSSON: We need to change their environment, and that takes time. And it absolutely has to include a lot of local buy-in and local involvement.
LEFFLER: The Icelandic model changed teens’ behaviors abroad, and it could work in Fayetteville, but the adults in town are going to have to commit to making big changes.
For NPR News, I’m June Leffler in Fayetteville, W. Va.
(SOUNDBITE OF GEORGE FITZGERALD’S “PASSING TRAINS”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
“I'm really not happy with this. I think this is ridiculous.”
For citizens on Charleston’s West Side, early voting wasn’t much of an option and Election Day had its hiccups.
The precinct at West Side Middle School confused some voters. Polls were usually in the gym, but not this year, due to some construction. A lack of signage, parking and accessible walkways didn’t help either.
Olubunmi Kusimo-Fraizer, 41, told her husband the precinct looked like it wasn’t even open.
“We had to ride around for a while to figure out exactly where to go. And I told him straight up I feel disenfranchised,” said Kusimo-Fraizer. “I’m really not happy with this. I think this is ridiculous.”
Janet Hamilton, 83, had quite a few steps to climb considering her family had trouble finding accessible parking.
“These are the poorest signs and the poorest directions to the polling place I have ever experienced,” Hamilton said. “Not a ballot sign or a polling sign next to the highways pointing toward the school, there was no way to let us know where the polling place was.”
Hamilton did get to vote alongside her daughter Judy Hamilton, 57, and her granddaughter Anna Hamilton Schles, 25.
“We are three generations of West Virginia women voting, and nothing will prevent us from voting,” Judy Hamilton said.
June Leffler
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
(Left to Right) Judy Hamilton, Janet Hamilton and Anna Hamilton Schles turned out to the polls in Charleston.
This frustration is on top of the shuttering of an early polling place for West Side residents. Voters received a letter telling them where to vote early in their neighborhood. But Secretary of State Mac Warner said the polling place would violate state election laws. The reason was the Kanawha County Commission failed to meet a filing deadline.
“My mother absolutely would have voted early at that new location, which has handicap accessibility,” Judy Hamilton said. “We are annoyed that in Kanawha County, they made it as difficult as possible for West Side citizens to vote.”
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee opposed the polling place.
Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango has said the polling place will be in place for the general election.
The West Side is known for its affordable family homes and a larger Black population.
Back at West Side Middle School, Stacey Hager had no trouble finding the polls. He was grateful for that.
“There are a lot of anti-democratic laws and movements happening to keep people from voting,” Hager said. “Do this while you can, because you never know what in the future will happen to where that will be restricted for whatever group.”
One model made a big difference in Iceland, where the percentage of teens who got drunk at least once a month dropped from 45 percent to just 5 percent.
Home to the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Fayetteville, West Virginia, is known for its outdoor recreation.
An avid outdoors woman, Katie Johnson moved there in 1993 after years of living out West.
“I love the climate and the Appalachian mountains, and Fayetteville brings a community of people to me who seem very real and very close,” Johnson said.
Recently, Johnson organized two days worth of outdoor activities for about 900 middle schoolers in Fayette County. Kids tried out skateboarding, banjo picking, and water sports. West Virginia-based groups that host these activities year round helped out.
The event exposes kids to lots of different activities, hoping kids choose one as a regular hobby.
“So many people, if they can find their passion and follow it with their heart, they’re too busy and just too focused to want to experiment with risky things,” Johnson said.
Hailey Carte
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F.I.T. Media
Drums and string instruments were a hit at Project Adventure, an event organized by the Integrative Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative in Fayette County.
Johnson’s work at the Fayette County Health Department focuses on preventing kids from smoking, drinking or using other substances. Johnson looped in others to join the Integrative Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative to implement the Icelandic model of prevention, which had major results abroad.
At a quiet pond, 11-year-old Adriana Abarra is fishing.
“One thing it really helps with is patience. I figured out that whenever you fish you get a lot more patient,” Abarra said. “Whenever you get the fish on the line there’s always this really big thrill. It’s awesome.”
What Abarra has gotten from fishing is exactly what organizers in Fayetteville are hoping for. Fishing teaches her emotional lessons and gives her a natural high. It’s also a time she gets to spend with her mom and papaw.
Researchers say such activities made a big difference in Iceland, where the percentage of teens who got drunk at least once a month dropped from 45 percent to just 5 percent.
Kids in Fayette County have been regularly surveyed about their substance use and related risk factors. Locals like Johnson and researchers at West Virginia University found three quarters of kids weren’t part of organized clubs or sports. Changing that could delay when kids start smoking or drinking.
“The later we can delay the initiation, even by one or two years, the less likely that person is to become addicted. If they should try drugs later in life. And the more likely they are to graduate from high school,” Johnson said.
Jessica Sharp
/
F.I.T. Media
About 900 fourth and fifth graders spend half a day at the Fayette County Park as part of Project Adventure.
Where Prevention Went Wrong
In theory, substance use prevention could save money and a lot of heartache, but it’s gotten a bad wrap. Education campaigns like “Just say no” and the D.A.R.E program didn’t work.
“These were built around the idea that youth don’t know about the dangers of substances. And so if we simply educate them, they will make healthy decisions,” said Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute On Drug Abuse.
Experts now say that idea was myopic and flawed. It didn’t get at the root causes of why kids end up using substances: neglect, problems at home, poor emotional skills, lack of healthy activities, and hanging out with peers that drink or smoke. Compton said these programs even backfired.
“One of the messages that underlies that educational campaign was that these are common, frequent behaviors. Well, if you’re a 12-year-old, you don’t want to be left out of something that all of your peers are doing,” Compton said.
Compton said the best prevention programs don’t harp on drug use but rather work to change family, school and after-school environments for kids. That sounds a lot like the Icelandic model of prevention.
“The work isn’t about drugs. It’s about healthy life and healthy communities,” said Alfgeir Kristjansson. He is a researcher at WVU studying the Fayetteville pilot program. He’s also Icelandic and was involved in the model from its near inception.
Kristjansson said Icelandic parents, schools and policy makers shook up the world kids lived in. It wasn’t just one D.A.R.E. class a week. Kids spent a lot more time with their families and playing sports, mostly soccer.
It took some heavy lifting. Most notably, Iceland set a nationwide curfew for teens that’s still in effect today.
Kristjansson said the curfew isn’t a requirement of the model. It’s just one way the Icelandic public sought to fix the problem. The model says communities, not experts, should find policies and interventions that folks can get behind.
“If parents are able, or caregivers are able, to come together and engage with one another and see, well, we’re all in the same boat, everybody is just wanting the best for their kids, we are much more likely to see positive outcomes,” Kristjansson said.
Keith Humphreys is an addiction researcher at Stanford and a Morgantown native. He chaired a team that reviewed hundreds of research publications regarding the opioid crisis, including the Icelandic model of prevention.
Humphreys said there’s some room for speculation. While Iceland saw a reduction in teen substance use, so did other Scandinavian countries that didn’t implement that model.
“It’s possible that Iceland’s model works better for them than it would for us,” Humphreys said.
Still, he sees the ICE Collaborative in Fayette County as a major investment in his home state. While D.A.R.E. failed if it didn’t curb substance use, but all the rewarding activities the Icelandic model promotes have a host of benefits for child and adolescent development.
“For one kid, that investment may turn into them not starting to be involved in drugs. And for another kid, it’ll be that they don’t get depressed, or they have better social connections, or they do better in school,” Humphreys said.
Investment and Buy-in
The Icelandic model changed teens’ behaviors abroad, and it could work in Fayette County. But it’s the adults that will have to make the big changes.
The ICE Collaborative is supported by a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, Johnson and Kristjansson said the change won’t be easy, or quick.
“We need to change their environment. And that takes time. And it absolutely has to include a lot of local buy-in and local involvement,” Kristjansson said.
On the ground in Fayette County, Johnson said more parents could be on board, plus funders.
The program has caught the attention of state policy makers. Kristjansson spoke to state lawmakers in 2020 about the efforts.
Brian Gallagher, the chair of the Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse Prevention, thinks the state could run with this model. The council works directly with the state Office of Drug Control Policy.
“If we can implement some things like this that actually work in our state, it would be a total game changer. And I applaud the people in Fayetteville for wanting to get something like this started in our state,” Gallagher said.
With tens of millions of dollars in opioid litigation settlements, Gallagher said this kind of prevention effort would be well worth the money.
“Addiction is an on and off switch. Once you turn it on, you can’t turn it off…So preventing people from getting this disease in the first place is really essential to our work,” Gallagher said.
Recovery from addiction is possible. For help, please call the free and confidential treatment referral hotline (1-800-662-HELP) or visitfindtreatment.gov.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
Brian Gallagher also served on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Friends Board.
Low-income mothers and children are eligible for supplemental groceries and health services through WIC.
West Virginia has updated its income eligibility for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — also known as WIC.
Low-income mothers and children are eligible for supplemental groceries and health services through WIC. More than 33,000 families in West Virginia already get these benefits.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month an increase in income eligibility.
States ultimately decide on the income cutoffs, which can range from 100 percent of the federal poverty line to 185 percent of the federal poverty line.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources opted for the latter, more inclusive number. That means one person making $25,000 a year would qualify. So would a family of four making $51,000 a year.
“We believe these changes will allow more West Virginians to enroll in the WIC program,” said Heidi Staats, WV WIC Director.
Pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women are eligible. So are kids up to five years old.
To learn more about benefits and how to apply, visit dhhr.wv.gov/WIC or call 304-558-0684.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
West Virginians on both sides of the abortion debate are reacting to the leaked document.
West Virginians on both sides of the abortion debate are reacting to a leaked, draft ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The news outlet Politico published a draft ruling for an abortion case set to be decided on this summer. In the ruling, a majority of justices voted to overturn Roe V. Wade, which has protected a woman’s right to abortion for 50 years in the U.S.
“On a personal level, I had a range of emotions… feeling numb and shocked, while simultaneously expecting a decision like this to eventually come,” said Margaret Chapman Pomponio with the reproductive rights group WV Free. “Even if the decision were to come down as it was leaked, from Justice Alito, that doesn’t mean that abortion will immediately be illegal. So this is a clarion call for people to wake up, get out of bed and go to work.”
WV Free and other pro-choice groups are reiterating their commitment to abortion access and asking supporters to voice their concerns to federal and state lawmakers.
“We’re not backing down. Because people deserve abortion on their own timeline, in their own community, and with a provider they trust,” said Communications Director Kaylen Barker for Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s only abortion clinic.
West Virginians for Life Executive Director Wanda Franz said she was shocked by the leak, but agreed with the opinion.
“I felt somewhat violated that someone would take it upon themselves to act in such an illegal and nefarious way,” Franz said. “I’m very much in support of what is in the draft document that indicates the thinking of the justices right now.”
West Virginia’s U.S. Senator Shelly Moore Capito also said the leak was “disturbing” and that Roe remains the law of the land until the justices issue a final ruling.
Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not comment until the official ruling is released.
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will officially rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which asked the highest court to rule in favor of a Mississippi law that restricts abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The West Virginia Legislature worked to join a number of other states in passing similar legislation in the 2022 session, but it didn’t make it through on the last day of session.
Overturning Roe would let federal and state lawmakers decide on abortion access, likely creating a patchwork of protections and restrictions across the states. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the leaked opinion.
West Virginia has a host of state officials and laws on the books that echo a pro-life leaning.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is a vocal abortion opponent. He signed on in support of Mississippi’s 15-week ban as it headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“When the Supreme Court’s final opinion is published, we will weigh in more formally and work closely with the legislature to protect life in all stages as much as we legally can under the law,” Morrisey wrote in a statement.
A Republican super-majority in the statehouse will also benefit pro-life interests. Franz has had repeated success offering model legislation to state lawmakers. In recent years abortion access has been limited for minors and those seeking the abortion pill. Low-income women have also been restricted from using their Medicaid insurance to pay for an abortion. This year abortions based on a potential fetal abnormality, such as Down syndrome, were banned.
Red states across the U.S. also have also adopted “trigger laws” in recent years that would immediately restrict abortion if Roe is overturned. West Virginia doesn’t have trigger laws, according to both pro-choice and pro-life groups. It does have Amendment 1, which added language to the state constitution that abortion is not protected, though neither illegal. There is also old code on the books, now deemed unconstitutional and unenforceable, that says abortion is a felony punishable by years in prison.
“The question did come up at some point here in West Virginia, and we pointed out that we already have what’s essentially a trigger law…We have a law on the books that has been suppressed by [Roe V. Wade] that will spring back if the Supreme Court decision is overturned,” Franz said.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
