U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Principals Advocate For Federal Funds At Nation’s Capitol

Hundreds of educational leaders from across the country were in the nation’s capital Wednesday to advocate for more support to address the mental health and educator shortage crises.

Hundreds of educational leaders from across the country were in the nation’s capital Wednesday to advocate for more support to address the mental health and educator shortage crises. Principals and administrators urged Congress to prioritize educational spending in current budget negotiations as part of the National Conference on School Leadership.

John Conrad, principal of Westwood Middle School in Morgantown, and Wheeling Park High School Principal Meredith Dailer spent the morning meeting with the staff of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation.

Conrad said schools in West Virginia rely on a myriad of federal funds to function.

“People are very familiar with Title I, but also Title II and Title IV and IDEA state grants,” he said. “We’re just hoping that they at least keep the level of funding.”

Conrad said staffers don’t hear from educators and principals enough, and being able to make personal contact goes a long way. He was able to meet with Sen. Joe Manchin directly and urged him to support specific legislation to address mental health and staffing issues in schools.

“We talked a lot about educator shortages and the principal pipeline, and what we can do to get people into the profession, become an educator, and then stay in the profession,” he said. “We talked about the Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act, and how we can utilize that to attract people and to stay in the field of education.”

Manchin Announces He Won’t Run For President In 2024

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said Friday that he is not running for president, according to his spokesman Jon Kott.

Manchin announced his decision in a speech at West Virginia University.

The centrist Democrat who often bucked his party’s leadership had been considering a run for the presidency and had said he thought it would be clear by March if there was a path for a third-party candidate this year.

Manchin is not running for reelection in 2024. His Senate seat in a heavily Republican state is expected to be a prime pickup opportunity for the GOP.

Manchin Speaks With Postal Chief On Processing Center; Union Sets Pickets

Union leaders say while federal employees cannot strike, they can set up informational pickets, and two are scheduled.

Leaders with the American Postal Workers Union Local 133 continue to believe the probable plan of the United States Postal Service (USPS) is to close or downsize South Charleston’s statewide Mail Processing and Distribution Facility and process and distribute West Virginia mail out of Pittsburgh.

Over the weekend, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., released a statement regarding a conversation he had with U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on the center’s future.

“I just had a productive call with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about the Mail Processing Facility Review of its Charleston Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) facility,” Manchin said in the statement. “The South Charleston facility will not have one single employee laid off, and instead deliver major investments to the facility to better meet the demands of the public and the market.”

Manchin’s statement did say there are “continued efforts to keep West Virginia’s postal facility in the state.” It also continued to “encourage every West Virginian to submit comments to the USPS (public survey) at the link here opposing changes to the West Virginia mail processing facility.”

Postal Workers Union 133 Vice president Tim Holstein said experience tells him to be wary.

“We’ve got this message before,” Holstein said. “It’s kind of like, look at what this hand is doing, not what this hand’s doing. So we’re still concerned, we’re still in a fight.”

Holstein said while federal employees cannot strike, they can set up informational pickets, and two are scheduled. The first is Thursday Dec 7 from 5 until 7 p.m. at the Charleston main post office on Lee Street. The second is this Saturday, Dec 9, from 10 a.m. until noon on Jefferson road in South Charleston, near the South Charleston Recreation Center.

Holstein says until he sees verification of DeJoy’s statement to Manchin, he won’t believe it.

“Until I see this major infrastructure that’s going to come to the facility,” Holstein said. “My local is supposed to be notified of any work that takes place on any building or any potential work that’s supposed to take place on any building. And we have not seen anything. “

DeJoy’s ten year “Delivering for America” postal transformation plan includes overhauling regional mail processing and distribution centers and “leveraging” existing sites in the process.

The facility employs 800 people. About 500 are union workers.

Holstein said while federal employees can not strike, they can set up informational pickets, and two are scheduled. The first is Thursday December 7 from 5 until 7 p.m. at the Charleston main post office on Lee Street. The second is this Saturday, December 9 from 10 a.m. until noon on Jefferson road in South Charleston, near the South Charleston Recreation Center.

“That’s something that we’re going to be looking at,” Holstein said. “Possibly toward the end of this week. we need to make sure that our timeline fits with the (USPS public) survey.”

WVPB has attempted to contact USPS for comment. We had received no response at the time of publication.

WVU Engineering Program Gets $599K Boost

The project involves examining different learning techniques in engineering curricula to improve student performance and improve retention rates in associated academic fields.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin announced $599,999 for an engineering education research project at West Virginia University. The funding comes from a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The project involves examining different learning techniques in engineering curricula to improve student performance and improve retention rates in associated academic fields.

Manchin said the engineering education research project will bolster academic success and help retain students in the engineering disciplines.

The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that promotes science and engineering in all 50 US states and territories.

Investments account for around 25 percent of federal support to colleges like WVU for basic research.