Without holding the public meeting to receive comment on potential changes to the United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center in South Charleston, the organization has released its initial findings that recommend restructuring, updating equipment and some layoffs.
Without holding the public meeting to receive comment on potential changes to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) in South Charleston, the organization has released its initial findings that recommend restructuring, updating equipment and some layoffs.
The Mail Processing Facility Review’s (MPFR) initial findings for West Virginia can be viewed here.
“The initial results of the facility review support the business case for keeping the Charleston P&DC open and modernizing the facility as a Local Processing Center (LPC) with simplified processes and standardized layouts,” the initial findings read. “The LPC will also be fitted with state-of-the-art sorting equipment that will improve delivery services. We plan to operate the following sorting equipment in this facility.”
Many have raised concerns that package processing would be moving out of state, and if these recommendations are approved, that will be true.
“Additionally, the business case supports transferring mail processing outgoing operations to the Pittsburgh P&DC and Pennwood Place P&DC. Currently, a majority of mail and packages are destined outside of the Charleston area to the rest of the world.”
The center currently employees about 800 people, but the findings only suggest about 25 will be laid off.
“Due to the transfer of outgoing operations, an estimated net decrease of 24 craft and one management positions are projected once the initiative is completed. All bargaining employee reassignments will be made in accordance with the respective collective bargaining agreements.”
On Jan. 12, 2024, the USPS announced a public meeting for Jan. 30, 2024, but that was postponed by the USPS last Friday, saying the organization needed more time to finalize their recommendations.
A date for the rescheduled meeting has not been released, but the organization said it would be in the next several weeks.
At the time, the Charleston Postal Workers Union Local 133 released a statement that read in part:
“Local union officials have persistently reached out to the postal service in efforts to obtain information they were to release on Jan. 23, 2024, to no avail. Numerous grievances have been filed throughout this MPFR process due to the postal service’s inability to abide by their handbooks and manuals that govern such movement. We will continue to work with our elected officials, the AFL-CIO and affiliate unions in the state to fight the Postal Service plans on moving your mail to Pittsburgh to be processed. The public survey is still available to take, and we encourage everyone to do so.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., released the following statement:
“I have reviewed USPS’s initial findings of the Processing and Distribution Center in Charleston, and while I am glad to see that they have decided to invest in new equipment and upgrades to the facility, I am disappointed to see that they believe that some jobs being transferred to other locations — even if it is less than what was rumored — would be a positive step. I also would have hoped the USPS would have held their public meeting as scheduled on Jan. 30. I still believe that the community deserves to be heard, and I hope that USPS will take that feedback into consideration before any final decisions are made. In the meantime, I urge USPS to listen at the required upcoming public meeting and take into account the importance of this facility to the community as they work to produce their final decisions.”
The press release noted that Capito has remained active on this issue and has spoken personally with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and other local officials on the matter. DeJoy is serving a 10-year term as Postmaster General and was appointed by former President Donald Trump.
She wrote a letter in December 2023 pressing DeJoy for clarity regarding the future of the facility, as well as stressed the importance of the center to West Virginia and its employees. Click here to read the letter.
Capito later expressed her disappointment in the response from USPS, which can be found here.
To comment on the USPS facility, click here to submit written comments. All written comments must be received by Feb. 29, 2024.
Capito had some pointed questions composed in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about West Virginia’s mail processing center.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito had some pointed questions composed in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about West Virginia’s mail processing center.
Faced with downsizing nationwide, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is conducting a review of the Mail Processing and Distribution Center in South Charleson and its 800 jobs. 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.
DeJoy has said there will not be layoffs at the facility. Capito said people can “read between the lines on what that really might mean.”
“Are you going to be transferring jobs and you’re not going to get laid off, but you have to move?’ Capito said. “Are you going to bring other jobs that are low paying jobs that you can take, and therefore nobody would get laid off? You can see there’s a lot of gray area there.”
In the letter, Capito said she understands the need for the USPS to review its operations and to improve upon them. She asked that USPS conduct the review “without any preconceived notions as to specific outcomes such as those noted in an initial announcement.”
Capito submitted written questions to Dejoy, asking for responses by December 14. Among the questions raised:
1. While you stated that there will not be any layoffs, there could be transfers to other centers. Could these potential transfers be out of state?
2. If some functions are removed from the center, could those employees’ roles be downgraded, could they have lateral position options, or could they have other options aside from transferring if their function is moved from the center?
3. How is operational efficiency defined? Is it purely as a means to save on costs without significant service changes? If so, how are significant service changes defined?
Leaders with the American Postal Workers Union Local 133 continue to believe the probable plan of the USPS is to close or downsize the facility and process and distribute West Virginia mail out of Pennsylvania, highlighting Pittsburgh. About 500 positions at the center are union jobs.
The union is staging informational pickets on Thursday and Saturday. There is an upcoming public meeting scheduled on the facility review.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to USPS for comment but as of publication of this story had received no response.
Millions of families nationwide find themselves caring for loved ones in their own family. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito experienced those issues as she provided care for her own parents. She recently introduced legislation into the U.S. Senate to help alleviate burdens on caregivers.
Millions of families nationwide find themselves caring for loved ones in their own family. That includes stress and confusion — especially when it comes to dealing with a parent’s finances and the services that are available to them.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., experienced those issues as she provided care for her own parents. She recently introduced legislation into the U.S. Senate to help alleviate burdens on caregivers.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: We’ve both cared for our parents. Let’s just talk about that experience for a second. So you cared for both of your parents, right? I believe I read that it was your mother first. And then your father began to decline? Or do I have that backwards?
Capito: That’s right. My mother really had a longer slope into full out dementia. She became very isolated, worried about losing her mind. It was sad to watch, but dad could kind of compensate and help her and answer the questions time and time again. And then when he slipped, he went much faster. That was in 2010.
Then it began a long slog for me and my brother and sister to have four years of caring for them, having them being cared for, and trying to figure all this out. It began slow, and then it just all of a sudden, almost one day, we’ve got real issues here.
I think that’s what happens in families, when it’s a couple one can kind of compensate or cover up for the other. And then when that person, when your healthy person goes down, you realize all the things that maybe you should have been paying a little bit more attention to.
Douglas: I asked the question because your father was the caregiver for your mother and did all of those things that we’re discussing. And then when he began to decline, then suddenly it fell to the next generation, to our generation, to step up and to provide that care.
Capito: It was challenging for us in that none of the three of us lived right there. You can always go back and look, and I’m sure you’ve done this yourself, could I have addressed this earlier, sooner or better? But you’re doing the best you can. And I think that’s what caregivers all across this nation are doing.
Douglas: Yeah, I’ve certainly gone in my head. Should have done this? Should have changed this sooner?
I’ll be honest with you, when I see information about newly introduced legislation, I generally don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it. I know how many steps it takes to become finished legislation. But tell me about this bill to alleviate the care or the burden on caregivers.
Capito: I think what I realized from my own personal experience, and then once I became sort of known as somebody who has lived this experience, is that going through all the insurance, every time they were admitted to the hospital, you have to get another document to sign, you signed the same document every time, why can’t the X-rays, or the testing be transmitted from one hospital to the next?
You have the burden of trying to figure out how to care best for your parents, but then all of the hurdles that you have to jump through, whether it’s for insurance purposes, or HIPAA, or the refrigerator breaks down, all of these things just come cascading down. And you end up with a lot of difficulties in terms of trying to figure out procedures, forms, communications, eligibility, whether you’re talking about Medicare or Social Security.
I think we could make it easier on caregivers who are trying to face this, to make it more streamlined, or at least have these agencies look at how they could streamline their processes to make it easier.
Douglas: That was one of the things that I struggled with, who do I go to to find out how to care for my mom? It’s very frustrating.
Capito: You are looking at financial data, too. That’s another thing. I mean, that’s different than what this act for caregivers or alleviating barriers for caregivers would do, but financial institutions, I think could help you a lot more in terms of trying to figure out credit card and bank accounts, so that not only do you have, “How am I going to get the health care? How am I going to pay for this?” And if they can’t communicate to you successfully, where is everything? I don’t know about you, but I spent a lot of time trying to unwind and figure out how to do all this.
It was a labor of love for me, but it was extremely time consuming and emotionally draining. And then you’re trying to have your life at the same time. My parents actually got very, very ill in 2014, which was the year I was running my first Senate race, and I’m like, wow, what am I going to do? Finally my mother, in the memory unit, in September of 2014, when my campaign obviously was almost over in November, my mother died.
I remember a campaign meeting that I had the day before she died. And I just looked at my campaign team, and I said, “I can’t do all this. My mother is dying.” I had no idea she was gonna die the next day, but I could see. And I really think my mother was looking in my eyes going, “She’s really tired. I might as well just hang it up. She needs a break.”
Pictured here with her father, the late-Gov. Arch Moore, in 1962. Shelley Moore Capito was one of her father and mother’s caregivers as they struggled with memory loss later in the life.
Photo courtesy of the West Virginia & Regional History Center/WVU Libraries
Douglas: You were in the U.S. House leading up to that, too. You had a full schedule going on with them and living in D.C., or at least commuting back and forth.
A lot of caregivers, just generally speaking, have moved away, we’ve moved all over the country. Families aren’t located within 10 miles of each other anymore. Who do you call? Who do you rely on?
Capito: I have an older brother and a younger sister. They were very helpful, but at the end of the day, one person ends up making those decisions, and that person was me.
Douglas: Why has the system grown to to be such a challenge for caregivers?
Capito: I think a lot of it has to do with people living longer. It’s not all about dementia, it could be broken hips or heart failure, whatever. I think people are living longer. And so I think that presents a challenge because, are they living healthy all the way to the day they die? Of course not. And so I think that’s a challenge. I think our society is much more mobile, as we said, so many people have moved away from home. We have families that maybe 30, 40 years ago, maybe the wife wasn’t working, but we have many more women in the workforce, dual occupation couples.
My mother’s mother had the same issue in the ’60s and ’70s. Once it was unmanageable at home, she went into a nursing home for like eight years. We don’t do that anymore. And because that’s not the modality that’s really the best treatment for certain types of things. I think that’s got some impact on it. And the cost of caring.
If you can’t quit your job and move across the country, which a lot of people do, it becomes very, very hard and you look at the cost and you say to yourself, it’s probably the least costly way to do it. And the best I’m going to feel about is if I just drop out of the workforce for right now and manage this. So I think it’s all kinds of factors like that.
Douglas: Nationwide, there’s 53 million family caregivers, but even in West Virginia, we’re looking at a quarter of a million people in a state of 1.8 million people. That’s kind of astounding. That’s one-in-eight, one-in-seven people in the state is a family caregiver for another 100,000 people who need the care.
Capito: That’s where something like the Credit for Caregiving Act, which is another one we put out, and it’s been out there for a couple years, to try to give some financial relief in the form of a tax credit for family caregivers. You try to attack it that way a little bit to maybe ease the burden. The nice thing about this issue, which is not too nice, but it’s totally bipartisan, and because this has no barriers in terms of how it hits people in terms of their politics, obviously. It’s one of the issues that we can work on together. I’m a big believer in medical research and development of new therapies and earlier treatment and earlier diagnosis.
So all of these things kind of drive me because of my personal experience, not that I hadn’t seen it in other families but until you hit it yourself, you really don’t understand what’s going on. And so that’s why I’ve sort of taken this on as one of my causes that I think we could make a difference on.
Douglas: Any prognostication on the possibility of this, this moving on through and out of committee and onto the floor?
Capito: This is national Family Caregivers Month, so it’s a good month to be talking about it. The bill probably doesn’t have a burden, but we’ll need to attach it onto another bill going through the Health Committee. We’re looking for those opportunities and it has bipartisan co-sponsorships. We’ve just put it out there. So we’ll see what happens. We’ve been trying to look for what we say is a vehicle to get it passed.
Plans to connect the last 300,000 locations in West Virginia with affordable internet went public on Friday.
Plans to connect the last 300,000 locations in West Virginia with affordable internet went public on Friday.
In laying out the plan to spend more than $1.2 billion federal dollars for broadband deployment, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she asked an internet expert a few years ago what it would take to get the last West Virginian connected.
“The things he said were time and money,” Capito said. “Well, we’ve got the money now, the time should be condensed.”
Gathered in the Governor’s Reception Room at the State Capitol, state and federal leaders explained that Implementing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program dictates spending the still unsecured funding on connecting first the unserved then the underserved. The funds will be released in installments after the state’s five-year action plan, due August 12, is approved. You can see the West Virginia Deployment timeline here.
West Virginia Office of Broadband director Kelly Workman said after the submitted plan, comes a series of proposals.
“Up next is our initial proposal,” Workman said. “The initial proposal includes 20 different sections. Basically, the state of West Virginia will be telling the federal government how we intend to spend this money, where we will spend it, how we will execute our challenge process and so that will go through those 20 sections and answer all those questions.”
A national broadband project leader, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Commerce and chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Alan Davidson said before he writes a big check, the state must pass a big homework assignment.
“There are a whole series of requirements about how the money will be spent, how the grants will be given, and just making sure that there’s good oversight,” Davidson said. “So this money gets spent quickly, but wisely, and that we’ve got good hooks in at the back end to make sure it’s getting spent the right way.”
The roadblocks to statewide broadband connectivity have always been the high provider costs and challenges of running cable up the last mountain or the end of the deepest hollow.
Workman says concerns over equipment supply chain issues and bucket trucks back ordered have been planned for and addressed.
“They have scaled up,” Workman said. “We are hearing that most of the supply chain issues are leveling out. The providers are telling us that it can be managed. We proactively reached out to the providers in West Virginia, to say, what would you like to see in this plan? What can we do to facilitate your expansion to the most rural parts of our state? All of their comments will be integrated into our plan. And I think that that process in our relationships with those providers, is extremely beneficial to us going forward.”
Davidson says his boss, President Biden, likes to say this isn’t just a connection program, it’s a new jobs program, creating up to 150,000 nationwide.
“And we want to make sure that those jobs are filled by the communities that are being served by these networks,” he said. “This is a wakeup call for folks. Hey, we’re saying these jobs are coming and we’re trying to do all we can to make sure that people are trained up and ready for them.”
West Virginia is hoping to secure the first 20 percent of the funding, about $240 million, this time next year. The remaining 80 percent, roughly $960 million, will be distributed in 2025 once the federal government approves the state’s final proposal and reviews how well it complied with its initial proposal. The plan outlines statewide broadband connectivity to be completed by 2028.
Thursday afternoon at his family’s Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, with Babydog by his side, Gov. Jim Justice announced he is running for the United States Senate from West Virginia.
Thursday afternoon at his family’s Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, with Babydog by his side, Gov. Jim Justice announced he is running for the United States Senate from West Virginia.
Justice is term-limited and cannot run for a third term as governor. He has been speculating about this run for months. He ran for governor in 2016 as a Democrat but switched parties roughly six months into his first term at a rally held by former President Donald Trump in Huntington.
Republican U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, W.Va., and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina introduced Justice by saying he’s needed in Washington to help return the U.S. Senate to a Republican majority. Capito spoke of her partnership with Justice.
“We’ve worked on economic development,” Capito said. “We’ve worked on the COVID response together. We worked on broadband deployment. I think we’re really gonna make a good pair in Washington.”
Graham said he came to this announcement because Justice is needed in the U.S. Senate.
“We need help in Washington,” Graham said. “We need a winner. We need somebody who can win in a general election, a conservative who can move the ball forward in Washington, D.C.”
Justice opened his remarks by giving numerous reasons the Biden Administration is going down the wrong path. He touted his six-year record in West Virginia with tax cuts, an abortion ban, campus carry, school choice and huge budget surpluses. He said he will take that work ethic, wrapped in conservative values, to Capitol Hill.
“Too many politicians today want something for them,” Justice said. “I’ve never wanted anything. How in the world do you think we’re perceived with our allies? I mean, look what happened in Afghanistan? Look what’s going on at the border. Look what’s going on with inflation. Look what’s going on with energy. It’s just all over the park. We’re gonna have to do something about it.”
Justice’s key competitor in the Republican Primary will be U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney. Both men have been endorsed in previous elections by former President Donald Trump. West Virginia Republican Party Chair Elgine McArdle said a Trump endorsement could be key.
“It could be important, especially in the state of West Virginia,” McArdle said. “West Virginia went heavily for President Trump in the last election, and we are very, very red at this point. I think President Trump’s influence, certainly in West Virginia, is strong. And I think that will potentially play a big role in the primary.”
The West Virginia Democratic Party Chair is Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha. He said a Justice/Mooney primary will be a messy battle, with both candidates damaged going into the general election.
“On one hand, you have a congressman who is still under a Congressional Ethics probe for misuse of campaign funds that he’s appeared to spend on himself,” Pushkin said. “And on the other side, you have a governor who has had scandal with the State Police, a totally toxic culture at the DHHR, our prisons are under a state of emergency because they’re so understaffed that he’s had to call in the National Guard. They will be damaged,”
The state’s other incumbent U.S. senator is Democrat Joe Manchin, who said he’ll announce his election plans in December. He faced stiff opposition in his last election from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, but Morrisey has declared his intention to run for governor.
In deeply red West Virginia, political observers believe Manchin’s seat is in play to flip Republican, with the potential to shift control of the evenly divided chamber away from Democrats.
On his website, Manchin said any race he runs, he will win.
“I am laser focused on doing the job West Virginians elected me to do,” Manchin said. “Lowering healthcare costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, shoring up American energy security and getting our fiscal house in order. But make no mistake, I will win any race I enter.”
Coal miner and self-described “ultra-MAGA” political outsider Chris Rose has also announced a run for the seat.
Justice closed his announcement remarks by bringing his extended family on stage, shy grandson and all, and quoting one of his father’s homespun sayings.
“Any frog that is not proud of their own pond isn’t much of a frog,” Justice said. “Just know this, I’m certain of this family, me and even Babydog that we’re dang proud of the United States of America and this great state.”
The West Virginia Primary Election is a little more than a year away.
West Virginia lays claim to Lily’s Place, the nation’s first medical center specifically created for infants born from addicted parents. The Huntington facility is now expanding their services to support these growing infants’ siblings and families.
West Virginia lays claim to Lily’s Place, the nation’s first medical center specifically created for infants born from addicted parents. The Huntington facility is now expanding their services to support these growing infants’ siblings and families.
Since 2014, Lily’s Place has served more than 350 babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). With Huntington having one of the highest opioid addiction rates in the country, organizers found the number of babies born with NAS increasing and knew there had to be a better way to care for them.
They discovered the bright lights, loud beeping equipment and busy atmosphere was the opposite of what babies with NAS need most. Lily’s Place offers private rooms with a quiet atmosphere and dim lighting, which are best for babies with NAS, who are sensitive to light and sound.
Executive Director Rebecca Crowder said the new Children’s Center will provide extended counseling and prevention services to siblings, clients 18 and younger, while still supporting the family unit.
”We were getting so many child referrals that we realized that we needed to give them a safe environment of their own,” Crowder said. “A place where they were comfortable to come in and wait for their appointments, and just be around other youth. We offer counseling and case management for the families to help children deal with the social emotional issues they may be having, and self-regulation.”
Crowder said the new Children’s Center expands on the peer support and case management needed to resolve the societal issues today’s kids face.
“During COVID-19, we found a lot of kids were having issues with depression and anxiety,” she said. “With that came concerns about how they had increased suicidal ideation. It’s not just about dealing with the drugs that are already there, it’s helping them deal with the life issues that they’re facing and learning to cope so they don’t turn to drugs in the future.”
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was at the ribbon cutting. She said the addition to the facility was made possible through securing a $1.6 million Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) request that included funding for the project.
Capito said Lily’s Place hasn’t just helped hundreds of NAS babies survive, but set a template of medical help being developed in communities nationwide.
“They are saying this works in my neighborhood, this works in my state,” she said. “This works for the great advocates to try to fight a very, very difficult issue.”
Capito said developing the Children’s Center sets a new template, having raised a teenage daughter herself.
“It’s not easy to be a 13-year-old girl, and it’s getting harder with all the social media and everything,” Capito said. “To have all of the disruptions and unbelievable trauma in your life that piles on when somebody is affected with addiction just makes it so much harder. So, to have that ability for them to come in to meet you all, to receive services, both individually or as a whole, or with their parents or with their family is just so incredible.”
Crowder said even with the new Children’s Center, it always comes back to the babies.
“We’re also trying to see a future where we no longer need to care for babies,” Crowder said. “When there are no more babies born prenatally exposed. However, with that you can’t miss the prevention piece and caring for the siblings and the families.”
Click here for more information on Lily’s Place and its services.
