A resident of Charles Pointe shares the wonder of it all

A new Blog. You can read it here.  Take time to read the several entries.

Business Climate – WV could learn much from Virginia

Or so the Bluefield Daily Telegraph would have you believe. HERE

US Champion hails from Clarksburg

The 16th Annual U.S. Marbles Championship was held in Pittsburgh this past weekend. Ralph Dillon of Clarksburg, W.Va., won the men’s division with Paul McKeone of Reading, Pa., the runner-up.

This is a big deal. Hoppy, schedule an interview. We don’t have that many Champions!

Best States for business – WV ranks 50th

This week, Forbes came out with their annual list of the best states for business.  States were ranked based on six criteria: business costs, labor pool, regulatory environment, growth prospects, economic climate and quality of life.  Virginia was ranked first. West Virginia last. Here’s the list.

Has Wal-Mart buried Mom and Pop stores?

WVU Professor Russel S. Sobel and Andrea M. Dean have led an examination into that question with a new economic study. Sobel has been interviewed by US News and World Report, in an article entitled, “Should small businesses fear Wal-Mart?”. The short answer is No!.  You can read that here.

If you are interested in reading the 22 page uncorrected proof of the original paper, Click Here.

WV Attorney General – abuse of office?

This Wall Street Journal article thinks so. The article highlights Darrell McGraw’s incumbency with Dan Greear’s attempt to unseat him as the new Attorney General this November.

“As state attorneys general have become more brazen with their power, and as outside groups have started shining a light on their backroom practices, voters have become uneasy. It’s this sense of disquiet that candidates like Mr. Greear are tapping into as they promise to refocus lawsuits, rein in the tort bar and restore a sense of justice to prosecutorial office.”

“…To Mr. Greear’s advantage, his opponent is a case study of abuse in office. Mr. McGraw, in more than 14 years as West Virginia’s attorney general, has been a pioneer in the practice of filing questionable lawsuits against big companies, secretly doling out the legal work to outside trial lawyer friends who reap millions in fees. Those lawyers then turn around and donate heavily to Mr. McGraw’s re-election.”

Smoking in WV

Tobacco Use in West Virginia     Source Here

High school students who smoke	27.6% (25,900)
Male high school students who use smokeless or spit tobacco	27.0% (females use much lower)
Kids (under 18) who become new daily smokers each year	3,200
Kids exposed to secondhand smoke at home	128,000
Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids each year	5.9 million
Adults in West Virginia who smoke	26.9% (384,500)

Deaths in West Virginia From Smoking

Adults who die each year from their own smoking	3,900
Kids now under 18 and alive in West Virginia who will ultimately die prematurely from smoking	46,000
Adult nonsmokers who die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke	200 to 560

Smoking-Caused Monetary Costs in West Virginia

Annual health care costs in West Virginia directly caused by smoking	$690 million
– Portion covered by the state Medicaid program	$229 million
Residents’ state & federal tax burden from smoking-caused government expenditures	$591 per household
Smoking-caused productivity losses in West Virginia	$994 million

Tobacco Industry Influence in West Virginia

Annual tobacco industry marketing expenditures nationwide	$13.4 billion
Estimated portion spent for West Virginia marketing each year	$132.0 million

We’re First: WV is the most medicated state!

17.2 prescriptions per person.  But don’t worry you may get due recognition.  Your PEIA information is being sold to the pharmaceutical industry.

WV loses 7200 jobs due to trade gap with China

West Virginia lost 7,200 jobs in a variety of industries between 2001 and 2007 due to the United States’ growing trade deficit with China, according to a report released jointly today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.  Close to half of the jobs lost in West Virginia came from the state’s manufacturing sector, which included hundreds of lost employment opportunities for West Virginians to produce products such as textiles, wood, chemicals and metals. “Manufacturing is a vital piece our state’s economy,” said Ted Boettner, the Executive Director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. “It supports thousands of West Virginia families and employs a higher share of workers without a college degree than the rest of the economy.” READ MORE HERE

Seven chronic illnesses cost WV $10 Billion a year

As we’ve come to expect in these relative rankings, WV ranks 50th among the states. Seven common chronic diseases — cancers, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, mental disorders, and pulmonary conditions. These conditions shorten lives, reduce quality of life, and create considerable burden for caregivers. This map shows how states compare based on the prevalence of the seven common chronic diseases.

From: An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease — Charting a New Course to Save Lives and Increase Productivity and Economic Growth