CLINTWOOD, Va. — The Dickenson County School Board moved to reward district employees and celebrate student achievement during its April monthly meeting on Wednesday April 22, unanimously approving one-time stipends for all staff and recognizing the high school’s top academic performer.

The board approved a $1,000 bonus for full-time employees and $500 for part-time staff. To be eligible, staff must have been employed by the district on or before Jan. 6, 2026. The move impacts 273 full-time and 75 part-time workers, funded through an amendment to the FY26 state budget.

The meeting began with a special recognition of LaKendra Vitatoe who serves as the student representative on the board, as the valedictorian for Ridgeview High School. Board members also extended congratulations to former student representative Koen Powers, who was named salutatorian.

Compliance Director Karen Martin reviewed the March enrollment report, which showed a slight increase of 10 students over the previous month, bringing the district’s total to 1,701.

While year-to-date attendance remains at 91.51 percent, officials noted that a late-season flu outbreak in March dropped the monthly average to 88.38 percent. Chronic absenteeism remains a point of concern, particularly at the high school level, where the raw rate rose to 29 percent. However, officials noted these figures do not yet account for students in homebound instruction or alternative credit programs.

The district’s financial outlook remains tied to state-level decisions. While the FY27 budget was adopted in March, the Virginia General Assembly has yet to pass a final state budget. A special session to address the matter is scheduled to begin on Thursday, April 23, in Richmond.

In other financial action, the board approved the 2026-27 Special Education and Career and Technical Education (Perkins) plans. The special education budget includes over $547,000 in Section 611 funding for personnel and services. The Perkins allocation of $73,450 will focus on equipment and capital outlay, with the district planning to pursue additional grants to supplement these funds.

The board granted a request from the Dickenson County Fair Committee and committee chair Billy Branham to release students early on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, for “Kids Day.” The fair will feature the return of singer-songwriter Celeste Kellogg for a special Friday night performance, along with the return of Gospel Night on Wednesday and Carson Peters and Iron Mountain on Thursday along with new activities.

Policy updates were also a focus, with 16 revised policies approved. These include an update to weapons policy to reflect legal prohibitions while allowing limited superintendent discretion as authorized by law. There were new requirements for staff training to identify and respond to gang behavior and an early update to improve district-wide wellness initiatives.

Board member Jason Hicks highlighted the success of the district’s nursing program, noting positive feedback from the community while board member Damon Rasnick pointed to high levels of student engagement, reporting that approximately 750 students — nearly half the student body — are active in extracurricular activities.

The board concluded the meeting following a closed session to discuss personnel recommendations and legal consultations regarding school construction investments.

The next monthly meeting is scheduled for May, where the board expects to provide a finalized update on the state budget’s impact on local school funding.

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by RODERICK MULLINS

CLINTWOOD, Va. — The Dickenson County School Board met recently to discuss administrative business, financial reports, and student recognition for achievements.

Reports were heard from representatives of the Dickenson County Education Association (DEA) regarding budget negotiations and upcoming conventions.

In the Good News segment from county schools, Supt. Haydee Robinson recognized Braden Hillier for placing second in the All-State Chorus Competition and the Ridgeview High School choir performed songs from their production of Tarzan.

A recent report showed an average daily attendance of the school system, setting at 92.11 percent, with Ridgeview Elementary having the highest attendance of the three county schools.

The proposed $32.6 million budget for fiscal year 2027 was approved but implementation of the budget will be contingent upon finalized state funding in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In other business, the board approved the 2026-27 school calendar favored by 74 percent of employees in a poll.

The board approved 27 updated Virginia School Board Association (VSBA) policies and heard a presentation by Dr. Jesse Neece on self-assessment and an action plan focused on enhancing special education services and paraprofessional training.

In closing remarks, the school board members praised the student performances from earlier in the meeting and also discussed the efficiency of new safety measures including the ‘Open Gate’ system.

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House Bill 500 includes makes changes to how schools receive state funding.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky state lawmakers convene in Frankfort today for the start of the legislative session, where they will craft the next two-year state budget.

Experts said it will be challenging to address an anticipated budget shortfall and new costs expected from the rollback of funding for federal programs many Kentuckians depend on.

Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, said families are stretched thin and funding for some services, like the popular Meals on Wheels program, was only restored after public backlash.

“What is decided for the budget is very consequential for services that Kentuckians rely on and things they care about,” Bailey explained.

After years of surplus state revenue, Kentucky is expected to see a shortfall of around $156 million, according to Consensus Forecasting Group, and a new report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said the state’s budget woes partly stem from an imbalanced tax system.

Bailey added new costs are being shifted onto Kentucky, particularly for SNAP, the program helping more than 500,000 kids, older adults, people with disabilities and low-wage workers put food on the table. Under the Trump administration, the state will be required to pick up the tab for SNAP, around $180 million per year, by 2028.

“We’re talking about a potentially very large new outlay of resources that the General Assembly is going to have to find,” Bailey stressed. “At the same time that, again, revenues are slowing down.”

According to the center’s analysis, the wealthiest 5 percent of Kentuckians now pay around $3 billion less a year in state and federal taxes under changes made a few years ago. The report’s authors said restoring a graduated income tax could help pull the state out of the red.

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Due to the government shutdown, many might see their SNAP benefits delayed if it is not resolved soon.

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by The Heritage Foundation

To vote for a continuing resolution (CR), the Senate Democrats are demanding in part that Congress resume Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act premium subsidy policies that open the door for illegal aliens to receive government benefits. These loopholes were terminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law this July. The OBBBA limited eligibility for health benefits to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and lawful residents under the Compact of Free Association, thereby stopping eligibility for illegal aliens and other aliens here on a temporary basis. The Senate Democrats’ CR bill would repeal these changes made by the OBBBA.

Key Provisions

Division B, Subtitle E, Sec. 2141 of S.2882, the Democrat CR, would repeal these key sections in Subtitle B of Title VII in the OBBBA that directly curbed access to government health care benefits:

• Sec. 71109, Alien Medicaid Eligibility. This provision changed immigration terminology that is used to determine whether an individual is eligible for Medicaid benefits. The change narrowed eligibility to U.S citizens, lawful permanent residents, certain Cubans/Haitians in the U.S., and residents via the Compact of Free Association (Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands). Previously, benefits were available to a broader set of “qualified aliens,” including immigration parolees and asylees.
• Sec. 71110, Expansion of Federal Medicaid Match Rate (FMAP) for Emergency Medicaid. This provision reduced the FMAP for emergency services provided to unlawfully present aliens in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from a federal enhanced match rate of 90 percent to the standard federal match rate for each state.
• Sec. 71201, Limiting Medicare Coverage of Certain Individuals. This provision applied the same Medicaid eligibility restrictions to the Medicare program, again narrowing Medicare eligibility to “lawfully permanent residents” rather than the previous, broader category of “qualified aliens.”
• Sec. 71301/71302, Permitting Premium Tax Credit Only for Certain Individuals and Disallowing Premium Tax Credit During Periods of Medicaid Ineligibility Due to Alien Status. Similar to the Medicaid and Medicare changes, these provisions narrowed eligibility for the ACA premium tax credits to those who are lawfully present and would prohibit an alien who is found to be ineligible for Medicaid from also qualifying for a premium tax credit.

Other Provisions

Other provisions in OBBA that Democrats want to repeal would strengthen and improve Medicaid’s eligibility and enforcement rules by:

• Rolling back Biden-era rules that encouraged continuous coverage (Sec. 71101/71102); requiring states to cross-check for duplicative enrollment (Sec. 71103);
• Requiring states to conduct more frequent eligibility redeterminations (Sec. 71107);
• Adding work requirements to Medicaid (Sec. 71119);
• Strengthening income verification for premium tax credits, including immigration status (Sec. 71303); and
• Disallowing certain special enrollment periods (Sec. 71304).

These provisions, aimed at ensuring that only those who qualify for the program are enrolled, might not be directly linked to immigration status but have the potential to capture ineligible immigration populations as well.

Conclusion

Such welfare and other benefits given to illegal aliens facilitate and prolong illegal immigration in the U.S. at great cost to the American taxpayer. The OBBBA properly limited the health benefit eligibility to those who are here lawfully and more permanently. These changes should not be repealed.

Reprinted from https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/yes-senate-democrats-have-shut-down-the-government-over-giving-health

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Health care costs are about to skyrocket for working Americans, but GOP lawmakers are prioritizing tax breaks for the wealthy.

by Karen Dolan
OtherWords

Health care access in this country is in grave danger — and your wallet could be, too. Those facts are key to understanding the latest government shutdown.

“My kids have health care through Medicaid — which is especially important for my daughter with autism,” Alexis Cortes, a mom of four, told me. But “the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ calls for massive cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and early childhood education programs,” she warns.

Also at issue are the 24 million Americans who benefit from the soon-to-expire tax credits that help them afford their health coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. When Republicans passed their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations in this summer’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, they intentionally left out renewing this credit that helps regular people afford health care.

As a result, according to KFF Health, not only could the 24 million ACA users see a doubling of their premium costs, but most Americans could see their premiums rise if this tax credit isn’t renewed.

Coupled with the over $1 trillion that the GOP bill gutted from Medicaid in order to fund those massive tax giveaways to billionaires, Americans are about to experience significant reductions in their access to health coverage, long-term care, nursing home care, and hospital care, especially in rural areas.

This is what’s at stake with the current government shutdown on Capitol Hill.

The Republican majority is trying to pass a stop-gap spending measure that sustains President Trump’s mass firings of public servants, maintains his freeze on nearly half a trillion dollars meant for our communities, and keeps their cuts to everything from education to health care, food assistance, student loans, and even cancer research.

Some lawmakers want to stop this calamity from happening.

The Democrats have a counterproposal to fund the government that restores this health care funding, keeps costs under control for families already grappling with high costs of living, and prohibits illegally freezing appropriated funds. But with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats’ proposal hasn’t been able to pass.

Nearly 80 percent of Americans — including most Trump supporters — agree with Alexis, telling pollsters they want lawmakers to restore those expiring ACA credits.

Unfortunately, President Trump is disingenuously claiming that Democrats aren’t agreeing to the massive health care cuts because they want to spend taxpayer dollars on undocumented immigrants instead.

This is untrue. Undocumented immigrants pay taxes but aren’t allowed to get government health care benefits. Period. The president and his allies are telling this lie in an effort to gut your health care.

Trump is also vowing to use the government shutdown as an opportunity to enact mass federal worker firings and to deny funds to states that voted against him. That means “blue states” — including plenty of red and purple communities inside them — are being denied funds for projects like building roads and bridges as a form of punishment.

Trump also instructed that the email signatures of government employees blame Democrats for the government shutdown. The administration has posted similar false and partisan messages on some executive branch agency websites.

Together, these measures may violate at least four federal laws against misappropriating or freezing federal funds, or spending them on partisan activity — including the Anti-Deficiency Act, the Hatch Act, the Anti-Lobbying Act, and the Impoundment Control Act.

Meanwhile, families like Alexis’s are scared and struggling, wondering how they will be able to care for their families when their health coverage vanishes or becomes unaffordable.

The 80 percent of us who object to defunding our families and communities just so the rich can get richer need to make our voices heard. The sooner we do, the sooner the government can reopen and our families can receive the care and services we need.

Karen Dolan directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.

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U.S. Senator Rand Paul explains for the Six Penny Plan will affect Kentuckians.

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The Pike County Commission approved a new financial budget.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A group of West Virginia Democratic delegates is calling for a special session to address West Virginia University’s budget shortfall.

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Morgantown, said the legislature shares responsibility for the university’s budget crisis, which has resulted in plans to slash 143 faculty positions and eliminate nearly 30 majors. The university’s board approved the cuts last week.

Hansen pointed out that over the years, the university’s funding has declined by tens of millions of dollars, and added people statewide will feel the impacts of a diminished university system.

“It’s a big hit on the local economy and on the regional economy, and for the families of people who are losing their jobs,” Hansen noted. “Across the state, there’s a lot less discretionary funds available for various programs that provide services in counties all across West Virginia.”

The university is facing a $45 million deficit, which its president, E. Gordon Gee, said is due to declining state funding and decreased enrollment. In addition to Hansen, three other delegates are asking the governor to call the legislature into session to support the university.

Hansen emphasized some of the programs targeted for cuts related to diversifying the energy sector and others, have value for the employers and businesses in the Mountain State.

“For example, the public administration program is very important in West Virginia,” Hansen outlined. “The parks and recreation program that’s being eliminated is something that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, given that we’re leaning into an outdoor recreation and tourism based economy. “

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, West Virginia is rapidly losing its population, and is among more than a dozen states experiencing population losses between 2021 and 2022.

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