September 24, 2025 • 36 mins
Joe Klass and Brittany Irrick on Free Naloxone Day later this week.
Monongalia County Delegate Evan Hansen on the Hour Democrat Kitchen Table Tour
State Economic Council Chairman David Lieving on the Annual Economic Conference in Bridgeport this week
Monongalia County Delegate Evan Hansen on the Hour Democrat Kitchen Table Tour
State Economic Council Chairman David Lieving on the Annual Economic Conference in Bridgeport this week
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
A good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Glad that you're here now. Our producer this morning ats
Ethan Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
He's at the controls.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
You'll find him at eight hundred seven six five eight
two five five. And each one of you have instant
access to the program through the text line.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
That number is three oh four Talk three oh four.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
As we start the program today, cloudy sky's sixty seven
degrees in the University City and Metro Newszaki Weather says
today got just about an eighty percent chance of showers
and thunderstorm, some more rain and I have just about
seventy five degrees. We'll keep you posted there well. Now
Thursday is free n'locks own Day in Montngilia County, and
(01:07):
we've got members from the mont County Health Department Quick
Response Team. We've got Brittany Erick and Joe Klott. They're
coming in today, they're going to talk about what they're
going to be doing on Thursday now from ten am
until six in the evening on Thursday, members of that
team are going to be at ten locations throughout the
community distributing that life saving drugs. So we'll talk to
(01:31):
them about that at nine point fifteen. The State Democratic
Party they're on a kitchen table tour tent stops as well.
They're listening to voters and we've got mon County Delegate
Evan Hanson will join us at nine to thirty to
talk about what they're hearing from voters, and this is
pretty big news.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
For the first time in a decade.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The West Virginia Economic Development Council, they're holding their annual
Fall conference in Bridgeport at Charles Point down at the
Conference Center at Charles Point now. It's being hosted by
the Harrison County Economic Development Corporation, and coming up at
nine point forty, we're going to talk with the Chairman
(02:13):
of the State Economic Development Council, David living Let's take
a look at a couple of headlines and we'll dive
right in. Finally, some rainfall overnight. Some of them were strong,
maybe not necessarily around here, but it's the most rain
that we've seen in weeks. A Metronewzaki Weather says chance
(02:34):
precipitation eighty percent today, sixty percent tonight. Some of that
rainfall could be in the form of thunderstorms that could
create heavy downpours similar to what we've seen through the
summer of twenty twenty five. Deputies from the Harrison County
Sheriff's Department are searching for thirty nine year old Brittany
Nicole Brown now. She's described as a wide female five
(02:58):
foot nine inches tall, hundred and fifty pounds, with brown hair,
blue eyes, and sometimes wears glasses. She's known to be
a narcotics user. Could be traveling in a silver Sedan.
She was last seen Monday afternoon or yesterday near the
Aldis in the East Point shopping area in Clarksburg, also
(03:18):
the Sardis area.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
If you can help deputies find Brittany Nicole Brown, please
call three zero four four two three seventy seven hundred.
A State police have arrested a mont County man accused
of sexually assaulted sexually assaulting a juvenile four to five
years ago. Twenty seven year old Ryan Osborne's being held
(03:40):
at the Tiger Valley Regional Jail on a seventy five
thousand dollars bond. At full story is at wajar dot com.
A Morgantown Board of Zoning Appeals has denied a request
of relief from the off street parking requirements for the
proposed soaper house on Weightman Street wv or I'm sorry,
(04:03):
West Virginia Sober Living. They'll have thirty days to appeal
that decision. And Monhealth and Vandelia Health, they're on the
move across the region now. One of the busiest emergency
rooms in the state is at the small format Hospital
in Marion County, a new small format hospital under construction
(04:25):
in Harrison County set to open in August of next year,
and a major expansion at the Preston Memorial Hospital in
celebration of that facility's seventieth birthday.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You can read more.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
About that at wajar dot com and a developing story
out of Terra Alta.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They were forced to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Shut down city Hall on Monday due to a suspected
exposure of narcotics. Mayor Josh Dodge took the social media
and said they were closed due to a potential exposure
and later explained somebody had dropped off a lost wallet
at City Hall and inside was what appeared to be narcotics,
(05:07):
creating a contamination and exposure concern in the building.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Now, the mayor didn't indicate.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
What drugs were involved, but said that the police are
investigating the matter. When we come back, we're going to
talk about Narcan Day coming up, or actually free Narcan
Day that's coming up on Thursday throughout the mont County area.
We'll do that next on Top of the Town AM
fourteen forty FM one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Well, good Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It is nine fifteen, some clouds, sixty seven degrees. My
next guests tell me that it is not raining in
the University City at least at this particular moment, but
there's an eighty percent chance for the remainder of the day.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I've got Britney Iirich.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And Joe is it clot or Klatt class class?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Okay, good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, we've got Brittany, Irick and Joe class with us
and they're with the Montingilia County Health Department's Quick Response Team.
Or qRT as it is called. Well, first off, tell
us what the qRT is.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Either one yes, So our.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
QR to your quick response team. You know, if the
main goal of the qRT is to basically respond after
someone has an overdose. Initially it was given towards opioid's
but now it's really any type of overdose and pure recovery.
Coaches will actually respond to these individuals after the overdose
and try to get them help, you know, with the
(06:56):
end goal of getting them into recovery. But if they're
not ready for recovery, at least get them other services,
you know, get them to lock zone, get them clothes, food, shelter,
really whatever they need.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Try to get them into recovery. Get just a little
bit closer to that microphone.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
So now this qRT team is really a team of
specialists that each all focus on a different aspect in
order to help that person suffering an overdose. Can you
maybe describe what the members of the team do.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Yeah, so, you know we have When we first started
in twenty nineteen, you know, we had public Health, EMS,
law Enforcement fire but now we really expanded over twenty
five different active partners. So you know, for EMS, EMS
provides us with information on the actual overdoses and they
provide that to us and via hippoc Applyiant drop box.
(07:50):
Our peer recovery coaches from West Virginia soilber Living are
kind of our boots on the ground. There are certified
purecovery sports specialists, so they are actually the ones that
go out and really do like the hands on interactions
talking with individuals. We have hospital systems that also help
us out with data w Medicine, Vandalia Health, we have
faith based I mean, we could spend all day talking
(08:12):
about all the different partners.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Sure, sure, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now coming up on Thursday, there'll be a ten different
locations passing out free narcan.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Why is it important to do that?
Speaker 6 (08:24):
So the point of narcan is to reduce or to
words forfelling me, So it is to reverse the effects
of an opioid overdose. And especially in this day and time,
there's a lot of fentanyl out there, and especially in
(08:45):
our college population who is using recreational drugs. There's fentanyl
in pressed pills that they might be buying from a
friend and they don't know that it has fentyl in it.
So that's a perfect example of why it's good to
carry narcan because if someone's taking a medication that's not
what they think it is and they overdose, then you're
(09:07):
able to use the narkhan. The best thing about narcan
is it has very little to know side effects, And
the best thing about it is if it's not an
opioid overdose, and if it's not an overdose, it's not
going to hurt the individual that you're administering it to.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How much time do you have to act? How much
time when you I guess can you describe that? Talk
about that?
Speaker 7 (09:29):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (09:29):
I mean generally, you know, when someone has an opioid overdose,
you know, we're worried about the serious signs of symptoms,
which really is someone who's not breathing. That's really actually
the critical one, right because we really can only go
about three to four minutes without oxygen. So if someone
is truly not breathing from an opioid overdose, you have
about three or four minutes to actually respond.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Okay, Okay, now let's see.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Obviously, when you hand out narcan on Free Narcan Day
or the lozone, you know, the last thing that you
want to see is for someone to carry that passively
or you know, maybe unsure of how to use it
and maybe concerned about legal implications in using it or
maybe their own personal safety and what they might encounter
(10:14):
when they administer it. Uh, what do you tell people
when you give them this?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Yeah, so, you know, I consider the lock zone just
another you know, piece of like a general first aid
kid that you know, people a lot of people like
to carry, you know, you people generally want to be
trained in CPR, and I think the lock zon is
just like an add on to that. You know, you
never know when you may encounter an opioid overdose. It's
a really safe and effective medication, and you know, I
(10:41):
completely understand that they're you know, potentially may be some
concern especially for non medical people, but you know, one
of that that's why we do the training. You know,
we really explain to people that it's really easy to administer,
it's very safe, and there are also you know, good
Samaritan laws you know that protect individuals that carry in
the locks on.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
How does the delivery system work? While there are.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Actually multiple ways to administer in the locks in the
primary way that it's administered and then a lock zone
that we give out is administered via the nose. So
it's basically just like a nasal spray. You pick a
nostril and you push the plunger.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Okay, okay, now you brought up data, and I know
in recent months through the State Department of Health, we've
learned that overdose appear to be going down.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Does your experience maybe verify that?
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Yes, and no, we are seeing a decline. The only
the only reason we can't truly confirm that is because
of things such as narcan distribution. So while we encourage
people to call nine to one one whenever they administer narcan,
sometimes it simply just doesn't happen. So we're we're unsure
(11:55):
if maybe we've been doing such a good job at
saturating the community with narcan and people were administering it
on their own and not calling nine one one, or
maybe the narkans not being used. So it's hard to tell.
I mean, anecdotally, we are hearing of less overdose reports
(12:16):
right now with the students back in town. We have
been receiving a lot of alcohol reports, but as far
as opioids and other drugs, we haven't It hasn't been
as bad. We've still got quite a few confirmed or
not confirmed, but suspected overdose fatalities over the past few months,
but it does look like we are trending down now.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
On Thursday, beginning at ten o'clock in the morning and
through six o'clock in the evening, members of the qRT team.
They'll be at the WVU Health Sciences Center, the wv
YOU Wreck Center, the Mountain Layer, the Courthouse Plaza, the
Saberton and Suncrest McDonald's locations, the Terra Cafe, the Soda
(13:00):
Shop over in Westover, the Clinton District Library, and the Pure.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Ponk Landing Pharmacy. Did I leave anything out?
Speaker 6 (13:10):
You did not. You got all the locations. We have
changed our hours for the Clinton District Library to be
twelve to four pm, but everywhere else we'll be there
from ten to six pm.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Okay, okay, good now.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
One of the other things that I had on my
list to ask both of you was, you know, the
qRT team started in twenty nineteen and we were definitely
you know, we were still heading up. We had not
peaked in overdoses yet at that time, and things were
pretty hot. Then they got even hotter in twenty twenty,
(13:43):
meaning the number of overdoses increasing well, what's the change
in the pace of your work?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
What have you noticed?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Well, I mean, I think it's kind of there are
a lot of different factors that come into play. You know,
I think we definitely saw that during COVID nineteen. You know,
the mixture of you know, isolation and stress definitely cause
an increase in overdoses. And you know, as you mentioned,
it does seem to be kind of trending downwards. But
(14:12):
you know, it just kind of ebbs and flows, you know,
especially you know, we kind of have busy months and
months that are not so busy.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You know, there was a time when the lockson narcan
was a little bit controversial. People, you know, wondering, you know, what,
why are we doing this? Well, why do we want
to enable people to overdose?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Again? Well, what's that sentiment?
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Like? Yeah, so you know we do regretfully, you know,
we do hear that. You know, why are we handing
out in the lock zone? You know, it's their choice
to let them die. And you know, I think we
are at the point now where you know, we we
know that addiction is a disease, and you know, we're
treating it like any other disease, where you know, we
have prevention efforts and we have treatment efforts. You know,
as an example, you know, someone that has hot has
(14:54):
high blood pressure and is at an increased risk of
a heart attack. You know, we still want them to
lose weight, we still want them to be potential on medication,
but if they have a heart attack, we're still going
to treat that. We're not just going to not treat
the heart attack because they're not, you know, engaging in
prevention efforts. So we kind of look at you know,
substance use disorder the same way and locks them is
just one part of a broader strategy.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, you know what I think.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think it comes out of frustration, and it comes
out of not really knowing who it is that you're
talking about. Because I think if we were to talk
to Britney, Joe and Mike about the value of human life,
there'd be no disagreement whatsoever in this room about what
the value of human life is. But if you take
away the names Britney and Joe and it's just somebody
(15:38):
sitting there, it's pretty easy to just say let them die.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Do you think maybe it is just frustration and maybe
a lack of knowledge.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Yeah, I think it's a couple of things. I think
it's just a lack of understanding. There's that frustration that
when it comes to health care and insurance and people
were paying absurd amounts for insulin and other medications, and
they see that narc hands free and they're like, well,
why can't all their other medications be free? And what
we always tell people is they should be. They absolutely
(16:10):
should be free, lower cost and affordable to everyone. And
unfortunately we can't control that. We can only control this
one piece that we get to work on. And if
we get the opportunity to give somebody a second, third,
and fourth chance, that's what we're going to do. We're
giving We're giving moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, We're giving
(16:33):
them back their life. It's an opportunity to get someone
into recovery. They can re establish a relationship with their kids,
they can get a job, be productive members of society.
So I think it's just explaining it from a different
perspective that helps people understand. But we also wish that
all of those medications and things were more affordable and
(16:57):
more accessible for people, and if we had that opportunity
to do that. We absolutely would be sure.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Now, one of the things the qRT team started in
twenty nineteen, it was certainly cutting edge at the time,
and I bring this up only to make the point
that when people come and see you on Thursday, I'd
like for them to understand the level of expertise that
they're dealing with, because you guys have more or less,
(17:25):
for lack of a better word, taken your show on
the road to places like Kentucky I think is one
that I can remember. But you've been to other places
to try to help people understand what you do and
how you do it. Tell us what you do when
you go to those places.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
So, through some funding opportunities, we've been able to kind
of act as a mentor to other qrts or overdose
prevention and response programs, and we work with them over
the course of a few months to a year and
kind of show them the ins and outs of how
we got started. We had a lot of challenges that
(18:05):
we had to overcome as far as like getting getting
data and getting access to that. So now that we've
been through it, we want to help people overcome their
own challenges in their community as quickly as possible, so
we've been able to We've been able to visit Lansing, Michigan,
and then we worked with a health department in Kentucky,
(18:28):
but unfortunately that was during COVID, so we didn't get
to go and visit them, but they did get to
come here and we got to show them how we
do things. But even if it's not through something that official,
we're always willing to help other programs, whether it's a
super small group of five people where it's a large organization,
we want to help people be able to implement something
(18:51):
like this in their community.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So really just wanted to make the point because on Thursday,
when you guys are handing out free in the lock zone,
this is the expertise.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
That it comes with.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Absolutely, And I think that that's important for people to
understand that, you know, we're not just handing out the
locksom Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Okay, Hey, guys, really do appreciate you coming in and
you know, good work, and I wish you the best
of luck coming up on Thursday. Any estimates of how
many doses you'll give out?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
What have you given out in the past, So.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
I think last year we gave out around I think
it was sixteen eighty eight. That was boxes or that
was kits. So a kid contains two doses, so double
that as far as like a single dose. This year,
we've received a little over seventeen hundred kits from the
(19:48):
School of Pharmacy to support the efforts of Save a
Life Day. So if we give out that many, awesome.
We've also talked about how there's a chance that we
may be giving out a little less just because we've
been given out so much over the past couple of years,
and we're hoping that a lot of people already have it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Join the conversation at one, eight hundred and seven to
sixty five, eight two five five, This is the talk
of the town.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
A good Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
It is a nine to thirty for the West Virginia
House Democrats are in the midst of kitchen table tour.
They're out listening to voters. They will they'll make ten
stops on this particular tour, and on the thirtieth of
September they'll be here in Morgantown out at the Clinton
Volunteer Fire Department at six o'clock and they want to
(20:52):
hear from you on the phone. We have Delegate Evan
Hansen from Mond County. Hey, Evan, good morning.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
How are you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Absolutely, it's a pleasure to have you on. Sir.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay, tell us about the tour and I guess give
us an update because it's actually underway.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Sorry, We're going all across West Virginia. You know, we're
doing this for a couple of reasons. One is that
a lot of politicians these days are avoiding town halls
and avoiding facing voters in person. But we're doing just
the opposite of that. We want to go out into
communities and ask West Virginians to tell us what's important
to them. We're going to blue areas, red areas, and
(21:34):
state areas where people where Democrats have been elected, areas
where we're not holding those seats because our observation is
that the majority party has focused a lot on issues
that divide us, but West Virginias care about kitchen table issues,
kind of issues that they talk about at their kitchen
table that impact then then in their life.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You know, Evan, the tour is relatively young, but is
there maybe large enough sample size yet to get a
read on what people are saying.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Sure, we've had two of the ten stops so far.
We were in Huntington and outside of Martinsburg, and I
get proud to both those. But people are talking about.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
The kinds of issues you would expect.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They're talking about why their electric rates are going up
so fast. They're talking about concerns about losing access to healthcare.
People are concerned about education, public education system, and how
we could support pat So issues like that have come
up repeatedly, you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Know, Evan.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
One issue that has actually come up from the GOP
maybe a self critique, has been their lack of focus
on economic development and job creation.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Yeah, and I think that we're seeing the results of that.
You know, there have been some high profile announcements over
the years, and some of those jobs are coming. But
compared to every other state in the country, we're in
is the state that's losing population. And this has been
after the majority party has been in the majority for
the last eleven years, so that you know, they own
(23:09):
the policies that have caused us to be in this
situation where we're the only state that's losing population, and
we're losing population because there's not opportunities for people to stay.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Mont County Delegate Evan Hansen is with us and now
coming up on the thirtieth of this month, as I said,
they'll be at the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department at six pm.
Tell us what the format of these meetings are and
who might be at the at the meeting coming up
on the thirtieth here.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Well, the format is virtually the entire time, the entire
two hours is going to be questions from the people
who are in attendance, So again we want to hear
from you. But I would say that if you go
to our Facebook event, there's a link. There's a link
to register if you would like to pre register to
but there's also a link to submit questions in advance.
(24:04):
So that's the way for you to submit a question
if you're not able to attend. And in terms of
who's going to be there, I believe that it'll be
be me, Delegate Williams and Delegate Hamilton from mom County.
We should have Delegate Garcia from Marion County, and Senator
Garcia is going to be joining us. He represents Morgantown
(24:26):
Fairmount area. And we also should have the House Democratic
Leader Sawn Hornbuckle coming up from Huntington, and Mike Pushkin,
the delegate from Kanak County.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Is there anything in these discussions do people bring up
concerns about political violence.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
I'm not sure if that was explicitly brought up at
the Martinsburg meeting which I was in attendance for, but
I would say that we as local elected officials are
very concerned about political violence. We are going to have
to purity there. Maybe a few years ago it's something
we might not have worried too much about, but we
are having security there. And I mean, I'm very concerned
(25:09):
that there's there's national leaders and other leaders who are
who are ramping up the rhetoric rather than trying to
tone it down. And I think all of us who
are in a lefted office need to take every opportunity
to tone it down and make sure that we're discussing
ideas and not violence.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
You know, I've got a couple of issues that wanted
to throw at you and maybe maybe get your reaction.
But uh, you know, the Democrats have have lobbied for
some childcare supports in order to bolster the workforce, maybe
also alternative energy some subsidies there, and also I think
(25:51):
the Democrats have really lobbied hard in terms of fair taxes,
and I guess what would you say to voters and
the I guess the Republican Party for their lack of action.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Well, I think on childcare, that's something that we heard
from the Republicans was going to be a priority of
theirs and then no action was taken. And that has
to be a very high priority issue because, like you said,
we have such low workforce participation, and that's one of
the things that's going to help us grow in a
population and allow people to stay or move to West
(26:29):
Virginia to take jobs that do exist. And I just
want to remind people that the way our system works
is that no bill moves unless the majority party decides
to move it. So even though we might have some
really great childcare bills, they're not going to move our
bills unless the Republicans want to run and pass those bills.
That same thing with alternative energy, We've had lots of
(26:52):
bills that will help us get to more than all
the above energy strategy, which will create jobs and also
help to stabilize our electric rates and potentially reduce them,
but the majority party won't run those bills at this time.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Do you have any forecast or I guess an idea
of what this next legislative session will look like.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
I don't have high hopes, to be honest, It's going
to be an election season, so you know, sometimes crazy
things happen during sessions right before elections. So there's that,
and it's just everything is very partisan now and it's
really a shame. And I've been in for seven sessions now,
and when I came in originally it was more like
(27:38):
sixty forty and there was a lot more collaboration across
the aisle. There were opportunities to get bills passed from
time to time and to really work on bipartisan solutions.
But now that it's ninety one to nine, those opportunities
simply aren't pair. And I feel like the Republicans are
very concerned about the factions within their caucus rather been
(28:00):
working across the aisle with us.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
One of the things that I wanted to ask is
that I saw that you have some concerns about the
potential of loosening tank regulations across the state.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Could you address that for the listeners please.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Yeah, you're talking about above ground storage tanks, sure, yes, yeah,
that's store toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health,
and it was that issue that caused me to run
for office in the first time in the first place.
After the freedom industry's chemically and the legislature passed a
really good piece of legislation to protect drinking water from
(28:38):
being contaminated by spills or leaks from these tanks. And
it's been chipped away out over the years, but it's
still somewhat intact, and there have been efforts several times
in the last few years, primarily by the natural gas
industry to exempt their tanks from regulation, despite the fact
that their tanks do store chemicals that are harmful to
(29:01):
human health. And the thing that's especially galling to me
is that they've already exempted their tanks that are far
away from drinking water sources. The only ones that are
still regulated are the ones they're closest to drinking water
intakes and that present the most threat to human health,
and now they're trying to get those exempted from regulation
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It is the Democrat Kitchen Table Tour. It is on
right now. They'll be in Morgantown coming up on the
thirtieth of this month. Out of the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department. Evan,
as always, really do appreciate your.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Time, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
I appreciate you too.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Absolutely take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Evan Hansen, Mond County Delegate, certainly do appreciate his time.
Right now, clouds and sixty seven degrees. In the city
of Bridgeport, the State Economic Development Council's holding their annual
Fall conference. They're doing it in Bridgeport for the first
time in ten years. The team is the silver Lining.
(30:02):
Coming up next, we'll talk with the Chairman of the
State Economic Development Council, David Living. It's coming up next
on AM fourteen forty FM one zero four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well good Tuesday morning. It is nine forty eight. Welcome
back to the program. Let's see the Texter says, Evan
needs to be truthful with the West Virginia residents and
the American people. West Virginia's lost population nearly every year
since the nineteen fifties. Most of those were under Democrat rule.
(30:52):
Evan indicated that it's only been under Republican leadership that
from the text line the text number three four talk
three four on the phone, We've got the chairman of
the State Economic Development Council, David Living David, Good morning, sir,
how are you good?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
Good morning, doing well, Great to be with you.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
It's a pleasure to have you on. David.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Now, for the first time in a decade, you're holding
the annual Fall Economic Conference in the city of Bridgeport.
Tell us what you all are talking about this week.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Well, we have a lot going on here. We have
the largest crowd we've had historically with the Westerns of
the Economic Development Council here at Bridgeport today, nearly three
hundred people attending.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
You know, David just had John Deskins on talkline on Monday.
John talked about just a so so economy and the
lower interest rates could maybe get a little bit more
capital in the market, but basically the labor market is
kind of blah and that is a reflection of the
(31:57):
entire economy.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
What's the forecast that's being given there.
Speaker 7 (32:01):
Well, things are on a positive note here. We spent
the day yesterday here in Bridgeport touring around and a
lot we have people here from a statewide basis here attending,
but we got to see all the economic growth that's
occurred here over the recent years. Here in Bridgeport with
growth in the healthcare sector. Of course, the FBI center
(32:23):
in the airspace industry in particular.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And you know that's certainly the north Central West Virginia Airport.
It's very well known in this area. More than a
billion dollars of economic impact each year from that particular facility.
But I guess when you I guess, zoom out and
look at the state overall, what do we have working
(32:47):
in our favor?
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Well, certainly there are areas of West Virginia that are
doing better than others, and we need to continue to
work on building and growing our regional economy as best
we can. And that's really what this audience here does.
This group, these folks that are here today, they're local
economic development people. They're charged with building and you know,
(33:13):
seeing that our workforce is skilled and that we're able
to attract and retain and expand our existing business space here.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
You know, there's a lot of excitement around the Governor's
fifty to fifty plan and how that could change, maybe
redirect the trajectory of the coal and natural gas industry.
What are those conversations like.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Well, certainly energy plays a critical role in attracting businesses here.
And I think the new administration in Charleston sees the
role that that plays and they're trying to double down
on the energy base that we already have here in
West Virginia with the ability to grow that. So that
will certainly help us. That's been a topic of discussion
(34:00):
here and we'll continue to be happening, I think in
the near future.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
You know, in talking to Gil White with the Small
Business Group here in the state, he's talked about the
difficulty of finding employees.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
What do you hear on that front.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Well, that's certainly a concern, and you know, we've had
some populational loss over the years, and you know what
West Virginia needs are more West Virginia. So we need
to continue to build our communities, make them attractive for
people to move here and so that we can start
to see our population start to grow again.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Last thing that I've got for you, David, David living
is with a chairman of the State Economic Development Council,
Chris Hamilton, president of the Coal Association, says he's going
out to trade in vocational schools and they're restarting some
of these coal technology plans and training programs in order
to find labors to assume some of these energy jobs.
(35:04):
What kind of an impact is that having on the
education system.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Well, you know, that's critical for us. Our educational system
can help us deliver the skilled, skilled workers that we need,
and I think I'm seeing more and more collaboration between
our technical education schools, our community college programs to try
to help build that pipeline of skilled workers coming out
(35:30):
that are available to go to work. Certainly, the energy
sector is important and we need to build more labor
that can fill those jobs. But we also have skilled
job areas and manufacturing that we need. With new Core
coming on down in Mason County, that's going to draw
a lot of good paying jobs, a lot of people
(35:51):
are going to be heading that way for work, and
then that's probably going to create some opportunities for other businesses,
you know, just to hire place workers that may be
moving into those higher paid skilled positions.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
David Living is with us, the chairman of the State
Economic Development Council. Glad to see that you're in Bridgeport, David,
and hope you enjoy your time there. Charles Point is
a wonderful place.
Speaker 7 (36:17):
We we're enjoying it so far. We have another day
and a half to go and we're looking forward to
to learning more about all the good things going on
in Bridgeport.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
David Living, Chairman of the State Economic Development Council, thank
you for your time today.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Sir, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Absolutely take care of yourself once again.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
The Fall Economic Development Conference going on this week in
the city of Bridgeport. We'll be back to wrap things
up coming up right after this on AM fourteen forty
FM one oh four point five WAJR
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Notlting.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
A good Tuesday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Glad that you're here now. Our producer this morning ats
Ethan Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
He's at the controls.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
You'll find him at eight hundred seven six five eight
two five five. And each one of you have instant
access to the program through the text line.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
That number is three oh four Talk three oh four.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
As we start the program today, cloudy sky's sixty seven
degrees in the University City and Metro Newszaki Weather says
today got just about an eighty percent chance of showers
and thunderstorm, some more rain and I have just about
seventy five degrees. We'll keep you posted there well. Now
Thursday is free n'locks own Day in Montngilia County, and
(01:07):
we've got members from the mont County Health Department Quick
Response Team. We've got Brittany Erick and Joe Klott. They're
coming in today, they're going to talk about what they're
going to be doing on Thursday now from ten am
until six in the evening on Thursday, members of that
team are going to be at ten locations throughout the
community distributing that life saving drugs. So we'll talk to
(01:31):
them about that at nine point fifteen. The State Democratic
Party they're on a kitchen table tour tent stops as well.
They're listening to voters and we've got mon County Delegate
Evan Hanson will join us at nine to thirty to
talk about what they're hearing from voters, and this is
pretty big news.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
For the first time in a decade.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The West Virginia Economic Development Council, they're holding their annual
Fall conference in Bridgeport at Charles Point down at the
Conference Center at Charles Point now. It's being hosted by
the Harrison County Economic Development Corporation, and coming up at
nine point forty, we're going to talk with the Chairman
(02:13):
of the State Economic Development Council, David living Let's take
a look at a couple of headlines and we'll dive
right in. Finally, some rainfall overnight. Some of them were strong,
maybe not necessarily around here, but it's the most rain
that we've seen in weeks. A Metronewzaki Weather says chance
(02:34):
precipitation eighty percent today, sixty percent tonight. Some of that
rainfall could be in the form of thunderstorms that could
create heavy downpours similar to what we've seen through the
summer of twenty twenty five. Deputies from the Harrison County
Sheriff's Department are searching for thirty nine year old Brittany
Nicole Brown now. She's described as a wide female five
(02:58):
foot nine inches tall, hundred and fifty pounds, with brown hair,
blue eyes, and sometimes wears glasses. She's known to be
a narcotics user. Could be traveling in a silver Sedan.
She was last seen Monday afternoon or yesterday near the
Aldis in the East Point shopping area in Clarksburg, also
(03:18):
the Sardis area.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
If you can help deputies find Brittany Nicole Brown, please
call three zero four four two three seventy seven hundred.
A State police have arrested a mont County man accused
of sexually assaulted sexually assaulting a juvenile four to five
years ago. Twenty seven year old Ryan Osborne's being held
(03:40):
at the Tiger Valley Regional Jail on a seventy five
thousand dollars bond. At full story is at wajar dot com.
A Morgantown Board of Zoning Appeals has denied a request
of relief from the off street parking requirements for the
proposed soaper house on Weightman Street wv or I'm sorry,
(04:03):
West Virginia Sober Living. They'll have thirty days to appeal
that decision. And Monhealth and Vandelia Health, they're on the
move across the region now. One of the busiest emergency
rooms in the state is at the small format Hospital
in Marion County, a new small format hospital under construction
(04:25):
in Harrison County set to open in August of next year,
and a major expansion at the Preston Memorial Hospital in
celebration of that facility's seventieth birthday.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You can read more.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
About that at wajar dot com and a developing story
out of Terra Alta.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
They were forced to.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Shut down city Hall on Monday due to a suspected
exposure of narcotics. Mayor Josh Dodge took the social media
and said they were closed due to a potential exposure
and later explained somebody had dropped off a lost wallet
at City Hall and inside was what appeared to be narcotics,
(05:07):
creating a contamination and exposure concern in the building.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Now, the mayor didn't indicate.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
What drugs were involved, but said that the police are
investigating the matter. When we come back, we're going to
talk about Narcan Day coming up, or actually free Narcan
Day that's coming up on Thursday throughout the mont County area.
We'll do that next on Top of the Town AM
fourteen forty FM one oh four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Well, good Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It is nine fifteen, some clouds, sixty seven degrees. My
next guests tell me that it is not raining in
the University City at least at this particular moment, but
there's an eighty percent chance for the remainder of the day.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I've got Britney Iirich.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And Joe is it clot or Klatt class class?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Okay, good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, we've got Brittany, Irick and Joe class with us
and they're with the Montingilia County Health Department's Quick Response Team.
Or qRT as it is called. Well, first off, tell
us what the qRT is.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Either one yes, So our.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
QR to your quick response team. You know, if the
main goal of the qRT is to basically respond after
someone has an overdose. Initially it was given towards opioid's
but now it's really any type of overdose and pure recovery.
Coaches will actually respond to these individuals after the overdose
and try to get them help, you know, with the
(06:56):
end goal of getting them into recovery. But if they're
not ready for recovery, at least get them other services,
you know, get them to lock zone, get them clothes, food, shelter,
really whatever they need.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Try to get them into recovery. Get just a little
bit closer to that microphone.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
So now this qRT team is really a team of
specialists that each all focus on a different aspect in
order to help that person suffering an overdose. Can you
maybe describe what the members of the team do.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Yeah, so, you know we have When we first started
in twenty nineteen, you know, we had public Health, EMS,
law Enforcement fire but now we really expanded over twenty
five different active partners. So you know, for EMS, EMS
provides us with information on the actual overdoses and they
provide that to us and via hippoc Applyiant drop box.
(07:50):
Our peer recovery coaches from West Virginia soilber Living are
kind of our boots on the ground. There are certified
purecovery sports specialists, so they are actually the ones that
go out and really do like the hands on interactions
talking with individuals. We have hospital systems that also help
us out with data w Medicine, Vandalia Health, we have
faith based I mean, we could spend all day talking
(08:12):
about all the different partners.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Sure, sure, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now coming up on Thursday, there'll be a ten different
locations passing out free narcan.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Why is it important to do that?
Speaker 6 (08:24):
So the point of narcan is to reduce or to
words forfelling me, So it is to reverse the effects
of an opioid overdose. And especially in this day and time,
there's a lot of fentanyl out there, and especially in
(08:45):
our college population who is using recreational drugs. There's fentanyl
in pressed pills that they might be buying from a
friend and they don't know that it has fentyl in it.
So that's a perfect example of why it's good to
carry narcan because if someone's taking a medication that's not
what they think it is and they overdose, then you're
(09:07):
able to use the narkhan. The best thing about narcan
is it has very little to know side effects, And
the best thing about it is if it's not an
opioid overdose, and if it's not an overdose, it's not
going to hurt the individual that you're administering it to.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How much time do you have to act? How much
time when you I guess can you describe that? Talk
about that?
Speaker 7 (09:29):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (09:29):
I mean generally, you know, when someone has an opioid overdose,
you know, we're worried about the serious signs of symptoms,
which really is someone who's not breathing. That's really actually
the critical one, right because we really can only go
about three to four minutes without oxygen. So if someone
is truly not breathing from an opioid overdose, you have
about three or four minutes to actually respond.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Okay, Okay, now let's see.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Obviously, when you hand out narcan on Free Narcan Day
or the lozone, you know, the last thing that you
want to see is for someone to carry that passively
or you know, maybe unsure of how to use it
and maybe concerned about legal implications in using it or
maybe their own personal safety and what they might encounter
(10:14):
when they administer it. Uh, what do you tell people
when you give them this?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Yeah, so, you know, I consider the lock zone just
another you know, piece of like a general first aid
kid that you know, people a lot of people like
to carry, you know, you people generally want to be
trained in CPR, and I think the lock zon is
just like an add on to that. You know, you
never know when you may encounter an opioid overdose. It's
a really safe and effective medication, and you know, I
(10:41):
completely understand that they're you know, potentially may be some
concern especially for non medical people, but you know, one
of that that's why we do the training. You know,
we really explain to people that it's really easy to administer,
it's very safe, and there are also you know, good
Samaritan laws you know that protect individuals that carry in
the locks on.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
How does the delivery system work? While there are.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Actually multiple ways to administer in the locks in the
primary way that it's administered and then a lock zone
that we give out is administered via the nose. So
it's basically just like a nasal spray. You pick a
nostril and you push the plunger.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Okay, okay, now you brought up data, and I know
in recent months through the State Department of Health, we've
learned that overdose appear to be going down.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Does your experience maybe verify that?
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Yes, and no, we are seeing a decline. The only
the only reason we can't truly confirm that is because
of things such as narcan distribution. So while we encourage
people to call nine to one one whenever they administer narcan,
sometimes it simply just doesn't happen. So we're we're unsure
(11:55):
if maybe we've been doing such a good job at
saturating the community with narcan and people were administering it
on their own and not calling nine one one, or
maybe the narkans not being used. So it's hard to tell.
I mean, anecdotally, we are hearing of less overdose reports
(12:16):
right now with the students back in town. We have
been receiving a lot of alcohol reports, but as far
as opioids and other drugs, we haven't It hasn't been
as bad. We've still got quite a few confirmed or
not confirmed, but suspected overdose fatalities over the past few months,
but it does look like we are trending down now.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
On Thursday, beginning at ten o'clock in the morning and
through six o'clock in the evening, members of the qRT team.
They'll be at the WVU Health Sciences Center, the wv
YOU Wreck Center, the Mountain Layer, the Courthouse Plaza, the
Saberton and Suncrest McDonald's locations, the Terra Cafe, the Soda
(13:00):
Shop over in Westover, the Clinton District Library, and the Pure.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Ponk Landing Pharmacy. Did I leave anything out?
Speaker 6 (13:10):
You did not. You got all the locations. We have
changed our hours for the Clinton District Library to be
twelve to four pm, but everywhere else we'll be there
from ten to six pm.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Okay, okay, good now.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
One of the other things that I had on my
list to ask both of you was, you know, the
qRT team started in twenty nineteen and we were definitely
you know, we were still heading up. We had not
peaked in overdoses yet at that time, and things were
pretty hot. Then they got even hotter in twenty twenty,
(13:43):
meaning the number of overdoses increasing well, what's the change
in the pace of your work?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
What have you noticed?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Well, I mean, I think it's kind of there are
a lot of different factors that come into play. You know,
I think we definitely saw that during COVID nineteen. You know,
the mixture of you know, isolation and stress definitely cause
an increase in overdoses. And you know, as you mentioned,
it does seem to be kind of trending downwards. But
(14:12):
you know, it just kind of ebbs and flows, you know,
especially you know, we kind of have busy months and
months that are not so busy.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You know, there was a time when the lockson narcan
was a little bit controversial. People, you know, wondering, you know, what,
why are we doing this? Well, why do we want
to enable people to overdose?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Again? Well, what's that sentiment?
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Like? Yeah, so you know we do regretfully, you know,
we do hear that. You know, why are we handing
out in the lock zone? You know, it's their choice
to let them die. And you know, I think we
are at the point now where you know, we we
know that addiction is a disease, and you know, we're
treating it like any other disease, where you know, we
have prevention efforts and we have treatment efforts. You know,
as an example, you know, someone that has hot has
(14:54):
high blood pressure and is at an increased risk of
a heart attack. You know, we still want them to
lose weight, we still want them to be potential on medication,
but if they have a heart attack, we're still going
to treat that. We're not just going to not treat
the heart attack because they're not, you know, engaging in
prevention efforts. So we kind of look at you know,
substance use disorder the same way and locks them is
just one part of a broader strategy.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Well, you know what I think.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think it comes out of frustration, and it comes
out of not really knowing who it is that you're
talking about. Because I think if we were to talk
to Britney, Joe and Mike about the value of human life,
there'd be no disagreement whatsoever in this room about what
the value of human life is. But if you take
away the names Britney and Joe and it's just somebody
(15:38):
sitting there, it's pretty easy to just say let them die.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Do you think maybe it is just frustration and maybe
a lack of knowledge.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Yeah, I think it's a couple of things. I think
it's just a lack of understanding. There's that frustration that
when it comes to health care and insurance and people
were paying absurd amounts for insulin and other medications, and
they see that narc hands free and they're like, well,
why can't all their other medications be free? And what
we always tell people is they should be. They absolutely
(16:10):
should be free, lower cost and affordable to everyone. And
unfortunately we can't control that. We can only control this
one piece that we get to work on. And if
we get the opportunity to give somebody a second, third,
and fourth chance, that's what we're going to do. We're
giving We're giving moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, We're giving
(16:33):
them back their life. It's an opportunity to get someone
into recovery. They can re establish a relationship with their kids,
they can get a job, be productive members of society.
So I think it's just explaining it from a different
perspective that helps people understand. But we also wish that
all of those medications and things were more affordable and
(16:57):
more accessible for people, and if we had that opportunity
to do that. We absolutely would be sure.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Now, one of the things the qRT team started in
twenty nineteen, it was certainly cutting edge at the time,
and I bring this up only to make the point
that when people come and see you on Thursday, I'd
like for them to understand the level of expertise that
they're dealing with, because you guys have more or less,
(17:25):
for lack of a better word, taken your show on
the road to places like Kentucky I think is one
that I can remember. But you've been to other places
to try to help people understand what you do and
how you do it. Tell us what you do when
you go to those places.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
So, through some funding opportunities, we've been able to kind
of act as a mentor to other qrts or overdose
prevention and response programs, and we work with them over
the course of a few months to a year and
kind of show them the ins and outs of how
we got started. We had a lot of challenges that
(18:05):
we had to overcome as far as like getting getting
data and getting access to that. So now that we've
been through it, we want to help people overcome their
own challenges in their community as quickly as possible, so
we've been able to We've been able to visit Lansing, Michigan,
and then we worked with a health department in Kentucky,
(18:28):
but unfortunately that was during COVID, so we didn't get
to go and visit them, but they did get to
come here and we got to show them how we
do things. But even if it's not through something that official,
we're always willing to help other programs, whether it's a
super small group of five people where it's a large organization,
we want to help people be able to implement something
(18:51):
like this in their community.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So really just wanted to make the point because on Thursday,
when you guys are handing out free in the lock zone,
this is the expertise.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
That it comes with.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Absolutely, And I think that that's important for people to
understand that, you know, we're not just handing out the
locksom Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Okay, Hey, guys, really do appreciate you coming in and
you know, good work, and I wish you the best
of luck coming up on Thursday. Any estimates of how
many doses you'll give out?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
What have you given out in the past, So.
Speaker 6 (19:28):
I think last year we gave out around I think
it was sixteen eighty eight. That was boxes or that
was kits. So a kid contains two doses, so double
that as far as like a single dose. This year,
we've received a little over seventeen hundred kits from the
(19:48):
School of Pharmacy to support the efforts of Save a
Life Day. So if we give out that many, awesome.
We've also talked about how there's a chance that we
may be giving out a little less just because we've
been given out so much over the past couple of years,
and we're hoping that a lot of people already have it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Join the conversation at one, eight hundred and seven to
sixty five, eight two five five, This is the talk
of the town.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
A good Tuesday morning.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
It is a nine to thirty for the West Virginia
House Democrats are in the midst of kitchen table tour.
They're out listening to voters. They will they'll make ten
stops on this particular tour, and on the thirtieth of
September they'll be here in Morgantown out at the Clinton
Volunteer Fire Department at six o'clock and they want to
(20:52):
hear from you on the phone. We have Delegate Evan
Hansen from Mond County. Hey, Evan, good morning.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
How are you.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Absolutely, it's a pleasure to have you on. Sir.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay, tell us about the tour and I guess give
us an update because it's actually underway.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Sorry, We're going all across West Virginia. You know, we're
doing this for a couple of reasons. One is that
a lot of politicians these days are avoiding town halls
and avoiding facing voters in person. But we're doing just
the opposite of that. We want to go out into
communities and ask West Virginians to tell us what's important
to them. We're going to blue areas, red areas, and
(21:34):
state areas where people where Democrats have been elected, areas
where we're not holding those seats because our observation is
that the majority party has focused a lot on issues
that divide us, but West Virginias care about kitchen table issues,
kind of issues that they talk about at their kitchen
table that impact then then in their life.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
You know, Evan, the tour is relatively young, but is
there maybe large enough sample size yet to get a
read on what people are saying.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
Sure, we've had two of the ten stops so far.
We were in Huntington and outside of Martinsburg, and I
get proud to both those. But people are talking about.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
The kinds of issues you would expect.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They're talking about why their electric rates are going up
so fast. They're talking about concerns about losing access to healthcare.
People are concerned about education, public education system, and how
we could support pat So issues like that have come
up repeatedly, you.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Know, Evan.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
One issue that has actually come up from the GOP
maybe a self critique, has been their lack of focus
on economic development and job creation.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Yeah, and I think that we're seeing the results of that.
You know, there have been some high profile announcements over
the years, and some of those jobs are coming. But
compared to every other state in the country, we're in
is the state that's losing population. And this has been
after the majority party has been in the majority for
the last eleven years, so that you know, they own
(23:09):
the policies that have caused us to be in this
situation where we're the only state that's losing population, and
we're losing population because there's not opportunities for people to stay.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Mont County Delegate Evan Hansen is with us and now
coming up on the thirtieth of this month, as I said,
they'll be at the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department at six pm.
Tell us what the format of these meetings are and
who might be at the at the meeting coming up
on the thirtieth here.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Well, the format is virtually the entire time, the entire
two hours is going to be questions from the people
who are in attendance, So again we want to hear
from you. But I would say that if you go
to our Facebook event, there's a link. There's a link
to register if you would like to pre register to
but there's also a link to submit questions in advance.
(24:04):
So that's the way for you to submit a question
if you're not able to attend. And in terms of
who's going to be there, I believe that it'll be
be me, Delegate Williams and Delegate Hamilton from mom County.
We should have Delegate Garcia from Marion County, and Senator
Garcia is going to be joining us. He represents Morgantown
(24:26):
Fairmount area. And we also should have the House Democratic
Leader Sawn Hornbuckle coming up from Huntington, and Mike Pushkin,
the delegate from Kanak County.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Is there anything in these discussions do people bring up
concerns about political violence.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
I'm not sure if that was explicitly brought up at
the Martinsburg meeting which I was in attendance for, but
I would say that we as local elected officials are
very concerned about political violence. We are going to have
to purity there. Maybe a few years ago it's something
we might not have worried too much about, but we
are having security there. And I mean, I'm very concerned
(25:09):
that there's there's national leaders and other leaders who are
who are ramping up the rhetoric rather than trying to
tone it down. And I think all of us who
are in a lefted office need to take every opportunity
to tone it down and make sure that we're discussing
ideas and not violence.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
You know, I've got a couple of issues that wanted
to throw at you and maybe maybe get your reaction.
But uh, you know, the Democrats have have lobbied for
some childcare supports in order to bolster the workforce, maybe
also alternative energy some subsidies there, and also I think
(25:51):
the Democrats have really lobbied hard in terms of fair taxes,
and I guess what would you say to voters and
the I guess the Republican Party for their lack of action.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Well, I think on childcare, that's something that we heard
from the Republicans was going to be a priority of
theirs and then no action was taken. And that has
to be a very high priority issue because, like you said,
we have such low workforce participation, and that's one of
the things that's going to help us grow in a
population and allow people to stay or move to West
(26:29):
Virginia to take jobs that do exist. And I just
want to remind people that the way our system works
is that no bill moves unless the majority party decides
to move it. So even though we might have some
really great childcare bills, they're not going to move our
bills unless the Republicans want to run and pass those bills.
That same thing with alternative energy, We've had lots of
(26:52):
bills that will help us get to more than all
the above energy strategy, which will create jobs and also
help to stabilize our electric rates and potentially reduce them,
but the majority party won't run those bills at this time.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Do you have any forecast or I guess an idea
of what this next legislative session will look like.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
I don't have high hopes, to be honest, It's going
to be an election season, so you know, sometimes crazy
things happen during sessions right before elections. So there's that,
and it's just everything is very partisan now and it's
really a shame. And I've been in for seven sessions now,
and when I came in originally it was more like
(27:38):
sixty forty and there was a lot more collaboration across
the aisle. There were opportunities to get bills passed from
time to time and to really work on bipartisan solutions.
But now that it's ninety one to nine, those opportunities
simply aren't pair. And I feel like the Republicans are
very concerned about the factions within their caucus rather been
(28:00):
working across the aisle with us.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
One of the things that I wanted to ask is
that I saw that you have some concerns about the
potential of loosening tank regulations across the state.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Could you address that for the listeners please.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Yeah, you're talking about above ground storage tanks, sure, yes, yeah,
that's store toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health,
and it was that issue that caused me to run
for office in the first time in the first place.
After the freedom industry's chemically and the legislature passed a
really good piece of legislation to protect drinking water from
(28:38):
being contaminated by spills or leaks from these tanks. And
it's been chipped away out over the years, but it's
still somewhat intact, and there have been efforts several times
in the last few years, primarily by the natural gas
industry to exempt their tanks from regulation, despite the fact
that their tanks do store chemicals that are harmful to
(29:01):
human health. And the thing that's especially galling to me
is that they've already exempted their tanks that are far
away from drinking water sources. The only ones that are
still regulated are the ones they're closest to drinking water
intakes and that present the most threat to human health,
and now they're trying to get those exempted from regulation
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It is the Democrat Kitchen Table Tour. It is on
right now. They'll be in Morgantown coming up on the
thirtieth of this month. Out of the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department. Evan,
as always, really do appreciate your.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Time, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
I appreciate you too.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Absolutely take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Evan Hansen, Mond County Delegate, certainly do appreciate his time.
Right now, clouds and sixty seven degrees. In the city
of Bridgeport, the State Economic Development Council's holding their annual
Fall conference. They're doing it in Bridgeport for the first
time in ten years. The team is the silver Lining.
(30:02):
Coming up next, we'll talk with the Chairman of the
State Economic Development Council, David Living. It's coming up next
on AM fourteen forty FM one zero four point five WAJR.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well good Tuesday morning. It is nine forty eight. Welcome
back to the program. Let's see the Texter says, Evan
needs to be truthful with the West Virginia residents and
the American people. West Virginia's lost population nearly every year
since the nineteen fifties. Most of those were under Democrat rule.
(30:52):
Evan indicated that it's only been under Republican leadership that
from the text line the text number three four talk
three four on the phone, We've got the chairman of
the State Economic Development Council, David Living David, Good morning, sir,
how are you good?
Speaker 7 (31:10):
Good morning, doing well, Great to be with you.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
It's a pleasure to have you on. David.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Now, for the first time in a decade, you're holding
the annual Fall Economic Conference in the city of Bridgeport.
Tell us what you all are talking about this week.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
Well, we have a lot going on here. We have
the largest crowd we've had historically with the Westerns of
the Economic Development Council here at Bridgeport today, nearly three
hundred people attending.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
You know, David just had John Deskins on talkline on Monday.
John talked about just a so so economy and the
lower interest rates could maybe get a little bit more
capital in the market, but basically the labor market is
kind of blah and that is a reflection of the
(31:57):
entire economy.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
What's the forecast that's being given there.
Speaker 7 (32:01):
Well, things are on a positive note here. We spent
the day yesterday here in Bridgeport touring around and a
lot we have people here from a statewide basis here attending,
but we got to see all the economic growth that's
occurred here over the recent years. Here in Bridgeport with
growth in the healthcare sector. Of course, the FBI center
(32:23):
in the airspace industry in particular.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And you know that's certainly the north Central West Virginia Airport.
It's very well known in this area. More than a
billion dollars of economic impact each year from that particular facility.
But I guess when you I guess, zoom out and
look at the state overall, what do we have working
(32:47):
in our favor?
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Well, certainly there are areas of West Virginia that are
doing better than others, and we need to continue to
work on building and growing our regional economy as best
we can. And that's really what this audience here does.
This group, these folks that are here today, they're local
economic development people. They're charged with building and you know,
(33:13):
seeing that our workforce is skilled and that we're able
to attract and retain and expand our existing business space here.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
You know, there's a lot of excitement around the Governor's
fifty to fifty plan and how that could change, maybe
redirect the trajectory of the coal and natural gas industry.
What are those conversations like.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
Well, certainly energy plays a critical role in attracting businesses here.
And I think the new administration in Charleston sees the
role that that plays and they're trying to double down
on the energy base that we already have here in
West Virginia with the ability to grow that. So that
will certainly help us. That's been a topic of discussion
(34:00):
here and we'll continue to be happening, I think in
the near future.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
You know, in talking to Gil White with the Small
Business Group here in the state, he's talked about the
difficulty of finding employees.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
What do you hear on that front.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Well, that's certainly a concern, and you know, we've had
some populational loss over the years, and you know what
West Virginia needs are more West Virginia. So we need
to continue to build our communities, make them attractive for
people to move here and so that we can start
to see our population start to grow again.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Last thing that I've got for you, David, David living
is with a chairman of the State Economic Development Council,
Chris Hamilton, president of the Coal Association, says he's going
out to trade in vocational schools and they're restarting some
of these coal technology plans and training programs in order
to find labors to assume some of these energy jobs.
(35:04):
What kind of an impact is that having on the
education system.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Well, you know, that's critical for us. Our educational system
can help us deliver the skilled, skilled workers that we need,
and I think I'm seeing more and more collaboration between
our technical education schools, our community college programs to try
to help build that pipeline of skilled workers coming out
(35:30):
that are available to go to work. Certainly, the energy
sector is important and we need to build more labor
that can fill those jobs. But we also have skilled
job areas and manufacturing that we need. With new Core
coming on down in Mason County, that's going to draw
a lot of good paying jobs, a lot of people
(35:51):
are going to be heading that way for work, and
then that's probably going to create some opportunities for other businesses,
you know, just to hire place workers that may be
moving into those higher paid skilled positions.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
David Living is with us, the chairman of the State
Economic Development Council. Glad to see that you're in Bridgeport, David,
and hope you enjoy your time there. Charles Point is
a wonderful place.
Speaker 7 (36:17):
We we're enjoying it so far. We have another day
and a half to go and we're looking forward to
to learning more about all the good things going on
in Bridgeport.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Okay, perfect.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
David Living, Chairman of the State Economic Development Council, thank
you for your time today.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Sir, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Absolutely take care of yourself once again.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
The Fall Economic Development Conference going on this week in
the city of Bridgeport. We'll be back to wrap things
up coming up right after this on AM fourteen forty
FM one oh four point five WAJR
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