“Kroger is pleased our associates have ratified the contract and recognized our continued investment in their success,” said Paula Ginnett, president of the Kroger Mid-Atlantic division. “This contract provides wage increases for every associate while keeping associate weekly contributions for health care benefits the same through 2021. This is affirmation of our commitment to providing a competitive total benefits package for our associates. I appreciate our associates for supporting this agreement and for the excellent service they provide our customers every day.”

The Mid-Atlantic division agreement with The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 400 includes a more than $20 million wage investment and nearly $100 million investment that maintains exceptional health care benefits.

This agreement covers more than 4,200 associates in West Virginia and surrounding areas.

“We had a lot of uncertainties going into this fall semester. Working closely together, our college and university presidents made the decision to bring students back to campus, but in the safest possible way,” said Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s Chancellor for Higher Education. “While we saw some enrollment declines, I am encouraged by the fact that so many in-state students are continuing their education. Now, we have to start looking further ahead to help more West Virginians do the same in the coming years.”  

First-time freshmen headcount enrollment at West Virginia’s baccalaureate institutions dropped for the fifth year in a row, down 5.4 percent from fall 2019 to fall 2020. Chancellor Tucker noted that the state’s four-year enrollment numbers mirror national trends and are influenced by the state’s declining population. She also encouraged high school students to stay on track for college, especially in today’s environment.

“We know high school students are grappling every day with uncertainties around attending school in person, keeping up good grades in a virtual environment, and staying healthy and safe,” Chancellor Tucker said. “This is a lot to deal with, but in spite of it all we have to encourage our young people to not lose sight of their futures. Now is the time to complete the FAFSA, fill out the Promise Scholarship application, and plan for what’s next. We need our students to succeed. Our future, in so many ways, depends on them.” 

West Virginia ranks in the top 10 states in providing financial aid, with the state higher education system administering more than $104 million in student aid each year. To help students learn about the financial aid opportunities available to them, the Commission is offering a series of financial aid webinars, as well as extended office hours for students and families with questions about filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – which is the first critical step to accessing financial aid for college.

The FAFSA form is free and available through the U.S. Department of Education at fafsa.gov.

The Promise Scholarship application is available at cfwv.com/promise. 

For assistance, students and families are encouraged to call the Commission’s financial aid hotline at 877-987-7664.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s (WVMHoF) 2020 induction ceremony will be broadcast statewide on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s main channel 7-9 p.m. on Saturday.

“We always look forward to the time of year when we get to broadcast the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony,” said Chuck Roberts, WVPB Executive Director. “But this year, it’s even more special to us because one of our own is being honored, and we couldn’t be prouder. Larry Groce, our esteemed host and creator of Mountain Stage, continues to shine a positive light on music and the Mountain State, and certainly deserves this distinction.”

The two-hour special will also be streamed on wvpublic.org, Facebook, YouTube and PBS Passport.

YouTube: Direct Link – https://youtu.be/pAmk-glmMDI

Facebook: Facebook event with Live Video –https://www.facebook.com/events/385090855870863/

The stream will also be available on wvpublic.org and on WVPB Passport using the PBS App on your TV and other devices.

The ceremony was filmed at the Culture Center Theater Sept. 20-21 and will also include presentations and musical segments taped in Nashville, Los Angeles and Bakersfield, CA.

 “It’s an honor for us as an organization to be able to showcase the talents of these artists,” said WVMHoF Director Michael Lipton. “And we feel it’s important for West Virginians to know and take pride in these musicians who have contributed so much to the rich quilt of American music. 

“Due to restrictions imposed by COVID-19, we had to be creative in putting together this year’s ceremony,” Lipton added. “As a result we have a number of performances, presentations and remarks that were filmed in other parts of the country. While there’s no substitute for a live audience and live TV, I think we’ve put together a great show – and one that showcases the considerable talents of these West Virginia musicians.

As the ceremony was filmed without an audience, the WVMHoF, a non-profit organization, was not able to sell tickets to offset production costs. However, during the show, viewers will be advised of a way to contribute by mail or electronically. 

The 2020 WVMHoF inductees include:

· Mercer County’s Ethel Caffie-Austin (Presenter: Ollie Watts Davis) 

· Kanawha County’s Honey and Sonny Davis (Presenter: Tim O’Brien)

·Kanawha County’s Larry Groce (Presenters: Andy Ridenour and Francis Fisher)

·Harrison County’s Mayf Nutter (Presenter: Pat Boone).

·From Webster, Pocahontas and Randolph counties, The Hammons Family (Presenter: Eric Waggoner)

The WVMHoF’s eighth induction ceremony brings the total number of inductees to 58, representing all parts of the state and musical genres ranging from traditional, country and bluegrass to rock, opera, soul, R&B and gospel.

There will be musical performances by Ethel Caffie-Austin, Pat Boone, Larry Groce, Trevor Hammons and Jesse Milnes, Vince Herman and Annie Neeley, Charlie McCoy, Mayf Nutter, Emily Miller, Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius, and Billy Edd Wheeler.

The house band will be led by 2008 WVMHoF inductee Charlie McCoy. 

The show will be hosted by Leftover Salmon founder Vince Herman and Emily Miller, Artistic Director of Augusta Heritage Center. Short messages will be offered from past Hall of Fame inductees Peter Marshall (of “Hollywood Squares” fame) and Ann Magnuson.

The show will air from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 14, on WVPB stations across West Virginia and will also be streamed on Passport. It will also be streamed on the WVPB Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WVPublic/

The event is sponsored by the following: West Virginia Lottery, Bailey & Glasser LLP, WV Humanities Council, ConServ Contractors Services Inc. of West Virginia, Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mister Bee Potato Chips, Hendrickson & Long PLLC, Mountain of Hope Organization, Highmark West Virginia, Snowshoe Mountain Resort, West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center,
West Virginia University – West Virginia & Regional History Center,
City of Charleston, West Virginia, and Suddenlink.

The state’s attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, is part of the lawsuit that aims to repeal the law, which provides health insurance to more than half a million people in the Mountain State.

Rick Wilson, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s West Virginia Economic Justice Project, said striking down the law would pose a major hardship for the state’s aging and low-income populations. It could also make its substance abuse crisis even worse.

“People know West Virginia is kind of ground zero for the opioid epidemic, and the ACA has opened up the path to treatment for many, many people,” Wilson said. “And there’s hard science research that shows that states that have expanded Medicaid have seen a drop in overdose deaths.”

He said West Virginia expanded Medicaid in 2014, which provided ACA coverage to more than 160,000 people. That number includes low-income working folks who now make up the essential workforce people are relying on during the coronavirus pandemic.

Wilson said repealing the ACA also would hurt the thousands of West Virginians with pre-existing conditions. And that won’t just affect older folks, he said.

“There are around 20,000 young people in the state who are covered by their parents’ insurance up to age 26. And that’s a part of the ACA,” Wilson said. “If the ACA is undone, then, you know, insurance companies could back out of that deal.”

According to federal data, after the ACA was passed, the uninsured rate in West Virginia fell from 14% in 2013 to a little over 5% in 2016.

The Supreme Court will hear the Texas-led challenge to the law on November 10, just one week after Election Day.

She hadn’t always planned on running, however. “I never considered running for office — not because I didn’t think I could do the job but I just didn’t think I was allowed,” Ketchum tells TIME. “I thought that was a space for people who didn’t look like me or live like me.”

Ketchum changed her mind after she had frustrating experiences trying to get elected officials on board with policy changes she was advocating for as part of her work as associate director of the NAMI center for persons with mental illness and as a community organizer. It was then she says, “I realized that I really want to be in the room” where those decisions are made.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund, which focuses on improving LGBTQ representation among government officials, and GLAAD, dedicated to advocating for acceptance of the LGBTQ community, both congratulated Ketchum on her victory.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund pointed out that when Ketchum takes office she will be “one of just 27 out trans elected officials in the entire nation.”

Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement that “Rosemary has shattered a lavender ceiling in West Virginia,” noting that “trans people are severely underrepresented in elected office.”

“We know Rosemary’s race will inspire other trans people from conservative states to consider a run for office in their communities — and then those candidates will inspire others as well,” Parker said. “That virtuous cycle is the key to building trans acceptance and political power long-term.”

Ketchum, 26, clinched a close victory, winning with 39.3% of the vote—just edging out her closest competitor, Peggy Niebergall who lost with 37.2% of the vote and surpassing two other candidates, according to WTRF-TV.

Ketchum said in a video statement on Twitter that the “attention has been overwhelming in the best way possible.”

“We don’t run for office to make history. We run for office to make a difference. I guess if history is made in the process then so be it,” she said.

Ketchum says Wheeling has serious problems with homelessness and the opioids crisis—both issues that she feels uniquely equipped to address because of her experience running a local mental health facility and personal relationships with friends and family struggling with substance abuse. “Addiction doesn’t go away because of a pandemic,” Ketchum says.

Ketchum and her family also went through homelessness and were living on neighbors’ couches after their house burned down in 2010 when she was 16. “We didn’t have a back-up plan,” she says. That was a transformative moment in her life and it’s what brought her family to Wheeling.

Ketchum graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University in May 2019 with a bachelors degree in psychology. She’s often found herself at demonstrations and says she has protested everything from challenges to the Affordable Care Act to gun violence in the wake of the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting to issues surrounding SNAP and poverty.

Ketchum’s trans identity provides a unique perspective on city government, especially when it comes to building trust with communities, she notes. “Being trans, you can’t help but both be vulnerable every single day but also prevent yourself from living your life with your shield up because it’s so easy to do so,” Ketchum says.

Her message to other openly trans people considering running for any kind of off is just to “do it.” “It’s easier than you think,” Ketchum says. “If you really love and are passionate about community and have the best ideas, running for office will be fun and exhilarating and everything you want it to be.”

Although being trans inevitably informs how she shows up personally and professionally, Ketchum says she “didn’t run on the idea of being the first openly trans official in West Virginia.”

“It rarely ever came up in conversation. We spoke about potholes and stray cats,” she adds. “I can’t help—whether I try or not—being trans does influence the way that I run, the way that I speak to folks, how I will potentially legislate in our city.”

Wheeling includes residents from all parts of the political spectrum. “West Virginia in particular can be very tense sometimes because in one instance we have some of the most progressive people in the country living in Wheeling and then a truck drives by with a rebel flag hoisted in its bed,” Ketchum says.

Ketchum acknowledges that nationwide protests against racism and a global pandemic make what’s happening now a unique moment in history—the effects of which are being felt in Wheeling, too. “This is a catharsis in so many ways and it can’t end at holding a sign,” she says. “It has to revolutionize the way we elect people.”

Times are of course complicated now, Ketchum says. “But I don’t think there’s ever been a time more better positioned for change and growth,” she adds.