Different worlds

West Virginia is a fairly small state, but sectional differences between north, south, east and west are huge. I can't think of a better illustration of this fact than these two recent news items. The first describes hard times in coal country while the second describes an alternate universe in the state's eastern panhandle. Changes in both places, along with the gas boom in the north, make for a volatile political mix.

GOOD LUCK. Being poor means, among other things, that one can't afford to have any bad luck, which is unfortunate since most of us do at some point. Here's a little look at what that means in the context of the minimum wage.

GOOD POLICY. Here's an item on subsidized jobs, an idea that seems to have bipartisan support. There were some innovative jobs programs as part of the Recovery Act, but most shriveled up when the funding dried up.

When indeed

West Virginia just hit a milestone with the first coal mining death of 2013. Brandon Townsend, 34, of Delbarton in Mingo County was killed at an eastern Kanawha County mine when a hydraulic jack exploded, according to the Charleston Daily Mail. I wonder how many more there will be,

Meanwhile, WV's 2012 mine safety legislation, which wasn't worth cracking open a really good bottle of wine over (sorry about ending that phrase with a preposition), still hasn't been implemented. Although it made some modest improvements in state law, plenty of people, including myself, were critical of its drug testing provisions, since drug abuse hasn't been a factor in any major mine disaster.

In other coal news, mining employment dropped in the last quarter of 2012, with a total of 1,200 jobs lost. Ken Ward reports that 2/3 of the losses occurred in surface mines.

Since I'm leaning pretty hard on Ken today, let me give a final shout out to this great post of his at Coal Tattoo, which asks, not for the first time, "When will W.Va. plan for 'after coal?'"

From what I can tell, the answer so far is, not any time soon.