Expert Pitches

A West Virginia University expert says the state’s medical community has much to learn about marijuana therapy and that WVU can lead the way in research.

A West Virginia University professor will study the effects of coal dust in miners, particularly lung and respiratory ailments like black lung disease, as part of a Congressionally ordered committee.

A foreign policy expert at West Virginia University believes the attacks against Syria raise more questions than answers about the United States’ larger global strategy.

A West Virginia University professor who served as an international election observer in Ukraine says Russia’s interference in the U.S. 2016 election demonstrates that Russia sees America as an adversary and is willing to use “aggressive measures to advance its aims” of creating instability.

A West Virginia University professor in the School of Public Health began teaching about climate change more than 20 years ago, hoping reasonable people would see a trend and take action to prevent melting ice caps and rising seas. Instead, the issue has become a political dispute, with many key elected officials saying they don’t believe it’s happening

President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would increase defense spending by $54 billion and then offset that with cuts to more than 18 other agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes for Health.

Many energy-producing states around the country, including West Virginia, are in budget trouble as revenues from extractive industries are sinking. Lawmakers in Charleston are debating which tax reforms will plug a $600 million hole, including eliminating the personal income tax and increasing the consumer sales and service tax. West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research Director John Deskins explains the economic distinctions in the effects of those two types of taxation.

A health care policy expert at West Virginia University explains that the proposed American Health Care Act could be “particularly harmful for West Virginia” in the loss of individual coverage and more than $1 billion in federal funds, as well as a loss of 15,000 jobs.

With the echoes of disgruntled constituents’ questions about the future of their health care still ringing in their ears, members of congress will hear from President Donald Trump tonight (Feb. 28), in his first address to the nation’s legislative branch.

Newly-elected Governor Jim Justice will deliver his first State of the State address today (Feb. 8) as the regular session of the 2017 West Virginia Legislature begins. Several West Virginia University faculty members will be available to offer reaction and expert commentary to the media tonight and in the days following Justice’s speech.