To help you find the truth in West Virginia politics, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact West Virginia examine statements by elected officials and candidates – and anyone else who speaks up on matters of public importance – provides context for those statements and then rates their accuracy according to PolitiFact’s Truth-O-Meter. PolitiFact West Virginia is a partnership of 100 Days in Appalachia, Pulitzer Prize winning PolitiFact and the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University.
Is almost half of West Virginia’s state budget devoted to K-12 education? That’s what West Virginia state Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, a Democrat, said. “Fifty percent of our (West Virginia) budget was for lower education,” Prezioso said during a panel discussion at West Virginia University on Nov. 29, 2018. […]
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U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., said in a recent tweet that “our country spends more on potato chips than we do on ALL energy R&D,” or research and development. That struck us as a creative comparison. But is it correct? We took a closer look. (McKinley’s office did not respond to an […]
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In a Nov. 8 op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Mike Romano, a Democratic West Virginia state senator, said West Virginia’s median household income was nearly $17,000 below the national average. “In 2017, West Virginia’s $43,469 median household income was $16,867 below the national average, ranking 50th, according to the U.S. Census Bureau,” […]
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Has West Virginia’s tourism industry been going gangbusters recently? Gov. Jim Justice suggested that it had in a recent tweet. In a follow-up tweet, Justice cited a Sept. 9 press release from his office that offered figures from 2012 to 2017 to support his claim. We decided to zero in on the […]
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In a tweet that preceded West Virginia’s buck firearm season, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice encouraged West Virginians to purchase a hunting license. In the tweet, he offered an economic rationale — that hunting is an economic engine for the state. State offices have thrown around the figure more than […]
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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., raised concern about the United States’ dependence on foreign countries for mineral needs in an opinion-editorial this fall. Manchin wrote an op-ed with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that was published in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel on Oct. 14, 2018. The op-ed touts several bipartisan efforts by Manchin […]
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