Latest news with #Manchin
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Disability Action Center breaks ground new Fairmont recreation center
FAIRMONT, (WBOY) — The Disability Action Center (DAC) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday at the site of the upcoming Wilfong Wellness Center in Fairmont. DAC officials told 12 News that the center will provide a place for people with disabilities and the community at large to recreate and focus on physical fitness. The facility will include a fitness area, a multipurpose space and a gymnasium that will allow for basketball, volleyball, and pickleball. 'We want the center to not only serve our clients with disabilities, but the greater community, knowing that when we bring everyone together with the focus on health and focus on inclusion, that the entire community wins,' Disability Action Center Executive Director Julie Sole said. Aerial Drone Competition Northeast Regional Championship begins at Fairmont State University The DAC raised around $1.7 million over four years to fund this project. Funders included Senator Manchin, Senator Capito, a number of state officials, the Marion County Commission and Kevin and Donna Wilfong, whose family has been heavily involved with the disabled community in the area since 1958. Kevin Wilfong's parents founded the first association in Marion County for people with developmental disabilities after his younger brother passed away from hydrocephalus. Wilfong said his contributions to the wellness center were very meaningful to him and that the facility will be designed to better serve people with disabilities in the area with features such as matts on the walls and wheelchair accessibility. The Disability Action Center said it plans on working to get the Wilfong Wellness Center up and running as soon as possible. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fayetteville bike skills area coming to town park
FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WVNS) – Outdoor recreation in Fayette County is expanding with a recently announced update to a local latest addition to Fayetteville Town Park, a bike skills area aims to serve parkgoers both young and old. Construction on the addition got underway just a week ago, but folks are already excited for the expansion. The area will feature three distinct trails at different skill levels to allow guests to work on their biking skills, offering beginners and advanced bikers alike the opportunity to ride. Summit Bechtel Reserve hosts Total Archery Challenge Fayette Trail Coalition Vice President, Abbie Newell told 59News that the bike skills area is being brought in to compliment popular park features such as the skate park and pump track as part of a larger effort to make Fayetteville an outdoor recreation hub for Southern West Virginia.'The idea of the skills park is just a progressive skills building area,' she said. 'People of all ages will get to play and enhance their skill set. It's close proximity to a lot of other recreational assets.' The Fayetteville bike skills area was made possible in part by congressionally directed spending funds earmarked through Senators Manchin and Capito, along with the collaborative efforts of multiple local organizations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Manchin slams West Virginia move to ban ranked-choice voting
(The Hill) – Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who served as a centrist Democrat for most of his career before becoming an independent last spring, denounced his state's move to ban ranked-choice voting despite the system never being used there. Manchin wrote in a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday that elections in West Virginia are 'heading in the wrong direction' given the ranked-choice voting ban from March and a move from a state legislator to potentially close primary elections to only party members starting in 2026. 'Lawmakers just banned ranked choice voting—even though we've never used it. At the same time, they're trying to shut out over 300,000 independent voters from participating in primary elections. That's nearly 30% of West Virginia voters being told their voices don't matter,' he said. 'This isn't leadership—it's political gamesmanship.' West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R), whom Manchin defeated in his 2018 Senate election, signed the ban on ranked-choice voting into law in March after the legislation received overwhelming approval in both the state House and state Senate. Ranked choice voting is a system in which voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference. In counting the vote, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and their votes are reallocated according to their supporters' next preference. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority of the vote. The system is used statewide in Alaska and Maine and several municipalities in other states, like California and New York. But moving to ban the system, even if it's not currently being used, has become increasingly popular in conservative-leaning states over the past year, with more than a dozen states banning it as of March, according to Ballotpedia. Opponents of the system have argued that it's confusing for voters to understand. State law currently allows political parties to decide for themselves whether to have closed or open primaries. The state GOP Executive Committee voted last year to make its primaries closed, meaning only Republicans will be able to vote in them, starting in 2026. But West Virginia state Sen. Eric Tarr (R) introduced a bill in February that would prohibit all unaffiliated voters from participating in a major party primary. Manchin said Democrats tried to close their primary when he was West Virginia secretary of state in 2001, but he stopped them because 'it wasn't right then, and it's not right now.' 'Ranked choice voting gives voters more say and rewards candidates who appeal to a majority, not just a base,' he said. 'Banning it while trying to close primaries sends one clear message: some politicians don't want to compete, they just want control.' Manchin has previously stated his support for ranked choice voting. Throughout his career, which also included a five-year stint as governor before resigning to become a senator, Manchin established a reputation as a maverick, being willing to criticize both parties. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.
The Hill
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Manchin slams West Virginia move to ban ranked-choice voting
Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who served as a centrist Democrat for most of his career before becoming an independent last spring, denounced his state's move to ban ranked-choice voting despite the system never being used there. Manchin wrote in a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday that elections in West Virginia are 'heading in the wrong direction' given the ranked-choice voting ban from March and a move from a state legislator to potentially close primary elections to only party members starting in 2026. 'Lawmakers just banned ranked choice voting—even though we've never used it. At the same time, they're trying to shut out over 300,000 independent voters from participating in primary elections. That's nearly 30% of West Virginia voters being told their voices don't matter,' he said. 'This isn't leadership—it's political gamesmanship.' West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R), whom Manchin defeated in his 2018 Senate election, signed the ban on ranked-choice voting into law in March after the legislation received overwhelming approval in both the state House and state Senate. Ranked choice voting is a system in which voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference. In counting the vote, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and their votes are reallocated according to their supporters' next preference. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority of the vote. The system is used statewide in Alaska and Maine and several municipalities in other states, like California and New York. But moving to ban the system, even if it's not currently being used, has become increasingly popular in conservative-leaning states over the past year, with more than a dozen states banning it as of March, according to Ballotpedia. Opponents of the system have argued that it's confusing for voters to understand. State law currently allows political parties to decide for themselves whether to have closed or open primaries. The state GOP Executive Committee voted last year to make its primaries closed, meaning only Republicans will be able to vote in them, starting in 2026. But West Virginia state Sen. Eric Tarr (R) introduced a bill in February that would prohibit all unaffiliated voters from participating in a major party primary. Manchin said Democrats tried to close their primary when he was West Virginia secretary of state in 2001, but he stopped them because 'it wasn't right then, and it's not right now.' 'Ranked choice voting gives voters more say and rewards candidates who appeal to a majority, not just a base,' he said. 'Banning it while trying to close primaries sends one clear message: some politicians don't want to compete, they just want control.' Manchin has previously stated his support for ranked choice voting. Throughout his career, which also included a five-year stint as governor before resigning to become a senator, Manchin established a reputation as a maverick, being willing to criticize both parties.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Katty Kay: Joe Manchin has a tough message for Democrats on Trump
Three months into Donald Trump's second term, Democrats are struggling with how to counter the White House juggernaut. Some are trying to revive the 2016 resistance. Some suggest "playing dead" in the hope that Trump flames out. But former Democratic Senator Joe Manchin suggests a very different way, one many Democrats may find unpalatable - work with the president. In a recent interview, one of the few he's given since leaving Congress in January, he told me: "[Trump] is the leader of our country. Why would you not work with him? Just because he's a different party? Didn't vote for him? That's not a reason." For years, Manchin was a unique politician who could win re-election as a Democrat in the deep-red Trump country of West Virginia. Occasionally, he was a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party, even voting against some of Joe Biden's key policies that couldn't, and didn't, survive without his support. Before leaving office in January, Manchin changed his official designation from "Democrat" to "Independent." It's because Manchin is retired both from the Senate and from the Democratic Party that I wanted to get his thoughts on what's happening in Washington and how the Democrats would meet this moment. In my experience of politics, people tend to be more candid once they're no longer running for office. "I want Donald Trump to succeed," Manchin told me. "I want to help wherever I can help. I want to give them my experience of the mistakes I have made that we shouldn't make again." Manchin says he hopes President Trump would also "open his arms up" and work with Democrats and Independents, but he clearly believes Democrats would do better with the electorate by working to get things done, rather than working to attack the president at every turn. Indeed, the most striking thing about our conversation is how he doesn't hold back on criticism of his former party. Take, for example, the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a 29-year-old from El Salvador who was deported back to El Salvador last month after a governmental error and an immigration judge previously saying he should remain in the US. "The Democrats are saying, 'what a horrible situation.'...They're making more of a case out of this one person who's an illegal immigrant being sent out of the country that could have been tied to a gang…if I'm a Republican strategist, I am going to keep quiet and just let you all go on." Ábrego García denies that he was a part of a gang - and the Trump administration hasn't provided any evidence to establish that he was. And, in our conversation, Manchin was also clear that Ábrego García should have had due process and that any attacks on the authority of America's judicial system should not be tolerated. But, in Manchin's view, many of Trump's actions in the early days of this second term are not as objectionable to many Americans as they might be to Democratic officials in Washington. "He's doing exactly what he said. People shouldn't be all upset," Manchin told me. "The people who are upset right now lost. This is the system." Rather than focus on immigration, he suggests, Democrats should focus on the biggest threat to America, the country's outsized debt. It could be an opportunity for them. "We're 36 trillion dollars in debt. There's no way that we can handle this" Manchin told me. "If the Democrats wanted to reposition themselves, why don't they do it on fiscal policy? Do you ever hear anybody talking about balancing our budget, fiscal policy, living with our means?" And he has concrete solutions he's keen to suggest for America's calcified political system. Term limits for a start. "I believe the president should be one, six-year term, Katty. A president should never have to worry about getting re-elected. All they should do is their job." Manchin also thinks members of Congress should be restricted to 12 years in office, and that Supreme Court justices should have terms of 18 years instead of their current lifetime appointments. It's something many younger Democratic politicians might well agree with as they look at the aging ranks of their party. Term limits, however, would require congressional approval - from the same elderly members of Congress who are unlikely to vote themselves out of a job. Democrats aren't in a mood to work with Trump, tackling the debt is on the back burner, term limits aren't likely to happen, but I find Manchin's observations valuable not because they're going to succeed but because they are the unfiltered recommendation of someone with a unique position in American politics. He is a one-time Democrat who repeatedly managed to get Trump country to vote him into office.
