West Virginia
Senate approves Child Care Tax Credit, House squashes Justices’ other child care bill • West Virginia Watch
Lawmakers came into the special session aware of the state’s child care crisis. West Virginia needs more than 20,000 child care spots. Meanwhile, hundreds of providers have closed down this year — despite waitlists for families — due to financial strain and uncertain state funding.
Gov. Jim Justice put two child care focused bills on his special session call. He focused on affordability, and lawmakers approved his plan for a state level Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
Eligible West Virginia families, who already claim the federal child care tax credit, would on average receive around $250 through the state level credit, according to lawmakers. Most families are paying $600 to $700 a month for day care.
The House of Delegates opted to punt on Justice’s other child care bill, which would have given $5 million in funds for a pilot program with an outside company to open five new day care centers and help connect providers with children who could fill spots.
On Wednesday, after the special session concluded, Justice told reporters that the state should have put more money into child care. Justice said he included bills that he thought would be approved.
“When we decide that child care is a real problem and it warrants absolute consideration and concern, then we’ll do something about it and we’ll do something about it in a profound way,” he said. “We didn’t do as much as I wanted to in regards to child care, but we did something.”
House Bill 229, which allocated surplus money for Justice’s pilot program idea, didn’t include the details on how it would be used. Lawmakers said the money would likely go to Wonderschool, a California-based company focused on child care.
“Instead of pouring millions into an out-of-state program, let’s focus on tweaking these programs in West Virginia,” said Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson.
Several lawmakers noted that child care providers had already told lawmakers what they needed, including increased subsidies for day care centers that serve more than 15,000 low-income children in the state.
“Honestly, I don’t know who worked for this other than maybe a lobbyist,” said Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion. “We have heard from the people on the ground that are running these businesses that there are certain things they need. I don’t see [how] giving $5 million to some recruitment agency or some app … how is that not money that’s just going down the drain?”
At Garcia’s suggestion, the House voted 47-40 to table the bill indefinitely. The House and Senate adjourned sine die late Tuesday evening, concluding the special session.
Justice said he had tried to put $20 million into child care but it got whittled down to a $5 million ask for his pilot program.
“Lobbyists were up there going crazy, trying to grab the cheese. The Legislature got tired of it, and said we’re done, we’re not going to do that,” he said.
The Senate signed off on the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit on Tuesday, sending the bill to the governor’s desk on the final day of the special session. It would allow eligible families to claim a credit equal to 50% of the allowable federal child and dependent care credit.
It will cost $4.2 million to implement, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
“The first-ever for working families in West Virginia,” Justice said. “It’s a good start. We’ve got to do more.”
Lawmakers and the state Chamber of Commerce urged Justice to add other child care bills to the special session call. Bills during the regular session, which failed to get up for a vote, had included ideas like helping child care workers pay for daycare and giving businesses an increased tax credit for providing child care.
“We worked hand-in-hand with the leadership and agreed on what’s got a shot and what’s not,” Justice said.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, said that she was glad that the special session resulted in some relief for families. “We know every little bit helps,” she said.
Young, who has led child care legislation efforts in the House, continued, “I was disappointed but not surprised to see the governor not follow through on this promise to allocate $20 million to child care providers. I look forward to meaningful work in the regular session. Solving child care means bringing providers, parents, employers, tech solutions and our state agencies to the table.”
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West Virginia
Iowa State vs West Virginia football prediction, picks, betting odds: Who wins Week 7 game?
Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell on West Virginia’s environment
Hear from Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell on preparing for the environment at West Virginia.
Coming off another convincing victory, Iowa State football hits the road and hopes to keep its undefeated streak alive at West Virginia on Saturday. FOX will show the 7 p.m. contest.
The Cyclones (5-0) will look to build on a strong start that includes wins over North Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas State, Houston and Baylor. Meanwhile, West Virginia is 3-2 is coming off a 38-14 win at Oklahoma State.
Here are our expert picks and the betting odds for the game:
More: Iowa State football: Cyclones prep for West Virginia, eye first 6-0 start since 1938
Iowa State football vs West Virginia betting odds, money line, over/under for Week 7 game
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Tuesday, Oct. 8.
- Moneyline: Iowa State -155, West Virginia +130
- Spread: Iowa State -3
- O/U: 53.5
Not interested in this game? Our guide to college football betting odds, picks and spreads has you covered.
If you’re new to sports betting, don’t worry. We have tips for beginners on how to place a bet online. And USA TODAY Network readers can claim exclusive promos and bonus codes with these online sportsbooks and sports betting sites.
More: What channel is Iowa State football vs West Virginia on Saturday? Time, TV to watch Week 7 game
Iowa State vs West Virginia football prediction, picks for college football Week 7
Tuesday afternoon, Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell met with the media for his weekly press conference and spoke glowingly about West Virginia. Here’s what he had to say about the Mountaineers and the environment they’ll be walking into.
“What West Virginia will be will be another level of excitement. They’ve got a phenomenal team. They’ve got one of the greatest fanbases in the country in terms of the pride that they have for their Mountaineers, and also a really special team that they have going on too right now. They’ve got a lot to be excited about. It’ll be a really great football environment. This is why you play college football, to play in games like this and play in moments like this, and play on a stage like this. We’ll have to be at our best on Saturday night.”
“I think it all starts for them, they’ve got an elite quarterback. I mean, he’s talented, he’s tough, he’s gritty. And I think every game that he has played in since he’s been the quarterback at West Virginia, they’ve had a chance to win. They’ve got a really talented backfield. Obviously they are rushing the ball at a really high rate with great success on the offensive side of the football. “
“Defense, boy, they’re complex. They do a lot. They really challenge all your rules in terms of offensive football and they’ve done a great job of holding teams against the run and creating some turnovers along the way.”
“They’re tough. I think that’s the thing that I really appreciate about the opponent is there’s a sense of toughness and pride in everything they do. I really just think they play great team football to be quite honest with you over the last couple of weeks and have really played that way all season. They’ve had chances to win every one of the games they’ve played.”
“Boy, I don’t know. I guess we’re going to find out on Saturday if we are, to be honest. They present a real problem for everybody. Everybody they have played, they have really challenged in terms of what they’ve been able to do and anytime you’re going to play a great rushing attack it’s going to take all eleven players on the defensive side of the football. And I think anytime the quarterback’s got the ability to run, it can put your defensive rules in conflict really fast and they do a great job of challenging that.”
West Virginia and Iowa State will kick it off at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.
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Jahiem White ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, and West Virginia rolled past Oklahoma State 38-14 on Saturday afternoon.
Garrett Greene passed for 159 yards and rushed for 86 and CJ Donaldson Jr. added 77 yards rushing and two scores for the Mountaineers (3-2, 2-0 Big 12). West Virginia gained 389 of its 558 yards on the ground.
Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-3), one of the preseason favorites to contend for the Big 12 title, lost its third straight. Alan Bowman threw two interceptions before he was benched in the third quarter. The Cowboys finished with just 227 total yards, including 36 rushing.
Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II, last year’s Doak Walker Award winner for the nation’s best running back, left the game in the third quarter with a leg injury and did not return. He finished with 50 yards on 13 carries. Last year at West Virginia, he ran for 282 yards and four touchdowns and led the Cowboys to a 48-34 victory.
Greene temporarily left the game at the end of a 39-yard run in the first quarter, and Nicco Marchiol stepped in a threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Traylon Ray to give the Mountaineers a 10-0 edge.
The Mountaineers went up 24-0 before Oklahoma State got on the board. West Virginia’s final score of the period, an 8-yard touchdown run by C.J. Donaldson with 28 seconds left in the first half, put the Mountaineers up 31-7 at the break. West Virginia outgained Oklahoma State 345 yards to 115 before the break, with 259 yards coming on the ground.
The Takeaway
West Virginia: The Mountaineers looked motivated and ready from the outset. They overpowered Oklahoma State the old-fashioned way — they ran 65 times and threw just 16 passes.
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys didn’t just get beat, they looked flat in a game they needed to keep their already faint hopes of reaching the Big 12 title game alive. Now, the Cowboys could struggle to keep their string of consecutive winning seasons that dates back to 2006 alive.
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