In the News

In a dispute that is largely about cold, hard economics, pitting Major League Baseball against its minor league offshoot, the newly formed congressional Save Minor League Baseball Task Force on Tuesday leveraged its biggest advantage by going straight for the heartstrings. At a briefing/news conference on Capitol Hill for congresspeople and media members, aggrieved representatives and minor league franchise owners took turns extolling the virtues of minor league baseball — its romance, affordabi... Read more

Rep. John Moolenaar has fond memories of the opening of Dow Diamond, the ballpark that is home to the Class A Great Lakes Loons. “I can still remember when the field was built, and they had the opening day. I asked the general manager, you know, are any of these players that are on the team going to make it to the big leagues,” the Republican from Michigan said Tuesday. “I remember him saying, well, watch this pitcher. He’s only going to be with us for a little while.” The pitcher? It was three-... Read more

The sound of hockey pucks striking the ice rink boards at WesBanco Arena was just one of the reminders of the great amenities Wheeling offers, U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley observed while speaking there Tuesday. McKinley was the guest speaker at a joint service clubs luncheon at the arena, with members of the Wheeling Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary and Civitan clubs and guests in attendance. Keeping with a Thanksgiving theme, McKinley noted how he brought fellow Republican Congressman Scott Tipton from Co... Read more

When it comes to ending the opioid crisis, not all Trump administration officials are on the same page. As a record number of Americans die from drug overdoses — fueled primarily by opioids, including heroin and fentanyl — the administration rolled out a new website to help people find addiction treatment centers. While Kellyanne Conway and her team should be commended for making it easier to find high-quality treatment programs, other parts of the administration are failing to prevent unnecessa... Read more

The Rotary Club of Wheeling had a special guest on Tuesday, as Congressman David McKinley spoke. McKinley talked about the tough year the area faced, including the closure of two area hospitals, but he said his big message is to look at the positives. "What we have to do is find a way to be thankful for the things that did work out well, and how we're going to rebuild,” he said. “We're going to get stronger as a result of it. When you think back at all the things that have happened and look at a... Read more

Congressman David McKinley, R-W.Va., said attempts to place regulations on the fossil fuel industry put the United States in a difficult situation while destroying small communities. McKinley’s comments came during an interview Monday with the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. McKinley spoke on topics ranging from the fossil fuel industry to minor league baseball to the state of Washington, D.C., during the recent impeachment hearings. McKinley said while environmental groups have worked to place ... Read more

As efforts are being made to try to keep Mercer County’s two minor league baseball teams, area leaders say the loss of the Bluefield Blue Jays and Princeton Rays would have a multitude of negative consequences on the area. The issue recently surfaced because the current Professional Baseball Agreement between the Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball expires at the end of the 2020 season. Negotiations continue but more than 40 minor league teams may be on the chopping block at th... Read more

In a political era when bipartisan is practically a dirty word, West Virginia politicians united in opposition to Major League Baseball’s proposal to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams, including three of the four minor league teams in the state. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., co-authored a congressional letter to MLB opposing the plan, signed by 106 House members, including Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va. (Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., presumably busy trying to ferret out secret meetings in the C... Read more

U.S. representatives from West Virginia and Alabama have introduced a bill to expand access for seniors to non-opioid alternatives. The Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation Act eases the barriers to non-opioid pain management for seniors enrolled in Medicare, according to Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va. The bill would address payment disincentives for practitioners to prescribe non-opioid treatment alternatives in surgical settings by requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ... Read more

U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire and David McKinley of West Virginia have introduced a bill to make generic drugs more affordable for seniors. Kuster, a Democrat, and McKinley, a Republican, said Wednesday that last year, low-cost generic medications saved Medicare patients over $90 billion, but those savings are at risk because a growing number of these medicines have been moved into the same category as more expensive brand-name drugs. They say the bill would help reverse the negative... Read more