Hemp Farming Efforts Uneven Across Ohio Valley

Hemp growers in the region hope a recent change in federal law means they can finally profit from a plant that had been in legal limbo.

The latest Farm Bill legalized hemp, which can be used for products ranging from clothing to soap and herbal remedies. Now it’s up to states to decide how to handle hemp. But as the Ohio Valley ReSource’s Liam Niemeyer reports, not all states in the region are ready to cash in on the hemp heyday.

Also on today’s show, the controversial omnibus education bill – Senate Bill 241 — making its way through the West Virginia House right now contains a provision to create charter schools in West Virginia. It’s something Republican leaders want to see implemented, but teachers and their unions oppose. Joshua Weishart is an associate professor of law and policy at West Virginia University who studies the legal relationship between states and schools.

Weishart recently wrote an article outlining why he feels the charter schools provision in Senate Bill 451 is unconstitutional.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting news director Jesse Wright spoke to Weishart last week about those arguments. We hear an excerpt from that conversation.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.