Short Takes from the Session: Day 13

JAIL COSTS: Counties would pay only half the daily rate for locking up inmates at regional jails "if they’re behind bars less than a dozen hours," under a pending bill highlighted by The Register-Herald of Beckley.

MUNICIPAL PENSIONS: "After much debate and compromise among stakeholders, it appears this could be the year that the West Virginia Legislature helps cities stabilize their drastically underfunded police and fire pensions," the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington reports. "The result is a comprehensive reform bill that Kanawha County Sen. Dan Foster will introduce in the next week or two."

PRISON COSTS: A separate area of the state budget than regional jails, the Division of Corrections has seen expenses from its prison system nearly double in just seven years. But Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, cites West Virginia's relatively low crime rate to argue instead that a "concerted effort must be made to reduce prison population in the Mountain State," MetroNews reports.

"I've yet to see any studies that would indicate over the last decade West Virginia has become a more violent state, a more dangerous state," Kessler told MetroNews (audio here.) "But the statistics would seem to indicate that we have twice the prison population."

LICENSE TO LEARN: (Update) The Denver-based Education Commission of the States "is cautioning West Virginia officials against tying teenagers' driving privileges to academic performance," The Charleston Daily Mail reports.

SUGAR-FREE SCHOOLS: (Update) Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone and one of four physician-legislators, explains to The Register-Herald his push to "outlaw sugar-laden soft drinks and candy bars in schools, replacing them with healthy beverages, such as 100 percent fruit juices, high-fiber snacks and low-fat foods."