justine greening resigned from the government on monday after theresa may tried to move her from her post as secretary of state for education to the department for work and pensions in a cabinet reshuffle designed to reboot her government. in a statement may said said she was “disappointed” but respected greening’s decision. greening was succeeded as education secretary by damian hinds, who was promoted from being a junior work and pensions minister. earlier may kept jeremy hunt as her health secretary with new responsibility for social care, signalling that the prime minister wants to make another attempt to reform the troubled system. hunt was rumoured to be moving to a new role as may’s deputy but will stay in his job to address the worsening winter crisis in the nhs and take more control over social care. the deputy job has now been given to david lidington, who moves from the role of justice secretary and will take over as minister for the cabinet office, chairing the big cabinet committees and standing in for may at prime minister’s questions. hunt’s new remit is a sign that may wants to return to the difficult issue of social care, after abandoning a deeply unpopular election policy to make people pay for elderly care out of the value of their property. labour branded the policy a “dementia tax” and it was swiftly dropped after the election. two other cabinet ministers who were said to be facing the chop, sajid javid and greg clark, have also kept their jobs in the reshuffle. javid’s role has been changed from communities and local government to housing, communities and local government, part of may’s attempts to focus more attention on housing issues. clark’s job as secretary of state for business, energy and industrial policy stays the same. earlier, the shake-up got off to a chaotic start after an official conservative party twitter account announced that chris grayling, the transport secretary, was the new party chair, even though it was in fact brandon lewis who had been given the role. no 10 also announced that amber rudd would remain as home secretary, philip hammond as chancellor and david davis as brexit secretary. boris johnson was also confirmed in his job as foreign secretary, shortly after he was seen going into downing street. gavin williamson will remain at defence. karen bradley became northern ireland secretary after james brokenshire said he would be leaving his post for health reasons. a no 10 announcement said lidington, who was also formerly leader of the commons and is a generally popular figure among tory mps, had been made minister for the cabinet office and chancellor of the duchy of lancaster. david gauke was sent to the justice department to fill the space left by lidington, after just six months in the role of the work and pensions secretary. gauke, a former solicitor, is now the sixth justice secretary to fill the role since the conservatives came to power in 2010. while downing street confirmed that his new role remained a cabinet post, lidington has not been made first secretary of state, the courtesy title that gave green the job of may’s de facto deputy. green was sacked in december after an investigation found he had lied about the discovery of pornography on his office computer during a police raid in 2008. however, no 10 said lidington would chair all the influential cabinet office committees formerly chaired by green, meaning he has in effect the same job, but without the first secretary of state title. following the first confirmed move of the day – brokenshire’s resignation – several reports said grayling was being moved from being transport secretary to party chairman. this appeared confirmed after the official conservative twitter account sent a photo of grayling with the message: “congratulations to chris grayling following his appointment as conservative party chairman.” however, this message was very quickly deleted, as reports began circulating that lewis might get the post instead. bbc confirming grayling appointment but advisers saying its speculation and he hasn't been to no10 yet. the conservatives had tweeted a congrats, though its now disappeared. what is going on!? pic.twitter.com/8gdc0re4ks — anushka asthana (@guardiananushka) january 8, 2018 about an hour later came the announcement from downing street that lewis was leaving the home office to become minister without portfolio and chair of the party. it had been confirmed earlier that the incumbent party chairman, sir patrick mcloughlin, had stood down. he had been under pressure since the disastrous election campaign and an incident when a prankster got into the party conference to hand may a fake p45 during her main speech. earlier, it was announced that brokenshire would leave. the long-time ally of may has been unable to resurrect the suspended northern ireland assembly following a political collapse after a scandal over a botched green heating subsidy scheme. in an exchange of letters released by no 10, brokenshire told may he had a small lesion on his right lung that would require surgery. brokenshire wrote that he had hoped to continue in the job: “i recognise, however, that as a result of my forthcoming surgery i will not be able to give the effort, energy and complete focus needed at this important time if we are to secure the positive outcomes both you and i are committed to achieving.” may wrote back to say she was “sorry to hear about your medical situation” and accepted his resignation. james brokenshire. photograph: jack taylor/getty images james cleverly, the mp for braintree, elected in 2015, has been appointed as the tory party’s deputy chair, the party’s media account tweeted. it also said chris skidmore, the constitution minister, had been named vice-chair for policy, with ben bradley and kemi badenoch – who both entered parliament in june – made vice-chairs for youth and candidates respectively. bradley is 27. maria caulfield was named vice-chair for women. the wholesale revamp of conservative party operations, widely expected ahead of the reshuffle, gave vice-chair roles to a series of other mps: rehman chishti and helen grant for communities; andrew jones for business engagement; marcus jones for local government; and james morris for training. the appointments marked a demotion for skidmore, andrew jones and marcus jones, all of whom have lost ministerial jobs with the move. skidmore has left the cabinet office, while andrew jones was a junior treasury minister and marcus jones has gone from being local government minister to the unpaid job of party vice-chair for the same area.
clarksburg — when jared henry and maddie mansell saw the business property available along buckhannon pike in nutter fort, they knew just what the community needed there. the building sits right across the street from a park — the perfect location for a coffee and ice cream shop, said mansell, who now manages black and white coffee and ice cream in that space. “he always wanted to open a coffee shop and so did i,” she said. like many small business owners, henry and mansell identified a need in the community and took a risk to try to fill it. the addition to the community benefits kids and parents in the area, mansell said. “it draws everybody in. it gives the teenagers, the kids and families a place where they’re welcome,” she said. small businesses are the “lifeblood of communities,” according to nikki bowmar, public affairs specialist for the west virginia district office of the u.s. small business administration. “small business owners take a risk on an idea, invest in their communities and create jobs,” bowmar said. “their skills and creativity not only support their own families, they make neighborhoods vibrant places to live and work and fuel economic strength and growth in the state and across the nation.” there are approximately 114,391 small businesses in west virginia. cumulatively, these businesses make up 99 percent of the total number of businesses in the state and employ 280,213 people — nearly 50 percent of the state’s workforce, according to bowmar. while mansell does not own the business, she has found employment at small businesses much of her life. as a young teen, her family sold soaps created with supplies from their farm. they later opened a restaurant, she said. for her, though, small businesses provide more than just a job. they allow connections with customers that are not as often cultivated in larger businesses, she said. “what we value, first and foremost, is our customers and people who walk into the door,” she said. “we see them as more than just customers. … we want them to feel like a part of the family, and build friendships, and show them the love we have received in christ.” small businesses can also serve as staples within the community, according to george “gib” brown, president and general manager of the james and law co. james and law, which sells office furniture and supplies, serves as the textbook depository for west virginia schools and employs nearly 30 people, has been a fixture in downtown clarksburg since it formed with the merger of two companies in 1903, brown said. james and law is different from other small businesses in that it is a shareholder-held company. people in small businesses have an interest in ensuring their communities are healthy, brown said. “i see us as kind of a constant. our officers throughout the years have been involved in the chamber, the local service agencies, the local church communities. the current officers do the same thing. it’s just a part of the dna of this company. the company and its employees and officers are integral parts of the community,” he said. the business has also been involved in community development, including helping to provide furniture for the robinson grand performing arts center in downtown clarksburg. “we were really happy to be a part of something like that that we think will bring value to businesses and industry and quality of life in clarksburg for years to come,” brown said. small businesses allow rural communities to be self-reliant and draw upon the resources that are already in the community, including its people, said dan taylor, coordinator of the west virginia community development hub’s energizing entrepreneurial communities program.  the program, in the last of three years, helps four communities, including grafton, create improved support systems for small business entrepreneurs. small businesses are a means to economic growth that draws on resources, including the people, that are already in the community, taylor said. a vibrant and diverse small business community means an area is less reliant on outside forces for providing economic opportunity, he said. “a lot of communities in the state have went through some serious population loss, and i think creating our own small business opportunities is a strategy that will stabilize the population and create employment. it’s also good for the tax base for a community. the more businesses you have, especially local businesses that are paying back into that tax base, will allow a community to be able to fund the infrastructure and the schools that they need. it’s just positive,” taylor said. they can also draw new residents and tourists, he said. “if you want people to visit the community, you’ve got to have services there — things for people to be able to do, to see, to buy, to eat,” he said. small business owners take on big risks to invest in their communities. stephen mann and his family never had ambitions to be small business owners, but saw it as something that could pull people into lewis county, spreading the potential benefits beyond themselves and to other businesses in the area. small businesses also hire people locally, rather than pulling in temporary workers from out of state, he said. in december, he and his family opened manncave distilling in weston. in mann’s case, it took mortgages on two homes, a substantial loan, most of his savings and one of his 401k accounts to open the distillery serving whiskey, moonshine and vodka. “we’re still not at capacity where it’s paying for itself yet, so it’s still a risk,” mann said. the manns do not live in lewis county, but hope to move to the area once the business takes off, he said. “the reason i chose this particular business is because i will be pulling income from outside of the county into the county and, eventually, outside of the state into the county,” mann said. “i’m going to be spending a lot of money in lewis county from what i make.” small business owners in rural areas like west virginia face unique challenges. “another issue rural areas have is finding access to capital to support investments in entrepreneurship, innovation and growth. it can be more daunting in rural areas where there are fewer alternatives to conventional bank loans, relative to urban areas, which have easier access to venture capital, angel investing and emerging crowdsourcing models,” bowmar said. mann said he would like to see more state and county support for new small businesses. development of roads, less regulation of signage and decreased paperwork would help small business owners immensely, he said. many are working to try to create an environment where small business can thrive. the energizing entrepreneurial communities program leaders in grafton have worked on downtown beautification projects, planned festivals and encouraged the arts, downtown revitalization and development of outdoor recreation opportunities that can help attract people into the town, taylor said. a grassroots community effort called all aboard grafton is also stepping up to the plate and continuing that work, taylor said. taylor county was first in the state in percentage growth of new businesses in february, a sign that efforts are working, according to patricia henderson, executive director of the taylor county development authority and administrative support to the taylor county commission. “people are wanting to see growth in taylor county. young people are willing to work hard and step out in faith that people will support local businesses,” she said. in weston, a fairs and festivals committee has planned events to support small businesses, according to mayor julia spelsberg. christmastime is especially busy, when the committee organizes promotions to encourage people to stop into the area’s small stores, she said. “we know all too well the importance of small businesses,” spelsberg said. “so much of our economy is run on small businesses. in weston, there’s a ton of small businesses, especially downtown. small businesses are your family and friends and it’s really important to support them.” similar efforts are taking place in communities across north central west virginia. the small business administration is also trying to help, bowmar said. the organization “has partnered with usda to promote rural development, elevate quality of life in rural communities, and ensure small businesses in rural areas benefit from the tax cut and jobs act, the historically underutilized business zones and opportunity zones programs,” she said. they can also help provide small business owners with capital and technical assistance, she said. “a really important thing that we’ve seen is just sort of changing the narrative about our small towns in the state,” taylor said. “it’s often a very depressing view we have … and we really want to turn that around and show there’s really a lot of opportunity and we can make our small towns thriving places again. we should celebrate the work that’s happening to do that.”