Free Republic

It's a new poll, but the numbers are much the same. An automated telephone survey conducted last month found 51 percent of potential West Virginia voters would pick Rep. Shelley Moore Capito over Secretary of State Natalie Tennant in the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller's seat. The poll found 34 percent of potential voters would support Tennant, while 15 percent are not sure who would get their vote. Pennsylvania-based Republican polling firm Harper Polling conducted the survey, which included 640 likely voters. The poll has a 3.9 percent margin of error. In a question directed only to potential...

Coal supporters are rallying behind Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's (R-W.Va.) call for the Environmental Protection Agency to include coal-producing states on its listening tour. The agency announced Thursday that the first two stops in its 11-meeting listening tour, meant to gather input on carbon emissions limits for power plants, would be postponed due to the government shutdown. Earlier this week, the agency said it would not stop in heavy coal-producing states. House Republicans pushed back, saying the tour conveniently avoids the states where the proposed carbon emissions rule, a key part of President Obama's climate change agenda, would spike electricity...

Wheeling, W. VA -- There's been a shooting at the federal courthouse in Wheeling, West Virginia. The U.S. Marshals Service says a man with an assault-type rifle fired 15 to 20 shots at the courthouse before security officers returned fire, critically injuring the man.

The U.S. Marshals Service says a man with an assault-type rifle fired 15 to 20 shots at the federal courthouse in Wheeling. W.Va., before security officers returned fire, critically wounding the man.

WHEELING -- A man who reportedly fired more than 20 shots into the Wheeling Federal Building has died, authorities said. The man has not yet been identified. A security guard at the Federal Building also received minor injuries during the shooting rampage, which occurred about 2:30 p.m. today. Police have not yet released a motive for the shooting.

Sen. Joe Manchin III said Tuesday that Democrats should negotiate a debt deal as part of the debt limit increase — a break from Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama. The West Virginia Democrat said he personally is “looking for a bigger plan” to reduce the debt as part of the discussion to authorize payment of the government’s bills. Manchin talked to a group of reporters before Democrats’ weekly luncheon Tuesday and said he supports using the debt limit debate as a vehicle to attach deficit reduction, such as the Bowles-Simpson plan — Democratic leaders and the president have vowed...

Those of you who are supposedly outraged or indignant over the partial government shutdown, or have friends or neighbors who are outraged or indignant, I can tell you all how YOU can fix it. All you have to do is tell pollsters who call that you think Obama and the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown. As soon as that hits the papers, the shutdown will be over before the end of the day. That is because it is Obama and the Democrats who shut down the government, because they are so certain that the Republicans will be blamed for...

One of the most profoundly unfair provisions of Obamacare is that members of Congress and their staffers were unilaterally and illegally granted a special exemption from the law they themselves passed. Unlike many Americans, many of whom have been forcibly kicked off their current health care plans, the governing class and their staffers as of now will keep their insurance providers and receive an enormous taxpayer subsidy (depending on which plan they choose) to off-set rising health care costs. Sound fair? I didn’t think so. As it happened, many congressional staffers threatened to resign if they were forced to enroll...

A federal proposal to impose strict new rules on emissions from new coal-fired plants has drawn the ire of critics who are determined to stop regulatory effort from affecting coal-producing states such as Colorado. Last Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule for new coal plants: large plants can emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour while smaller plants can emit the slightly higher figure of 1,100 pounds. ... war on coal... Shovel-ready jobs apparently don’t apply to those who work in coal,” Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) quipped, referring to President Obama’s description...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I have received e-mails today from people who have heard about West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. What Joe Manchin has said today is that he might break ranks from the Democrats and vote for a funding measure that delays the individual mandate. Now, the employer mandate has been delayed until 2015, but the individual mandate has not been. The employers got a one-year waiver from being required to provide insurance for their employees. But the individual citizen is still required, mandated to have insurance, or pay a fine. And Manchin has said that he is willing to...

Though there is still a long way to go for the Delta Queen to return to the rivers as a cruise ship, passing of bill H.R. 1961 in the House of Representatives is a major step in this direction. On Wednesday, September 25th 2013, the House has approved the bill that would grant the historic Delta Queen a 15 years exemption from a fire-retardant materials construction requirement. The House voted 280 to 89 in favor of the Delta Queen with almost all Republicans voting with “yea”, while Democrats voted 82 to 84 against the bill. The bill still has to...

The Talk Shows September 15==22nd, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.THIS WEEK (ABC): Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Tom Graves, R-Ga.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Sen. Joe Manchin broke ranks with the Democrats on Wednesday, saying he would vote against President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Ron Binz, a move that could sink the nomination. The surprise decision by the coal-state Democrat is the latest twist in power struggle over the chairmanship of the agency that typically draws attention only from power sector and pipeline wonks. But the Binz nomination has recently jumped to the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal as conservatives attacked a regulator they view as hostile to fossil fuels. Manchin’s move crimps the Democrats’ 12-10...

For decades, coal from West Virginia’s vast deposits was mined, loaded on rail cars and hauled off without leaving behind a lasting trust fund financed by the state’s best-known commodity. Big coal’s days are waning, but now a new bonanza in the natural gas fields has state leaders working to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself. West Virginia’s Senate president, Jeff Kessler, is pushing to create an oil and natural gas trust fund to support core government functions decades from now. His goal: a cushion of funds long after the gas is depleted to buoy an Appalachian mountain state chronically vexed...

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant (D) will launch a bid for Senate next week, sources confirm, setting up Democrats with their best remaining shot at retaining Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W.Va.) seat.

<p>CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Only one company will participate in West Virginia’s new individual health insurance marketplace.</p> <p>Media outlets report that Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Carelink/Coventry applied and were accepted to participate in the individual marketplace. But Carelink/Coventry later decided to withdraw.</p>

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia nonprofit has turned down a federal grant it received to help residents navigate new health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act after it received an inquiry from Attorney General Patrick Morrisey about how it would protect consumer information.Clarksburg-based West Virginia Parent Training Inc. did not respond to a letter it received from Morrisey directing it to answer 26 questions about the group's personnel and hiring practices, including employee background checks and employee monitoring programs, the Sunday Gazette-Mail (http://bit.ly/17M1QVe) reported.

Two men have been charged with the murder of a Jesuit college student who was beaten to death after he and a friend were 'jumped from behind' as they walked back to campus from a bar on Labor Day weekend. Craig Tyler Peacock, 22, of Clewiston, Florida, and Jarrett Mathis Chandler, 24, of Winnfield, Louisiana, were both charged with the murder of Kevin M. Figaniak. The men were found in a camp for oil and gas workers and were arrested overnight. They were arraigned and placed in the Northern Correctional Facility in Moundsville, West Virginia on $1 million cash bail...

An anti-gun organization doesn't believe a 30-day suspension is adequate punishment for Gilberton police Chief Mark Kessler, so it invested in a "Fire Kessler" billboard near Route 61. But on Saturday, less than a week after the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence paid for the billboard, a group of about 40 gun-toting Kessler supporters, some wielding assault weapons, rallied in front of the billboard. There, they shouted their own message: "Go f--- yourself." Kessler said the rally was "an act of civil disobedience, a peaceful act." "They're anti-gun. We're pro-gun. I have the right to do and say...

We already know Manachin, a Democrat, sold out West Virginia with his gun-control antics and sucking up to Obozo. Is the Republican party that stupid.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee on Health Care, today announced more than $642,000 in federal funding for organizations in West Virginia to help West Virginians learn about their new coverage options and enroll in health care plans under the Health Insurance Marketplace (formerly known as “Exchanges”) established under the Affordable Care Act.“All West Virginians deserve access to affordable health care coverage, which is why giving them the tools to make informed decisions about their coverage is so important,” said Rockefeller. “This funding will give West Virginians the opportunity to sit down with...

Union leaders are joining the growing chorus of opposition to the “war on coal” being waged by President Obama through the Environmental Protection Agency. Raymond Ventrone, who represents more than 2,000 members of the Boilermakers Union in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, voiced his opposition to the EPA’s latest coal regulations in a letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Ventrone said that he and his fellow boilermakers helped install EPA-approved pollution-control equipment at a coal-fired power plant three years ago. But now, those upgrades have been “deemed insufficient by the very same agency by virtue of new...

Companies operating in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions say it has been a challenge to fill openings in engineering, geology, environmental health and other professional fields. The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas drilling industry trade group, on Wednesday released a workforce survey of more than 100 of its members. The companies said that finding qualified talent and getting prospective employees to relocate are the biggest challenges they face when it comes to hiring. Of the most difficult positions to fill, 49 percent were in professional fields and 15 percent were in management...

Three months ago, the Obama administration made a little-noticed but potentially pivotal move in the stepped-up fight against climate change: it boosted the U.S. government's official estimate of the future economic damage caused by carbon pollution. The move should make it much easier for the EPA and other federal bureaus to enact tougher measures to crack down on emissions by showing that the greater benefits of such measures will justify their costs. "This has all the characteristics of a stealth approach toward making a greenhouse gas rule more justifiable by exaggerating the social benefits," said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for...

<p>According to allegations in federal documents unsealed Thursday, the alleged five-year vendetta included plotting to plant drugs under the husband's car, recruiting a state trooper to arrest the man on bogus theft charges, and convincing a police officer to arrest him on groundless assault and battery charges, the documents say.</p>

Who doesn’t love a good bout of Blue v Blue cage match sweetness? You might think that with a divided Congress and a Presidential agenda which is essentially stalled, the Democrats on The Hill would be circling the wagons and presenting the best united front they can manage. (And to be fair, they do manage it on a few topics.) But it’s not quite such an easy job to herd those cats when the subject comes to energy and jobs.Example The First comes to us from West Virginia, where we find a Democrat joining forces with the GOP to put...

It seems our efforts to shine the light on the abortion industry in West Virginia has not been well received by those in the spotlight. Our goal is to protect women and children from the harms of abortion. Sure, we’d like nothing more than to see abortion ended in this “wild, wonderful” state of ours. But as long as it is legal, we want to make sure women are protected and given the best medical care possible. Oddly, the abortion industry thinks such reasonable standards are unnecessary. It all started when Tia Gravely filed a lawsuit against the largest abortion...

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed Obama Treasury Secretary Jack Lew for withholding documentation from Congress in the ongoing IRS Tea Party Scandal investigation. The Oversight Committee accuses the Obama Administration of impeding and obstructing the investigation. “During the past two weeks, President Obama and you have repeatedly labeled the IRS’s strategy of targeting Americans for their political beliefs as a ‘phony’ scandal. While the Obama Administration has so publicly deflected responsibility for the targeting, it simultaneously has attempted to thwart congressional oversight into the matter… the IRS has engaged in a systematic effort to delay, frustrate,...

The editorial page editor of a Chattanooga newspaper has become, as he tweeted today, “the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper’s most-read article.” The problem was not the anti-Obama editorial itself. It was the headline: “Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough.” Is that, in this age of vigorous media debate, really a firing offense? The Chattanooga Times Free Press says that Drew Johnson got the boot, after just 14 months on the job, for adding the headline “outside of normal editing procedures.” The...

A West Virginia state senator leaves the Democratic party.In West Virginia, a fed-up Democratic state senator is changing parties — and hoping to represent his state in Congress. State senator Evan Jenkins is done with President Obama’s vision for America. “The Obama agenda has become crystal clear,” he says, pointing to the president’s support for “immigration reform that includes amnesty provisions” as well as “his limitations on our constitutional rights relating to gun ownership,” “his environmental agenda, which spells the end of coal and coal jobs,” and “the government takeover of health care.” “Those are issues and positions that I...

Attorney General Morrisey has initiated an effort that requires the help of all of us. He believes that the women of West Virginia deserve to be protected by state regulation and inspection of abortion clinics. He has called for public comment on this issue, and he needs to hear from the pro-life majority in the state. While we might occasionally feel that we have no influence on the pro-life policy of the state, now is a time that we really can make a difference. The politicians of our state need to know that we are here and that we care....

West Virginia state Sen. Evan Jenkins announced Wednesday that he is switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and will challenge longtime Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) in 2014. “West Virginia is under attack from Barack Obama and a Democratic Party that our parents and grandparents would not recognize,” Jenkins said. “I am proud to join the Republican Party in fighting Washington’s assault on our state, our freedoms, and our jobs.” Jenkins is the latest in a growing number of Democrats from Southern state legislatures to make the switch — with many of them coming in Louisiana and Mississippi,...

Under the cover of Obama’s campaign to sell his budget .. it is no coincidence that his visit is occurring at the same time Volkswagen is being pressured to accept the UAW into its Chattanooga factory. The United Auto Workers have tried every other option at this point including calling in a favor with the union that resides in Volkswagen’s home plant in Germany. ... it doesn’t look like the UAW’s normal campaign of propaganda seems to be succeeding; therefore, it’s time to call in the big dog himself and hope their investment of $148,967 into the reelection of President...

DICKINSON, N.D. - While the leadership and the rest of the campus at Dickinson State University is waiting for a resolution on the school’s accreditation status, a campus nearly 1,500 miles away sits mostly empty after going through a similar process. Formerly a vibrant campus with about 2,000 students and largely the centerpiece of Beckley, a city of about 17,000 in southern West Virginia, Mountain State University closed its doors for good in January after being stripped of its accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, a wing of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that oversees institutions in...

President Obama talked earlier this year of a Democratic takeover of the House, but instead his party is now in danger of losing the Senate. The latest blow to their hopes of keeping the upper chamber came from former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D),who opted out of a race to replace retiring Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) ---- That party seems likely to lose seats in Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia, where it cannot find find strong candidates.

LOGAN, W.Va. — A criminal charge against a Logan Middle School student who refused to remove a National Rifle Association T-shirt he wore to school has been dismissed. Logan County Circuit Judge Eric O’Briant signed an order Thursday dismissing an obstruction charge against Jared Marcum stemming from an April 18 incident. Marcum was arrested after police were called to Logan Middle School when he refused to remove his T-shirt after a teacher told him to. A police officer said he told Marcum to stop talking, but he refused. That’s when Marcum was arrested for obstruction.

WASHINGTON - Mayor Bloomberg, who has spent millions of dollars to attack opponents of gun control, will raise hundreds of thousands this month for an advocate of tougher gun laws. Bloomberg will host a July 22 fundraiser at his upper East Side home for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), sources said. Tickets for the event start at $1,000. Despite an A-rating from the National Rifle Association for his voting record, Manchin, who once ran an ad that showed him shooting environmental legislation, risked the ire of some of his rural constituents by crafting a deal with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to...

A conservative group has endorsed Republican Pat McGeehan over Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) in the West Virginia Senate race. The National Republican Liberty Caucus, which counts Tea Party-backed Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) among its endorsements, issued its first endorsement of the 2014 cycle for McGeehan. “Pat McGeehan has shown leadership skills badly needed in the Senate," said RLC Chairman Matt Nye in a statement. "Receiving the Republican Liberty Caucus endorsement is a testament to his commitment to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, and free enterprise." McGeehan is running as a...

On June 27th, in a positive resolution to a case which has captured the attention of advocates for First and Second Amendment rights, the case against 14-year-old Logan Middle School Honor Student Jared Marcum of Logan, W.V., was dismissed with prejudice. Marcum had been charged with obstructing an officer following an incident stemming from a Logan Middle School faculty member's reaction to Marcum wearing to school an NRA t-shirt featuring the words "Protect Your Right" and an image of a semiautomatic rifle. The charge against Jared carried a possible sentence of incarceration. The entire episode started back on April 18th...

Not content with pending rules that virtually bar construction of new coal-fired power plants, President Obama directed the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency to set limits on how much carbon dioxide the nation's existing electric power plants may emit. The implications for the American coal industry, coal-fired utilities, and business and residential power customers are enormous. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimated it would cost utilities $4 billion to comply with new regulations on coal power plants, but the economy would see from $25 to $60 billion in benefits. This, plainly put, is a crock, and the story behind it is...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. A criminal charge has been dismissed against a West Virginia middle school student who refused a teacher's order to remove a National Rifle Association T-shirt he wore to school. Logan County Circuit Judge Eric O'Briant signed an order dismissing an obstruction charge Thursday against 14-year-old Jared Marcum stemming from an April 18 incident at Logan Middle School. Marcum was charged after a police officer told him to stop talking, but the studen

The case of the rural West Virginia eighth-grader who was suspended and arrested in late April after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association just keeps getting weirder. According to local CBS affiliate WOWK-TV, the student, 14-year-old Jared Marcum, was back at the Logan County Courthouse on Monday for a hearing because prosecutors Christopher White and Sabrina Deskins were seeking an emergency gag order. Earlier this month, Marcum had been formally charged with obstructing an officer. He was also suspended from school for one day. His crime was refusing a teacher’s request to take off the...

Full title: Prosecution attempts to silence Jared Marcum with gag order; reporter covering story threatened with arrest WOWK has been the only news outlet following every new development in the case of Jared Marcum, the Logan County, West Virginia student who was suspended, arrested and is now facing an obstruction charge after refusing to change his NRA shirt at school. On Monday morning, June 24, Jared's case took yet another turn. Nearly two weeks before Jared, the 14-year-old at the center of the "T-Shirt Control Controversy", was scheduled to be back in court, he found himself inside of the Logan...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) blasted President Obama's proposals to address climate change, saying new regulations on power plants would unfairly burden the coal industry. “The regulations the President wants to force on coal are not feasible. And if it’s not feasible, it’s not reasonable,” Manchin said in a statement. “It’s clear now that the President has declared a war on coal,” he added. “It’s simply unacceptable that one of the key elements of his climate change proposal places regulations on coal that are completely impossible to meet with existing technology." The Democratic senator’s comments highlight the tough — and bipartisan...

So much for the denials. An administration that throughout its 2012 election campaign denied it was waging a War on Coal has now come out and publicly declared its intention to shut down coal-fired power plants – putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and sending electricity prices skyrocketing. This is not what the American people voted for. Responding to a White House petition to end the War on Coal, the administration said: “The President has made clear that he understands that coal has played a critical role in our country’s energy portfolio for decades and will continue...

Analysts looking through the new border security deal in the Senate say it includes waivers that would let Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refuse to build any new fencing or install the new technology the plan lays out in close detail. The senators who struck the deal late this week said they were trying to take the decision-making away from the Obama administration and ensure that new fencing and technology would be deployed, but the latest version gives Ms. Napolitano or her successors the ability to waive or ignore those requirements. ... A number of Republicans said they didn’t trust...

To say that Mika Brzezinski was "moved" by Joe Manchin's ad, responding to one by the NRA criticizing the Dem senator from West Virginia for supporting new gun-control measures, is a decided understatement. Have a look at the ad, which Manchin debuted on Morning Joe today, then have a go at describing Mika's emotional reaction. View the video here.

A Fayette County man held two burglary suspects at gunpoint until authorities arrived on scene to make an arrest. Michael Ray Clark, Jr., 22, was arrested on a entering without breaking charge. He was released from jail on $7,500, according to the Fayette County Sheriff's Office. An unidentified minor, who was released to her parents, could face charges later. Deputies told WOAY the pair tried to steal copper from the trailer, which was unoccupied, unlocked and undergoing renovations. The home sits on Foster Hill Road in Lookout.

The West Virginia eighth-grader who was suspended and arrested in late April after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association appeared in court this week and was formally charged with obstructing an officer. As CBS affiliate WTRF reports, 14-year-old Jared Marcum now faces a $500 fine and a maximum of one year in prison. The boy’s father, Allen Lardieri, is not pleased. “Me, I’m more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we’re going to get through this,” Lardieri told WTRF. “I don’t think it should have ever gotten this far.” “Every aspect of...

Suspended and arrested after refusing to change his NRA shirt. Today, 14-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was officially charged with obstructing an officer. A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that's the penalty that Jared could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move forward with it's obstructing an officer charge against him.