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he West Virginia House of Delegates began moving a bill Thursday to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill is very similar to one that was passed last year, only to be vetoed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. The bill is one of 11 introduced so far this legislative session that seek to restrict women’s access to abortion. A similar bill passed both houses of the Legislature last year with overwhelming bipartisan support but was vetoed by Tomblin, who said he had been advised that it was unconstitutional. The House Health Committee held a public hearing on the...

Menendez: Obama Admin Statements on Iran 'Sound like Talking Points Straight out of Tehran'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A heated exchanged between President Barack Obama and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) broke out Thursday over whether the U.S. should reimpose sanctions on Iran amid ongoing negotiations over the country's nuclear program, according to two senators who were in the room. Menendez, the leading Democrat pushing for additional sanctions against Iran, forcefully pressed Obama on the need for additional sanctions during a meeting in which Obama urged Menendez and other senators to drop their efforts to pass sanctions legislation. Additional sanctions, Obama argued, could torpedo ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. The unusually sharp exchange, between...

Everyone involved seems to be trying to put the best face on it, but Barack Obama went so far as to suggest senior Democrats like Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who take a hard line on Iran, are doing so purely to appease their donors. Obama said that as a former senator himself, he understood how outside forces — like special interests and donors — can influence senators to act, one of the senators recounted.

U.N. gives mixed signals on Tehran cooperation as nuclear talks intensifySenate Democrats on Tuesday backed away from a bipartisan push for immediate new sanctions on Iran, bowing to President Obama’s call not to undercut international talks to get Tehran to curb its nuclear programs in the coming weeks. The shift, announced Tuesday by Sen. Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat and one of the party’s outspoken hawks on Iran, came amid a series of mixed signals from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency over the question of whether Tehran was honoring promises to put its suspect nuclear programs on hold as...

Ten Senate Democrats warned the White House in a letter Tuesday that they will support legislation imposing new sanctions on Iran if a framework to roll back the country’s nuclear program isn’t reached within two months. "In acknowledgement of your concern regarding congressional action on legislation at this moment, we will not vote for this legislation on the Senate floor before March 24," said the letter, led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is the co-author of Iran sanctions legislation. "After March 24, we will only vote for this legislation on the Senate floor if Iran fails to reach agreement...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the Lone Star state's challenge of President Obama's executive amnesty, bringing the total number of states fighting Obama's unilateral immigration policies to 26. “Texas is proud to lead a coalition that now includes a majority of the United States standing up against the President’s rogue actions,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “The momentum against the President's lawlessness continues to build with Tennessee and Nevada joining the effort to protect our states from the economic and public safety implications of illegal amnesty. As President...

Unless there is any doubt, the vast majority of Democrats value partisan support for a failed president over support for our own national security and for that of Israel. Hence, they want to delay once again a vote on the Menendez-Kirk bill imposing sanctions on Iran unless it agrees to an acceptable final deal. The bill was introduced more than a year ago. The timing just isn’t right, you see. Will it ever be? A letter by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) signed onto by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.),...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Demonstrations are planned outside the West Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday in opposition to a House bill that prohibits abortions after 20 weeks. West Virginia Freedom for Reproduction Education and Equality (WV Free) and the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia are conducting the rally that begins at noon, according to an advisory from the organizers. The groups said they are protesting House Bill 2153. Organizers of the event said the 20-week abortion ban is a ” more extreme version of a similar bill passed last year by both chambers that was vetoed by Governor...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Democrat has refiled a proposal banning abortions after 20 weeks gestation in West Virginia, despite its veto last year. On Tuesday, Fayette County Del. David Perry reintroduced the bill that Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed. It bans abortions after 20 weeks, except for when expectant mothers have certain serious medical emergencies. Leading up to last year's election, the Democratic-run House and Senate passed the proposal overwhelmingly.

A man was found incompetent to stand trial Thursday in the fatal shooting of a West Virginia sheriff who later was implicated by federal prosecutors in a separate corruption scandal. Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Farrell ordered Tennis Melvin Maynard of Delbarton committed to a state mental health facility for life. Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum was killed in April 2013 in downtown Williamson. […] Maynard and Crum had known each other for years, with Crum previously serving as a boxing club mentor to Maynard when he was a teenager and when Crum was police chief in the town of...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appears poised for a presidential run and is currently leading the polls among potential Republican candidates for 2016, but the comments he made in 1994 during his first run for Florida’s highest office may come back to haunt him.The Associated Press reports that Bush described himself then as a “head-banging conservative” and used fiery rhetoric — such as claiming he would do “probably nothing” for African-Americans if he became governor — in his ultimately unsuccessful bid. Bush made that statement in response to a question on what he would for African-Americans if elected to office.“It’s time...

West Virginia's longest-serving governor, Arch A. Moore Jr. died Jan. 7 in Charleston at age 91 just one day after his daughter, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was sworn into office. The man with a reputation throughout the Mountain State for always recalling names, occupations and family details with incredible accuracy died after battling heart trouble and dementia. Moore, a Marshall County native, launched his life in politics at age 28 by winning his uncle's former seat in the House of Delegates. He was married to the late Shelley Riley Moore for 65 years. She died in September 2014...

At the request of state school board member Wade Linger, who said he doesn’t believe human-influenced climate change is a “foregone conclusion,” the teaching requirements concerning climate change were altered before the board adopted them last month. The teaching requirements are part of a raft of new standards based on the national Next Generation Science Standards blueprint.The changes, for example, added “and fall” after “rise” to a proposed standard requiring that sixth-graders “ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.”

Sen. Jay Rockefeller and West Virginia were an odd mix at first—a Harvard-educated native New Yorker from one of the nation’s richest families arriving in one of the poorest states. Through a half century of public service, he made it work. And as he heads into retirement as the last member of the Rockefeller family dynasty in political office—and the only Democrat—the five-term U.S. senator leaves a blueprint for fighting to fix real-life problems for burdened families and to protect the nation’s coal miners. […] Rockefeller was the state’s junior senator for 25 years, yet carved his own path of...

Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd.Senator Byrd was a man of surpassing eloquence and nobility. And I will remember him for many things, but most of all for a heartfelt comment he made to me in the dark days following the attack on our country on 9/11. My state of New York was reeling and we were scrambling to provide support and relief. “Think of me as the third senator from New York,” he said. And he meant it. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Byrd, who chaired the Appropriations...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Two West Virginia officers were shot and wounded Thursday in a traffic stop on Interstate 64 that led to the discovery of two bodies. According to State Police Lt. Michael Baylous, two police officers from the town of Lewisburg pulled over a white Chevrolet SUV with North Carolina plates after learning it had been reported stolen. As the officers were conducting the traffic stop, a red Chevrolet truck pulled alongside them and the driver "pulled a handgun and shot at both officers," Baylous said. The drivers of both Chevrolets then fled: the red truck "went over the hillside and was...

Nelson Richard Hall WILLIAMSON - With blue lights and sirens blaring the driver of a PT Cruiser with Florida tags drove a half of a mile before pulling over for City police. Williamson Police Officer J. D. Tincher was attempting to stop the vehicle for crossing the center line and having a brake light out. Upon approaching the vehicle and making contact with the driver the officer observed him to have slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle. The driver was later identified as Nelson Richard Hall, 24 of Lenore. Hall immediately began refusing commands...

Southwestern Energy Co. said Tuesday it is planning to snap up Statoil’s 20-percent stake in oil and gas assets in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania for $394 million, just a day after closing its biggest-ever deal with Chesapeake Energy in the region. The transaction, which encompasses 30,000 net acres, boosts Southwestern Energy’s working interests in that area of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays by 5.8 percent to 73 percent. The wells on the land produce about 29 million cubic feet of gas a day, as of October. The deal is expected to close early next year. It’s the Houston...

Barack and Michelle Obama, speaking to People Magazine, of all disappointments, shared the disheartening news that they have experienced what they called racism. Barack, for example, apparently has had trouble, before he was president, hailing a cab in Chicago, to which an immediate thought might occur to anyone who has been to Chicago: Who hasn't? Also, Barack, at a black-tie event, when he, too, was in festive livery, apparently was asked by another guest if he would get them a cup of coffee. For her recollection, Michelle came up with a visit to a Target store as first lady. She...