Free Republic

ST. ALBANS, WV - St. Albans police officers are looking for a suspect who robbed a dry cleaner located at 716 6th Avenue in St. Albans, West Virginia. Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatchers said the robbery took place around 10 a.m. Monday, January 12. According to police officers on scene, the suspect was armed with a silver handgun when he or she walked into St. Albans Dry Cleaners.

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.”

(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...

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...

Did the Welsh discover America? 26/8/2002 A team of historians and researchers announced today that Radio Carbon dating evidence, and the discovery of ancient British style artefacts and inscriptions in the American Midwest, provide the strongest indications yet" that British explorers, under the Prince Madoc ap Meurig, arrived in the country during the 6th Century and set up colonies there. Research team members have known the location of burial sites of Madoc's close relatives in Wales for some time, it emerged today; but they have decided to break their self-imposed silence in order that their research be fully known and...

BUENOS AIRES, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro dismissed Tuesday accusations of Moscow’s alleged role in the deadly Malaysian passenger plane crash as “primitive.” “Accusing the Russian Federation of destroying the Malaysian Boeing during the flight is horrifying primitivism,” Castro wrote in an article published in Cuba’s Granma newspaper. “Neither President Vladimir Putin, nor Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov nor other Russian leaders could have ever done such a stupid thing,” Castro stressed. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board,...

WASHINGTON — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday that starting to trade with Cuba "is probably a good idea" and that the lengthy economic embargo against the communist island "just hasn't worked." Paul became the first potential Republican presidential candidate to offer some support for President Barack Obama's decision to try to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. The president's surprise announcement on Wednesday was slammed by several potential GOP candidates, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who said it amounted to appeasing the Castro regime. Paul said in a radio interview with Tom Roten of...

Sen. Rand Paul broke with the field of Republicans considering a 2016 presidential run on Thursday, calling President Barack Obama's decision to normalize relations with Cuba a "good idea" since the American embargo against Cuba "just hasn't worked." Paul, a likely presidential candidate, made the remarks in an interview with News Talk 800 WVHU's Tom Roten, just a day after his potential competitors for the Republican nomination -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz -- slammed the decision to normalize relations as a dangerous move. Rubio and Cruz are sons of Cuban immigrants. Paul...

Rand Paul Breaks With Rubio and Bush Over Cuba Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is the latest potential presidential candidate to weigh in on policy changes to Cuba and the libertarian leaning Republican's position splits from other Republicans who are also considering a presidential run. Paul told Tom Roten of News Talk 800 in West Virginia that the 50-year embargo "just hasn't worked" and normalizing relations with the island nation is "probably a good idea." "If the goal is regime change, it sure doesn't seem to be working and probably it punishes the people more than the regime because the regime...

Six moderate Democratic senators are asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give states more time to comply with its climate rule for power plants. The moderate Democrats said that states should be responsible for developing their own “glide paths” toward the 2030 goal. The senators signing the letter were Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.).

A lawsuit against a former Ohio abortionist could reveal violations of the state abortion clinic law, so he set up shop in Michigan while the suit moves forward. A West Virginia woman traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to a clinic owned by Martin Ruddock for a second trimester abortion which didn’t turn out the way she expected. Cheryl Sullenger of Operation Rescue says that the woman later filed suit for a number of reasons. “The patient had undergone part of the abortion — he had actually started it,” Sullenger explained. “She found it too painful and frightening.” The terrified woman then...

What do you have going on tomorrow?” asks Craig, who is himself a state senator and was his daughter’s campaign manager. “I might see some friends. I have to write those thank-you letters.” The letters are to her supporters, some of the 18,000 West Virginians Saira will be representing in the 59th District — a mostly rural, mostly Republican region two hours from Washington. She won the election in November by beating her opponent, a 44-year-old attorney, with 63 percent of the vote, and since then she has become the most famous state legislator in the country, as well as...

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The youngest elected state lawmaker in America has just arrived home for the weekend. “I’ll open the garage door so her laundry can roll on in here,” says Craig Blair, father of Saira Blair — 18 years, 4 months, 10 days. “She’s always got some.” He peeks out the window to the approaching headlights of his daughter’s new Jeep, which she purchased a few weeks earlier after winning her seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates, knowing the position came with a $20,000-a-year salary and would require a lot of driving. “I didn’t bring any laundry...

Among Democrats, fighting is breaking out all over. The Senate’s third-ranking Democrat, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is hurling criticisms toward the White House over Barack Obama’s handling of the recession and his myopic and politically ruinous obsession with reforming the nation’s health care system amid that economic downturn.In response, the White House took what Reuters called the “unusual step” of publicly pledging to veto an overdue plan to reform the nation’s tax code which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been in the process of negotiating with House Republicans. When Obama announced his intention to extend legal status to...

Democrats hope to take back control of the Senate in 2016, but their plans could be complicated by potential retirements. The two Democratic senators most likely to retire are Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who represent both sides of the party’s ideological spectrum. Boxer, whose fourth term expires at the end of 2016, has a paltry $149,000 in her campaign account, less than almost every other senator facing election next year. As the nation’s most populous state, California is expensive to cover with advertising. If Boxer decides to run for reelection, she would face a major fundraising...

Jeane Briggs and her husband, Paul, have five biological children and 29 adopted ones. Taking in orphans, especially those with health problems or disabilities, is ‘what my husband and I feel called to do by our faith,’ the 58-year-old told The News. And there are plans to continue to expand the family.Think the holidays are chaotic at your house? Imagine celebrating with 34 children — all of whom are your own. Jeane Briggs, 58, and her husband Paul, 59, have five biological children and 29 adopted ones. The Briggs kids are between ages 35 and 4 . While they don't...

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...