Free Republic

Two of the country’s most powerful and politically influential labor unions are backing President Obama in the recent court challenge to his 2014 executive action on illegal immigration, saying they support the president’s effort because "undocumented workers" need more workplace protection and their participation helps the U.S. economy. The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association on Monday each filed so-called amicus briefs in a federal appeals court case in which Texas and 26 other states are challenges the president’s 2014 memorandum on illegal immigration. The memorandum essentially expands work authorization and delayed-deportation programs for illegal immigrants. And it provides similar...

Two months after withdrawing its controversial science education standards with modifications that would have asked students to question the scientific community’s assertion that global warming is caused by human greenhouse emissions, the West Virginia Board of Education voted Thursday to amend the standards once again to allow classroom debate on climate change.

One of the country's largest coal utilities will begin closing power plants next month in four states, as strict federal environmental regulations begin to kick in. The company, American Electric Power, made the announcement in a notice advising employees at the electricity stations that it plans to close six power plants in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana, according to news reports. The company said it plans to shutter as much as 6,000 megawatts of power plant capacity in seven states by the start of 2016. The closures were planned as far back as 2011 to comply with new pollution...

Rod Hundley, basketball’s irrepressible Hot Rod, who parlayed showmanship on the court with flair at the microphone to become a fan favorite for more than half a century, died on Friday at his home near Phoenix. He was 80. Hundley was an electrifying presence at West Virginia University, played for the Lakers and stamped his persona on broadcasting, mostly for the New Orleans Jazz. “Nobody did the things I did on the court and nobody has done them since,” Hundley said of his collegiate exploits in “Hot Rod Hundley: You Gotta Love It Baby!” (2012), written with Tom McEachin. “I’d...

You have to give West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin credit for Machiavellian use of power.  He cleverly waited until the legislature adjourned, sin die, before vetoing the popular constitutional carry bill.  The bill SB 347, would have removed some of the restrictions on carrying concealed weapons by those who can legally own them.  It passed with overwhelming margins and bipartisan support in both the Senate (32-2) and the House (71-29).  For a non budget bill, such as SB 347, simple majorities would have been enough to override a veto. Which is why the Governor waited until the legislature...

On March 20 West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) vetoed SB 347–the bill to repeal the concealed carry permit requirement in that state. Breitbart News previously reported that pro-gun West Virginia Senators passed the measure on February 27–against the wishes of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America–arguing that the 2nd Amendment was a sufficient concealed carry license.  On March 12 the Saturday Gazette-Mail reported that West Virginia House followed suit, passing the repeal of the concealed carry permit requirement by a vote of 71-29.

The West Virginia Constitutional Carry bill,  SB 347 has now passed the House.  The vote was 71 to 29.  This is a very comfortable, veto proof margin.  The bill was amended in the House to raise the age for concealed, permit-less carry from 18 to 21, on the 11th of March.  On the third read today, the 12th of March, it passed with 71 to 29.  The vote was both bi-partisan and sufficient to override a veto.  51 Republicans and 20 Democrats voted for the bill.   13 Republicans and 16 Democrats voted against it. One of the Republicans  who...

West Virginia police say a 62-year-old man has died after being mauled to death by a pit bull that attacked him as he tried to revive the dog’s unconscious owner following a heart attack. ... police believe Wallace suffered a heart attack. Higgenbotham was attacked as he tried to resuscitate Wallace. ... the pit bull was not registered with the city, despite an ordinance that requires all pit bulls in the city be registered.

Forty-seven Senate Republicans are signaling in an open letter to Iran and the White House that a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program will be at risk once President Obama leaves office. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously...

[JURIST] The West Virginia Legislature [official website] on Friday overrode the governor's veto, passing a bill [text, HB 2586] banning abortion after 20 weeks. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin [official website] said he vetoed the law because of concerns over its constitutionality and would have preferred a later gestational period for banning abortion. The bill excludes [AP report] certain cases of medical emergencies and is set to take effect in May. West Virginia is now the 11th state to ban abortion after 20 weeks. The legislation is based on the premise that fetuses can feel pain starting around 20 weeks, a...

Mayor Danny Jones of Charleston, WV makes lewd comments in front of children about gun rights groups on election night. video only on link

The newly elected Republican legislature in West Virginia flexed its muscles today by overriding Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin veto of an abortion law that would ban the practice after 20 weeks. In other words, late-term abortion is banned in West Virginia (via AP): The ban provides some exemptions for women in medical emergencies, but not for rape and incest. The bill is based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks, which is disputed in medical research. Opponents say it's unconstitutional and intrusive into doctor-patient relationships. Ten other states ban abortions after 20 weeks. The West Virginia...

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has been on somewhat of a skid for quite some time, from Staples’ headquarters telling group members to get off its property to Starbucks refusing to ban guns in its stores–Moms Demand Action’s claims notwithstanding–to Kroger, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) ignoring its gun control requests, as well.

The Obama administration’s Department of Justice shut down an attempt to force the Internal Revenue Service to search for Lois Lerner’s missing emails at off-site storage facilities. The IRS never looked for Lerner’s backup email tapes at the West Virginia storage facility where they were being housed. Treasury deputy inspector general Timothy Camus told Congress that the IRS never asked IT professionals at the New Martinsville, W.V. storage site for the backup tapes. Camus only found the backup tape for Lerner’s missing 2011 emails about two weeks ago. But the Obama administration knew that emails were stored at off-site facilities,...

L Constitutional carry, or permitless carry, has passed the West Virginia Senate with an astonishing 32 to 2 vote.   That means that 14 of the 16 Democrats in the Senate voted for the bill.  The two that voted against it were Sen. Ronald Miller (D) and Senator Corey Palumbo (D).   Perhaps the vote is not that astonishing. After all, this is merely the state of affairs that the country was in for most of its existence, nearly everywhere, before the Civil War, or War Between the States if you prefer.  Even after the war, most states did not criminalize...

Police say no charges will be brought against pharmacist [Video]

The Norwegian archaeologists Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad's famous identification, in 1961, of a Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, from just after A.D. 1000 is, of course, a notable exception, no longer in dispute. But that discovery has so far gone nowhere. The Norse settlers, who may have numbered as many as 160 and stayed for three years or longer, seem to have made no lasting impression on the aboriginal skraellings that, according to Norse sagas, they encountered, and to have avoided being influenced in turn. The traditions of the Micmac people, modern-day inhabitants of the area, have...

Energy: Three million gallons of Bakken crude burning in rural West Virginia after an oil train derails in a snowstorm ought to underscore the environmental safety of replacing rail cars with the Keystone XL pipeline. One of the reasons President Obama says he'll veto the Keystone pipeline bill that, as a result of last November's GOP electoral gusher, has found its way to his desk is that it will only carry Canadian crude to foreign markets and is not worth jeopardizing the environment. Two things are wrong with that argument. The first is that Keystone XL will also bring Bakken...

A pair of GOP senators implored House Republicans Thursday to soften their stance in the intra-party dispute over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who both formerly served in the lower chamber, stressed to the House GOP conference behind closed doors that the Senate can’t get the 60 votes it needs to advance the House-passed DHS funding bill that includes language to reverse President Obama's executive actions on immigration. "They lamented the frustration they're having getting up to 60 votes. But apparently that is the strategy now with the Democrat minority...

After days of debates lasting hours on the House of Delegates floor, West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill that would limit abortions in the state. On Wednesday House Bill 2368 passed by an overwhelming majority, 87-12, with both republicans and democrats voting in favor of it. The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks, granting exemptions if a mother's life was in danger or the fetus was not medically viable. Doctors who would perform an abortion after this time would be at risk of losing their medical licenses. “Truly what we are talking about is just ensuring that a child,...