Free Republic

On Monday, the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the siting certificate for Moundsville Power LLC to construct a 549-MW combined cycle natural gas power plant in Marshall County. It will be the first to also burn ethane. The company is also touting the project’s role in helping to offset the effect of area coal plant closings. With the PSC approval in hand, Moundsville Power’s next step is financing. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2015, and the plant is expected to be operational in early 2018. The Moundsville Power facility will be a wholesale generator for the...

3:00 p.m., UPDATE: Water intakes in Montgomery and Cedar Grove have been closed because of the train accident along the Kanawha River. That is according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health. It is confirmed that the train was carrying crude oil, some of which spilled into the Kanawha River. While the intakes are closed, customers are urged to conserve water. The Montgomery Water System is part of West Virginia American Water Co. The West Virginia State Police expanded the evacuation order for the area at around 3:15 p.m. to include anyone with...

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,...

A West Virginia Republican delegate previously scrutinized for his comments on a child that could come from rape has been called on to resign. The West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women created a petition on change.org calling on the lawmakers resignation. The petition explains that Delegate Brian Kurcaba, R-Monongalia, does “not represent West Virginia women and does not understand the mental anguish a woman goes through when sexually assaulted.” Kurcaba made the comments during a hearing in the House of Delegates Feb. 5 on a bill that would attempt to ban a woman from having an abortion performed after 20...

Abortion activists and the liberal media have ganged up on yet another pro-life legislator for saying babies conceived in rape are human beings worthy of respect and who should not be aborted. The dustup comes in the state of West Virginia, where state Delegate Brian Kurcaba took the side of unborn children, even int he tragic and heartbreaking circumstances of rape: A US lawmaker reportedly stunned crowds by saying a child born as a result of a rape being committed was ‘beautiful’. Delegate Brian Kurcaba made the alleged controversial remarks while discussing a law to prevent abortions in the state...

(Reuters) - West Virginia police said on Monday they have charged teenager with murder in connection with the beating death of an elderly pastor at his home on the weekend. Ronald Browning, 68, of Beckley, about 55 miles (89 km) south of the capital Charleston, died from blunt force trauma to his head and neck, police said. He was a pastor at Cool Ridge Community Church. Camille Brown, a 19-year-old student at West Virginia University, is being held and charged with murder and breaking and entering after she confessed to killing Browning, police said.

State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government. The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say. “You have a choice,” said Kentucky state Rep. Diane St. Onge (R). “To sit back and not do anything or say anything and let overregulation continue — or you have the alternative choice to speak up about it and say, ‘We know what...

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...