Free Republic

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In a sign that job losses are felt in every corner of the nation, unemployment rates rose in 98% of metropolitan areas across the country in December, according to a recent government report. ... Morgantown, W.Va., had a rate of just 2.7%, the lowest in the country. Morgantown houses West Virginia University, which is the town's largest employer. The University has a large hospital and pharmaceutical manufacturing component - areas of the economy that are actually adding jobs. Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a population of at least 1 million, Detroit had the largest unemployment...

Just heard from a Michigan official that Rich Rodriguez' attorney will be issuing a statement later this afternoon responding to today's report out of West Virginia that former Mountaineers football coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff may have shred player personnel files and other documents prior to coming to the University of Michigan. The Charleston Gazette story cites unnamed sources claiming that: According to the source, the files in Rodriguez's office that are now missing included everything from records regarding summer camps -- financial and otherwise -- to data on boosters, recruiting and most everything related to activities within the...

FAIRFAX, VA -- After an outpouring of support from the National Rifle Association (NRA), the state Legislature, shooting sports enthusiasts, alumni and the community, West Virginia University (WVU) officials have agreed to reinstate the school rifle program. Just days ago, the West Virginia Legislature approved $100,000 to help revive the team, which had been disbanded by the University last year. "WVU`s outstanding rifle team has long been representative of America`s strong and proud history of participation in the shooting sports," said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. "Clearly the Legislature understands the importance of the WVU rifle team to the...

<p>SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- We all know that Robert Fulton invented the steamboat, firebrand abolitionist John Brown's body lies "amould'ring in the grave" and scissors-toting spirits can't go around snipping holes in bed covers. Don't we?</p> <p>Maybe, but logic and lessons learned in history class sometimes take a back seat to local lore in West Virginia's eastern panhandle. Otherwise, how to explain the impressive monument in Shepherdstown honoring James Rumsey, inventor of the steamboat, and reports of John Brown walking his dog in Harpers Ferry? And why are crescent moon and scissors emblems displayed on houses in Middleway, once called Wizard Clip?</p>

The Second Amendment Foundation has hired an airplane to fly a pro-gun banner over the crowd at Saturday's football game between the University of Wisconsin Badgers and the West Virginia Mountaineers. "Guns save lives," the banner will read. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) says by hiring an airplane to tow the banner over the crowd in Wisconsin, it is using the First Amendment (free speech) to defend the Second Amendment (gun rights). The SAF is upset about a "public relations blunder" by the University of Wisconsin, which tried to ban the black powder rifle carried by the Mountaineers' "mountain-man" mascot....