Free Republic

CHARLESTON — A bill that creates a process for workers in West Virginia to seek exemptions to COVID-19 workplace vaccination requirements passed the state Senate on Tuesday after more than two hours of debate and bipartisan objections. House Bill 335, relating to COVID-19 immunizations requirements for employment in the public and private sectors, passed the state Senate 17-16 Tuesday afternoon with only state Sen. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, absent. However, the bill failed to get the two-thirds vote needed to make it effective from passage, meaning the bill could take 90 days from passage by the Legislature before it can become...

BRADENTON — GOP candidate for governor Adam Putnam portrayed his primary opponent as President Donald Trump’s puppet during a campaign stop in Bradenton on Tuesday, saying Ron DeSantis doesn’t have his own plan to lead the state. “You can’t afford to have a governor who calls the White House every morning and says ‘What are we going to do today, boss?’” Putnam said during a breakfast event at Theresa’s Restaurant. “No, if you want to help our president make America great, the third-largest state has to be hitting on all cylinders.” “I know Florida best,” Putnam added. “I have a...

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – With just over a month to go until Florida Republicans vote to select their nominee for the governor’s race, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is pulling ahead of Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, according to recent polling data. Past polling showed DeSantis trailing Putnam by a wide margin. One poll from June 21, conducted by Fox News, had DeSantis down by 15 points. This month’s polling, however, shows the trend is decidedly in DeSantis’ favor. A survey from Remington Research conducted July 2-5 has DeSantis up 17 points. Another survey conducted by pollster Tony Fabrizio has DeSantis up...

The latest independent polls done last month in the Republican race for Florida governor had Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam with a comfortable lead over U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis. But now, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Times, there’s a growing feeling that DeSantis is gaining fast on Putnam. If so, the move would be reminiscent of Rick Scott’s overtaking of Bill McCollum in 2010. Like Putnam this year, McCollum was the establishment GOP candidate, only to have Scott soar past him for the nomination. This year, though, the biggest factor in the DeSantis surge seems to be the...

Team Putnam‏ @TeamPutnam 👀SPOTTED on I-95 south of Ponte Vedra. @adamputnam grassroots support is everywhere!

Although Adam Putnam and Ron DeSantis closely adhere to a conservative agenda, their campaign tactics radically diverge in the quest to become the Republican nominee for governor. Those differences were on display at the two-day Republican Party of Florida “Sunshine Summit” that ended Friday. Putnam, a two-term state agriculture commissioner hoping to succeed outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, used the forum to emphasize his “Florida First agenda” to the more than 1,000 Republican activists and leaders from the across the state who attended. His appearance dovetailed with a primary campaign that has taken him all over the state, including hosting numerous...

For more than 100 years, an order of Capuchin Franciscan priests has prayed and preached in the Kanawha Valley, celebrating baptisms and marriages, comforting the bereaved, ministering to the needs of generation after generation of Catholics, always based in a small church on the West Side of Charleston. As of today, the Capuchin presence on the West Side, in Charleston, in the Kanawha Valley and in the state of West Virginia, is no more. The order’s provincial minister, based in Pittsburgh, made the decision to reassign the two remaining Capuchin priests in the state after concluding the community here could...

After more than a century of ministry and service to West Virginia, the Capuchin friars are leaving the Mountain State this month. Vows as Capuchin friars require they live together in community as brothers, sharing a prayer life and meals. A minimum of three brothers is necessary to fulfill this supportive environment. The area has two Capuchin friars serving five Catholic parishes in Kanawha and Putnam counties. The Rev. James Kurtz serves St. Anthony on Charleston’s West Side and Our Lady of the Hills in Elkview. The Rev. Joseph Tuscan serves Holy Trinity in Nitro, Christ the King in Dunbar...

Well, on Monday, via BuzzFeed, Robert Putnam said this: I’m a progressive and I think the evidence is that first of all, there has been a collapse in the working family class family, black and white, and that’s bad for kids ... But there is a presidential candidate, who yesterday quoted me as saying therefore—he’s quoted me as saying all black men are sexual predators. I’m not going to say who it is but what I’m trying to say is, he’s a conservative...

WINFIELD, WV - Students at Winfield High School in Winfield, WV have started a petition asking the Putnam County Board of Education to reconsider their decision to remove a popular graduation day tradition. Coach Leon McCoy is well known in Winfield, WV. He has made it a tradition to speak at Winfield High School's graduation. But after complaints from some parents about the religious theme in his presentation the speech has been called off. Students are fighting back. "I think it is very disappointing and unfortunate that Coach McCoy can't speak," said senior Hannah Clark. She said when she was...

The following story about Arthur "Jibby" Jibilian, OSS Radioman of the Halyard Mission Rescue Operation, was published in the November/December 2009 issue of BEACON, "A Joint Publication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio and the Ohio Masonic Home." Congratulations on winning the "Rufus Putnam Award" Arthur - yet another in a long list of well deserved recognitions of your contributions! A. Rebic ***** "Arthur Jibilian was presented the Rufus Putnam Distinguished Service Award at the Grand Lodge Annual Communication in October [2009]. The award is the highest honor presented annually by the Grand Lodge of Ohio. Brother Jibilian, a member...

Putnam money-market fund suddenly closes after institutional investors pull cash Putnam Investments on Thursday suddenly closed a $12 billion money-market fund and announced plans to return investors' money after institutional clients pulled out cash despite the fund's lack of exposure to troubled financial firms such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The move, believed to be unprecedented in the nearly $3.4 trillion money-market fund industry, came a day after asset managers sought to reassure investors in the wake of a massive pullout from large retail fund Reserve Primary Fund. The run on that fund caused its assets to plunge in value...

George Putnam, the pioneer television news anchorman and conservative commentator whose distinctive stentorian voice was a mainstay of Southern California broadcasting for decades, has died. He was 94. Putnam, who had been suffering from a kidney ailment since December, died early Friday morning at Chino Valley Medical Center, said Chuck Wilder, Putnam's cohost, producer and announcer. Beginning at KTTV Channel 11 in the early 1950s..

Doug McIntyre just reported that George Putnam passed away at 94. He was one of the pioneers of talk radio. I'm sure Doug From Upland (DFU) can give a lot more of the particulars, but here's some: A lifelong Democrat, but the the Ronald Reagan variety -- the party left him. Loved Ronnie, couldn't stand the Democratic party of the last few decades. At one point he was the highest paid anchor in the country. He told a funny story about Cronkite wanting to talk with about how he negotiated such an attractive package. Started doing a "talk-back" segment with...

RADIO LEGEND GEORGE PUTNAM STILL ON AIR AS HE TURNS 94...

Americans worked a median of 52 hours last year without pay. They’re called volunteers. Many organizations can’t survive without unpaid labor, and many people are glad to provide it. Sadly, though, data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate — the percentage of the population that volunteers — declined in 2007 from 2006. Volunteering also had fallen in 2006 from 2005. About 60.8 million Americans, age 16 and up, volunteered in 2007, compared with a high of 65.3 million in 2005. The proportion of that population that...

For years, the vast majority of politicians in the main parties have avoided having honest public conversation about the extent and consequences of immigration. The fear of appearing racist, or giving any ground to the arguments of the far right, has left most MPs and commentators in Pollyanna territory - extolling the economic and cultural benefits of immigration and glossing over problems. That has done the nation no favours, because the consequences of rapid social change have been scarcely studied, let alone addressed. And it has increased many people's distrust of the political universe, as the gulf between their own...

Comes now a blockbuster report by political scientist Robert Putnam, author of the runaway bestseller "Bowling Alone." Putnam provides supporting fire from Harvard Yard for those who say America needs a time-out from mass immigration, be it legal or illegal, like the immigration moratorium we had from 1924-1965. "E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the 21st Century" is the title of Putnam's five-year study, which makes hash out of the politically correct cliché, "Our diversity is our strength." After 30,000 interviews, Putnam concludes and reports, against his own progressive convictions, that ethnic and racial diversity can be devastating to...

When an academic discovers what ordinary mortals have known for eons, it's called science. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam has found that diversity is not a strength, but a weakness; the greater the diversity in a community, the greater the distrust. Professor Putnam's five-year study was reported last year by the Financial Times and is finally percolating down to others in the media and blogosphere. In diverse communities, Putnam observed, people "hunker down": They withdraw, have fewer "friends and confidants," distrust their neighbors regardless of the color of their skin, expect the worst from local leaders, volunteer and carpool less,...

Are you into the multicultural agenda? Is the drive to diversity a big deal with you? Perhaps not. Maybe you're one of those people who actually like to judge people based on their individual personality and integrity. A Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam, did a little study that might interest you. His topic ... immigration and ethnic diversity. The results are shocking, not at all what he expected. In fact, the study results that this liberal, academia bed-wetter wanted to wait until after the immigration debate to publish it. Why? Because it is damaging to the pro-illegal immigration debate. Not...