--Democrats who will be at the annual party fundraiser Saturday night in Charleston—the Jefferson/Jackson Dinner-- are in for a treat.  The featured speaker is Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.  He’s funny, bright and opinionated.  His politics are also more in line with moderate Democratic West Virginians. When I asked Schweitzer this week if his views as a Democrat were the views of Washington Democrats, he responded, “Hell no!”

--University of Charleston President Ed Welch tells me the estate of Edgar Loring was actually closer to $2 million.   Loring was thought to be a pauper, but he had apparently squirreled away every penny he had ever made as a dental equipment salesman.  In fact, Welch says, the estate had to reimburse Medicaid several hundred thousand dollars because Medicaid paid for Loring’s stay in a nursing home until he died.  Loring left $1 million to his alma mater—U.C, a considerable chuck to an unidentified individual and then the estate paid off the Medicaid debt.

--New federal court judge Irene Berger says her first career choice was not law.  She told me in a conversation this week that at first she wanted to be a school teacher, but eventually migrated to law.  Berger’s confirmation this week made her the first black federal judge in the state’s history.

--Gov. Manchin now insists he never had a so-called “fax tax” in mind for state employees.  The story surfaced during a meeting of the Public Employee Insurance Agency Finance Board last week.  The concept caused such uproar among public employees that now everyone is running from it and claiming it was all a misunderstanding. 

--Meanwhile, Manchin sounds serious about getting a handle on the state’s motor pool.    He promised on Talkline this week to evaluate the use of state vehicles and whether government has too many state cars on the road just for commuting purposes. 

--WVU is not the only school where there is a T-shirt controversy.  At Penn State, there are complaints about a shirt with a cross-like design.  Some say the shirt with a vertical blue stripe down the center with the words “Penn State White Out” across the chest looks like a religious cross. 

--I’ve planted the seed with UConn head coach Randy Edsall and their sports information department that the Huskies could show their appreciation to WVU for how it handled Jasper Howard’s murder by giving the Mountaineers a standing ovation when they run on the field at Rentschler Field next year.  Meanwhile, Cassie Werner, the president of the WVU student fan group the Mountaineer Maniacs, says she would like to find a way to continue the “kindler, gentler” atmosphere at WVU games toward opponents.

--Speaking of the Mountaineers, high temperature today in Tampa is expected to be 88, cooling down just into the 70’s for the game tonight.    The game tonight will be in Raymond James Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Since 1980, WVU has played in pro stadiums 41 times with a record of   23 and 17.   WVU is one and one at Raymond James.