–At first, the news release from the Big East about the settlement of lawsuits with WVU got me hot under the collar. The first sentence read, "The Big East Conference Board of Directors has voted to terminate West Virginia University’s membership in the Conference, effective June 30, 2012." That sounded like, "You can’t quit because we’re firing you." However, I’m told now that the wording was nothing personal, but rather a way for the Big East to say that its contracts with conference members are valid so no other members should get any big ideas about breaking their agreements.
–Nobody associated with the settlement will go on the record with specifics about the money, but here’s one number worth noting: $9 million. That’s about how much WVU is scheduled to be paid this year by the Big East, but won’t because of the settlement. Instead, that amount will be counted against the $20 million that WVU owes in damages. WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck did concede on Metronews Talkline Wednesday that the Athletic Department budget is going to be squeezed for the next few years, but he believes they’ll be much better in the long run because of larger payouts from the Big 12.
–I’m told that the timing of the release of the Big 12 schedule, just one hour after the settlement was announced, was purely coincidental. But from a PR standpoint, it worked out well for the University. Chatter about the settlement and the $20 million payment to the Big East was drowned out by discussion about WVU’s Big 12 opponents this season.
–Speaking of opponents, WVU Alumni Association Director Steve Douglas is already predicting that whatever ticket allotment WVU gets for the game at Texas will be quickly sold. Douglas says the Alumni Association is looking into chartering a fan plane to Austin. Douglas adds that the Alumni Association will continue to have a presence at every away football game even though many of the Big 12 opponents are in states where there are very few WVU alums. For example, WVU has no alumni chapters in Kansas or Oklahoma, but it does have three in Texas: Dallas, Austin and Houston.
–The University of Kansas has welcomed West Virginia to the Big 12 on its website. The Jayhawks Athletic Department website http://www.kuathletics.com/genrel/021512aab.html posted an interview with Metronews Sports Director and MSN play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi about the Mountaineers.
–On the legislative front, all parties involved in negotiations over a comprehensive coal mine safety bill are getting very close to agreement. The final hurdle was a push by the United Mine Workers Union to allow a union member to represent the family of a mining accident victim during the investigation even if the accident happened at a non-union mine. The coal industry wants to exclude union representation if the mine is non-union.
–Lawmakers are considering what you might call the "Jersey Shore" bill or the "Snooki" bill. The legislation, as it is written now, would prevent West Virginians under 18 from going to an indoor tanning salon to get the Snooki look. Initially, the bill called for just parental permission for minors, but was toughed up in the Senate Judiciary Committee after testimony from a skin cancer survivor.
–The House Health and Human Resources Committee is holding a hearing this afternoon at the Capitol on legislation to address the state’s drug problems. Lawmakers are increasingly concerned about the financial and human cost of drug abuse. According to HHR officials, West Virginia has the highest rate of drug deaths per capita and the vast majority of those are prescription drugs. HHR also says the number of accidental overdoses in the state has increased from 91 in 2001 to almost 400 in 2008.
–Last week, I wrote a commentary saying that West Virginia is going to see a dramatic increase in Medicaid costs in the coming years, due in part to the national health care plan that will put thousands more West Virginians into the government health care system for the poor. Kanawha County Senator Dan Foster took issue with that argument. He handed me a study by the Urban Institute that concludes that states will actually save money in their Medicaid programs because of Obama Care.