Who Fired Larry Harrison and Why?

  The announcement last Thursday from the WVU Athletic Department that it was “parting ways” with long-time basketball associate head coach Larry Harrison was a shocker. Harrison and head coach Bob Huggins had been together since the Cincinnati days, 24 seasons in all. Harrison had become integral to the Huggins’ staff. He made key decisions

Justice “Probably” Running for Senate

Governor Jim Justice made a not-so-subtle reference to his political future during his state-of-the-state address Wednesday night, as he contemplates his last two years in office. (He is prohibited by law from running for a third consecutive term.) In front of a joint meeting of the Legislature, and broadcast on TV and radio to a

Money, Money, Money!

West Virginia is flush with cash. Follow me on these numbers. State government ended the 2022 fiscal year with a surplus of $526 million dollars.    So far in fiscal year 2023 the state has collected $850 million more in taxes than estimates. That number is projected to reach $1.7 billion by the June 30th end

The Super-Duper Majorities in the WV Legislature

The 2023 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature begins today with the Republicans in absolute control of the agenda. The 2022 election and party switches have given the GOP all but three of the 34 seats in the Senate. In the House of Delegates, Republicans hold 88 of the 100 seats. Those aren’t just

Why We Can’t Fix the Border

President Biden finally visited the U.S.-Mexico border to see for himself the extent of the problem. Reports suggest his tour was somewhat sanitized. The union representing the Border Patrol tweeted just before the visit that “El Paso is being cleared up as if nothing unusual ever happened there.” That means the people in charge of

And So It Begins

The regular 60-day session of the Legislature begins Wednesday and I’m looking forward to it.  That is because I am a fan. There, I said it, and that is probably not a popular sentiment. Politicians and the political process are easy targets for ridicule. Some of that derision is well deserved.  As Mark Twain said,

PEIA Bombshell

The start of the 2023 legislative session is just five days away, and issues surrounding the state’s health insurance program have now been pushed to the forefront by a stunning announcement. Wheeling Hospital, which is part of the WVU Medicine Health System, said Thursday that, as of July 1st, it will not longer accept PEIA patients.

A Bipartisan Bridge

During a town hall meeting in Cincinnati in July 2021, President Biden promised to “fix that damn bridge.” He was talking about the antiquated Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River that connects Ohio with Kentucky via Interstates 71 and 75. Seventeen months later, Congress passed the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It included

A Slowdown on the Hillbilly Highway

Recently released U.S. Census data contain both good and bad news for West Virginia. First the bad news. The state’s overall population dropped again. The number of state residents was 1,775,156 as of July 2022. That is a decline of 18,599 from April 2020, and a continuation of the population decrease that started at the

I’m Still Here

I almost retired. In fact, this time last year I was 90 percent certain 2022 would be my last year as host of Talkline and a full-time employee of MetroNews. I’m of retirement age (I’ll be 68 next month) and I was weary.  This job has long hours and weekend work, but it is not

Holiday Hiatus

My commentary is on Holiday Hiatus.  It will return Tuesday, January 3. Hop

The Christmas When the Fighting Stopped

Has there ever been a Christmas when there was no war, no fighting in any corner of our planet?   It’s difficult to imagine since the world’s history has been a series of conquests and defenses. But there was once a Christmas when the fighting did stop, when enemies shook hands and laughed and even

Christmas Gratitude

I know it is better to give than to receive, especially at Christmas. However, I have many more memories of gifts that I received than ones I gave. Maybe I was too materialistic as a child. When the Christmas catalogs arrived, I would spend hours leafing through the toy sections.  Some of the toys were

Stanford’s Bad Words

Words do matter, and we engage in an ongoing process of retiring certain words and adding new ones. Often words become taboo because they are offensive. That is appropriate because of our desire to be considerate of others. Good for us. But in the case of Stanford University, that effort turned into a woke brainstorming

Educators Tackle Reading Deficiencies

The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress standardized test scores released in October were a shock to the system in West Virginia. The test, administered to fourth and eight graders nationwide, determined that West Virginia students ranked well below the national average and behind only New Mexico. Just 22 percent of West Virginia

Another Trump Con

Donald Trump has always been a huckster. Had he not been born into wealth, he would have been the overly enthusiastic salesman we see on cable TV at 2 a.m. pitching gutter sealant or knives that slice through tomatoes and metal with the same ease. His skill, which he admittedly has perfected to a near

I’m Off

I’m off this week. Dave Wilson will be filling in. Best, Hop

Respect For Marriage Act Protects Same-Sex Couples

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision in Obergefell v Hodges ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The landmark decision finally awarded same-sex couples the same benefits of marriage as heterosexual couples. Since then, an estimated 1.1 million gay and lesbian couples have married, and approval of those

Report on Whitey Bulger’s Murder Leaves Unanswered Questions

On the morning of October 30, 2018, the notorious Boston mobster and FBI informant Whitey Bulger was found beaten to death in his cell at the federal prison in Hazelton, West Virginia. Bulger, 89 years old, ailing and in a wheelchair, had been at the prison just twelve hours. But he never should have been

Remember Pearl Harbor… and Lt. Jim Downing

Four years ago, Ray Chavez, the oldest U.S. military survivor of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, passed away at age 106.  His death reminded me of Jim Downing, who at 104 was the second oldest Pearl Harbor survivor. I interviewed the retired Navy Lt. when he came to Morgantown in November, 2017