Talkline | August 11, 2025

WV Supreme Court Justice Haley Bunn discusses the role of the Family Treatment Court. Washington Times Columnist Michael McKenna weighs in on the dangers of gerrymandering. Robert Bolton, Fairmont State University, talks about Bernie Sanders' visit to WV. And more opposition to a transmission line going through WV. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We Radio turned off.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
From the studios of w v RC Media and the
Metro News Radio and Television Network, the Voice of West
Virginia comes the most powerful show in West Virginia. This
is Metro News Talk Live with Dave Wilson and TJ. Meadows.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Activated Switch Network can from Charleston.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
The morning stand by to David TJ.

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Speaker 5 (00:45):
Good morning, Welcome into the program Metro News Talk Line
from the Incuba Insurance studios. Man of the People, Zat
Carachek is running the video stream this morning. Sophia Wassak
is our audio producer. I'm in Morgantown, TJ's and Charleston.
You can be part of the show at eight hundred
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five eight two five five. You can text the show

(01:08):
three or four. Talk three or four is the text line.
We have some open line opportunities for you. We'll get
into jerry mandering once again later this morning. Also follow
up on Bernie Sanders. Visit to the Mountain States. Had
great crowds in Wheeling, Charleston, and Lenore Friday and Saturday.

(01:28):
Plus we'll take your calls, text and tweets as well.
Say good morning to TJ. Meadows from the Charleston and
COVID Insurance Studios.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Morning, sir. It helps if you turn it on. Good morning.
Back to school this morning, first day back. We managed
it so it shows lined up, the kids excited? Was
it dread?

Speaker 1 (01:48):
What was this?

Speaker 5 (01:48):
Was the feeling this morning?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
They were excited, actually all three, which kind of surprised me.
I figured at least one would be somewhat pessimistic, but
they were. Of course, my oldest always does this. He
was two hours before he had to be up. He
had already gotten dressed. He was pouring himself a bowl
of cereal. Kid does his homework in the morning if
he hasn't, I mean, you know, he's like our a one,
right and then my youngest one. Some days you have

(02:12):
to literally drag her out at the bed. But this
morning everybody was happy. Had the shoes lined up, backpacks
lined up, so ready or not, West Virginia school buses
are soon to be back on the road. Already are
in some places, and we're back to school. So summer
is over.

Speaker 5 (02:26):
Yeah, I think the Doddridge Cable, there's another one, Summer's County.
I think they go back early this week and then
it's just, you know, a domino every day. Somebody knew
we'll be going back to school. Yeah, summer's over. Hope
you enjoyed it. Actually, now let me tell you if
you are, if you don't have kids, now's the perfect
time to go on vacation.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Oh absolutely, that's what we used to do. Rates drop
like a stone. No one is around, you can enjoy yourself.
So some of the best beach trips I've ever taken
are in late September early October. Perfect yeah, yeah, perfect weather,
no one's there. Absolutely all right.

Speaker 5 (03:02):
So you know there's our day for you to start
the day. The kids are going back school. Perfect time
to go on vacation.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:10):
I digress. Later today in Wood County, the Wood County
Family Treatment Court will be hosting a ceremony honoring three
new program graduates. That'll be its circuit Judge Jason Wharton's
court room in the Wood County Judicial Building. Family Treatment
Courts is facing some financial problems. They've gotten the state
Supreme Court has been able to get a grant to

(03:31):
keep that going, but they are facing some financial issues.
What's this court all about? Joining a Serio Metro news
talk line to explain more is West Virginia State Supreme
Court Justice Haley Bunch. She joins us in the studios
with TJ and Charleston.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
Good Morning Justice, Good morning guys, Thanks for having me
on today.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
Appreciate you stopping by so kind of give the overview
of what the Family Treatment Court is all about.

Speaker 6 (03:55):
These courts are something that I have been interested in
since I was for appointed three years ago. Honestly, I
didn't know anything about them as a practitioner, but as
I was starting to get familiar with abuse and abuse
and neglect issues and how we were facing those, I
just became enamored.

Speaker 7 (04:13):
With this model.

Speaker 6 (04:14):
We've had it going since twenty nineteen and it's a
really a wrap around.

Speaker 7 (04:20):
Court that gets everybody at.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
The table, and it's intensive for the participants, the families,
and really for the judge who's work in the Family
Treatment Court. They meet in court usually weekly, very frequently.
They have a coordinator who can coordinate services, whether that
be substance abuse services, whether that be needing supplies for

(04:43):
your kids, anything like that. The departments at the table,
the guardians are at the table, and it's just a
really wonderful program to try to keep families united in
a safe way when they're facing these substance abuse issues.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
So the Supreme Court asked for money to fund these
courts from the legislature. It's my understanding that that did
not get put into the budget. Why not?

Speaker 6 (05:08):
Yeah, Well, as part of our budget request, we remarked
about one point two million to keep these courts running
for a year because our grant situation had changed, And
instead of adding that to our personnel services line item,

(05:29):
we in fact got cut about five point five million
from our overall request, and that entire cut came on
the personnel side of our budget. And that's the whole
cost really of family treatment courts is a person an
employee to keep it going and coordinated.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
I hate to boiled people down to numbers, but we'll
do that for a second. Is there a cost benefit?
Is there a savings to the state by having Is
there a dollar amount savings to the state by having
these courts?

Speaker 7 (05:58):
Thank you for asking that.

Speaker 6 (05:59):
Yeah, if you know, aside from the heartstrings part of
this of you know, these are families who get to
stay together, and it's good for the kids, and it's
it's good for the participants in the community. It also
also fiscally makes sense. So since the courts have been working,

(06:19):
the cost has been about saved about four point seven
million dollars in.

Speaker 7 (06:31):
In foster care subsidies.

Speaker 6 (06:33):
And so that is pardon me, two million, it's cost
seven million. Sorry, you know, I'm a lawyer. Math is
not my strong story strong, but no there is, and
in fact I've got my cheat sheet here. But overall,

(06:54):
just fiscally looking at it, four point seven in total
operating costs and say nearly seven million. So what that
ends up is a net of about you know, two million,
almost three million in savings straight foster care and kinship subsidies.
That's so conservative. That's not looking at the other costs.

(07:19):
There have been one hundred percent of the babies that
have been born to participants in this program have been
born drug free. Now that is amazing just on a
you know, a personal level. These babies are coming into
save family homes. But the savings there is amazing in

(07:40):
that those children would likely have been presumptive removals in
a lot of these situations if the parents were not
able to address the substance abuse.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
So clearly there's a benefit.

Speaker 7 (07:51):
Absolutely fiscally and and you know, just.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Practically, Yeah, I don't think anyone would dispute that many
state agencies have reserve funds or can move things around,
and one point two million doesn't seem like a lot
relatively speaking. Can the Court do that, use some reserves
or just move move some funds around to pay for it?

Speaker 6 (08:11):
Well, you know, there has been a lot of talk
in this budget about our reappropriated funds, and the Court
does have some reappropriated funds. A lot of our reappropriated
funds are already earmarked for some technology upgrades, and you know,
the Court tries to be very conservative imprudent on the

(08:32):
fiscal side. And the idea of taking these funds that
are finite and paying for employees in an ongoing situation
rather than having that be part of our operating budget
that the legislature approves is just you know, that's something

(08:52):
that we have to have to think about. And as
far as a percentage basis, our branch has a very
small percentage of its budget held in reappropriated funds, and
you know, of course we have to have a little
bit there to make sure that, you know, if the
bottom falls out, if something happens, if we have a

(09:14):
you know, a COVID situation, some sort of emergency, that
we have some funds available to meet the needs to
ensure that access to justice is still there no matter what.
And we're just you know, in a situation where using
reappropriated funds for that ongoing cost of an employee, you know,
employees in the Family Treatment Court is just.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
You know, not prudent.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
State Supreme Court Justice Haley bun is joining us from
the Charleston and COVID Insurance studios this morning. Later today
Inwood County, there will be a ceremony honoring three new
program graduates from the Family Treatment Court. Let's talk about
the people for just a moments. When they complete this program,
when they graduate, how does that change their lives?

Speaker 8 (09:56):
You know?

Speaker 6 (09:57):
Going to these graduations is one of my favorite things
of my job. I'm going to see Judge Wharton and
his graduates today, and I actually get to go to
Raleigh County on Wednesday and see Judge Dimlick and five
more graduates.

Speaker 7 (10:12):
You can see in the.

Speaker 6 (10:14):
Courtroom the ripple effects of these benefits. So often these
families have a baby in arms. They have a support
system that is actually built and you can see it
right there, whether it be the other participants who are
cheering them on, pure therapists, peer counselors who have been

(10:36):
through it themselves who are there supporting these folks. And
after graduation, they also have a ninety day program that's
built in to help them transition to not having so
much supervision. You can see the children on the children's faces,
on the grandparents' faces, whether you know, if it's a
kinchip placement and they've had the kids part of the time.

(10:59):
Every is there to celebrate this, and you can just
see the hard work that these folks have put in.
When I get to speak at one of these graduations,
I'm always in awe and I tell these folks you
have faced two seemingly insurmountable mountains at the same time,
losing your kids and an addiction issue, and any either

(11:24):
one of those things. You know, I know we've also
had loved ones affected by addiction. And then to think
about not having access to your kids and what that
would do to your addiction journey. If you were going
through that, I can't imagine. So I just commend these participants.
I cannot wait to congratulate them in person today and
Wednesday and see those beautiful faces, those kiddos who are

(11:49):
getting to just go into a safe home.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
So practically, what happens minus the family treatment courts? I mean,
is it it's more foster homes as it jail for
some these folks that face addictive issues. I mean, what
do we do without it?

Speaker 6 (12:02):
Well, you know, it's it's more of the typical abuse
and neglect.

Speaker 7 (12:09):
Process.

Speaker 6 (12:10):
And so when you're in just the abuse of neglect system,
if that's the track, there's typically a hearing, you know,
some some early on hearings, and then you'll have a
sixty day or a ninety day hearing. Then you know
potential improvement periods, and they're really statutorily set timeframes when
you have check ins, But there's big long periods where
you're not going to have a check in with the court.

(12:31):
You're not going to see the court face to face.
And anyone who's been involved with addiction issues knows that
a lot can go on in sixty days or ninety
days and instead, here we have every week. You are
looking at the judge. You've got the judge there, you
are looking at the treatment coordinator. You are you know,

(12:53):
talking about what's going on, how you figure out the
issues that are that are happening, and how to move
forward to.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
The accountability mechanism.

Speaker 6 (13:00):
Absolutely, and that's the case with all of our treatment courts,
both you know, Family treatment Court, Adult treatment Court, juvenileand
Veteran Treatment Court. And I do want to make the
point too, none of.

Speaker 7 (13:11):
The cost.

Speaker 6 (13:13):
Goes to the circuit judges and the family court judges
who are undertaking this. These judges are elected officials who
are making time on their docket for the good of
their community, for the good of these families.

Speaker 7 (13:29):
We don't require it.

Speaker 6 (13:31):
You know, the judges have to buy in if they
want a treatment court and if we have the money
to fund a treatment court. And oftentimes this weekly docket
will happen. I've been to several treatment court proceedings. They'll
often happen at four, five, six in the evening and
we'll go until seven or eight in the evening because

(13:52):
that's the only docket time that there is available every week,
and these judges are staying on the bench they're listening
to these folks, they're listening to the treatment coordinators and
spending a lot of extra time, not for any extra money.

Speaker 7 (14:07):
We don't give them a bonus. We can't do that.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
So it's just for the good of the community and
the good of these people.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
State Supreme Court Justice Haley Bun. The ceremony in Wood
County later this afternoon, and Justice Bun will be there.
Justice appreciate you stopping by.

Speaker 6 (14:22):
Thank you very much, Thanks so much for having me. Guys,
appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (14:25):
Coming up, we've got an updates on the Epstein files.
We'll do that right after this.

Speaker 9 (14:33):
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(14:54):
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Speaker 4 (15:00):
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Speaker 2 (15:42):
That your news talk line is presented by Encovia Insurance
and circling you with coverage to protect what you care
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Speaker 5 (15:52):
Tom of the Hour Fairmont State political science professor Robert
Bolton will join us. We'll review Bernie Sanders visit to
the Mountain State Friday and Saturday. Also, we'll get back
into the discussion about jerry mandering it. Mike McKenna, Washington
Times columnist, will get his take on why it's just

(16:13):
not a good practice in general. We'll talk to him.
Coming up in just a few minutes. Update update. We
need some theme music for this update on the Epstein files.
I don't have any.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Theme specific theme is okay? Yes, we'll get on that.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
This is from Politico. A federal judge this morning has
denied the Justice Department's effort to unseal grand jury material
and the Glen Maxwell case, calling the entire premise of
the government's move quote demonstrably false. US District Judge Paul Engelmeyer,
in a thirty one page decision, chided it the Justice

(16:54):
Department for its bid to make the material public because
he said the public would learn virtually nothing from the
documents and would quote come away feeling disappointed and misled.
The judge went on to say, quote, in so far
as the motion to unseal implies the grand jury materials
are untapped, are an untapped mind load of undisclosed information

(17:16):
about Epstein or Maxwell or confederates, they definitively are not.
Angelmeyer and Obama appointee wrote. There is no there there.
The judge said, this will do nothing to quiet the
conspiracy theorists, but there you go.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
No, it will probably propel the conspiracy theorists. Actually, here,
here's my thing. How do we find the sweet spot
between the short term cry for these documents and people
wanting to be able to understand what is there and
evaluate them, versus the long term ramifications of what this
does to our system of durance prudence. I mean, because

(17:53):
we don't want president where precedent, rather where you can
just unseal grand jury documents on a whim. I don't
think we want that. But I'm not sure how we
get past it. It just keeps coming up, keeps coming up,
and it's not going away. I think you have to
do something. And the longer you hold these things the worst.
It's like putting the egg in the corner, the dinosaur

(18:14):
egg in the corner.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
Well, the administration and those conspiracy theorists, and I use
that in a very negative connotation, they created this. This
is a griff that was created of their own making
here out on the campaign trail. And if you're not
going to trust, if you can't trust if you believed,
if you believed going into this campaign that there was

(18:39):
something there, there was a list, there was a cover up,
and you can't believe Cash Betel and Dan Bongino there
they were among the people who thought there was something.
I don't know that you're going to believe even if
all the files are released, tej. I don't know that
there is a happy medium with this case. And that's
the great part of the conspiracy theory. As I use

(19:02):
that again in the most negative sense possible. You can
always take that step back and go, well, that's not
all of it.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Ah there.

Speaker 5 (19:09):
You know, you can constantly do that for anything from
aliens to this. So, I mean, here's a federal judge
and Obama appointee. If there was something there, I mean,
if you want to get really again conspiracy theory, the
judge is saying, Look, I'm not going to put this
out there, there's negative ramifications, there's nothing here.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Guys, does this die with Trump? When Trump's out office?
Does this go away? I don't think it does. Sadly,
I would hope it would, but I don't think it does.

Speaker 5 (19:38):
You would think between now and four years from now,
we would find something else to fixate on. Look, if
there was something there was, you know TJ. Washington seeks
like US leaks like a sieve. Right, Yeah, if there
was something there, wouldn't it have gotten out by now?
Everything else does? Why would this one thing? No names

(20:00):
would come out, no details would come out, no victims
would come out on this one particular topic.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, the idea, it's mutually assured destruction. Here's the thing, though,
there's someone on both sides that's not involved in this
thing that would like to see some of those other
folks move on, if for no other reason than they
can take the place. So to your point, if there
was something there, it would leak.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
So that's the latest. I know some of you have
been asking for the latest on the Epstein files. That's
the latest this morning, all right, three or four talk
three or four is the text line eight hundred and
seven sixty five eight two five five. Friend of the show,
Mike McKenna had a piece over the weekend regarding jerry
mandering as that continues to be an issue in Texas.
Where are the Democrats coming back in Texas? I kind

(20:44):
of checked out over the weekend. I saw the House
was going to reconvene today, last I.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
Saw the FBI was still chasing them, but I checked
out as well. I'll have to dig in and get
the answer for you after the break, but we'll get
into the topic of jerry mandering with Mike mckennay. He'll
join us coming up after the news Bolt. A little
bit later on, we'll review Bernie Sanders visit to the
Mountain State. Your thoughts are welcome as well. You can
give us call eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talk.

(21:09):
That's the phone number eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. You can also text the show at
three or four Talk three oh four. We have more
coming up. This is talk line from the Cove.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
Insurance Studios on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia.
It is ten thirty times to get a news update.
Let's check in with the Metro News radio network. Find
out what's happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 10 (21:33):
Western Virginia. Metro News lin Jeff Jenkins, us Ander Bernie
Sanders says working people in West Virginia need to organize
and fight against big government. Sanders making those commers during
three rallies in West Virginia. They started last Friday night
and wheeling continued in the Mingo County community of Leonora
Saturday afternoon and wrapped up in Charleston Saturday night. Sanders
says the residents need proper representation.

Speaker 11 (21:55):
So West Virginia, West Virginia, this is a working class state.
Cutstot elected people who represent the working class, not the billion.

Speaker 10 (22:08):
As there were large crowds at all three rallies, part
of Mountaineer Gas's latest rate case in the state Public
Service Commission focuses on infrastructure upgrades. Manthinger Gas, Vice President
of Gas Supply and Technical Services, Tom Westfall says they
are slowly replacing miles and miles of bear steel pipe.

Speaker 12 (22:23):
We have about six two hundred miles of main line
throughout the state, and I believe we're still around thirteen
hundred fourteen hundred miles of bear steel left in the ground.

Speaker 10 (22:37):
Mountain Air Gas is seeking an increase with the PSC
in both this purchase gas rate and its infrastructure replacement
and expansion program. Read more at wv metro news dot com.
The West Virginia Municipal leg will be under new leadership
during the next year. Charleston Marriam me sherel look good
when we're replaced Saint Albus mayor Scott James's president. That
was decided last week at the Municipal League meeting. You're

(22:58):
listening to Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 13 (23:01):
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(23:22):
mean for you. Catch Money Minutes Thursday at three forty
five on Metro News Hotline.

Speaker 14 (23:31):
The football season is right around the corner. Get ready
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(23:54):
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Speaker 10 (24:00):
A preliminary hearing is schedule for this afternoon in Canawh
County Magistrate Court in the case of fired canaw County
Shrif's Deputy Cast Close. The fifty four year old Close
was arrested a week before last and charged with using
his position as a court bailiff the force of female
inmate into sexual acts. Close was fired on July thirty first.
He's been in jail since. I'm master of this schedule

(24:20):
to hear evidence in the case at two this afternoon.
There's already been a civil lawsuit filed in the case.
From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 5 (24:49):
We'll get to the text line coming up next segment
through at four Talk threeh four. You can also give
us called eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talk
eight hundred seven to sixty five two five to five.
Friend of the program, Mike McKenna, I'm writing for the
Washington Times. Columnist. I like to jump to the end
of the article and that we go back and we'll
rehash everything it's in between. I jumped to his conclusion

(25:14):
of his column over the weekend. Rather than allowing politicians
to pick their voters, or worse yet, allowing independent commissions
jammed with operatives to pick voters, we should simply require
that states draw geographically coherent districts that result in delegations
reflective of the partisan vote total in the state. Or
we can keep having elections whose contours are decided by cartographers.

(25:36):
Those are map makers, judges and elected officials. Please welcome
to the program on the phone, Michael McKennon, Mike, good morning,
Glad to talk to you.

Speaker 15 (25:44):
How you doing, uh?

Speaker 5 (25:46):
Doing well? So, the basic idea here is that the
left uses jerry mannering, the right uses jerry mannering. In
the end, it's not really good for anybody, at least
for the voters.

Speaker 15 (25:58):
That's right. You know, Well, it in places like California
and Texas you wind up with disenfranchising a bunch of people,
and in every other place you wind up with vote
with you know, congressmen picking their voters. And you know,
the truth of the matter is it's elected officials, all
of them Republican and Democrats against us. And that's you know,

(26:20):
that's the that's that's the reality of it.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Mike. Your conclusion is sound. How do we get people
to actually do it? That's the problem. How do we
get these politicians to vote to actually undertake what you're
advocating for here.

Speaker 15 (26:33):
Yeah, you know, that's a hell of a good question.
If I had an answer, trust me, i'd have to
put it in the column myself. The the the only
way to do it is in states where you have
like direct ballot like you know, initiative, and California mostly
a lot of the lesser states have direct ballot initiative.
You could do something there, But the first thing to
do is everybody needs to recognize this thing is not

(26:56):
good for anybody, doesn't matter whether you're Republican or Democrat.
And like you say, elected officials are never gonna are
never going to reduce their own power unless they're absolutely forced.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
So Michael McKinnon joining US Washington Times columnist, you do
point out though in the column, Michael, that eventually law
of averages takes over, and even though you have these
gerrymandered districts, at the end of the day in the
House of Representatives, you still get this very close, very
slim Republican majority, which goes along with the vote totals

(27:28):
from across the country. So I guess my question is
is that just what we have to rely on then,
is is law of averages has to take over?

Speaker 15 (27:36):
Yeah that eventually, eventually everything's going to going to revert
to the mean. Yeah that you know that that is
sort of the baseline. But you know, is it possible
to imagine a world in which, well, you know, let's
just let's just play the game like it was a
couple of years back where the the Democrats got I
think forty eight percent of the vote wound up with
fifty one percent of the guys in the House representatives.

(27:58):
You know, is that is that possible? That's very possible.
So it's not going to save us all the time,
but it does save us most of the time. And
you know, a lot of respects. I don't want to
I don't want to point any fingers. You know, they're
about thirty states in this country that that you know,
seem to manage to pick their folks without too much jerrymandering.
And then there's about twenty states that are just disaster areas,

(28:18):
right you know, West Virginia. I mean, does it doesn't
matter how you draw the line, you can wind up
with a bachel of Republicans shame in places like Missouri.
You know, it's it's not it's not a problem, right,
but there are places California, Illinois, Texas where it gets
a little crazy.

Speaker 16 (28:37):
Right.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Well, here we have about five different kinds of Republicans, Mike,
That's that's our issue, you know, and we can get
into that another day. But that's what we have in
the Great state at some point, Does all of this
crap that goes on, is jerrymandering, all these other issues
that just infuriate people out of Washington? Are these issues

(28:59):
enough of a catalyst for perhaps independence or a third
party to emerge, because that's the only way I see
any change happening here. Or is that just never gonna
happen and we're always going to be dealing with this
two party system and more of this crap as a
result of it. Yeah.

Speaker 15 (29:16):
I don't like this answer, and you're not going to
like this answer, but the answer is yeah, And not
in our lifetime, but in the last hundred or so years,
we have a model, right, the progressive movement at the
at the turn of the nineteenth seventy twentieth century right
which took over the Democratic Party. Eventually, you know, could
something like that happen?

Speaker 8 (29:34):
Sure?

Speaker 15 (29:35):
Could a fellow leaky Elon Musk decide, Hey, man, I
really want to make a difference and I'm going to
put three hundred million bucks into something. Sure is that
gonna happen eventually?

Speaker 17 (29:45):
Right?

Speaker 15 (29:45):
Because I mean, we all know one thing. The way
we're going we can't you know, it is not sustainable.
Whether you think about a Jerry nandering an amount we're
spending or any kind other thing. Right, something's got to give,
and you know, the way the system structured is what
something's got to give, it's going to give.

Speaker 5 (30:03):
Starwallt brought this up on Friday, and I think he
phrased it something along the lines of how bad do
you have to be before he decided to be good?
Something like that. But we're stuck in this cycle. Michael
didn't mean to do that. Sorry, We're stuck in this cycle,
Mike of one because we're in the two party system.
If if Republicans do something now, Democrats will do it

(30:23):
two years from now, and then Republicans when they get
the opportunity, we'll do it back to Democrats. We're stuck
in this downward spiral where neither said where both sides
are going to go. Well, if you're going to do that,
then we're going to do that, and if you're going
to do that, then we'll do this. And it's just it.
It snowballs and continues rolling downhill until a group is
going to decide to stop that. And I don't know

(30:43):
where that is. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Speaker 15 (30:47):
Yeah, I'm let me let me just agree with all
of that. At the at the top of the jerrymandering
thing we're in the middle of, Vice President Vance said.

Speaker 10 (30:58):
You know, we got to do it.

Speaker 15 (30:59):
We get do it before they do it to us,
we do it to them. And then like about a
week ago he said, you know, they started it. I
was like, well, you sort of can't have it both ways, Skipper.
It's got to pick aside here. So yeah, it's going
to require one of two things, some kind of shock
to the system or some kind of leader.

Speaker 17 (31:19):
Right.

Speaker 15 (31:19):
And when I say a leader, I'm not talking about
a president. I'm talking about somebody, you know, George Washington,
Abe Lincoln level leader, right, somebody who can just say, hey,
we cannot continue down this path we are going to
We're going to run up against rocks here. Shortly you
find somebody like that, you let me know, because I
want to jump on board.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
I've argued that using the FBI to go get Texas
legislators from wherever they may be is incredibly bad. Idea,
Texas is a sovereign state. The ag there should take
whatever he needs to take in terms of filings to
declare the seat vacant. Do you worry about that? Do
you worry about the precedent of using the FBI to

(32:00):
chase down state lawmakers?

Speaker 17 (32:03):
You know?

Speaker 15 (32:04):
I yes, you short answer is yes. I come from
a long line of cops and prosecutors, my brothers and
dad and grandfather. I have nothing to respect for law enforcement.
And it put the FBI guys in a terrible spot
because I'm not exactly sure what they're going to arrest
these guys, you know, on I'm not sure what they're
guilty of. I don't think they've broken any laws. You

(32:24):
know that. The only the only thing they may have
broken is their oath to the Texas voters. But that
ain't a law. It's a really dark road when you've
got federal agents arresting, arresting elected officials because you disagree
with what they're doing. That's a that's a we're in
Banana Republic territory at that point right.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Well, and opens it for the next guy for the
next reason, and the guy after that for the reason
after that, it becomes acceptable. I think it's incredibly scary.

Speaker 15 (32:55):
Well, you know, I worked for mister Trump. I I
like the president very much. I like a bunch of
the stuff he's done. But the administration has trouble understanding
that precedents are going to be used against the next
group of people, right, you know, it's going to be
used against them right eventually, and that they don't seem

(33:17):
to understand that the world is going to exist after
twenty twenty eight and we're all going to have to
live in it. And you know this is this is
like I said, we're in a bad cycle. And the
FBI thing, sending the FBI out to arrest, detain, whatever
word you want to use, just terrible idea. What happened
to something? Let just play the tape forward for a second.

(33:37):
What happens if something happens. What happens that they kick
in their wrong door? Happen that they kick in the
right door, and you know, one of these taxes gets
gets a little richy.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
That's as Mike talk about raising the nuclear option.

Speaker 5 (33:51):
Man, I hadn't thought about that. Mike McKenna is joining
US Washington Times columnist. Related question, but a little bit
off topic, Mike, because you played on the car. I
will read from your second paragraph, leave aside the wisdom
of weakening the support for some of the more reliable
and sturdy members of the House Republican Caucus leave as
side the very questionable theory that Hispanics in Texas, especially

(34:12):
in the Rio Grand Valley, have been voting for Republicans
rather than the president. Rather than President Trump, ignor whether
it is a good idea to ask members of Congress
to run a new districts in the middle of the cycle.
The reason I bring it up is Trump. President Trump
is the one who's who said, redistrict, give me five
more seats, I paraphrase it. Tab My question Mike does
does he have that one person in the administration that

(34:35):
will look him in the eye and go, that's a
bad idea. And here's why.

Speaker 15 (34:42):
Yeah, yeah, there are multiple people around him who who
have that ability.

Speaker 17 (34:50):
But but.

Speaker 15 (34:53):
But you know, that costs you some capital, personal capital
with the president, political capital, you know, and everyone's the
people who have the ability to say, hey, you know,
mister president, they want to think about this for ten
seconds before we launch. They're busy with other stuff. They
care more about immigration, they care more about you know,
law and order, they care more about the economy, and
all those are really good things to care about. This

(35:14):
thing's kind of an orphan and in the political part
of the world, you know, no, the answer is no,
there's nobody in the there's nobody in the circle, in
the political world who can just say, hey, this has
got some this has got some pathologies associated whether we
probably don't want to get involved in. So you know,

(35:35):
he said it, and everybody's saluted. Like I said, you're
a vice president. Hey you know they started it, and hey,
we need to start It's it's that kind of thing, right,
you be rationalize it afterwards.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
I want to transition to another piece you have talking
about this issue where Tom Cotton President Trump are getting
involved in the day to day business of Intel telling
their board who should or should not be CEO. No,
some of our listeners would say, I'm such a fan
of big business, I would give away my first born.
That's not true. But look, I do think big business

(36:07):
is a good thing. I think they've done a lot
of good things in America. They've done some bad too,
But the president of the United States telling shareholders and
a board who should be or not be their CEO
seems like a major line crossed in my opinion.

Speaker 15 (36:23):
Yeah, I'm a little concerned about it. I'd be you
know the fact pattern. The fact pattern here with with
with Intel is is that the new CEO may in
fact be a little too close to the Chinese Communist Party.
Why the President I might have waited a week or
so for this to yell a little bit, because I'm

(36:43):
sure Senator Cotton has got a fact right, but it
doesn't hurt anybody. Wait wait a week for the board
to respond, Intail board to respond. He actually sent a
letter to the intail Board. It's bad and the funny
The funny thing is is that that you know, President
Trump is not a particularly aggressive China Hawk, so it

(37:05):
kind of caught everybody a little bit by surprise. Tom Cotton,
Tom cottons of China Hawk, first last and always right.
So I'm curious to see how this turns out. This
guy with Bhutan and the CEO of the new CEO,
He's actually doing the White House, I think Tuesday or
Thursday of this week, so I'm kind of looking forward
to see how that meeting goes.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
Mike mckennaughey is Washington Times columnist. Mike always appreciate it,
Thanks for stopping by.

Speaker 15 (37:30):
Thank you, guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (37:32):
Coming up, we'll get to your text we've been neglecting
those first part of the show. We'll get to those
on the other side of the break. Eight hundred and
seven to sixty five talk. That's the fun number three
or four talk three oh four is the text line.
Talk Line continues from the Cove Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 5 (39:07):
Robert Bolton joins us top of the hour. Fairmont State
political science professor will talk about Bernie's trip Bernie Sanders
trip to West Virginia. I think he's now achieved one
name status, TJ. If you say Bernie, I think everybody
knows who you're talking about now. I think it's not
Share or Madonna.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
I don't know. I'd ask, are you talking about Bernie
Sanders or Bernie Madoff?

Speaker 5 (39:31):
Oh, nobody's talking about Bernie Madoff since he got went
to prison unless you're a Mets fan. But which, by
the way, they're horrible right at the moment, horrible. Let
me get to the text line here, three or four
talk three H four TJ. Bernie doesn't hate rich people.
He is a rich person. He's just against billionaires using

(39:52):
their money and influence over other Americans just because they're rich,
doesn't mean they're better than the rest of us unwashed masses.
We don't want their money. We just don't need them
telling everyone what to do.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
We're just the effidence to say they're telling everyone what
to do.

Speaker 12 (40:10):
Well, I.

Speaker 5 (40:14):
Well, Hollywood number one, number two. I would say you
can draw some lines between their political influence and telling
everyone what to do, right. I mean, if you have
political influence to help get people elected, they are the
ones who will eventually draft the laws that we all
have to follow. I mean you can draw I can

(40:34):
see the correlation there. I can see where they're coming from.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I read the transcript of his speech. We'll get into
it later with the professor, but it seemed to go
beyond that to me. He has moral objections to the
fact that a billionaire even exists. So you do you,
I'll do me.

Speaker 5 (40:51):
Their TJ and Dave Bernie Sanders is cool, cool in
like a funny Muppet Show sort of way. The thing
is in terms of describing what's wrong with this picular state,
He's absolutely on point, says the Texter guys. The list
includes Trump set cowards. You all are stupid. Republicans have
no honor because they love a sex abuser who partied

(41:11):
with a pedophile. Say this, cowards, all right, I'm gonna
say this one more time. If he was implicated in
some sort of criminal fashion in the Epstein files, do
we all really believe that would not have come out
at this point? They concocted some really specious legal charges

(41:33):
in New York to get him. Think about what you're saying,
and how many people in both administration, in the Bid
administration and now the Trump administration, how many people would
be involved in this massive cover up for this one person.
I just can't buy it. I can't buy that that

(41:53):
the entire federal Department of Justice in two administrations are
covering for this one person. Can't buy it.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
I will say this. I think Trump messed up by
not saying he was on the list, or that the
ag had advised him that his name appeared in some
form of documentation. I don't know that there's a list
right buried somewhere from an Excel print off or something.
But yeah, he had associated with this guy. Yeah, many
people people did. Yeah, I knew someone worked at the

(42:24):
local hardware store. Everyone loved this person, and Bezzled had
been doing it for twenty years, but I knew her well,
you were probably helping. I guess I'm guilty.

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Speaker 18 (43:34):
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you a chance to win up to fifty thousand instantly.
And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
app for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii
where you could win up to one million dollars. So

(43:55):
get down to your local lottery retailer today and welcome
to Jurassic World. Must be eighteen year old at to
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Speaker 3 (44:05):
Hey there, it's Dave Allen.

Speaker 22 (44:06):
I'd like to invite you to join myself along with
thirteen News and Tonight Live anchor Amanda Baron, each weekday
from noontil three for Metro News Midday, brought to you
by Selango Law. We'll cover the news from across the
state of West Virginia, the news West Virginians need to
keep them informed during their workday. It's weekdays from noon
till three Metro News Midday with thirteen News and Tonight

(44:26):
Live anchor Amanda Baron, brought to you by Selango Law
On Metro News the Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (44:53):
Comele up Second Hour, Robert Spolton stops by Also, we'll
go to the Eastern Panhandle get a perspective over there.
There is the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link, that high voltage
transmission line we've been talking about that could impact the
Eastern Panhandle. There's also a first Energy line that has
people talking over in the Eastern Panhandle. We'll get to

(45:15):
those stories coming up in the second hour of the show,
plus some news and notes, sort of things we got
to touch on before we call it a Monday text line.
Here's a positive text TJ Okay few far between. TJ
directed at you. I've been critical of you, sounding completely
deflated when you read the text stems from around the state,

(45:35):
but I have to give credit where credit is due.
You absolutely crushed it on Friday. Keep it up, says
the text.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I felt like I was yelling at people to be honest.
But thank you for that criticism. And look, both criticisms
are always welcome, positive and negative. Will you indulge me
for a second. I went back to the Bernie transcript.
We're going to have to tell them that no, it
is not acceptable from a moral or economic point of
view that one man, mister Musk, has more wealth than

(46:03):
the bottom fifty two percent of American house holds. That
sounds pretty pejorative of a rich person to me. I
did some back of the napkin math during the break.
He's got about three hundred and fifty one point nine
billion dollars in net worth, doing pretty good. Take that.
Take it all away from him, Lockstock and Barrel. Give
it to the bottom fifty percent of households in America.

(46:25):
Each of them gets about twenty six hundred dollars. What's
that due? What's that do? But take all the great
companies and everything he's built off the table that employs
many many people. Sorry, folks, just doesn't work long term,
It doesn't work.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
What do you say the same thing about George Soros?

Speaker 3 (46:43):
That's a fair question.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
Well, talk about that and more coming up second hour
of the show. Go grab you another croissants for the
second hour. Metro News Talkline We're back at six minutes
talk line on Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling
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Speaker 5 (47:20):
Metro News talk Line already in progress eight hundred and
seven to sixty five. Talk is the phone number eight
hundred and seven to sixty five eight two five five
David Morgantown, TJ and Charleston together that makes up the
Encoba Insurance Studios. Sophia wasa handling audio Zach Carrolchick is
on the video stream this morning. Coming up a little

(47:41):
bit later on, we'll get back into the discussion on
those high voltage transmission lines. Get an Eastern Panhandle point
of view. I think they've pretty made pretty well made
their case on this side of the mountains that they
don't want the line. Speaking of the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link,
there's also a second line not getting quite the same
amount of attention, but this would be a first energy
transmission line. We will get details coming up second half

(48:05):
of the hour. Once again, say good morning to TJ.
Meadows in the Capital city this morning. Good morning TJ.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Good morning Dave. And one of the things that I
like about what is happening with this transmission line, I
like that people are talking about it. I like that
open houses are going on. I like that people are
attempting to inform the public because this isn't an issue
that's going away. It's just going to come more and
more into play, and we're going to see more of

(48:32):
these lines that have to be built. And folks have
a right to know what's going on, and they need
to know the information to become informed about how all
of this works. So if there's a silver lining in
all of this, I'm glad people are becoming involved because
most people flip a switch and they have no idea
what goes into making sure that the light comes on
when you flip that switch.

Speaker 5 (48:52):
We'll get into that discussion bottom. There are plenty of
time for your cost text and tweets as well. Last
Friday and Saturday, US Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate
Bernie Sanders paid a visit to West Virginia. He brought
his Stop the Oligarchy or Fighting the Oligarchy? Where do
we Go from here? Tour to Wheeling, Charleston and Lenore

(49:15):
Sanders during his visit to encourage individuals to stand up
and fight against a broken system. Here is Bernie Sanders
from last week.

Speaker 16 (49:25):
I am here to beg of you to organize around
this state, get working class people organized to stand up
and fight the fights that.

Speaker 23 (49:36):
Have to before.

Speaker 5 (49:37):
Crowds were pretty good for Sanders in each of those stops,
again Wheeling, at Charleston and Leonore, Sanders says, in order
to have a bright future, we need to educate the children.

Speaker 17 (49:48):
That means we've got to make public colleges and universities
tuition free, and then we have to make trade schools
available to all people who get the training they need
to do the work we desperately.

Speaker 5 (50:09):
Need against Sanders, speaking during his tour in three cities
in West Virginia, he also went on to say that
there is the money available to help with the homeless issue.

Speaker 16 (50:20):
If we can spend a trillion dollars a year on
a bloated military budget, we can build the millions of
units of low income.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
At a portable housing we need. And finally, Sanders says,
West Virginians need to start electing people who are working
for the working class.

Speaker 11 (50:38):
So West Virginia, West Virginia, this is a working class state.
That's start electing people who represent the working class, not
the billion.

Speaker 5 (50:51):
As Bernie Sanders from his stops on the Fighting the
Oligarchy tour that came to Wheeling, Charleston, and Lenore on
Friday and Saturday, joining us, I'll mention news Talk line
this morning. Friend of the program, Fairlot State University political
science professor Robert Bolton joins us. Robert, good morning, Glad,
you can join us again.

Speaker 8 (51:09):
Good morning, my friend. I hope you're doing well.

Speaker 5 (51:11):
Days doing pretty well, Glad. Are you ready for the
start of the semester. By the way, school's getting ready
to start again.

Speaker 8 (51:18):
It's always a little on Timiday in the first couple
of days, but I'm mentally adjusting to it.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
So Bernie Sanders, we were talking about this heading into
his visits to West Virginia Friday and Saturday, and I'll
start here again with this question why West Virginia. Why
would he come here where President Trump won seventy percent.

Speaker 15 (51:37):
Of the vote.

Speaker 8 (51:39):
I think it's a textbook case of why the Democratic
Party is in such a state of crisis right now.
For fifty sixty years, from nineteen thirty two through two thousand,
almost each and every occasion that West Virginia went to
the ballot box to elect the president, they voted for

(52:01):
the Democrat candidate. But since two thousand they have reliably
voted Republicans. So Bernie Sanders and many Democrats either behind
closed doors or somewhat more openly or asking themselves. The
white working class at one point was the backbone of
the Democrat Party. We have lost them, how can we

(52:22):
regain them? And West Virginia coal miners, West Virginia steel mill,
West Virginia glass flowers. These are the types of people
that were perceived as a key constituency, and now it
seems that the Democrats do not appeal to them anymore. Again,
in this most recent election, Donald Trump won over seventy

(52:43):
percent of the West Virginia vote. So the Democrats were
scratching their heads and saying, how can we win some
of those people back?

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Professor? In your opinion, did Bernie do a good sales
job over the weekend? Did he resonate with folks? Did
anyone walk away saying this is our guy?

Speaker 8 (52:59):
Well, Bernie Sanders has always had it among the Democrats
still existing in the state, a pretty ardent following He
got fifty one percent of the vote back in twenty sixteen.
Had the race not already been signed in Joe Biden's
favor in twenty twenty, I think he probably would have
had a very good chance of winning the West Virginia

(53:20):
primary in twenty twenty. He seems to have drummed up
a fair amount of enthusiasm. It looked like it was
a packed house in willing Lenor and in Charleston. But
when I looked out at that crowd, I mostly saw
two constituencies. I saw people who were relatively elderly, appeared
to be in their sixties or seventies, retirees, and then

(53:41):
I saw people in their very young twenties. Among those
people that he claimed he was most commonly reaching out
to the working class people in their late twenties through
their late fifties early sixties, I didn't see as many
of those people. So was he able to drum up
the Democrat base? Sure, but quite frankly, that Democrat base

(54:01):
is not enough to get you elected today.

Speaker 5 (54:04):
Even and we're talking to Robert Bolton fairwont State University
political science professor, even among that base, again you brought
this up, he has very strong, very loyal support. What
is the draw?

Speaker 8 (54:15):
I think that there is a perception that Bernie Sanders,
despite being a multi millionaire US senator, is someone who
is more authentic than many of his peers in a
Democratic Party or in American politics at large. I have
one very good friend of mine, Scott who is a

(54:37):
pretty ardent Trump supporter, and one of the only other
politicians I ever hear him speak positively of is Bernie Sanders.
And I think there's this perception that Bernie Sanders is
willing to, even if he's not always right, tell it
how he perceives the truth to be, and is not
beholden to the powers that be that govern our society.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Is Bernie talking in platitudes to some degree? And I'll
go back to the cut that Dave just played. He
was talking about making sure that any West Virginia could
go to a trade school to get the skills that
they need. I think that's a great living. That's a
great thing to do. I'm not aware it's that hard
to do. I mean most programs West Virginia funds. We've
got the to year community colleges. I think that we fund.

(55:23):
You can go join a union shop and they'll put
you through their apprentice program. Seems to me we already
have what he's talking about. But maybe I'm missing.

Speaker 8 (55:30):
Something now, and that's where I find some of his
platitudes a little tiresome. I know better than the vast
majority of people what it's like to have students who
are first generation. That's the vast majority of Fairmont State's
student body or first generation students. And in regard to
trade schools likewise, yes, I'm not saying it is always

(55:54):
going to be extremely easy or that there isn't going
to be some expense born out by pursuit in your education.
But if you want to pursue an education, there are
student loans, there are grants, there are scholarships available to you.
And one thing I would say in regard to trade
school and I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but it's
all well and good to say that we need people

(56:15):
who are trained as coal miners, electricians, and other manufacturing
areas of the economy, but where are the jobs. Quite frankly,
that's one of West Virginia's biggest problems today is as
many of those blue collar jobs have either been shipped
overseas or have been phased out because we are now

(56:35):
a service sector economy in large part, and that has
happened under both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations. And that
is one thing Trump like or dislike he has spoken about,
is bringing back American manufacturing. And that is something that
in my opinion, probably resonates with many of those core

(56:57):
constituencies that Bernie Sanders is also starting to appeal to.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
Talking to Robert Bolton, Fairmont State University political science professor
Bernie Sanders fighting the Oligarchy tour in West Virginia on
Friday and Saturday. We have coverage by the way over
at wv Metronews dot com. Robert, West Virginia has always
been a little bit of a political odd ball. It's
kind of hard to pigeonhole us despite the you know,

(57:22):
the mountaineers are mountaineers, always free. We certainly love our
freedom in the mountains. We certainly love our liberty. Have
there historically been socialist tendencies in West Virginia that might
lend a candidate like Bernie Sanders to have that kind
of support.

Speaker 8 (57:39):
Oh yeah, absolutely. Eugene Debs back in the nineteen twelve
presidential election did very well in West Virginia. We had
socialists elected to our state legislature for decades. In the
nineteen twenties, you had the famous Battle Blair Mountain, the
fight in matta On. You've had a strong history of

(58:00):
labor organizing throughout this state. Even in the seventies when
you had strip mining, there was a large labor element
trying to organize against that. I do think that West
Virginians in general have a relatively strong libertarian street and
that can cut in ways that would be perceived as

(58:20):
very liberal or very conservative, depending on who or what
policy you're talking to about. So yeah, I do think
that that's certainly true. With that being said, I believe
over the last twenty years or so, West Virginia has
tilted more and more to a traditional right perspective. And

(58:41):
I don't see at this point anyway any Democratic candidate
or any other third party candidate being successful at the
ballot box statewide or even quite frankly, in most local elections.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
Today, I watched the Wheeling speech on YouTube. Number of
people spoke before Bernie and including a former delegate Fromont County,
Daniel Walker. There was this theme. There was a theme
of I'll call it anti wealth. I mean we went
after Musk, went after him big time. Bernie talked about
it not being moral or economically right that one man

(59:19):
had more wealth than the bottom fifty two percent of
American households. Robert, when I do that math and I
basically take his entire net worth away. Divated among that
bottom fifty two percent of households, it's about twenty six
hundred bucks a household. And I'm not saying twenty six
hundred dollars is anything to sneeze at, but economically, I mean,
that's not going to change anybody's world. But at the

(59:41):
same time, it would definitely change what Musk has given
back to innovation in this country, the companies he started,
the people he employs. Well, what's Virginians really buy this
assault on wealth and billionaires? Or do they see through it?
Or maybe it's valid? You tell me?

Speaker 17 (59:59):
I do.

Speaker 8 (01:00:00):
I think that there is some legitimate critism about saying,
should someone have be a trillionaire? And there's a very
decent chance before this decade is out that Elon Musk
will have a trillion dollars. I think at last County
had four hundred and fifty billion right now, So I
do think that there is something to be said. Is
that gives someone an outsized influence on American politics? Possibly,

(01:00:23):
And I.

Speaker 15 (01:00:24):
Do think that that is something that we need to
be mindful of. But I've generally trusted the American people
in the past.

Speaker 8 (01:00:31):
There have been John D. Rockefellers, there have been Andrew
Carnegie's in the past, and the American people and our
republic have managed to prevail over any attempt to exercise
undue influence. May take a while, there may be some
hiccups along the way, by I believe that's true. In
regard to Bernie Sanders, to be blunt with you, show

(01:00:51):
me how that this can be accomplished. Bernie, tell me,
Senator Sanders, what we can do so that we can
redistribute wealth, so that everyone can get a free education,
that we can invest in all these different programs. Because
when I look at his legislative record, except for renaming
one or two post offices up in New England, he's

(01:01:12):
never passed a single piece of legislation in his life
in the US Senate.

Speaker 5 (01:01:17):
Is that saying go ahead, I'll go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 8 (01:01:20):
Oh no, And I was just going to say and
all else aside. Look, I'm not saying that capitalism is
a perfect system. There are definitely winners or losers. But
when you look at any other economic model that has
ever been constructed, including socialism, it's generally ended up in
more misery. The fact of the matter is is people,

(01:01:41):
individuals are the ones who pull themselves into a wealthy
state of being. The government cannot make you a wealthy individual.

Speaker 5 (01:01:48):
What I was going to say, Robert, is that is
a political strategy as old as politics, isn't it. You
need to support me or my party or my group
of candidates because there's some sort of hard to define
force that is out to get you and only I
can stop them. In this case, it's the super wealthy.

(01:02:10):
In another case it's the you know, it's the big
bad corporations, or it's the deep state. That's a game
as old as politics.

Speaker 8 (01:02:18):
And that is one reason why I think Bernie Sanders
and Donald Trump both have a strong appeal in West
Virginia is is they have both said that there is
an elite cabal that is out to mislead you, that
is out to take advantage of you, and I am
the person who recognizes that and I can stop it. Now,
who they claim or the elite are very different individuals,

(01:02:40):
but they both do engage in that same rhetoric. It
is much easier to demonize the other than it is
to build a coalition, build alliances in having a thoughtful,
calm discussion and saying, Okay, what can we do to
make lives better for the American people at large.

Speaker 5 (01:02:58):
Robert Balton, Fairmont's University Political science professor, always enjoy the conversations.
Thank you, Robert.

Speaker 8 (01:03:04):
Likewise, Dave likewise, PJA, thank you both for having met.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:03:08):
Coming up, we'll get to the text line three or
four Talk three oh four. This is talk line from
the Cove Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 5 (01:04:33):
Three oh four Talk three oh four Texas is Bernie
Sanders should be the face of KFC looks like the
colonel uh three oh four talk three or four Starwalt's answer,
we need to wake up to what we are doing

(01:04:54):
to ourselves with jerry mandering and decide to stop this
theft of our most precious treasure. One person, one votes.
TJ talks like he is someday going to be a billionaire.
Word of advice. You ain't getting there hosting radio shows.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
You think this is the only thing I do?

Speaker 5 (01:05:14):
Uh worked out for Limbaugh. I don't think he was
a billionaire, but it worked out.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
Start think he had a like, what, seven hundred and
fifty million dollar net worth?

Speaker 5 (01:05:22):
Not hurting not hurting too. You know those are the
only two.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
But nonetheless, but you know why I reel about this
because it won't end with billionaires because it can't. There's
not enough money there. We've proven the math on that.
So then it'll become a millionaires. And maybe at first
it's people have a couple hundred million, Then it's people
that have fifty million, Then it's people have ten million,
then it's people have five million, Then it's people that
have two and three million, Was it all begin somewhere?

Speaker 5 (01:05:45):
Was it Churchill? Or Thatcher said eventually run out of
other people's money. It's one of those, was a Thatcher.
I know it was. Well in the British Prime ministers
she was.

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
Right then, she's right now here file this.

Speaker 5 (01:05:56):
In the category of for whatever it is worth. The
state GOP put out a release over the weekend new
chairman Josh Holstein celebrating that West Virginia Republicans now total
over five hundred thousand in the state, which made go
online and check out the breakdown from the Secretary of
State's Office TJ on voter registrations as of July thirty first,

(01:06:17):
twenty twenty five. Well, what are we still? Seven months,
eight months out whatever it is from the primary. So
Republicans just over five hundred thousand, almost five hundred one thousand,
Democrats at thirty three hundred thirty four thousand, a little
bit more independent voters no party affiliation two ninety nine
to seventy six, so just under three hundred thousand. If

(01:06:39):
you total the independent voters and third party registrations, that
is over three hundred and fifty one thousand. Only two
counties remain a majority Democrat. That's Montingelia. They have about
a seven hundred voter majority, and kanaw in Kanawa is
down to just about a hundred and fifty more Democrats

(01:07:02):
than Oh, I take that back, I excuse me. Montagay's
the only one left. Kanawa flipped Kanawha is a Republican
over Democrat. I beg your pardon. I looked at that incorrectly. Sorry, misinformation.
So Montagay County's basically it. That's the last one, and
you can probably credit Morgantown proper for that. I don't
know what to do with any of that information. I

(01:07:23):
just found myself spending way too much time on that
this morning. Looking at the numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
I thought all the independents were going to rush out,
give up their independence and turn Republican. The numbers have increased,
I mean, the independent numbers going up to they're down
how much. I went back and compared it to the
twenty four November twenty fourth, the last election, about one thousand,

(01:07:48):
one thousand.

Speaker 5 (01:07:50):
Again, what do you do with that?

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
I don't know what you do with that.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
I'm just throwing it out there as information. Just file away,
you know, put it in the back of your mind.
You know, we'll see where the numbers are in May.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
I still think I'm going to switch just for the
primary and then like the day after the primary, switch
back to independent.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Seems like I'm that guy.

Speaker 5 (01:08:10):
Seems like a lot of work, you know what.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
Some guy in a Higgins boat. That was a lot
of work too when he landed on Normandy. No, that
was a lot of work exactly. And I don't have
to do a lot of work he did, so I'm
more than willing to do it.

Speaker 8 (01:08:27):
All right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:27):
Coming up, we'll talk about the Eastern Panattle perspective on
a couple of transmission line projects. We'll do that more
of your text at three or four Talk three oh four.
The phone number is eight hundred and seven sixty five
Talk eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
This is Talk Linel Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia.
It's eleven thirty. Let's get a news update. Check in

(01:08:48):
with the Metro News radio network. Find out what's happening
all across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 23 (01:08:54):
West Virginia After news, I'm Chris Lawrence in Milton. State
leaders and those with the Army Corps ENGS signed an
agreement last hour that will clear the way if the
long talked about construction of a flood wall around that
Capital County Town Governor Patrick Morrissey, we mark.

Speaker 26 (01:09:10):
On the mainsor miles soon in a long awaited project.
I think we all know this is keivin hill Over
tenn the city and this reach it from a flooding
and the threats of flooding. And thanks to our state
federal partners, today marks a turning point in the elands
to ensure that this area is the infrastructure it needs

(01:09:32):
to move.

Speaker 23 (01:09:33):
Forward saving it is a four hundred million dollars project
committed to federal dollars to erect that massive flood wall
and provide protection to the city. Kevinor Morrissey also announced
earlier today the National Council on Compensation Insurance is filed
to lower West Virginia's workers comperates by thirteen and a
half percent starting the first of the year. The premium
reduction will be a projected twenty million dollars savings to

(01:09:55):
West Virginia employers. Since the workers' comp program was privatized.
You know six the West Virginia markets experienced approximately a
half billion dollars in premium Savings. Mayor Amy Goodwin is
the new president of the West Virginia Minipal League. The
Charleston mayor named to the position last week at the
end of the league's annual conference in Morgantown. She replaces

(01:10:15):
Scott James, the mayor of Saint Albans, who had served
in the previous year. You're listening to matron Neews the
Boys of West Virginia.

Speaker 27 (01:10:21):
Let no one ever say President Trump isn't a friend
of cold Posting. Recently on his truth social account, the
President said, and I quote, after years of being held
captive by environmental extremists, lunatics, radicals, and thugs, allowing other countries,
in particular China to gain tremendous economic advantage over us

(01:10:42):
by opening up hundreds of coal fired power plants, I
am authorizing my administration to immediately begin producing energy with beautiful,
clean coal unquote.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
President Trump, his energy team, and.

Speaker 28 (01:10:54):
The EPA are doing everything imaginable to increase the use
of coal to provide reliable and cost effective electricity. West
Virginia's leaders must follow suit. It's time we change the
policies keeping coal from reaching its potential, and let's follow
the President's lead and maximizing this once in a lifetime
opportunity to unleash our coal resources for the betterment of

(01:11:16):
all West Virginians.

Speaker 23 (01:11:17):
A message from the friends of coal. Those who heat
their homes with natural gas may be paying more this winter.
Natural gas utilities in the Mountain state have submitted their
purchase gas rate case to the state Public Service Commission,
and they're reportedly you're going to have to pay more
for gas than in the past year. I will likely
result in a higher rate starting November first. The PSC

(01:11:38):
also will hold public hearings this evening on Appalachian Power
and Wheeling Powers proposed increase and its expanded net energy costs,
what it pays to run its power plants from the
metro to use ANCHORDESK Guy, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 5 (01:12:11):
Text lines wide open three or four Talk three four.
Phone number is eight hundred seven six five eight two
five five eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two
five five. That is the phone number. You can also
Texas three or four talk three four. David Morgantown, TJ
in Charleston. Don't know if you saw this story this morning,

(01:12:32):
and I just happened to stumble across at TJ Pennsylvania
Senate Committee hearing in Lackawanna County. That's northeastern Pennsylvania. Way
up there. Are you ready for this? We'll focus on
data centers and communities. Let me see, this story is
from WVIA up in Pennsylvania. Throughout the country and in

(01:12:56):
northeast Pennsylvania, plans to build data centers and proposals to
push the products forward are accelerating, and communities are conflicted
about having these energy intensive facilities in their backyards. They
want to know the environmental impacts, job creation numbers, and
economic benefits. To answer those questions and provide information about
how data centers exist within the community. A couple of

(01:13:16):
senders that's kind of irrelevant to the point of this
are hosting a series of Senate Policy Committee meetings and
as will start up in northeastern Pennsylvania today. The committee
looks at broad topics that need more context help make
policy decisions. I bring all that up to point out
to YOUJ And we were kind of talking about this
off here and we will probably talk later this week more.

(01:13:40):
As we here in West Virginia, we're talking about the
transmission lines. We're talking about the proposed data center over
in Tucker County. It seems the states around us are
ahead of us, and at least the preparation phase. They're
having committeeting. They're talking about community concerns in the context
of what these centers are and what they will require

(01:14:03):
and how do we draw them in. Obviously, there was
the big announcement with Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania earlier this summer,
with the President. Ohio's moving forward, Kentucky's moving forward. We
are at a pivotals point here in West Virginia. And
I said this to some degree on Friday. I'll just
bring it up again. I don't want us to be
eight years down the road, ten years, twenty years looking

(01:14:25):
back going whew missed the boat on another one of
those where we are we have the energy, we have
the resources, we have the capabilities. I hope we don't
miss out on it because we were not ready when
the opportunity presented itself.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
And I think there's already rumblings of that. It's funny
you bring that up. Friday after the show. I talked
to a couple of people after the show that are
what I would consider key economic developers in this state.
You're already seeing rumblings. If we don't want these things,
and they're in high demand elsewhere and developed can get
incentives elsewhere, why would you come here. Why make it

(01:15:04):
harder on yourself. You want to deploy capital, go somewhere
where they want you to deploy capital.

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
And that's why I said be prepared, because they don't
make sense to go everywhere. Maybe it doesn't make sense
to put one in Tucker County. It might make sense
to develop one on a former mindset and a former
industrial site where a power plant has closed or a
factory has shut down, whatever the case may be. That's
why I was kind of are we prepared, are we ready?

(01:15:31):
Have we thought have we thought it through? Or are
we just at the point where like, yeah, yeah, we
want those two come here. Because that's, as you know, TJ,
that's not exactly a business pitch.

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
Well didn't the governor just he had a handful of
appointments last week. We didn't get into it, but I
think one that stuck out to me was Chris Morris,
former state tax commissioner, has worked for sitting at for
a number of years, knows the fiber business. I think
his charge is to bring all of this together from
an energy from a datas center, from a developer perspective,

(01:16:03):
figure out how to get some deals done. That position
that he'll be filling is a result of Center Bill
twenty fourteen. And look, I think it's fair to say, Dave,
I could make an argument we're already buying the eight
ball to your point, So yeah, jump on the waiver,
miss the ride man.

Speaker 29 (01:16:21):
But they are.

Speaker 5 (01:16:22):
They are talking about it north of our border up
in extreme northeast Pennsylvania today Lakawana County. Over in the
eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. There are two transmission lines
that have residents attention. One is one of the lines
we've been talking about, the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link that
is going from Green County, Pennsylvania to Frederick County, Virginia.
We talked about its potential path cutting through Montingali, and

(01:16:44):
Preston Counties, but also cut through several Eastern Panhandle counties,
including Jefferson. There's also a first energy project that has
citizens' attention as well. Mary g is a property owner
in Jefferson County and she joins us on Metro News
talk Line this morning. Mary, Good Morning, Glad, you could
join us.

Speaker 29 (01:17:02):
Good morning Day, Good morning Pjay.

Speaker 5 (01:17:04):
Thank you for having me absolutely, So what are your
concerns with these projects?

Speaker 29 (01:17:10):
Well, first of all, I have one of these towers
in my backyard, so I would literally be affected. But
this is an extension cord transmission project. Next ERA calls
it Marl, First Energy calls it Gore, Doobs, Goose Creek.
It's the same project. It's just next ERA is going

(01:17:31):
to go through most of West Virginia, and First Energy
picks up the project in Gore Substation, Gore, Virginia, takes
it through the Virginia area, through Jefferson County into crosses
the Appalachian Trail through Virginia, through Maryland all the way

(01:17:52):
down to Leesburg. And this is not for us. And
I keep saying this to people who are concerned. This
is not for us. It's an extension court. The data
centers in Loudon County submitted a load request to their
utilities that was supported to PGM. PGM, which stands for Pennsylvania,

(01:18:13):
New Jersey Maryland is a RTO or a regional transmission
organization that manages utilities. They did out the project, they
selected a project and now this project is supposed to
be constructed. It's going to go through people's homes, farmland,
especially in Jefferson County, which has really become built up

(01:18:36):
over the past fifteen years. They know they're going through
people's homes. They did a cost containment, scheduling, constructibility and
land acquisition risk assessment for our area and we are
really sort of seriously high up on their list of Wow,

(01:18:56):
this is going to be a problem. So they know
going in to this that this is going to hurt
our county. They've said it's the best thing for the buck.
And during their Transition Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee meetings, I've
brought up that this will take people's homes and farmland

(01:19:17):
and they just simply told me to get some education
because this is what they're going to do.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
Mary, I have a question. Yes, go ahead and finish
your thoughts.

Speaker 29 (01:19:29):
We have so much support for this because we know
it hurts our state. This is taking our energy. We
are an energy producer in a region that is an
energy consumer. We along with Pennsylvania, have coal. Coal is
what is powering all of this, and we are in

(01:19:49):
this situation because Virginia closed down their coal mind this
isn't for us. And we have so much support from
delegates from County Tunislond, Mineral Preston, Jefferson County, Hampshire. We
have the support. We just need everyone to come together
and stand up for this.

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
If we were building a new coal plant or a
new natural gas plant in Jefferson County, and let's say
that that would somehow solve this problem and tie into
the grid and be able to feed these data centers,
would you be okay with that?

Speaker 29 (01:20:24):
Well, that the problem is Jefferson doesn't have coal, so
that's out right there. And here's the problem. We don't
have a natural gas plant in Jefferson and the idea
of taking our energy and taking it out and sending
it to data centers and taking properties from property owners

(01:20:48):
is not an option.

Speaker 15 (01:20:51):
I would rather do.

Speaker 29 (01:20:52):
What Governor Morris he was talking about with Bill twenty
fourteen and take the data centers to the coal mines.
We are not at the bidding of Virginia, and I
really feel like we're in a position where we can
say no, if data centers want our energy, then moved
to the energy.

Speaker 5 (01:21:12):
Mary g is joining us at Jefferson County. Property Owner.
You said that you would be are your property directly
in the path of this transmission link.

Speaker 29 (01:21:21):
I am looking out my kitchen back door and I
am staring at the one point thirty eight kV Wooden
Pole line. It is on my property and they will
take my property. My children have lived here their whole lives.
And when we were notified about it from concerned citizens

(01:21:42):
and the Washington Post last year in January twenty twenty four,
I was horrified because I thought we had fought this
with path and we had stopped it. To know that
it was back, and this time for data centers in
Loudon County was really insulting. Want It's not just me,
it's our whole entire community, and every electric bill in

(01:22:05):
jeff in West Virginia will be affected. I believe by
four hundred and forty million dollars worth of project costs.

Speaker 3 (01:22:12):
Should we exit PJM being West Virginia. If we weren't
in PGM, this line couldn't go through West Virginia. We
wouldn't have cost allocation. Now we'd be on our own.
If we need energy to you know, power our houses
and we have too many plants off each day, then
we're on our own. But other states have done that.
Georgia does it, South Carolina, North Carolina. They're not in
an rto should we exit PGM, and maybe that solves

(01:22:35):
the problem.

Speaker 29 (01:22:37):
I would defer that to people who have more information
on leaving PGM than myself. I am very aware that
we are energy producers and if that's something that wants
to be that Charleston wants to consider, then go ahead
and do the study on that one. But I'm going
to leave that to someone with a bigger pay raise Great.

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):
Mary, Next Era Energy, First Energy. Obviously they have deep pockets,
they have lawyers, they have everything they need to get
through the regulatory process. Average folks, what are you all
doing in the Eastern Panhandle to try to push back
on this potential project and the negative impacts.

Speaker 29 (01:23:24):
We are ramping up to become interveners with the PFC.
The PFC has four board members appointed by Governor Patrick Morrisey.
I don't believe he's appointed all of them, but he can.
And Patrick lives in Jefferson County. The Mountain community is
directly impacted by this line. It's in all of our backyards.

(01:23:44):
We are standing poise to intervene as soon as First
Energy files with the PFC to begin this project. We
have thirty days to write letters to say, hey, this
is going to negatively take our land, impact our electric
bills and we don't want it. We have our County
Commission ready to write that letter, we have the City

(01:24:05):
of Charlestown ready to write that letter. And everyone in
our community is aware and they are gearing up. So no,
this is not going to be an easy fight. And
we are lucky and blessed to have our delegates Chrisanders,
Joe Funkhauser, and Bill ridden our Ray to fight for
us too.

Speaker 3 (01:24:23):
Is there a compromise to be found in any of this? Mary?
And I'm very sympathetic to what you're talking about. I
probably wouldn't want a line going through my farmland either.

Speaker 1 (01:24:31):
Well.

Speaker 29 (01:24:32):
Well, here's the thing, and this, I think is what
people don't realize. We are the compromise. Because the line
was supposed to go from the Gore sub station in Gore, Virginia,
straight through Winchester and down to Leesburg. It cost them
more to go from Gore through Virginia through Jefferson County,

(01:24:57):
cross the Appalachian Trail goes through Virginia and Lovettsville and
then go through Maryland down to Leesburg. So this is
actually not cost effective and they know it. The problem
is Louden County is full of millionaires who raised a
ruckus at the idea of this line going through their

(01:25:18):
million dollar homes, and that is why we are where
we are.

Speaker 5 (01:25:22):
Well, you know, mary you can't have the high volty
transmission lines cutting through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Speaker 29 (01:25:33):
Yeah, I would say, you know, West Virginia is tired
of getting raped. We are not going to just stand
by and let people take our land and walk over
us because they don't want it to destroy their their homes.
And this isn't the only line coming through. And I

(01:25:54):
think that's what people don't realize. The second line was
approved last year. It's going to go pretty much the
same route. It is called the Valley Line, And there's
a third line that is Valleylink Line, and there's a
third project that is in the process of being approved
right now. The Valley Link is an even bigger transmission tower.

(01:26:18):
It's a seven hundred and sixty five kV tower. And
the third project we're not sure if it's another five
hundred or seven sixty five. So they really want to
turn West Virginia into a transmission highway, and you can't
have farms, and you can't have homes in a transmission highway.
And it's going to take new rights, way eavements, it's

(01:26:41):
going to take eminent domain, and there's just really no.

Speaker 15 (01:26:46):
Need to do all of this.

Speaker 5 (01:26:48):
Mary, I got about thirty seconds and I got to
hit the brake. We're a little bit behind. But any
open houses, any informational sessions coming up soon.

Speaker 29 (01:26:55):
First Energy has an open house at the Shepherd Universe,
the Wellness Center in our area August thirteenth, from sixto eight.
We will be there as well with signs and getting
email addresses from everyone. Please join our Facebook group PJM
Interconnection twenty twenty three and don't forget to look up

(01:27:18):
the WADDY group which is the West Virginia Transmission Lines
in Justice group on Facebook.

Speaker 5 (01:27:28):
Mary g. She is a property owner in Jefferson County.
They are pushing back on this high voltage transmission line. Mary,
thank you so much for the perspective. Appreciate it.

Speaker 29 (01:27:36):
Thank you and have a great day you as well.

Speaker 5 (01:27:39):
Got to take a break back in a moment.

Speaker 9 (01:27:44):
The West Virginia Farm from dawn until dusk. Through hard work, dedication,
and resilience, these folks supply their communities with a safe
and reliable product, and the West Virginia Farm Bureau, well,
we are right there with them as the voice of
work culture in West Virginia. Join us today as we
build a better future for all of us. To learn more,

(01:28:07):
visit us at wvfarm dot org.

Speaker 1 (01:28:12):
We are there for you to care for you at
the Health Plan.

Speaker 25 (01:28:17):
The health Plan is still growing, giving you a large
network of doctors, friendly and helpful customer service representatives, and competitive,
flexible pricing plans that meet your needs.

Speaker 3 (01:28:27):
Log on to health plan dot org for more information.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
We are for you to care for you and plan
we are here.

Speaker 2 (01:28:53):
Not Sure News talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance,
encircling you with coverage to protect.

Speaker 5 (01:28:59):
What you care of.

Speaker 2 (01:29:00):
Visit Incovia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 5 (01:29:04):
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four talk three oh four. West Virginia is tired of

(01:29:25):
getting raped. Amen says the texture. When you're fiftieth in
almost every negative category, people are going to keep abusing
and disrespecting you until you stand up and define yourself.
That means telling rich folks to dig their own call
in their own backyards. Dave and TJ. As a West Virginian,
I don't want these data centers or more transmission lines.

(01:29:46):
They can't afford to keep up the ones they have
now without raising our bills. Our future is the tourism industry.
Three before Talk three or four, Mary just made Bernie's
argument of how oligarchs are running the com I'm betting
she voted for Trump, says the Texter three or four
Talk three oh four, same on argument. Everybody wants more service,

(01:30:07):
no matter what that might be, but they don't want
it supplied through their area. Bill is at the Northern Outposts, morning,
Bill Hey, quick.

Speaker 30 (01:30:17):
Quick comment here from the northern outposts. New York State
has two hydro electric Niagara Falls in the in the
Messino State. The Icehower locks up there. The feed New
York City with and power. They banned cracking. When you
talk about the county of Lakawana, that's just outside of squint,

(01:30:37):
that wonderful woman Mary that talked about exactly how the
systems work. Bernie Sanders is talking about oligarchy. All the
nearly all the billionaires have come through technology one way,
shape or form. Elon Musk. Bill Gates picked in the
chat d GTP Guy Okay, Bernie Sanders and that woman

(01:31:02):
ought to have a conversation at a town hall. That
would be the best thing that could ever happen.

Speaker 5 (01:31:08):
Bill appreciate the call as always, got to take final
break back to wrap it up.

Speaker 14 (01:31:12):
The free Metro News TV app is the place to
watch the Voice of West Virginia, see talk Line with
Dave and TJ, Sports Line with Tony Coreedy, three Guys
Before the Game and coming soon, the Morning News, Metro
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(01:31:34):
News Television is powered by Dan cavigmc Go, mart Loue,
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Speaker 27 (01:31:43):
A lot of attention has been directed towards something President
Trump calls clean, beautiful coal. That phrase often describes the
clean burning aspect of West Virginia coal, but there is
another type of coal, metallurgical.

Speaker 3 (01:31:57):
Coal, which is used to make the steal.

Speaker 27 (01:31:59):
Our economy depends on, and West Virginia has some of
the highest quality met coal in the world. West Virginia
coal miners produce more met coal than any other state,
and seventy percent of all steel makers in the United
States rely on West Virginia met coal. This accounts for
two hundred billion dollars in economic impact throughout the country
and help sustain over a half billion jobs. As President

(01:32:21):
Trump reinvigorates our economy, he will need a lot of
our high quality met coal. So the West Virginia Coal
Association asks you to join with them to recognize, honor
and salute our West Virginia coal miners. They built this
country and will play a vital role in rebuilding the
economy that will power the twenty first century.

Speaker 3 (01:32:40):
A message from the friends of coal.

Speaker 5 (01:33:03):
We'll squeeze in a couple of more texts tier well,
hopefully we'll try our best. Jackpots are growing in West Virginia.
Jackpots on their rise every week, Powerball hits Mondays Wednesdays
and Saturdays. Mega Millions slights up Tuesdays and Fridays. That's
five chances a week to get in on life changing jackpots.

(01:33:24):
Play in store and online eighteen plus to play. Please
play responsibly. The Powerball jackpot is five hundred and one
million dollars. Mega Millions jackpot is one hundred and eighty
two million dollars. So go ahead, play today, All right,
text line three or four, Talk three or four. I
feel like citizens need to get with the program. We're
trying to make this like Northern Virginia, right, Dave. We

(01:33:46):
need data center transmission lines and of course roundabounce at
every intersection. Forget farm land and green space. Please, data
centers should go elsewhere. West Virginia does not need the
environmental headache and would be better served to stay out
out of the insiduous data collection industry. Data collection needs
regulated before Americans fall victim to police state powered by

(01:34:09):
data centers. It's all the time we have today. We'll
be back tomorrow morning ten oh six. David tj Talk
Line on Metro News, The Voice of West Virginia