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August 7, 2025 93 mins
WV Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin weighs in on the Texas redistricting controversy. Info on the transmission line that is drawing opposition in northern WV. Marking the anniversary of the murder of Ellison Hatfield. WVAQ's Jack Logar discusses the possible end of Howard Stern's show on satellite radio. And Hoppy stops by. 
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encoba Insurance, encircling
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Visit encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, Welcome inside the Encoba Insurance studios. This is
Metro News talk Line. No redistricting required. Dave Wilson representing
the Northern District. TJ. Meadows representing the Southern District. Because
we only have two eight hundred seven to sixty five talks,
the phone number eight hundred and seven six five eight
two five five, you can text the show at three

(00:37):
oh four Talk three oh four. Well, bit later on,
we're going to get the other side of the mid
Atlantic Resiliency link story. Caitlin at McCormick is going to
join us from next era. We'll talk about the proposed
line again running from Pennsylvania to Virginia that would cut
through parts of West Virginia and Maryland on its way

(00:58):
to the Commonwealth. Second hour of the show. This will
be interesting how Gorby w Professor will join us. Today's
the anniversary of the murder of Ellison Hatfield and that
maybe more than anything else, really spurred the most infamous
family feud in history. We'll talk about that. Jack Loger

(01:19):
will join us as well. Howard Stern his his career well,
at least on serious XM may be coming to an end.
The impact on the industry, and Hoppy stops by as well.
That's a lot to get in a couple hours. To you, Jay,
good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
I'm really excited to talk with Hal about Ellisoniel Hatfield's
anniversary and the feud. I'm also very excited to see
if I can get Jack Loger to say the WNBC
call letters the way pig vombit wood. That's that's on
the list today too. But look, man, these people that
are like, ah, Stern's done, they're letting him go because
he's no goodding. Come on, come on, Stern's gonna make

(01:55):
more money in podcasting than next him can afford to
pay him.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
That's what's gonna happen. Good for Stern.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
He had a five hundred million dollars contract.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Which can't afford anymore. Well, I don't know if they
can or not, but I mean, you know, here's the deal.
I think Spotify didn't have the cost that XM has.
I mean they don't, at least from what I read.
Xim's kind of saddled. Let's face it kind of saddled,
very very expensive. But we'll let a student like Loger

(02:25):
explain all of it to us. But I don't think
Howard Stern is suddenly irrelevant anymore. I just and I'm
not a Stern fan. I don't listen to him very much.
All I will say I think he's a gifted interviewer.
But we'll get into that.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
That's all coming up in the second hour of the program.
But first let's start in Texas. Of course, the Texas
Legislature has been in the news with the Red District
controversy that has been going on there. Democrats have fled
the state to prevent quorum and prevent the Texas Legislature
from being able to hold of votes on that and

(03:01):
the Republicans passing that. The state Democratic Party put out
a release this morning here in West Virginia sounding the
alarm on the blatant power grab unfolding in Texas. Quote
this is not about fairness, it isn't about representation, It's
about rigging the game, said Teresa Torressev, a vice chair
of the West Virginia Democratic Party. It's a naked power
grab plane and simple joining us here on metch News

(03:24):
talk Line. Is the chairman of the state Democratic Party
and delegate from Kanawa County in the Charleston Studios with
us this morning, Mike Pushkin. Mike, good morning, Glad you
can join us.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Good morning.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
I'm glad it could be here, and I really wanted
to know, thank you both for giving this issue the
attention that it deserves, because it's not just about Texas.
It's going to have, you know, longgoing ramifications, you know,
on politics in this country for quite some time.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
If if the.

Speaker 5 (03:51):
President and Governor Abbott go through with this very dangerous
proposition of a mid decade redistricting. Simply and the President
has said it, They're not trying to hide what they're doing.
They're saying, he feels like he's entitled to five more seats,
five more Republican seats in the House of Representatives. And

(04:12):
that's what this is all about. It is a power grab,
plain and simple.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
So you kind of answered my question already, but I'll
ask it anyway, Mike, why are the West Virginia Democrats
weighing in on what is a Texas issue?

Speaker 5 (04:24):
Everybody should be concerned about this, and everybody and that's
why I'm thanking you for, you know, giving this the
attention that it deserves. I think it should be the
top news story in this country nationwide. It doesn't just
affect Texas, it affects everything. And so, yeah, everybody, not
just Democrats, but Republicans, independence, Democrats, libertarians, everybody should be

(04:45):
concerned about this because when you are redrawing the lines
mid decade simply for to benefit, you know, one side
of the political spectrum, it's going to have long lasting effects.
And if this happens, then what's going to stop cal
foreign you from doing the same. What's going to stop
New York from doing the same? In fact, what's going
to stop governors and legislators every two years from redrawing

(05:09):
the lines to benefit themselves exactly? So you could say,
for example, say Governor Morrisey's upset with a member of
the House of Delegates who didn't vote for the vaccine bill,
what's going to stop them from him from working with
the legislature to draw that delegate out. It sets a
very very dangerous precedent and everybody should be concerned about it.
It's not just about Republican and Democrat. It's a very

(05:31):
very bad present. Look, we draw the lines every ten
years after the census, we get the census numbers and
we draw the lines, and it's supposed to be supposed
to be drawn to reflect where people live, not how
they vote. Now, we all know that jerrymandering happens. It
happens in every single state.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
It's happened.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
We're one of the most worst jerrymandered states. If you
look at our state Senate map, it's incredibly jerrymandered. But
at least it only happens every ten years. And then
you play within the rules that you have, You work
within the maps that you have. But if we start
this precedent of changing it anytime we you know, one
side is in the majority and they want that to happen,

(06:10):
and then it's going to keep happening, you are opening
up the floodgates.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
This is a very dangerous proposition.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
A couple of things, jerry mandering. I'd like to see
some kind of shape that is contiguous on these maps, right,
I don't want blotches. I don't think anybody likes jerrymandering.
So there's that in Texas's case, there's not a law
that prevents what's happening.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
Though, well, just because.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
You can do something doesn't mean you should do something,
and that's a very dangerous and under the Supreme Court
made a bad decision several years ago where they said
they're staying out of these things.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
So can they get away with it? Sure?

Speaker 6 (06:43):
Should?

Speaker 7 (06:43):
They?

Speaker 5 (06:43):
Absolutely not, because then there's nothing that's going to prevent
other states from doing it. And like I said, you
could see anytime a state house shifts, you will see
redistricting going on to.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Men that reflective of elections though, and the people that
they vote. The citizens in Texas have voted and Republicans
have the majority. I'm not saying it's right now, there's
not a legal mechanism to prevent it.

Speaker 4 (07:05):
Well, there should be.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
We should have a nonpartisan redistricting committees. In fact, year
after year, I've introduced a bill in West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Which some states have, some states too.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Actually California does. They're going to have to put it
up to the voters, and I believe it'll pass. But
they can't just redistrict. They're going to put it up
to the voters if and they're only going to do
this if President Trump and Governor Abbott go ahead with
this dangerous proposition of redrawing the lines simply to give
themselves more seats in Congress. It's it's politicians like voters

(07:36):
are supposed to pick their representatives, not politicians picking their voters.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
That's that's backwards.

Speaker 8 (07:43):
Is so dangerous.

Speaker 5 (07:45):
Well, exactly because of what I said, it's going to
it's going to open the floodgates to this going on.
It's you know, if it's good for the goose, it's
good for the gander. And you're going to see a
whole chain reaction of states redistricting and badly jerrymandering maps
just to suit one to benefit one side or the other,
and it's not good for democracy. Why is jerrymandering bad

(08:05):
because it creates extremism. It promotes extremism When your races
are decided in the primary rather than the general, often
the person furthest to the extreme wins that primary, and
that's what creates more division in Congress. I don't think
anybody wants to see the nation even more divided than
it is now, but this is incredibly divisive. It's incredibly dangerous.

(08:27):
And that's why it's not just about Texas, and that's
why states like West Virginia need to weigh in, and
everybody should weigh in, and that's why I'm get.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
The way in. But I don't think Texas has to
listen to what we have to say. I mean, honestly,
it's a sovereign state, and I'm not saying we should
do what they're doing.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
Representatives should listen to what we have to say, but
they don't represent us does, and they should listen to
what we have to say because it's affecting the entire
nation what they're going to do.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
They're getting arguable that if they got more members overall,
but it's not like they're going to have more delegates.
It's not like it's a census redistribution. So Texas now
has more people's they're getting more in the House of Verty're.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
They're doing it too because they're they're doing it up
to redraw lines. I get where there are democratic districts
to jerrymander those districts, and you know it's also because
those districts represent in many cases, you know, minority groups
in those districts. That's where they're targeting. They're targeting urban
areas where it's let's.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Move to this, the Dems in Texas going to Illinois
or wherever they went instead of showing up. That's wrong, right,
I mean you got to show up.

Speaker 5 (09:29):
No, I think when you're in the minority, and I've been,
I've served in the minority in the legislature for over
ten years now, you have to use every single tool
you have at your disposal. They are doing their job
by doing this because they understand how dangerous this is,
and and they're not. This isn't just about Texas. This
is going to affect the rest of the country. It's
going to have a negative effect on our constitutional republic.

(09:50):
So you know they left town to protect the republic.
Well I didn't hear a whole lot with the Congressional
Republicans left town to protect the Epstein files.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Mike White in the floodgates open in two thousand and three?

Speaker 5 (10:06):
What do you what do you mean by two thousand
what happened? I'm sorry, refreshed my memory. What happened a
couple of years.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Ago when Texas and Colorado redrew districts in between CENSUSUS.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
Yeah, well it would have been maybe a did they
redraw them in two thousand and one? And maybe some
states don't do it.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Exactly two years.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
It was after the two thousand and two election, so
it was the I think it was two thousand and
three when they were redrawn. Now Colorado has got thrown
out in court, but this has happened.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Well, the court stopped whing in on it. So that's
what's different.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, my point is that didn't open the forty eight
other states didn't suddenly start redrawing districts.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
Well, you've already seen the you know, the governor of
California already take steps to do this. You've heard from
other states that they're going to do and they should.
They should fight back. If this is what then the
President has made it very clear that he feels entitled
to these five seats. He feels he won Texas, he
should have more seats there. Well, there's some states that
he didn't win. Should he have less seats there? Look,

(11:04):
this is like it can't change the rules in the
middle of the game. This would be like if two
teams in a football game went in the locker room
at halftime and the reft made the announcement said, you
know what, the home team can score a touchdown from
the twenty yard line now.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
But there's no changing the rules.

Speaker 5 (11:18):
There's no mill against it because the maps are drawn
after historically and for this has been the precedent for many,
many years, and this is what people expect. The maps
are drawn after the census. You live by those maps
until the next census. That's how it works. Now, by
doing this, you see what is going to stop legislators.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Constitutional amendment a federal constitution. If we're this concerned like
that's easy to do, it's not. It's not at all.
And then there's a reason it's not easy to do,
you know that. But here's my thing again. I don't
mean to beat the dead horse, but this is not
illegal under Texas law. And I don't know how we
complain and have any merit to complain against something. It

(11:59):
might be because effects us, but it's everything.

Speaker 5 (12:02):
How does it affect us, Mike, Because it's going to
change the makeup of Congress. That's so that's why they're
doing it right, And it's going to open, Like I said,
it's going to set this ripple effect where other states
are going to start jerrymandering as well in the middle
of the decade, at not not directly after the census
when it has been done historically. So practically, how do
you change what stops other states from doing it whenever

(12:23):
they want? Anytime alleged to state house flips, the next
move will be to redraw the lines, to draw the
other the other side out of power. It's not democratic,
So the voters are supposed to choose who represents them,
not the politician choosing who votes for them.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Well, so you got some It's dangerous.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Mike May I use a bad sports analogy to illustrate
this because I actually with you, Well, I actually agree
with you just because you can do something that didn't
What do you just say, I actually agree with you
that just because you can doesn't mean you should do something.
Do you remember the days in NASCAR when you raced
back to the green flag, they'd throw the caution flag
and there was a gentleman's agreement that we won't race

(13:04):
back to the checker the start finished line because somebody
may wreck, somebody may get hurt. Right, do you remember
those days.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
I'm not I admit I'm not a huge NASCAR for it.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Along with this along call, well, I'm giving you a
NASCAR because along case of drivers who said there's no
rule that says I can't race back to the line,
and they started doing that, and and then it became
dangerous because you had cars wrecked and people racing two
hundred miles an hour back to the line, so they
changed the rules. My point is this, I think we're

(13:35):
in an era now where traditions and gentlemen agreements that
we're not going to do these things even if we can.
Those days are out the windows, and we have to
get to a point, whether that's at state levels or
at the federal level, like TJ said, and implement rules
and say we are only going to do this every
ten years just because you can. Doesn't make it right.

(13:55):
I agree with you there, but I think the days
of tradition and gentlemen's agreements, those those are gone.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
In policyess that's what happens when you don't have a
gentleman in the White House. Well, I mean, seriously, we
should be able to trust people to do the right thing.
But you know saying and he's saying the quiet part
out loud. He's saying, you know, I'm going to take
those seats, so we're going to redraw the lines in
order for the president, And you know what it's really about.
It so there aren't any kind of over so there

(14:24):
aren't any hearings. If the Democrats take back the House,
which they're very likely to do. Historically, Historically, if you
look at it the history, out of power, he.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
Generally makes gains in the in the voters they do.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
It happened when President Obama was elected. It happened when
President Biden was elected. It happened when Bill Clinton was
It generally happens. It happened during in twenty eighteen, during
the first Trump uh administration. There there are gains made
on the other side. And what I think the president
is really concerned about congressional investigations.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
That's what this is about. Tell me make t too fun.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
It's bad for democracy to change the rules in the
middle of the game.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
You talk about precedent, we talk about local control. If
I'm Texas, I hate this because as a West Virginia
I wouldn't want any other state coming in here and
telling us what to make and what our decisions are
and how we should do what we do that should
rest with the sovereignty of a state. They get how
many of our representatives they get based on the census.
I don't like jerrymandering either. I told you I would
like to see some kind of contiguous shapes on these

(15:28):
maps that touch.

Speaker 5 (15:29):
Into this kind of continue to happen. And there was
a chance for Congress to pass a bill that would
do that. They called for nonpartisan redistricting, and unfortunately they couldn't.
They couldn't get that passed Back several years ago, there
was a big push for that and they couldn't get
it passed.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Then, if the people care enough, they should vote those
folks out. That's what I'm getting at. If this comes
to the point where it becomes obstructive to democracy and
the citizens of Texas have had enough, they'll vote the
people out that are undertaking these issues. Second point, I
did not like the fact the county commissioners in Jefferson
County didn't show up, didn't vote to be able to

(16:07):
push out whatever that issue was. They just stopped doing
their jobs. They wouldn't show up. You didn't have a quorum.
I gotta be congruent in my thought. I think that's wrong.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
Did you like it when the Republicans in Congress went home?
So no hearing?

Speaker 3 (16:20):
And I've seen and I've said so you should keep
saying it. But I'm saying I'm trying to be consistent here.
You have to do your job. And if they don't
show up and they're just keeping the legislature for meeting,
I'm sorry, that's wrong.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Well, I have a difference of opinion on that.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
I think it's when it's that's an issue this big,
that has such long lasting effects on our national politics.
I would say that they are doing their job by
using every tool at their disposal, and one of those
is breaking a quorum. So I support what they are
doing and I wish them the best.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
I hope the.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
President doesn't further weaponize the Department of Justice and have
them arrested for doing their job.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
I appreciate your passion. I appreciate your passion.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
You know that, Mike push Good, State Democratic Party Chair
and county delegate. Always a pleasure, Mike, Thank you about ed.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Got to take a break back in a moment. This
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(18:10):
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Speaker 1 (18:31):
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Speaker 2 (18:42):
Let me get in a couple of texts here three
O four talk three oh four. Coming up after the news,
we will discuss further the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link. Caitlin
McCormick from Next era Energy gonna join us coming up
after the news three or four talk three oh four,
Uh tell my push. Can Democrats have done for gears
what they're accusing Republicans of. Just look at California, Illinois, Massachusetts,

(19:04):
these dem states. Republicans get forty plus percent of the vote,
but the representatives are seventeen percent down to zero percent
in those states. Democrats are say and do what they
accuse Republicans of. Funny how the tough talking mega crowd
whine like a chief engine when their own tactics are
used against them, the Party of pathetic mini men. I'm

(19:28):
going to say this one more time, even though Dave
poo pooed me yesterday and attorney has informed me that
this will go back to the US Supreme Court. Yes,
they can redistrict in the middle of the decade if
they can show the districts they are changing our unconstitutional.
But that's not what is happening here. There's only one
in enumeration for redistricting in the Constitution, and that is
every ten years, provided those districts are deemed unconstitutional, says

(19:50):
the Texter. He wants to stick with the twenty twenty
census because Biden allowed. The Court of Illegal allowed the
counts of illegal immigrants. Census takers won't even weren't even
allowed to ask a question if you are a citizen.
This texture sends along an illustration I drew a new
congressional map for West Virginia. Looks pretty fair. Kind of
like acute rabbit ears over Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling and Morgantown,

(20:13):
says the Texter. Uh, that makes no sense. It's funny
how Democrats always complain about anything that may equalize the
playing field, even in states where Republicans have no seats
at all. More of your texts coming up. We'll talk
about the mid Atlantic Resiliency link when we return. This
is Taclane Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It

(20:36):
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 12 (20:46):
West Virginia Metro newsie Jeff Jenkins. The emergency cruise on
the scene near ta Alta in Preston County where a
CSX train derailed earlier today. Preston County Emergency Management Director
Dwayne Hamilton says to durellment is in the Salt Lick
Road Bridge Street area.

Speaker 13 (21:00):
Thirteen cars involved in a drailment. None of them are
has matt All has Mat cars are intact.

Speaker 12 (21:07):
Hamilton says there we're no injuries. It's the second CSX
durralment in West Virginia in less than a week. Nine
loaded coal cars jumped to tracks in Saint Albans late
last Saturday night. It remains to be seen if the
US Department of Agriculture will oks second SNAP waiver request
from the State of West Virginia Metro New State White
Course Byding. Brad mclelhaney says that second request is to

(21:27):
allow SNAP benefit recipients to purchase hot food items with
their benefits.

Speaker 14 (21:33):
It has been submitted separately, but the federal government has
made no decision yet. Retailers have said that the requests
would benefit their industries. Allowing people to buy hot foods
with the benefit of SNAP.

Speaker 12 (21:47):
You create more from Brad at wv Metronews dot com.
West Virginia is getting federal money to purchase the latest
in bridged strength monitoring equipment. The new technology is being
used on the East Huntington Bridge and Governor Patrick Morris,
who would joint a top official with US Department of
Transportation and say highway officials coming up this hour to
talk about that project. You're listening to Metro News, the

(22:11):
Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 7 (22:13):
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

(22:33):
by opening up hundreds of coal fired power plants, I
am authorizing my administration to immediately begin producing energy with beautiful,
clean coal.

Speaker 13 (22:42):
Unquote.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
President Trump, his energy team, and the EPA are doing
everything imaginable to increase the use of coal to provide
reliable and cost effective electricity.

Speaker 13 (22:53):
West Virginia's leaders must follow suit. It's time we change the.

Speaker 7 (22:57):
Policies keeping coal from reaching its potential, and let's follow
the President's lead in maximizing this once in a lifetime
opportunity to unleash our coal resources for the betterment of
all West Virginians.

Speaker 13 (23:09):
A messy Trump, the friends of Coal.

Speaker 12 (23:12):
A seventy year old Wetszel County man's going to prison
for two years in connection with a sex crimes conviction.
New Martinsville resident Joseph Ward agreed to a plea deal
with prosecutors. He was originally charged with thirty two criminal
counts linked to crimes against children.

Speaker 15 (23:28):
Now.

Speaker 12 (23:28):
A number of residents held signs in protested outside the
Westsviell County Courthouse Wednesday while Ward was being sentenced inside.
They were calling for justice for the victims. From the
Metro News anchored desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Text line is three or four or talk three oh four.
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(24:20):
in West Virginia. Where the Heart Center's cutting edge technology,
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slash hearts, while the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link has been
getting a lot of attention, especially up here in the

(24:41):
northern part of the state for the last couple of weeks.
That's the line that would run from Green County, Pennsylvania
into northern Virginia, traversing several West Virginia counties along the way.
Joining us from next Era is Caitlin McCormick for more
on that project. Caitlin, good morning, glad you could join.

Speaker 15 (24:58):
Us, so much for having me today.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
So explain kind of the background and we'll get into
some of the specifics, but what this project is and
what a subjective would.

Speaker 16 (25:10):
Be certainly happy to share that context. So I work
for a Next Era Energy transmission and we are a
company that was selected by PGM as the regional grade operator,
the electric grid operator in this region to construct one
hundred and five mile five hundred kV transmission line that

(25:31):
would extend from Green County, Pennsylvania, connecting to an existing
substation there approximately one hundred and five miles in a
generally southeasterly direction to Frederick County, Virginia, in the vicinity
of Gore, where we hand off to another project that
was awarded as part of that window. In addition to that,
we'll be constructing a new substation in Frederick County, Virginia.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Why are you building this? What is the purpose? We've
been told that it's simply an exclusively to power data
centers in northern Virginia. Why has PGM directed the construction here?

Speaker 15 (26:07):
So?

Speaker 16 (26:07):
PGM, as part of their regular long term planning, undergoes
a regular cycle of looking at potential changes that are
going to happen in terms of generation and power demand
on the grid, and as part of that, they identified
potential future needs that are going to happen based on
those changes that are happening, to make sure that there's consistent,

(26:28):
reliable electricity to all the customers, all sixty five million
of them that PGM serves. In twenty twenty three, they
put out a request for proposals to address some of
the needs that they saw on the system, and we,
along with a full host of other energy companies, bid
into that window. And as part of that, they selected

(26:49):
our mid Atlantic Resiliency Link project to provide overall grid
reliability and benefit throughout the system, including in Virginia.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
We're talking to Caitlin McCormick shoes with Next Air Energy
Transmission about the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link, Caitlin, why come
through West Virginia.

Speaker 16 (27:12):
So the endpoints that we have were selected and kind
of put as part of that bid off opportunity that
we want, and that includes a substation just over the
line from the state of West Virginia and then continuing
generally southeasterly. We're as part of our routing trying to
parallel existing transmission lines where that makes sense to do so. Obviously,

(27:34):
many of those transmission lines have been in place for decades.
The world's changed a lot around them. That doesn't always
make sense, but to the extent we can to help
minimize overall impacts, we're seeking to parallel those and as
part of that, there's a number of corridors that go
through this region that provide an opportunity for paralleling, and
that includes coming through West Virginia. We also have a

(27:57):
number of opportunities to interconnect. One is up here at
the five H two Junction substation, which is in just
over the state line in Green County, Pennsylvania, right next
to West Virginia. As well as we're going to interconnect
to another substation along the midpoint of our route on
the Allegheny Mineral County line that also continues on that path.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Caitlin, We've been told by opponents of this construction of
this high voltage line that there is no benefits for
West Virginia. Is that a fair characterization in your opinion?

Speaker 16 (28:37):
No, This project was selected by PJM as the regional
grid operator to improve reliability for West Virginians as well
as the neighboring states, and improving the electric grid in
West Virginia and throughout the region is a direct benefit
to West Virginia's This line can benefit all the industries, businesses,
and electric consumers in West Virginia and the surrounding states.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Property owners are concerned that obviously this will impact their property,
could impact property values. So how do you make them whole?
Is there a way to compensate property owners for, you know,
having this come through their land.

Speaker 16 (29:20):
There is a standard process that we go through as
a company to work with landowners.

Speaker 15 (29:24):
They're at the forefront of what we do.

Speaker 16 (29:27):
We've had an extensive public engagement effort to date to
try and get feedback from the communities and then a
complementary part of that is that we have a team
of land agents and individuals that are out talking to
individual landowners. They've been out there working to identify individuals
who are willing to let us have survey permissions to
conduct environmental studies on their property, and they'll do the

(29:51):
same in terms of looking at potential access to negotiating
easement with them for a transmission line.

Speaker 15 (29:58):
Should we select route over their proper.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
The process is very detailed here, and please correct me
if I'm wrong, but in simple terms, I think you'll
have to go to the West Virginia Public Service Commission
request what's called a CPC and a certificate of public
convenience and need or necessity depending on your vernacular. How
will that work? When will you actually do that? Maybe

(30:22):
you've started the process outline that and what are the
options here? I mean the commission can approve, they can disapprove.
How will that affect the overall project?

Speaker 16 (30:35):
So process actually does started before even including a CPCN filing.
But what you said is absolutely correct that we'll need
to go to the West Virginia Public Service Commission. We
started our process with a routing study that we kicked
off in twenty twenty four and that's a key part
of what feeds into the CPCN process. We are targeting

(30:55):
filing to the West Virginia Public Service Commission later this year.
That will include all the input and the routing effort
that we've been doing today, including the public engagement to
date and this selection of preferred and alternative routes to
include as part of that application. The Public Service Commission
is that I'm going to review the application, work through
their standard procedures and opportunities for individuals to engage with

(31:18):
that process. We expect that to take one to two
years across all the states where we're going to be
seeking a CPCN.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Caitlin McCormick is joining us next our Energy transmission talking
about the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link. Caitlin, they need power
in northern Virginia for data centers, the grid needs power overall.
Why is the answer a one hundred and five mile
transmission line running from Green County, Pennsylvania to Frederick County, Virginia.

Speaker 16 (31:46):
I'm going to caveat my answer here with I am
not an electric systems planner or an electrical engineer myself.
We work with a number of great folks both on
our team and at PGM that are but if you
think about it, the easiest way for me to think
about it is if you think about relative to traffic.
We're used to driving on roads and systems and thinking
about where there's congestions or challenges there. When they undergo

(32:07):
their planning, they do a similar method of assessing where's
their congestion, where's their additional need, where does that electricity
need to move throughout the system to get to the
customers that it needs to serve, and where is it
available to kind of serve that need PJM. It's not

(32:28):
just our project. They looked at holistically all of the
needs throughout the region, and our project, along with the
portfolio of other projects working together, helped to serve the
overall needs and balance where the customers need the electricity,
where there is available generation of that electricity, and to
make sure that everybody the end of the day, when

(32:50):
you plug something into the wall, you flip the switch,
you run the equipment in your factory or any business
that you have, that all of that works seamless.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
As an end user, Caitlin, you don't have a crystal ball.
I don't have a crystal ball. I've talked to many
people about this line in north central West Virginia over
the last week, and almost without fail. Here's what I hear.
I've heard your name specifically, Caitlin's a great person. Next
Are has been a great company. We appreciate them. However,
we don't want this thing. We just do not want

(33:22):
this line. What happens here? What if we can't agree?
What if the PSC doesn't approve? I mean, how does
this all end? How do we find some kind of
sweet spot where we can.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
Move forward here?

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Because the demand for energy is not going away?

Speaker 4 (33:38):
So what do we do?

Speaker 16 (33:41):
I think we do what we've been doing and appreciate
the positive feedback from people about our organization. We've tried
to set forth and engage the public in a transparent
and consistent way and to make ourselves available. Back in February,
we launched a high level survey on our routing study
area to get priorities and feedback from a Jewels about
priorities across their communities. In May, we launched a detailed

(34:04):
routing survey. We've got a number of different route options
that are still up available on a map on our
website that people can take a look at. In addition
to that, we held eight open houses. In parallel with
that effort, We've also been looking to get input from
state and federal agencies, local stakeholder groups to help feed
into that because our goal, I think same as the

(34:25):
goal for the other listeners and folks you've heard from,
is to make sure that we pick the best possible
route that minimizes impacts to the human and the natural environment.
We want to make sure that we're doing a great
job on the front end, and right now we are
working diligently through the comments and the feedback that we
have received from individuals as part of those routing surveys

(34:46):
and as a part of the open houses and incorporating
those with the routing effort that is ongoing.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Caitlin, How will the project be paid for?

Speaker 16 (34:59):
So these projects rates are set by the Public Service Commission.
The rates specifically are set by local utilities and the
regulators in each of those states. Intelucting reliability projects like
the one we have here, PGM is looking for projects
that can fulfill the reliability needs identified as cost effectively

(35:20):
and as efficiently as possible.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
So transmission cost allocation is a big issue. It has
been for a long time. We had a guest on
yesterday that was critical of PJAM in that there may
not be an equitable distribution because the need in this
case what is happening in Northern Virginia with the proliferation
of data centers, that cost allocation may not follow where

(35:47):
the need is originating, and so West Virginian's other PGM
states may end up paying more perhaps generally, not just
in terms of this project, but does Extera. Do you
have any thoughts on how PGM does that? And given
the fact the world has changed and we have this

(36:08):
huge need for energy with AI that we didn't, should
we look at how that is undertaken in terms of
the rtos? Should we rediscuss how these cost allocations go.

Speaker 15 (36:21):
I think that's a great question for PJM.

Speaker 16 (36:23):
I don't know if they're on your list of guests
to talk to you or to get feedback from, But
ultimately it's going to be up to PGM and coordination
which each of the Public Service Commissions or they're equivalent
in each of these states and the member states to
come up with the appropriate way to work through that allocation.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Caitlin, where can folks get more information on this project?
And stay up to date.

Speaker 16 (36:45):
So we have a website it is mid Atlantic Resiliencylink
dot com.

Speaker 15 (36:51):
On that there is.

Speaker 16 (36:52):
A place for individuals to go ahead and sign up
for our newsletter. We send out a regular caden some
of an update providing status updates. We've also got a
Facebook page if that's the medium that people prefer to use,
where they can also get regular updates on the project.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Caitlin McCormick, Next Era Energy Transmission, thank you so much,
appreciate it. Thank you coming up more of your texts.
Three or four Talk three oh four. This is talk
Line from the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 17 (37:19):
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Speaker 18 (37:50):
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(38:11):
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Speaker 1 (38:32):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
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Speaker 2 (38:42):
Jackpots are growing in West Virginia. Jackpots are on the
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So go ahead, play today. Back to the text line
three or four talk three oh four. Democrats in Texas
are exercising their sovereign rights for their constituents. Why do
you even have an opinion? None of your business. You

(39:24):
are anything but consistent, except consistently citing against liberal Democrats.
Pushkin brought it up, not us three or four talk
three or four. Then don't leave the state and stay
there and vote against it. There's probably more to that,
but it got shuffled down the line three or four
talk three oh four, Dave and TJ. As for Mike

(39:46):
Pushkin and jerry mandering by Republicans in Texas, he says,
California's think about doing it? Are you kidding? They've been
doing it for years. As for a nonpartisan redistricting bill,
it wasn't a clean bill. It had a bunch of
other bs and it go back to your day job.
Your meter is running, says the texter three or four
talk three four. What a hypocrite? What a Democrat had power?

(40:10):
He was all right with everything, open borders for starters,
flooding states to control census, to get more seats in Congress.
I guess he thinks we're stupid. I got news for him.
The Democrat Party is so far underwater they'll never get
voted back in no matter what jerry mandering goes on.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
The idea that this affects all of us, I wouldn't
dismiss that. I get if more Republicans end up in Congress,
you have a greater chance or greater odds of Republicans
keeping the House of Representatives.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
Fair point.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
But you don't see anyone yelling when there's elections and
a state goes all red, like West Virginia has done
in previous years. Oh, it's affecting us, It's affecting I'm sorry.
The voters have spoken. There is no law that prevents
this in Texas. They can do this whenever they want.
It's a minimum standard that they do it every ten years,

(41:08):
I believe, or whatever that period is to accommodate the census.
And the courts have spoken on. This will go back
to the courts. Probably anybody can file a lawsuit. But look,
I just I don't see how share your opinion. Fine,
share your opinion. That's great. I'm not saying you can't
do that. Texas is under no we can't compel them

(41:31):
to listen to it, folks. I'm sorry you can't.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Mike, and I agree with him. I agree with Mike
Pushkin with the idea that just because you can do something,
you shouldn't. And I'll go back, I'll use a local example.
I'll pickle on Morgantown again, covered him for ten years
host of the show here. Locally, they did an exact
same thing with their local city wards.

Speaker 8 (41:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
They had a non partisan commission that looks at the
wards and their job is just simply equalized the number
of voters in each city ward, so each city ward
has equal representational council. Simple as that. They sent the
map in with the lions. Council members didn't like it
and drew their own lines because they didn't like it.
They didn't like who was going to end up where.

(42:14):
And I said at the time, and i'll say it again,
they were totally within their authority to do that. But
just because you can do something doesn't make it right.
Texas legislature totally within its authority to do what it's doing,
as far as I can tell from reading the same
stories we all read nationally, that doesn't mean you should
do it. And oh, by the way, Republicans approved that
map two years ago, three years ago, whatever it was.

(42:37):
Maybe they should have done a better job of jerry
mandering then.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
But who is the arbiter of whether it is right
or wrong. The people of Texas. And they'll they'll show
up at the polls if they don't like it, they'll
change the composition of the legislature. That's their prerogative, not ours.
That's all I'm saying, folks. But share your opinion absolutely,
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Final break back in a moment.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
We are there for you to care for you at
the Health Plan.

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We are for you to care for you and the plan.

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We are here.

Speaker 20 (43:35):
The West Virginia farmer 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 while
we are right there with them as the voice of
agriculture in West Virginia. Join us today as we build

(43:55):
a better future for all of us. To learn more,
visit us at WV farm dot org.

Speaker 7 (44:01):
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 coal, which is used to
make the steel our economy depends on, and West Virginia
has some of the highest quality met coal in the world.

(44:22):
West Virginia coal miners produce more met coal than any
other state, and seventy percent of all steel makers in
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the country and help sustain over a half billion jobs.
As President Trump reinvigorates our economy, he will need a
lot of our high quality met coal. So the West

(44:45):
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. A message
from the Friends of Coal.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Three or four Talk threeh four is the text line
quick text. Why not build a power plant in Virginia?
Why amp domain West Virginia citizens that will receive no
benefit at all? TJ twenty seconds, Why not build a
power plant in Virginia?

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Tougher to build a power plant, You'll never get it done.
Easier to build a transmission line that's long and short.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
You got it coming up today. Mark's a turning point,
escalation and one of the most infamous family feuds of
all time. Hoppy stops buy and Howard Stern question Mark.
We'll get into all of it. Second hour Metro News
talk Line. Come back and join us minutes from now.
This is Talkline All Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Metro News Talkline is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling you
with coverage to protect what you care about most. Visit
Encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Metro News Talkline already in progress. Jakelink is our video producer.
Mia Hankins is on the audio side of things today
TJ's and Charleston. I'm in Morgantown at eight hundred and
seven to sixty five. Talk is the phone number three
oh four Talk three four. That is the text line.
I have plenty of time to get some of your
calls and texts coming up later on in the hour.

(46:48):
Poppy will stop by at the bottom of the hour.
We'll also get into one of the legends of radio,
Howard Stern. His days at SiriusXM may be done. We'll
talk about Stern and his impact and what maybe next.
Jack Loger from WVAQ our friends in Morgantown. He will
join us a couple of minutes from now. Once again,

(47:10):
say good morning to TJ. Meadows in the Charleston and
COVA Insurance Studios.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Morning, Good morning, Dave. Here's one for the listening audience
to ponder. You can text in on this. We'll get
to it later. If we are so hot and bothered
about what Texas is doing, why don't we get hot
and bothered When Maine and Nebraska use a congressional district
method to award their electoral college votes, every other state

(47:37):
is winner take all, but in Maine and Nebraska they
break it up according to district and then they have
some take off. They're influencing the way the vote is done.
They're an outlier that affects who's in the White House,
so that affects me. Why aren't we outraged about that one?
If we're outraged about what's going on in Texas.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
This is one of those issues. I'll throw this out
there as an answer that if you go out and
you're at your kids' soccer game, t ball game, baseball game,
you're hanging out with your buddies, you're just talking about
what's going on? Is this going to come up in
conversation or is this just the perfect made for cable news,

(48:15):
slow middle of the summer story that you can latch
onto if you are trying to fill twenty four hours
of programming and talk about on and on and on
and on.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
That's fair.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
I don't have a lot of it. We talk about it.
I mean we're in the middle of it. We were
in this industry. We're consumed by this. But if you're
out in your everyday lives, this one of the can
you believe? My guess is that answer will be what's
going on in Texas? That's hot down there?

Speaker 15 (48:42):
Anyway?

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Yeah, but I'm just trying to find some consistency. Anyway,
we move on.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
We will get to the text line coming up at
three or four Talk three oh four a little bit
later on in the program, Well, today, mark's one of
the days in history that escalated one of the most
infamous feuds in all of the United States. Of course,
we're talking about the Hatfields and McCoy's. Today was the
day that Ellison Hatfield was murdered low those many years ago.

(49:09):
Hal Gorby joins this professor at WVU to add some context.
Good morning, sir, appreciate you for joining us. Oh, thanks
for having me, so give us some context. Ellison Hatfield,
brother of devil antce August seventh, eighteen eighty two. He
is killed, and that's probably the point Hatfield McCoy's become

(49:30):
Hatfield and McCoy's. Is that fair?

Speaker 21 (49:35):
This is the central event that when people start learning
about the feud in national newspaper coverage a few years later,
which is really when it hits the front page of
the country, this is often the event that people will
harken back to as sort of the starting point, at
least in the sort of public consciousness of this becoming

(49:56):
a much more violent conflict. Although in the Tug Valley
there had been simmering tensions between the two families in
the years leading up to this election day event that
led to Allison Hatfield and then some other murders as well.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Professor, as I study today's anniversary, it was election day,
which caught me a bit off guard, and maybe election
days were a little bit different. Obviously everybody was kind
of together. Describe the circumstances and what was happening and
why they were all where they were so that this
could happen.

Speaker 21 (50:31):
Yeah, it's gonna it seems anachronistic to our contemporary time period,
where you know, we have all these kinds of rules
about what you can do when an election is taking
place when people are giving their ballots. But in the
southern society, of which the Tug Valley of southern West
Virginia and eastern Kentucky was apart throughout much of the

(50:51):
nineteenth century, elections were very much local events. They were
often social occasions where people would come to their majesty
aerial district or the county courthouse to vote. Around election time,
they would often go through multiple ballots. Voting was, you know,
until we had the secret ballot, was often done voice voting,

(51:13):
so people had to sort of stand up in front
of the electors and give their vote on whatever the
issues of the day. Were, and often these events brought
people would voters would come in, bring their families. This
could be almost like a small reunion, so to speak,
for people who maybe lived in outlying hollers and creeks away,

(51:33):
many miles away. So think of it as like a
place of merriment, a place of fun. There would have
been music playing, there would have obviously been politicking. There
were no restrictions on how close you could be to
voters when people are casting their ballots. So it's a
very different environment than what we would have today.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
So why Ellison Hatfield.

Speaker 18 (51:55):
So?

Speaker 21 (51:55):
Ellison Hatfield was one of the key brothers of a
man namamed Anderson Hatfield, more commonly referred to as devil Ants.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
Hatfield.

Speaker 21 (52:04):
Devil Ants was sort of the main patriarch of the
Hatfield family in southern West Virginia. Allison was one of
his main brothers who had some notoriety having served in
the Civil War. He was from our descriptions of him,
he was a strong, stocky, you know, very muscular gentleman.
He had a lot of respect in the community, and

(52:26):
he and his brother and Anderson's family were obviously at
the center of a simmering feud with Randall McCoy and
his family mainly on the Kentucky side of the river,
but you know, members of both families lived on both sides,
and this had really been a simmering conflict that had
been going on for about ten years or so, but

(52:48):
had mainly been something relegated to the local court systems,
you know, property issues and disputes between both families over
farmland and obviously over access to timberland as well. I
can you know, we can obviously get into more context,
but that's sort of the why this event ten years

(53:09):
later or so is going to be so so contentious.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Tolbert McCoy I believe, was the catalyst on the McCoy side,
and others jumped in. You know, I've seen the movie.
Maybe others have too. Looks like people might have been
a little gen ed up, feeling a little courageous perhaps,
But how did they murder Ellison? What did they do?

Speaker 21 (53:30):
So on the election day they had had sort of
a first round of balloting, and then either for better
or for worse, took like a lunch break where people
could you know, kind of calm their nerves. That often
would be playing some banjo music, drinking some moonshine. That
was often a way to try to encourage votes a
certain way at that time, and in like so many

(53:53):
things at the Hafeel McCoy few their disputes about about
what happens next. Some historians argue that Tolbert, who was
kind of was one of Randall McCoy's sons who it
wasn't being real successful, you know, he had kind of
developed a rough and rallity reputation. He had gotten into
an argument earlier that day with another member of the

(54:13):
Hatfield family over some unpaid debts, and according to some historians,
he began badgering Ellison Hatfield. You know, the phrase that
is often associated with with the event is having Tolbert
saying I'm hell on Earth to try to encourage sort
of a fight. Other historians to sort of argue that

(54:36):
Tolbert was sort of drunk, yelling at many different people,
you know, it was kind of just drawing a lot
of attention to himself, and that Allison to try to
calm things down, that it was Alison who yelled I'm
hell on earth to try to, you know, get Tolbert
to direct his animosity to him. So, depending on perspective,
you know, I'm sure really who maybe started this. Eventually,

(54:59):
Tolbert draws a knife and begins stabbing at Allison multiple times. Allison,
as I said, was a pretty athletic strong man, so
even being stabbed violently did not stop him. So Tolbert
was not winning this fight. Eventually, his two younger brothers,
Bud and Farmer, get involved and they begin stabbing him,
beating him, and eventually one of the boys pulls a

(55:22):
pistol and shoots him in the shoots him mortally, doesn't
die immediately, but you know, he's it's it's pretty serious
by that point. But it took three men stabbing him,
beating him, and eventually shooting him to finally bring Ellison down,
which suggests how strong he was.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Hal Gorbi is joining us from w Professor. Today is
the anniversary of the murder of Ellison Hatfield, so from
this point on, the Hatfields they have to retaliate, and
then it just you have this violent back and forth
that last for you know, for years.

Speaker 21 (55:57):
Yes, yes, an the immediate app after math, there is
an effort to try to take the three McCoy boys
and sort of take them to the local seated justice
in Pikeville. Eventually, Anderson, after hearing about his brothers mortal wounding,
catches up with them and they capture the three McCoys.
They take them back to the West Virginia side and

(56:18):
actually put them in like a There wasn't like a
modern jail at that time, so they actually put them
in a former schoolhouse that's in where present day Mate
one is in Mingo County, And basically Anderson tells some
of them, He tells the McCoy boys, he tells their relatives,
you know, if my brother survives, I'll let the three
of you go. You know, you know, we'll kind of

(56:40):
try to not de escalate things. But if he dies,
you're all three going to be You're gonna die. When
Allison passes, a group of the Hatfields and their friends
take them to the other side of the river. They
tie them up to paw paw bushes and execute them.
By far, it has been the most dramatic escalation in

(57:00):
a feud that you know, had been simmering for a
long time. But strangely enough, you know, while there are
you know, extraditions issued for the hat Fields, there isn't
much effort to really do much for about four years
or so. Some of it is political, some of it is,
you know, just the nature of the terrain. Local law
enforcement claims they can't find Anderson, which you know, this

(57:22):
isn't an overly populated area, but you know, he is
somebody that's good at you know, good at hiding.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
So but it might some say it might have been
done if not for a guy named Perry Klein. How
does he come into this.

Speaker 21 (57:34):
Yeah, so Perry Kline is is a relative of Randall
McCoy uh, and he actually is the person from the
earliest time where we can really kind of see like
where this feud might have started. Back in eighteen seventy two,
he had been devil Ance's neighbor in West Virginia, and
Klein had been one of the wealthier men in the region.

(57:54):
He had inherited about five thousand acres from his father,
and in a dispute in eighteen seventy two, Anderson brought
him to court claiming that Perry Klein had cut timber
on his property. And in this court case, the court
rules for Anderson and basically rules that he has to
give all five thousand acres to Hatfield. So he basically

(58:14):
becomes penniless. This left a simmering resentment Incline, and you know,
for years he had kind of become a lawyer. He
had become a sort of law enforcement officer in Pike County,
and he also had connections with the governor of Kentucky
by eighteen eighty six and eighteen eighty seven, and so
now with that sort of role and obviously knowing that

(58:36):
his relative had lost three sons by the at the
hand of the hat Fields, it's Klein that intercedes with
the Governor of Kentucky to bring back the extradition warrants.
And so in eighteen eighty seven the feud kind of
gets revived again when the governor sort of puts a
rubber stamp on allowing law enforcement officials to cross into

(58:56):
another state to bring the hat Fields to justice in Kentucky.
And that's what leads to some of the you know,
dramatic shootouts fighting along sort of the Tug Valley in
the Grapevine Creek region of what's now Mingo County. You know,
it leads to a number of the Hatfields being captured
and lodged in Pikeville, and eventually court cases that eventually

(59:19):
involve not just local residents, but kicks it up all
the way to the US Supreme Court over the issue
of whether one state can sort of go into another
state and steal residents and violate their sort of you know,
sort of their rights and protections.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
That way about ninety seconds here before we got to
hit the brake, let's play the what if game. What
if Ellison Hatfield had never been murdered, it was just
a fist fights, guys got bruised up.

Speaker 4 (59:45):
What if?

Speaker 21 (59:46):
How I think that this had been a few that
had been simmering, but had been simmering mainly in the
conjunction of sort of legal cases and sort of property disputes.
Murder is something that will dramatically escalate things beyond a
point of control. And so if there hadn't been an
Allison's murder, there hadn't been been the execution of the

(01:00:08):
three McCoy's, It's fair to say this could have just
been something like we've seen in other counties of West
Virginia in the late nineteenth century, a simmering set of
legal disputes between two families that never escalates into vicious murder.
And so maybe we don't have all the famous Hatfield
McCoy cartoons. We maybe don't have the Kevin Coster movie

(01:00:30):
series from about twelve years ago, but I think this
is definitely the main turning point that makes it why
it's so famous.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Hell Gorby WW professor. It was in eighteen was it
eighteen eighty seven?

Speaker 21 (01:00:43):
The eighty two was the election murder?

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Yeah, August seventh, eighteen eighty two. That's right, Ellison Hatfield
was killed. Interesting stuff. I appreciate you coming on.

Speaker 21 (01:00:53):
Oh, thank you, it's my pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Hal Gorby W Professor coming up. Howard Stern is his
days in radio and sidelight Radio over. We'll talk about
that next.

Speaker 17 (01:01:03):
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We are for you to care for you and the plan.

Speaker 22 (01:02:00):
Here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Happy Kerchibal joins us bottom of the Hour. After twenty
years on Serious XM in more than two decades of broadcasting,
Howard Stern's career, at least career on Serious XM may
be coming to an end, insiders claiming that Serious exim
is not interested in re upping his contracts. Jack Loger

(01:02:45):
is the host of the Jack and Nicky Morning Show
over on our sister station, WVAQ and pretty much studies
all things radio. He joins us on Metro News talk
Line This morning, Morning.

Speaker 8 (01:02:57):
Jack, gentlemen, good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
All right, when you think radio, Mount rushmore of radio,
there's Marconi, there's Limbaugh, there's Stern. You could probably add
a couple of others as well, so well, you know,
he's in consideration there. But as far as Howard Stern,
what's the significance if he is indeed leaving serious XM Radio.

Speaker 8 (01:03:17):
Well, Dave, I like the.

Speaker 23 (01:03:18):
Way you're setting this up, because you're saying if he
is indeed leaving.

Speaker 15 (01:03:22):
Now.

Speaker 23 (01:03:22):
I was on social media last night and this is,
as we say in Randolph County done blowed up all over.
They're saying he's been fired, they're saying his show is canceled.
People on the right too happy, people on the left
too angry. But the reality of it is what you
just said. He hasn't been fired, and he hasn't been canceled.

(01:03:43):
He's got a contract that's coming up here in a
few months and they're going to renegotiate that, and what
it looks like they're going to do is try to
low ball him. It looks like they're just going to
give him a much lower offer than the current one
hundred million dollars he's making every year, and they don't
think he will accept that, and so therefore that'll be
the end of his run. But the thing about it

(01:04:04):
is he might. He could accept it. It's not inconceivable.
Let's not forget this guy's only working two or three
days a week and he's off all summer. So what
if they come to him and say we'll give you
ten million dollars and he says, yeah, that's fine. I
mean that could happen. I don't think it will. I
think he probably will go. But it's I'm just saying
people are jumping the gun announcing cancel.

Speaker 8 (01:04:25):
He's been canceled. He really hasn't.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
I think the bigger question Jack is whether or not
Serious XM can continue to afford him. I mean, podcasting
is working out pretty good for Joe Rogan. This whole
narrative that Howard Stern I doesn't connect with people anymore
of these kinds of things, I don't buy that. Frankly,
Serious XM has a lot of legacy costs. They just
they can't afford it. And he can go do his

(01:04:49):
own thing and maybe even be I don't know if
he makes a hundred MILLI year doing his own thing,
but he could probably make pretty good.

Speaker 23 (01:04:54):
Money, yeah, assuming he wants to continue. He's seventy one
years old, you know. I mean he's kind of run
through his bag of tricks and seventy one. If you're
doing a talk show like you guys, I mean, you
can just keep chugging along.

Speaker 8 (01:05:06):
But this guy was doing comedy. He was a shock jock.
I mean, he had all.

Speaker 23 (01:05:11):
These big years. He can't do that show anymore, not
at seventy one. It's going to be bizarre and creepy.
And then that leaves you with, Okay, well what are
you going to do? And of course he reinvented himself
later in his career as this great interviewer and he
brought in all these celebrities and he got to be
known for that, which was great. But you know, at
seventy one, you really have to start asking the question

(01:05:32):
how much longer do you want to do this?

Speaker 8 (01:05:35):
Now?

Speaker 23 (01:05:35):
What I think is interesting about this if you look
at this story about him being canceled, as people are
saying as part of the story, Sirius XM, they are
quote likely to negotiate a deal to retain Stern's extensive
audio library, but the live show will end.

Speaker 8 (01:05:54):
Now.

Speaker 23 (01:05:54):
To me, this is key, and this is huge because
if he's only doing a couple of live shows a week,
he's taking off summer. He's not there that much anyway,
and most of what you hear on a channel right
now is repeated material or fill in hosts. So if
they get his library, they can basically continue that uninterrupted.

Speaker 8 (01:06:13):
Okay.

Speaker 23 (01:06:14):
Now, it's like when Elvis died the colonel said, this
doesn't change anything because Elvis was an industry. He had
the movies and the music and the full line of
pitdle and crap that they were pushing. They can continue
to do that with Howard Stern if they have his
library and they don't have the expense of one hundred
million dollars to keep him around. So the money continues

(01:06:36):
to come in at basically the same rate, and now
they don't have the expense.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Of paying or he could sell it to someone else.

Speaker 8 (01:06:41):
Well, he could do that.

Speaker 23 (01:06:43):
Yeah, but I'm saying if serious manages to work it
out and keep his libraries, what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Jack Loger join us of the Jack and Nicky in
the morning's over on WVAQ in Morgantown. Jack left you
about forty five seconds for this hour for this answer.
What about the content, because the as you pointed out,
the content of his show has changed and dramatically changed
after twenty twenty.

Speaker 8 (01:07:05):
Yeah. Okay, and your question is what.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
What's the impact? What's the impact has that had an
impact on the fact that Sirius is Luke orm.

Speaker 8 (01:07:15):
His content has changed.

Speaker 23 (01:07:16):
Yeah, I would say so.

Speaker 17 (01:07:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:07:19):
I mean again, I'll try not to get political with this,
but we know he's very less.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Well, he got political, he did.

Speaker 23 (01:07:23):
He got very political. He leans pretty far left. And
I even have a quote here. This is Stern talking
to his audience. I don't hate Trump. I hate you
for voting for him. I don't want you here. Okay, Well,
if you say that to your audience and half of
them leave, you know you got nobody to blame for.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
Yourself, or the other half loves you for saying it.

Speaker 23 (01:07:44):
Right, Yeah, it's right, But either way, your audience is
cutting half.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
All right, we'll see what happens. Jack Loger of the Jack,
Jack and Nicky Morning Show over on WVAQ in Morgantown.
Thanks Jack, Thank you. Talk line on Metro News, the
Voice of West Virginia. It is eleven thirty time 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. West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 22 (01:08:09):
The US Department of Transportation will partner with West Virginia
in place state of the art real time monitoring equipment
on the East Huntington Bridge over the Ohio River. That
technology will allow State Highway officials to know the condition
of the bridge at any moment in time. Governor Patrick
Morrissey has said it will put them in a position
to know when the time is right to make repairs
or replacement of bridge parts before they become dangerous to travelers.

Speaker 19 (01:08:30):
This is a system that includes acceleronometers, craft meats, tilt sensors.

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
Asking me about all those things, we mean, I'm not
going to build to tell you, but I can tell
you that these.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Are the up to date technological tools that are U
Technical Highways.

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
Road in Advance.

Speaker 22 (01:08:48):
That's the governor from last hour in Huntington with the announcement,
alongside officials from the US Department of Transportation and state
highway officials. Clean up is underway on a train derail
from this morning in Preston County. County Emergency officials in
Kingwood say as CSX train partially jumped the tracks, thirteen
cars derailed in the area of Saltlick Road and Bridge
Street in Tara Alta. Now emergency officials have evaluated the

(01:09:12):
site with a drone and find that none of the
hazmat cars and the train ruptured CSX is unseen. To
clear it up, federal prosecutors say a former corrections officer
at the FCI Gilmour County has admitted to taking bribes
from inmates. That's a smuggling contraband forty one year old
Hector Lopez of Weston, please be guilty. You're listening to Matronews,
the Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 7 (01:09:34):
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

(01:09:54):
by opening up hundreds of coal fired power plants, I
am authorizing my administration to a immediately began producing energy
with beautiful, clean coal.

Speaker 13 (01:10:04):
Unquote. President Trump, his energy.

Speaker 7 (01:10:06):
Team, and the EPA are doing everything imaginable to increase
the use of coal to provide reliable and cost effective electricity.

Speaker 13 (01:10:14):
West Virginia's leaders must follow suit.

Speaker 7 (01:10:16):
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 all West Virginians.

Speaker 13 (01:10:30):
A message from the Friends of Coal.

Speaker 22 (01:10:34):
A Fa County judge is now a member of the
Supreme Court. Governor Morrissey on Wednesday introduced Judge Thomas Ewing
as the newest member of the High Court. Ewing has
served on the bench in Faya County since twenty nineteen
and said that experience will serve him well.

Speaker 24 (01:10:46):
I will bring that experience to the Court along with
a strong work ethic, passion for research and writing, curiosity
for the law, and a strong commitment to judicial independence
in the role of law.

Speaker 22 (01:10:56):
He was selected from a poola candidates who sought to
replace Justice Beth th Walker, who retired from the Metro
News anchored Ask guy, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
We'll get to your texts coming up three oh four
talk three oh four. The phone number is eight hundred
seven sixty five eight two five five. You know, the
weekend is almost here and it would be a great
time and this weatherwise, it's gonna be a great weekend
to relax on a pontoon boat from lou Window Marine.
Check out all of the inventory at Louwindow Marine Sales

(01:11:41):
dot com. Hoppy's commentary over at WDV metro news dot
com this morning, the headline faith versus Public Safety. Oh,
let's dive into it. Hoppy joins us Will Metro News
talk line Mortan Hot.

Speaker 6 (01:11:55):
Good morning, guys, how are you doing well?

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Faith versus Public safety? You must be talking vaccines and
religious exemptions to those vaccines.

Speaker 25 (01:12:05):
Yeah, i am. As you all have talked about and
reported on. In Raleigh County, those three parents have won
a temporary court order preventing their children from compulsory school
vaccinations with a religious argument that quote unquote God's perfect
design trump'sa.

Speaker 6 (01:12:21):
A man made vaccine requirement.

Speaker 25 (01:12:23):
One parent said that through prayer, she does not believe
God wants her to vaccinate her children with a required
booster vaccine. And we know in West Virginia there is
no religious exemption. There is a medical exemption that you
can have. So we're talking about faith and science and
parents and education. So, needless to say, this is a
complicated and emotional issue. But in looking at this from

(01:12:46):
a couple of ways, one is that the courts have
consistently found even when there are allowed for religious objections,
that just saying that God told me is not a
sufficient argument to trump an existing state law, even though
West Virginia has a has.

Speaker 6 (01:13:07):
A riffer law.

Speaker 25 (01:13:08):
That's not the question the sincerity of the folks who
would make that argument. So I'm not going to question
whether someone did speak with God or God had prayers answered.
That's not for me to decide or anyone else. That's
a matter of a matter of faith. But that sincerity

(01:13:29):
does not, as I said in the commentary, doesn't trump
existing existing law requiring these vaccinations. The arguments based on
the idea that West Virginia's religious protection law is all powerful,
that religious belief should outweigh other laws that individuals believe
violate their faith. But I don't think they're going to

(01:13:52):
win on that argument in and of itsself. You know,
disease is communicable, its spreads, and the state has a
vested interest, a vested interest in protecting the public. And
there are lots of examples where parents have been charged
or convicted of child neglect or even manslaughter when they

(01:14:14):
attempted to use religion as a defense for denying medical care.

Speaker 6 (01:14:19):
To a child, humpy.

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
I struggle with this issue, but I appreciate the way
this suit was framed in that it specifically talks about
going against God's perfect design. Because when I talk with
religious leaders throughout the state, and we've talked to a number,
nobody can give me any scripture, or nobody can give
me any kind of religious tradition and a denomination that

(01:14:44):
has an issue with vaccination, so at least they're specific
in that. But my religion, my understanding of scripture, teaches
me that we live in a fallen world. Therefore God's
perfect design is no longer per because we live in
a fallen world. And I'm not saying my view should
trump anybody else's, but how do you get those to

(01:15:06):
reconcile and meet It becomes very subjective, I guess to
your point, and I struggle with how we iron that
out to find overall resolution.

Speaker 6 (01:15:15):
Yeah, because it does from a religious standpoint.

Speaker 25 (01:15:18):
You raise a great point is that is that we're
going to get into this debate about God's perfect design.
And boy, if you haven't an answer to that, please
let me know because we'll get that out right away.
Because there is obviously a particular religious belief perspective that
God's design is perfect and even when we see flaws
everywhere and all the time. The argument is, well, but

(01:15:41):
we are not capable of seeing how this is all
part of God's perfect design. Okay, that's the argument for
the perfect design. But then the other side, the argument is,
but we are imperfect because you see all these examples.
You know, why would God allow someone to be born
who is you know, stillborn or terribly disabled in some way?

(01:16:03):
Or why do horrible things happen? If horrible things happen,
how can God's design be perfect? Well, again, that's the
other argument that says the design.

Speaker 6 (01:16:11):
Is not perfect.

Speaker 25 (01:16:11):
The other argument is we are not capable as mere
humans to understand how this is part of the design.

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
I can't resolve that.

Speaker 25 (01:16:18):
Okay, And again I defer to the sincerely held beliefs
of individuals. But look, the courts have found consistently that
an individual's religious beliefs do not excuse them from compliance
with an otherwise valid law. And that's what you get into,

(01:16:40):
and that's where I think we are in this argument.

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
Does the governor have a legal argument though I don't
think so, and I'm not his argument being and I'm
trying to summarize it as a non legal guy that
the Equal Protection for Religion Acts grants this because it
says you can't what undo burden? I believe it. See

(01:17:04):
lookout somebody's religious belief. Does he have a legal argument,
and forget all the religious and philosophical arguments for a second.
Does he have a legal argument here?

Speaker 6 (01:17:13):
I don't think he does.

Speaker 25 (01:17:14):
West Virginia's religious freedom of law says the state cannot
the state cannot substantially burden a person's exercise of religion.

Speaker 6 (01:17:23):
I think exercise is a key word there.

Speaker 25 (01:17:25):
So the state cannot substantially burden a person's exercises of
religion unless the burden is essential to further a compelling
government interest in the least restrictive means of furthering that
compelling government interest.

Speaker 6 (01:17:40):
To two points there.

Speaker 25 (01:17:41):
One is if you if you are requiring the vaccine
and you're stating a religious objection, is that putting a
substantial burden on their exercise of their religion?

Speaker 6 (01:17:56):
Number one?

Speaker 25 (01:17:58):
And number two, does the government have a compelling government
interest in protecting its citizens? And clearly it does. So
That's where I think that the person the argument that
my faith says we should not get these shots bumps
up against what I think the law says that, Okay,

(01:18:21):
are we interfering with your exercise? And does the government
have a compelling government interest? And I think the courts
have consistently found that on matters of public health and safety,
the government typically has a compelling interest.

Speaker 3 (01:18:39):
I want to gauge your thought on this idea because
I feel like it's been brought up, but often it
goes somewhat dismissed I think in this argument, and that is,
no one is requiring a parent to vaccinate their child
if they don't want to. We're simply saying for that
child to attend a public school, you comply with West

(01:19:01):
Virginia's compulsory vaccination laws. Howb it's been my experience if
you hold a deeply held belief, religious or any other kind,
there may be some level of persecution with that. There
may be sacrifice for holding that belief. I don't see
anything wrong with saying to a parent your child can't
attend a public school. Your belief is intact, you do

(01:19:24):
not have to vaccinate them, and oh, by the way,
we offer you the Hope scholarship or whatever other means
to ensure that your child gets the education that they deserve.
Others would say I'm crazy for that thought. Where do
you come down on that?

Speaker 25 (01:19:38):
No, I don't think you're crazy. I think it's a
valid point to say there are other options. You might say, well,
I don't want this other option. I want my child
so we attend public school or parochial school, whatever it is.

Speaker 6 (01:19:48):
So, but you're right, there are other options.

Speaker 25 (01:19:53):
This is just a caveat for attending a public school.
I want to add here that I still think I'm
a big believer in vaccinations, and I think it's been
I don't think, I know it's been proven over and
over and over again. How they're probably the greatest medical
advancements of the last hundred years in terms of saving

(01:20:14):
lives and preventing people from getting really, really sick and dying.
But there may well be a way to craft the law,
which the legislature tried to do and faild for a
religious exemption. And I've looked at some other states and say, okay,
I have religious exception. What is it so, state state

(01:20:35):
in an affidavit and a swarm affidavit, what your religious
objection is and why getting that vaccine is antithetical to
your faith, rather than just as the law was crafted.
I think initially the bill, you know, you could write
on a pizza box.

Speaker 6 (01:20:51):
I have a philosophical objection, So.

Speaker 25 (01:20:53):
Okay, craft it in a way that there is an
avenue for a specific religious exception and to state in
they sworn Affidavid what that is?

Speaker 6 (01:21:04):
Can anybody go with that?

Speaker 15 (01:21:05):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
That brings us back to where this conversation starts off,
is that if the legislature wants to craft a bill
and pass the bill, and the governor signed the bill,
then so be it. The issue here, at least for me,
is whether or not the governor is over extending his
authority with the executive order trying to do what the
legislature should do, and that is come up with a

(01:21:27):
religious exemption if they want it, fine crafted however you
want it. Forty five other states have done that. I
always come back to the legal argument here of whether
the governor is overextending his executive power in this conversation.
You're right, forty five states have done it. Blue states
have done it, Red states have done it. There's a
way to craft it. Somehow the legislature failed to do
that this past session.

Speaker 25 (01:21:47):
They did, and I think it's a decision for the
legislature and the governors. I said, I think he's out
of balance here on this. I mean, the legislature acted,
and I don't believe he has the ig.

Speaker 6 (01:21:56):
He does not.

Speaker 25 (01:21:57):
Have, in my opinion, the power to issue an executive
order that it is in violation with existing state law.

Speaker 6 (01:22:05):
I just don't think you can do that, you know.

Speaker 25 (01:22:07):
And I think his siding of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,
I don't think that's I don't think that holds up.
I'm not a lawyer, he is. I think he's on
a weak legal ground there, but we'll see. I mean,
now this thing is trying to work his way through
the courts. You have the temporary injunction in Rawley County
which just exempts those three children from getting vaccinated. It's

(01:22:28):
not everybody, and you have the school you're about to start.
So I suspect this is going to work its way
through the courts here in West Virginia.

Speaker 3 (01:22:36):
And we should kick it into high gear at this
point because we've got all these parents with uncertainties. And
Dave and I were talking the other day, having a
daughter who was in kindergarten last year. You know, if
you do have a sincerely held belief or if you
are worried about sending your kid to school for the
first time and being in a class with unvaccinated kids.
I mean, you've got some decisions here and all this

(01:22:56):
uncertainty is still up in the air. And I mean politically,
whether it's the governor or anybody else. West Virginia is
a small ball in this thing. In my opinion, this
is all about working through the system, getting back to
the Northern District and the fourth circuit that's said to
the Northern District, we want to hear from the state
courts before we rule on this thing, because at a
circuit level, now you're talking about affecting multiple states with change.

(01:23:21):
And not to be Machiavelli in anyone's intentions her hobby,
but you, I think would agree that anytime you can
affect change in a larger area like a circuit, a
US circuit, politically, that can be advantageous to what you
may want to do or what your goals may be.

Speaker 25 (01:23:38):
It's it is a This is a tough one and
I said that to a commentary and you guys know
it because you talk about it is that you have
faith bumping up against some level of practicality and existing law.
And that's that's the argument as old as time. Right,

(01:23:59):
So here we are, which is another issue related to that.
But I don't think, as I said, I don't think
the argument the overly broad the sincere but overly brought
argument that God told me or I prayed and God

(01:24:20):
told me not to get my child vaccinated. That is
a matter of faith, but that matter of faith typically
does not hold up as a matter of law.

Speaker 2 (01:24:30):
Happy kirch Well joining us. You can of course read
his commentary over at wv metronews dot com. Let me
do a complete one eighty since we got you here
and you're on the air and you can't really dodge
the question, Jack, and this is literally a complete one eighty.
We were just talking about Howard Stern you were, I
heard you. You did this show obviously for years, been
in radio your entire professional life. How did he impact

(01:24:53):
the industry and even have an impact over here what
we do as far as the you know, the news
talking sports side.

Speaker 25 (01:25:00):
His impact was he was one of the early pre
eminent shock jocks, did and said things that were in
fact shocking and I think pretty distasteful, but that's just
a matter of personal taste. But he opened the door
for other broadcasters and on at the time terrestrial radio,
which was regulated to be shocking, and he built a

(01:25:23):
huge audience that then carried over into the serious XM.
But as you guys were talking about, he's seventy one,
I'm seventy everybody has a shelf life, and now he's
not so shocking, and he does do really good long
form interviews. I've listened to some of those. But everybody's
got a shelf life. Everybody's replaceable. The media landscape is

(01:25:46):
now fractured that instead of being a couple of options
for that, there are hundreds of options for that. So
he's probably at the end of his end of the
line for the most part.

Speaker 6 (01:25:58):
But he did change for better or for worse.

Speaker 25 (01:26:03):
Some would argue for worse the texture and the nature
of radio.

Speaker 2 (01:26:10):
I was telling our video producer Jake that you can
probably blame or Thankstern, whichever way you want to look
at it. If you're watching our video stream right now.
He was one of the first that said, hey, let's
let's put this radio show onto television. Video and then
you know, everybody else decided to put radio on video.
He was always just a little bit ahead of the
curve when it came to, you know, where the industry was.

(01:26:34):
It's again being a little bit older or a little
bit younger coming along. I actually used to watch Stern
before I would go do a night shift a W
three R in Saint Mary's, which was probably dangerous, and
my PD at the time probably wasn't very appreciative of that.
Not that I did anything on three R hoppy and
in Saint Mary's, that's true.

Speaker 25 (01:26:52):
No, not unless you had not unless you had strippers
come in the studio.

Speaker 6 (01:26:55):
And I know it doesn't do that anymore.

Speaker 25 (01:26:56):
But those kinds of things, I mean, he pushed, He
pushed the boundaries, pushed well beyond the boundaries.

Speaker 6 (01:27:04):
During his during his tenure.

Speaker 2 (01:27:06):
Do you ever push the boundaries? Not like Stern? Not
like Stern. I wasn't accusing you of that either.

Speaker 6 (01:27:11):
I was just no, I'm kind of old school. I mean,
people listen to me, I don't.

Speaker 25 (01:27:16):
I don't even I don't think I said many bad words,
even on the on the radio.

Speaker 6 (01:27:21):
I just it's just not my thing. I might I
might have got cheeky now and then.

Speaker 15 (01:27:27):
But I.

Speaker 6 (01:27:29):
Learned this early on.

Speaker 25 (01:27:30):
You cannot get in trouble for something you don't say,
so kind of tried to practice then.

Speaker 3 (01:27:36):
Right that Lacy used to say, go right to the
edge of the cliff, but don't jump off at hop.

Speaker 25 (01:27:41):
Well, Lacey Lacy nef was a wonderful disc jockey. And
he was a disc jockey, and he was he was
good too, I mean he was, I mean not good too,
he was, but he was clean. I mean, I just
I am not into the whole dirty thing, just not.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
Just not shocking. We're all shocked by that Hops.

Speaker 6 (01:28:03):
I mean I was to you guys, you guys, keep
it clean. I mean, what's the point I don't clean fight?

Speaker 2 (01:28:07):
I think you ever heard of clean comedian who can
who can do the joke without saying the thing?

Speaker 3 (01:28:13):
Nate burgatsyeh, he's very entertaining.

Speaker 25 (01:28:17):
I think too, if you're look I like comedy, I'm
not a prude, but if you're dropping the F bomb
in every sentence, it loses its effect.

Speaker 6 (01:28:27):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
So my mom listens to this show and she can
still bend me over her knee even though I'm forty four.

Speaker 4 (01:28:33):
So I have keep clean exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:28:36):
Smack you right across your mouth.

Speaker 2 (01:28:38):
Be courage Well you can always read his commentary wv
mentioned News dot com always fun. Hop Appreciate it, buddy.

Speaker 6 (01:28:42):
Thank you guys, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:43):
See we'll get to your text coming up next. This
is talk line from the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 26 (01:28:50):
Looking for a.

Speaker 4 (01:28:51):
Big new game to play.

Speaker 26 (01:28:52):
Well, there's no game bigger than the new Dino sized
Jurassic World scratch off game from the West Virginia Lovery
which there's 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.

Speaker 17 (01:29:10):
So get down to your.

Speaker 26 (01:29:11):
Local lottery retailer today and welcome to Jurassic World. Must
be eighteen year older to play. Play responsibly.

Speaker 20 (01:29:22):
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 while
we are right there with them, as the voice of
agriculture in West Virginia, Join us today as we build

(01:29:42):
a better future for all of us. To learn more,
visit us at wvfarm dot org.

Speaker 1 (01:30:01):
Metro News talk line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 2 (01:30:11):
Sor right of reacting to tech issues With citty nets
proactive it support, we handle problems before they disrupt your business.
It's smart, seamless, and stress free. Sitting net connects, protects
and perfects. Learn more at sittynet dot net. Got way
behind on that conversation with Hopy Gotta take her final
break back in a moment. This is talk line from
the Encode Insurance Studios.

Speaker 27 (01:30:33):
Did you know Marvel Production make Clarksburg the Marvel Capital
of the World by acro agatet up until the late
nineteen fifties, and today those Marvels are worth thousands of
dollars Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg. Did you know that Clarksburg's Robinson
Graham was the first theater in West Virginia to introduce
talking pictures in nineteen twenty seven?

Speaker 3 (01:30:55):
Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg.

Speaker 27 (01:30:57):
Explore more at Come home to Clarksburg dot com.

Speaker 26 (01:31:03):
Looking for a big new game to play well. There's
no game bigger than the new Dino sized Jurassic World
scratch off game from the West Virginia Lottery, which gives
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

(01:31:24):
get down to your local lottery retailer today and welcome
to Jurassic World. Must be eighteen year older to play.
Play responsibly.

Speaker 28 (01:31:32):
Building a stronger West Virginia isn't just a dream, it's
a mission. The High Technology Foundation knows economic diversity is
the key. For over thirty years, they've been dedicated to
transforming the state's economic landscape. Conveniently located in the heart
of West Virginia, innovation, growth, opportunity all under one roof.
There's no need to look far for change. It's happening

(01:31:54):
right here at the High Technology Foundation in north central
West Virginia. Visit WVTF dot org to learn more.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
Let me get at a couple of texts here three
or four talk three oh four jackpots are growing in
West Virginia. Jackpots are on the rise every week. Powerball
hits Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Mega Millions lights up Tuesdays
and Fridays. That's five chances a week to get in
on life changing jackpots. Play in store and online eighteen
plus to play. Please play responsibly. The powerball jackpot is

(01:32:45):
four hundred and eighty two million, Mega Millions jackpots one
hundred and sixty six millions, So go ahead play today.
Uh texter says Jack Loger needs to go back to
Point Mountain and look for Bigfoot. That's what we're doing
this afternoon. We'll give you an update tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:33:00):
Help you find him.

Speaker 2 (01:33:00):
Uh Dave. The greatest part of Howard's radio show was
when it was over Sure three or four talk. Uh
three or four I support. We break up West Virginia
from Winner Take All to like Maine and Nebraska, says
the Texter. Uh three oh four talk three oh four up,
We're out of time. The music says, we're out of time.

(01:33:22):
Metro News Midday coming up on some of these missame
Metro News radio stations. We're back tomorrow, Steam Release. It's
talk line on Metro News. The Voice of West Virginia.
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