Talkline | Oct. 2, 2025

WV School Board President Paul Hardesty discusses what is holding public schools back. Dave & TJ weigh in. Fox's Ryan Schmelz has the latest on the federal government shutdown. Phamacueticals industry expert Krista Capehart explains what we know about TrumpRx. And Hoppy stops by. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I can't be the only one following the government shutdown
story who's been walking around humming the final countdown for
the last couple of days and then changing the lyrics
to fit the situation. I mean, I'll give you a demonstration,
but I'm pretty sure that infringe on coffee right laws
and I can't do that. Metronors talk Lines Underway.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Radio Turned Off story.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
From the studios of w v RC Media and the
metron Who's Radio and Television network. The Voice Up West
Virginia comes the most powerful show in West Virginia. This
It's metron who Was talk Line with Dave Wilson and
t Meadows.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Activated Switch Network Control from Children in the Morning.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Stand by you, David DJ.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
You're on.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Metronews. Talk Line is presented by Encoba Insurance, encircling you
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incovia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Good Morning, Welcome inside the Encode Insurance Studios. Thank you
for letting us be part of your day on one
of our great radio affiliates across the state of West Virginia.
On the Metro News TV app or online if that's
where you're listening to the program. Eight hundred and seven
to sixty five. Talk is the phone number. Three h
four Talk three oh four is the text line. We're
gonna have some opportunities for you to weigh in today.

(01:48):
We are going to dive headfirst into the topics brought
up by State School Board President Paul Hardesty yesterday regarding
the state aid formula, school choice, hope, scholarship, all the
We're going to dive headfirst into it. Get your reactions
as well. A little bit later we'll get some details
on Trump r X and try to figure out exactly
what that is all about. Ryan Smells will check in

(02:10):
from DC on the government shutdown. It's the government shut down,
and Hoppy stops by as well. Good morning to you, Jay.
It's been two days of that. It's an earworm now
it's just stuck. And I wanted to put that plague
on everybody else today.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
The lower third on all the cables. I've got News
Nation on in my particular studio here this morning. Dave
were not counting up right, so it's like it's gone
one day, ten hours, eight minutes and mark twenty seven seconds,
so we're counting up. I'm watching Speaker Johnson give a
civics lesson. He was just launching in to how bills

(02:49):
are resolved between the different houses, making the point that
they had done that with three of the appropriations bills.
I'm waiting for him to get to the filibuster.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
But he didn't break into the song about being a
bill on Capitol Hill. He's just a bill. He didn't
break out a schoolhouse rock yet, has he.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's more of a day I would say six or
seven shut down message. We haven't got there yet. I'm
telling you, the Street thinks this thing is going to
end early. I mean, the indexes were up yesterday, they're
up again today. I made the point, I think on
Amanda and Dave Show yesterday that I think Wall Street's
a good barometer of this stuff because they're voting on
economic outcomes and they don't think it's going to last.

(03:28):
So I'll go with Wall Street for now. We'll see
you are a.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Data's numbers guy, Data's Did I say data's Data's are data?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
I'm sorry, we know in the last we'll.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Get into that. Schmell will join us coming up a
little bit later on this hour. Yesterday, we told you
about Paul Hardesty's comments during the State school Board meeting.
The state school Board president took about fifteen minutes to
discuss everything from declining student enrollment, the Hope Scholarship, and
antiquated state code that governs public schools. Yesterday, Paul Hartesty,

(04:01):
speaking during the meeting, pointed out there has been a
systematic plan to kill the public school system in West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (04:09):
If you bankrupt the school system, change can occur. That's
why you see this staggering decline in enrollment in West Virginia.
In the past decade, we have lost over thirty five
thousand students in public education, all in the name of
school choice.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
He says, the changes have their changes needed to the
funding formula for public schools as population decreases, but nothing's
been done.

Speaker 5 (04:32):
No changes have been made, nothing has been done to
accommodate this hemorrhage in education loss. So this has been systematic.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
And he says it's up to the legislature to make
the changes to help public schools if they want to.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
They have the ability to change the school aid formula
to recognize these rurally challenged, geographically challenged areas that we
speak of. They had that ability. I on this board,
in this Department do not.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
That's Paul Hardesty from yesterday's meeting joining us so much
News talk Line this morning is the president of the
West Virginia School Board, Paul Hardesty. Paul, good morning, Thanks
for joining us.

Speaker 6 (05:15):
Good morning. How are you doing.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, Paul. Who were you talking to yesterday?

Speaker 6 (05:20):
Well, first, I wanted to talk to the citizens in
the voters of West Virginia. I was trying basically to
clear up two major misconceptions. As I see it, there
are so many people in the state of West Virginia
that thinks that the Westernia Code, the laws that govern
public education in West Virginia, are crafted by the State
Board and the State Department of Education. Nothing could be

(05:43):
further from the truth. But so many people have contacted
me since last night since I had no idea. So
that's the first misconception I wanted to clear up. The
second one is on you know, on school choice. I
have stated until I don't know how else to state

(06:04):
it any other way, I have no opposition to school choice.
I have been totally transparent. I have family members that
utilize school choice. I have family members that utilize the
Hope Scholarship. God bless them. I'm fine with that, but
all the changes that occurred over the past decade, and
I'm going to go out and call a few I'm

(06:24):
going to call a few organizations to task here. They
don't like me anyhow, So that's okay. ALEC and Americans
for Prosperity. They have pushed this under the guise of
school choice and choices are fine. There's no problem with choices.
We should have choices, but the rules and regulations that

(06:45):
govern those choices the ones that are and I'm talking
about homeschool, I'm talking about public charters and public education.
This has nothing to do with private schools. Those three
options that are under the purview of the state legislature.

(07:06):
They need to be fair and equitable, and I tried
to prove that yesterday with the visual illustration that I used.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Paul, I want to get into the math on some
of this. I think you said we've lost thirty six
thousand students rough numbers. I believe you said in the
last decade. I think ten thousand students are using the
Hope Scholarship, of which estimates are roughly half would be
in private school or some other option even without the
Hope Scholarship. So talk to me about the remaining twenty

(07:37):
six thousand. If I have my math right there and
the numbers that you gave, how is how has school
choice pushed those other twenty six dollars?

Speaker 6 (07:45):
And school choice has not pushed all those You know,
we've had loss of population in the state. We've had
you know, few and fewer kids coming into the K
twelve model. I'm not blaming school choice for everything, but
it has been a great acceleration in the last three
years with this model being in place. But the problem

(08:06):
remains is the public school system has to continue to
operate in the format by this stifling codebook when we
had the extra thirty eight thousand kids just a decade ago.
You see what I'm getting that here is the restrictions
and rules stay in place for far greater numbers, and

(08:30):
then when the loss of population occurs, they're still in place.
I'm just trying to bring some attention to the legislature
I'm going to use. And I lay awake at night
thinking about some of these and the reason I went
with my speech yesterday. I got up at four o'clock
yesterday morning, got a cup of coffee and read an

(08:52):
email that the lady has sent me from Randolph County.
Tough situations in the Pickens area. I get that twenty
six kids there, and they contact their local legislators and
the legislator says, you know what, I'm just I'm not
for a school consolidation and school closure. Well that's fine,

(09:15):
and I get this a lot in southern West Virginia
as well. The people that are effective, they call their legislators.
That's said, normal progression. They should do that. But when
the legislator says, you know what, I'm not for consolidations,
I don't want you to have to do that. But
yet they're the only people that can effectuate the real change,
and that change lies in the school aid formula. They

(09:36):
want to put the blame and the owner on the
department and on the board. The people in West Virginia
got to know who can make the changes to accommodate
that rule setting. That's geographically challenged, it's got long bus routes.
All I have to go by is a thirteen hundred
page book of rules and regulations, and guys, I'm not

(10:00):
going to tell you it is tough in getting tougher
as we lose that population.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Paul, I want to get it, and we're talking to
Paul Hardesty, State school Board President. I want to get
into those regulations in the school aid formula in just
a moment. But in twenty nineteen, when you were in
the Senate, you voted against House Bill two six that
created the public charter schools. Do you believe in West Virginia,
with our declining population, our fiscal challenges, there is room
to support both these school choice options and public schools.

(10:30):
So everyone, all schools, all education options are excelling.

Speaker 6 (10:35):
I am I am I a fan of public charter schools. No,
I did vote against that, and that was in the
omimous bill. I believe that had the multi subject omnibus bill,
which we had a lot of debate over. On the surface,
I won't be against public charter schools. I may not
like them, but I'm not going to be against them.

(10:56):
But what I am against is I showed yesterday and
regulations that govern those public charter schools. We have hiring
criteria in Chapter eighteen eight for all the six hundred
and twenty nine schools in the state of West Virginia.
Guess what kind of hiring criteria public charter schools? At

(11:17):
none you don't even have to have a degree or
a certificate to have a job at a charter school.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Is eighteen A two ownerous? Do you want it rolled back?

Speaker 6 (11:31):
Well, it's very onerous, and I'll be honest with you,
I'll probably offended a lot of people in the education
space and the public by saying this. Let's look at
a pendulum in the eighties, nineties, early two thousands, when
the Democrats were in control of the legislatures, almost super
majorities like they have now. I remember in nineteen ninety

(11:52):
three when my dear friend Senator Donald Boli was the
only Republican in the state Senate one. Now I think
they have two Democrats, Mike Woffle and Joey Garcia. The
pendulum was swung all the way to the left. And
I am no fan of the National Teachers Unions. I'm
pretty blunt, guys, you all know meya and AFT. A

(12:15):
lot of the problems we had today are direct from
their national leaders and what they do. They want to
do everything but educate children. They stick their nose to
meny places they shouldn't. But a lot of that stuff
incorporated in chapter eighteen A was a direct result of
the far left actions back in those days, and they're
still there today. Now the pendulum has swung all the

(12:38):
way to the right, not from just that I'm very
conservative myself, but it's slung so far to the right.
We're now at the libertarian phase. It's right of right.
And that's why we've had this influx of school choice
and what they believe. And they believe with all their
heart that that's the right model, and you know what,

(12:58):
they're entitled to that belief. But when the pendulum swings
so far from the left to the right, who gets
caught in the middle And what's the collateral damage to
what's in the middle. You see what I'm saying. The
two The system is flawed. There's got to be relief.
In chapter eighteen eight, I mean, let's look at and

(13:19):
I don't want to, but I need to make this point.
We get one snapshot a year to determine personnel needs
for six hundred and twenty nine schools, rip and transfer season.
You lock that stuff in in March and April for
the next year. Let's say we've got a classroom and

(13:42):
we project, with our best projections that there's going to
be twenty kids in that class. We give that teacher
a contract, that's her class, that's she's teaching fourth grade math. Well,
let's say a lot of people in that area decide
to take the Hope Scholarship, which they have every right
in the world to take, and then when school starts,

(14:06):
we got four kids in that class, sixteen of them left.
And I'm just using this for an illustration. Well, in
a private school setting, they would adjust their workforce and
move people around and make what they have work. They
would adapt to that setting. We don't have that ability.

(14:29):
Once you give that person a contract. Guess what you've
got that contract. That's their job. If it's four kids,
if it's two kids, if it's twenty kids, you're stuck
with that. You can't go back and make a modification
until the next year. I said this yesterday. Public education,
with these laws and regulations and rules, were the only

(14:52):
institution that's asked to run like a business, be financially
solvent like a business, but yet have little nobility to
manage the workforce.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
It's pretty simple, Paul, you mentioned leveling the playing field.
Should the legislature look at loosening the restrictions and the
regulations on public schools.

Speaker 6 (15:15):
Well, I mean, I asked that every year. And I'll
be honest with you. I've got a lot of friends
still in the legislature. I had a lot of them
call me since last night and text me. They understand
what I'm trying to say, but I understand they have
a tough job as well. And anytime you tell them
that you've got to go into Chapter eighteen A, they

(15:37):
know that's going to be a tough sell. They know
that's going to be very controversial, and they also know
that in the House. I got to get fifty one
people to agree with it in eighteen in the Senate,
and that's a tough ask. But we're to the point
now we've cut to the bone. We've cut cut, still
have to provide the same level of services. Something has

(16:00):
to be done.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
So you're blunt. I appreciate that, and I agree with you.
It's one of the reasons I like talking to you.
Let's put school choice aside for a second. Just with
the population loss, we have to consolidate. We can't have
schools running at thirty eight percent of occupancy, can we No.

Speaker 6 (16:16):
We can. But yet when the public thinks that the
state board and the county boards and the State Department
of that they think they just want to cut my school.
We do not want to close any school. But I
keep going back to this codebook, the rules and regulations

(16:37):
in the codebook. Our main reason that your school has
to close. It just does not meet the economies of scale.
It don't. And I was just trying to clear up
some misconceptions. I wasn't trying to make anyone mad. I mean,
I was very troubled last night when a certain group

(17:01):
that said I was trying to pick winners and losers.
That's not my job. My job is not to pick
winners and losers. I want the people in West Virginia
to read what I said. That's one thing I like
about a radio interview. You all don't have the cutting
floor that television has. If I say it, I own it,
unless you unless you can clear it up in five seconds.

(17:21):
But I mean I own it, and I will own it.
But we have got a real problem. We can't continue
to operate six hundred and twenty nine schools with right
now two hundred and forty one thousand students. And we're
going to take a snapshot guys tomorrow for the second
month enrollment. That's the snapshot will take around the state

(17:42):
to get actual attendance numbers, and we'll find out how
many more students we've lost. And that's what our funding
for next year will be based on.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Paul Hardesty's joining us a Board of Education State Board
of Education president.

Speaker 6 (17:53):
Here.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
I'll mention News talk line yesterday, Delegate Joe Statler, who
co chairs the House Education Committee, was on WAJR in Morgantown.
He was talking about the state aid formula and has said, hey,
we're looking at other states. He's looked at the formulas
in other states. They are looking at it because, as
you pointed out, Paul, basing that on student enrollment is

(18:14):
having devastating effects on these counties. I don't know what
the answer is. I don't know if they know that
the answer is, but they are looking at it.

Speaker 6 (18:21):
Joe called me yesterday afternoon after the Lord meeting, and
I'll be honest with you, there's not a finer man walkman.
Joe Stadler. He's a dear friend. And if anybody in
the legislature understands public education, it's Joe Stadler. I said
that at the State School Association meeting back last month.
He was there. He cares. He was there with every

(18:42):
school board member in the state, and I actually recognized
him and told them that. But Joe knows there's a problem,
and he and I have talked and we're going to
try to roll up our sleeves have a conversation. And
he reached out to me yesterday. Now I found this
very encouraging. He said, get some of these superintendents from
these counties together, have them give me specific areas where

(19:07):
they think changes need to occur. And that's encouraging, guys.
It is that's a start of what needs to be
changed in the code. And he said, we'll take a strong,
hard look at it. You know, if anything, yesterday we
released started the dialogue down the road to making some change.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Well, that you have certainly done. State school Board President
Paul Hartsey, Paul, appreciate you coming on. We kept you long.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (19:34):
Thank you guys. Have a good day you as well.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Got to take a break. We're back in the moments
we will discuss. This is talk Line Metro News from
the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 7 (19:43):
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Speaker 3 (20:55):
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Speaker 1 (21:07):
I have thoughts, TJ has thoughts, You have thoughts. We'll
get to all of those coming up in a mere
matter of moments. Over at wv Metro news dot com
get the entire Week six high school football schedule. We
have it posted for you. Three games on the slate
Tonight's we'll have the scores for you. Of course, all
the action coming up tomorrow night. Across the Metro News

(21:27):
Radio network. We'll share our thoughts. We'll get to your
texts coming up. On the other side of the news break.
Hoppy will join us in the second hour. Ryan Smells
Round ten forty five, three or four Talk, three or
four and eight hundred and seven sixty five Talk. This
is Talkline on Metro News for forty years, the voice
of West Virginia. It is ten thirty times to get

(21:48):
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 9 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. Connaw County Shares
definitely say. An accidental s shooting has claimed the life
of a teenager. It happened early this morning at a
residence in eastern Kanah County. Deputy say the nineteen year
old pulled the trigger on a gun that he thought
was not loaded. The gun fired. He was pronounced dead
at the scene. State Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson says Governor
Patrick Morrisey has directed his staff to do a deep

(22:16):
dive on what impact the federal government shut down will
have on state revenues. Nelson says, so far, it does
not appear significant.

Speaker 6 (22:23):
To the best of.

Speaker 10 (22:24):
Our knowledge, we do not foresee any immediate needs. Should
this go on beyond thirty days, then you start to
have a little concern as it relates to our federal employment.

Speaker 9 (22:38):
Retired State Eductor in General Bill Crane says the uncertainty
of the shutdown creates makes it difficult to deal with.
He says, many guard workers are working right now without
being paid.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
I know the service members will show up. They're going
to do what's needed of them. They've made a commitment.

Speaker 9 (22:52):
There are more than twenty six thousand federal workers in
West Virginia. Governor Patrick Morrisey and state police have an
announcement to make a news conference. It's scheduled at eleven
thirty this morning at the state Capitol. The topic of
the news conference hasn't yet been released, but again that
starts at eleven thirty this morning. The next couple of days,
no ragin in the forecast in West Virginia's going to

(23:14):
be a little cooler today. Meteorologists say we'll top out
in the upper seventies in most areas. You're listening to
Metro News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 8 (23:23):
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(23:45):
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Speaker 11 (23:55):
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Speaker 9 (24:25):
There's a job bearset from three to six this afternoon
at the Invent operation at the Industrial Park in Eleanoris
that's Puttenham County. Invent makes back up power buildings for
data centers. Facility controller Andrew Metz says these are good jobs.

Speaker 12 (24:38):
They are competitive wages and they do absolutely range depending
on the fu coming in at So if you're more
at the beginner level, it'll be more of an entry pay.
If you're coming in with several ya's experience or skill set,
especially in the electrical and the welding area, that pay
will definitely be higher as.

Speaker 6 (24:52):
A result of that.

Speaker 9 (24:52):
From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
All right, Open segment three or four Talk three oh four,
eight hundred and seven sixty five. Talk is the phone
number eight hundred seven sixty five, eight two five five.
We'll check in on Ryan Schmells on Capitol Hill. Get
the latest on the federal government partial shutdown Texas as
Northern Dave, that would be me. If you're singing it
as a as the government shutdown, may I suggest the

(25:32):
fiscal shutdown? It flows easier that way, Uh, the FCO
shut Yeah, I can do that. By the way, producer
Jake slash Legal Council informs me TJ. If we're legal, yeah,
if we're paroding, paroting, if we're doing a parody of
Europe's song there, then we can get away with it.

(25:54):
So maybe we run it through AI. We'll work on it.
We'll get the production crew, We'll get our massive production
team here on the show, Teach.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
We'll get them on that for day three of the shutdown.
Per Hey, I'm all for taking a risk. What are
they gonna do what they can't get back from a
tournament so.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Well, I mean they can do some things, all right.
Paul Hardisty joined us. He was gracious enough to stick
around for quite a while there to talk about his
comments from yesterday and where he was trying.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
To go.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
See it up. TJ. Let you go first. What do
you think? What are your thoughts on his comments? Where
we are and where we want to end up there.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
So a couple couple of things. I think Number one,
you have to provide options. You should provide options. Hope
Scholarship is a good thing. I firmly believe that. With
that said, you have to also provide an excellent public system.
You have to do both. It can't be one or
the other if for no other reason. If you look

(26:48):
at what the Hope Scholarship pays, it won't cover the
full cost of tuition to a private institution. It just doesn't. Therefore,
there will be people that can't exit even if they
want to, that don't have the means to cover that
full nut of a private or parochial education. So we
have a standard to provide both. We should provide both.

(27:10):
I agree with him completely on eighteen A, some of
the things that he has said on and just in
conversations with him off the air. I mean, if I
were running that business as a businessman, I would feel
like I have both hands tied behind my back. I
wouldn't have his job. I wouldn't accept that burden, given
what he has to do with eighteen A, the school

(27:32):
funding formula. I don't even know where to start. We
have talked about this thing for how many years and
not done anything, and minus what is going on with hope,
that other twenty six thousand or so students that we've
lost because solely of population and people leaving the state,
and yet we haven't changed anything. Something's got to give.

(27:53):
That's where I'm at.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
I listen four times. I think I listened to that speech,
because uhs, I listened to it yesterday morning. Then I
saw reaction to it, and I questioned it did I
hear what I thought I heard? Because already there is
a reaction out there. And again this is probably mainly
living on social media. So take it for what it's
worth that this is a black and white choice. It

(28:18):
is either public schools or school choice. And that is
not That is not what Paul Hardesty said yesterday, And
that's not what he said a couple of minutes ago
on this show when he slammed down that codebook, or
it didn't slam it down, he used it as a
visual aid. That codebook looks like the Gutenberg Bible on
how public schools are governed. What I heard Paul Hardesty

(28:40):
say was let's level the playing field. And to me,
leveling the playing field between school choice and public schools
is taking the wraps and the restrictions and the regulations
that are holding public schools back. Take those off so
they can excel, and so they can provide the same
type of same type of educational opportunities that is attractive

(29:04):
with these public charters and private schools. Level the playing
field so they're both playing the same game. One team's not,
if you will, in the SEC, and one team's in
the MAC. Here put them both on the same playing field.
That's what I heard from Paul Hardesty yesterday. And I
do not think that is an an unreasonable ask.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I don't agree with everything Hardest he says. I've told
him as much. The characterization that he is anti school
choice trying to shut down Hope. No, sorry, I'm not
buying that. I know it's out there, I know people
have made it. I don't think that's his aim. Sorry. No,
you can call up and feel free to disagree with me.
Folks make your case, but I just I don't buy that.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
No, I don't either. I think the point was the
playing field is uneven. Yeah, and if you look at
this and get the SCOO aid formula, I mean, good luck,
good luck, bless Joe Statler's heart and everybody else who's
trying to figure this thing out. Well, it's complicated, but
student enrollment plays a large role in determining how much
of that funding goes to these individual schools. And with

(30:08):
declining enrollment, you're seeing declining funding. And like you still
got to operate school buildings, you still got to pay teachers,
there's those costs are still there. It is time to
dare I say, it's time to look at everything. That's
a big ask, that's very broad, that's not specific. But
if we've done part of them, we've done part of it,
right TJ. We've given the school choice options. Now you've

(30:29):
got to bring public schools up to the same level.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Because there are just some counties where you're never going
to have a private school. No one is going to
go there. So yeah, you know, and I asked Paul
about this, and he's right, he's pinned in in terms
of consolidation. But beyond consolidation, I think is maybe a
texture pointed out. We got to talk about fifty five systems.

(30:53):
I know that's not popular. I know everybody likes to
have their little realm and their little chiefdom. We can't
afford it anymore. And it goes back to what we
talk about all the time, Dave, what do we say?
Almost all of our problems stem from lack of population,
and the people we do have here only half of
them work. If we had more people living here and

(31:13):
we had a higher labor participation rate, we would have
more tax dollars in the coffer without putting any punitive
tax additional tax burden on the people that are already working,
and we could have the luxury of running schools at
a lower percentage of folks out of thirty eight percent occupancy,
and we could have both sides of the equation in

(31:35):
play without some kind of financial conversation all the time.
We don't have that.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
And here's the little secret that doesn't get brought up often.
The charter schools, the private schools, the homeschooling opportunities, those
have to be part of the equation for economic development
because if you're going to when you bring in business
and your recruiting business, and then those businesses have to
recruit executives to come in and run the business. If
you're trying to recruit top medical professionals, you know what

(32:04):
they're looking for. Charter schools, private schools, and you can
tell them and you can show them the data. How
great ex county schools. I don't want to pick anybody
out in particular, you know whatever county school system. No,
they're great. They have all these other eh, because that's
not what they're used to. That has to be part
of the formula too, So you can't throw one without
the other. I'm just saying I think Paul Hardesty has

(32:28):
a point that codebook is thick. There are a lot
of restrictions, There are a lot of regulations. And how
many times TJ were we talking last year about bills
putting more restrictions on public schools. Maybe we should be
talking about less restrictions, rolling back those regulations, making it
easier to operate these systems.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
Well, just of a matter of common sense. The example
that he gave in terms of getting one snapshot, one
piece of data that you have to use to plan
twelve months from now, you do your best. You say
you think you're gonna have twenty kids in the room

(33:06):
on that fourth grade math teacher example, you put a
teacher in the room, it turns out you have was
it fifteen or sixteen that he said somewhere around there?
And economically that doesn't work yet because of the code.
You can't combine a class, you can't move a T
shirt to a different job, you can't do whatever common

(33:26):
sense would dictate that you do to make that situation
work economically. I mean that transcends politics, doesn't it, Dave.
I mean, that's just common sense and making your money work.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Who's gonna fight you on that?

Speaker 13 (33:38):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (33:38):
I know, I know.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
All right, let's get to some text. I promised we
would get your thoughts in. You've heard ours. Let's get
to yours. Three h four talk three oh four Texter
says the folks who are excited about school choice. I
get it, I do. But this effort at the highest
level is only about tearing down the public school system.
It's not really about building anything. Us at the bottom
are just being used as numbers to count, so we

(34:01):
consolidate the schools and systems. What's student transportation like in
some areas, kids are on a bus for multiple hours
one way. What's that going to be like, with less
school systems, will kids have to drive a different county
to so a school building is more than fifty percent capacity.
The people in this state, especially the rural parts, being hypocritical.

(34:22):
They go to these meetings demanding one thing, but when
it comes to cutting checks and checking boxes in the
voting booth, they are saying something else. I presume the
texture is alluding to or alluding to levees and yeah,
yeah there are. Now that doesn't go for every county.
I know the one I'm sitting in very supportive of
the excess levees there. But there is a cost associated

(34:44):
with those keeping keeping these rural schools, keeping these buildings open.
There's a cost.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Back to a point, the texture, previous texture just made it.
It struck a chord. I'm thinking I grew up in
a town that straddled to counties. Right, the town was
in one county, but just across the border, right the
unincorporated side of the town. Had a friend play baseball with.
He went to a school that was twenty five thirty

(35:10):
miles away because that school was in his county that
he lived in when he lived maybe I don't know,
ten or fifteen miles from the school I went to
in another county. Does that make sense in today's world?
It's a fair point.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Hope scholarships should be based on family income, available to
those with more economic need, says The Texter. Why not
just say what charter schools are all about? Getting rid
of unions. Had my grandson in the car when he
was in public school kindergarten. He told me people shouldn't
drive cars because they pollute the atmosphere. He got that
from a video at school, says The Texter. All right,

(35:47):
got a lot of texts to get to. We'll get
to more of them as we continue hops. Going to
join us at eleven oh six. We'll bring this conversation
up to him, whether he knows it or not. Up next,
we'll check in with Ryan Schmells Fox News Radio on
Capital Hell. The latest on the government shut down. I'm
working on it, workshopping it. We'll be back in a moment.
Talk line from the co Insurance Studios.

Speaker 8 (36:09):
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(36:30):
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stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy generation
capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty is a dynamic
approach to economic development which will supercharge our state's coal
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(36:51):
action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again America's
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Speaker 3 (37:20):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance and
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Speaker 1 (37:29):
Oh, the partial federal government shut down continues. We're in
today two. Let's go to Capitol Hill find out the
latest from Fox News Radio. Is Ryan that Schmells Ryan,
good morning, Hey.

Speaker 13 (37:40):
Good morning boy.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Any inclination that there may be a path forward to
resolve this.

Speaker 14 (37:48):
No, we have some idea. There's some bipartisan talks going
on right now, but maybe a short term plan, but
that doesn't involve leadership, so I'm not quite sure if
that will be taken. Seriously, the plan right now is
to have a vote again tomorrow on the exact same
plan that they voted on UH yesterday, and the hope
is that with a couple more days into the shutdowns,

(38:08):
some Democrats might be tempted to cross party lines and
UH and vote to break to filibuster.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Speaker Johnson was out front this morning talking to the media.
What did we learn from him?

Speaker 14 (38:19):
Well, he addressed the sombrero h video, and he also
addressed this AI video that Newsome had of him in overalls. Okay,
but seriously he uh he he did address that, but
he said, no, the social media stuff is a side game,
and it's a site, it's a it's a complete waste
of time. And I mean, I think he pretty much

(38:39):
said there's no negotiating that's going to be happening, Like
the deal that's on the table is the deal. It's
on the table. And so I think he pretty much
held firm with where Republicans are, which is that you know,
the the Affordable Care actext of these are a separate
issue that shouldn't be dealt with right now.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Fox News Radio is Ryan Schmells joining us. Ryan, both
parties are sticky to the talking points. Is there any
indication that that is one is resonating more than another.

Speaker 14 (39:08):
I think it's still a little It's still hard to tell.
I mean, you know, there was some New York Times
pulling that both Republicans have and President Trump have been
pretty adamant to use, which says that pretty much is
people giving advice to Democrats to not shut the government
down if they don't get everything they want. So so
I think it's more of those you know what, time

(39:30):
will tell type of things where we don't know who's
going to get blamed for it right now or if
how this is going to reflect. Yeah, I think it's
just still very very early. But the reality is that
Republicans are putting his vote up to reopen the government
over and over again. And how does that look to
the American people. I don't know yet.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah, everything's political, Ryan, as you well know, being in
the political capital of the world. They're talking to the
bases right now. To Dave's point about the talking points.
It seems like they're talking to those bases that are
in But some of that polling you talked about has
thirty thirty three percent of Americans primarily I think independence
that say, hey, look, they're both to blame. When does

(40:09):
each side start to shift their narrative. Do you think
to try to gain support among those independent thinkers on
this issue in terms of trying to shore up whether
they're right or wrong.

Speaker 14 (40:20):
Well, I think if you were to talk to Republicans,
they think that they have a winning message on this,
which is that they feel that they did the right
thing by putting a clean cr with no major spending
cuts on the floor. That's just a simple extension of
funding until November twenty first. And then you know, the
messaging that they're using to attack Democrats is on an

(40:42):
issue that they feel is a big time winner, which
is this idea of healthcare for illegal immigrants. You know,
but the majority of Americans do not believe that, based
off the polls, that illegal immigrants should be getting medicaid.
So that's one thing I think Democrats though, are trying
to message on an issue like healthcare, which they think

(41:02):
is a winning issue, but at the same time polling
might suggest that it hasn't been in recent election cycles,
but it was a while back, you know, back when
President Trump ran the first time twenty sixteen. It was
one of the biggest issues there was. But they think that,
you know, when people start seeing these notices in the
mail that their premiums are going to start to go
up because these tax subsides are going away, they think

(41:23):
that's a winning message.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Does it make your job easier or harder when the
federal government shut down?

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Ryan?

Speaker 14 (41:30):
I would say harder, just because I mean there's more
media here than ever before. Whenever there's a shutdown, there's
less people here, which can be had. Certainly has its pros,
but you know, the media presences get gets pretty intense
during a shutdown season.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
You know, the media people. You just can't do anything
with them, Ryan, Yeah, what do you do with them?

Speaker 6 (41:52):
You know?

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Hey, Dave, can I get one more NBF time around
about sixty seconds? Ryan, The narrative of medicaid for illegals
is something that's heavily debated. I saw it on social
media last night. Yeah, does that really hold in this context?
Is that really what what democrats want? Here? Are Republicans
right in that talking point or is that not accurate.

Speaker 14 (42:15):
It's complicated because you know, there are sections in the
Democrat bill and that's what they constantly references this. This
Democrat alternative reopened the government plan, which is pretty extensive.
There's a lot of news spending in there, and it
would reverse a lot of the One Big Beautiful Bill
Act policies related to Medicaid. Well, the One Big Beautiful

(42:37):
Bill Act had a lot of provisions in there, and
that would have removed or made it harder and and
pretty much provided more guardrails to prevent people in the
country illegally from getting on Medicaid or or getting some
type of assistance program. So the argument is, if you
take those guardrails away, you open up the floodgates for

(42:59):
for ELI immigrants to get put on Medicaid or or
or other types of healthcare benefits. So it's a little
bit of a give or take. But I mean, look,
Democrats have denied that every time we've asked them about
at least members of leadership have. And you Shu five
point out too that you know, as of right now,
federal law does say if you're in the country legally,
you shouldn't be getting you can't be getting Medicaid. So

(43:22):
you know, a lot of that enforcements on whoever's running
the centers for Medicaid Medicare services. Probably, so that'd be
on doctor Oz to make sure that that's not happening.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmells in DC having to tolerate
all the other media in town this week, Brian, appreciate it, buddy.
We'll check in again tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
Of course.

Speaker 14 (43:40):
I have it going, buddy. Thank you back at the.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Moment talk line for me and Cove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 15 (43:45):
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We are there for you to care for you and
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So go ahead, play today. UH text line three h
four talk three oh four?

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Where'd it go?

Speaker 19 (45:34):
There?

Speaker 6 (45:34):
It is? Uh?

Speaker 1 (45:36):
Texter says on the medicaid front, they conflate legal and
illegal residents. Yes, some legal residents with children who are
born here may get Medicaid, but most non citizens do
not get medicaid. So security is different. If you're here
legally and you work legally, you are entitled to your
social security. Punctuation sometimes helps folks just saying three or four,

(46:01):
talk three or four. Why should they vote for it?
Trump administration has backed out of deals and are illegally
clawing back or with holding funding. How can you deal
with people like that? I thought all the illegals were gone.
Now we spent fifty eight billion dollars to send them
all home. Why are they worried about them getting healthcare?
The gentleman was wrong about the legislator swinging far right

(46:23):
causing the exodus from public schools. The parents choosing options
like homeschooling, charter school, hope, scholarship, et cetera, are making
these choices because they're unhappy with public schools, whether it's
the woke ideology, critical race theory, or plummeting test scores.
Showing up to school board meetings hasn't worked. Also, the
cost of public schools has skyrocket because lousy teachers cannot
be fired. The point Paul Hardesty was trying to make,

(46:45):
and I can't speak for him, but the point he
was trying to make was that the pendulum swung left,
let me say, thirty forty years ago when it comes
to creating regulations, now swung back to the right. And
the regulations that are being created are for schoo more
school choice options. We've never addressed all the other regulations
that have been piled on public schools. Those are my words,

(47:06):
not his.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
No, that's the point he was trying to make. Also
an equal point, some parents pull their kids out of
public schools because those public schools are bad. That's fair.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Six minute break copy joins us at eleven oh six
Talkline of Metro News, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Metro News.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Talkline is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling you with coverage
to protect what you care about most. Visit Incova dot
com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line underway. We're in
the Encoba Insurance studios Dave Wilson and Morgantown. Tjmeadows is
in Charleston, and you are tuned in on one of
our great metro news radio affiliates, maybe the Metro News
TV app, maybe just listening on wvmetronews dot com. All right,
coming up bottom of the hour, we're going to get

(48:00):
some details and try to sort through this Trump r
X IDEA. Christa K. Park w experts on the pharmaceuticals
industry will join us try to shed some light on that.
Got a lot of time built into this hour for
your thoughts. At eight hundred and seven sixty five Talk
eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five five. Text

(48:20):
line is also three or four talk three oh four.
We'll get to your thoughts, We'll get to your text,
phone calls, song recommendations. I still got that earbug going.
I walked out of the studio whistling, actually TJ during
the break the final countdown, and Jake is very feverishly
checking all of the legal precedents, trying to let us

(48:41):
know if we can parody that and turn it into
the fiscal shutdown for our own pleasure and hopefully to
uh infect all of you with that same earworm for
the next couple of days.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
You guys are on it. Meanwhile, the market turning negative
as the narrative in Washington starts to shift to using
the shutdown to cut government employees, so that unfolding as
we speak.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
All right, got the shutdown, We've got school funding formula.
The mountaineers are going to be why you tomorrow night,
better get a nap in tomorrow afternoon if you're gonna
stay up for this one. I think it's at TENS
at nine o'clock, ten o'clock kickoff. It's late. It's really late.
Hoppy Kurgival joins us to talk about all the above.
The Dean of Broadcasting as some call him, joins us

(49:26):
SO Metro News talk line this morning.

Speaker 7 (49:28):
Morning, Hop, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Are you gonna have to take a nap tomorrow afternoon?
You know? Oh yeah, prepare for this kickoff tomorrow night.

Speaker 7 (49:36):
Absolutely, I mean semi retirement naps for a regular part
of my day anyway. I just have to probably extend
that nap a little bit more to stay up until
that game is over, which will be sometime on Saturday morning.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
We'll get to the Mountaineers. You wrote about the mountaineers
and fans patients. We'll get to that in just a
couple of minutes. But we were talking to Paul Hardesty
this morning, back in the first hour. He made those
comments yesterday during the school board meeting. Not necessarily clarify,
but he said, look, we got to have a level
playing field here. We've got all these regulations, we've got

(50:07):
all these restrictions. We need a level playing field when
it comes to school choice in public schools. That was
my takeaway. Hop. You heard the remarks, you heard the interview,
I assume what was your takeaway?

Speaker 7 (50:18):
Well, first props to Paul Hardesty, who's a candid guy
who cares deeply about education, props him for bringing up
this issue. And I see it in a couple of ways.
One is it kind of gets conflated. I mean, we
end up with an either or debate about public school
versus private school, and funding public school versus funding private school.
And I know that's not what Paul was talking about exactly,

(50:40):
because he was not speaking against private schools in Hope Scholarship.
But I think this needs to be broken down into
two issues. And the first is that this state has
a constitutional obligation to fund public schools adequately. That's in
the constitution to provide for air an efficient system of

(51:01):
free schools. The state has no choice in that. You
must do that according to the Constitution. Now, it can
be reasonably argued that the complicated school aid formula no
longer does that because it's basically based on dollars per pupil.
So maybe there's another way to do that. That would
be up to people smarter than all of us to

(51:22):
figure out a way. But there is no choice but
to adequately fund public schools. That's a constitution requirement. The
next issue is about private schools and about the Hope Scholarship,
and about funding there well, the legislature made a decision
to fund in a large way private schools with the

(51:44):
Hope Scholarship. Interestingly enough, initially the proposal was just fund
students going forward, but there was an amendment offered when
this came up. There was an amendment offered on the
House floor. It was passed and became law that you
would fund all all students starting I think in twenty
twenty six, to pay whatever the amount is for their

(52:07):
private education. Now next year that's going to be what
two hundred and forty four million dollars, But that was
a legislative decision based on what the legislature believes is
a priority. So that's within their purview. So the issues
get conflated, which is understandable, but there are really two

(52:27):
separate issues here that need to be addressed. In my opinion.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Is the Hope Scholarship consistent with that constitutional obligation to
your point, because as you bring that up, I think
that further crystallizes your thought hobby that we can do both,
that it's not a one or the other. And I
just wonder why people see them at odds frankly.

Speaker 7 (52:53):
Well, because it kind of gets played out that way.
I mean, the idea is that with the current school
aid formula, if the dollars aren't going to public schools,
then they must be going to private schools. And they're
really sort of different pots, right, I mean, the public schools,
according to Hardesty and others, are not getting as much

(53:15):
money as they say they need because of the school
aid formula, okay, and because there are fewer students for
demographic reasons and more students for going to private schools.
So that's why they're not getting as much money as
they say they need. Meanwhile, the legislature has, as I said,
made the decision to fund these Hope Scout, to fully

(53:37):
fund these Hope scholarships, which means that the legislature has
put that above a thousand other priorities. So somehow these
things need to coexist, and that's up to leadership in
this state to figure out how to do that. I
don't think it's going to be one over the other,
but it has to be a way to coexist.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
And part of that coexisting, and Paul talked about this
at length, is leveling the playing field. And he put
down that regulation book of all the regulations that govern
public schools and I kind of jokingly said, it looks
like the Gutenberg Bible. It's that thick, there's thirteen hundred pages,
whatever it is. There's an opportunity there, I think, to
loosen those regulations, roll those back. Let teachers and we

(54:24):
talked about You've talked to me, you talked about this
over the years. Let teachers teach, take those Let these
school systems do what they can do best, rather than
burden them with increasing and more and more regulations from
the state. That seemed to be where he was going
with this, saying that the pendulum has gone from over
here to overhear, but we've not addressed that thing in
the middle.

Speaker 7 (54:41):
Well, it's another valid point by Paul Hardesty and by
you in that eighteen A. That's the section of code.
I mean, it's just it goes on and on and
on and on and on with so many things that
schools have to do or can't do. And it's very
once you open that up, there's going to be a
lot of debate about that. All those rules and regulations
are in there for some reason. Somebody put it in
there at some point for some reason. But yeah, that

(55:03):
should be looked at too, and overall, I think we
should look at public education. Talk to teachers. They'll tell
you they're overburdened by the requirements and the rules and regulations.
There are disciplinary issues, there's absenteeism, there's all kinds of
problems in public head. But I go back to what
the constitution says. So the leaders of the state are

(55:25):
under obligation to figure out how to do it because
they are constitutionally required to do it.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
I feel like we and I include myself in that.
I don't want to pick on anybody. I feel like
we want to ignore the economics of the situation though,
take hope out of the picture. I pose this to hardest,
you'll pose it to you that twenty six thousand students
that we lost that were just hey, people are moving.
We don't have them anymore. We can't afford to operate
a school at thirty eight percent capacity, yet it'll tear

(55:56):
the community apart. We got to have it. The math
doesn't math, hobby, and I feel like we're just not
we're not realizing the economic reality of what we have.

Speaker 7 (56:08):
Well, yeah, and I would also look at the economic
reality of this, and this is not going to win
me any friends or influence anybody but that we know
that we have a lot of underachievement in the public
schools system. The test scores show that we have an
absentee issue. And I would venture to say that all

(56:31):
these private schools, you can't lump them all together and say, oh,
homeschooling and these private schools, they're all going to be great.
Are all going to be terrible. It's the bell curve
of life, right, So you're going to have students that
are going to come out of the private side or
the homeschool side, who aren't going to be very well educated.
The bottom line to me is you're going to end
up with a lot of young people who are not

(56:53):
very well educated in this state for a variety of reasons,
and that has an economic has a large economic impact.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Ope kirchwill joining us so I mentioned news talk line.
You can read his commentary every Thursday at wv metronews
dot com. Government shutdown day, two day, threes looming. Is
this one different? Is it feeling different to you versus
other ones you have covered in the past.

Speaker 7 (57:21):
I've thought a lot about this over the last couple
of days and reading TJ reading your commentary this morning,
I was somewhat surprised, but not necessarily that the last
time the Congress passed all twelve appropriations bills was what
nineteen ninety sixty six. That's right? Is that what you wrote? Now?
What is that? To me? That is that is our

(57:42):
elected representatives abdicating their responsibility to fund the government through
the appropriations process. That's abysmal. That is that that that
is that is terrible. That's that is not comforting. And
so when I hear each i'd say they're talking points,
I just kind of roll my eyes, you know, I like, really, whatever,

(58:07):
because they've not done it right for so long that
I just get tired of hearing both sides talking points.
When these things happen, it's just abysmal, especially to time.
We got a thirty seven trillion dollar debt that's growing
every day these Democracy is not failing, but the members

(58:29):
of Congress are failing democracy and failing to do their
job when it comes to funding the government, and they've
been failing for years.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
I had a bit of a debate going on Facebook
last night. Got my blood pressure up a little bit,
I admitted as much. But Tim Walls, I'll be to
your point, he posted, Governor Minnesota. Former Vice President Conrol
candidate noted that, well, the Republicans control all three branches,
they should just be able to do what they want.

(58:58):
Yet they can't pass their quote unit quote word I
won't use to keep the lights on. You got to
have sixty. There's a reason you got to have sixty.
It's all about just trying these half truths and trying
to be right. No one cares about getting to a
solution anymore. It just drives me absolutely up the wall.

Speaker 7 (59:17):
Yeah, it's it's really it is a quest and not
by everybody, I understand that, but yeah, it is a
it's a quest for the political upper hand with the
you know, midterm elections coming up and all that, and
it's just it's exhausting. It's just exhausting. And it's just

(59:38):
that I read it. I listen to what either side
says and like, oh, okay, really, I mean, but do they.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Want us to buy that? Do they think that we'll
buy that? I mean, I know that he understands you
got to get to sixty. I know he understands why
we have the filibuster. Yet he makes a comment like that,
do they It's.

Speaker 7 (59:59):
Just it's it's just it's just the leaders of each
side playing to their base. And that's what the debate.
And I listened to the news and watched the news.
I mean, that's what it ends up being. And but again, TJ,
you made the you made the you made the point.
In my opinion, they haven't abided by the regular the

(01:00:19):
regular appropriations process in what twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty
twenty eight years, nine years? I'm going to get off
that to me, that's the story.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
To me, my iPhone's going off.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
Uh speak of testing your patients, mountaeers, testing your patients
happy not mine?

Speaker 7 (01:00:42):
Oh okay, I've been around too long. I doesn't test
my patience. I'm fine.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Fans fans aren't patient, though, well not anymore.

Speaker 7 (01:00:50):
Well I'm not sure. I'm not sure that patience is
a virtue for sports fans anyway. But now I think
that attention span, for variety of reasons is even shorter.
But I've said this is year zero for rich Rodriguez
for a couple of reasons, and one is that they
really got a late start. He was hired in mid December,

(01:01:11):
the high school recruiting season was already done. You were
most of the way through the portal transfer, he had
to assemble a staff, So that's one reason. Another reason
is that West Virginia abided by the revenue sharing which
kicked in July one. Some schools didn't like Texas Tech.
They frontloaded, they came, they just threw money at it,
and the frontloaded West Virginia didn't do that. Not only that,

(01:01:32):
they did not spend all of the money, all the
revenue sharing money that was appropriate to football. So West
Virginia's kind of backloaded. So to me, Rich Rodriguez needs
another year or like next year to be more fully
funded and actually have a little more money than he
has this year to be able to spend more time

(01:01:53):
to recruit, more time to get people he needs in
the transfer portal, and more time he's had more time
to understand what he need needs based on this year's schedule.
So I have patience, but I understand that that two
to three years is the new four to five years, right,
So you need he'll need to be better next year

(01:02:14):
and then better than that in year three, not year
four or year five. And the rest of this year
is going to be is going to be hard from
out in your nation. Now, we understand that Jalen Henderson
is out for this game against BYU. You got to
It's a terrible situation, Dave. You've got to go on
the road, you got to go to a tough place

(01:02:35):
to play. You got to play a good team. You
got to play him at night. You're down to what
is probably your third string quarterback, not sure if you're
how deep you aren't running back you have. You have
to try very very hard to find any reason to
be optimistic about the game this coming Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
Back to the theme of how not to be Dale Carnegie,
how not to win friends and influence people. I'll take
a turn at it. You talk about that, and you
lay out what rich faces. You do it very well.
But at the same time this week, late last week,
we hear hopefully from a minority of people, I don't
have firm numbers, complaining about naming rights on the coliseum.

(01:03:15):
You want the result, but you don't want to play
the game.

Speaker 7 (01:03:19):
Well. Also, fans do not take change easily. We know
that too. H ask that address that to the WV
marching band who occasionally thinks about changing what their halftime
or what their pregame show is, you know, or playing
loud music at the coliseum. Here to me, here's the
bottom line is Rin Baker has said that the athletic

(01:03:42):
director has said that WVU needs to be in the
top four, in the top part of the Big twelve
in terms of how it competes. That you need to
be there. Do you want to remain relevant? To be relevant,
you need to be in that top tier. You don't
need to be number one, but you can't be number ten.

(01:04:05):
So you need to be in that top ten top tier.
And that takes money. Every year. You have to come
up with twenty one, twenty two, twenty three million dollars
in revenue sharing to be relevant. Well, you got to go.
He has about ten different ways he's trying to raise money,
and one of them is in West Virginia. Frankly has

(01:04:26):
been late to this most schools, many schools have already
done it. And that is you're going to have to
auction off essentially naming rights to the colisseum, to the field,
to Mountaineer Field. That's probably going to get a name
at some point. That is the new reality. If you
want to play in that top tier, if you want

(01:04:48):
to remain relevant. If you don't, then don't. But WVU
with Rin Baker, with President Benson, and with the Board
of Governors, has made a decision. They want to be relevant.
If you want to be relevant, these are the things
you have to do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Happy Kerchible always relevant over WV metro news dot com.
Check out his commentary this morning mountaineers are testing fan patience.
Hop make sure you get an app tomorrow so you
can catch that. Is it ten thirty? The kickoff?

Speaker 7 (01:05:13):
Ten thirty?

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Ten thirty, Man, I'll have cleared a high school football
game and be headed home. By that point, you'll be
headed home.

Speaker 7 (01:05:21):
I'll be Yeah, it's that's another story about why the
game's at ten thirty. That's for another day. Brad talks
about Brad hal talks about that on three guys before
the game. All right, hey, thanks guys, I appreciate.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
It, Hoppy Kurtchewell, you can catch on three guys before
the game. Of course, we do his commentary WV Metro
News dot Com. Back in a moment. More of your
text's talk line from the Encobe Insurance Studios.

Speaker 7 (01:05:44):
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And the West Virginia Farm Bureau, well, we are right
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To learn more, visit us at wvfarm dot org.

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(01:06:35):
Visit WVHTF dot org. High Technology Foundation Shaping West Virginia's future.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
A couple of texts here before we break for news
three or four talk three or four guys. Fun way
to fix the government is get derby cars, Paint one
side blue, the other red, independent, some other color, get
a big arena, put house and all Senate members in
their side of the cars, and let let them beat
it out. Whoever is left is the side you follow.
I'm in. I think that'd be a great way if

(01:07:23):
we're locked deadlocked on votes. Let's do Derby Cars.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
If that's problematic and we can't get enough Derby cars,
we could just do what Warren Buffett said. If they
don't pass a balance budget, kick them out.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Still, I still like Derby cars.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
Well, let's do both.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
How about that and the losers get kicked out?

Speaker 6 (01:07:39):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
We can we can do reality television. I mean we're
onto something here. We can do reality tv. We can.
We can put it on Jake, we can put it
on the app. How about that? Derby Cars will put
it on the Let's keep this in house to you,
j Let's let's flush this out. Could we do it
at the legislature. We'll get dirt. Next time there's a
tight vote in the Senate, we'll get Derby Cars. We'll
go over to the Civics colisseum, we'll set it up.

(01:08:02):
We'll put it on the app. I think we got something.
I think we got something there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
I've heard worse ideas, honestly.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Well, I mean Texas says, I know the population decrease hurts,
but so does the lack of quality education in public schools.
Hey jents. As a retired military officer, my wife and
I have received many calls from our friends about settling here.
They their military. Some moving is no big deal to them.
While so many things about West Virginia are attractive to them.

(01:08:32):
Schools are a deal breaker.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
More you're true, Yeah, I think that's true.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
More of your text coming up. On the other side
of the news, we'll get into Trump r X and
try to sort through this deal. What is the deal?
Is it a good deal? Is it a bad deal?
Is it going to impact us?

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
You?

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
The consumer will try to figure all that out.

Speaker 6 (01:08:53):
Coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
More of your text and phone calls as well. Three
or four Talk three O four eight hundred and seven
to sixty five Talk eight hundred and seven, six five
eight two five y five. This is talk line from
the Encove Insurance Studios on Metro News for forty years,
the Voice of West Virginia. It's eleven thirty times to
get a news update. Let's check in on the Metro
News radio network. Find out what's happening across the great

(01:09:15):
state of West Virginia.

Speaker 21 (01:09:17):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lawrence. Logan County authorities
say a child's in stable condition after being struck by
a car at the bus stop this morning. The incident
occurred about six forty five in the community of Whitman.
The victim, a thirteen year old boy, was crossing the
road to get to the bus when he was struck
by an oncoming vehicle. Deputies indicate the bus's yellow lights
were flashing. However, the red lights and the stop sign

(01:09:39):
had not yet been deployed. Debutyes say they will review
the dashcam footage from the bus and present the evidence
to the county prosecutor, who will determine if charges should
be fouled against the driver. The driver has been cooperative.
Aknawha County teenager is dead after an early morning accidental shooting.
The victim was a nineteen year old male who police
say shot himsel health with what he thought was an

(01:10:02):
unloaded firearm a few minutes after midnight. It happened at
a home in the community of Glasgow, and the victim
was dead at the scene. Another victim has come forward
claiming to have been sexually assaulted by a former Kenawha
County bailiff. At the Canawa County Courthouse, attorning Jesse Forbes
on Wednesday revealed that third victim has now filed a
civil suit against the county and former Sheriff's deputy and

(01:10:24):
bailiff Cast Close.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
What you have here is I mean former deputy clothes
being able to roam the back halls of the courthouse,
roam the holding areas, and abuse female detainees in ways
that are just unimaginable.

Speaker 21 (01:10:39):
The first victim is the only one for which Close
has been charged. You're listening to Metro News for forty years.
The Boys of West Virginia.

Speaker 22 (01:10:46):
The second half of the high school football season continues
Friday night with our go mart Game of a Week.
Fort Hill, Maryland at Bridgeport lost, catch Greenbriar West against
Fort Fry, Ohio. Just Sales versus Capitol Midland Whilring Park
in Morgantown and mary at A versus Williams Town, all
on Metro News TV. Brought to you by the Thrasher Group,
Marshall University, and the Mountain Air Challenge Academy. Download the

(01:11:07):
free Metro News TV app on your iPhone, iPad, Android,
Apple TV, Roku or fireTV, or visit Double DV Metro
newstv dot com for more information.

Speaker 23 (01:11:18):
Hi, I'm Lane Tobin and I'm a project consultant with
similar environmental consultants. Growing up in West Virginia, I always
dreamed of giving back to my community. That's why I
chose CEC as an employee owned firm. We combined big
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(01:11:39):
At CEC, we engineer progress in the great state of
West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Find out what CEC can do for you.

Speaker 22 (01:11:44):
Visit Ceciinc Dot com.

Speaker 21 (01:11:47):
On unusual call for members of the West Side Volunteer
Fire Department. This week, a cow got stuck in the
mud in the Coal River. Chief Chris Shilling on how
they got the eight hundred pound animal unstuffed.

Speaker 19 (01:11:58):
With a bunch of straps around it, and some neighbors
and the owner of the cow had an excavator and
one of the residents out there had a form, brought
his excivator out. We dug a I rode over the
heel to lift it up out of the river.

Speaker 21 (01:12:12):
The cow is getting medical attention, but seems to be okay.
From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Chris Lauren.

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
Open segment about ten minutes from now. Your text and
phone calls welcome, eight hundred and seven to sixty five
talk and three oh four talk three to four. Sitting
that fiber built in West Virginia for West Virginia is
expanding to more communities every day, from simple browsing to
ten gig speeds. There are plans for every need to
visit sitting at dot nets and connect with a local

(01:12:55):
company you can trust. Joining us from the Charleston Studios
this morning, Chris k PARTWWE expert on the pharmaceuticals industry.
Earlier this week, the Trump our ex deal was announced
that includes a deal with Pfizer, and the more I
read about it, the more I get confused. Christa, good morning,
Thanks for joining us. Can you explain this deal in

(01:13:17):
easy to understand terms?

Speaker 24 (01:13:19):
Good morning? Well, I will do my best, and so
to kind of give you a little bit of information,
you have to understand how the pharmacy go industry works
and how we get our medications. So there's a few
different steps manufacturers make the medications, but usually and this
is part of the problem, we're having right now. Usually
our medications are made overseas, and that's why so many

(01:13:42):
of our patients here in West Virginia are currently experiencing
drug shortages. So many of the medications they need either
when they go to the pharmacy, they're not available because
they're on back order, or they're just short and we're
not able to get them, or the fact that they
are the manufacturer isn't able to make enough, or they're

(01:14:04):
not able to get it here, and so they're made
and then they're reimportant into the United States, and then
they go to a wholesale distributor and then they make
their way to the pharmacy. So there's several steps in
the process, and it looks like from what we hear
and there's a variety of things with this Trump RX
program that was announced in the deal with Visor that

(01:14:26):
in a variety of steps will be impacted, the first
of which will be the piece to start to address
manufacturer back orders potentially, which is the idea that Pfizer
will invest seventy billion dollars additionally to move more manufacturing

(01:14:46):
onto American chores to help to improve the manufacturer back
orders and secure our domestic drug supply. So I think
that's one of the pieces that I also want to hit,
is that we have so many manufacturer backwarders right now
and drug shortages. We're seeing it in every sector of healthcare,

(01:15:11):
in patient hospitals or having shortages. We saw this when
the hurricane hit and we had all the flooding in
North Carolina. Almost all ivy saline bags were taken out
because of one distributor, and so that's been one of
the big pushes from the federal sector was to move
more manufacturing for medications on to domestic shores. And that

(01:15:36):
would be one piece of this process.

Speaker 2 (01:15:39):
So as we move it here, though there's a reason
we make it somewhere else because the cost of labor,
I would imagine is cheaper in that somewhere else. If
we move it here, are we going to see increased
drug prices then because of that, Well, that's a potential.

Speaker 24 (01:15:51):
But part of the reason that is anticipated that we
see those cheaper, that we see the more expensive is
there's also that research and development that the American public
has been paying and that's part of what the administration
has had in those four priorities.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
So that's a fair characterism We pay for that.

Speaker 24 (01:16:11):
We are paying for not only the research and development,
The American public is paying for the research and development,
the manufacturing, all of those things. So and other countries
are benefiting at those much lower prices. And that's what
the administration has been saying with his most Favored Nation

(01:16:31):
pricing that he pitched in May, that President Trump pitched
in May with insisting and giving basically the ultimatum that
pharmaceutical companies needed to do better, they needed to reduce
the price and basically not charge the American public more

(01:16:53):
than what similar countries were being charged overseas.

Speaker 1 (01:16:56):
CHRISTA. K. Parts joining us W expert on the pharmaceuticals industries.
So Toby and Edith are out there saying, okay, am
I going to be able to pay less for my medication?
And I guess the answer is it depends.

Speaker 24 (01:17:12):
Absolutely. So the information that's come out, and I'll tell
you there's been very little information other than the release
that came out. So we had Pfizer's release, the release
from President Trump, and then also the pharma which is
the industry that represents many of the large manufacturers, and

(01:17:33):
so we have the base information about how the program
will work. A couple of key points. It will impact
or it will influence the Medicaid population. So one of
the key pieces is that the manufacturer Pfizer in this instance,
and the other manufacturers that are coming forward and are
negotiating with the administration, those manufacturers would offer the cheapest

(01:17:57):
prices to Medicaid, so they would get to medicate only,
medicate only, and then there would be a pathway for
others who are paying cash to be able to purchase
the medication. So this would not impact those with insurance
the way the program has been represented at this point,

(01:18:20):
So it wouldn't be those that have insurance. Now, you know,
I wouldn't say from from what we've seen with the program,
that wouldn't say that if you had insurance, you wouldn't
necessarily be able to purchase it for cash if that
were cheaper. There hasn't been enough information out really to
necessarily say that. But what we have, especially here in

(01:18:41):
West Virginia, we have a large segment of our population
that is what we call underinsured. So they have insurance,
but maybe they have a very large deductible, so they
have to have a really large amount of medical spend
before their insurance kicks in or or maybe the insurance

(01:19:01):
only pays a small percentage of their medication cost, and
so it's still too early to tell if a program
like this would help, because the advisor has said very
clearly that this would be for cash paying patients only,
so they wouldn't be able to use their insurance and

(01:19:24):
then get a discount on top of that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
So as usual, it's complicated. It seems to me, though,
is the federal government competing with the private section? I mean,
Mark Cuban's got this going on with cost plus drugs.
Should the federal government be competing with someone like him
that's trying to do this at a market level and
from a market perspective? Or am I mixing apples and oranges?

Speaker 24 (01:19:48):
I think you're mixing apples and oranges Because the drug
industry is very complex. Many of the medications that are available,
because you do have significant deal difference in medications that,
for instance, are going to be available under this Speiser program,
many of those are very high cost medications. They're brand

(01:20:08):
name medications. Many of the medications that are available on
some of the other programs are generic medications, and so
you have a big cost difference between those and so everybody.
I think the big thing one of the things that
I want to take away here is I commend the

(01:20:33):
administration for working to lower prices, because we all want
lower prices, but there are a lot of different angles
that we have to look at to truly get lower
prices for everyone, because there are a lot of different pieces.
As I mentioned, there's the manufacturers. There's bringing medications back

(01:20:55):
onto our shore to contract, you know, to battle drug shortages.
There are there's the insurance industry, because we know that
there's a large portion most of medications are paid for
not through your main medical but through a group of
the industry called the pharmacy benefit managers.

Speaker 2 (01:21:16):
Does this get around those.

Speaker 24 (01:21:17):
People potentially, but it also doesn't tackle the problem because
it doesn't allow people to use their insurance.

Speaker 1 (01:21:32):
It sounds to me like we need more details on
the program, Krista, more than a press release, because we're
all trying to sort through a very complicated issue with
the this midgeon of information there, so we could use
some more. We can use more info on everything we've
talked about on this show today. I think that's the theme.
We need more information. If you want to weigh in
on the school aid formula. You're welcome to do that too.

(01:21:54):
I mean, you know, since we're weighing in on these
is a kid, Christy, you do not have to weigh
in on the school aid.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
Very quickly, Dave, I will just say this, I went
and looked at the guidance that Peiser gives the street.
You know what, they didn't do the change their guidance.
They're telling the street They're still going to make the
same amount of money. How do you do that if
you're low enter on these prices. I mean, I mean, look,
I'm not saying as a shell game, but with all
the caveats, I just don't know how well it's going
to work. That's just my humble opinion.

Speaker 24 (01:22:22):
Well, I think potentially one of the and I absolutely
acknowledge that. One of the things that you have to
take a look at this is there's a lot of
uncertainty in healthcare industry right now because there are a
lot of issues and anytime that you look at all
of the different moving pieces, one of the things that

(01:22:42):
Peiser has said is that it brought stability. Now that's
their argument of where they're coming from. Whether that's true
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:22:52):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:22:52):
Chris a kpeart w expert on pharmaceutical industry, christiph thank
you for the insights today. We appreciate it absolutely happy
to here open lines. The rest of the way, the
show belongs to you your thoughts at three oh four
Talk three oh four. You can give us a call
as well. Eight hundred seven sixty five Talk eight hundred
seven sixty five eight two five five. That is the
toll free number you can call using your touch tone

(01:23:15):
keypad eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred
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Speaker 1 (01:24:45):
More, Open funds, open text Line. Rest of the program
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Let's go to the phones and the Northern Outpost. Bill

(01:25:28):
would like to weigh in.

Speaker 6 (01:25:29):
Hey Bill, Hey guys.

Speaker 13 (01:25:32):
First with Paul Hardesty, probably one of the best interviews
you've had this year, but just the way the interview
went from the best on these points. He mentioned the
National Teachers Union and the influence. I think I read
that as thanks, but no thanks. We don't need your

(01:25:53):
national influence at the local school board. Number two, Trump
has said from after January by shutting down the department
federal Department of Education. Okay, there's a lot of people
that agree that it is not functional and it is
a waste of government money in a bureaucracy in Washington,
d C. So he may have an opportunity to trim

(01:26:17):
the Department of Education in d C.

Speaker 6 (01:26:21):
So.

Speaker 13 (01:26:22):
Third, the influence of central planning between the Tartan Education
and the and the Teachers' Union, if you will, doesn't
filter all the way to a school board meeting that
happens at budget time for the next year. On old
school meals, substitute teachers, substitute drivers, and how all that

(01:26:46):
gets paid for or funded. So in this central planning,
I say thought process. In my opinion of mister Hardesty,
I'm saying he is absolutely correct that we don't need
as much center planning to the local school. So if
it's eighteen A and I'll add this caveat Joe Statler

(01:27:08):
and I have known each other for forty five years.
He's absolutely right. Joe's a good guy. So in of this,
it's the same thing up here in Amish country. If
you've got central planning tentacles so deep you can't make
good decisions at the local level because they're afraid of

(01:27:28):
losing funding.

Speaker 1 (01:27:31):
Bill, you hit the nail on the head. You have
so much central planning, so many restrictions, so many rules,
that you can't make the good decisions at the local level.
I agree with you totally. There three or four talk,
three or four to eight hundred and seven to sixty
five talk. Let's go to poke Jerry on the budget
and prescription drugs. Hey, Jerry, well on the budgets.

Speaker 26 (01:27:50):
You know we're afflicted with a proclivity. Do you lie
constantly about the budget and who's making what the problem.
The Democrats have continually protested any type of control of

(01:28:11):
spending and a lie line line and on now on
the prescription drugs and stuff. If you're going to get
something right, you got to get it for everybody, not
just pick salad out. And the big thing is is
every country in the world needs to share in the
cost of R and D, not just the United States.

Speaker 1 (01:28:35):
That's all Jerry appreciate the phone call eight hundred seven
to sixty five Talk eight hundred seven to sixty five
eight two five five textra says, no one is forcing
parents to pull their children out of public schools, but
it sounds like this guy is forcing them to go
back to sending them back into the public school system.
That's a miss. That as a mischaracterization and a narrative

(01:28:58):
that was immediately picked up. This isn't one or the other.
This isn't public versus private, This isn't hope scholarship versus
public school funding, and it does not need to be that.
Go back and listen to the interview with Paul Hartist
to go back and listen to his comments from yesterday.
He's singing level the playing field, and that's what I
took away. Let public schools give them the ability to

(01:29:21):
do the things that make the charter schools and the
private schools attractive. Give them the ability to succeed. And
that starts with the school aid formula, that starts with
Chapter eighteen A, that starts with that gigantic book of
rules they have to follow.

Speaker 2 (01:29:37):
Just as that book of rules binds Paul, the law
also binds him towards the Hope Scholarship. He can do nothing.
The board can do nothing when it comes to the
Hope Scholarship. So yeah, it's yours. Take it if you
want to use it, if you don't. But this narrative
that he's somehow forcing kids to go to a certain
no that doesn't.

Speaker 1 (01:29:56):
Hold textas is not a shell game, more like three
card monty as the texture All right, final?

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Get my point though, When counter Fitzgerald says, or they're
told from from Pfizer, no effect, you're good, No changing guidance.
What's really changing? Answer? Nothing?

Speaker 1 (01:30:14):
Last call for phone calls, last call for text We'll
get through as many as we can. When we come back.
It's talk line from the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 2 (01:30:22):
We are there for you to care for you at
the health Plan.

Speaker 15 (01:30:27):
The health Plan is still growing, giving you a large
network of doctors, friendly and helpful customer service representatives, and competitive,
flexible pricing plans that meet your needs. Log on to
health plan dot org for more information.

Speaker 2 (01:30:41):
We are there for you to care for you, and.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
We are here.

Speaker 25 (01:30:53):
Looking for a big new game to play. Well, there's
no game bigger than the new Dino sized Jurassic World's
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 get down

(01:31:14):
to your local lottery retailer today and welcome to Jurassic World.
Must be eighteen year older to play. Play responsibly.

Speaker 1 (01:31:40):
Three or four talk three oh four, get some text
in here before the top of the hour. Jackpots are
growing in West Virginia. Jackpots are on the rise every week,
power Ball hits Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Mega Millions lights
up Tuesdays and Fridays. That is five chances a week
to get in on life changing jackpots. Play in store
and online eighteen plus to play, Please play responsible. The

(01:32:03):
powerball in Jackpot is one hundred and ninety five million dollars.
Mega Million's at jackpop is five hundred and twenty million dollars.
To go ahead, play today. Texter says, we just got
school choice and hardesty's already wanting to level the field.
You're looking at it the wrong way. It's not holding
anybody back. It's elevating. Elevate the public schools. Don't pull
back the private charter schools. With the see with a

(01:32:27):
big beautiful bill predicted to cost West Virginia one point
seven billion dollars, how does the state plan to make
up for that shortfall? You ask? With two and a
half minutes left in the show, Government by the incompetent
on the whims of a mad king. Very little information
has come out other than the release. Funny, says the Texter.

Speaker 3 (01:32:46):
Lol.

Speaker 1 (01:32:47):
If Joe Biden had tried this, it would be called socialism.

Speaker 2 (01:32:51):
Is talking about the Trump our exit?

Speaker 1 (01:32:53):
Yeah, that must be a lesson from COVID. Right, drugs
ppe made outside of the US. Think Trump has this
one right? Turning the thumb screws on the manufacturers or
no R and D money. Why does Congress still get
paid during a shutdown? Do they? Nobody else is does
Congress still get paid?

Speaker 2 (01:33:11):
No, they get paid. They absolutely get paid. And you've
got gestures all over. Well, I'm foregoing my paid like
they need it, like they need.

Speaker 1 (01:33:19):
It, I like your generic congressman voice.

Speaker 2 (01:33:23):
Well, I'm forgoing on you like that. I do.

Speaker 1 (01:33:26):
The Democrats will get their bumpers handed to them in
a demo derby. That's all I'm saying, says Noel. Uh
three h four talk three oh four, draining funds. Otherwise,
going to public schools is not the answer to better education.
Public charters, state funded, but under counting supervision with freedom
to experiment, what address many issues? We currently fund private

(01:33:46):
schools with virtually no oversight, some of which are overtly religious.
Only is that funding a state religion but deprives me
of my choice not to send money to those institutions.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
Quickly though, back to the point. For years, if your
kid left the public school and went to a private school,
the public institutions have lost that money. Now where that
money goes somewhere in a deep dark corner in Charleston,
I don't know, but they've lost it for years. Nothing
has changed.

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
There has anyone done a deep dive into the demographics
of those using the Hope subsidy, geographic income, etc. Yes,
there have been reports on that, and I don't have
them with me right at the moment and we're up
against the top of the ear. But yes, there has
been some studies done on who and where and income levels,

(01:34:33):
all the above there. Maybe we'll talk about that tomorrow
because we got another show, and then we got one Monday,
and the day after that. We'll talk to you Tomar
at ten oh six. It's talk line from the Encobe
Insurance Studios on Metro News for forty years, the Voice
of West Virginia,