Talkline | Sept. 18, 2025

Dave & TJ talk about Jimmy Kimmel's suspension. Hoppy stops by to discuss the First Amendment. Plus, details on the governor's energy plan with Nick Preservatti. And Schools Superintendent Michele Blatt reports some improvement in the balanced scorecard. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Loaded show. Today, we're cutting interest rates, we're cutting deals,
and apparently we're cutting late night hosts as well. It's
Metro News talk Line and we are underway. You are surrounded.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Radio turned off from the studios of w v r
C Media and the Metro News Radio and Television Network.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
The Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Comes the most powerful show in West Virginia. This it's
Metro News talk Line with Dave Wilson and TJ.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Meadows activated, so it's network control from Charles.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
Stand By to David DJ. You're on.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encoba Insurance, encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Good morning, Welcome inside the Encoba Insurance studios. Glad you
are with us. Spenttro News talk Line eight hundred and seven
to sixty five. Talk is the phone number eight hundred
seven sixty five eight two five five. That is how
you can participate. You can also text the show three
oh four Talk three oh four. In fact, I think
some of you are getting a jump on the text

(01:31):
line this morning. Ethan Collins is our audio producer and
we've got the a team on the video stream on
Metro News Television this morning. Jakelink and Man of the
People Zach Carrol Chick coming up. Yes, Yes, we will
get into the suspension, firing canceling of Jimmy Kimmel's late

(01:53):
night show. We'll dive into that topic a little bit
later on this morning. We'll also be joined by state
school Superintendent Show Blat. We'll get her thoughts on the
latest round of standardized testing, more on the governor's energy plan,
and Hoppy Kerchible stops by as well. Loaded shows. Say
good morning to TJ. Meadows in the Cove Insurance Studios

(02:14):
via Charleston. Morning sir, Wait a minute forgot to press
the button, Morning sir, Good morning. These days, I feel
like there's never enough time in the show. It's like
we need three hours and that still wouldn't be enough. Well,
we could take one away from Dave Allen and Amanda Baron.
Let's just do that. What are they gonna do, We're
already on the air, TJ. What are they gonna do?

(02:36):
Come and kick us out?

Speaker 3 (02:37):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
I don't know how the tech works and who controls
the network and all that. I guess it boils down
to who really can flip the switch and who can?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
I know where the switch is and it's in Morgantown,
so no, just say the word TJ. Just say the word.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
We're gonna get into the Jimmy Kekel stuff coming up
next segments free speech, cancel culture. We'll get into all that,
plus we'll talk about it with Hoppy coming up bottom
of the hour. But some news here in West Virginia
and the legal case surrounding the states mandatory vaccinations for
schools and religious exemptions. It keeps getting well, it keeps

(03:14):
getting developments. I was gonna say, it keeps getting weirder,
which it's a little bit weird as this whole case
has been Metro New Statewide correspondent Brad McIlhenny continues to
monitor the legal updates. He joins us on Metro News
talk line this morning, Brad, good morning. Can you ex
first of all, give you a chance to say good
morning before I dive into it. Man over two, Brad,

(03:39):
hang on, guys, we got a wicked echo on Brad.
See if we can get that fixed real quick. Brad,
good morning. We'll get to you in just a second.
But the legal case involves the vaccination requirements and the
religious exemptions has been working its way through Raleigh County
court and lawyers are now asking for class action status.

(04:02):
Let's try this again, Brad.

Speaker 6 (04:03):
You there, Yeah, good morning, h.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
It's just Brad. This time. We can work with that,
all right, Brad, class action status, he said, question mark?

Speaker 6 (04:11):
Yeah, I have a question mark too. So this is
the case that we've been covering for a while in
Raleigh County. It is a couple of families asking for
religious exemptions for their kids. Until now, we have been
of the understanding that although this is the first case
out of the gate, it's the one that appears to
be destined for Supreme Court review. The rulings in this

(04:33):
case have applied specifically to the families in the courtroom,
the families that brought the lawsuit. It's at an interesting period.
Judge Froebel of Raleigh County has already has already ordered
a preliminary injunction allowing the kids in the case to
go to school, ordering their exemptions to West Virginia vaccine

(04:58):
policy to be observed and honored by the school system.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
But his rulings have applied to.

Speaker 6 (05:04):
This point just to those kids, just to those families.
On the matter of timing, there were two days of
permanent injunction hearing last week, so significant court action of
a period of two days more is coming up in
a couple of weeks October eighth and ninth. But the

(05:25):
plaintiffs in the case, the planets for the lawyers for
the families, have now asked for the judge to grant
class action status, which means that what happens in this
case would have ramifications in the other fifty four counties.
It would set a standard. So I will say that
that in the sense that there is the potential for

(05:51):
different rulings in different courtrooms all over the state until
the Supreme Court gets a hold of this. Maybe there's
something to be said for that, you know, maybe there's
something said for consistency. But the timing is a little
weird that this case is well underway. And also if
you grant that power to Judge Froebel, no offense to him.
But that is a lot of power for one judge

(06:12):
to say, all right, I agree with you, and whatever
I say in my courtroom will apply in Hardy County,
or Hampshire County or Brook County, that's just really a
big ask.

Speaker 5 (06:24):
Brad, and Dave, I'll pose this to you too, Brad,
I want to keep your integrity as a journalist, just
that intact. It seems problematic to me that you would
do this after the Supreme Court has already announced that
they will hear this case eventually. They've set up a
protocol for that, they've asked for briefs, they've published a schedule.

(06:45):
It would seem the appropriate time to file the class
action would be before the Supreme Court has said that.
So one has to wonder if this is tactical from
a legal perspective to accelerate something before the court rules it.
Just it seems to muddy the waters. Dave Wilson, I'll
put it that way, agreed.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
But in my non legal brain, it kind of makes
sense rather than leave this to where we have a
ruling that only applies to one or two families or
one county out of fifty five, let's get everybody under
one umbrella. Let's move this along as one case that
is going to impact everybody. In my non legal brain,

(07:27):
that kind of makes sense. Whether it muddies the waters,
I do agree with you there, TJ that we are
so advanced in this legal process, it muddies the waters
up a little bit. Again. I go back to what
I said previously, I wish there was an express lane
to the State Supreme Court so we could get this settled.
We know where it's going to head. But in my
non lawyer brain, it kind of makes sense. Maybe not

(07:49):
at this juncture, but it kind of makes sense overall.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
What the plaintiffs, the lawyers for the families, have said
in their filing is I'm just going to read you
the quote. The practical effect of the relief here would
be that this court's final order, meaning Judge Frobill's order,
can be taken into any other circuit court in West
Virginia and a trial can be held on the limited
issue of whether those plaintiffs possess a sincerely held religious

(08:17):
belief contrary to vaccination as required by the West Virginia's
vaccination law. So, I mean, what they seem to be
saying is that Judge Frobull can establish a cookie cutter
approach establish the rules for any court in the state
considering this issue. And if you then went to the

(08:38):
court in again already Hampshire Monroe Counties, then the only
issue on the table would be, do you, Dave Wilson,
have a deeply held religious belief that would apply? I mean,
I just think that at this point that's a lot
to put on Judge Frobile.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
How does it contrast with wasn't it Mineral County that
the judge denied an injunction? I think it was Mineral
County a week or two ago that one of the
judges said nope and denied the injunction. So again, having
that circuit level ruling seems like a weird time to
bring this class action in. I'm not, Dave, to your point.
I'm not saying it's wrong.

Speaker 7 (09:13):
Christ.

Speaker 5 (09:14):
This whole thing just continues to fumble. I guess.

Speaker 6 (09:19):
Mineral County did have a ruling that was the complete
opposite of Judge Froebul's initial ruling in Raleigh County. The
Mineral County ruling was that the religious freedom's law in
West Virginia does not strictly apply to the vaccination law
in the state, and that there was not a case

(09:40):
to be had by the family seeking an exemption in
that county. There is a case coming up tomorrow three
o'clock in Berkeley County, same issue. A preliminary injunction request
by eight families in that case asking for to have
their exemptions honored by the local and state school system.

(10:00):
You know, and I mean, we really could have just
case after case after case in individual West Virginia counties
with opposing rulings from different benches. But the ask here
in this Raleigh County case, the most recent one, is
to have everybody set by the same standard.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
When will Judge Froebel have an opportunity to rule on
this motion?

Speaker 6 (10:22):
I mean, I suppose he could at any moment, but
I think what he's likely to do is just wait
until everybody convenes again October eighth and ninth in his courtroom,
and he's gonna, I think, go over a flurry of motions,
including this one.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Mention New state wide Correspondent Brad mckilhenny joining us also
Brad as State Attorney General JB. Mccusky, took the lead
on a written statement of supports for the deployment of
the National Guard in Washington, d C. Of course, there
is Washington DC's lawsuit take it from there.

Speaker 6 (10:54):
Washington, d C. Is putting up a legal battle over
the deployment of the National Guard as part of President
Trump's emergency declaration about prime and civil disorder in that
federal zone. The argument on the lawsuit side of the

(11:16):
case by d C authorities is that the Trump administration
has overstepped its bounds, that it I'd just like to
say Posse Comatatus Act, but that is the legal argument
that the National Guard deployment violates the Posse Comatatis Act,
a federal law that restricts the use of military forces

(11:36):
for civilian law enforcement purposes. That is headed for a
federal judge to begin considering and what Attorney General McCuskey
and his attorney general counterparts from other Republican leaning states
have done, as they filed a Friend of the Court
brief to say that they believe there really was nough

(12:00):
crime and enough civil disorder in Washington, d C. To
justify the president's actions. It will not surprise you in
a currently very divided America to learn that the Attorney
General's agi mccusky's counterparts in democratic leaning states have filed

(12:20):
a friend of the court brief stating exactly the opposite.
So the federal judge in this case may take this
into consideration, may not, But what you need to know
is West Virginia's Attorney General is waiting in with a
legal opinion.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Metro New statewide correspondent Brad mclhenny. You can read his
stories over at WDV metro news dot com. Brad always
appreciate it. Thank you very much. Hey, thanks, Coming up
another late night hosts is probably going to be looking
for work. We'll talk about that next.

Speaker 8 (12:52):
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(13:15):
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Speaker 9 (13:21):
Football season is here. Get Mountaineer football coverage and watch
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(13:43):
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Speaker 2 (14:06):
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Speaker 1 (14:17):
Another late night host is out. We'll get to that
coming up in just a moment. But yesterday, as predicted,
Federal Reserve cut its pnchmark interest rate for the first
time since December, and single more signaled and more cuts
are likely this year. My financial advisor TJ. Meadows from
the Charleston Studios, be careful, you'll get me in trouble. Well, okay,

(14:41):
we kind of if you've been following the news and
following the markets kind of thought this was coming, it
comes yesterday. You're a little bit more versed, that's being
that's an understatement, much more versed in the financial areas
than ITJ. But what does this signal as far as
the economy moving for is this good bad? We got

(15:01):
to wait to see questions.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
So it's a neutral posture, Dave. The FED can really
do three things. They can take an accommodative structure and
posture which is the gas pedal. Right, you want to
stimulate growth. You do have a risk of inflation. That's
what happens when you drastically cut rates. When you take
a restrictive, you put the brakes on. Rates are higher,
you want capital to be more expensive.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Fed.

Speaker 5 (15:23):
What the FED said yesterday and what Droom Pedal said
yesterday is really this is a neutral cruise control. Right,
so we want to try to balance employment with the
rates and inflation. And right now, while there's certainly a
risk of inflation, the greater downside risk in the Fed's
thinking is the labor market and not having enough people working.

(15:44):
So they're cutting these rates to move from a restrictive
back to a neutral posture. Wasn't a huge rate cut
like you might imagine if they were trying to really
put the gas to the pedal and that kind of
accommodative structure. But you know, really, what specifically could we
see happen? I think a couple of things. Lower interst
rates means a weaker US dollar, so that makes borrowing cheaper,

(16:06):
encouraging debt fueled expansion. Stock markets typically go up because
people are moving money out of CDs and different things
into the market now that CDs aren't paying as much.
Housing is a big one in this country. We don't
have enough housing and we're seeing that and not enough
housing starts. This could spur the housing market. So it's
all about the sweet spot, brother, and if you can
find the sweet spot, you're good. And that's what the

(16:27):
feed is trying to do. Markets up this morning. I
think that's more on other action with Intel and their
steak and Nvidia taking a steak in them. But we'll see.
So neutral's not bad. Neutral means we're fined in the
sweet spot and we'll revisit what end of October I
think it is and see if they want to cut
a little further go from there.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
By the way, President Trump is holding a joint news
conference as we speak with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
on the Tech Prosperity Deal. That's all I know about
it right at the moment to j as this was
announced literally as we went on the air, but those
two announcing another deal between the UK and the US
right gon to be a huge, huge deal, huge, you know.

Speaker 5 (17:07):
I like this stuff though, Hey man, yeah, new deal,
let's do it.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yesterday, the internet blew up when ABC announced it was
suspending late night show host Jimmy Kimmel, and moved swiftly
after next Our Communications Group said it would pull the
show starting Wednesday after Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk's death.
Next Our said they were offensive and insensitive at a
critical time in our national political discourse. This also followed

(17:35):
to j FCC chairman Brendan Carr calling Kimmel's comments truly
sick and leaning on ABC and Disney to hold him
accountable for spreading misinformation. That's the short version of it.
Divergent thoughts here, and Hobby's going to join us, and
we're going to get into this a little bit more
deeply at the bottom of the hour here with free

(17:56):
speech and the government's role and et cetera, et cetera.
One DJ We talked about this yesterday with regard to
Pambondi trying to police hate speech. I don't like the
idea of the government whether it's the FCC, the AG, whatever,
whatever agency leaning on or threatening prosecution over speech. Is

(18:19):
that just goes against the fundamental principles of our country.
That's number one. Number two, Hey, Jimmy Kimmel, read the
room in front of you. Read the room, man, read
the room. You made your own bed on this one,
and you got nobody to blame but yourself.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
Fair here's another one for you with the FCC. I mean, look,
they do have certain abilities when you grant a broadcast
license and someone accepts a broadcast license, a network or
a legacy TV broadcaster, et cetera. We you know, we're
licensed by the FCC. But shouldn't the com mission speak

(19:00):
through its orders and not to reporters? Yes, had the
commissioners spoke through an order, I don't think we'd be
talking about this. I do think it's wrong to exert
that quid pro quo, or even the appearance of it
with that pressure. That's what has all the fire going
this morning. If they would just do what they're regulated
and able to do under the guise of the law

(19:22):
and what is legal, and speak through their orders rather
than talking to podcasters and various folks, or if you
are going to talk to a podcaster, explain what you
can and can't do, but don't make it so clear
that you're trying to target someone. That's the problem here, Yeah, Kim, Well, look,
he can say what he wants to say. Free speech.
We talked about this yesterday.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Guess what.

Speaker 5 (19:41):
ABC can do whatever they want to do. And when
the affiliates started saying, hey we don't like this, next
Star Sinclair and others said we're not going to air that.
There you go, as we say, Marca Dave, that's the
free market.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
And to what you just said. And this has been
this has been an achilles heel of the this administration,
particularly in two point zero Trump two point zero, the
inability to be precise and measured and make certain what
you are doing is in line with the constitution and
the law. This, this has been a problem. Pambody again

(20:16):
going out talking almost said something that would probably got
me taken off the air there talking flippantly about policing
hate speak. There's there's cracking down on violent speech, violent rhetoric,
violent inciting violence. That's that's all fine, right to a degree.

(20:37):
You got to be precise, be precise in your language,
be precise in what you can and cannot do. And
that's something this administration that's not been a strong suit
for this administration. This is another example of it.

Speaker 5 (20:47):
You got you gotta be responsible in your words. Words
have power, and when you can combine words with power,
and these people are in a position of power, you
have a duty to be very responsible, be specific in
your actions, and leave no doubt. And there's a whole
lot of doubt out there when you do things like
this like the FCC commissioner has done, and speak outside

(21:08):
your orders. Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
And just to a totally subjective thought. Kimmel peaked in
nineteen ninety nine with The Man Show. So do you
remember do you remember Jimmy Kimble on The Man Show?
I remember it?

Speaker 5 (21:21):
Yeah, And I still miss Letterman and I still miss Carson.
I never watched Kimmel anyway, But you know what, you
know what Kimmel can do, Dave, he can jump on
one of the streaming platforms and do his thing, and
maybe he would be better off for it. Maybe there's
a blessing in disguise here.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Call up Stephen Colbert. They could do a they could
co host their own show. Somewhere on the streams all right,
happy Kirchwill is going to join us. We'll talk more
about free speech, First Amendment, all evolve. It's talk line
on Metro News. It is ten 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 state
of Western.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Chip News West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. A
large crowd expected this evening at the state capital for
a vigil and service remembering the life of conservative activist
Charlie Kirk. Mason County Delegate Jonathan Pinson is helping organize
the event. He says, this is a chance to come
together and stand up against political violence.

Speaker 10 (22:12):
It's an opportunity for West Virginians to stand shoulder to
shoulder and to state to the country and to the
watching world that we will not be intimidated by those
who would choose violence over voices or weapons of rewords.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Now, the vigil begins at six on the Canar River
side of the state capitol. Mingo County residents will have
an opportunity tonight to hear more about and comment on
an application by trans Gas to receive air quality permits
for a pair of power plants in the county to
be used to power a data center. State Deep spokes
when Terry Fletcher says the in person meetings begin at
four point thirty this afternoon at the Harlest Center in Gilbert.

(22:53):
A fairly new member of the Calhoun County Commission now
faces possible removalor The remaining two commissioners voted last night
to seek your resolution to start the process of removing
thirty nine year old Jacob mccumbers from office. The first
grade teacher currently on home confinement is he waits at
preliminary hearing on fifty criminal accounts of sexual abuse against
a child. Removal of an elected official in West Virginia

(23:15):
includes several steps that usually take several months. You're listening
to Metro News for forty years the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 11 (23:24):
With the right support and care, the seed can grow
into a resilient plant. Recovery takes patience, intention, and a
willingness to listen. Every path is different, and every story
of substance use is an opportunity for transformation. When it
comes to growing and restoring our communities, we need everyone

(23:44):
to break through addiction. Learn more at back to Life
w V dot org.

Speaker 9 (23:52):
Get ready for some hard hitting high school football. The
twenty twenty five season continues Friday night with our Go
Martin Game of the Week Martinsburg Got the Hedges, Bill,
Lat's Catch Ok Hill and Shady Spring, Williams TWN at
Ron County and parkers Versus parkersburgsou all on Metro News TV,
brought to you by That Thrasher Group, Marshall University, and
the Mountaineer Challenge Academy.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Download the free Metro News Television.

Speaker 9 (24:13):
App on your iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV, Roku or
Fire TV, or visit Double DV, metronewstv dot com for
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Speaker 4 (24:22):
The State Department of Health is out with an announcement
urging vigilant ahead of respiratory season. The department says we
can expect increases in COVID nineteen flu in RSV cases.
According to the Department, the COVID nineteen vaccine supply may
be more limited and harder to access in West Virginia.
Got to find out today The economic impact are the
twenty twenty five Charleston Stern where Regatta Charleston Mayor Amy

(24:43):
Schuler Goodwin and others will have that announcement this afternoon
in downtown Charleston. From the Metro News anchored desk, I'm
Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Coming up second hour Metro News talk line. We'll get
into the governor's energy plan, the comprehensive energy plan he
unveiled last week during a speech in Wheeling. We'll get
into that, plus the latest on the state's standardized test scores,
some positive, some positive trends. Michelle Blat State School Superintendent
will join us a little bit later on in the

(25:33):
second hour. Hoppy Kourgiable has his commentary posted at wv
metro news dot com this morning, entitled Trump administration fails
the First Amendment. Hoppy, good morning, good to see again, Buddy.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Good morning to you all. Thank you thanks for having me. First.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
First of all, before we get into commentary, just quickly,
just briefly, you were concerned going into Saturday. I was,
how are you feeling Saturday evening?

Speaker 3 (25:55):
I felt great. I thought that that for West.

Speaker 12 (26:00):
Virginia to win, you needed to see that offense do
some things you had not seen previously, at least against
Ohio University.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
And it turns out you did.

Speaker 12 (26:11):
You did see that, especially with Edwards as the running back.
Nobody saw that coming one hundred and forty one yards.
Another great performance by the West Virginia defense and Nico markiall,
you know, getting benched and coming back in and performing
at a high level. So guys made plays. And you've
been around a long time maybe so when guys make plays,

(26:33):
you got a great chance. And the crowd was a factor.
Oh yeah, the crowd was a factor in that game.
So it was a high risk, high reward game and
they came out on the end of a higher reward.
So congratulations to them. See if they can avoid the
emotional letdown now as they go to Kansas.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
You had the trap game. Now you got the emotional letdown. Yeah, exactly,
all right, failing the first Amendment.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Do tell well, you've heard a lot this. First of all,
as everyone has said and agreed, this assassination of Charlie
Kirk is a tragedy. Is a tragedy.

Speaker 12 (27:06):
It's a personal tragedy for his family and his friends
and the people who admired him. It's a tragedy for
the country because political assassination is anathema to who we
think we are. Even though we have these terrible events,
so it's a tragedy on multiple levels. However, what you've
seen is, I think, is that an attempt by those

(27:28):
in the administration to use this tragedy to try to
quell speech kinds of things that are being said about
going after and targeting, you know, left leaning organizations that
are being blamed for this, even though there's no real
evidence that there's any sort of network that's responsible for this.
So going after them, I think is and talk about

(27:52):
the kinds of things that have been said Pam Bondi,
the kinds of things that she said and TJ I
know you wrote about that I think has an authoritarian
ring to it and an attempt to try to quell speech,
which I think is dangerous and a violation in the
First Amendment.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
Why would you be so disingenuous? Then, I take your
comments to agree with me that you think Bondi may
be disingenuous. Why do they think the American people will
fall for that?

Speaker 12 (28:20):
Hub Well, I think, Look, maybe I.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Don't know.

Speaker 12 (28:28):
I think what's at work here is that Donald Trump
has surrounded himself with people who believe this is an
opportunity to do something to advance an agenda to put
a foot on the throat of the left to do
a variety of things. And I think they're taking advantage

(28:48):
of this horrible situation of Charlie Kirk's murder to try
to do that, and it has. Frankly, it has a
chilling effect on speech in his country. And what's interesting, too,
is that the right raised a fuss for years about
the cancel culture, and I think legitimately so in many
instances like this is the cancel culture, this is what

(29:11):
the left is trying to do. And now I think
that many on the right are doing the exactly the
same thing by trying to cancel people for the kinds
of things that they that they say. And the First
Amendment is there to protect unpopular speech. That's why it's
there to protect unpopular speech. And there are lots of
USPN Court decisions that reinforce that idea. And what is

(29:36):
happening now is I think running roughshod over that provision
in the First Amendment to protect free speech.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think we're all in agreement that the government does
the First Amendments there to keep the government from doing anything.
Private companies they can do whatever they want. And like
I said, with the Jimmy Kimmel situation. Dude, read the
room before you something, and if you're a headache, you're
going to cause your company grief. And in this case

(30:05):
Disney ABC. And of course I know, and I know
the FCC was leaning on Next Star and Sinclair and whatnot.
But read the room, man, Yeah, I.

Speaker 12 (30:13):
Thought, you know, I've read Kimmel's comment a couple of times,
and I thought, and I'm not a fan of Kimmel,
but I thought that what he said was first of all, inaccurate.
I mean, there's not evidence that you can have an opinion,
but there isn't evidence that the mag of people were

(30:33):
responsible for the shooting of Charlie Trump. I just think
that's wildly inaccurate. There isn't any evidence of that, So
that that's one thing. Also, though, you have the chairman
of the FCC, Brendan Clark, Brendan Carr, who is applying
pressure on these TV stations and on the network. Now,

(30:55):
the FCC has limited control over the networks, but guess
who issues the licenses and thus can revoke the licenses
of broadcast stations. The Federal Communications Commission can do that.
And there's a key. There's key language that car used.
He was questioning whether that these stations that were airing

(31:16):
Kimill we're operating in the public interest. That's a very
important statement, because if a broadcast station radio TV is
not fulfilling its obligation to operate in the public interest,
it can have its license revoked. And that license is
a precious thing. And you're under the auspices of the FCC.
We're under I mean our radio stations or under the

(31:38):
auspices of the FCC. So when I think that that
has a chilling effect on these affiliate stations that were
running the show, you have.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
To wonder if it would have been better for the
chairman to speak officially through an order rather than talking
with the media about that. To me, that would have
been a higher road and would have protected the veracity
that you just explained, Hoppy, and what the FCC can
legally do in guarding that public interest. When you start

(32:08):
talking to the reporters and you may not be as
careful with the speech, people can perceive it the wrong way.
But if it's an official order, I think that's the
high road. Maybe that's where this gets muddied and where
people get upset.

Speaker 12 (32:19):
Yeah, well yeah, I think that's the really astute comment
is that would be better through an official comment rather
than something said on a podcast. But you take it,
and I think that the Chemel case is different from
the other things that have gone on with the Trump administration.
But the totality of it, and I think we, most
of us, would like to see a toning down of

(32:41):
the inflammatory rhetoric. But the totality of it is a
little bit scary to me that we are in a
period where you can get in where there is there's
almost feels like a weight, a weight that is out
there that is causing people to be concerned about that

(33:05):
what they say may get them in trouble. Now, that
has part of that is reasonable. You can be held
accountable for what you say, and you should be held
accountable for what you say. However, when you get in
a position where the government is going to exercise some
sort of pressure on you for what you say or

(33:26):
what you think, now you've gone down a different road.
Now you've gone down a scarier path in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Hapi Kerzbele joining us here on Metro News talk Line.
Beyond the Government, though, hop how do we how do
we arrive at a place where people feel comfortable with
this type of the type of rhetoric where you indiscriminately
label someone racist, bigot and fascist downright call them hitler

(33:54):
and think nothing of it. And I'll take that a
step for in a moment, but I want to hear thought,
how do we even end up in this type of
culture where that rhetoric has been acceptable, which I think
plays a role into the next step which people start
to act on that rhetoric.

Speaker 12 (34:10):
Yeah, I don't know, Dave. I mean, it's a uh.
I think most people agree there's been a coarsening of
the public dialogue and a lot of it. I some
of it goes back to again the cancel culture, where
you could get you can get in trouble for what
you said if you said the wrong thing, if you
said the wrong thing about Black Lives matter, you could

(34:31):
get canceled. And now you see some of the same act,
same action like that on the right. And I don't know,
but we're in this really weird time, I think, And
I don't know how it I don't know we how
we emerge from that, but it to me, it ultimately
is kind of a scary. It was a scary time
during the cancel culture. It's a scary time now when
you have the highest levels of government saying they're going

(34:55):
to seek retribution against people for what they think and say,
and that's not that is anathema to the founding principles
of this country.

Speaker 5 (35:04):
Frankly, have we failed for years, maybe even decades? And
when I say wee, I'm talking about parents, myself, the
education system in not teaching our children and ensuring that
they understand exactly what their rights are and understand what
is free speech. Because over the last few days, and

(35:27):
it's on the text line now, hobby people are flat
out denying that. Look, hate speech is not protected. There
just seems to be a lack of understanding of our rights.
So does that make it if what the Trump administration
is trying to do to what you laid out, are
we making it easy for them to do that?

Speaker 12 (35:47):
Yeah, because as you said, there is a Look, I
did not you know, I had a decent education, but
I didn't fully understand and I'm just a lay person
the implications of the First Amendment and what it meant
until I got this job and I started doing my
own research, as they say, and trying to understand it,
But yeah, there's probably a lack of understanding. I mean, look,

(36:08):
the Attorney General of the United States came out earlier
this week as you wrote about TJ, and said we're
going to go after people because of hate speech. I
mean that either either she knew what she was saying
and was saying it anyway, or she didn't even understand
what the First Amendments about. Now she came back later
and corrected herself and did all that, But yeah, I

(36:30):
think if you ask people should hate speech be outlawed,
a lot of people would say, oh, yeah, because it's
mean and we don't like it, and not understanding at
all that that is protected by the First Amendment. The
government cannot arrest you for what you think and say
because it's perceived as hateful. So we could all, I think,

(36:50):
do with a little extra learning on what the Constitution
means and what it doesn't mean.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Just then we'll go back to this idea of of
cancel culture for a minute, because I see what you're saying,
and I get it. I haven't made up my mind,
but I think this is a bit different than the
twenty twenty twenty twenty one cancel culture, where if you
come out and say that's something wrong about Black lives matter,
transgender's issues, whatever. People are openly celebrating a murder, openly

(37:23):
celebrating someone's murder justifying it. There's even mpol from you
gov where there is a percentage of people specifically on
the left, more on the left than the right, who
think political violence is justifiable. That that's different than I
express my political views. I don't believe transgenderism, or I'm
against abortion or whatever the case may be, and I

(37:44):
get canceled for that. Getting canceled because you are celebrating
somebody's death and advocating for violence is a different story.

Speaker 12 (37:51):
Yeah, I agree a couple of points about that. One
is that you still can be held accountable for what
you say. Okay, So so when you say something like that,
if you're celebrating a political assassination, you can be held
accountable by that for that, by being canceled, by losing
your job, okay, because the private the public firstment doesn't

(38:14):
apply to the private sector, but it is. So I
agree with you on that. But it is different if
the government says we're going to go after you and
arrest you because of what you said, what you said
may have been horrific, but that does not empower the
government to go after you unless you are specifically inciting. Okay,

(38:35):
if you are saying we need more of this, I'm
going to go out today and round up people to
shoot more people, then you've incited. Then you could be
subject to arrest.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
But no, we're on the same page then, okay, because
we made this point yesterday, when President AOC is in office,
it may be a totally different idea of what constitutes
quote unquote hate speech. And if then, if you're going
after people for saying I don't believe a man can
be a woman, that's a totally different. Now these shoes
on the other foot.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
Well, we already seeing that. We're already seeing that with
the baker from we talked about yesterday, the baker from
twenty sixteen in that case about whether or not to
bake the cake for the gay couple versus what happened
at office depot private sector, if you are defending as
many on the right, Pan Bondi wrote a brief defending
that Baker's right to say no, you should defend office

(39:26):
depots rights or their employee if office depot agrees with it.
To not print a poster. You have to be consistent,
and if you don't, we don't have lawvy of politics.

Speaker 12 (39:35):
It's as I said, and you guys are talking about
a lot. It's an interesting time, but also maybe it's
a good time to explore these ideas of what constitutes
protected speech and what isn't protected speech, and how we
talk about these things. Can we maybe we can, Maybe
we can get some good out of it.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Maybe maybe possibly, Hey, before I let you go, how
did the event goes? Former senator, former governor, former delegate,
former former senator Mansion on Friday?

Speaker 12 (40:05):
Like two hundred and fifty people there, and look with Mansion.
You asked him a question and you let him go.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Just let him go. He told some good stories. It
was very entertaining, very good.

Speaker 12 (40:15):
It's look if you're interested interested in politics in West
Virginia and mansions influence. Interesting book to read Dead Center.
I would suggest it as a quick and easy read
and a good read as to the insights of his
life in politics in West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (40:29):
Talk to me very quickly about what he said in
New York Times. I can't let that go.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
What do you say he might run for president? That's
Joe Manson come along.

Speaker 12 (40:38):
He was asked He was asked the same question at
the event last Friday night, and he said, I'm seventy
eight years old. I'm not running, So what time of day?
Was it okay that somebody asked Joe.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
That hop Good conversation, buddy, appreciate you stopping by.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Thanks, guys, I appreciate read Hopies.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Commentary at WV Metro News dot com. Your thoughts are next.

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Speaker 1 (42:23):
Text or asked, Dave, did you just do an air quote?
What's next? The wave at a ballgame? Must be watching
the video stream on the Metro News TV app. Uh, yeah, yeah,
I did the air quote.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Did you got me? Three or four? Talks? Three or
four is a text line. We'll get to some text
in the moment. Let's go to the Northern Outpost Bill,
What's on your mind? Bill?

Speaker 7 (42:43):
Hey? I want to save this now and sit on
Steamer's speech because I think it's relevant happy in free speech.
I absolutely agree that he has that opinion, and he
did a phrase it what I say against my opinion whatever.
That That is very help for programming on the West
Virginia Media Network. Now, Randy Whitengarten, who is the National

(43:07):
American Teachers Federation President, has a book out called Fascists
are killing, not killing, destroying our Teachers something to that effect. Okay,
And we got vaccinations on religious ex genpsus in West Virginia.
So if you're going to do this free speech taught

(43:27):
in schools, you can't take away the religious aspect that
Charlie Kirk was trying to get young people to understand.

Speaker 9 (43:37):
That is a.

Speaker 7 (43:38):
Free speech in the educational system as well as whatever
Trump's free speech system is or how we Hoppy perceives it.
I don't agree with it, but that's how he perceives it.
So where are we here about free speech through the
educational process, because that's where Charlie Cook was going to

(44:00):
campuses of these students that want to ask him questions
about his opinion in their opinion.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Bill always appreciate the call. I gotta get some text, buddy,
but thank you.

Speaker 7 (44:12):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Three oh four talk three or four love Bill up
in the Northern out post three or four talk three
oh four.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
For years, the right moan about free speech violations because
they could not use slurs or post misinformation on social
media platforms. Not a First Amendment issue, says the text.
Now there's an actual First Amendment violation involving the government
and crickets from the media is there an actual violation. Look,
they leaned, they leaned. Is that a violation? It's a

(44:44):
slippery slope, slippery slope. The only problem with our country
is that the two political parties have transformed into the only,
transformed into the only into only the past twenty years.
If you follow a party, you are the says the Texter.
Uh three or four talk three oh four, get to

(45:09):
that one in a moment. Uh come on, guys, told
top ten years ago that Trump will come after you too.
Cut out the whatabouts. They all do it stuff, Trump, Bondi, Patel, Bongino,
the whole corrupt bunch are proto fascist. Trump is using
every federal agency to harass and intimidate everyone, from law
firms to universities to desperate immigrants. Dangerous, says the Texter.

(45:31):
All right, gotta take final break. More texts coming up.
This is talk line from the ENCOVID Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 1 (47:04):
Glad, I looked up at the clock. We're coming up
on the top of the hour. All right, we'll shift
gears a little bit. We'll get some more of your
texts coming up. We're gonna talk energy policy later on.
Our West Virginia is test scores improving. There's some positive trends.
We'll get into all of it. Talkline on Metro News
for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance, encircling
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Visit incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Second hour Metro News Talkline Dave Wilson and Morgantown.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Meadows is in Charleston and of the People, Zach Carrolcheck
is running the video stream for Metro News Television and
the Metro News TV app, and our audio producer this
morning is Ethan Roz Collins. Phone numbers eight hundred and
seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred and seven six
five eight two five five. The text line is three
oh four Talk three oh four, Let's talk energy policy.

(48:05):
We're gonna talk education this hour, plus we'll get to
some of your text, many of you weighing in on
free speech, hate speech, Jimmy Kimmel and all the above.
We'll get to all of the text, or as many
as we can get to as the hour moves on.
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play today, TJ. Why don't you do the honors? As
our next guest is in studio with you in Charleston.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
This morning, be happy to before I do, Dave, let
me just say, I don't want to speak for you,
but I think you'll agree with this. First off, we
appreciate the texts. We appreciate your view point, and you're
sharing why you think what you think. We may not agree,
but I think Hopy was hitting at this in his
last segment. It's better that we're talking about it than

(49:10):
not talking about it, and so I appreciate where folks
are coming from, appreciate the text. We may not agree,
but please always feel free. I think this is a
safe and respectful place, right am I right?

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Most of the time. No, Look, that's always been a
hallmark of the show. Text it. Now look if you're
going to be vulgar or you know, a prominent text,
so you're not going to get a text on I've
always said I read them all. Most make it to
the air, and some of them I even replied to
personally with the text line, but yes, we will get
some of those coming up next segment. All right, TJ,

(49:42):
please do the honors.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
In studio with us. Here in Charleston is Morrissey Insider's stafford.
Your title changes so much? What are we calling you
these days?

Speaker 21 (49:52):
I am Deputy Director Department of Commerce. I'm sorry, Deputy
Secretary Department of Commerce and Executive Director Office of Energy
Preserve Body.

Speaker 5 (50:00):
So you can't even get it right. So I don't
feel bad about necessarily not getting it right myself.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Nick.

Speaker 5 (50:06):
Would it be fair to say that you are one
of the architects of this fifty by fifty plan, or
at least understand it better than most.

Speaker 21 (50:14):
I think that's fair. There's a big team and the
Governor's office putting this together, so there was a lot
of people putting it together. But I feel like a
pretty good handle on it.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
What does the governor want to do? What are the
what are the goals of this plan? Lay it out for.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Us, all right?

Speaker 21 (50:28):
Generally speaking, the governor wants to power America and he
wants West Virginia to do that. The component the plan
has four components. The first one is the fifty by
fifty that is West Virginia. We're at fifteen giggle wats
of generation in the state right now. The governor wants
to take that to fifty giggle wats of generation by
twenty fifty. There's a substantial need in the PGAM area

(50:50):
thirteen states. We're going to need tremendous energy in West
Virginia wants to step up and meet that need, and
the governor wants us to be the primary state to
do it or have a transmission plan also we can
get that energy where it needs to go. An energy
security plan, and then a twenty five year strategic development
plan for each source of energy, So we're going to
go coal, natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, etc. Everyone's going to

(51:13):
have a twenty five year plan that we're going to
help develop with industry, with the private sector, with the
universities to make sure that we have a path forward
for the next twenty five years in each of those industries.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Nick, for the lay person who's not in the energy sector,
what is the impact or what is the goal of
this plan for the state of West Virginia.

Speaker 21 (51:34):
Then that's a great question, and you'll hear Governor Morris,
you say this all the time. One of the primary
drivers of this, it's national security. And I don't think
the average person understands that it's national security. That if
we can't power our country and our way of life
in the next twenty five years, our way of life's
going to be threatened. And that's not an understatement when

(51:55):
you look at the amount of demand that's coming in
the next twenty five years. In PJM alone, the thirteenth
state area, it's over one hundred and ten gigle wats
of electricity that we need just to stay where we're
at and to meet our standard of living. So if
we don't act as a state, not just for West Virginia,
but for the country, there's real, real concern going forward.

(52:18):
And then it's also in the general sense of the
AI race and data centers, etc. It's again it's a
race with China for the information is all of our
critical data are going to be stored in Americas, are
going to be stored in China, and we're in an
AI race, a data race with China. So in the
general sense, it's national security. In a more specific sense,

(52:38):
this is an opportunity for West Virginia that we haven't
seen in decades and energy, what's going on in energy
right now. West Virginia, I think is the number one
state in the country that can benefit from this from
the federal administration and what they want to do on
an energy policy, what we have with our natural resources
and the demand. Governor Morrissey realizes this is an opportunity

(52:59):
for us to develop industry in West Virginia, develop our
natural resources, and move the state forward in the way
that we haven't had the opportunity to do previously. It's
just all of the stars are aligning. I think this
is a tremendous opportunity for West Virginia for jobs, for education,
to keep our kids in state. Energy can drive all

(53:19):
of that. They can drive the economic development, and Governor
Morrissey realizes that, and that's what he wants to do
with this policy, use energy to drive economic development and innovation,
not only in West Virginia but across the country.

Speaker 5 (53:31):
Let's double click into the details as much as we
can without losing people. You talked about West Virginia having
fifteen gigawatts right now of capacity or energy plants, power
plants in the ground that provide energy. The reason Nick
it's fifteen gigawatts is that's what our load is. That's
what customers who are here, business retailers, industrial customers, the

(53:54):
guy next door. That's what we use. So that's what
the utilities have to provide too PGM. When you talk
about that fifty by fifty, we're not necessarily going to
have fifty gigawatts of demand here. So it's not necessarily Well,
let me back up and ask this, why would the
utilities build beyond what we have demand for or is

(54:16):
there another strategy that the governor has in terms of
how we get to that fifty gigat number.

Speaker 21 (54:21):
Yeah, TJ, that's a great question, and you're right. We
produce enough power right now to meet all of West
Virginia's needs. We actually export sixty percent of our electricity
out of state. We're number four in the country per
capita as net exporter of electricity, so we can meet
our need. But that's not what we're trying to do here.
We're trying to meet America's need and use our resources

(54:41):
to increase that generation, which is not only going to
meet the demand, but it's going to grow West Virginia's economy.
So that's what we're looking to do. Now you asked
this is a very important component of this because people
ask us, well, who's going to pay for it? And
I think there's a misconception that the rate payers are
going to be paying for this, and it's going to
be the utilities building out all of this. The utilities,
by law, have to have enough generation to meet their need.

(55:05):
They cannot go out and overbuild the system and build
thirty five gigawatts of new generation and put that off
on the rate payers. And that's not what we're doing.
That's not Governor Morsey's plan. The plan is the utilities
are going to build what they need and that's up
to them. They know what their need is. I know
that there's growing demand in the North, I know what
the data centers coming on. They will likely be more

(55:25):
generation needed by the utilities, but they're going to determine that,
not us, and then they'll go to the PSC. They'll
ask the PS to approve that or not approve it.
But that's for the West Virginia demand. The rest of
our plan is to meet the demand in the other
thirteen states, and that's not going to be borne by
the consumers. That's not going to go to the PSC,
and that's not going to be put in a rate case,
and people won't see that on their utility bills.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
They're going to see it.

Speaker 21 (55:49):
Either through House Build twenty fourteen, the microgrids, and the
data centers. Private industry will come in and build some
of that generation as a microgrid. By law, those costs
can't be passed on to the consumer. And then the
other big part is the independent power producers or merchant plants.
These are other entities that just come in, they build
a power plant, they're not regulated by the PSC, they

(56:10):
don't have their costs put on the rate payers. They
eat all those costs in developing their power plant and
they sell the power on the market to the other
people in the other states that need it. And that's
where a lot of this generation will come in. So
the way Governor Morrisey has developed this plan is that
the majority of this investments will be coming in from
private industry and will not be subject to rate payers,

(56:30):
and the rate payers aren't gonna paying for this.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Nick Preservandi's joining us here. I'll mentioned his talk line.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Executive Director of Energy, did
i get that correct, Nick, Yes, there was a question
about that on the business card. So what makes West
Virginia so attractive? Why is private business going to want
to come in and invest presumably the billions of dollars
that would take to build these facilities, build these transmission

(56:56):
lines here.

Speaker 21 (56:58):
So that's a good question, and there's multiple reasons for that.
The first that's always been the case is West Virginia
has the abundance of natural resources. We have the coal
and the coal fire generation. We have the power plants,
and the excess of energy where I mentioned before, we
have excess power as we speak, we have natural gas
that's going to allow more generation. We have all kinds

(57:18):
of energy, sources of energy that can power that. And
that's the number one issue when we talk to the
data centers and the developers that come in, their quote
is powers the long poll in the tent. That's the
main issue. Everything else can be resolved and we have that.
But the second issue that we're hearing a lot from
industry is West Virginia's really increase its ability to do business.

(57:41):
It's removed a lot of red tape, the one stop
permitting the house built twenty fourteen, again We've heard from
multiple data centers developers that having the data economy liaison,
the one stop where they can come in and speak
to one person to answer all their questions, really speeds
things up and as a tremendous asset for them. So
just making business easier, I mean, you have other states

(58:04):
that are trying to enact legislation to keep data centers out.
West Virginia has the opportunity. You know, we're starting from zero,
we don't have a lot of data centers, but we're
developing the regulatory scheme to address all the problems initially
so that we're not dealing with them down the road,
and we're working with business and it's being very well received.

Speaker 5 (58:22):
You know from your time in this industry, conceivably say
everything goes his way. Governor's what eight months into his
first term, so he's got the remainder of that and
he could get another four years as governor. You could
start today and be lucky to get one power plant
through the permitting process. Federally, there's a lot of federal
hurdles too that you have to undertake. How ambitious is

(58:44):
this plan with this extra thirty five let's call it,
say the utilities take care of the other fifteen thirty
five gigawats you know, in the next twenty five years.
I mean, is this doable.

Speaker 21 (58:57):
It's doable. But to answer your question, extremely bold. It is,
and we recognize that, the governor recognizes it. But again,
this is being driven by demand. The reality is we
need power and the governor recognizes that. And the discussions
is it's coming. It's going to be a tidal wave
of in ten to fifteen years. We're going to need
the power. And the governor's position is that we can

(59:18):
either sit back and do nothing, or we can tackle
the problem head on. And it's such a big problem
that we have to be aggressive and bold in our solution.
And to me, there's no choice. We have to act.
We have to do it because other states don't have
the resources to provide their own energy. Do you have
merchant providers in your pipeline now that you're talking to absolutely? Absolutely?

Speaker 5 (59:37):
Can you give us a sense of that. I know
it's competitive. I don't want you to give away the store,
but can you give us some sense of what that
looks like.

Speaker 21 (59:43):
I can tell you, and I'll break it down into
a couple of buckets. I know the utilities alone as
talking utilities at first, they have over ten giggle watts
of power studies going right now, of new data centers
and people wanting to come into the state. We have
merchant plans and people looking to build their own new
generation and that's in the magnitude eight ten, twelve gigawatts.
It just depends. We're vetting those because we don't want

(01:00:06):
to come out and pursue things and say this is happening.

Speaker 5 (01:00:08):
This is happening.

Speaker 21 (01:00:09):
You know, It's a lot of work, like you said,
and the Governor's very deliberate in the way that he
looks at this. So when people come in and say
we have a new project, the first questions are what
are your resources, what are you doing, how valid it
is this, and just doing a deep dive into that
to make sure that if we pursue anything or support anything,
the due diligence has been done.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Think Presivaldi joining US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Executive Director
of Energy Nick sell Me on the idea of this
is more than just another one of those government plans
that goes on the shelf and we don't see it
come to fruition. What makes this one different?

Speaker 21 (01:00:46):
I think one, it's the people involved. Again, this is
multiple people within the governor's office, it's industry. We've reached
out to the federal government. We've discussed it with them.
They're very supportive of the plan, telling us it's the
most bold plan in the country and it's needed. And
again I go back to we don't have a choice.
This isn't a political decision. This is the governor seeing

(01:01:08):
a problem that is going to come and hit us
and hit us hard if we don't act, And he's like,
we're going to address the problem. So to answer your question,
we have to. There's no choice. This is such a
critical issue and the demand is so real and so substantial.
We have to act. And I think industry realizes that
state government realizes that federal government realizes.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
That we have no choice.

Speaker 5 (01:01:33):
So we have coal fire generation now predominantly correct, not
always in the money. With that said, talk to me
about diversifying in this plan with gas, small modular reactors,
small nukes. It's big right now, A lot of people
talking about that. Can we be an SMR leader in
West Virginia.

Speaker 21 (01:01:53):
Well, that's a complicated question, and I'm trying not to
not to go down the rabbit hole too much. So
first to your first question about diversifying under this plan,
and again it's all driven by demand.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
So it's not so.

Speaker 21 (01:02:05):
Much as that we're going to diversify of saying well,
we're going to go from one to another, it's we
need all the power we can get from every source.
So the goal is we need to maximize our coal generation,
make sure that our coal plants stay online for another
thirty years. We need to maximize natural gas generation, we
need to maximize geothermal, we need to maximize nuclear. Under

(01:02:25):
the plan, we're looking to see how we can from
every source available in West Virginia maximize the amount of
power that comes out of West Virginia. So yes, if
you want to say, are we going to be engaging
in other sources of energy generation, absolutely, Are we going
to continue to write our coal plants into the future. Absolutely.
Do we want new gas generation. Absolutely. When it comes
to nuclear SMRs, the issue with SMRs is economics and

(01:02:51):
that's something we're working with the national labs. We're working
with Department of Energy and their federal labs to determine
what's that option for West Virginia. So it is in
play for West Virginia. We are one of the leading
states in trying to pursue SMR generation in West Virginia.
But there's hurdles at the federal level that we're trying
to work through and issues at the state level that
we're trying to build out. But absolutely there's a future

(01:03:13):
for SMRs in West Virginia. It's just a matter of when, not.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
If, the clock's going to get us here at Nick, So,
I want to ask this question for the average guy
girl out there and listen. Right now, they're running the
kids to soccer practice later tonight, They've got to go
buy groceries, got to make the mortgage payment. What's this
all mean for them?

Speaker 21 (01:03:32):
What it means for them is this plan if we
can meet this demand head on and do it in
the way that the plans design, it's going to make
energy more reliable so that when it's in the winter
and it's cold and your family's there, you're not going
to have a brown out or a blackout. You're going
to have reliable energy, and it's structured in a way
to make it more affordable. The way that this plan
is designed, the way that House Build twenty fourteen in

(01:03:54):
the data center builds designed. It's all about increasing the
load in West Virginia so that fixed costs are spread
out to multiple customers, to more customers, to make the
coal plants more efficient, the new generation more economical, and
the ultimate goal is to make it more reliable and
more economical for the average West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (01:04:12):
Fair to say, a jobs driver, a tax driver.

Speaker 21 (01:04:14):
Absolutely absolutely, And when you do with the data centers
very quickly. Just the revenue from the data center bill
that was just passed would bring tens of millions of
dollars into the counties for schools, for ambulance service, for
all the services that's needed. And it's not raising taxes
at all, it's just creating new tax revenue.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
Nick Preservati, Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Executive Director of Energy.
Thanks for explanation. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Will be in.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Touch absolutely, Thank you very much, Nick Preservati. Coming up,
we'll get an update on the Charlie Kirk investigation. What's
the latest in the legal proceedings. We'll do that right
after this.

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Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Let's go to Fox News Radio. Is Jeff Bonasso for
the latest on the investigation into the murder of Charlie
Kirk and the criminal charges. Jeff, good morning. What is
the latest?

Speaker 23 (01:06:13):
Hey, good morning, my friends. So the latest he is
the Utah Vala University is now back open a week
after that deadly shooting. The suspect in the killing of
Charlie Kirk remains behind bars without bond, awaiting multiple felony charges,
including aggravated murder, for which he could face the death penalty.
He's due back in court September twenty nine. He was

(01:06:35):
a ranger of this week. The investigation continues. It's far,
far reaching, far and wide reaching, and looking into whether
or not there was other people possibly involved or that
had knowledge of the assassination. That from FBI Director Cash
bettel As. The online messaging platform Discord also confirms in

(01:06:56):
about two hours before Tyler Robinson turned himself in or
was taking into custody, he posted messages to a group
of friends on that platform saying, Hey, guys, I've got
bad news for you all. It was me at using
you yesterday. I'm sorry for all of this. Patel addressed
this during a hearing on Capitol Hill, saying the FBI
is investigating anyone and everyone involved in that chat with Robinson.

(01:07:20):
Over twenty people were told, and so they're running all
of them down, every single one of them. They've isolated
the position of every cell phone in and around that
area at the time of the shooting. They've got they're
seeking his digital footprints, they've got his phones, his computers,
and that of his roommates. And they're still looking for

(01:07:44):
that person who we're told is has fled Utah far away,
probably rightfully show and now in hiding who the FBI
says when he was in a text conversation with the shooter,
apparently admitted to the killing. And we heard from the
prosecutor earlier this week who let us off kind of

(01:08:05):
a text string saying that, you know, he admitted to
the killing, that it was fueled by hate. There are
questions about that text string. The FBI has continue to
do a deep dive into the truth and we will
hopefully get the answers to that. But that's where we're
at it, you know, the massive investigation that involves local, state,

(01:08:25):
and federal law enforcement agencies, and as planning continues ahead
of a massive, massive farewell to Charlie Kirk and Glendale
north of Phoenix this Sunday at the home of the
Arizona Cardinals, the Stadium. About one hundred thousand people are expected.
We've seen tens of thousands of people streaming in and

(01:08:46):
out of Phoenix to the site of the Charlie Kirk's
TBUSA headquarters.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
Jeff, We're going to have to leave it there. We
got to hit the news here at the bottom of
the hour. Appreciate the update very much. Coming up next,
we'll talk schools, education and test scores. It's talk Line
on Metro News for forty years, 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.

Speaker 24 (01:09:17):
West Virginia Metro News, I'm Chris Lawrence. Many across the
state Tonight will lineer the life of Charlie Kirk.

Speaker 25 (01:09:23):
Governor Patrick Morrissey, State Senator Kevin Bartlett, and Dell Get
Jonathan Penson will be putting on a public vigil at
the state Capitol called a Call to Courage honoring the
life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. Morrisy will be speaking,
as well as local pastors, evangelists, and members of Turning
Point USA. Penson says this will be far more than
just your average memorial.

Speaker 10 (01:09:42):
It's an opportunity for West Virginians to stand shoulder to
shoulder and to state to the country and to the
watching world that we will not be intimidated by those
who would choose violence over voices or weapons of for words.

Speaker 25 (01:10:00):
The event is open to the public. It will be
held on the Capitol steps on the Connall Riverside at
six o'clock. I'm Aaron Parker for wv Metronews dot com.

Speaker 24 (01:10:09):
An assistant principle in Monroe County has been dismissed after
investigators say he was drunk on the job. Superintendent Jason
Conaway said to the school board they voted to terminate
the man's employment, but did not name the individual. He
worked at Mountain View Elementary and Middle Schooling Union officials
say the school's principal detected the smell of alcohol and
got the school resource officer involved. Officials say they also

(01:10:30):
found alcohol on school property. He's charged with public intoxication
and child dangement. Both are misdemeanors. Steel maker New Corps
says it's still on track to begin production next year.
Mullt soon ramp up hiring. You're listening to Metro News
for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
Get ready for some hard hitting high school football.

Speaker 9 (01:10:48):
The twenty twenty five season continues Friday night with our
go Martin Game of the Week Martins Bergen, Hedgesville, Let's
Catch Oak Hill, and Shady Spring. William's Town at Rone
County and Parkersburg versus Parkersburg's Out all on Metro News,
brought to you by That Thrasher Group, Marshall University, and
the Mountaineer Challenge Academy. Download the free Metro News television
app on your iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV, Broku or

(01:11:10):
Fire TV, or visit doubledv, Metro newstv dot com for
more information.

Speaker 13 (01:11:16):
Time out Oh.

Speaker 15 (01:11:18):
Why Remember, We're a team.

Speaker 22 (01:11:20):
The place together.

Speaker 15 (01:11:21):
Listen, the winning will take care of itself. We just
have to get everyone involved.

Speaker 26 (01:11:26):
In interscholastic sports. We celebrate what makes every one of
us unique, and in the pursuit of a common goal,
everyone in the huddle, in the bleachers, and in the
community comes together. This message presented by the WBSSAC and
the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association.

Speaker 24 (01:11:45):
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit in Raleigh County
challenging the state's vaccination laws a motion to make their
suit a class action suit. A judge will consider that
motion and a hearing next month. The City of Wheeling
has cut the ribbon under a new multimillion dollar fire
high house. The location at seventeen hundred Wood Street costs
nine million dollars to build and replaces the old headquarters

(01:12:06):
at Center Wheeling that was demolished last year and had
been there since nineteen seventy eight. From the Metro News
anchored desk. I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:33):
Citnyet Fiber built in West Virginia for West Virginia is
expanding to more communities every day, from simple browsing to
ten gig speeds. There is a plan for every need.
Visit cindneet dot net and connect with the local company
you can trust. A couple of texts here three h
four talk three four More energy is great, doubt if

(01:12:57):
it lowers my electric bill, says Texter. You guys really
need to let go of both sides fantasy. Look at
the facts. Check who's burying their dead. Kimmel is still
with us. Imagine how wadded your guy's panties would be
if Obama told Ruper Murdoch that he had to fire
Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity to approve a corporate merger.
You guys are biased aff What does that mean? TJ?

(01:13:22):
Do you know what that means?

Speaker 7 (01:13:23):
I do?

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
Oh, okay, you have to explain it to me. Later.

Speaker 5 (01:13:26):
Yeah, the FCC prohibits my ability to say that on
the radio, nor would I even if I had the ability. Look,
I'm a conservative. We have some elements, far right elements
among our ranks that we need to deal with, and
we haven't just like the left does. We're talking about

(01:13:48):
what happened with Kirk, but both sides have some skin
in the game here. I don't think that is debatable,
but I'm willing to listen to those who think it is.

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
More of your texts coming up open segment in about
ten minutes from now. Last week, I think it was
last week. The day's all run together. We got an
update on test scores here in West Virginia with a
balance scorecard, and there are some positive trends for the
state of West Virginia. Joining us now as Virginia School's
Superintendent Michelle Blatt, Michelle, good morning, thanks for joining.

Speaker 27 (01:14:22):
Us, Good morning, thanks for having me.

Speaker 19 (01:14:25):
So with the.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
Balanced scorecard across West Virginia, are we starting to trend?
Are we trending in a positive direction?

Speaker 27 (01:14:35):
Yes, we most definitely are trending in a positive direction.
Of course, our balanced scorecard is a little different than
just looking at proficiency measures. It actually looks at their
performance and the progress that each individual student. And so
we're looking at trend data that shows eighty six percent
of our districts improving in English language arts, in eighty

(01:14:57):
three percent of our districts improving in mass.

Speaker 5 (01:15:02):
There's a lot of data here, Michelle, when we look
at these balanced scorecards reports. Rather, I do want to
hone in a bit on graduation rates because I think
fundamentally everyone can agree, which is tough these days for
a lot of different reasons, but I would think fundamentally,
the more students who graduate, we can all agree that

(01:15:23):
that's a better thing. Bring us up to speed on
where we are in terms of the graduation rates.

Speaker 27 (01:15:28):
Yes, so our graduation rate, we present it two different
ways of the federal government guidelines, and we do a
four year graduation rate, and statewide this year our four
year graduation rate was ninety two point five and then
we also do a five year rate, which looks at

(01:15:49):
those students that may need an extra year to complete,
whether they're in special education or other programs, and that
rate is ninety three zero point four percent. So we've
been subtly in that ninety percent and above range for
the last several years. And we also look too, on
that balanced scorecard, there's a measure that says post secondary value,

(01:16:12):
and when we look at that, we're really looking at
what are those students graduating with as far as being
prepared to move on either to some type of post
secondary training, to college, or on into a career pathway.

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
Michelle Blat joining US State School Superintendent here in West Virginia,
Are we making progress and reducing chronic absenteeism?

Speaker 23 (01:16:35):
Yes, we are.

Speaker 27 (01:16:36):
We are slowly decreasing that amount and moving that. We
are down this year to twenty two point seven percent
of our students. It's a little less than a one
percentage dropped from the previous year, but I believe if
you look at the trend over the past three years,
we're down. I believe it's six to nine percentage points total.

(01:17:00):
A lot of the focus that our counties and our
schools are investing on the importance of being present and
being in the classroom is paying off as far as
those numbers go.

Speaker 5 (01:17:10):
How do we match up with some of the other states.
We talk a lot of the time about teachers in
the border counties being able to go to these other jurisdictions,
and it may not be a fair comparison, but it's
when we still make so how graduation rating the metric
you want to take. How are we matching up with
those contiguous states that we touch.

Speaker 27 (01:17:30):
Yeah, so it's a little hard sometimes to compare because
every you know, every state has a different assessment as
summit of assessment. For the most part, there's very few
states that use the same assessment. When you look at
graduation rates, we score fairly high. We're up there in
the i'd say the top ten of district you know,
of states and percentage rates of graduation.

Speaker 1 (01:17:52):
Really and when I.

Speaker 5 (01:17:53):
Thought we would have been lower's that's interesting.

Speaker 27 (01:17:55):
Now we're pretty Uh, we've been recognized over the past
three or four years for how the higher graduation rates.
To go back and look at this with this new
data being released and every states still releasing where we
fall this year, but we've consistently been able to perform
well at the four year graduation rate. And then when

(01:18:16):
we start looking at the attendance value. While I think
the twenty two point seven is a huge number of
students to be chronically absent, you know, some of these
larger states that we're working with or anywhere up in
the thirties and forties and have some large numbers that
where you are partnering with Attendance Works, the national organization,

(01:18:36):
and we did a pledge last year to reduce the
chronic absenteeism in half within five years, and so we're
part of that with I think there's fourteen other states.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
State school superintendent Michelle Blatt joining us here on Metro
News talk line. Have we made up the ground that
was lost during the COVID pandemic?

Speaker 27 (01:18:56):
Yeah, I think we had finally for the most part,
you know, statewide for sure have come back to where
we were leading into that into that time. Of course,
when you look at our balance scorecard and you start
looking at those progress measures, what's really nice to see
is that we're moving so many students from that does

(01:19:19):
not meet standard area, starting to slowly but surely move
each of our students up. So it hasn't reached that
proficiency point yet, but they're coming out of those bottom
categories and those bottom tiers.

Speaker 5 (01:19:33):
Michelle, for those that may not know, you're a longtime educator,
have been in the system for many years, seen a
lot of things. If the genie came out of the
bottle and gave you some wishes from your chair. What
would you want to do and achieve that you think
could move the needle the most to better student outcomes
in West Virginia.

Speaker 27 (01:19:52):
Well, I think that the track that we're on right
now with our focus on the science of reading and
the K three work that we've started with the improved
and interventions. I have a master's also as a reading specialist,
and so I know that those five components are reading work.
So I think if we can stay the course with
this in K three and then expand those interventions that

(01:20:14):
supports for our students as they go through upper elementary
and middle school, then we're going to see a huge
impact over the next few years. And then, of course
that means that when they get to high school, we'll
be able to really let them focus in on career
engagement and internships and the things that we'd like to
see all of our high school students do.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
State School Superintendent Michelle Blent the Third Grade Success Act.
I know it was just passed in twenty twenty three,
it's being implemented, has been implemented, but are we starting
to see any early indicators of that program? Success.

Speaker 27 (01:20:52):
Yes, we are. Our third grade numbers as far as
some of this assessment results have definitely seen a single
nificant increase the past couple of years. We were recently
recognized in a national study as one of the top
five states to show sustained growth over the past three
years in our third grade e l a ELA scores.

(01:21:17):
And so I think we're really we're seeing the impact,
and that's why it's so critical that we're able just
you know, to stay the course and continue to see
those numbers climb.

Speaker 5 (01:21:28):
Talk to me a bit about what we can do
in terms of teacher pay. We're still low comparatively. There
are talks, I know the Chamber came out this past
week with its legislative agenda talking about that. It feels
that one of the major drivers in bettering our success
can be teacher pay. We have had several raises, but

(01:21:51):
I mean we're still not there again comparatively, when someone
can drive across lines, I don't want people to lose
sight of that. So you can tell me I'm right
or I'm wrong. But we still have work to do.

Speaker 27 (01:22:03):
No, we definitely still have work to do. When you
look at teacher shortages and then also with our service personnel.
You hear a lot about our bus driver shortages. You know,
when they can go across the border and make more money.
For some of our service personnel can go into industry
and make a lot more money, it makes it difficult
to keep staff in the school.

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
Michelle Blat, West Virginia School Superintendent. We appreciate it. Keep
up the good work, Michelle.

Speaker 27 (01:22:31):
All right, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:22:32):
Thank you. Three or four talk three or four is
the tax line? Eight one hundred and seven and sixty
five talk the phone number.

Speaker 3 (01:22:37):
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Speaker 1 (01:24:59):
Three or four t Talk three oh four is the
text line Texter says, makes me laugh that Dave is
so confident in his assessment of the memes on Kirksshooters
bullets but doesn't know what the basic Internet abbreviation af memes,
humor and sarcasm appears to be lost on a text.
Three or four Talk three oh four. The text line

(01:25:20):
ms Hoppy's growth, courage and clarity, something the show lacks
now with its constant dismissive snickering.

Speaker 3 (01:25:31):
The text.

Speaker 1 (01:25:35):
You're feeling froggy today? Are anybody getting the jokes today?
Anybody remind the last text about Bill O'Reilly council culture
loves to get folks canceled, but then cry when it's reciprocated,
says the text Both sides again, lazy h Cutting people
off because you have something to say or sell is

(01:25:56):
the reason I don't listen to Clay and Buck. Also Handy,
I'd much rather listen about the life and legacy of
Charlie Kirk. Uh then put up with the malarkey. You
know the deal, don't make me quit. I like y'all guys.
The clock is king. The clock is king.

Speaker 5 (01:26:13):
Can I pose a question to you?

Speaker 1 (01:26:15):
You can do whatever you want. Your name's on the show.

Speaker 5 (01:26:19):
When it comes to what Jimmy Kimmel said, or Bill
o'reiley says, or what Rush used to say, or what
Charlie kirk had said in his day, whatever side of
the aisle. Why can't we just be content with turning
it off if we don't like it and move on.
We have made our decision, We have voted with our dollars.

(01:26:40):
If we're not watching it online, it means the algorithm
isn't moving at least from our participation, which means ad
dollars aren't flowing. Why can't that be enough and we
just move on? Or Am I just a simpleton and
I don't get it?

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
Well, you're a simpleton, but you get it. And we
haven't even talked about this or considered it. I have
no idea what his ratings were. I get up way
too early to stay up to watch late night television anyway, CJ.
But if if his ratings were high enough, if he
was valuable enough for the company, they go to bat

(01:27:15):
for him, They go to bad for him. They when
your ratings aren't good and you're not that valuable, you
do something that could jeopardize something else, Yeah, they'll discard you.
That's why Cobert got canceled. It wasn't because CBS disagree
with what he's saying. It was the ratings are terrible,
you're a liability now, and we'll go on to something else.

Speaker 5 (01:27:38):
This isn't a great example, but it's an example. There's
some corollary. I think pornography is terrible. I think it's
bad for society. I think it places young women in
a bad position. I think there are a lot of
ills that come from it. I can't cancel it. People
can publish it. That's up to them. The only thing
that's up to me is whether or not I buy it,

(01:27:59):
and choose not to. Those that want to buy it,
have at it, do your thing. Why can't it just
be that simple, Well.

Speaker 1 (01:28:10):
You know, because we like to make things complicated. I
guess if you.

Speaker 5 (01:28:14):
Don't like it, don't buy it. If you don't like it,
don't subscribe to it. I don't know why you have
to give up your joy as a person and your
mental stability to try to change something. You've cast your vote.
You're not participating, you're not subscribing.

Speaker 13 (01:28:30):
To me.

Speaker 5 (01:28:31):
It's just that easy. But again, I'm just as from
southern West Virginia, Texter says, we're getting the jokes.

Speaker 1 (01:28:38):
They're just not funny. The Kimmel thing is pure fascism.
It's not fascism. It's a slippery slope. No, I don't
like the idea. And look, we've made this perfectly clear
yesterday and today. I will speak for you for a
moment to you, j because I know we're on the
same page on this week.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
Go ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:28:55):
We do not like the idea of government policing speech,
whether that's Pam Bondi doing it through the DOJ, whether
that is the FCC leaning on these companies. Don't like it,
don't like it. But private companies can do what they want.
And by the way, Jimmy Kimmel should be doing a
comedy show at night. Why is he doing political commentary
in his opening monologue? How about do something that's funny

(01:29:19):
work for Carson?

Speaker 7 (01:29:21):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:29:22):
All right, we gotta take a break. Do we gotta
take a break, Yes, we do. We gotta take one
more break. We'll be back to wrap things up. Get
in a couple of more texts three or four talk
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Speaker 9 (01:29:54):
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Speaker 29 (01:30:24):
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(01:30:45):
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(01:31:06):
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Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
I would be remiss if I did not mention coming
up Metro News Middale. Many of these same Metro News
radio stations and the Metro News TV app among the guests.
Governor Morrissey going to join the show coming up. I
believe TJ in the twelve o'clock hour, twelve twenty four
last I saw a subject to change to show. Oh,
everything's subject to change. That's what makes this job fun.

(01:32:06):
That's what makes just to end on a bit of
a light note. That's what makes this job so much fun.
This show's so much fun.

Speaker 26 (01:32:12):
And the.

Speaker 1 (01:32:15):
The difference between this and doing the podcasts. I've done podcasts.
I do podcast it's recorded. It's a little bit sterile. Look,
we get live interaction with you all. We get to agree,
we get to disagree. We have to have a dialogue
except for Fridays at eleven thirty three. And that's what
makes this fun. The subject to change part of the deal.
So we'll we'll see if Dave is Dave by himself today.

(01:32:37):
By the way, Dave Allen, I just believe he is.

Speaker 5 (01:32:40):
I'll say this though. By Friday it's eleven fifty nine.
I'm tired. I'm ready for a break. I'm tired.

Speaker 1 (01:32:47):
I'm just getting started. By that point, you get your
high school football. By the way, for high school football
games in the state of West Virginia tonight, and I
don't know them all off the top of my head,
but I know we will have scores and recaps at
WV metro news dot com. Let me see, let me
get in a couple of texts here as usual, you're

(01:33:09):
messing the point. Trump's FCC chair threatened to ABC Disney
to get Kimmel fired. That makes it a First Amendment issue.
Pay attention. We discussed that. We discussed that I'm a
strong conservative, original Rush follower, but I'd never heard of Kirk.
The uproar doesn't fit the individual, and occurred to me
that if it could be a conservative setup, what Kimmell

(01:33:32):
said was not humor. The arrogance of someone who tells
jokes to think they should be spouting political rhetoric is disturbing.
Their opinion is no more important than anyone else. Can
we all agree Kimmel was really good? How about this?
Can we all agree Kimmel was really funny In the
late nineties, he and Adam Carolla together on The Man Show.

(01:33:53):
Can we all agree that was funny and a far
cry from what Kimmel's been doing the last ten years. Uh,
it's a long text, but TJ do you not get
it yet. I don't have time to read the rest
of it. Let's just do you not get it?

Speaker 3 (01:34:13):
TJ.

Speaker 5 (01:34:13):
Come on, I'll read the text and respond. I'll try
to get it. Sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:34:17):
Metro News Midday coming up, Dave Allen will be flying
so low. Governor Morrisey going to join the program coming
up around twelve twenty four to be exact, Don't Forget
hotline later today in the Metro new sports Line later
on this evening as well. For TJ, Zach and Ethan.
I'm Dave. Talk to you tomorrow ten oh six. This

(01:34:38):
is talk Linel Metron is for forty years the voice
of West Virginia.