However complicated his life, Robert C. Byrd left a legacy of accomplishment that benefited the state and nation. His career's end game also set the example of what a senator looks like when they object when America runs off the rails. So, a key question about Joseph Manchin III: Is he the Anti-Byrd?
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REFLECTIONS: Ted Boettner on “Status Quo Joe”
“I don't think Manchin thinks there is anything fundamentally wrong with business as usual and that the inequality we see today is just and acceptable. Byrd, at least partly, seemed to believe in a higher purpose beyond himself. I don't see that with Manchin, who seems mostly motivated by financial interests and political gamesmanship.”
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Q&A: Author Denise Giardina on comparing Robert C. Byrd and Joe Manchin
Byrd had "a quality that is too rare in human beings: the ability to continue to learn and grow over time." With Manchin, "it’s a story as old as Greek tragedy — hubris, hubris, center of attention, power, power, money, money. It won’t turn out well for anyone, him included."
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MANCHIN/BYRD COMMENTARY: The word inside of West Virginia
“Assuming Manchin does not come home to his party on Build Back Better, voting rights, and Roe (a safe assumption at this point), he’ll have lost many more votes on his left side than he could ever hope to pick up on his right … If he doesn’t come back to his own party in really stunning fashion soon, you can expect Joe Manchin will be driving his Maserati to K street, instead of the Capitol, come 2025 ..."
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‘HERO OF THE OPEN HEART’: A WV native’s global humanitarian life showcased in documentary
When "The Wake Up Call" make its West Virginia debut June 23, 2022 in the state's capital city, the documentary will train a lingering spotlight on a remarkable global humanitarian life which ranged far beyond the Appalachian hills where Dave Evans was born.
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A native Russian classical guitarist strums up a Ukraine benefit
A Russian classical guitarist, newly christened an American citizen and living in West Virginia, hosts a June 1 benefit for Ukraine, as he works passionately to counter an invasion he abhors.
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How the Russian army helped to nationalize my country of Ukraine
A Ukrainian exchange student who studied in Charleston WV, reflects upon the devastation he finds all around him and his family in Mariupol after the Russian invasion of his homeland.
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The heart-rending and oligarchic view from ‘Coal Country’
The incendiary, heartbreaking "Coal Country," a play drawn from interviews with survivors and family members of the deadly 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, made a splash Off-Broadway. Here's a reaction to its staging for the first time in the Mountain State, 35 miles from where the tragedy fueled by corporate malfeasance that killed 29 miners occurred.
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FIRST/PERSON: On the streets in “the capital of pain”
There are mayapples unfurling on the banks of the Kanawha River in the darkness of West Virginia's capital city. There are humans sleeping there, too, on this cold and rainy April night, and we are among them.
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A West Virginia hero’s life to be showcased June 23 at 2022 FestivALL Charleston
"The Wake Up Call," a documentary about the remarkable and heroic international life of West Virginia native Dave Evans, will be screened Thursday, June 23, 2022, in West Virginia's capital city as part of the citywide FestivALL Charleston 2022.
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The barriers to Black West Virginians getting the mental health care they may need
barriers that impact mental health for Black West Virginians include a scarcity of Black mental health professionals and mental health resources, stigma, lack of proper mental health education, poverty, racism, substance abuse, and incarceration.
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‘Day 34 of Russia’s Cowardly Invasion of Ukraine’
'The Ukrainian fighting force has bested the Russians in every category. All the big bear can do is cowardly lob cruise missiles from a distance that destroy towns and kill innocent citizens.'
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Multifest still a beacon of the need for the Black press
Like many injustices Black newspapers fought head-on, solutions arose only when the Black press first drew attention to them. A look at the West Virginia Beacon Digest and the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta.
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‘Desperate’ highlights fight for clean water in West Virginia coalfields
The fight for clean water is central to "Desperate," which tells the story of coal mining communities in southern West Virginia battling Massey Energy and Don Blankenship, for clean water.
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How West Virginia’s new vaccine law opens the door wider to politicizing public health
Beginning January 2022, it will be significantly easier for West Virginians to claim exemptions from employer COVID-19 vaccination mandates. That raises all sorts of red flags.
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RE/PRINT: Only 7 states have passed the CROWN Act. Could West Virginia be next?
While advocates of the CROWN Act promise they'll be back for the 2022 Legislative session, they're also looking beyond the WV Capitol to make change to confront white beauty standards in West Virginia.
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RE/PRINT: Community Seeks Police Reform After Shooting On Charleston’s West Side
On April 30, Charleston Police officers shot a 33-year-old Black man, while attempting to make an arrest on Charleston’s West Side. The incident has left many in the community wondering why police resorted to shooting the man who had brandished a knife.
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SPOTLIGHT: Who is saying what as the Opioid Trial begins
If the first day of a landmark trial involving the nation’s three largest opioid distributors is any indication, a lot of fingers will be pointed elsewhere by those distributors in the coming weeks.
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SPOTLIGHT: To do or not to do? What the 2020 WV Legislature passed—or didn’t
The West Virginia Legislature has concluded its 60-day session after passing nearly 300 bills. What were they doing — and not doing this session? Erin Beck of Mountain State Spotlight details what got done and didn't.
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SOCIAL/MEDIA: Recalling a life ended too soon in WV’s capital city
The shooting death of an 18-year-old student-athlete killed April 7, cast a pall over West Virginia's capital city, as yet more senseless gun violence robbed a family and community of a bright light.
