Cross-posted from "West Virginia native Emily Calandrelli becomes 100th woman in space" by @gedaliyah@lemmy.world in !news@lemmy.world

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Blue Origin’s New Shepherd vehicle launched into space Friday morning with Morgantown native Emily Calandrelli on board.

Calandrelli was the biggest name on board, known for her science programs “Emily’s Wonder Lab” on Netflix and “Emily’s Science Lab” on YouTube. West Virginians also know her as an ambassador for the state. She’s from Morgantown and graduated from West Virginia University before furthering her education at MIT.

She is the 100th woman to travel to space and among the first from West Virginia.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13805380

with Google's assault on Invidious leaving it inoperable, consider watching this video with FreeTube, a nifty open source program that lets you watch youtube videos privately!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dooley

LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WVVA) - A family’s pet kangaroo was on the loose in Logan County this morning.

The kangaroo slowed traffic on Mud Fork Road in Verdunville according to one of the drivers on his way to work.

“I was driving to work, and we had five cars in front of us that stopped in the middle of the road,” said Noah Manns. " I was trying to look around and see what the holdup was, and when I was able to get into view, I saw a kangaroo hopping up the road.”

When the kangaroo had finally moved off the road, Manns was able to get photos of it.

Manns did not contact law enforcement because he knew the owners, who had bought the animal as a baby.

“I called my friend, and she immediately got ahold of the owners,” said Manns.

The kangaroo was caught and is now back home with its family.

The Governor of West Virginia defaulted on his loan and now he’s blaming the Democrats.

The Greenbrier Hotel, an iconic West Virginia landmark that was once the site of the Congressional nuclear bunker, is for sale to the highest bidder. The reason? West Virginia Governor Jim Justice defaulted on the loan.

The world learned the Greenbrier was for sale after the people holding the bag for the loan put a legal advertisement in the West Virginia Daily News. The notice said that anyone who wants the hotel complex and the grounds will be buying it as is, are responsible for the substantial back taxes, and will have to have cash in hand on the day of sale.

“The undersigned Substitute Trustee will sell the real estate described in the Deed of Trust, at a public auction on August 27, 2024 at 2 p.m. to the highest bidder at the front door of the Courthouse of said County of Greenbrier, in Lewisburg, West Virginia,” the notice said.

Justice, who is in the midst of a run for the Senate, blamed Democrats for his fumbling of the loan. Justice bought the Greenbrier in 2009 after the hotel went bankrupt and it’s been a headache ever since. JPMorgan Chase lent Justice $142 million for the property in 2014. According to a statement from the governor, the two parties had been negotiating a reduction of the debt since 2021.

JPMorgan sold the debt to Beltway Capital in July. The new owners immediately called in the loan.

> “ANOTHER POLITICAL STUNT BY THE DEMOCRAT MACHINE,” the Governor’s statement read in all caps. “In recent days, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s staunch ties to the Democrat party and his support for the Biden-Harris administration and continued control of the Senate by the Democrats have been well documented. This political stunt is just the latest of several rounds of attacks on Governor Justice and his businesses for political gain.”

The Greenbrier is a historic landmark whose history is woven into the fabric of America. The sulfur spring water in the land has been a destination for those seeking relaxation and healing since the late 1700s. In the 1950s, Washington excavated huge chunks of the land and dug out a bunker that Congress would use in the event of a full-scale nuclear war.

The bunker is still there and tourists can walk its narrow corridors and see the bunk beds senators and congresspeople would have slept on if a war had broken out. There’s a fake Rose Garden room for press conferences, a make-shift Senate chamber, and exercise bikes outfitted with ashtrays.

Bethesda created a nearly 1-to-1 copy of the Greenbrier in its video game Fallout 76, which is set in a post-apocalyptic West Virginia. Ahead of the launch of the game, Bethesda held a large press event at the Greenbrier and threw a party in the bunker.

Now that historic landmark is up for sale, despite full-throated pushback from Justice. “Let me be clear that the Greenbrier will not be sold, and the Justice family will take all necessary action to ensure that there will not be any adverse impact on their ownership of the Greenbrier or the Greenbrier’s operations and the ability of the Greenbrier to continue to provide world-class service for its guests will be uninterrupted” Bob Wolford, an attorney working on behalf of the Justice family, said in a statement.

National coverage

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/9476352

This kind of debt likely means that he's for sale, which is not great when it comes to public officials

I've only had some localized high water, but co-worker just posted to group chat that authorities are advising people in his area to seek higher ground.

Stay safe. Turn around, don't drown!

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - It has been two weeks since a U-Haul crashed into the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association. What remains is a giant hole in the building covered by tarp. And the inside where that hole sits is still a daily reminder of that chaotic day.

“Its been kind of a learning process. We are trying to see what works and what doesn’t work,” said Angie Gillenwater, Community Engagement Manager at KCHA. “We know that there’s definitely a long journey ahead of us, there’s a lot of gray area a lot of I don’t knows right now.”

In terms of what’s next, Gillenwater said the rebuilding process is expected to be a long one, with about $100,000 worth of damages and repairs. But she said since the accident they have been able to raise about $60,000 from the community.

“We’re looking at about a month of operating at half capacity, a month of having a hole in the side of he building. Hopefully once that month is up, three to four weeks once that’s up, we should be putting pieces back into the building, putting our pieces back together and rebuilding.”

And looking ahead -- it’s out with the old and in with the new

“We want to keep that momentum going of getting animals out of here and getting them into homes. Like I said, we do know there is a long journey ahead. We are prepared for any type of news ahead of us, good bad great, great news. Whatever it is, we are prepared and we know that we are going to come out on top of this, possibly even stronger than we were before,” Gillenwater said.

Around 10:45 this morning, every device in my house was screeching with a NWS tornado warning. Considering it was almost noon and getting very, very dark out, I ushered the dogs down to the basement and grabbed my laptop (I work from home).

My area was pretty lucky and didn't get much damage (power was flashing like a strobe light but ultimately stayed on).

This all went down like 90 minutes ago, so I've only got some preliminary photos from local news and ones my friends sent.

And, yay, another strong storm forecast to come through around 3:30.

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Tree demolishes a car

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Billboard blows down in Ona, damaging nearby homes

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Tractor trailer knocked over on the road in Cabell County

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Trees down all through South Hills.

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A facade blew off a building in Charleston

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A billboard leveled in Kanawha City

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Utility lines heavily damaged in Dunbar

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Sam's Club door frame blown in in Southridge

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Tree knocked down traffic lights on Kanawha Blvd

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Many, many trees down in 5th Street Hill

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This asshole (yeah, it's a little guy, but we typically don't get many tornadoes here)

Phone blowing up with tornado warning alerts, sirens blaring outside.

Currently chilling in the basement with the dogs waiting for this to blow over.

Update: Worst of it seems to have passed.

West Virginia’s Republican-dominated Legislature pushed forward a slate of contentious bills Wednesday that would arm teachers, allow people to sue libraries over books that offend them and restrict where transgender kids can use the bathroom at school.

Described by conservatives as efforts to protect children while they learn, the legislation comes as GOP-led state Legislatures across the country are embracing bills expanding gun rights and restricting LGBTQ+ rights.

“This is the only way really that I can see to defend these students,” Republican Del. Bill Ridenour said before lawmakers in the House Education Committee greenlit the bill allowing K-12 public school staff with concealed carry licenses to volunteer to carry firearms on campuses.

All three bills are opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. The state’s only LGBTQ+ advocacy organization has decried the bathroom and book proposals.

In Weirton, W.Va., in the heart of coal country, a company started by MIT scientists plans to build a plant that will produce a metal and alloy critical for clean energy, fuel cells and cleaner steel.

In Vernon, Texas, also a former coal town, a third-generation wind entrepreneur plans to manufacture turbines suitable for remote, rural locations.

And in Vandergrift, Pa., and Louisville, Colo., a window maker plans to retrofit aging factories to produce thin, insulated units that help make buildings more energy efficient.

They’re all projects getting federal funding designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers bring clean-energy jobs to former coal communities, part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package signed by President Biden in 2021. The Energy Department announced the projects on Monday.

The program is an effort by the Biden administration to win support for its agenda to reduce American dependence on coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of global warming. But it also points to the broad realization that as the world transitions toward cleaner energy sources like wind and solar, workers in fossil-fuel industries — as well as regions that depend on them — risk getting left behind.

Coal mining jobs have declined precipitously over the past decades, and there were less than 50,000 miners left in the United States in 2022, half the number 10 years ago, according to the latest figures from the Energy Information Agency.

And these energy workers haven’t been finding clean-energy jobs, despite the rapid growth in industries like solar and wind. A recent study that examined 130 million online work profiles found that in 2021, fewer than 1 percent of all workers who left jobs like coal, mining and oil and gas transitioned to “green” jobs in renewables.

Coal workers, in particular, have struggled in the transition, the study found. Less than a quarter of a percent of workers who left a fossil fuel job in West Virginia moved onto a job in renewable energy, said E. Mark Curtis, an economist at Wake Forest University who led the study. Education was another factor: Fossil fuel workers without a college degree were significantly less likely to find clean energy jobs.

“In places like Texas or in the middle of the country where there’s a lot of solar and wind, fossil fuel communities are relatively well positioned to take advantage of renewables,” Mr. Curtis said. “Coal communities generally don’t have that, especially when you think about Appalachia.”

He said it made sense for government funding to target former coal regions, and to focus on manufacturing projects, because data showed that former fossil fuel workers most frequently sought to switch to manufacturing jobs. “I think that’s a very viable type of transition for a lot of these workers and communities to make,” he said.

With the grant program, the United States is also trying to reclaim more clean-energy manufacturing, which China and other countries have come to dominate over the past decade.

The goal is to “bring new economic opportunities and ensure these communities continue their key role in strengthening America’s national and energy security,” said Jennifer M. Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

The program will distribute $275 million to seven projects in its initial round and the D.O.E. said it expects its funding to be matched by about $600 million more in private investment.

The companies building the new plants said they are eager to tap local expertise. “The most valuable asset for the project is a legacy work force that has played a significant role in the U.S. metals industry” Tadeu Carneiro, the chief executive of Boston Metal, said in an interview.

Its new West Virginia plant expects to hire 200 to 250 people and will manufacture ultrapure chromium metal and high temperature alloys that are critical materials needed for clean power, fuel cells and steel. Currently, foreign manufacturers dominate those materials.

West Virginia Northern Community College, which teaches about 1,600 students in Weirton, said in a letter of support for the project that it was ready to set up courses and internships for students interested in jobs at Boston Metal.

The proposed project, it said, “can help revitalize metals manufacturing in the region after decades of decline.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8481673

Zach Shrewsbury faces an improbable task to replace the conservative Democrat in the face of a Republican onslaught – but he won’t be put off.

To launch his campaign for US Senate, Zach Shrewsbury chose the site of one of America’s most famous hangings.

Charles Town, West Virginia, was where state authorities executed the abolitionist John Brown after he led an attack on a federal armory a few miles down the road in Harpers Ferry, a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the civil war. One hundred and sixty four years later, Shrewsbury – who decided against attempting to get a permit for the event at the site of the insurrection, which is now a national park – stood on the courthouse grounds where Brown’s hanging took place to announce that he would be the only “real Democrat” running to represent West Virginia in the Senate next year.

“We need leaders that are cut from the working-class cloth. We need representation that will go toe to toe with corporate parasites and their bought politicians. We need a leader who will not waver in the face of these powers that keep the boot on our neck,” Shrewsbury said to applause from the small group of supporters gathered behind him.

“So, as John Brown said, ‘These men are all talk. What we need is action.’ I’m taking action right now to stand up to these bought bureaucrats.”

Joe Manchin warns second Trump term will ‘destroy democracy in America’ Read more The remarks were a swipe at Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who for the past 13 years had managed to represent what has become one of the most Republican states in the nation. In recent years he has used his power as a swing vote in Congress to stop several of Joe Biden’s legislative priorities – attracting the ire of progressives and prompting Shrewsbury to mount a primary challenge.

A few weeks after Shrewsbury began campaigning, he was showing a friend around an abandoned mining town when his phone rang with news: Manchin had decided not to seek re-election, leaving Shrewsbury as the only Democrat in the race.

By all indications, Shrewsbury, a 32-year-old Marine Corps veteran and community organizer, faces a difficult, if not impossible, road to victory. West Virginia gave Donald Trump his second-biggest margin of support of any state in the nation three years ago, and Manchin is the last Democrat holding a statewide office. Political analysts do not expect voters to elect the Democratic candidate – whoever that turns out to be – and predict Manchin will be replaced by either Governor Jim Justice or Congressman Alex Mooney, the two leading Republicans in the Senate race.

Shrewsbury’s message to them is: not so fast.

“People were really sold on the fact that Joe Manchin could be the only Democrat that could win in West Virginia, and I very much disagree,” Shrewsbury told the Guardian a week after the senator made his announcement.

Also a former governor, Manchin is considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, and when the party took the majority by a single vote in the chamber in 2021, Manchin stopped the Biden administration from passing policies that would have made permanent a program to reduce child poverty, and more forcefully fight climate change.

Sitting in a conference room at the Fayette county Democratic party’s headquarters in Oak Hill, where visitors pass a lobby displaying an American flag, a pride flag, and a stack of Narcan, the opioid-overdose reversal medication, Shrewsbury outlined his plans to run a campaign distinctly to the left of Manchin’s policies – and one he believes can win.

“People want someone who’s genuine. They don’t want a politician. They want someone who actually looks like them. I mean, hell, you can’t get much more West Virginia than this,” said Shrewsbury, fond of wearing flannel shirts and hunting caps.

Among his priorities are creating universal healthcare and childcare programs, and reducing the role of incarceration in fighting the opioid epidemic ravaging West Virginia.

“Everyone here just is thankful for the scraps or crumbs that we get from whoever we elect. And that’s who we keep electing – whoever can keep the little crumbs coming along. I’m trying to say there is a better way,” Shrewsbury said.

He also doesn’t shy away from identifying as a socialist, arguing the term may be less politically damaging than it appears – West Virginia Democrats voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary, and the independent senator, he argues, is popular even with the state’s Republicans.

“If caring about working-class people, caring about people having bodily autonomy, water rights, workers’ rights, makes you a socialist, then call me whatever you want. Doesn’t bother me,” Shrewsbury said.

Raised on a farm by a Republican family in rural Monroe county, Shrewsbury dropped out of college after a semester and joined the marines. In the years that followed, he guarded the perimeter at the US base in Guantánamo Bay, and was deployed to Japan, Malaysia and South Korea before eventually moving to Seattle and then returning to West Virginia, where he realized how bereft his home state was of the prosperity he saw elsewhere in the country and overseas.

“Why can’t my home be as economically profitable as the rest?” Shrewsbury recalls thinking. “It woke me up in the Marine Corps a little bit, and once I got back home, I really just kind of put the nail in the coffin there for what I was gonna be for work. I want to help people.”

He turned to community organizing, seeing it as a way to help a state with the fourth-highest poverty rate in the nation, which is struggling to transition from the declining coal and logging industries that have historically undergirded its economy.

“I know Zach’s a long shot. It’s like David against three Goliaths,” said Pam Garrison, a fellow community organizer. “Zach is able to be hardline when he needs to be. I’ve seen him being forceful and steadfast in his principles and what things are. And then I’ve seen the compassionate and empathy side of Zach too, And that’s what makes a good politician.”

Since 2020, Shrewsbury has helped towns dig out from flooding, door-knocked in the narrow Appalachian valleys – known as hollers – to find out what residents were looking for from the state legislature, and talked to mayors and city councils about the opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes consumer usage of renewable energy, including home solar panels.

Though Manchin played a key role in authoring the IRA, he also nixed the expanded child tax credit, which has been credited with cutting the child poverty rate by half in 2021, the sole year it was in effect. Shrewsbury was outraged by reports that later emerged of the senator privately expressing worries that people would use the program’s money to buy drugs, and jumped into the race.

Despite the state’s conservative leanings, Sam Workman, the director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University, believed Manchin may have had a path to victory had he decided to run. But he said the same cannot be said for Shrewsbury or any other Democrat.

“It’s kind of a fall-on-your-sword moment,” Workman said. “Politics is like sports: you should never say never, but I do not see the Democrats winning the Senate seat, no matter who runs.”

Shrewsbury may be alone in the Democratic primary at the moment, but he expects other candidates to enter. Since launching his campaign, he has not heard from the state Democratic party, nor the national party’s senate campaign arm.

“I’m not exactly what the party wants, because I speak my mind. You know, I’m not going to toe the party line,” he said. “I wish the party would get back in more touch with the workers. But like I said, I have the message that many people aren’t saying.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.one/post/6853686

The thing is, Democrats have always had zero margin for error heading into 2024. Manchin was always unlikely to hang on to his seat. In West Virginia, the likely Republican candidate for Senate in 2024 is Jim Justice, the current governor of the state. Justice was elected governor as a Democrat, but switched parties at a Donald Trump rally in 2017, just a few months into his term, in one of the more pathetic “kiss the ring” maneuvers you will ever see from a full-grown adult. Manchin was most likely toast the minute Justice declared for the seat, and some polls have Justice beating Manchin by over 20 points.

Manchin was going to lose, and Democrats who hoped that he’d help them hang on to the Senate were simply fooling themselves. Frankly, instead of a conservative “Trump-lite” Democrat, the party should go find the most pro-abortion, pro-labor city commissioner in Wheeling and try to run a single-issue campaign on reproductive rights. That kind of candidate can lose just as hard as Manchin would have, but with a lot more dignity.

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – A lawsuit has now been filed against Mountaineer Gas Company and West Virginia American Water Company regarding the gas crisis on Charleston’s West Side.

The law offices of Calwell Luce diTrapano, PLLC, and Forbes Law Offices, PLLC, say the suit was filed on behalf of the 1,100 West Side residents and businesses who were impacted by the outages. The problem began when the force of a high-pressure water main break pierced a main gas line on Friday, Nov. 10, flooding 46 miles of the gas lines with water.

Numerous West Side residents have been without a heat source since the incident, and some were also without water for a few days. Attorney Dante’ diTrapano, co-counsel, says the two companies should have taken more precautions to prevent the incident from happening.

“The presence of water in natural gas lines is dangerous and renders the lines unavailable for use, and hundreds of residents are suffering without heat during consecutive cold evenings,” said diTrapano. “West Virginia American Water knew or should have known that the high-pressure water main was prone to failure because of its construction, joints, layout, and usage characteristics and the lack of standard, required maintenance and repair. And Mountaineer Gas knew or should have known that West Virginia American Water has a history of poor maintenance and repair and catastrophic failure, and they failed to take necessary precautions to prevent the contamination of the gas lines with water.”

As of Wednesday morning, Nov. 15, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin announced 200 customers on Charleston’s West Side have their natural gas service restored.

Mountaineer Gas has told 13 News that it will take three to four days to start restoration of natural gas services, and seven to ten days for full restoration.

They say a representative — in uniform, with an ID and in a Mountaineer Gas vehicle — will have to come into your residence to begin to restore gas services in three to four days. If you are not home, they will leave a note on your door to set up an appointment.

Anyone affected by this is being urged to not fix anything by yourself and to wait for a Mountaineer Gas official.

Attorney Jesse Forbes, co-counsel, says the colder weather adds to the urgency of the situation as residents need the natural gas to keep warm, cook and for other basic needs.

“A major outage such as this creates a dangerous situation for all those affected. With temperatures dropping, people need heat and basic services. There are children living here, a school is closed, and the elderly and those with health conditions are even more susceptible and need help,” said Forbes.

A class action lawsuit was also filed against the gas and water companies by Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler, PLLC. This one is to not allow the companies to seek a rate increase due to its own conduct.

Charleston Fire Department officials are saying it’s important to remember safety during such a stressful time.

The crisis has caused Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary School — which is only a few blocks away from the scene — to close for the rest of the week.

Students will have to log into Schoology each day for their assignments. Anyone who needs help with Schoology can go into the school from 10:30 a.m. to noon, or go to “Schoology office hours” from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. online. Lunches are also available to pick up between 10:30 a.m. and noon.