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Punching Down

At what point does one quit trying to keep winning the last political party primary? At one point does one stop trying to play to the perceived whims of a base and simply just govern? Gov. Patrick Morrisey won the 2024 GOP primary with 33.3% of the vote in a six-person primary. Albeit Morrisey didn’t win a clear majority and his closest competitor — former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Moore Capito — was only about five points behind Morrisey, but he did win. Turning to the general election, Morrisey carried the state last November with nearly 62% of the vote — a more ...

I’m Worried for W.Va. Amid Scientific Funding Cuts

Growing up in West Virginia, I was fascinated by the science in nature surrounding me — the deer quietly disappearing into the forest’s edge, the blinking lightning bugs dotting my backyard, the exposed rock layers drawn alongside our winding country roads. Before I even understood being a scientist was a possible career, I had fallen in love with the abstract concept of scientific research ­— this idea that we don’t know all the answers yet, and that figuring them out might just help the world with disease, infrastructure, or even the economy. But transforming this passion ...

Marshall Memo: Hungry for History; Flag Hunt; Fourth of July Parade; and Christmas

The Hungry for History 2025 Summer Speaker Series hosted by the Marshall County Historical Society and the Moundsville-Marshall County Public Library continues on Mondays at noon at the Library. Next week, June 23 the feature will be Lewis Wetzel. Joe Roxby will be speaking about the man who is undoubtedly Marshall County’s most famous son and citizen. The famed scout and fighter, Lewis Wetzel’s biography fits in the broader context of the American Revolution. On June 30, Jim Brockman will lecture on John Adams. Topics will include his belief in independence, his love of his ...

Requiem for Doug Skaff

I really wasn’t expecting to have to write, in essence, an obituary for former lawmaker and politician Doug Skaff last Tuesday. The accident that killed him remains under investigation, but by all reports it was a freak accident on I-79 near Weston. Skaff’s SUV went into the back of a semi-truck and despite trying to brake in time, it was too late. Skaff was only five years older than me at 48. I had known him since his first stint in the House of Delegates in what was once the largest of the multi-member districts covering Kanawha County. He was a rising star in Democratic ...

Let’s Strive To Be Fathers Our Children Always Look Up To

The evidence suggests that the role of a father in the United States is changing and that the male parent can contribute much more to the child’s development during the first months of life. At a Rotary meeting that I attended, a well-respected pediatrician stated that scientist have concluded that what happens in an infant’s first 100 days of life affects how the child’s brain is developed. After the child’s brain has been formed it is almost never reversed and becomes part of the child’s DNA, which is then passed on to the next generation. Of course, this is the most ...

Science Funding Cuts Affect Our Present and Future

Zebrafish are cool. They’re just one of a handful of animals that can regenerate their brain, spine, and even heart after injury. Unsurprisingly, a lot can be learned from studying how these injured organs manage to grow back properly. We also know many genes involved in regeneration are also present in a variety of cancers. So, on top of figuring out just how these animals know how to grow back what was lost, we might also gain insights into how to better tame tumor growth. My own research focuses on understanding how zebrafish fins, despite large differences in size and shape, ...