West Virginia
One candidate for West Va. governor defends abortion bans. The other wanted abortion on the ballot
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The closest West Virginia voters could come to having their say at the ballot box on whether abortion should be legal in the post-Roe v. Wade era might be in this year’s governor’s race.
State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams have been leaders and occasional allies in the fight against drug abuse in West Virginia, both working to stem the flow of pharmaceuticals into the state with the highest opioid death rate in the nation.
But when it comes to reproductive rights, the two could hardly be further apart.
Morrisey, the Republican nominee, has been a vigorous defender of West Virginia’s comprehensive ban on abortion, which includes few exceptions. Williams, his Democratic opponent, tried but failed to get an abortion referendum on the November ballot.
Now he is betting that the divide over the issue is larger than Republicans think, even in a GOP-dominated state that voted in support of Trump in every single county in 2016 and 2020.
“As I see it, freedom will be on the ballot one way or another,” said Williams, who has been meeting with independent, Republican and Democratic women unhappy with lawmakers’ restrictions.
Unlike some other states that have taken a vote on abortion following the end of federal protections, West Virginia has no citizen-led ballot initiative process. The only way to get a ballot question is with a vote of the legislature, which has Republican supermajorities in both chambers and ignored a petition Williams submitted with thousands of West Virginians’ signatures.
Amendments to preserve abortion rights have gotten traction even in GOP-leaning states like Kansas and Kentucky, where residents voted in favor of access to the procedure. Even in a state as Republican-dominated as West Virginia, the distinction between candidates could matter to some voters.
As governor, Williams said he would continue to pressure lawmakers to put abortion on the ballot or to lessen restrictions. If they continued to refuse to do either, he said he’d restore access through executive order.
Morrisey says West Virginia is a “pro-life state” and has cited a 2018 vote in which just under 52% of voters supported a constitutional amendment saying there is no right to abortion access in West Virginia. But that vote — during a low-turnout midterm election — took place four years before the U.S. Supreme Court determined that there is no constitutional right to abortion, handing the matter back to the states.
The 2018 vote also had to do with state funding of abortion, which some voters might oppose without wanting access completely eliminated, advocates say.
Not long after that, West Virginia passed its ban — becoming one of 13 states to make abortion illegal.
Morrisey argued that voters can turn lawmakers out if they don’t like what they do.
“My opponent is part of the Biden-Harris far-left movement,” he said. “And that’s not what West Virginians are looking for. ”
But Margaret Chapman Pomponio, executive director of the abortion rights and reproductive health advocacy nonprofit WV FREE, said she has “zero doubt” that West Virginians would vote for abortion rights if they had the chance.
“Lawmakers will not do it because I believe they know that they would lose,” she said.
She worries that people don’t know how restrictive the law really is.
After the Dobbs decision, the legislature convened more than once to debate abortion ban proposals. During their first special session in July 2022 that adjourned after lawmakers failed to agree, “the public outcry was intense,” Chapman Pomponio said, with protesters rallying at the state Capitol.
When the legislature was called back in September, the law was quickly approved with no public comment period.
“I think that really does create a sense of distrust, anger and apathy because they did not feel heard or respected,” Chapman Pomponio said. “Why go to the polls if you know that your elected officials are going to ignore you?”
She said West Virginia Free’s 501(c)(4) sibling organization — the WV FREE Action Fund — has been reaching out to voters to try to mobilize them ahead of the election and have found that many people don’t fully understand how limited the exemptions are.
Adult victims of rape and incest, for example, can obtain abortions in-state up until they are eight weeks pregnant, while child victims have up to 14 weeks. Victims are required to report their assault to law enforcement 48 hours before the procedure, something advocates point out could be a barrier because most victims don’t ever report their assaults to law enforcement.
“We have to continually explain to people that the exemptions have been very disingenuously portrayed by politicians who want the public to think that there’s more compassion in the ban than there is,” she said.
According to AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending on advertising, Democrats have spent almost nothing on the governor’s race, while Morrisey and Republican groups backing him have spent more than $36 million on ads for his campaign.
Provo, UT – In a wild afternoon at Miller Park, the West Virginia Mountaineers (22-4, 4-3) popped out to a seven-run lead but had to rally from an eight-run deficit to take the series deciding game three from the BYU Cougars (14-11, 4-5) Saturday afternoon 19-16.
West Virginia senior Jace Rinehart was 3-6 at the plate with a home run and six RBI and sophomore Armani Guzman was 2-5 with a home run and four RBI.
West Virginia jumped out to an early 7-0 lead.
Senior Grant Hussey hit a one-out double and redshirt junior Chase Swain followed with a single to and sophomore Armani Guzman put the Mountaineers on the board with three-run home run in the top of the second inning.
In the third, Logan Suave blasted a leadoff home run. Senior Kyle West dropped a double in left-centerfield. Then, freshman Gavin Kelley and Hussey hit consecutive RBI doubles before Guzman came back around with a line drive RBI single to right field for the seven-run advantage.
BYU responded with a five run third inning, starting with an RBI triple from redshirt sophomore Keoni Painer. A slow roller to short by junior Luke Anderson was good for an RBI single. Then, with two outs on the board, junior Bryker Hurdsman and senior Brock Watkins delivered RBI doubles and sophomore Ryder Robinson singled to right field for an RBI to cut the WVU lead to two, 7-5.
After West Virginia starting pitcher Carson Estridge allowed the five-run third, head coach Steve Sabins opted to send him back out in the fourth and the junior walked the first two Cougar hitters before he exited the game as two Mountaineer relievers would come into the game and BYU posted a ten-run fourth inning on just four hits. In total, the WVU arms gave up three walks, two hit batsmen, and three hits.
The Cougars took advantage of the Mountaineers’ mistakes. Anderson recorded a two-RBI double and an RBI single, Hurdsman registered an RBI single, and junior Easton Jones hit a two-RBI single up the middle to take a 15-7 lead.
West Virginia answered with a six-run fifth inning. Hussey smacked his third double of the afternoon, then with two on and one-out, Spencer Barnett lined a single back up the middle to score the first run. Sauve worked a walk with the bases loaded before West slapped drove a double to right-centerfield and Jace Rinehart followed line a two-RBI single to left to cut the deficit to two, 15-13.
The Mountaineers reclaimed the lead in the seventh when senior Jace Rinehart delivered an opposite field three-run home run for the 16-15 advantage.
West Virginia added three insurance runs in the eight. Swain led the inning with a single, Barnett line a one-out RBI single to centerfield, and with two outs on the board West and Rinehart produce RBI singles for the 19-15 lead.
West Virginia freshman Mac Stiffler took the mound in the fifth and cooled the BYU bats, holding the Cougars to one hit in two innings.
Then, senior Jack Kartsonas entered in the seventh and faced the minimum with two strikeouts but found himself in a bit of trouble in the eighth after giving up a hit and a walk. However, the senior hunkered down with a strikeout and got Anderson to hit into an inning double play on the 0-2 pitch.
Kartsonas left two on and an out on the board before sophomore reliever Chase Meyer shut down any opportunity for the Cougars as the Mountaineers held on for the 19-6 decision.
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West Virginia
‘You look like you ate…’; RFK Jr publicly fat-shames West Virginia Governor, vows to put him on ‘carnivore diet’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the US Health and Human Services, trolled West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey by poking fun at his weight.
In a public event on Friday, Kennedy emphasised on West Virginia’s leadership in the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. Kennedy made a number of fat jokes about Morrisey during his address, even implying that the governor should take part in monthly public weigh-ins.
“I said to Governor Morrisey the first time I saw him, I said, ‘You look like you ate Governor Morrisey,”” Kennedy stated, prompting laughter from the crowd.
He went on to quip that he would be Morrisey’s “personal trainer” and even offered to put him on a “really rigorous regimen” that includes a carnivorous diet.
Kennedy then asked the audience if Morrisey should make a commitment to weigh in publicly every month. He also mentioned that if the governor lost thirty pounds, he would come back to West Virginia to join him in celebrating and weighing in.
Despite the criticism, Morrisey responded with humour, saying that Kennedy’s plan was “a little more than I bargained for.”
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Social media reacts to RFK Jr’s remarks
RFK Jr’s remarks went viral on social media, with netizens giving mixed response over jab at Morrissey’s weight.
“Public shaming is just bullying. RFK Jr. isn’t wrong about Morrissey — it just should have been voiced privately,” one X user wrote.
“Nope, telling the world publicly, one obese person at a time, that being obese is unhealthy is the only way the obesity will become an undesirable state again,” another commented.
“Bullying works. Embarrassment and humiliation is a very powerful teacher,” a third user said.
“It’s not public shaming. It’s called leaders being asked to lead by example,” one more chimed in.
West Virginia has highest obesity rate in US
Apart from fat-shaming, the event highlighted new health efforts in West Virginia, such as limiting the use of SNAP to buy soda, increasing job requirements for SNAP benefits, and outlawing specific food dyes in school lunches.
West Virginia currently has the second-lowest life expectancy and the highest obesity rate in the nation.
PROVO, Utah – The West Virginia University baseball team put up a season-high 20 runs against BYU on Friday, defeating the Cougars, 20-6, at Miller Park. The Mountaineers improve to 21-4 and 3-3 in the Big 12 while BYU falls to 14-10 and 4-4 in conference play.
The Mountaineers pounded out 19 hits on the night, led by three each from the eight and nine hitters, sophomores Armani Guzman and Spencer Barnett. Barnett drove in four runs while Guzman and freshman Gavin Kelly each had three RB. Junior Skylar King added a home run, his second of the season.
On the mound, junior Gavin Van Kempen threw 4.2 innings and struck out four while allowing two runs. Sophomore Chase Meyer picked up his fifth win of the season with 2.1 perfect innings while striking out four.
West Virginia took the lead on a Guzman RBI single in the second. After BYU tied it up in the home half, King put the Mountaineers back on top with a solo home run in the third. Kelly tacked on another run later in the inning with a single.
Barnett had a two-run single in the fifth before belting a two-run triple in the seventh. Senior Brodie Kresser, senior Jace Rinehart, and Kelly added RBI singles to round out a seven-run seventh inning.
The Mountaineers followed the big seventh with an eight-run eighth inning, getting RBIs from junior Ellis Garcia, senior Kyle West, freshman Jorge Valdes, and senior Grant Hussey, before back-to-back two-run doubles by redshirt freshman Alex Marot and Guzman.
West Virginia will look to take the series on Saturday. Because of possible inclement weather, first pitch for game three has been moved up to 2 p.m. ET.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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