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At Crockett’s Lodge in Star City, West Virginia, just outside Morgantown, I experienced something I have never encountered before, 12 of the 15 people I spoke to aren’t voting. They have very interesting opinions about the state of modern politics, but they don’t think their vote matters.
As soon as I walked in, I knew I had dressed inappropriately. I had on a smart button down and a pair of Lucky slacks I’d purchased from the local TJ Maxx, when I should have worn my old beat up 2005 Troy Vincent Eagles jersey.
Side eyes aside, the first guy I talked to was named Rock, “they’re all criminals on both sides,” he told me, “So what’s the difference?”
FOUR WAYS TRUMP CAN GET TO A 96% CHANCE OF WINNING
I glanced up at the attractive bartender in her early 30s and said, “Do you vote?”
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“No,” she said,” what’s the point?”
A few minutes later I saw a guy walk in with an American flag T-shirt reading, “I’m a patriot.”
I said, “Hey, I saw your shirt.” I explained that I go around hassling people about their politics for Fox, and he was game. He loves Harris, he’s all in. He told me, “I pray every night that Trump doesn’t win, that disrespectful son of a b**ch.”
HARRIS, TRUMP ENTER POST-DEBATE ‘HOMESTRETCH’ WITH DUELING RALLIES IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES
Micaheal told me he had spent 30 years in the gas industry and he believes that Harris has turned a new leaf on fracking.
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As I tried to dig down on that, his wife arrived back from the restroom and just shut it down. “I’m not an idiot,” I said. “Thank you and have a great night.”
The next people I spoke to were Mike and Zach, both in their mid-twenties. Mike votes, Zach doesn’t. I said, “Zach, why don’t you vote?”
“It makes no difference, I live in West Virginia, Trump will win, so what does it matter?”
I said “who would you vote for?”
And this freakin’ guy, like he’s on cable news, says, “Well, who would you vote for given how life was between 2016 and 2020 compared to now?”
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TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 48 INTERVIEWS SINCE LAST MONTH COMPARED TO ONLY EIGHT FOR HARRIS-WALZ
I said, “You’re making a stronger argument for Trump than your MAGA buddy here.”
I asked them if I could buy them a shot of Irish whiskey as I was bending their ear. They asked for Lemon Drops, whatever that is, and I told them, in frankness, that this could be part of the problem.
It just didn’t stop, no matter which way they leaned. I kept hearing, “what’s the point of voting?”
One of these guys, Joe, who had a bucket of Natty Ice cans, said he would vote for Harris, if he voted, because he is poor and she would give him money.
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I asked him if he thought that she might also make things more expensive.
He said he didn’t know, but that he thought she would give him more.
Believe me, when I tell you that I am not disparaging anything about the wonderful Crockett’s Lodge or the voters, or mostly not voters, I met there. Ten out of ten recommend it. But I do wonder if either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump can move these people.
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They feel forgotten and left behind. Rock told me, “I just want to smoke weed on my porch in peace.”
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The last two people I talked to were Chris and Nicole, who are expecting their first child in a few months. Both are Trump supporters, both watched the debate and thought Harris did fine, but said, “It’s still just so hard to live and pay for it.”
I envied them in a way. They are about to have a newborn who loves them and hangs on them. I have a 14-year-old son who loves me but regularly roasts me and his mom in ways that would make Don Rickles blush, but it’s good.
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I never like hearing that people aren’t voting, and yeah, maybe in Morgantown, West Virginia it won’t affect the final outcome, but 50 miles in Pennsylvania it will, are these people really so different?
If there is a candidate who can motivate the cats I met in Morgantown. It’ll be a landslide on November 5. But so far, they are not impressed.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Gray DC) – — Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced $4 billion in private investment to build data centers across West Virginia, but the plan faces pushback from residents concerned about rising electricity costs and resource consumption.
The West Virginia State Legislature opened the door for data center development in 2023, with a plan promising 30% of funds would stay in host counties.
“We have a framework that will help make West Virginia not only the best state to open a data center… but best for consumers as well,” Morrisey said.
Resource and cost concerns
Critics say each data center will consume between 1 and 5 million gallons of water daily, employ fewer than a dozen people and strain the power grid.
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Morrisey said the law bars passing costs to consumers.
However, a Carnegie Mellon report shows electricity costs in communities around data centers are expected to spike nearly 25% by 2030. The explosion of data centers nationwide will drive up electricity bills by an average of 8% even for those not near a facility.
Limited lifespan
The lifespan of a data center averages 15 years. By year 25, they are considered obsolete.
There are currently plans for eight data centers across West Virginia. Morrisey said he is listening to those communities.
West Virginia’s welcome signs were changed from “Wild and Wonderful” to “Open for Business” in 2006.
The Department of Biology invites the community to join its spring ephemeral wildflower walk Sunday (April 12) at the Core Arboretum.
The free guided walks will begin at noon, 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
The walks will take place each Sunday in April.
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Find more information and register to attend.
Last year, more than 45 species of plants were seen in bloom over the course of the wildflower walks.
Individuals are also welcome to visit and see the flowers on their own. Information on how to find and identify the flowers are available at the kiosk.
Those who wish to schedule a group tour outside of the regular schedule or would like to become a volunteer guide, should contact Zach Fowler, WVU Core Arboretum director, at zfowler@mail.wvu.edu.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia University has welcomed back its beloved Research Week for its eighth year.
Research Week at WVU was created to highlight the research efforts of students, faculty and staff across the school’s three campuses and to thank them for helping create the R1 institution’s household name.
Core facilities showcase (WBOY image).
Monday kicked off the week with award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author and historian John M. Barry as a keynote speaker in a conversation “on the power of storytelling to shape public understanding, inform policy, and influence how science is understood in public life,” according to WVU.
One of the events that took place on Tuesday was the Core Facilities showcase held in the Health Science Center, which featured 30 different displays of research.
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12 News spoke with WVU Core Resources Director Karen Martin on why it was important to feature the university’s research projects in this way.
“This is going to be professional development for them so that they can learn the skills that they can then take, not only to do their research now, but that they can take with them for jobs in the future. And we’ve got the cutting-edge, greatest technologies out there, so they’re really competitive, they’ve got good skills when they leave here. And we study everything from diabetes, cancer, neuroscience, just a whole range of everything that we study, and so students really get a lot of opportunities to learn, to understand how the technology works, and they’ve got that to take with them,” Martin said.
Research products that the Core facilities showcase. (WBOY images)
Research Week will continue all across WVU until Friday. You can find a full list of events and virtual seminars on the university’s website here.
