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What’s on your plate?

I tried meat grown in a lab. It tastes like ... well ... meat. I guess it is meat, but it’s not grown the normal way. Scientists extract meat cells from an animal and then grow them in a bioreactor, much like ones you see in a brewery. There, the cells divide again and again until you get ... meat. If you want to try some, you’ll soon be able to. But not in Florida or Alabama. There, politicians banned it. Other states now may ban it, too. “We appreciate that ban,” says Bill Bullard. He lobbies for cattlemen. In my video, he argues, “If not for Alabama and ...

Bad Idea

Joining the chorus of socio-cultural distractions being pitched in Charleston at the start of the 2025 Regular West Virginia Legislative Session was House Concurrent Resolution 33 — one of the most nonsensical pieces of sycophantry ever to be placed in the legislative records. HCR 33, is intended for “Recognizing the tallest point in the State of West Virginia, Spruce Knob, as ‘Trump Mountain,’ and Honoring the accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump.” Lead sponsor for the measure was Del. Elias Coop-Gonzalez, R-Randolph, with Dels. Chris Anders, R-Berkeley; Jordan ...

Flooding

It is the reality of living in this wild, wonderful land we love that it seems almost annually — sometimes more often than that — flooding and mudslides turn our waterways and hills into a deadly landscape. We have almost become accustomed to the news reports — and the calls for help. But that must not mean we become less responsive. At this writing, at least two deaths in West Virginia are attributed to the massive flooding in our southern counties. The effects on homes, property and communities have yet to be fully revealed. In southeast Ohio and Kentucky the devastation is no ...

Safety

The $22 million settlement resolving all of East Palestine, Ohio’s, claims against Norfolk Southern Railroad represents a significant step toward finally putting the disastrous February 2023 derailment there to rest. But unfortunately for the railroad, whose service territory includes Altoona and Johnstown, there are a number of other money headaches remaining that will continue the throbbing inside the company’s financial “cranium.” It’s an unenviable future that awaits N.S., and it seems much too early to predict how and when those predictably burdensome obligations will ...

Don’t Go Backward

West Virginia’s children and families have long benefited from the state’s strong immunization laws requiring children attending public school to be vaccinated. Now, an effort to reverse that is gaining momentum in Charleston, where it appears the pretense of “personal freedom” trumps public health. The Senate Health Committee on Thursday amended and approved Senate Bill 460, which allows a parent or guardian to simply present a written statement to the administrator of the child’s school or child care center that the mandatory vaccination requirements cannot be met because ...

Groceries

If you have experienced pain at the grocery check-out lately — and not because you still haven’t mastered ringing up your own produce — you’re not alone. In fact, according to a WalletHub study, “States Where People Spend the Most and Least on Groceries,” West Virginia is second only to Mississippi for the cost of groceries as a share of median monthly household income. Here, the average spending on groceries is 2.57% of the median monthly household income. By contrast, the lowest percentage is in New Jersey, at 1.5%. Ohio shoppers spend 2.19% of the median monthly ...