For months, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked hundreds of high-ranking military officers from promotion.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says military promotions have been stalled because of one senator, and she disagrees with his approach.
For months, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville has blocked hundreds of high-ranking military officers from promotion. The Alabama Republican has done so in protest of a Pentagon policy that allows the federal government to reimburse travel expenses for out-of-state abortions for servicemembers.
While she agrees with Tuberville on the policy question, Capito says she doesn’t think holding up military promotions is the way to resolve the dispute, especially with global conflicts raging.
“Sen. Tuberville has picked the wrong people to hold accountable,” she said. “These are not the ones that are decisionmakers or policymakers at the DOD.”
Though the Senate confirmed three promotions on Thursday, Tuberville objected to 61 others late Wednesday, drawing the ire of his and Capito’s fellow Republican senators.
Still, Capito wouldn’t commit to a proposal from Democrats to bypass Tuberville’s objections. Democrats would need nine Republicans to vote with them to achieve that.
Those confirmed Wednesday include Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as a Pentagon service chief and the first woman to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
This week on Inside Appalachia, a Pittsburgh artist channels the Steel City’s mythology and struggles — into tarot cards. Western North Carolina author Ron Rash shares his thoughts on writing about Appalachians. And we hear about efforts in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to return a young bald eagle to the wild.
This week, a Pittsburgh artist channels the Steel City’s mythology and struggles — into tarot cards.
Western North Carolina author Ron Rash shares his thoughts on writing about Appalachians.
And we hear about efforts in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to return a young bald eagle to the wild.
These stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
His latest is called The Caretaker. It’s set in Korean war-era Appalachia.
Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Rash about the novel, Appalachia and getting older.
Courtesy
Abortion Access Over The Border
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, the procedure has been limited in much of Appalachia. It’s restricted in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
And in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia — it’s banned outright.
That’s pushed some providers across state lines. Like to a clinic that recently opened in western Maryland. WVPB’s Emily Rice has the story.
Fly Like An Eagle
For generations, bald eagles were rare. Threatened by pollution, pesticides and people’s expansion into their habitat, they were dying out. But then the bald eagle became federally protected, and the pesticide DDT, which made their eggshells more brittle, was banned.
Now, bald eagles are thriving. In 2007, they left the list of endangered and threatened species.
But every now and then, a bald eagle still needs help. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi has a story about a young bald eagle being returned to the wild.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Sierra Ferrel, Chris Stapleton, The Kessinger Brothers, Sturgill Simpson and Paul Loomis.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this West Virginia Week, our news coverage was dominated by stories from West Virginia’s legislative interim meetings at the beginning of the week and the West Virginia University Board of Governors at the end.
On this West Virginia Week, our news coverage was dominated by stories from West Virginia’s legislative interim meetings at the beginning of the week and the West Virginia University (WVU) Board of Governors at the end.
We also remembered where we were and how it felt on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
There were several other stories as well, including two more installments in our “Help Wanted” series about workforce issues in the state.
News Director Eric Douglas is our host this week.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caroline MacGregor, Chris Schultz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Liz McCormick, and Randy Yohe.
The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland will see its first patients on Sept. 13.
West Virginia is part of a so-called “abortion desert,” but a clinic with ties to the Mountain State is opening just over the border.
The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland will see its first patients on Sept. 13 to provide abortion services to patients across central Appalachia.
Originally, the clinic was set to open this summer, but some contractor timelines set the renovation back.
Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, will serve as executive director of the new Maryland clinic.
“Pretty standard for renovations, they typically always take longer than you expect,” Quiñonez said, referencing the delay in opening. “And as abortion providers, we often do what feels like impossible, so we can become pretty ambitious. And we might have set an early goal.”
By opening in Maryland, the clinic will be able to employ physicians who are licensed in states with less regulation, easing access to abortion services.
“We know that there are a large number of doctors in Maryland and regionally that are interested in providing abortion care in the state of Maryland just because where Women’s Health Center of Maryland is opening is going to be such a key regional access point for abortion care,” Quiñonez said.
Originally, the clinic was set to open this summer, but some contractor timelines set the renovation back.
Courtesy Women’s Health Center of Maryland
Quiñonez said the clinic will be a key regional access point for people seeking an abortion near West Virginia and other states that have passed abortion bans. Even in the state of Maryland, only two abortion providers operate, and they only offer first-trimester abortions and medication abortion.
“So again, that limits access for folks who need procedural abortion and folks who need abortion into the second trimester,” Quiñonez said.
Quiñonez said that while speaking with other clinics in the planning process of the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, she learned clinics in Pittsburgh, another option for West Virginia patients, were scheduling out six weeks ahead of time.
“So it’s really our sincere hope that Women’s Health Center of Maryland will be that regional access point for abortion care and hope to alleviate the intense demands the existing abortion providers that have been able to continue to provide that care in their states,” Quiñonez said.
The clinic will not only offer abortions, but comprehensive reproductive healthcare like contraception, annual exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, pregnancy and parenting support and gender-affirming hormone therapy.
“The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will be the western most abortion provider and gender-affirming hormone provider in the state of Maryland,” Quiñonez said. “And it will be the only nonprofit reproductive health care center in mountain Maryland.”
A bill passed during the 2023 West Virginia Legislative session outlaws West Virginians under 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy and fully reversible puberty blockers. It also bans minors from receiving gender-affirming surgery, something physicians say doesn’t happen in West Virginia anyway.
Unlike measures passed in other states, however, West Virginia’s law contains a unique exemption: It permits doctors to prescribe medical therapy if a teenager is considered at risk for self-harm or suicide.
Under the law, which will take effect in January 2024, a patient can be prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy after receiving parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two clinicians, including a mental health provider or an adolescent medicine specialist.
“Even if the only service that Women’s Health Center of West Virginia offered or that Women’s Health Center in Maryland will offer was abortion care, that would still be valid and necessary, because abortion is part of comprehensive reproductive health care that everyone should have access to,” Quiñonez said. “But the reality is that, much like many other independent clinics across the country that are providing abortion care, we are also providing other comprehensive reproductive health care”
The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia continues to provide cancer screenings, contraception and HIV and STI testing among other reproductive health care services.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginia is part of a so-called “abortion desert” but a clinic with ties to the Mountain State is opening just over the border. Also, more questions are being raised about the role of surface mines in flash floods after widespread damage in eastern Kanawha County.
On this West Virginia Morning, West Virginia is part of a so-called “abortion desert” but a clinic with ties to the Mountain State is opening just over the border. Emily Rice has more.
Also, in this show, more questions are being raised about the role of surface mines in flash floods after widespread damage in eastern Kanawha County. Briana Heaney has the story.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.
Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Students at West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown are protesting an anti-abortion display on campus.
Students at West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown are protesting an anti-abortion display on campus.
The anti-abortion group Center for Bio-Ethical Reform staged a demonstration Wednesday and Thursday in WVU’s free speech zone in front of the Mountainlair student union.
The organization displayed images that purported to show aborted fetuses alongside victims of lynching and the Holocaust, comparing abortion to genocide.
Jacinta Robin is a media liaison for Center for Bio-Ethical Reform events. She said the organization brought the display — titled the “Genocide Awareness Project” (GAP) — to WVU because the university’s “plethora of students with diverse ideas” made it a good place for public discourse.
“We seek public universities for the reason of there being a public discourse on their campus in some capacity, that we should be allowed to use as a taxpayer in this country,” Robin said. “But we still abide by the university’s protocol every time.”
She said the organization aims to sway public opinion and that their images represent the organization’s beliefs.
“Many people believe that abortion is the process of eliminating blood and tissue,” Robin said. “We’re reversing that narrative that abortion decapitates and dismembers a tiny human child.”
Returning student Adrienne Dering called the information on the signs ”factually incorrect.”
“This is an institution of education, and people deserve to be educated,” Dering said.
“Abortion doesn’t look like D&Cs [dilation and curettage] anymore,” she continued. “Ninety-seven percent of abortions in this country are in the first trimester, and the vast majority of them are medical abortions where women have a safe, medically monitored miscarriage in the comfort of their own home and the blood clot is the size of an olive.”
Dering said she was also protesting because the information being presented, which included comparisons of gender transitioning to genital mutilation, was potentially harmful.
“The information on that hurts people, and we need to protest against anything that is divisive and hurtful to people of all gender assignments and to human beings,” she said.
Counter-protestors started their action as early as 7 a.m. Thursday, which included handing out contraceptives as well as information about safe sex and reproductive health resources.
Students like freshman Leah Coleman blocked the view of the display with oversized signs painted on tarps and bed sheets reading “Protect Trans Folks” and “Abortion is Healthcare.”
“By putting it in front of the Mountainlair, it’s making it look like, ‘Oh, this is WVU’s message. This is what WVU supports,’” Coleman said. “But obviously, this is not what the student body supports, or we wouldn’t be here.”
Many of the students at the counterprotest said they have written to the university expressing their concern and confusion at the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform’s presence on campus. Some have asked for the group’s removal.
The organization is considering returning Friday. Students plan to continue their protest if they do.
