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Campaign bosses hope Obama, McCain come here
Left, Barack Obama speaks to children while John McCain, right, meets with the Marshall University football team.
August 7, 2008
PARKERSBURG - Campaign and party officials expect presidential candidates Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to make stops in West Virginia.
Larry Swann, state chairman for McCain 2008, said the Republican senator will make future visits to West Virginia, possibly Wood County. McCain was in Huntington Wednesday for a private meeting with the Marshall University football team.
Wood County is one of the few Republican strongholds in West Virginia.
"We realize how important Wood County is," Swann said.
» Full Story
Salvia divinorum
August 7, 2008
PARKERSBURG — Salvia divinorum, a mostly legal plant with hallucinogenic properties often referred to as the “sage of the seers” or “diviner’s sage,” is continuing to show up on official radars.
» Full Story
Police search Slider home
August 7, 2008
MARIETTA — Police say stolen guns were found at the residence of a Little Hocking man suspected of staging his disappearance last week, prompting a warrant to be issued Wednesday for his arrest.
» Full Story
WESTEST forces change in 2009 graduation dates
August 7, 2008
PARKERSBURG — Changes in scheduling for the 2009 state WESTEST exam means graduation dates for Wood County Schools will be pushed back a week.
» Full Story
Top Headline Poll
The Summer Olympics opens Friday in China. How much of the coverage will you watch on TV or the Internet?
As much as possible
15%
Only the events that interest me
27%
Very little
33%
None
26%
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Jolene Craig
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Theatre anyone?
Thu, August 7, 2008 @ 9:01AM
I'm going to step away from the annoyance I feel about the endless movie remakes and CD re-releases going on at present. Instead, I'm going to share my excitement and show my inner geek. According to the Agence France-Presse, archaeologists in England have discovered remains of a 16th century playhouse known as The Theatre. Now, I know that finding an old building in Europe isn't a surprise, but the significance of this find is that The Theatre was the first professional home of William Shakespeare. The now famous play write acted on the stage and that particular building was the first home of such plays as "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I have been to England I was able to visit the new Globe Theatre, which is a replica of Shakespeare's second stage home, but to actually visit the remains of the original site would be more inspiring.
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Hilary Heinzman
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Can't run 13.1 miles?? Try 2 instead
Thu, July 10, 2008 @ 9:04AM
Want to be a part of race weekend and running 13.1 miles is absolutely out of question for you? Want to try something a little bit more practical for your fitness level? Consider running or walking in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel Two-Mile Race. This race is great if you are trying to set a personal record, testing your summer training, or a high school or college team looking to get some race experience before the season starts. Most participants are a part of a team from work, or a group of friends who work all summer long to better their health.
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Rachel Lane
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Goodbye 600 Starbucks
Wed, July 2, 2008 @ 1:56PM
Starbucks has announced it will be closing 600 stores and cutting 7 percent of the workforce, about 12,000 full-time and part-time jobs. I'm not surprised. Starbucks has been advertising recently - they have basically never advertised before because they have not needed too. Word of mouth got them enough business to expand. While I have never been in favor of purchasing $4 cups of coffee daily, many people disagreed with me. Until gasoline became $4 a gallon. I think that $4 morning indulgence is only the first thing people are going to cut out of the daily budget.
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Jess Mancini
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Watch this movie
Tue, August 5, 2008 @ 10:56AM
I watched the new X Files movie ``The X Files: I want to Believe,' at the mall on Sunday. My only nit to pick is the West Virginia town where much of the action takes place doesn't exist. Mulder and Scully are investigating the disappearance of an FBI agent in Somerset where body parts are found with the help of a former priest with psychic powers. Besides the town being fictional, I'm unaware of any place in West Virginia with the mountains that were in the movie, but if you have never been to West Virginia, I guess it wouldn't matter. Now that I've got that off my chest, I recommend the movie and advise you don't listen to reviewers who panned it.
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Amy Mendenhall
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A Highlander Never Surrenders
Mon, August 4, 2008 @ 7:33AM
June is the official start of summer, so I'm kicking off the season with a new book a week that you should be sticking in a beach bag to take on vacation, or just relaxing with in the backyard along with a glass of sweet tea. This week's is a historical fiction offering. Be sure to check back every Monday for a new book for adults or teenagers! I'm usually not a big fan of historical fiction, but this one hooked me from the start. Paula Quinn presents hot men in kilts and nervy women that aren't content to sit around the castle and accept their fate in "A Highlander Never Surrenders." Claire Stuart is a Scottish rebel and the king's cousin. When she finds that her sister is gone, sent to be brokered as an arranged marriage and that she is also to be married off, she sets off to rescue her. On the way, she is ambushed by desperate men, whom she fights. And that is when two strange men stumble upon her and offer to help.
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Jody Murphy
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The beginning of a golden age
Wed, July 30, 2008 @ 9:18AM
Mark your calender folks. Five years from now Parkersburg - and even Wood County - won't be same city it is today. And that's a good thing. Local leaders, including Mayor Bob Newell and his staff, the City Council, the Wood County Development Authority and the Wood County Commission, have done a tremendous job meshing luck and opportunity into success. Come back five years from now and you will be amazed at the city's growth. The downtown will be a thriving center with a Riverfront Park, a Farmers Market, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Headquarters, a downtown WVUP Business School* and a host of other, smaller businesses - like cafes and coffeehouses. Up at Fort Boreman expect to see a 5,000-seat civic center/National Guard Armory and a professional (Frontier League?) baseball stadium. In addition to an entertainment complex, Boreman will likely also contain a thriving shopping district.
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Dave Payne
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Wars between the states
Wed, August 6, 2008 @ 5:14PM
Most of us are familiar with the Civil War, but how about some other wars between the states? The Ohio-Michigan War (1835-1836) it was a bloodless boundary dispute that got very heated, mobilized the miltaries of both states against each other and delayed Michigan statehood. As Michigan began pressing for statehood in the early 1830s, it wanted this 500-mile strip of land that included Toledo. Both Ohio and Michigan wanted this strip of land and each raised a militia and sent soldiers to Toledo. There was at least one confrontation during the “war,” but no one was hurt. Michigan surrendered its claim to the land in exchange for statehood and the Upper Peninsula. That Andrew-Jackson brokered agreement is why Michigan is the only continental state where two major parts are separated by an expanse of water. Cresap's War in the 1730s between Pennsylvania and Maryland was far more violent.
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Art Smith
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TitleTown voting pushes online polls into spotlight
Fri, July 25, 2008 @ 3:09PM
ESPN’s TitleTown project has generated a lot of talk about polls this week. The Disney-owned broadcast giant is trying to determine what community in the nation deserves to be called TitleTown. They are using an online poll to pick the community. Parkersburg is among the cities in the running. Most online polls use a variety of ways to keep from voting more than once. There are two popular methods. A lot of sites use a what’s called a cookie to determine if you have voted on a poll. A cookie is a small file that is stored on your computer. It is what tells a web page to display the “thank you for voting” message, or in some cases the current results of the poll. Other sites watch to see what IP address a user is coming from. An IP address is your location on the web.
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Jim Smith
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Customer service a rarity
Tue, August 5, 2008 @ 1:33PM
I admit it, I'm a picky eater! Like most of us, there are foods I like, foods I don't like and foods that upset me. Over the years I've identified most of the foods that upset me, which include all things marinated and anything containing onions and/or garlic. So I've learned to try to stay away from such food, but this last week or so has been a disaster for me and made me want to quit eating in restaurants. It started a week ago when my wife conned me into going with her to Amish Country to visit the quilt shops. We stopped at one of our usual haunts for lunch, which, as it turned out, neither one of us could eat it. The waitress brought my wife a barbecue pork instead of a barbecue beef sandwich and her home fries were too soggy to eat. In my case, unlike what was stated on the menu, the chicken in the sandwich was marinated and the fruit was heavily sugared, both of which are no-nos for me.
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