West Virginia

college protestors with signs and banners

West Virginia University votes to ax foreign language degrees

Faculty and students who are opposed argue that the move puts the state’s flagship university at risk of offering a subpar education, especially in terms of producing graduates who can compete in the international workforce.

Two coal miners in uniform with skinned blackened from coal mining.

COVID-19 is trouble for coal miners struggling with black lung disease

Health & Medicine
Pecan Acres

Frequent flooding in Louisiana could lead to buyouts for entire neighborhoods

Economics

Voting underway across the country as Americans choose between Romney, Obama

Global Politics

Hurricane Sandy leaves death, destruction as it roars ashore

Global Politics

MAP: Officials urge caution, warn of danger as Hurricane Sandy becomes ‘Frankenstorm’

Global Politics

The northeast United States is bracing Monday for Hurricane Sandy to move on shore with winds approaching 100 mph and a storm surge that is already inundating cities in New York and New Jersey. This Frankenstorm is moving in a weird way, something that’s unexpected more than once in 500 years.

Coal country incensed at what it sees as Obama’s overreach on coal regulations

Environment

The people who live in the communities that produces America’s coal are mobilized to get President Barack Obama out of office. They see his policies and his EPA as implementing new regulations that are directly costing their communities jobs.

Google searches paint a picture of how racism still infects America, hurt Obama

Global Politics

With billions of Google searches conducted across the country, it can be a powerful tool in divining what really interests Americans. For example, porn is a more popular search than weather. But it can also provide political intelligence, as one Harvard researcher recently discovered.

Ubiquitous Maggi seasoning reminds people the world over of home

Maggi seasoning is popular among American immigrants of all kinds of nationalities — and they all think of it as coming from home. But, in reality, few American immigrants are from the actual home of Maggi seasoning. But, for some reason, it still reminds each of them of where they’ve come from.

Obama pledges to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., but is it possible?

In the State of the Union, President Barack Obama insisted he would bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. But, to some, the proposals he laid out barely begin to address the disadvantages American companies face in manufacturing at home.