The sudden cease of operations for the Alliance of American Football came as a shock to everyone involved, including sport communication scholars. Jennifer L. Harker., assistant professor at the West Virginia University Reed College of Media, has been researching the AAF since before its inaugural launch in February.
In its charge as the investigative, auditing arm of Congress, the U.S. General Accountability Office has reached out to two fraud experts from the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. Drs. Richard Riley and Scott Fleming will lead discussion with the GAO on Wednesday (April 10), covering issues ranging from fraud topics and trends to what drives people to commit fraud.
A West Virginia University expert is scheduled to testify in support of the proposed Appalachian Community Health Act, which calls for scientific studies on the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining. In his testimony prepared for delivery before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Michael McCawley will discuss previous studies that have found higher rates of disease in MTR areas and exposure assessments that indicate a causal – not just correlative – relationship between MTR air pollution and increased rates of chronic disease.
After a nearly yearlong battle with unusually wet weather in West Virginia, farmers around the state are now dealing with another troublesome consequence – mud. Once cattle have been turned out to pasture this spring, WVU Extension Service expert Ed Rayburn recommends farmers reseed muddy terrain as quickly as possible. He’s provided some simple suggestions to help our state’s farmers combat the mud and keep their soil as healthy as possible.
As the Environmental Working Group releases its “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables that are high in pesticide residue, a West Virginia University expert says highest concentration of many pesticides is on the surface of the fruit or vegetable and washing the produce can greatly reduce the risk of exposure to chemicals. Plant pathologist James Kotcon said the risk of eliminating fruits and vegetables from your daily diet is greater than the harm that might be caused from ingesting pesticides.
For many farmers across West Virginia, an abundance of wet weather in 2018 has created concern for a potential shortage of hay, which farmers will use to feed livestock through spring 2019. West Virginia University Extension Service Agriculture and Natural Resources Specialists Ed Rayburn and Kevin Shaffer have provided a few management options available to help concerned farmers stretch their resources and keep their herds healthy.
A rare earthquake between Lewisburg and Beckley Monday (March 4) is only one of 25 that were larger than a magnitude 2.5 in the past 40 years, according to a West Virginia University expert. Because of its depth and location, Monday’s event is likely a natural occurrence unlike earthquakes of a similar magnitude in Braxton County in 2010-2011, said Jaime Toro, professor of geology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
West Virginia University professor Linda Alexander has focused her work on populations that have not benefitted equally from efforts in tobacco control, including tobacco cessation, education and prevention. This week, she joins researchers from around the world for “Tobacco Control for All: Addressing Smoking Disparities for Priority Populations” in San Francisco.
West Virginia University education expert Erin McHenry-Sorber believes SB451, which allows for charter schools and Education Savings Accounts, is “curious legislation” for West Virginia, a state that has, since 2007, underfunded its public education system, and had the deepest cuts of any state in the 2017-2018 academic year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Additionally, assistant professor Matthew Campbell notes that charter schools have lower standards for teachers, meaning those schools would house some of the least qualified teachers in the state.
The debate over SB 451, which promotes charter schools and vouchers in West Virginia, while offering teachers raises, has centered around choice and parents’ ability to send their children to school where they want. Passage of the bill in the state senate prompted an immediate response from teachers who voted to strike in the anniversary week of a landmark court decision which held education is a fundamental right. A West Virginia University expert believes the arguments miss an important provision of the bill — a “deceptively modest change” that would allow county school boards to increase property taxes with voter approval.