Mountain City Traditional Arts will host a full array of February programming to help local residents beat the winter blues.  The venue is introducing new additions to its regular offerings -- including a monthly drum circle, hosting new classes and workshops, and presenting a February music performance featuring country and bluegrass duo Loretta Hummel and Robert Broadwater.

Starting this Friday, January 29 at 7 PM, a community Drum Circle joins the monthly lineup.  Attendees are encouraged to bring the rhythm instrument ...

Mountain Top Removal takes center stage in Charleston, West Virginia this Thursday, January 21, where The University of Charleston will present a public conversation between Waterkeeper Alliance President and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Massey Energy Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship titled the “Forum on the Future of Energy.”  With a 6:15 pm kickoff time, the event cuts straight to the heart of what has become an increasingly tense national discussion about U.S. energy policy and its impact on jobs, the environment, the economy, and national security.  Moderated by UC President Edwin H. Welch, the debate will be held in the University’s Geary Auditorium, with a live remote broadcast in Eddie King Gymnasium.

The public is encouraged to ...

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK - AND QUALITY WORK IT IS!

Typically, esoteric scientific research gets mocked and vilified - especially on Late Night TV venues, such as "The Tonight Show".  Unfortunately, this is symptomatic of the general public's declining educational level in the sciences, specifically, and the scientific method in general.  And, let's face it, investigation into the mating habits of nematodes during the full moon is an easy, huge target for late night comedians.

Here are some reports regarding Dr. Margaret Palmer at the University of Maryland leading a multi-institutional study of Mountaintop Removal and Valley Filling mining methodology.  There is absolutely no way this work can be mocked.  It is unequivocal and unambiguous in its findings.  So much so, ...

I find the first few days of winter break rejuvenating.  I nestle under the covers on my over-stuffed couch drinking giant mugs of hot chocolate and reading novel after novel.  Watching the snow fall is comforting.  I revel in the beauty of it, knowing that as an academic between semesters, I have the luxury of not leaving the house for days.  But after day eight, I grow restless.  My mind wanders; I have little desire to prepare for the coming semester, and my energy level begins to flag.  And it’s not only me.  The unrest is contagious.  My dogs grow sullen, casting accusatory glances in my direction, frustrated that their long weekend jaunts are on hiatus.  With the holidays behind us during one of the first real Frostburg winters we’ve experienced in years, ...