Charleston Daily Mail

Leader Blasts Hardesty Raise, Board Service, Teachers' Union President Says Pay Hike Unfair to Other University Workers

DAILY MAIL STAFF The president of the West Virginia Education Association said a $25,000 pay raise granted to West Virginia University President David Hardesty is unfair to other university employees.

Bidder Willing to Spend $520 to Dine with Joe

DAILY MAIL STAFF Skip the refurbished iPods and fake Luis Vuitton purses.

Another School May Close, Grandview Added to List Because Enrollment has Fallen, Duerring Says

DAILY MAIL STAFF Grandview Elementary School has been added to the Kanawha County school board's closure list, joining four other West Side schools in what school officials hope is a plan that will increase their chances for full funding from the state.

Disc Replacement

What it is: The German-made Charite artificial disc was approved by the FDA a year ago for patients with degenerated lower back discs that are causing extreme pain. Who is eligible: Patients must explore other possible treatments for at least six months and be under 50 to be considered for the surgery.

Clay , Underwent Disc Replacement

DAILY MAIL STAFF Mischa Clay's answer to unrelenting back pain came in the form of a small piece of plastic barely larger than a quarter.

New Solution for Back Pain

Death Toll Attributed to Hurricane Katrina Climbs to 1,053

NEW ORLEANS - The death toll attributed to Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana has grown to 1,053. The number of bodies received by a special morgue in St. Gabriel near Baton Rouge and by coroners in 13 parishes rose to 1,061, up from 1,056 on Oct. 21.

Regional Jail Authority Chooses New Director, Woman with 30 Years Experience to Head Agency

A woman with 30 years of experience in corrections has been named executive director of the state Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. Wyetta Fredericks, deputy corrections commissioner, was named Tuesday to oversee the state's 10 regional jails.

Ready for Winter

Police in Rome Charge Students at Protest

ROME - Police in riot gear charged demonstrators in the streets near Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office as students protested university reforms sponsored by his conservative government. Sky TG24, a private Italian TV channel, reported that some students, their heads bleeding, were taken away by ambulance from the protest, which began hours earlier on Tuesday.

Forecast

Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Thursday

Nationalweather

Hi Lo Otlk Akron 46 35 Cldy

Moonphase

Hi Lo Otlk Anchorage 33 20 Clr

Taxpayers Due $73 Million in Unclaimed Irs Refunds, Irs Says Most of the Checks Returned Because Recipients Had Moved

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people have money sitting at the Internal Revenue Service that could be claimed if they would just tell the tax collectors where they live. The IRS said Tuesday that $73 million in tax refunds that were sent to taxpayers this year did not reach the destination. In most cases, the post office returned the checks as undeliverable because the taxpayers had moved.

Sisters Hope Frozen Body Is Brother, World War Ii Airman's Remains Were Flown to Hawaii for Identification

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The light hair on the frozen body of a World War II airman gives Jeanne Pyle hope that the well-preserved remains found this month in a Sierra Nevada glacier belong to her brother. Pyle, 85, remembers her brother, Cadet Ernest Munn, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, as a handsome, 6-foot-4 man with blond hair and blue eyes. He was among four airmen who died when their navigational training plane crashed in November 1942. None of the members of that flight were ever found.

Some Iraqis Feel for U.S., Others Hope Casualty Numbers Will Encourage Americans to Leave Their Country

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Some Iraqis sympathized with U.S. forces today after hearing the American death toll in the Iraq war had reached 2,000. But others noted that many more Iraqis had died in the conflict and said they hope the U.S. "occupiers" will soon go home. A day after the somber milestone was reached, insurgent attacks continued. Four militants hiding behind a mosque shot and killed a government official as he drove to work today, and an Internet statement claimed Al-Qaida in Iraq has abduc...

Nation &World

Jet evacuated after tire blows, sparking fires SYDNEY, Australia - More than 250 passengers and crew were evacuated from a Thai Airways jet after a tire blew, sparking small fires during a hard landing today at southern Australia's Melbourne airport, an official said. No injuries were reported.

W.Va. Should Reach Out for Teachers Alternative Certification Programs for Professionals Are Long Overdu

NOT very long ago, the National Center for Alternative Certification said West Virginia did not have any programs for getting talented people into the classroom with a minimum of educational argle-bargle. Certainly, it is fair to say that West Virginia was 1) complaining of teacher shortages, particularly in disciplines like mathematics, sciences, languages and special education, while 2) making it almost impossible for mathematicians, scientists, linguists and other talented people to enter ...

Regional Airport Is Coming Right Along Expanding Yeager for $20 Million Was Clearly the Better Approach

FOR 10 years, a great debate raged over whether the state of West Virginia should build a new regional airport to serve the southwest part of the state. That dream is being realized, and in a way less costly to taxpayers and more convenient to airline passengers.

What a Difference Greenspan has Made, by Doing Less, He has Stabilized the U.S. Economy

WASHINGTON - Frequently the fate - gratifying, yet melancholy - of consequential public persons is this: They so transform an ominous social landscape that by the time they leave the public stage, the public no longer remembers the banished dangers, and hence cannot properly value the banisher.