From The WAJR Local News Desk

WVU President Mike Garrison says he did not order his chief of staff to give the governor's daughter a degree she did not earn. On yesterdy's Metronews Talkline Garrison recalled the conversation he had with Craig Walker after receiving a call from Heather Bresch inquiring about her degree status. (Garrison Audio Clip)
Garrison says he did not know that Walker attended a meeting with the College of Business and Economics Dean and the Provost until several days after the meeting was held and the decision was made to retroactively award Bresch a degree. Garrison's cell phone records were also released this week. They show only one call to a cell phone in the Pittsburgh area where Bresch's office is located. The university does not have his landline records from the week in question because land line records are not kept longer than a month.

Pollsters says Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead over Barak Obama leading up to next week's primary election here in West Virginia. Clinton is trying to solidify that lead by making several appearances in the state. She will be in Charleston later this morning. Her husband will also be campaigning today in West Virginia. The former president will make five stops through the Mountain State today.

Several local races in Monongalia County are also hotly contested, including the race for Monongalia County Sheriff. The two men running for that office have decades of experience in the Sheriff's office. Al Kisner is the current Chief Deputy. (Kisner Audio Clip) His opponent is Westover Mayor Bob McCauley who is a former Chief Deputy under former Sheriff Tony Barill. (McCauley Audio Clip) McCauley and Kisner were both guests on this morning's Morgantown A-M. More candidates will be on tomorrow's show. County Commission candidates Steve Cook and Bill Bartolo will be on the show starting at 9:30.

One of the men accused of helping run a drug ring out of a Morgantown nightclub pleads guilty to drug charges. 25-year-old Jubal Culver faces a ten to life sentence and a four million dollar fine. He was one of 19 men arrested during a February 15th raid of the Envy nightclub in downtown Morgantown.

The Mon-Fayette Expressway is still several years away from completion, but DOH engineer Jeff Pifer says several major phases will be finished this year. He says the local roads project will be finished this month and the Morgan's Run Bridge will be done by the end of the year. Next up will be the interchange with Interstate 68. (Pifer Audio Clip) Pifer says that part of the interchange should be done by 2012.

The Monongalia County Board of Educaiton has extended the lease of the old Arnettsville elementary school to the community group trying to raise enough money to buy the building. Terri DeMicco with the Arnettsville Community Association says the extention will help them raise the money they need to buy it. (DeMicco Audio Clip) DeMicco  says the group is obtaining non-profit status which will allow it to apply for state and federal grants. They need to raise more than 120-thousand dollars to buy the building and DeMicco says they haven't even raised half that.

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Betty in Suncrest left us a message at 296-WAJR 

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Kenneth Writes: Florida, the entire state, has been smoke free in bars and restaurants for the past five years. The food and bar biz in FLA is doing fine, thank you. Paris, France is smoke free in cafes and restaurants. That's right. Paris, France. The French are still smokin' as much as ever, just not inside! Oh, and Randolph County, that's Elkins, WV,passed their clean air statute that went into effect in 2007. I salute the BOH for listening to all sides of this issue, but it is the Board of HEALTH, isn't it?

Joyce Writes: Regarding the Heather Bresch case, I do believe she received special treatment. From 1990-1992, I completed all the course work for a MPA degree but did not complete the final paper, Internship Analysis, due to family health problems. I had a 2 year internship with Monongalia General Hospital, much longer than the traditional one semester. While running for magistrate in Mon County, I called the PA department to ask about completing my degree. I was told at that time that I would have to repeat all my courses. When I read about the Bresch affair, I called President Garrison's office , telling the person on the other line my concern about the disparity of treatment. She said that somebody would return my call but they never did. On Mar 9 I sent an e-mail to Garrison , copying to Bill Case, Jennifer Fisher, Chris Plein, Gerald Lang, Debbie Koon, and Roy Nutter,with my concerns and received an immediate response. I received an e-mail from Chris Plein o
n Mar 10, indicating that I should review the processes for revalidation of course work taken more than 8 years ago.
From what I can tell, this involves an examination for each course and I'm guessing payment of tuition and fees. I know exactly what happened with my situation and i'm sure Ms Bresch does too.
I don't fault the MPA program except for the original information about repeating all the course work but I do fault WVU Administrators and staff for allowing influential individuals to taint the process and the University's reputation.