--Several disability rights groups are protesting the decision by the owners of the old mental hospital in Weston to rename the facility the “Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.”  The organizations say calling the now-closed hospital by its original name from before the Civil War is offensive.  Using the old name for an historic facility can be controversial and politically incorrect, but it has happened elsewhere.  For example, the old mental hospital in Williamsburg, Va. is known today as it was more than 200 years ago as “The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds.”

--According to the U.S. Census Bureau, McDowell County is one of the fastest-shrinking counties in the country this decade.  A new report says McDowell County, which has been ravaged by economic problems, has lost nearly 16 percent of its population since 2000.  Three of the four counties that lost a greater percentage of population than McDowell were in the New Orleans area which was hit hard by flooding.  Meanwhile, Berkeley County, West Virginia is among the fastest growing counties in the country.  Its population has increase by more than 25 percent since 2000.

--More numbers now:  Only one of the state’s four racetrack/casino locations gets the majority of its customers from West Virginia.  State Lottery figures show 34 percent of the customers at Tri-State in Cross Lanes come from West Virginia.  Mountaineer in Hancock County gets only two percent of its customers from West Virginia; 96 percent are from Pennsylvania or Ohio.   Wheeling Island is similar where five percent are West Virginians.  Charles Town attracts 85 percent of its customers from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, while only four percent are from West Virginia.

--Speaking of the Lottery, I suspect Lottery officials were relieved—even if they won’t say it—with the Powerball winners.  The eight women from the Monongalia County Tax Office seemed like decent, hardworking West Virginia folks.  Unfortunately, jackpot winner Jack Whittaker remains the poster boy for what can go wrong when you become a multimillionaire.  Perhaps he should write a book:  “What NOT to do when you win the lottery.” 

--The budget resolutions approved by the Senate and House of Representatives in Washington, D.C last week will add billions more to the national debt.  The debt is already $9 trillion.  If you wanted to write out that number it would take 13 digits.  It also comes out to about $31,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.  And it’s growing; the national debt is increasing by $1.65 billion per day.   

--How many Mountaineer football fans did a victory dance when Terrelle Pryor announced he was going to Ohio State and not Michigan?   I’ll confess to a short one.  It’s petty, I know.  But remember Pryor found out before WVU’s administration or any of the rest of us that Coach Rod was going to Michigan.