Gizmodo: west virginia

FBI Agents Accused of Spying on Teen Girls Trying on Prom Dresses

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:45:00 EDT

In a surprising display of perviness, two agents in West Virginia are accused of aiming their surveillance cameras at a dressing room where teenage girls tried on prom dresses for a charity function.

Bad press doesn't get much worse than that.

Gary Sutton Jr., 40, and Charles Hommema have been charged with the misdemeanors and face fines and up to a year in jail on each charge if convicted. Sutton has been released on bond, Wilson said, and Hommema is to be arraigned later this week.

The FBI gave a terse statement about the privacy of families and how they're committed to resolving the matter. [AP, thanks zenneth!]

How the Obama-Hating Voting Machine Fails

matt buchanan — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Remember the voting machines in West Virginia that just couldn't bring themselves to let people vote Obama? Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright, who "hates stories like this" was good enough to show Video the Vote how a mis-calibrated voting machine would take a vote for Obama (or anyone) and turn it into a vote for another candidate—and not necessarily John McCain, either, though that's what would happen if you picked a straight Democratic ticket. So yeah, this could definitely happen to you.

Waybright actually seems like a really stand-up guy on people being able to vote the way they want, and details some of the measures they're taking to make sure that happens. The machines have confirmation screens, and they'll have techs at the polling places, just in case problems do pop up. It looks like an easy enough fix too—the same machine, when properly calibrated, should work just fine. So just be sure to double check your vote on Tuesday, wherever and however you're voting. [Video the Vote]

Voting Machine: No, You Really Meant to Vote for McCain

matt buchanan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Even though the great state of West Virginia is only at threat level orange for having the closest thing the average American has to a voice tampered with, in at least three counties, voters have complained that when they tried to vote for Barack Obama, the touchscreen voting machine cast their vote for John McCain. One voter reported that all of their Democratic votes, for every level of government, were magically transformed into ~~real American~~ Republican ones.

Some officials blamed it on user error for not touching the screens properly—Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright said that 400 people voted early using Election Systems & Software's machines without any problems at all. Oh and:

"I hate the fact that stories like this are printed. It makes everybody get scared. That is not good for anybody. Where the fault is, I don't know and the voter doesn't know. There needs to be good communication between the voters and the poll workers."

After being contacted by the Secretary of State's office, though, they've agreed to re-calibrate the machines. Ones of the counties with touchscreen wonkiness, Putnam, will actually use an optical scan machine with a full-size paper ballot on election day—the touchscreens are just for early voting, so it hopefully won't be an issue.

The takeaway is that whoever you're voting for, wherever you're doing it, whatever you're using, double-check it to make sure it was properly recorded before you walk out of the booth. If it's not, call the poll person over, it's what they're there for. Of course, if you see voting machines doing anything particularly crazy, be sure to let us know about it. [Wired]

West Virginia to Kids: Play Some DDR, Fatties

Adam Frucci — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 13:45:06 EST

Sometimes it pays to be a bit soft around the edges. Due to childhood obesity problems in West Virginia, every public school in the state is getting a Dance Dance Revolution machine. Every school.

What happened to gym class? Aren't people supposed to exercise there? I guess WV has just given up on gym and let the kids have what they want. In my day, we stayed skinny by walking five miles through a blizzard to school, and it was uphill both ways! Kids today don't know the meaning of hard work, I'll tells ya. –Adam Frucci

Dancing video game helps kids avoid weight gain [via Boing Boing]