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Participation in food stamp program rises

March 27, 2008 @ 06:07 AM

The Associated Press

Herald-Dispatch.com

CHARLESTON — The number of West Virginians receiving food stamps has jumped by 11 percent in five years amid rising costs for food and fuel.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, 274,487 West Virginians received food stamps in February, compared to 246,890 in 2003.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service says food costs have risen at least 2.4 percent annually since 2004.

DHHR policy specialist Sarah Young says more low-income residents are turning to food stamps to make ends meet.

They’re also turning to food pantries and soup kitchens. But Mountaineer Food Bank Executive Director Carla Nardella says food and monetary donations aren’t keeping up with the demand.

Events

Festival of Trees and Trains
daily from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Nov. 21-29. Get in the holiday spirit by checking out dozens of specially decorated trees, toy trains and more, while Christmas music fills...

Ashland's annual Christmas Parade
7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24. Call 606-324-5111 or visit www.winterwonderlandoflights.com.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Marshall vs. Lamar
7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25

3rd annual Turkey Trot 5K Fun Run/Walk
9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 26; registration from 8-8:45 a.m. The event is open to anyone who wants to have fun, fellowship and fresh air. Families, visitors, kids, strollers...

John Evans
7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26-29. Tickets, call 304-781-1000.

52nd annual Appalachian Model Railroad Society Show
5-9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday; noon-4:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27-29. Featuring operational model railroad layouts, memorabilia, books and model train sales....

FOOTBALL: UTEP vs. Marshall University
3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28

Indoor Demolition Turkey Derby
7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. The event will feature both compact division and full size divisions. There will be five regular heats and a feature event to crown the...

Christmas For a Cause
7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. Nancy's School of Dance and Premiere Dance Studio are hosting a Benefit Show to raise money for the New Baptist Church building fund. Several...

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Marshall vs. Ohio
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28

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Movies

Showtimes

The Blind Side

Released 20-Nov-09. Runs 126 min.

Teenager Michael Oher is surviving on his own, virtually homeless, when he is spotted on the street by Leigh Anne Tuohy. Learning that the young man is one of her daughter's classmates, Leigh Anne insists that Michael -- wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the dead of winter -- come out of the cold. Without a moment's hesitation, she invites him to stay at the Tuohy home for the night. What starts out as a gesture of kindness turns into something more as Michael becomes part of the Tuohy family despite the differences in their backgrounds. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. And, as the family helps Michael fulfill his potential, both on and off the football field, Michael's presence in the Tuohys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own.

Rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references

Showtimes

The Box

Released 6-Nov-09. Runs 116 min.

Norma and Arthur Lewis are a suburban couple with a young child who receive an anonymous gift bearing fatal and irrevocable consequences. A simple wooden box, it promises to deliver its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world--someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the crosshairs of a startling moral dilemma and face the true nature of their humanity.

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images

Showtimes

The Fourth Kind

Released 6-Nov-09. Runs 98 min.

In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document...until now. Structured unlike any film before it, "The Fourth Kind" is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where-mysteriously since the 1960s-a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.

Rated PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality

Showtimes

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Released 20-Nov-09. Runs 130 min.

Following Bella's ill-fated 18th birthday party, Edward Cullen and his family abandon the town of Forks, Washington, in an effort to protect her from the dangers inherent in their world. As the heartbroken Bella sleepwalks through her senior year of high school, numb and alone, she discovers Edward's image comes to her whenever she puts herself in jeopardy. Her desire to be with him at any cost leads her to take greater and greater risks. With the help of her childhood friend Jacob Black, Bella refurbishes an old motorbike to carry her on her adventures. Bella's frozen heart is gradually thawed by her budding relationship with Jacob, a member of the mysterious Quileute tribe, who has a supernatural secret of his own. When a chance encounter brings Bella face to face with a former nemesis, only the intervention of a pack of supernaturally large wolves saves her from a grisly fate, and the encounter makes it frighteningly clear that Bella is still in grave danger. In a race against the clock, Bella learns the secret of the Quileutes and Edward's true motivation for leaving her. She also faces the prospect of a potentially deadly reunion with her beloved that is a far cry from the one she'd hoped for.

Rated PG-13 for some violence and action

Showtimes

2012

Released 13-Nov-09. Runs 158 min.

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. "2012" is an epic adventure about global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster sequences and some language

Showtimes

Aliens in the Attic

Released 31-Jul-09. Runs 86 min.

Kids on a family vacation must fight off an attack by knee-high alien invaders with world-destroying ambitions. At the same time, the youngsters work hard to keep their parents in the dark about the battle upstairs. It all starts as a meteor shower rockets across the dark galaxy. Four glowing pods sparkle and crackle while hiding behind the meteor show. A mysterious force makes the meteor shower turn a hard right towards a bright blue ball in the distance - planet Earth.

Rated PG for action violence, some suggestive humor and language

Showtimes

Amelia

Released 23-Oct-09. Runs 120 min.

An extraordinary life of adventure, celebrity and continuing mystery comes to light in "Amelia," a vast, thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America's sweetheart -- the legendary "goddess of light," known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, her belief in flirting with danger and standing up as her own, outspoken woman never changed. She was an inspiration to people everywhere, from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the men closest to her heart: her husband, promoter and publishing magnate George P. Putnam, and her long time friend and lover, pilot Gene Vidal. In the summer of 1937, Amelia set off on her most daunting mission yet: a solo flight around the world that she and George both anxiously foresaw as destined, whatever the outcome, to become one of the most talked-about journeys in history.

Rated PG for some sensuality, language, thematic elements and smoking

Showtimes

Astro Boy

Released 23-Oct-09. Runs 94 min.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist named Dr. Tenma. Powered by positive "blue" energy, Astro Boy is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly. Embarking on a journey in search of acceptance, Astro Boy encounters many other colorful characters along the way. Through his adventures, he learns the joys and emotions of being human, and gains the strength to embrace his destiny. Ultimately learning his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to understand what it means to be a hero.

Rated PG for some action and peril, and brief mild language

Showtimes

Ballet in Cinema Series: The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky)

Released . Runs 90 min.

The premier of what is known to be one of the world's most famous ballets, the Nutcracker, took place at the Mariinsky Theater of Russia in 1892. Mikhail Shemiakin, Russian émigré and world-renowned avant-garde artist and sculptor reinterpreted the historical ballet to suit a more colorful audience. Known as the sophisticated and witty Nutcracker, Mikhail Shemiakin's version is a more unconventional production different from the traditional versions popular at Christmas. This unique interpretation was filmed in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home of the Kirov Ballet Academy and the Nutcracker's original stage. The 2007 production showcases the eye-catching costumes and startling staging designed by Mikhail Shemiakin. An exhibition of Shemiakin's costume and design sketches used in the staging of the ballet was presented in the private collections of the Russian Museum in St.Petersburg.

Rated No Rating

Showtimes

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Released 18-Sep-09. Runs 81 min.

Columbia Pictures' and Sony Pictures Animation's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" will be the most delicious event since macaroni met cheese. Inspired by the beloved children's book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky like rain.

Rated PG for brief mild language

Showtimes

Couples Retreat

Released 9-Oct-09. Runs 107 min.

"Couples Retreat" follows four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon discover that participation in the resort's couple's therapy is not optional. Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price. What follows is a hilarious look at real world problems faced by all couples.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language

Showtimes

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Released 6-Nov-09. Runs 96 min.

Ebenezer Scrooge begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk and his cheery nephew. But, when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late.

Rated PG for scary sequences and images

Showtimes

Disney's A Christmas Carol in Disney Digital 3D

Released 6-Nov-09. Runs 96 min.

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3D motion picture event. Ebenezer Scrooge begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk and his cheery nephew. But, when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late.

Rated PG for scary sequences and images

Showtimes

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Released 13-Nov-09. Runs 87 min.

Mr. and Mrs. Fox live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristopherson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr Fox's wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground and with not enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers -- Boggis, Bunce and Bean -- who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr. Fox at any cost.

Rated PG for action, smoking and slang humor

Showtimes

Law Abiding Citizen

Released 16-Oct-09. Runs 108 min.

Clyde Shelton is an upstanding family man whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. When the killers are caught, Nick Rice, a hotshot young Philadelphia prosecutor, is assigned to the case. Over his objections, Nick is forced by his boss to offer one of the suspects a light sentence in exchange for testifying against his accomplice. Fast forward 10 years. The man who got away with murder is found dead and Clyde Shelton coolly admits his guilt. Then he issues a warning to Nick: Either fix the flawed justice system that failed his family, or key players in the trial will die. Soon Shelton follows through on his threats, orchestrating from his jail cell a string of spectacularly diabolical assassinations that can be neither predicted nor prevented. Philadelphia is gripped with fear as Shelton's high-profile targets are slain one after another and the authorities are powerless to halt his reign of terror. Only Nick can stop the killing, and to do so he must outwit this brilliant sociopath in a harrowing contest of wills in which even the smallest misstep means death. With his own family now in Shelton's crosshairs, Nick finds himself in a desperate race against time facing a deadly adversary who seems always to be one step ahead.

Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language

Showtimes

Men Who Stare at Goats

Released 6-Nov-09. Runs 90 min.

Reporter Bob Wilton is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady, a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program's founder, Bill Django, has gone missing and Cassady's mission is to find him. Intrigued by his new acquaintance's far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides to accompany him on the search. When the pair tracks Django to a clandestine training camp run by renegade psychic Larry Hooper, the reporter is trapped in the middle of a grudge match between the forces of Django's New Earth Army and Hooper's personal militia of super soldiers. In order to survive this wild adventure, Bob will have to outwit an enemy he never thought possible.

Rated R for language, some drug content and brief nudity

Showtimes

Michael Jackson's This Is It

Released 28-Oct-09. Runs 121 min.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It" will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from March through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show.

Rated PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images

Showtimes

Paranormal Activity

Released 25-Sep-09. Runs 99 min.

After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban "starter" tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night.

Rated R for language

Showtimes

Pirate Radio

Released 13-Nov-09. Runs 129 min.

"Pirate Radio" is the high-spirited story of how eight DJs' love affair with rock 'n' roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s, this group of rogue DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. By playing rock 'n' roll they were standing up against the British government who did everything in their power to shut them down. The band of rebels is lead by The Count, Quentin the boss of Radio Rock, Gavin the greatest DJ in Britain, Midnight Mark, Doctor Dave and Young Carl who comes of age amidst the chaos of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. The film features an unbelievable selection of music including The Beatles, The Stones, Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Smokey Robinson, David Bowie, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens just to name a few. The film is laugh out loud funny and speaks to the rock 'n' roll rebel in all of us.

Rated R for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity

Showtimes

Planet 51

Released 20-Nov-09. Runs 91 min.

Planet 51 is a galactic-sized animated alien adventure comedy revolving around American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker, who lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950s America, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders...like Chuck! With the help of his robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem, Chuck must navigate his way through the dazzling, but bewildering, landscape of Planet 51 in order to escape becoming a permanent part of the Planet 51 Alien Invaders Space Museum.

Rated PG for mild sci-fi action and some suggestive humor

Showtimes

Saw VI

Released 23-Oct-09. Runs 91 min.

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.

Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence, torture and language

Showtimes

Where the Wild Things Are

Released 16-Oct-09. Runs 94 min.

Based on Maurice Sendak's classic book, "Where the Wild Things Are," a young boy named Max--after being sent to bed for misbehaving--imagines that he sails away to where the wild things are. Max is loved by the wild creatures who make him their King, although he soon longs to be back home with his family.

Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language

Showtimes

Zombieland

Released 2-Oct-09. Runs 81 min.

After America is ravaged by a zombie plague, a lone band of survivors fights the living dead while they cross the nation from coast to coast. They stop in an amusement park, where they believe they will be safe.

Rated R for horror violence/gore and language

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