West Virginia Watch

The late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, at the time a candidate for president, rides on the back of a golf cart with his sister Darline Graham Nordone, center, during the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 17, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday he would like the South Carolina governor to select the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister to fill the Republican’s seat for the remainder of his term. “I recommended, to Go

Student backpacks seen on the first day of school last year at Harborview Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska. Fifteen Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over cuts to a $1 billion school mental health grant program. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)Fifteen states on Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent millions of dollars in cuts to school-based mental health funding. The new lawsuit is part of an ongoing legal battle between Democratic-led states and the U.

An employee at Cubby’s Childcare Center in Bridgeport, West Virginia, plays with two infants on July 6, 2026. The center serves 450 infants and young children. (Photo by Amelia Ferrell Knisely/West Virginia Watch)On Mother’s Day, the Trump Administration sent a letter to governors encouraging the expansion of affordable childcare. While President Donald Trump announced a childcare reform package, the letter encouraged states to use federal anti-poverty dollars to bolster childcare assistance pro

A panel discussed kids' online safety and artificial intelligence during a conference of Gen Z and millenial lawmakers Friday July 10, 2026. Pictured, from left, are moderator Diana Haber-Daws, South Carolina State Rep. Brandon Guffey, Ohio state Rep. Christine Cockley and Project Liberty President Tomicah Tilleman. (Photo by Amelia Twyman/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — Young Democratic and Republican state lawmakers from across the country found common ground Friday on the need to regulate artif

Chelsea Ruby, who has served as the state’s secretary of tourism since 2021, will be leaving the position at the end of July. Ruby speaks during an America 250 news conference at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on June 29, 2026. (Photo courtesy of the West Virginia Office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey) West Virginia Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby, who has worked under three different administrations, will be leaving her job at the end of July, according to a Thursday news relea

West Virginia's school clothing allowance program will start accepting applications July 20. (Stock photo by Thanasis/Getty Images)West Virginia’s school clothing allowance program, which has faced uncertainty this month in the Morrisey administration, will start accepting applications July 20.  The state Department of Human Services made the announcement Friday afternoon.  The long-standing program provides assistance for eligible families to purchase shirts, pants, socks, coats and more

A mail-in ballot dropbox on P Street Northwest in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest shot in a relentless war on how elections are conducted has triggered enormous concern among voting rights activists. As of Thursday night, the U.S Election Assistance Commission has no members. The White House in an email dismissed Democrats Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. Republican Christy McCormick resigned, an

President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3, 2026 in Keystone, South Dakota. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)President Donald Trump said Friday morning he would not sign federal legislation aimed at lowering the cost of housing, but the bipartisan package became law at 12:01 a.m. Saturday anyway. In a post to his social media site, Trump again said that as a protest against Congress not passing an elections bill known as the SAVE Americ

American flags sit atop a wooden table before a naturalization ceremony at the federal courthouse in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle) Stories From The States is a weekly podcast from States Newsroom that explores, through personal stories, how people and communities across America are being affected by government decisions. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. India

A sign explaining restrictions on buying soda and sweetened drinks using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is displayed in a grocery store in Bountiful, Utah on Feb. 11, 2026. (Photo by McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)Two weeks after a federal judge ruled against a ban on West Virginia’s federal food assistance program being used to buy soda, the state Department of Human Services announced Friday a “pause” on the ban.  “Retailers should update their point-of-sale systems and

Booths await voters during the May 19, 2026, primary election at Temple View Elementary School in Idaho Falls, Idaho. (Photo by Pat Sutphin/Idaho Capital Sun) The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s guidelines to states on how to request funding under counterterrorism grant programs include potentially illegal demands related to election administration, Democrats on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, sent states l

 President Donald Trump tours East Potomac Golf Links on June 28, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Trump has announced a plan to renovate the golf course. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Photos) WASHINGTON — Four senators from Maryland and Virginia, all Democrats, said Thursday they have sent a letter to the Department of the Interior, demanding answers on the Trump administration’s plan to redevelop the East Potomac Golf Links.  The senators had sent a similar letter in January with a list of quest

The Ultimate Fighting Championship ring on the White House South Lawn on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)A Logan County man is the latest to be arrested for an alleged terror plot planned for last month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn.  Chandler D. Scaggs, 21, of Chapmanville, was taken into custody this week in West Virginia, according to a news release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Southern Ohio.  He

Kanawha County School Superintendent Paula Potter speaks at the launch of the “I love WV public schools” campaign on July 7, 2026, at Herbert Hoover High School in Elkview, West Virginia. (Photo by Amelia Ferrell Knisely/West Virginia Watch)Educators kicked off a statewide “I love WV public schools” campaign in hopes of increasing community and lawmaker support amid funding struggles.  Campaign supporters said they want to highlight the impact public schools have while serving the majority of We

A sign noting the acceptance of electronic benefit transfer cards for food aid is displayed at a grocery store in California. Upcoming shifts in the federal food stamp program are poised to cost states billions of dollars, raising fears that more Americans will lose access to the nation’s largest food assistance program. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Upcoming funding shifts in the federal food stamp program are poised to cost states billions of dollars, heightening fears that more Ameri

Morgantown City Council voted Tuesday to approve a resolution that prohibits the city from installing “hostile architecture” in public infrastructure, such as benches with bars that prevent homeless people from sleeping on the bench. (Photo by Tatiana Stephanishcheva/Getty Images)Morgantown, West Virginia, has taken a step away from park benches and other equipment designed to discourage unhoused people and others from resting or lying down.  Morgantown City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday to appro

The state’s school clothing allowance application process did not open as expected on July 1, leaving families uncertain about basic school clothing. (Photo by Marcus Constantino for West Virginia Watch)I write as one of West Virginia’s lost children: a child of poverty from North Central West Virginia who left my home among the hills to become a doctoral pediatric psychologist and graduate faculty member who supervised ten young doctors practicing in the United States and abroad. After nearly 3

(Getty Images)A sweeping lawsuit over the state of West Virginia’s overburdened child welfare system can move forward, a federal judge ruled Thursday.  U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin denied a request by Attorney General J.B. McCuskey for a stay in the case as the state asked the United States Supreme Court to weigh in. If the judge had granted the stay, it would have delayed a potential trial in the case, which was first filed in 2019. “As already observed, this case began seven years ago an

The West Virginia House of Delegates chamber. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)Gov. Patrick Morrisey this week appointed an Ohio County-based business owner to fill the state House of Delegates seat vacated earlier this year by current Supreme Court Justice Bill Flanigan, according to a news release. Shane Thomas Stack, of Triadelphia, is the owner of a pawn and gun shop in Wheeling, as well as Frio Stack and Associates LLC, an auction house and appraisal firm. As of

The National Museum of American History sits on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy National Museum of American History) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest attack on the Smithsonian Institution represents an attempt to replace a shared American history with his own ideology, academics said as the Smithsonian defended its longstanding position as a nonpartisan actor. A July 4 White House report accused the Smithsonian Institution and its National Museum of American His