$50 billion rural health fund won’t offset Medicaid cuts
Congress added funding to the Big Beautiful Bill and said it would stop health care losses. It’s not enough.| Mountain State Spotlight
This is the second part of Mountain State Spotlight’s discussion with Cecil Roberts, who is retiring after 30 years as president of the United Mine Workers of America. Read part one here. Ward: I’ve really kind of wrangled around trying to figure out how to ask this. Lots of people pontificate a lot about West Virginia’s […] Retiring UMWA President Cecil Roberts talks about where the coalfields have been and where they could be going. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West ...| Mountain State Spotlight
United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts is retiring later this week. I’ve covered the coal industry, the mine workers and their leader since before he became union president 30 years ago. In a two-hour interview, we talked about growing up on Cabin Creek, going to Vietnam and coming home, the dangerous life of […] Cecil Roberts reflects on growing up in coal country, going to Vietnam, and why too many miners die on the job appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Vi...| Mountain State Spotlight
After Mountain State Spotlight obtained six months of visitor logs from the governor’s office, they stopped writing it down. We wanted to know who Gov. Morrisey meets with. His office stopped keeping track. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginians relying on food stamps are hoping the government reopens. Politicians are busy blaming each other. Already contending with health care cuts, struggling West Virginians now face food stamp delays appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
Under state law, millions of dollars from medical cannabis sales should’ve funded medical research, addiction help and law enforcement. But state officials have said they can’t touch the money. West Virginia has collected $34 million from its medical cannabis program. It hasn’t spent a penny. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
Congress added funding to the Big Beautiful Bill and said it would stop health care losses. It’s not enough.| Mountain State Spotlight
Capito says she did nothing wrong voting to appoint her son to a Trump admin post. An ethics watchdog says it’s part of a growing trend.| Mountain State Spotlight
The state’s U.S. Senators and Representatives have largely supported legislation in Congress that is estimated to result in tens of thousands of West Virginians losing Medicaid and SNAP benefits.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia's budget puts millions for future tax cuts and private schools while slashing funds for water, addiction recovery and child care programs.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Jim Justice has used the $1.8 billion surplus to justify tax cuts, but it’s based on volatile revenues and low-balled estimates.| Mountain State Spotlight
For more than five years, the Chemours Chemical Company in Wood County has discharged unlawful levels of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River. West Virginia environmentalists want a federal judge to stop these pollution violations. Over three days of testimony last week, they made their case in a courtroom showdown with the chemical company. Here’s […]| Mountain State Spotlight
Long waitlists are forcing parents into impossible choices, with some even leaving the workforce, as child care centers struggle with demand. ‘If they don’t have child care, they can’t work’: Parents and providers share stories of the struggle for child care appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
Capito says she did nothing wrong voting to appoint her son to a Trump admin post. An ethics watchdog says it’s part of a growing trend. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says there is no ethical problem with vote for son’s confirmation appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s inaugural funds went to a nonprofit now promoting his policies through Facebook ads. Political nonprofit backed by Gov. Morrisey’s inaugural funds runs ads praising his leadership appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia's civic newsroom.| Mountain State Spotlight
Lawmakers and the governor killed ethics bills that would have made lobbyists’ pay public and banned nepotism in state offices.| Mountain State Spotlight
Congress says it wants a healthier America. But it’s defunding a program that helps West Virginians eat nutritious food.| Mountain State Spotlight
It'll take a long time to reverse chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity, but some are working to make healthy decisions easier.| Mountain State Spotlight
The Bureau for Public Health is writing a plan to address West Virginia’s most urgent health problems| Mountain State Spotlight
The Mountaineer Mile is one initiative. Officials could help with nutrition and exercise with several strategies researched for years.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Morrisey’s “Mountaineer Mile” health challenge is drawing statewide attention—and stirring political criticism.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia ratepayers are seeing rising electricity bills as the regional grid scrambles to meet the massive energy demand from data centers in Virginia. The state’s coal reliance and shrinking population are compounding the problem.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginians are seeing higher power costs as AI and data centers increase electricity demand across the regional power grid.| Mountain State Spotlight
If you've been affected by the state’s housing crisis, we want to hear from you.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia’s BUILD WV Act is funding new housing, but rents in Putnam County are far above what many can afford.| Mountain State Spotlight
60,000 West Virginians could lose ACA subsidies, sending premiums sky-high. Lawmakers are staying quiet.| Mountain State Spotlight
The West Virginia-owned hospitals sale contract says Majestic Care will spend $140 million on three nursing homes on a rebuild timeline.| Mountain State Spotlight
Help us report on the medical cannabis industry in West Virginia.| Mountain State Spotlight
Medical cannabis is legal in West Virginia — but there’s uncertainty around employment and gun rights for patients and cardholders.| Mountain State Spotlight
As plans for data center projects pop up around the state, residents in those communities are frustrated at the lack of answers.| Mountain State Spotlight
Former and current poultry workers in Hardy County struggle to find affordable housing, pay rent and understand complex immigration and benefits systems.| Mountain State Spotlight
Pilgrim's Pride lleva décadas colocando a empleados inmigrantes en trabajos peligrosos en su planta de procesamiento avícola en Moorefield.| Mountain State Spotlight
Pilgrim's Pride gen yon istwa ki dire plizyè dizèn ane nan mete travayè imigran yo nan travay danjere nan plant pwosesis poul Moorefield li yo.| Mountain State Spotlight
Seeking safety and jobs, people from around the world have come to Hardy County to work at a poultry processing plant.| Mountain State Spotlight
Read in English. Li an Kreyòl. ဤဆောင်းပါးကို မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့်ဖတ်ရှုရန်။. MOOREFIELD — En una tarde lluviosa de 2020, la fábrica de pollos de Pilgrim’s Pride en Virginia Occidental estaba sucia. El matadero cuenta con afilados ganchos metálicos, sierras de deshuesar y cintas transportadoras. La maquinaria destaza más de un millón de aves vivas a la semana y […]| Mountain State Spotlight
Read in English. Lea en español. ဤဆောင်းပါးကို မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့်ဖတ်ရှုရန်။ MOOREFIELD — Yon apremidi nan 2020 ki te genyen anpil lapli, faktori poul Pilgrim’s Pride nan West Virginia te sal. Labatwa a gen kwòk metal byen file, machin dezosaj ak senti transporteurs. Machin nan bouche plis pase yon milyon zwazo vivan chak semèn epi yo toujou kouvri […]| Mountain State Spotlight
Lea en español. Li an Kreyòl. Read in English MOOREFIELD( မိုးဖီး)— ၂၀၂၀ခုနှစ်၏ မိုးရွာထားသောနေ့လယ်ခင်းတခုမှာဖြစ်သည်။ အနောက်ဗာဂျီးနီးယား(West Virginia)ကြက်သားစက်ရုံသည် ညစ်ပေလျက်ရှိသည်။ သားသတ်ရုံမှာ ချွန်မြသောသံချိတ်မျ...| Mountain State Spotlight
Patients seeking COVID vaccines were told they needed prescriptions. A federal committee voted to remove that requirement.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Patrick Morrisey said West Virginia is doing everything it can within the rules set by the Trump administration.| Mountain State Spotlight
An independent, civic news organization telling stories of importance to West Virginians about the issues and challenges facing their communities.| Mountain State Spotlight
A new program is helping working parents afford child care by sharing costs between the state and employers. However, more state funding is needed to continue after next year.| Mountain State Spotlight
Diversified Energy asked lawmakers to exempt their oil and gas storage tanks from already-weakened rules meant to prevent spills.| Mountain State Spotlight
State-owned facilities have helped West Virginians with complex health needs. A private owner could trim staff and choose less ill patients.| Mountain State Spotlight
Majestic Care CEO Paul Pruitt talks about the company’s plans for nursing homes in Marion, Raleigh, Mason and Preston Counties.| Mountain State Spotlight
Citing administrative and financial mismanagement, the West Virginia Board of Education has taken over six school districts across the state.| Mountain State Spotlight
Following the 2016 floods, lawmakers created an office tasked with addressing floods. But in the years since, little else has been done.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s new broadband plan excludes thousands of West Virginia locations after a rule change reclassifies less reliable internet as “served.”| Mountain State Spotlight
Wood County is leading West Virginia’s effort to build certified, shovel-ready sites, as the state hopes to attract jobs and investment.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Morrisey approved the sale of four WV senior care homes to a company accused in a federal disability rights lawsuit.| Mountain State Spotlight
Community listening sessions reveal Monongalia and Preston counties share struggles over housing, health care and broadband.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginians say their calls, emails, and meetings with members of Congress rarely get thoughtful responses. Here’s what readers told us.| Mountain State Spotlight
We talked to people in McDowell County and asked the candidates questions based on voters’ concerns. Here’s what they said.| Mountain State Spotlight
The state could receive around $212 million to plug abandoned wells. But Trump's funding freeze could threaten nearly $90 million.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia landowners reached a $6.5 million settlement with Diversified Energy Company after suing the company over its unplugged wells.| Mountain State Spotlight
A measure that would prevent the cleanup of oil and gas wells from falling onto state regulators and taxpayers went nowhere.| Mountain State Spotlight
Tens of thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells dot West Virginia. Even with a potential boost of millions of federal dollars, the state doesn’t have the resources to clean them up.| Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia’s broadband plan faces delays as utility companies and internet providers clash over pole replacement costs.| Mountain State Spotlight
A task force is considering new reporting requirements for utilities and a rapid response team to more quickly resolve pole attachment disputes.| Mountain State Spotlight
Over a billion dollars in federal funding could be in jeopardy if internet and power companies can’t solve disagreements on pole costs.| Mountain State Spotlight
Tucker County residents fought for details of a data center campus planned in their community. Lawmakers made sure they couldn’t do anything about it.| Mountain State Spotlight
Despite Justice-era business investments and tax cuts fueled by COVID-funding, West Virginia still ranks last in job growth.| Mountain State Spotlight
Politicians said work requirements would get people back to work. They’ll actually kick poor and working people off Medicaid.| Mountain State Spotlight
Politicians said Medicaid patients are milking the system and took away their health care. But providers are the ones at fault.| Mountain State Spotlight
Next month, Mountain State Spotlight and League of Women Voters Morgantown – Monongalia County will be in Kingwood and Morgantown on a listening and education tour to inform our coverage of the issues that matter to you. We want to hear from residents about what issues matter to them, and how the news media does […]| Mountain State Spotlight
Facing legislation targeting their identities, a counselor, a daycare worker, a student and a professor talk about life in the state| Mountain State Spotlight
Politicians celebrated a drop in overdose deaths while supporting Trump and Congress’ funding cuts that could cause more casualties.| Mountain State Spotlight
SNAP cuts could cost West Virginia millions. State leaders have yet to say how they’ll protect food aid.| Mountain State Spotlight
The rollback of clean energy tax credits could cost West Virginia 10,500 jobs and billions in investments.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Patrick Morrisey and lawmakers want to bring data center developments to West Virginia. So, what does that mean for the state?| Mountain State Spotlight
Have you reached out to your congressional representatives in recent months? Tell us how they responded.| Mountain State Spotlight
A new law will reduce orphaned well cleanup costs — but doesn’t prevent more wells from becoming the state’s problem.| Mountain State Spotlight
Regulators imposed new reporting requirements for utilities, created a new pole inspection database and a working group to change state law.| Mountain State Spotlight
Rural West Virginians lack ERs, addiction treatment and infant care. Congress is rushing through a bill to make survival even harder.| Mountain State Spotlight
The Trump administration cut nearly $3 billion of digital equity funding, hurting vulnerable West Virginians| Mountain State Spotlight
Putnam County residents this fall will decide between Sarah Drennan and Steve Patrick to represent them in the Legislature.| Mountain State Spotlight
When we visited northwestern West Virginia, students frequently said they’re worried about school and campus safety. Others interviewed in the region often brought up violence and threats, including bullying and family violence like domestic and child abuse. Another common theme was financial stress. As part of Mountain State Spotlight’s “Citizens Agenda” approach to covering this […]| Mountain State Spotlight
In Doddridge County, voters say churches should help rather than the government| Mountain State Spotlight
Mountain State Spotlight is excited to announce that Tre Spencer has joined the organization as economic development reporter. Tre spent the summer reporting on wildfires as Mountain State Spotlight’s Journalist of Color Fellow. “We were impressed with the reporting that Tre produced during the course of his fellowship,” said Founding Editor-in-Chief Ken Ward Jr. “Economic […]| Mountain State Spotlight
We asked the uncontested candidate for the 10th Senate seat what he has done and would do to support the county.| Mountain State Spotlight
We asked the candidates for the 48th House of Delegates seat what they would do to support the county.| Mountain State Spotlight
With the 2024 general election less than 10 weeks away, we at Mountain State Spotlight are thinking deeply about what questions we’re asking candidates— and we want you, the reader, to have a part in it.| Mountain State Spotlight
Gov. Jim Justice wants child tax credits. A subsidy program needs funding. But experts say neither will solve West Virginia’s child care crisis.| Mountain State Spotlight
As part of Mountain State Spotlight’s effort to speak with voters in all 55 of West Virginia’s counties, reporters heard from residents in Wheeling last week. Here’s what they said.| Mountain State Spotlight
Read story one| Mountain State Spotlight
The GOP gubernatorial candidate's campaign didn't answer questions from our staff and readers.| Mountain State Spotlight
