By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief

“It was really devastating to find out that our county wasn’t going to have a licensed daycare anymore, and we were kind of just scrambling. So, a bunch of parents came together to start Trailblazer Learning Academy.” — Allie Vaughan, Trailblazer Learning Academy board member

Trailblazer Learning Academy in Wallback, West Virginia, opened this month and is Clay County’s only childcare center. (Courtesy photo)

By Amelia Ferrell Knisely

Clay County now has its only childcare center after parents worked together to get a facility certified and opened. 

A Flock camera is seen in a parking lot in Morgantown, West Virginia on Sept. 4, 2026. (Photo by Leann Ray/West Virginia Watch)

By Lori Kersey

As West Virginia lawmakers consider how to reign in artificial intelligence-driven police surveillance technology with legislation during their upcoming session, they’ve given Flock Safety a deadline of this week to answer a series of questions to their satisfaction — or else they may use subpoenas or compel witnesses to answer them. 

NATIONAL

Women practice yoga during a community yoga class in Tulsa, Okla., in 2021. New research produced by the University of Michigan finds an association between higher out-of-pocket health insurance expenses and states with abortion bans, with data showing differences were even higher for Black and Hispanic women. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

By Kelcie Moseley-Morris

New preliminary research from the University of Michigan shows women living in states with post-Dobbs abortion bans may be more likely to shoulder costs for employer-sponsored health insurance premiums, with federal data reflecting a 5.4% increase in annual premium expenditures for those women after 2022, when most abortion bans went into effect.

By Jennifer Shutt

WASHINGTON — Nearly all of the U.S. senators elected this year will be in office when Congress debates how to restructure Social Security to prevent an automatic drop-off in retirement benefits in 2032.

By Jonathan Shorman

The Department of Homeland Security obtained tens of millions of unspecified records as part of a sweeping nationwide effort to find voter fraud, according to internal DHS reports, and weighed using undercover agents to investigate voter registration efforts by nonprofit groups.

By Ashley Murray

WASHINGTON — Every child in the United States with a valid Social Security number is now enrolled in a tax-advantaged investment account, titled a “Trump Account,” President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

By Shauneen Miranda

WASHINGTON — Leading immigration advocates and experts sounded the alarm Wednesday on the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to undo state laws allowing some immigrants to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they reside.

ICYMI

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