By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief
“I’m extremely grateful for the confidence that folks have placed in me, and I’m certain that we’re going to be able to achieve a lot of the objectives that we’re setting out to do. (I’m) looking forward to moving our party forward.” — West Virginia Republican Party Chair Josh Holstein
he Republican Party reelected Del. Josh Holstein, R-Boone, shown addressing the West Virginia House of Delegates on Jan. 28, 2026, as the party’s chair. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
By Lori Kersey
Boone County Republican Del. Josh Holstein will lead the state party for four more years. The executive committee of the West Virginia GOP met Saturday for its summer meeting and unanimously reelected Holstein.
NATIONAL
Margie Quin, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, has been named as a defendant in two proposed class action lawsuits alleging DCS warehouses and mistreats children. Tennessee fared poorly in a new federal audit examining the number of foster children placed in hotels, office buildings and other potentially unsafe settings. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
By Robbie Sequeira
More than 9,000 children in foster care had to temporarily stay in hotels, office buildings and other potentially unsafe settings when states couldn’t find suitable places for them, according to a new federal audit.
By Jacob Fischler
WASHINGTON — Leaders of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee announced a bipartisan deal over the weekend that would keep the federal government funded through Dec. 11 and pause the Trump administration’s effort to add controversial new criteria for federal grants.
By Ashley Murray
WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general appeared on track Monday after he submitted a written assurance to Senate Judiciary Committee lawmakers that the administration’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that could potentially pay pardoned violent Jan. 6 defendants is dead.
By Sam Gauntt
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, on Sunday said Rep. Max Miller, also of Ohio and his former son-in-law, is not fit to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives as he faces allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, who is Moreno’s daughter.
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — More than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children Monday lost their legal representation because the Trump administration has not entered into a new agreement to take over their legal services after it let a longstanding contract with a nonprofit expire.
By Jacob Fischler
WASHINGTON — States do not have time before November’s midterm elections to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating overhauls of their mail-in-voting systems, two dozen Democratic state officials told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.
COMMENTARY
A hospital “H” sign. (Photo by Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
By Jack Bernard
We must not stick our heads in the sand and continue with a Dickensian free enterprise system; the uninsured sick be damned. Elected officials clearly do not want to talk about the elephant in the room — health insurance coverage trends.
ICYMI
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