By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief
“We have seen time and time again, (Gov. Patrick Morrisey) either completely ignores programs that help children like public education and never ever mentions them, or he is just trying to take from them to fund whatever failed programs he thinks should exist, which happen to coincide with people that that donate to him politically.” — Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha
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)
By Amelia Ferrell Knisely
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 programs.
West Virginia's school clothing allowance program will start accepting applications July 20. (Stock photo by Thanasis/Getty Images)
By Amelia Ferrell Knisely
West Virginia’s school clothing allowance program, which has faced uncertainty this month in the Morrisey administration, will start accepting applications July 20.
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)
By Lori Kersey
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.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship ring on the White House South Lawn on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
By Lori Kersey
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.
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)
By Caity Coyne
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 release from Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
NATIONAL
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)
By Anna Claire Vollers
Fifteen states on Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent millions of dollars in cuts to school-based mental health funding. West Virginia is not part of the lawsuit.
By Sam Gauntt
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.
By Jacob Fischler
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.
By Jacob Fischler
President Donald Trump said Friday morning he would not sign federal legislation aimed at lowering the cost of housing, but the bipartisan package is set to become law at 12:01 a.m. Saturday anyway.
By David Lightman
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s latest shot in a relentless war on how elections are conducted has triggered enormous concern among voting rights activists.
By Amelia Twyman
WASHINGTON — Young Democratic and Republican state lawmakers from across the country found common ground Friday on the need to regulate artificial intelligence and kids’ online safety.
ICYMI
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