By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief
“Because the school enrollment loss is outpacing that overall population loss, we have to look to other explanations. It could be that more families are choosing non-public options. We don’t quite have all the data we need to fully answer that question. But certainly, given the comparison between enrollment loss and population loss, there are bigger factors at play.” — Georgia Hughes-Webb, director of data management at the West Virginia Department of Education
Inside a Kanawha County elementary classroom in West Virginia. (Photo by Lexi Browning/West Virginia Watch)
By Henry Culvyhouse
West Virginia public school enrollment experienced one of the steepest drops since COVID, and local superintendents in the hardest hit counties are pointing to demographic loss and the Hope Scholarship as causes.
NATIONAL
Voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library in Little Rock, Arkansas on Monday. In Arkansas and five other states, voters are considering ballot measures that would make it clear that only U.S. citizens may vote. (Photo by Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate)
By Anna Claire Vollers
Voters in six states are considering ballot measures in the midterm elections that would make it clear that only U.S. citizens may vote — and block local governments from expanding that right to others.
By Jonathan Shorman
National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections.
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to implement a rule that would terminate gender-affirming care for transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons.
COMMENTARY
A hospital “H” sign. (Photo by Sarah Ladd/Kentucky Lantern)
By Ellen Allen
West Virginia has been given an extraordinary opportunity to invest in the future of rural health care.
The Rural Health Transformation Program is providing our state nearly $200 million in federal funding for 2026, with additional funding available through 2030. The program promises to expand access, strengthen the healthcare workforce, improve technology and modernize how rural health care is delivered.
ICYMI
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