By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief

“We remain in a position where we're looking to identify any individual who we might be able to save. So we're always looking for new information and new tips. But that's critical. While we have a lot of resources that we've deployed, that remains job number one: protect human life, and that's what we're focusing on.” — Gov. Patrick Morrisey on the flooding in North Central West Virginia

Interstate 79 at the Jane Lew exit in Lewis County, West Virginia, was covered in floodwater as of 8 a.m. Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Andrew McDonald)

By Lori Kersey

Response to flooding across central West Virginia is still in the “search and rescue” phase, Gov. Patrick Morrisey told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, was arrested July 22, 2026, after an investigation found that he enticed a minor. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)

By Amelia Ferrell Knisely

Del. Elliott Pritt, a Republican member of the House of Delegates, has been charged with enticing a minor after an investigation found that he communicated with a girl through Roblox and Snapchat.

An anti-data center yard sign sits on the side of the road outside of the Billy Motel & Bar outside of Davis in Tucker County, West Virginia, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Photo by Caity Coyne/West Virginia Watch)

By Caity Coyne

While Tucker County residents spent the last year and a half struggling to get answers from Fundamental Data about its proposed data center and power plant complex, a company representative spoke at a city council meeting nearly 400 miles away and across state lines earlier this month, sharing details about the Tucker County project and urging his own local officials to adopt data center safeguards that West Virginia law doesn’t allow

NATIONAL

More than 200 American mayors are calling on the federal government to reverse changes that will cost states billions and push millions of people off the national food stamp program. (Photo by Steph Quinn/Missouri Independent)

By Kevin Hardy

More than 200 American mayors are calling on the federal government to reverse changes that will cost states billions and push millions of people off the food stamp program.

By Jennifer Shutt

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday moved one step closer to confirming the first administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency since President Donald Trump took office last year.

By Jennifer Shutt

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a stopgap spending bill Tuesday that would keep the government up and running through the fall, sending it to the Senate, where lawmakers expect to rework the measure.

By Jennifer Shutt

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate committee in charge of funding the government spent hours in a hearing room Tuesday, trying to parse out just how much extra spending lawmakers should provide for the military amid the ongoing war in Iran.

By Ariana Figueroa

WASHINGTON — A supermajority of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus has asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to deploy body cameras to all federal immigration officers, following deadly shootings of immigrants in Texas and Maine.

By Sam Gauntt

Advocates and public health experts urged Republicans in Congress on Wednesday to implement a two-year delay on requiring states to begin sharing the costs for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

By Jennifer Shutt

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the U.S. House on Wednesday approved their outline for the third party-line budget measure of the second Trump administration, though they won’t be able to begin work on that package until they reach agreement with their Senate colleagues on a plan forward.

By Shauneen Miranda

WASHINGTON — Education experts and advocates warned Wednesday that the recent federal student loan system overhaul stemming from the GOP’s mega tax and spending cut law will drive borrowers to private lenders and could derail their higher education plans. 

By Ashley Murray

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans passed a measure to curb stock trading by members of Congress that was packaged with an unrelated voter ID bill, part of President Donald Trump’s push for major federal involvement in elections.

COMMENTARY

Title X provides affordable birth control, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment, infertility counseling, and preventive reproductive health care for people who are uninsured or underinsured. (Getty Images)

By Ellen Allen

For decades, women in West Virginia have learned to make do with less.

Less access to healthcare. Less access to specialists. Longer drives to appointments. Higher rates of chronic illness. Fewer maternity providers. More hospital closures. More counties where getting routine reproductive care requires taking time off work, arranging childcare, and traveling hours across the state.

Now, another vital piece of that fragile healthcare system is under threat.

ICYMI

Thanks for reading First Watch. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.