By Jonathan Shorman   |  D.C. Bureau The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision gutting the federal Voting Rights Act sent Black Democrats in the U.S. House reeling on Wednesday, as they confronted a new reality where Republicans could gerrymander some of them out of office and limit the ability of Black voters...

By: Kevin Hardy - May 1, 2026 5:24 am After facing costly heating bills this winter, consumers shouldn’t expect relief for the summer months, according to new projections for household utility costs. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association projects the average electricity cost to cool homes between June and September will...

By Jonathan Shorman  |  D.C. Bureau The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision gutting the federal Voting Rights Act could upend American politics and trigger a new rush to redraw congressional districts. The opinion released on Wednesday, in a case called Louisiana v. Callais, holds sweeping consequences for how states and local governments draw...

By Jennifer Shutt  |  D.C. Bureau WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday that will fund almost every agency in the Department of Homeland Security for the next five months, ending the shutdown that began in mid-February. The House approved the bill, which doesn’t include additional spending on Immigration...

By Charles Owens For The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Princeton — Vouchers for low-cost spay-neuter procedures will be distributed to the public Saturday in an effort to help control the homeless animal population in Mercer County. During a meeting of the Mercer County Commission Tuesday evening, commission president Bill Archer said the...

Close up of a young woman consulting with her doctor online on her laptop By: Charlotte Rene Woods  | Virginia Mercury QuickVisitMD, a new bilingual telehealth service, launched this week to serve patients in Virginia and West Virginia. Dr. Ankur Fadia, an emergency medicine specialist, said his time spent working in...

By Charles Owens For Bluefield Daily Telegraph Bluefield — New rules regulating vape shops and outdoor rallies and protests were voted on Tuesday by members of the Bluefield Board of Directors. The city board unanimously passed the second reading of a tobacco and vape shop ordinance for the city, which means...

By Jonathan Shorman  |   D.C. BureauFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office on Monday invoked an upcoming landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on the role of race in drawing congressional districts to justify the Republican’s proposed gerrymander. “The use of race in redistricting should never happen,” the governor’s general counsel, David Axelman, wrote in...

By Ashley Murray  |   D.C. BureauWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve was one step closer to the job Wednesday after North Carolina Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis cast the deciding vote to advance Kevin Warsh’s nomination to the full Senate. Lawmakers on the Senate Committee on...

By Ashley Murray  |   D.C. BureauWASHINGTON — King Charles III did not name President Donald Trump Tuesday when he acknowledged before a joint session of Congress the transatlantic tension between the United States and the United Kingdom, but stressed “America's words carry weight and meaning” as he reflected on decades of...