By Brett Dunlap The Parkersburg News and Sentinel VIENNA – Demonstrators over the weekend in Vienna and Marietta protested what they felt were the illegal actions under the administration of President Donald Trump and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Events organized by Indivisible MOV were held on Saturday on Grand Central Avenue in Vienna and on Sunday at Ohio Route 7 and Acme Street near Kroger in Marietta. Ninety-three protesters were in Vienna and 115 in Marietta, organizer...

Screenshot By Mike Tony Charleston Gazette-Mail Two months after Congress passed a sprawling budget reconciliation law that has set up deep cuts to health care and food assistance for thousands of West Virginians, the law came up at a state legislative committee meeting. At the Joint Government and Finance Committee’s Sept. 7 meeting in Charleston, House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, asked state Department of Revenue Deputy Secretary Mark Muchow whether his team had completed an analysis of anticipated...

Screenshot By Charles Owens Bluefield Daily Telegraph WELCH — McDowell County officials are experiencing increased traffic in the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system. McDowell County is unique in that it is home to two Hatfield-McCoy Trails. The Indian Ridge Trail is located in Ashland near the town of Northfork and the newer Warrior Trail is located close to the city of War. Some of the traffic to the Warrior Trail passes through the city limits of Welch, according to Welch Mayor Harold...

By Steven Allen Adams The Parkersburg News and Sentinel CHARLESTON — Key leaders in economic development public policy held a robust discussion on improving West Virginia’s perceptions and addressing long-standing issues that have held the state back in areas of job growth and attracting new residents. Reporters from around West Virginia gathered in Charleston on Friday for the West Virginia Press Association’s annual Legislative Lookahead at the Culture Center within eyesight of the golden dome of the State Capitol Building....

Screenshot By Esteban Fernandez Times West Virginian CHARLESTON — Jobs will lead this year’s legislative agenda, according to West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw. The West Virginia Press Association held its annual legislative lookahead session, a preview of what lawmakers hope to accomplish before the end of the legislative session’s 60 days. The new session begins Jan. 14. “We know that if we deal with jobs first, if we deal with an environment driving economy, we can solve a lot...

By Steven Allen Adams The Parkersburg News and Sentinel CHARLESTON – U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito believes that federal Rural Health Transformation funding will benefit West Virginia, and that claims that rural hospitals could see a $1 billion cut in Medicaid funding are “overstated.” Capito provided a briefing to reporters Thursday in a conference call from Capitol Hill as both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives returned to Washington, D.C., after a holiday break. The U.S. Centers for Medicare...

Screenshot By Riley McCoy The Register-Herald BECKLEY — A virulent strain of influenza has pushed the 2025-26 flu season to its highest activity level in 25 years, bringing longer fevers and harsher symptoms, area health officials said Thursday. “Nationally, we are seeing the highest incidence of flu we have seen in the last 25 years,” said Dr. Steven Eshenaur, health officer and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and health officer for the Fayette County Health Department. COVID-19 still...

Screenshot By Matthew Young For the Charleston Gazette-Mail CHARLESTON — Diabetes, obesity and “seven pillars” of health care to combat them were the topic of a panel discussion Friday, which focused heavily on the $199.5 million in grants West Virginia is set to receive through the federal Rural Healthcare Transformation Fund. Facilitated as part of the recent passage of the federal One Big, Beautiful Bill, states will receive $100 million in rural health care funding per year for five years, with...

By Steven Allen Adams The Parkersburg News and Sentinel CHARLESTON – Nearly 41 years after she was first appointed, Senate President Pro Tempore Donna Boley is stepping aside to focus on her health and to spend more time with her family. In a letter submitted to Senate President Randy Smith Thursday, Boley, 90, said she was resigning effective immediately. “It is with a heavy, but grateful, heart that I submit to you my resignation from the West Virginia Senate,” said...

Screenshot By Charles Owens Bluefield Daily Telegraph WELCH — Excavation work should be getting underway soon on a new connector route in Welch that will allow motorists to enter the Coalfields Expressway corridor in the fall of 2027. The new connector route is planned adjacent to Welch Community Hospital. It will be the next phase of excavation work on the Coalfields Expressway project in McDowell County, according to Josh Howell, a District 10 construction engineer with the West Virginia Department...