Finally, West Virginia' scary poverty rate remained unchanged in 2024. West Virginia's poverty rate of 16.7% was 4th highest in the nation. In addition, WV's child poverty rate of 21.6% was 5th highest.

New from me: More than 1,000 West Virginians with disabilities — mostly children — are on a waitlist for help and services because the state doesn’t have the capacity to serve them right now. westvirginiawatch.com/2025/10/23/wai…

New ~ Child hunger is a problem in West Virginia: roughly one in five kids don’t have enough food. Around 40% of SNAP recipients in the state are children, whose benefits didn’t show up Nov. 1. Here's how communities are rallying to feed kids. westvirginiawatch.com/2025/11/05/del…

“I guess people struggle everywhere, but it’s hard here in West Virginia. It just feels extra hard here.” Families in state that pioneered food stamps share their hardships right now cnn.com/2025/11/06/pol…?

Great story on how black lung is very bad right now. And Congress, President Trump, and industy are doing nothing to save coal miners Deep in Trump country, coal miners with black lung say government is suffocating the 'working man' apnews.com/article/black-…

‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival | Coal | The Guardian theguardian.com/environment/20…

We're looking back at some of our top stories of the year. Henry Culvyhouse reported that Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice said they wouldn’t vote to kick West Virginians off Medicaid, then voted to slash billions of dollars from the program. buff.ly/UM4jHIw

There are more than 13,000 homeless students in West Virginia, and statehouse efforts to help them stalled Thank you BBG | The West Virginian for sharing my story blackbygod.org/articles/civic…

👀 Shell, BP, and other oil majors have been peddling false climate promises for decades, according to a new report from Center for Climate Integrity. Check out their new inventory of Big Oil's Deceptive Climate Ads here: ow.ly/iML550XS4z2

I estimate that WV will be about $480 million short of hitting the trigger in FY 2026

WV has 5,100 fewer state & local public sector jobs than in 2019, around the time 'flat' budgets began. Add in DOGE's federal job losses eclipsing 2k this year, WV is hemorrhaging good paying jobs w benefits for West Virginians- all to fund windfall tax cuts for the wealthy.

A Taylor County woman is in custody for allegedly allowing her stepdaughter to be malnourished to the point of death. The 11 year old girl died weighing just 43 pounds. wvmetronews.com/2026/01/14/gra…

More than 1 in 5 children in WV live in poverty, 5th highest in the country, but go on about trans kids in sports

New from me: A child in West Virginia foster care was injured while living in an Airbnb short-term rental property after the state placed the minor there. I learned DoHS is now using short-term rental properties along with hotels to house foster children. westvirginiawatch.com/2026/01/15/wes…

We've updated our map that shows the number of people who receive black lung benefits by zip code. This interactive map has proven useful to show Congressional offices how many people are impacted by black lung in their districts. appvoices-1.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer….

A report on West Virginia’s school funding formula has concluded the state needs to invest more money into public schools and less into private education. buff.ly/vyUtXTQ

After giving us Bibles in the classroom last week (SB 388), the state Senate this week is working on unlicensed concealed carry for 18- to 20-year-olds (SB 30). What could possibly go wrong?

Three years since the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical burn in East Palestine, OH, residents continue to grapple with long-term health impacts. Some are still waiting for settlement checks.

This is a must-read for West Virginia lawmakers (and those around the country) theargumentmag.com/p/the-real-rea…

🆕: Shell’s Q4 financial flop underscores the false promises of petrochemical investment. The company's CEO acknowledged the “downturn in Monaca” during yesterday's earnings call as Shell posted its weakest quarterly profit in nearly 5 years: ow.ly/2ZZA50Ya6WX