More than one-quarter of all West Virginians rely on Social Security to get by. Older West Virginians receive checks. Orphans receive payments. So do West Virginians with disabilities.

President Donald Trump is slashing Social Security Administration staff in ways that put the program at risk. 

Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley has cautioned that staffing cuts mean recipients could soon start missing payments. 

Ultimately, O’Malley warned of “system collapse.” 

And West Virginians have a lot to lose.

What is Social Security? 

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating one of the key programs of his New Deal to combat the Great Depression. 

Most working Americans pay into the program through paycheck deductions. When they retire, they receive money back.

Recipients of Social Security include retired people and disabled people who’ve worked but can no longer work or who can’t make enough money to meet their needs. It helps people whose family members have died, retired or become disabled.

Supplemental Security Income, also known as SSI, covers low-income aged, blind and disabled people, even if their disabilities prevented them from working in the past.

The average retired worker in West Virginia receives about $1,800 a month.

Social Security has been a tremendously successful program. Prior to its creation, as many as three-quarters of Americans age 65 or older lived in poverty. Today, that number is about 10%.

A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of Census data found that 22 million more Americans would have been below the poverty line in 2023 if not for Social Security.

Who are the West Virginians who rely on Social Security?

West Virginians benefit from Social Security more than any other state.

More than a quarter of West Virginians – nearly 480,000 – were receiving Social Security benefits as of December 2023.

That included more than 300,000 retirees, more than 70,000 people with disabilities and more than 33,000 children.

About 40,000 more get payments based on being low-income, elderly, blind or disabled.

Social Security kept 156,000 West Virginians aged 65 or older above the poverty line from 2021 to 2023, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ analysis.

Social Security staff workers are especially in demand in West Virginia. Staff decreased nationwide by 15% from 2010 to 2021, as Congress kept cutting funds for the agency. In West Virginia, the workforce shrank by 33% during that time period.

What is the Trump administration doing to Social Security?

In late February, the Trump administration announced it planned to cut 7,000 of 57,000 Social Security employees. 

About 2,500 agency staff took buyout offers, NPR reported last week, resulting in overwhelmed offices and longer wait times. 

While the Trump administration says part of its focus is ensuring only eligible Americans receive benefits, the agency actually needs more and not fewer workers to do that job, according to a 2024 audit of the Social Security Administration. Meanwhile, multiple lawsuits have been filed over DOGE having unfettered access to personal data housed by Social Security. 

Some people were already waiting over 200 days to get an eligibility decision.

The audit noted staffing numbers in 2024 reached one of the lowest levels over 50 years due to years of underfunding.

A Social Security press release stated that Trump is “helping all Americans access their benefits in office, over the phone, and online,” and the president has said benefits “won’t be touched.”

But Jessica LaPointe, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees, said that overburdened offices amount to cuts.

“That is the backdoor cut to the program because benefits delayed are benefits denied,” she told NPR.

The administration walked back initial plans to do away with telephone customer service and require in-person visits, moves that would have disproportionately hurt West Virginians. Initially, the agency’s Logan field office was on a list of cuts, but a spokesperson said that no West Virginia field offices would be permanently closed.

Troy Miller, the West Virginia organizer for the national advocacy nonprofit Social Security Works, noted that many West Virginians lack Internet and lack vehicles.

“You couldn’t have done a better job of trying to hurt seniors in West Virginia than to say we’re going to close down field offices, we’re going to reduce staff and we’re going to reduce what you can do calling in, and then we’re going to make you do everything online,” Miller said.

What is at stake for West Virginia?

While Trump has said he doesn’t want to “cut one penny from Social Security,” he’s also said he wants to end Social Security income taxes, which help to fund the system. 

The longevity of the program has been a concern for years. As Baby Boomers retire, the program is predicted to be unable to meet its obligations to younger generations by 2035. 

Privatization has been a goal of many Republicans, such as the powerful, right-wing Heritage Foundation for decades. 

Trump is dismantling Social Security. Here’s what’s at risk for West Virginians. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

It’s the second military zone the Trump administration has created at the border, following one on the New Mexico-Mexico border, where a group of migrants were arrested on Monday.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Federal immigration enforcement in Delaware has quietly ramped up in the first four months of the year, with criminal charges for unauthorized reentry skyrocketing in 2025. Despite receiving little attention, the escalation showcases the promises of deportation crackdowns on which President Donald Trump retook the White House.

Federal immigration enforcement in Delaware has quietly and drastically escalated in the first four months of the year, with federal prosecutors bringing forth more criminal deportation cases since January than in all of 2024. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware has criminally charged at least 29 people with re-entering the country without authorization after previously being deported thus far in 2025, according to a Spotlight Delaware analysis of unsealed court records. 

Last year, the office only charged four people. 

The dramatic uptick in enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Delaware comes amid the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s second administration, which was successful, in part, by campaigning on the promise of mass deportations and an immigration enforcement crackdown. 

ICE booked nearly 43,000 people into detention during the first three months of the Trump administration, according to the nonpartisan data research nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. 

Conversely, the agency booked just over 24,000 people into ICE detention in the last three months of the Biden administration, according to TRAC. 

In late January, the Trump administration pressured ICE officials to increase arrests from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, according to reporting from the Washington Post. The quotas came after Trump was reportedly disappointed with the outcome of the mass deportation promises he ran on.  

That led to initiatives like a six-day operation in Florida where over 1,000 people were arrested — over 60% of whom had an arrest or a conviction, according to ICE and reporting from the New York Times. The operation was geared toward arresting people with deportation orders and criminal histories.

ICE deportation operations in the First State have mostly gone unnoticed during the first months of the Trump presidency, with little media attention and no confirmed mass raids.

All of the 29 cases charged in Delaware so far involve men who are currently incarcerated, have been criminally charged and, or, who have been previously deported but returned to the United States.

The escalation of criminal cases against suspected undocumented immigrants, however, indicate that enforcement has quietly ramped up. Illegal reentry cases now represent the bulk of charges filed by U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s office in the first three months of the Trump administration.

Delaware State Police notified ICE of at least two arrests

In March, Delaware State Police notified ICE agents about two separate arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants. In February, Gov. Matt Meyer promised that state police wouldn’t work with the agency in most situations.

The governor’s office said it would not use state law enforcement resources to carry out federal immigration policies “unless there is a valid court warrant and an exigent circumstance where the community is at risk,” Misty Seemans, deputy legal counsel with the governor’s office, said at the time. 

In the March cases, both men had been arrested on criminal changes when their immigration status was checked. One man was arrested for drug dealing-related charges, while the other was arrested for stalking-related charges, according to court records. 

When reached for comment, Meyer’s office referred Spotlight Delaware to the Delaware Department of Safety & Homeland Security and did not respond to emailed questions. ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware did not respond to requests for comment. 

India Sturgis, spokesperson for Delaware State Police, said that both cases involved felony-level criminal offenses and in such cases, where there is a potential threat to public safety, “communication with federal agencies may occur in accordance with applicable law,” Sturgis wrote in an email to Spotlight Delaware. 

Delaware State Police does not proactively contact ICE or participate in immigration enforcement actions that are solely related to a person’s suspected immigration status, according to Sturgis. 

She added that information may be shared with federal agencies, including ICE, in connection with criminal investigations or public safety concerns. 

ICE arrests continue in recent days

On Wednesday, ICE agents with the Dover field office conducted a traffic stop on a Guatemalan man in Sussex County, ultimately arresting him and charging him with unauthorized reentry, court documents show. 

The agents stopped the man, believing he was another person for whom they had an immigration warrant. The man provided agents with a Guatemalan ID card and was arrested after he couldn’t provide immigration documents. 

The man was previously encountered by U.S. Border Patrol near the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas in 2014. The man was deported to Guatemala four days after being picked up by Border Patrol agents. 

On Thursday, federal agents in New Castle arrested a man from Mexico who had previously been deported three times in 2007, 2008 and 2009, according to court records. The man was charged in Delaware District Court with unauthorized reentry after being deported. 

In total, 13 people were arrested for various separate charges, such as driving under the influence and probation violations, before ICE was notified of their arrest by the agency’s California-based Pacific Enforcement Response Center (PERC), according to court documents. PERC notifies ICE field offices nationwide about undocumented immigrants who are suspected, arrested or convicted of criminal activity, so the agency can arrest them.

All of the people who have been charged so far this year are from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador or the Dominican Republic.  

In April, arrest warrants were issued for two men who were already in prison. One was facing pretrial detention, while the other was a sentenced prisoner at Sussex Correctional Institution. 

ICE has made over 26,000 arrests thus far in fiscal year 2025, which runs from October through September, according to ICE data. Criminal charges against two more men were filed on Wednesday and Thursday. 

The post ICE arrests quietly escalate in Delaware under Trump presidency  appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

WILLITS, CA., 5/1/25 — Every weekday around 11:45 a.m., a large group of seniors gather at the Willits Senior Center on Baechtel Road for a hot meal prepared by the center’s trained kitchen staff. 

The scent of lasagna, fresh salad and chocolate chip cookies fills the dining room as guests enjoy their lunch, leaving satisfied and happy. On some days, the seniors enjoy recipes like chicken teriyaki stir-fry, while on others they have a celebratory meal like turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce.  

In addition to enjoying a fresh, homemade lunch, seniors at the center have the opportunity to socialize with friends, participate in activities such as bingo and music classes, and experience a sense of community. The center also offers transportation services for seniors who need rides to medical appointments, grocery stores and other essential errands around town. 

Despite the support the center provides for the elderly community, it faces ongoing funding threats. As of July 2026, the center will lose $34,100 in funding from Mendocino County, according to documents provided to The Mendocino Voice by the Willits Senior Center and the county. The department that has initiated the funding cuts is the Mendocino County Department of Social Services. 

The center has been a supportive network for seniors since it was founded in 1974. In the late 1970s, the center was operating out of a slowly deteriorating facility, prompting local businessman and philanthropist Robert Harrah and his wife Jayne to donate land and fund the construction of a new building. The project was completed in 1987 and is the current building on Baechtel Road. 

Richard Baker, the executive director of the center, spoke passionately about his time working with seniors and how he’s seen older folks get so much joy from the food and outreach provided by the facility. 

Baker, originally from Salt Lake City, relocated to the Willits area in 1995, shortly after his father passed away there. Around 2010, he began working at the senior center as a driver, assisting seniors with tasks ranging from taking them to important appointments to delivering newspapers to their front doors. He also occasionally picked up supplies for them from grocery or gardening stores. 

In 2017, Baker was promoted to executive director of the senior center, taking on responsibilities that included organizing employees and volunteers, as well as managing funding strategies to keep the facility up and running. Above all, Baker ensures the center provides everything it can for the seniors of Willits. 

“The bottom line is, we do wellness checks, go to people’s houses and check on them,” Baker explained in an interview. “When a senior in Willits has a problem, they call us. Whether it’s something we are getting funding for … we do it.”  

Baker said the Meals on Wheels program, which provides meals to homebound and disabled seniors in Willits who cannot cook for themselves, has been a key support for many people who would otherwise go without food. 

“I was delivering a meal to a woman in a trailer park off Walker Road. She was sitting alone, and when I gave her the meal, she started crying,” Baker emphasized. “She said, ‘If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had a meal today. I don’t have any friends or family.’ I took a moment to sit down with her and explained that even though I’m the one delivering the meal, there are many people behind the scenes who make it possible.” 

According to the documents from Mendocino County, $34,100 will be cut from an outreach contract previously funded by the county’s Department of Social Services. 

According to Baker, the center also experienced a funding cut of $15,999 this year from the department’s CalFresh unit. In total, the Willits Senior Center is facing $50,099 in funding losses in less than two years — cuts that Baker said will significantly impact outreach services. Outreach departments are responsible for identifying seniors and caregivers in need of assistance and resources from the center. 

“Currently, we have a two-person outreach department, but at a minimum, it would be reduced to a one-person contract … we’ll need to reconfigure our outreach department and determine what we can and cannot afford to do moving forward,” Baker added. “Right now, we can’t sustain an extra $30,000 to $40,000 in expenses every year. You can’t hire an employee without having the funds to pay them.” 

Fortunately, the senior center has other funding from sources like its on-site thrift store, which brings in about $300,000 annually. It also receives significant funding through grants, such as those from the Mendocino Transit Authority. 

But for the senior center’s outreach department, $50,099 is a significant amount of money, and Baker is still considering different ways the center can reach its budget goals next year without losing employees. 

“By January 2026, I’ll start reaching out to the city of Willits and the [county] Board of Supervisors to see if any additional funding will be available,” Baker said. “We’ll make adjustments at that point, but people are still going to need help, and they’re not going to stop calling us just because the funding disappeared. The senior center is a trusted resource, and we want to be able to direct people to someone who can help them instead of just telling them they’re out of luck.” 

To sustain its finances and increase donations, Baker said the senior center is creating a fundraising platform called the Redwood Society, a program where elders could dedicate their estates or other assets to secure the center’s future. 

“We’re shifting our strategy and trying to become more independent, moving away from reliance on government funding. One of the key steps we’re taking is setting up the Redwood Society,” Baker stated. “We plan to reach out to the community and ask people to consider including the senior center in their wills, trusts, or estate planning — whether it’s a percentage of their estate or their entire estate if they have no relatives and want to support us in that way.” 

Through the creation of the Redwood Society and other plans to build an endowment that will provide funds to the center annually, Baker hopes the senior center can rely less on outside funding sources. However, these plans will take time to implement. He explained that Willits Senior Inc., the nonprofit behind the Willits Senior Center, has already created an endowment for the center.  

Baker said Willits Senior Inc. has a $1 million endowment, which provides $30,000 to $35,000 each year in operating revenue. 

“If we can grow that to $3 million, we’ll generate $100,000 annually, which would eliminate the need for county funding,” he said. “This will help us reduce our dependence on outside funding sources. It’s going to take time, but it’s part of our current plan.” 

Baker said creating the Redwood Society will not only allow seniors to contribute to a cherished community resource but also give them a chance to leave their mark in a unique way. He hopes to acquire a large piece of redwood to display in the center’s lobby, where members of the Redwood Society can sign their names. 

“We’ll make it nice and place it in the lobby. As people donate, we’ll add their names to it,” Baker said. “These ideas are all important, especially the endowment. Many seniors who have benefited from the center and understand how important we are will want to contribute.”  

To contribute to the center, either financially or by volunteering, visit their website. To donate by check, mail it to 1501 Baechtel Road, Willits, CA. 

People can also donate items to the thrift store or consider becoming a board member. The senior center will be sending updates on the creation of the Redwood Society.

The post $50,000 in funding cuts puts strain on Willits Senior Center’s services   appeared first on The Mendocino Voice | Mendocino County, CA.

Michigan now covers more than double the portion of the population it did 30 years ago. Is that growth unchecked, or just enough to cover the most vulnerable?

After hours of public interviews yesterday afternoon, April 30, Shasta County’s Board has selected a new Registrar of Voters (ROV). Clint Curtis is a Florida-based attorney with no ties to Shasta County and no experience running elections.

He’s also an outspoken opponent of the use of voting machines who highlighted his connection to MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell during his interview. 

Curtis will replace ROV Tom Toller whose resignation became official on April 29th. Toller, who was also appointed by supervisors, held the role for only eight months before stepping down for health reasons.

Supervisors Kevin Crye, Chris Kelstrom and Corkey Harmon cast the deciding votes for Curtis late afternoon after interviewing a total of four candidates. Curtis was the only one of the four with no previous experience in elections management.

Other candidates included long-term Shasta County election staffer and Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut; Elle Leigh Sharpe, a staffer at the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office with previous experience at the Placer County Elections Office; Robin Underwood, a City Clerk based in Michigan. The fifth candidate invited to interview for the position did not appear.

Board Chair Crye made the motion for Curtis’ appointment, saying while he doesn’t believe there are any significant issues with Shasta County elections, “its time for change” in a “directio n that may be unknown” to do things “way out of the box.”

“I think now is the time to do things differently and lead in a different way,” Crye continued, without further explanation.

What Curtis plans to do differently, he told supervisors, is film the entire Shasta County elections process, a step he says will allow the community to see for themselves if voting machines are accurate. He provided no details about the practicalities of such a plan including how much it would cost, whether and how he’d adjust current state-regulated election processes to implement it, or how exactly the public will be able to use the filming process to verify accurate election processes. 

Nevertheless, Supervisor Kelstrom immediately seconded Crye’s motion to select Curtis. He aid he had no concerns with the work of Assistant ROV Francescut, who has 17 years of experience in the local Elections Office, but wanted to go with Curtis instead. 

This is the second time Francescut has applied for the position in a year. She was passed over both last year and this year, despite strong public support from a majority of the vocal public, while the Board majority consistently chose candidates with no experience in elections management. She’s faced a litany of accusations from a small but vocal group of locals who believe widespread election fraud is occurring across the United States, many of whom are associated with New California State, a secessionist movement that hopes to separate from the “tyrannical” California government.

Harmon, who provided the swing vote on the vote to select Curtis, also expressed support for Francescut. But he told Shasta Scout after the meeting that he agrees with Crye that a new approach to elections is needed, saying what’s at stake is bigger than Shasta County. 

“It’s about election integrity across the country,” Harmon said. “California-wide, country-wide…  Everybody knows there’s issues with elections. And I think there’s stuff coming (federally) that’s going to change some things, for the better.” 

The idea that the Trump administration’s recent executive order might impact local elections was a recurring theme throughout interview questions and Board conversations. In response to questions from Supervisor Crye about whether they’d follow the will of the Board or the will of the state when it comes to elections, all four candidates emphasized that they would follow election law, which is currently set primarily at the state level.

Curtis’ selection was strongly opposed by Supervisors Allen Long and Matt Plummer, who both raised concerns about Curtis’s work history and qualifications for the role. Curtis has long been a controversial figure. He’s a former computer programmer who claims he wrote a code that could be used to flip election machines, then later blew the whistle saying he didn’t know what the code was intended for when he wrote it. He told supervisors yesterday that he wanted to work in Shasta County elections to atone for his mistake in writing that code decades ago.

While Curtis has previously claimed publicly to have been fired from one of his former jobs, he wrote in his ROV application that he’d never been discharged or forced to resign from a position. When asked about that discrepancy by Supervisor Crye during his interview, Curtis defended himself, saying he wasn’t technically terminated from his former employment because he was a contractor, not an employee.

Faced with a similarly tough question from Plummer about how many election cases he’d won as an attorney specializing in election law over the last twelve years, Curtis first said none then hedged saying he thinks he won a small one once, “but nothing much.” 

Curtis’ lack of success in the courtroom, along with his’ four unsuccessful runs for Congress, prompted Plummer to refer to Curtis as not having a track record of success, adding that it would be unwise to appoint someone whose goal is to address alleged illegalities at the elections office that have never even been documented. 

Supervisor Long spoke similarly, saying what Shasta County needs in the ROV role is experience, qualifications and stability — not an outsider with new ideas on how to change election processes in order to address unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

Long said he didn’t believe Curtis met even the basic qualifications that had been set by the Board for the ROV appointment making a motion that Curtis be eliminated from consideration based on his lack of qualifications for the role which wasn’t seconded.

Curtis’ application was screened by an ad hoc committee that included both Long and Crye, which means Long originally approved him to interview for the role before changing his mind. Speaking to Shasta Scout after the meeting, Long said he approved Curtis for the interview process because he and Supervisor Crye were told by Shasta County’s Director of Support Services Monica Fugitt that Curtis met qualifications for the role. 

It was only after checking the video of the Board’s vote on qualification requirements and reviewing details of the agenda packet, Long said, that he became convinced Curtis didn’t actually qualify to be interviewed at all. Fugitt told Shasta Scout last week that she would not comment on whether Curtis met qualifications for the role.

During a fifteen-minute speech to the Board in an attempt to dissuade them from choosing Curtis, Long also addressed concerns about various aspects of Curtis’ work history, as reported by Orlando Weekly. Neither Crye nor Kelstrom offered any response, but Harmon summoned Curtis to the dais. The candidate offered hard-to-follow rebuttals to Long’s concerns, saying Long should have done better research and recommending he read a specific blog for accurate facts.

The meeting was briefly disrupted during Long’s comments to the Board after community member Christian Gardinier called out from the chamber floor for the second time, after a first warning. In response to Crye’s commands to leave the room, Gardinier held his ground saying he was willing to be arrested. Chair Crye called a meeting recess and asked everyone but the press to exit the chamber before calling on the two Sheriff’s deputies in the room to assist Gardinier to vacate the room. After a few moments, in response to a request from Long, Gardinier chose to leave on his own. He remained outside the chamber for the rest of the meeting.

After being selected, Curtis offered brief comments to the press. He took a cavalier tone, delivering mostly vague answers to questions about how he intends to run the Elections Office. Last his interview last year, Curtis said that he might want to “start over” with fresh staff at the Elections Office. This year, he said he’s going to wait and see how “retraining” goes before making a decision. Asked specifically about maintaining the employment of Assistant ROV Francescut, Curtis said he might be able to work with her, “if she was telling the truth during her interview.”

Francescut has worked in Shasta County elections since 2008 and held the Assistant ROV role since 2018. She has administered over 30 elections and ran the March 2024 primary on her own while ROV Cathy Darling Allen was out on medical leave.

She told supervisors yesterday that she was willing to continue in her role as Assistant ROV if not selected for the lead role. Speaking to Shasta Scout after the meeting, she expressed respect for the Board’s decision to choose Curtis. Within a few hours of the Board’s decision, she issued a press release publicly announcing her candidacy for the ROV role in 2026.

“Shasta County deserves experienced and trusted leadership in the elections office,” Francescut wrote, “I’m committed to this work that I’ve done locally for 17 years and I’m running to bring stability, experience, and integrity to the role at a pivotal time for local elections.”

Now that Curtis has been selected, he must pass a background check, move to Shasta County, and register to vote before he can legally become Shasta County’s next ROV. If appointed he’d hold the role until at least January 2027. That’s when the winner of the June 2026 election for the ROV role will take their seat.

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Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.

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Yancey County officials say the decision to leave the AMY Regional Library system is based on a desire to operate with more independence.

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Federal prosecutors in New Mexico charged 28 people on Monday for crossing into the new 170-square-mile “National Defense Area” created earlier this month by the Trump administration. The president said he was permitting U.S. troops to detain people from coming to the U.S. from Mexico.