TRIADELPHIA — On June 14, 2025, Ashlie Howard was cooking bratwursts on the grill at her home on the east side of Triadelphia along U.S. 40. 

It was a summer day, with a little bit of intermittent rain, Howard recalled. Her step-mother called, concerned there would be flooding. 

“I thought she was overreacting.  I was like, everything’s fine,” Howard said. 

Howard took the brats off the grill, took them inside and fixed some plates for her and her children. When she came back outside, the creek behind her home had risen 6 feet. 

That’s when the alerts went off on her phone, warning of the coming flood. 

Howard acted fast, packing her kids in the car and raced to get away from the creek. She sped towards Roney’s Point, a high spot where some family lived. The water had risen over the road. 

“I busted a u-ie on Route 40,” she said. 

Fording through the waters, she made it to a motel up on the hill — without power, with nowhere to go, her family sought shelter in the lobby. 

The flooding took nine lives and destroyed dozens of homes and businesses, including Howard’s, in the small town of Triadelphia. Ten months later, the community is still going through the slow and difficult process of rebuilding. 

The flood, and the aftermath, have shown residents in Triadelphia all sorts of issues that lawmakers could address in the state. From identifying bridge ownership to additional training for volunteer firefighters, those who lived through the flood have ideas on what could help the next community. 

Quicker action on the ground

At the beginning of the 2026 Legislative session, flooding was top of mind for lawmakers after Gov. Patrick Morrisey pitched an early warning system pilot program — something Howard agrees might’ve prevented her from having to risk driving her car through high water with her two kids and three cats. 

But the measure failed to pass. Lawmakers did put $5 million into the Flood Resiliency Fund, the first time it’s ever been funded. That money will go to prevent or mitigate flooding. None of it went into the fund for recovery, leaving recovery efforts to the federal government.

That could be a problem in the future. 

Since taking office in 2025, President Donald Trump has said he wants to reduce the role of FEMA in responding to disasters, leaving more of those responsibilities to the states. 

Pastor Mike Palmer, of the Triadelphia United Methodist Church, has been involved in relief efforts since the morning after the floods. After spending all night camped in a gas station parking lot, he was able to get to his church in the middle of town, only to find it had been spared. 

The preacher pulled out a grill and started flipping hamburgers for rescue workers, residents and anyone in need. Quickly, his church parking lot turned into one of several supply hubs in the area, handing out food, water, clothing and cleaning supplies. 

Palmer now serves on the long-term recovery committee, a group of volunteers who help coordinate the rebuilding process. 

The lack of a quick response — the President didn’t sign a disaster declaration until 38 days after the flood — is a sore spot for some of those who lived through it. 

He said one thing that stands out to him is how long the recovery response takes. While he’s forgiving about the months-long delay for a FEMA Disaster Declaration — shaking his head, only saying, “it is what it is” — he does want to see quicker action on the ground in these types of events.   

“I think some better legislation is needed to eliminate some of the red tape you have to go through. Something like this should come down to I think one phone call, and act on it now,” he said. 

Twenty-five-year-old Niamh Coomey, who lives in Wheeling, said she volunteered for two weeks at the disaster site with a local group called Ohio Valley Mutual Aid. She helped coordinate volunteers for “muck-outs” — removing the unsanitary mud from houses to help prevent molding. 

“There was kind of like a running joke — not really a joke — that we were kind of like the FEMA of the area when that happened, because FEMA wasn’t there — and that’s insane,” she said. 

State Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, is running for reelection in the First District, which includes Triadelphia. She said she’s supportive of efforts like an early warning system and more funding. 

“I will say that the governor does have a civil contingency fund for these types of situations, and so we need to make sure that’s funded in a healthy way and accessible in a timely manner,” she said.  

Planning ahead

On an early April morning, Palmer drives around Triadelphia, cataloging the catastrophe. He points to houses, saying how this one is slated to be knocked down, then pointing to the next, saying the home owner is trying to rebuild. 

He pulls his Ford sedan down a gravel road and points over at a metal bridge, connecting the town to six houses dotted across a steep hill. 

“They had to walk their kids across the creek to get to school,” Palmer said. 

Up that hill lives Sarah Hall. She runs a small homestead, raising chickens and produce for market. On the day of the flood, she watched two shipping containers careen down the stream and slam into the bridge she and her neighbors used to get on and off the hill for years. 

“You could hear the steel screeching, like it echoed when that bridge broke — I’ll never forget that sound,” she said. 

For three days, Hall and her family were stuck on the hill without running water or electricity. But the real work began after the flood waters receded. Rebuilding the bridge was tricky, because ownership of the bridge was unclear, since it was a remnant from an old coal mine. 

Hall said she worked the phones up and down the line trying to get help from the state, federal and county governments. Messages went unanswered, or she was passed off to someone else who would tell her it wasn’t their problem. 

In the meantime, Hall and her family had to schedule trips to the grocery store based on the level of the creek, always packing light to get their supplies up the hill. If heavy rains were forecasted, the family had to stock up. 

“This really got me interested in politics, because I see how little our elected officials actually help,” she said. 

Hall said the $5 million in the flood resilience fund is a good start, but she wants to see more resources directed toward preparing for floods. And she would like laws to clarify ownership on old bridges. 

Democrat Shawn Fluharty, who currently serves in the House of Delegates and is now running for Chapman’s seat, said that money in the flood resiliency fund is just a start. 

“We have to have the ability to stand up on our own and protect our people, and part of that is making sure the flood resiliency fund is properly funded,” Fluharty said. 

Directly across the creek, at the Triadelphia Volunteer Fire Department, the rebuild process continues. Inside the station, bunk gear hangs on racks, with no lockers to put them in. 

Assistant Fire Chief Kera Allietta said when the flood hit, it ripped through the back wall, sending gear down U.S. 40, the main thoroughfare in town. 

“It ripped all of that metal up, and the water came in, and it got so high in that room that it ripped the whole wall out, and everything went right out the front,” she said. “Tool boxes, stuff you would never think should be moving like that.” 

In the months following the flood, Allietta said the department leaned on other fire companies to fill the need while Triadelphia rebuilt. She said they had discussions about whether to move the station, which is butted up against the creek banks. 

Triadelphia is one of many fire stations throughout the state built in a flood plain. She said while getting to higher ground is ideal, all available higher ground would’ve been outside the city limits, and the charter of her department mandates it remains in the town. 

“We did all the things that we could do, as far as putting everything up now – the hot water tanks, the electrical and just making sure the drains are good, to try to mitigate any damage should something this bad ever happen again,” she said. 

Allietta said looking back on the flood, she believes there needs to be more training for volunteer firefighters to work with FEMA. 

“You start looking at specialized training with FEMA and emergency management issues,” she said. “I don’t believe we were as prepared as we could be.” 

Joe Eddy, who is challenging Chapman in the Republican primary, said issues both big and small — from setting aside money in case the feds pull back from disaster management, to regulating the storage of shipping containers to prevent them becoming projectiles in a flood — require funding and implementing the existing state flood resiliency plan.  

“It sounds like a really expensive program,” he said. “So is clean up, and so is loss of life.” 

For people in Triadelphia, the surest bet for help is each other. Howard, the mother who braved the waters for safety, said she has since relocated to a more elevated part of town. While she received help from FEMA, she said most help came from the community itself. 

“I had people just reach out. It’s just so many people like people on Facebook, people through the churches, people through OV Mutual Aid did a lot,” she said. 

But some things can’t be replaced — pictures, baby clothes, momentos. Howard lost all those in the flood. An early warning system could’ve helped her at least grab a few of those things. 

“If there was more time, I would have at least grabbed memorable things, my kids’ things,” she said. “But there was just no time, no time at all.” 

A Northern Panhandle town is still recovering from flooding. They have some suggestions for elected officials. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Despite promises such facilities would provide a significant economic boost, data centers that locate in West Virginia could avoid paying any state taxes, under a proposal making its way through the Legislature.

The tax credit under consideration would apply to warehouses and factories, but is being promoted specifically as a way to help ensure West Virginia lands data center projects that are being considered for locations across the country.

Department of Revenue officials cautioned that the bill could result in a decrease in general tax collections “of some significance,” but in a report to lawmakers, did not attempt a specific estimate of those losses.

In its own report, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy took a stab at providing such an estimate. They found the proposal could “potentially offset all state taxes” for data centers.

The proposal would allow businesses investing at least $2.5 million or creating 10 jobs to receive a tax credit, or reduction in their state tax bill for a decade. But job creation is not a requirement. And the bigger the investment, the larger the credit. 

If the tax credit became law, it could cause a significant loss in tax money according to a report from Mark Muchow, a deputy revenue secretary. Muchow did not provide an estimate as to how much. 

But his assessment found the bill would open the door for affiliates of a company to take advantage of the credit, too, which means a company with multiple subsidiaries could use the tax break repeatedly. 

The tax credit is intended to bring in businesses, and its sponsor, Del. Geno Chiarelli, R-Monongalia, said the amount the state would bring in as a result would offset any losses. 

Tax money from data centers was supposed to go toward reducing personal income tax and to help county coffers. Last week, the Morrisey administration touted the tax revenue stream.

Del. Chuck Horst, R-Berkeley, said he was concerned that data centers provide few jobs, so giving them a tax break makes them less economically valuable to the state. 

“What is attractive about them is simply the amount of revenue they generate for the state,” Horst said. “And I have concerns that we’re going to give them tax breaks on that revenue, so we reduce the amount that the state would receive.” 

West Virginia isn’t alone in looking into tax breaks for data centers.

Thirty-seven states provide tax breaks for these projects. Neighboring Virginia and Maryland, for example, have exempted data centers from paying sales tax.

But some states are rethinking their tax breaks due to concerns over water and power usage and public sentiment against the centers. Last year, Minnesota rolled back a sales tax exemption on electricity purchases for data centers. Maryland and Arizona are contemplating similar legislation. 

And subsidies for data centers, or any large scale project, aren’t usually the determining factor in why a company locates to an area, according to  John C. Mozena, president of The Center for Economic Accountability.

“Data centers will locate in West Virginia if it makes good business sense to do so, based on fundamental factors like electricity prices and reliability, site availability and infrastructure quality,” he said. “Nobody’s going to build a data center on a site that doesn’t make sense, and there aren’t enough sites that make sense that states need to bribe data center operators to build there.” 

In Tucker County, residents have spent nearly a year organizing against a proposed data center. There, they have rallied against West Virginia’s original data center law, which stripped away local control over where data centers could be built and sucked up 70% of local taxes. Last week, the state Air Quality Board ruled against those residents in their challenge to a key environmental permit for the project.

Shaena Crossland, who owns Sister Witches Crafting Company in Davis, said news of the proposed tax break was disheartening. 

“It’s definitely a slap in the face,” she said. 

Public comments filed in the House of Delegates have largely rebuked the bill. 

House Finance Chair Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said they are continuing to work on the bill in the committee. 

West Virginia could get nothing in taxes from data centers for a decade under proposed bill appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

At 93, Anna Lee Pettit lives alone in a first-floor apartment at Morgantown’s Unity House Apartments, where she can get her mail indoors and avoid hauling garbage outside in the winter. 

She survives on Social Security benefits and said she wouldn’t have made it without affordable housing after her husband died. She now pays $435 a month for rent on top of her electric and phone bills. 

Pettit said she was fortunate that subsidized housing was available for her.

“They need to build more of them here in Morgantown,” she said. “So they can help seniors and those with disabilities.”

Across the state, more than 60,000 West Virginians rely on federal rental assistance. Most of them are seniors, children and people with disabilities. 

But many of them could lose the help, because a growing share of those properties is nearing the end of the federal restrictions that keep rents low. 

Over the next 5 to 10 years, the state is projected to lose more than a quarter of its federally subsidized low-income rental units as incentives to keep rent affordable expire, according to a new statewide housing report. 

Nearly 200 properties, 28% of the state’s total, are scheduled to reach the end of their federal affordability period between 2029 and 2034, according to data from the National Housing Preservation Database.

Whether that housing remains affordable will largely depend on state policy choices. 

Other states have stepped in 

As federal affordability restrictions expire, many states have moved to protect low-income renters by creating their own state-level housing tax credits.  

About 30 states have adopted state-level low-income housing tax credits or similar preservation programs, which supplement the federal credit. These state credits are often used to fund repairs, new construction, or to extend affordability agreements with property owners after federal requirements expire.

Neighboring states like Ohio and Virginia are among the states that have implemented their own housing tax programs, allowing them to be proactive. 

Ohio’s low-income housing tax credit was created in 2023 and is modeled on the federal program. It allows property owners to claim state credits for 10 years, and can be combined with the federal credit. Virginia’s housing credit was created in 2021 and can be claimed for between 10 and 15 years.

However, West Virginia has not implemented a similar program, and lawmakers have instead prioritized tax incentives for higher-cost housing developments in recent years.

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, and Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, did not respond to Mountain State Spotlight’s questions about the state’s role in preserving affordable housing costs as federal subsidies expire. 

In the absence of state-level housing incentives, preservation efforts have largely fallen to the agency that administers federal programs.

The West Virginia Housing Development Fund, the state’s housing arm, disperses federal housing credits to approved properties. But as a state agency, its tools are largely limited to federal resources. 

Nate Testman, the fund’s interim director, said the agency has ramped up efforts to preserve properties by working with owners and using tax-exempt bonds to help finance renovations.  

“In our experience, many owners want to renew or extend affordability periods, and the WVHDF tries to make it as easy as possible for them to do so with available resources,” he said.

Still, Testman said those resources are limited, and federal tax credits are highly competitive. The agency often receives double or triple the number of applications than the number of credits available. 

The housing preservation challenge is mostly driven by how federal housing tax credits were designed.

West Virginia already faces a shortage of affordable housing

West Virginia needs more than 20,000 additional units for households earning about half the median income. 

For many renters, especially seniors and low-income families, there are few alternatives when rents rise. 

At the same time, a large share of the affordable housing that does exist is tied to federal subsidies that weren’t designed to be indefinite. 

The largest of those subsidies is the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which is given to landlords who operate low-income housing units. The credit provides tax incentives to developers in exchange for limiting rents for low-income tenants, but only for a set period of time. 

Under the program, developers receive tax credits over 10 years, and agree to keep rents affordable for 15 years, with many properties committing to affordability terms for up to 30 years. 

When those credits expire, property owners can keep units affordable or switch to market-rate rent prices. The median rent for an apartment including utilities is $850 per month in West Virginia. 

For Pettit, the debate over tax credits and expiring restrictions is less about policy and more about stability.

Living on a fixed income, she said she doesn’t have room in her budget for rising rent. If her apartment were to lose its affordability protections, she’s not sure where she would go.

“I’m getting by,” she said. “I don’t know how people do it.”

Low-income West Virginians could lose access to 28% of affordable housing unless lawmakers step in appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Clean drinking water has long been an issue throughout the state. It is one which would cost between $16 – $20 billion to fix. 

In his State of the State address, Gov. Patrick Morrisey praised his administration for putting $74 million toward water and sewer projects last year.  

“Clean water and functional infrastructure lift up the standard of living and propel economic growth in our communities,” he said.

A bipartisan pair of delegates wants the state to more than triple that amount this year to fund high-priority drinking water projects in long-neglected communities in southern West Virginia’s coalfields.

The bill, which will be introduced by Del. David Green, R-McDowell, and Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, would take $250 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and give it to nine counties in the southern coalfields to address drinking water projects. 

The move would help hundreds of McDowell County residents who cannot get clean drinking water. And those who do can’t rely on the water to flow whenever they turn on their faucets. 

Mavis Brewster, general manager of the McDowell County Public Service District, said over the years her agency has taken on a number of failed systems, doing everything it can to keep them going. But with some water projects spending upwards of a decade gathering dust, the costs and the needs continue to rise. 

“It’s a funding issue,” she said. 

For instance, Anawalt, a small, unincorporated town of fewer than 200 has had long-standing issues with pipes losing water. It also has 55 residents waiting to be tapped into the system. But with a $11 million project cost, the PSD has yet to begin work on maintenance it can’t afford.

Less than $2 million of the money Morrisey touted for water projects in his speech went to southern coalfield counties last year. 

But it would cost $287 million to fund what the Department of Environmental Protection says are high priority projects in just four of those counties.

Hamilton said she was motivated to back the bill because she is originally from McDowell County. Nearly 50-years-old, she said the water issues in the county have been around all her life, but the rest of the state seems to neglect it. Her father still lives in the area.  

“My father is 80 years old. He’s a veteran. He served this country. He’s an outstanding citizen. He deserves to have clean drinking water,” she said. 

Green said he just wants to see the water issues fixed. 

“The end goal is to get water in McDowell County and the other southern counties,” Green said. 

But lawmakers are reluctant to dip into the $1.4 billion reserve fund, which is a key component to the state’s bond ratings.

Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood County, chairs the House finance committee, where spending bills are vetted and sent to the House floor. He said using the Rainy Day Fund is an automatic no-go.

“This body and the Senate would have to agree on invading those Rainy Day funds, and that possibility would be pretty grave,” Criss said. 

Criss said he would like to use excess money left over from the current budget to pay for those projects and put more funding in existing agencies like the Water Development Authority. 

Green said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to get support for it from his fellow Republicans, who would want to address water issues in their own districts. 

“I want it to go forward. I want it to be a success, okay? And I’ll run it no matter what. But I also hate doing things out of futility,” Green said. 

Hamilton said she too has low expectations for the proposal, but she maintains hope for some kind of help. 

“No matter how you look at how we spend this money, this request is good,” she said. 

Drew Galang, a spokesman for the governor’s office, did not say whether or not Morrisey would sign the bill if it came across his desk. 

“He (Morrisey) is looking forward to working with lawmakers on an array of solutions to improve water infrastructure statewide,” Galang wrote in a statement. 

Pastor Brad Davis, a Methodist minister in McDowell County, helped formulate the bill for Green and Hamilton. Davis said he’s aware of the concerns surrounding the plan, but he wants something to be done about these drinking water systems. 

“It’s a public health emergency, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “We need shovels in the ground yesterday to get this fixed.” 

Southern West Virginians have waited decades for clean water. A bold $250 million proposal could help. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Just 11 months since floods killed three people in McDowell County, residents are still cleaning up the wreckage. 

Brad Davis, a Methodist pastor and community organizer, said while progress has been made, it’s going to be a while before things are back to normal. 

For instance, in Gary, a bridge that crosses the Tug Fork River off West Virginia Route 103 hasn’t been rebuilt. The county has put in an access road through an active mine site so people can get to their homes. 

“It’s really not a long term, permanent solution,” Davis said. “They still need to get that bridge taken care of.” 

Just a day before Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s State of the State speech last week, Lora Pierce, a disaster recovery specialist with Catholic Charities West Virginia, told the Joint Committee on Flooding that the state is lacking funds for case managers to address long-term issues for people following a disaster. 

But in last week’s State of the State address, Gov. Morrisey didn’t announce any new funding for recovery from disasters. Instead, he proposed a $10 million pilot program for an early warning system. The money would be put into the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund. 

“It’s needed, and it would help. It would help out a lot,” Davis said. “I’m not sure if $10 million is enough to do it in all parts of the state where it would be needed.”

Drew Galang, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office, said the selection of areas where the system would be tested would be based on frequency and severity of past floods, population and infrastructure in the area. 

Del. Bill Flanigan, R-Ohio, whose district lost seven people in floods last June, and Del. David Green, R-McDowell, want details on the system. Green is particularly concerned that a lack of cellphone towers in his district will make it difficult to adequately warn people in time for them to get to safety.

“Any way that we can, to get a better warning and notification out there, I’m happy with that,” Green said. 

But an early warning system is just one part of what the state needs to address with regard to flooding. 

West Virginian’s mountainous terrain has meant many towns, homes and businesses are located along creeks or river bottoms. Decades of timbering and mountaintop removal have made an already flood prone topography even worse – and stronger storms caused by climate change will only cause more damage. About a quarter of the state’s essential buildings – like schools, hospitals and police stations – face a moderate to high risk of flooding. 

In 2023, lawmakers passed legislation to put two funds under the State Flood Resiliency Office – the Food Resiliency Trust Fund, to prepare for floods, and the Disaster Recovery Trust Fund, to help with recovery from an event.  

Lawmakers have repeatedly chosen not to fund either. In his last year as governor, 

Jim Justice asked for $50 million for the flood funds, a request the legislature denied. Last year, just days before McDowell County’s flood, Morrisey didn’t ask for any money in the flood funds in his budget either. Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, tried to get $250 million – later reduced to $50 million – into the funds during the legislative session. But the House of Delegates voted it down. 

Last week, both representatives of Catholic Charities and Tidal Basin Group, a consulting company hired by the state to assist in recovery from natural disasters, told lawmakers they need to invest money into the state’s Disaster Recovery Trust Fund. 

“Trust funds could be used for a West Virginia disaster case management program,” Pierce said. 

Brendan Muckian-Bates, a policy advocate for the Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition, said other states and cities are funding for disaster relief, in light of changes in climate and federal responsibilities. He said New York voters approved a $4.2 billion bond and Virginia Beach, Virginia, approved a $568 million bond to fund resilient infrastructure for natural disasters. 

Muckian-Bates said putting more money in the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund, including for a warning system, is a necessary first step.

“This legislative session, it’s imperative that at-risk communities and experts have the opportunity to provide insight for state lawmakers into West Virginia’s flood risks,” he said. 

Catherine Carr Clinch, president of Tidal Basin’s federal and response division, said possible changes to the Federal Emergency Management Administration’s funding formulas could put more responsibility on the state, which would require more investment in the trust funds. 

She said, “Consider strongly funding that.” 

Morrisey wants a $10 million flood warning system, but budgets no funds to help devastated communities recover appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

From their home on Charleston’s West Side, Tina and Matt Glaspey watched the house on the corner of First Avenue and Fitzgerald Street go downhill fast. 

A family with a young daughter left because they didn’t feel safe. The next owner died. After that, the police were responding regularly as people broke into the vacant home. 

The Glaspeys say that in just two years, the small brick house went from occupied to condemned, left without power or water, repeatedly entered by squatters. 

“One day, we noticed a bright orange sticker on the door saying the building was not safe for habitation,” Tina said. “It shows how quickly things can turn, in just two years, when nothing is done to deal with these properties.” 

City officials say the house is following the same path as hundreds of other vacant properties across Charleston, which slowly deteriorate until they become unsafe and are added to the city’s priority demolition list, typically including about 30 buildings at a time. 

Until this year, a state program helped communities tear these buildings down, preventing them from becoming safety hazards for neighborhoods and harming property values. 

A statewide survey four years ago estimated that nearly 8,000 structures required demolition that would cost approximately $150 million. Lawmakers funded the effort using $30 million in federal pandemic relief funds to reimburse local governments.

But that money is now depleted. There is no statewide demolition program left, no replacement funding, and no legislation to keep it running, leaving municipalities on their own to absorb the costs or leave vacant buildings standing. 

Across West Virginia, vacant properties increase while a state program designed to help runs out of money 

The state’s Demolition Landfill Assistance Program was established in 2021 and was funded a year later with federal COVID-19 recovery funds. 

Administered through the Department of Environmental Protection, the fund reimbursed local governments for the demolition of abandoned buildings that they couldn’t afford on their own. 

The state survey was the first step in the program to determine the scope of the need and assess local government capacity to address it. It was distributed to all 55 counties and more than 180 municipalities. 

In just two years, about 1,800 structures were demolished. Currently, about 240 demolitions are ongoing, but the last of the state’s funding has been dispersed. 

However, the need is far greater. 

Carrie Staton, director of the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, has worked with communities on abandoned buildings for about 14 years. She said most counties don’t have the resources, funding or staffing to manage dilapidated housing on their own. 

“We’re just so rural and so universally rural. Other states have at least a couple of major metro areas that can support this work,” she said. “We don’t. It just takes longer to do everything.”

Charleston has spent millions demolishing hundreds of vacant buildings 

As the state’s largest city, Charleston has more tools than most local governments, including access to federal funds that smaller communities don’t have. 

That has allowed the city to spend more than $12 million over the past seven years demolishing over 700 unsafe and dilapidated structures.

But John Butterworth, a planner for the city, said Charleston still relied on state demolition funding to help cover those costs, which averaged about $10,000 per property, including any environmental cleanup. 

“It’s a real cost,” he said. “It’s a necessary one to keep neighbors safe, but it is very expensive.”

He said the city received $500,000 from the state program during its last round of funding to help tear down properties that drew repeated complaints from neighbors. 

“I think people are really relieved when we can say that the house that’s been boarded up for a year or more is coming down,” he said. “Where the concern often comes from neighbors is, what comes next?”

One vacant home on Grant Street had fallen into disrepair before being demolished in May of last year. 

Cracks filled the walls. Dirt and moldy debris were caked on the floors. Broken glass and boarded-up windows littered the property as plants overtook the roof and yard. 

Eventually, the city was able to get the owner to donate the property, which was then given to Habitat for Humanity as part of its home-building program. 

Now, the property is being rebuilt from scratch. Construction crews have already built the foundation, porch and frame, and it is expected to be finished within the year after its groundbreaking last October. 

Andrew Blackwood, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Kanawha and Putnam counties, said the property stood for at least five years, deteriorating. The home had signs of vandalism and water damage and was completely unsalvageable. 

He said that of the 190 homes the organization has built in both counties, nearly 90% of them have been complete rebuilds after the previous structure was demolished. 

A statewide problem without a statewide plan

Lawmakers have said they recognize the scale of the problem, but none have proposed other ways for tearing down dangerous structures. 

Fayette County used state demolition money as it was intended, which was to tear down unsafe buildings that had become public safety hazards to nearby residents.  

With help from the state program, the county tore down 75 dilapidated structures, officials said, removing some of the most dangerous properties while continuing to track the progress of others through a countywide system. 

County leaders hoped to expand their demolition efforts on their own this year, but those plans have been put on hold. 

The county had to take over operations of a local humane society after it faced closure and will need to fundraise, said John Breneman, president of the Fayette County Commission. 

Former Sen. Chandler Swope, R-Mercer, said that kind of budget pressure is exactly why he pushed for state involvement in demolition funding. 

Swope, who helped create the state fund for the demolition of dilapidated buildings in 2021, said the idea grew from what he saw in places where population loss left empty homes, which local governments had no way to tear down.

“They didn’t have any money to tear down the dilapidated properties, so I decided that that should be a state obligation because the state has more flexibility and more access to funding,” he said.

Swope said he’d always viewed the need as ongoing, even as state budgets shift from year to year.

“I visualized it as a permanent need. I didn’t think you would ever get to the point where it was done,” he said. “I felt like the success of the program would carry its own priority.”  

But four years later, that funding is gone, and lawmakers haven’t found a replacement. Other states, meanwhile, have created long-term funding for demolition and redevelopment.

Ohio, for example, operates a statewide program that provides counties with annual demolition funding. Funds are appropriated from the state budget by lawmakers. 

Staton said West Virginia’s lack of a plan leaves communities stuck.

“Abandoned buildings are in every community, and every legislator has constituents who are dealing with this,” she said. “They know it’s just a matter of finding the funding.”

And back on the West Side, the Glaspeys are left staring at boarded windows and an overgrown yard across the street. 

Matt said, “Sometimes you think, what’s the point of fixing up your own place if everything around you is collapsing?” 

Abandoned buildings are crumbling across West Virginia. A state program to clean them up is out of money. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. We will be taking the next edition off as we head into Christmas. Subscribe to stay in touch with us during the New Year.

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Compared to their urban and suburban counterparts, a greater share of the rural population lives in states with the most restrictive abortion legislation, according to my analysis of data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that focuses on reproductive rights. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, it became harder for women to access reproductive care, but the burden often disproportionately hurt rural women.

About 46% of nonmetropolitan, or rural, Americans live in states with either ‘most restrictive’ or ‘very restrictive’ abortion legislation, representing 21.3 million people. Approximately 35% of metro Americans live in these states, representing roughly 99.1 million people. 

State-level abortion legislation is complex; it’s rarely as simple as an outright ban or permit. Abortion policies can include stipulations like waiting periods, ultrasound requirements, gestational duration bans, insurance coverage bans, telehealth bans, and more. To deal with some of this complexity, the Guttmacher dataset groups states into one of seven categories that broadly captures the state’s access to abortion: 

• Most Restrictive
• Very Restrictive
• Restrictive
• Some restrictions/protections
• Protective
• Very Protective
• Most Protective

Click here for the interactive map.

Seventeen states make up the ‘Most Restrictive’ category, and 13 of those states have enacted full bans with few exceptions. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The rural population in those states equals about 15.8 million people. 

Rurality Exacerbates Access Challenges

In the Post-Roe landscape, pre-existing rural challenges are exacerbated by restrictive abortion legislation, a change that has led to increased maternal mortality, particularly for women of color. The new state of abortion in America means people often have to travel much further to get the care they need, often out of state.

An ABC special that featured women who had to travel for abortions highlighted the story of Idaho resident Jennifer Adkins, who was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her first baby. But a 12-week ultrasound showed that continuing her pregnancy would put her life in danger. With financial help from family and friends, Adkins had to travel to the nearest clinic in Oregon to receive the care she needed. 

My previous analysis of abortion data showed that rural travel to abortion clinics increased from 103 miles on average in 2021 to 159 miles on average after Roe v. Wade was overturned. But travel distance varies by state, with women in parts of rural South Texas having to travel up to almost 800 miles to receive care. 

In rural Louisiana, where all the bordering states have also issued abortion bans, the distance to a clinic has increased by almost 400 miles since Roe was overturned. The average rural Louisianan is about 492 miles away from the nearest abortion clinic. The data for that analysis came from the Myers Abortion Facility Database.

In 2024, approximately 12,000 Texans traveled to New Mexico to receive an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute data. Nearly 7,000 Texans traveled to Kansas, and another 4,000 traveled to Colorado. Texas enacted a near total ban on abortions in July of 2022.
In Idaho, which enacted an abortion ban in August of 2022, 440 people travel to Washington and 140 travel to Oregon for abortions in 2024. (Visit the Guttmacher’s interactive map of abortion travel by state to explore the topic in more detail.)

Abortion and Rural Voters: More Complex Than You Might Think

Every time I write something about how rural people suffer from GOP policies, I get comments and emails from readers saying some version of, “They voted for this.” I take issue with this response for many reasons. It’s unkind, and it erases the thousands of rural voters who don’t support these policies. While some people are going to say you get what you deserve, here’s another way to look at it.

In a previous analysis of voting data from the nine states that had abortion on a ballot measure in 2024, I found that support for Trump didn’t always line up with support for abortion restriction. In 2024, approximately 73% of rural voters supported Trump, but only 61% voted to restrict abortion access. 

While 61% is still a majority vote, the 12-point gap between support for Trump and support for abortion restriction demonstrates that abortion access is a complicated issue for many Americans across the geographic spectrum. This data shows a rural voting base that is willing to split with the broader Republican platform on key issues. 

“All voters are complex,” said Nicholas Jacobs, rural sociologist. “People voted for [Trump], even if they wanted more access to reproductive care or were disappointed that a national standard was lifted by the courts.” 

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The post The Stats on Abortion Access in Rural America appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

Braving an early, frigid morning, Peyton Levi and Kyra Wilson joined a cluster of citizens protesting outside the state Department of Environmental Protection headquarters.

The two Marshall University seniors joined the group of nearly 30, holding up signs opposing the data center complex proposed between the towns of Thomas and Davis. The project has garnered backlash from communities across West Virginia.  

“I’m tired of seeing West Virginia as an extraction state,” said Wilson, a creative writing major from Wayne County.

Inside the agency’s headquarters, a seven-member board was preparing to hear initial legal motions in a case brought by three citizen groups trying to block the Tucker County project. 

Here’s what West Virginians need to know. 

Why are the citizen groups appealing the permit? 

When it applied for a state air pollution permit for a natural gas plant to power its data center, Fundamental Data, LLC, asked the WVDEP to keep several lengthy sections of its application secret. 

Citizen groups objected, saying the information kept confidential included material they needed to determine how the company calculated the expected air emissions.

The WVDEP allowed the information to be kept confidential, and in August, approved the permit. The next month, Tucker United, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club appealed the agency’s decision to the West Virginia Air Quality Board, a quasi-judicial panel that hears such matters. 

The citizens are ultimately asking the panel to revoke the air permit. They list more than a dozen specific objections, most importantly challenging the DEP designating the project as a “minor” pollution source. The citizens contend that the power plant should be considered a larger air pollution emitter and be subject to more stringent regulations.

But the citizen groups are also seeking the release of the confidential information. The secrecy makes it “impossible for the public to review, check, verify, or understand these emissions calculations,” the groups stated in their appeal.

What happened at the first air board hearing?

While protesters stood outside the building during the November hearing, the Air Quality Board considered the citizen groups’ request for access to information WVDEP withheld from the permit application.

Fundamental Data has cited trade secrets as the reason for omitting sections of their application. And, according to the state agency, the company has met the state’s business confidentiality standard. 

“The agency is required by state law to evaluate those claims, and the WVDEP conducted a full legal and technical review before determining which materials met the criteria,” said DEP spokesperson Terry Fletcher. 

The agency also made sure that any information needed to determine emissions was publicly available through nonconfidential alternatives, Fletcher added.

The company, through the protective order, has agreed to share a portion of the redacted information with Mike Becher, the attorney representing the citizens, and Dr. Ranajit Sahu, their expert witness. But the redacted information will remain concealed from the public. 

While the citizens made progress in getting access to the hidden information, the board threw out two of the 17 issues raised by the citizen groups.  

The seven-member panel granted WVDEP’s request to dismiss the groups’ complaints that the agency didn’t consider air emissions from other sources like truck traffic and that the project is meant to power a data center complex.  

The board refused to throw out the groups’ challenge to the project’s “minor” pollution source designation out of hand. That issue, which the state agency raised in its motion, will be taken up during the next hearing. 

What’s next?

Starting on Dec. 3, the air board will hear testimony on the merits of the citizens’ appeal. 

The parties will call witnesses to testify on the matter. The WVDEP said they will make the engineers who were involved with drafting, reviewing and issuing the air permit available to testify. The citizen groups say they have an expert to review the calculations in the permit. The company’s attorney said that they don’t plan to call any witnesses but will cross examine witnesses. 

Why does this matter?

As developers propose — and political leaders back — large data center complexes in Tucker, Mason and Mingo counties, those communities have grown frustrated about the lack of transparency. 

And that frustration has also spread to other West Virginians.

“There’s just very little information out there. It’s almost like it’s a done deal before people even find out about it,” said Charleston resident Norma Heim, who joined the rally at the WVDEP building. “I feel like the people should have had and should still have a voice in this.”

So far, all the air permit applications submitted to the WVDEP for such projects have been heavily blacked out, hiding information from the public, and communities have struggled to get information to address their concerns. 

Earlier this year, Gov. Patrick Morrisey asked the Legislature to pass HB 2014 to encourage data center projects. That bill, which passed into law, also stripped away local communities’ ability to restrict noise, lighting, or land use from such projects. Now, this appeals process is one of the few avenues left to challenge these projects. 

Drew Galang, a spokesperson for Morrisey, called the legislation “transformative” allowing West Virginia to “attract the industries of tomorrow.” He also said that the bill is designed to benefit the entire state. The tax revenue will go toward infrastructure improvements, essential services, future economic development investments and lowering the income tax, Galang added. 

Despite not living in Tucker County, the prospect of a data center complex being built between Davis and Thomas is personal for Heim. Like generations of West Virginians, she grew up visiting the Canaan Valley and Blackwater Falls each year. 

“It’s part of our blood,” said Heim. “There’s so few places like West Virginia that are just special, that have the kind of resources and beauty. And I just feel like this is just taking us down a road we don’t want to go.” 

Citizen groups challenge secrecy and pollution concerns in Tucker County data center air permit decision appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Traci Hicks is the sole provider for her husband and four children, who range in ages from 6 to 15. 

Hicks, a gas station manager in Marion County, said she works 50 hours a week to get by, starting her days at 4:30 a.m. After work, she gets the kids from school, helps with homework and cooks dinner. 

With rising food prices and utilities, Hicks said her food stamps are key to staying afloat on a tight budget. 

“We’re just trying to figure out each day,” Hicks said. “We go paycheck to paycheck with our rent and our utilities. It’s not easy.” 

But the government shutdown threatens that lifeline for Hicks and about 270,000 other West Virginians who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps. 

Tens of thousands of West Virginians already face losing health care benefits because of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and its cuts to Medicaid and insurance subsidies. Democrats in Congress want to reverse those cuts, and refused to help pass a government funding bill without that language.

As a result, the federal government has been closed since Oct. 1. Now, that shutdown has food stamp money for struggling West Virginians drying up.

Over the weekend, the West Virginia Department of Human Services announced that the continued shutdown could delay payments in November for people who rely on food stamps for their meals. Any new recipient, who was approved on or after Oct. 16, will have their October payment delayed as well. 

West Virginian households with children on food stamps receive an average of $504 a month, but that varies depending on household size, income and other factors. 

Joyce Carr is a retail worker at a Dollar Tree in Kanawha County. Carr’s husband receives Social Security, and her two teenage daughters are not working. She is lucky to bring home $200 a week from her job. She doesn’t know what she’ll do if she misses a payment. 

“I honestly have no idea. I’m at a loss, because I was already barely making it as it was,” she said. 

When asked what the state could do to help out those who might be affected, Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s spokesman Drew Galang said the state can’t afford to foot the bill and directed people to food pantries and other community resources.

Cyndi Kirkhart, director of the Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington, said she’s never seen a situation like this. Her food bank serves 17 counties across West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. 

“I don’t recall that,” she said. “I think that would be burned into my memory, right? I think, though, what makes this even more significant is people were already struggling with high prices.” 

And that can cause a cascading effect. Those who rely on food stamps will have to look to food pantries. But food pantries are already struggling to keep their warehouses full because food costs have gone up. 

“Once we get into November, that is when a lot of potential pain for vulnerable, food insecure, hard working West Virginians comes into play,’ said Caitlin Cook, a director at the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway. 

And it’s not just people receiving food stamps who stand to get hurt.

Maura Seever works delivering people’s groceries, many of whom are disabled and rely on food stamps. If business dries up because nobody got their benefits, Seever said she will have to look for other work. 

Seever said she has sent emails to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s office, pleading with her to help end the shutdown. 

But so far, West Virginia’s federal delegation, all Republicans, haven’t shown any indication they are willing to negotiate or walk away from their party’s position to try to work out a deal to reopen. 

Last week, Capito did note that food stamps could come under strain due to the shutdown. While she invited Democrats to the negotiating table, she later stated that she will only support reopening the government if they back down.  

“Senate GOP are not going to let the government be held hostage and hijacked over an issue,” she wrote in a Tweet on Oct. 20. 

Sen. Jim Justice only offered general comments at the beginning of the shutdown, casting blame on the Democrats for it. He has since used his social media to promote Bridge Day, congratulate some nominees from West Virginia and celebrate the birthday of his English Bulldog, Baby Dog. 

Reps. Carol Miller and Riley Moore have both called for an end to the shutdown. Moore has appeared on social and news media stating that Republicans will make no concessions to reopen the government. 

But as Hicks, the gas station manager, observed, the politicians aren’t the ones who stand to lose the most. 

“We don’t all make beaucoup amounts of money like they do, and we’re all over here struggling,” she said. 

Mountain State Spotlight asked the members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation what efforts they were making to find a solution in order to prevent thousands of West Virginians from missing their payments, but no one responded. 

For people like Audra Brooks, a 57-year-old legally blind woman living in Raleigh County, the options for going without her food stamps are limited. 

“My daughter and I talked about it,” she said. “It’s either I let my power bill go or pay only half of it and buy groceries, or my daughter buys my groceries for me.”

Already contending with health care cuts, struggling West Virginians now face food stamp delays   appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey gripped the microphone and hyped up a crowd of parents and children in front of a concession stand at the West Virginia State Fair in August. 

“Who’s ready to walk a Mountaineer Mile?” 

The crowd cheered. In the shadow of the tall Ferris wheel and a flailing inflatable man, Morrisey asked the children if they were ready to hop on some rides. He asked the adults if anyone was going to the .38 Special and Kansas concert. 

But for a moment, he got serious. 

“We’ve been doing this Mountaineer Mile. It’s really kind of cool, to be able to walk at least a mile a day, to get into shape and to maybe even stick around a little longer,” Morrisey said. 

The Mountaineer Mile is part of a health initiative the Governor announced in March, during an event in Martinsburg with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“The first time I met him, I said, ‘Governor Morrisey, you look like you ate Governor Morrisey,’” Kennedy said to a crowd of supporters. 

Later that day, Morrisey posted to social media a photograph of the sunset in the Shenandoah Valley from his home in Jefferson County. The governor said his first Mountaineer Mile was already in the books. 

“In my life, I haven’t always made the right decisions in terms of food and exercise, but I am going to do my best now to improve and shed some pounds,” Morrisey wrote in the post. 

The idea is simple. The governor challenged all West Virginians, including himself, to walk one mile a day. That’s 5,280 feet, or 2,000 steps, depending on one’s stride. 

And it’s happening in a state that leads the nation in obesity, which contributes to the state’s high mortality rates resulting from diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer. The state has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country. 

To be sure, diet, economics, lack of recreational facilities and other factors play into why the state struggles with weight. The governor has never said walking a mile a day would fix all that. 

During a television interview the week after the Martinsburg event, Morrisey did something few politicians do: He opened up a bit about his struggles with weight. Morrisey said he was athletic in his youth, taking up tennis, running and wrestling. But long hours in the office over the years caused him to pack on the pounds. 

“I’m far from perfect, but I think a lot of people can see, if I can do it in the position I’m in, a lot of people can do it,” Morrisey said. 

And do it they have. 

Over the last six months, universities, colleges, hospitals, state agencies and private businesses have all announced their own initiatives, holding events for employees and the public alike to walk a mile. 

All the state parks with hiking trails have at least one designated as a “Mountaineer Mile Trail.” Morrisey even led a walk at West Virginia University before the Mountaineers faced Pitt at their annual Backyard Brawl. 

And around the capital city, Morrisey can be spotted walking along the Kanawha River with his wife, Denise, and a couple of state troopers in tow. 

Morrisey said he’s encouraged to see the support. 

“Folks are proud to show off their daily walks and share their progress online, and that’s exactly what we hoped for — to see people moving, connecting and building healthier habits together,” he said. 

Dr. Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean for Health Sciences at WVU, pointed out that getting healthy is easier as a community. 

“And ultimately, I think that part of the solution for the social network is to make sure that we’re not criticizing people for how they look,” he said.

But it hasn’t all been a walk in the park. 

Last month, Morrisey shared on social media that he shed 7 pounds walking the Mountaineer Mile. The announcement was met with a mixture of cheers and jeers, ranging from soft advice about the importance of dieting to outright attacks upon his weight. 

Most prominent was Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, the minority whip. Fluharty, known for his bombastic speeches on the House floor, wrote, “Congrats to our Governor for dropping 7 lbs in 6 months. What a streak. At this rate he may not have to wear a t-shirt on the Jersey Shore.” 

Fluharty could not be reached for comment. 

Morrisey said he isn’t paying the critics much mind. 

“There will always be naysayers and folks who want to tear you down instead of build you up,” he said. “It’s best not to pay those people any attention and stay focused on the goal. This initiative isn’t about politics — it’s about encouraging West Virginians to get healthy in a positive way.” 

Erin Beck contributed reporting to this story.

In the most overweight state in the nation, Gov. Morrisey is taking the issue personally with his Mountaineer Mile appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.