While West Virginia’s Republican representatives in Congress won the last election by huge margins, their own constituents are continually asking them to have public town hall meetings. 

The representatives and senators are dodging those sorts of public events. They reply to phone calls and emails with canned responses — or no responses at all.

Now, in the last three weeks, Sen. Jim Justice has called off as many appearances in the state. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. Carol Miller have not announced any town hall events. Rep. Riley Moore touted what he called a town hall, but was really a teleconference sponsored by a conservative special interest group. 

Moore posted this week on the social platform X that he participated in a “tele town hall” about the Big Beautiful Bill on Aug. 19, hosted by the West Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity. 

But unless you had one of the 150,000 phone numbers the conservative political advocacy group, founded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, said they dialed that evening, you wouldn’t have been able to participate. 

Karina Meilkeljohn, a participant in the town hall from Berkeley County, said she received a call at 5 p.m. and missed it. Twenty minutes later, she answered a second call, and an automated message said a town hall was in progress with the representative.

Jason Huffman, executive director of the AFP-WV, confirmed they did not publicly announce the event. He said the phone calls were enough promotion. 

He said the numbers they called came from a list of registered voters, and the calls were made using a third-party telemarketer outfit. 

While Huffman acted as a moderator on the call, people listening in could sign up to ask their own questions directly to Moore. Huffman said the calls were screened primarily to make sure people stayed on topic about the impacts of the highly controversial spending package. 

“I thought it was a fairly well-rounded discussion,” he said, noting West Virginians were, on the whole, happy with the permanent tax cuts in the recent spending bill. 

Meiklejohn said she had participated in similar town halls in the past when Republican Alex Mooney represented the district.  

“I was honestly surprised that there was more pushback in the questions than I had heard on Mooney’s town halls,” she said. “In general it seemed the mood was concerned, but still positive toward Moore. No one was hostile.” 

Meiklejohn recalled that one man, a veteran, was outspoken about healthcare costs under TRICARE, the insurance used by veterans and those in the military. 

The next day Moore’s post on X, thanked the participants. 

Moore’s office didn’t answer questions about why he hasn’t held an in-person town hall or participated in one that isn’t backed by a special interest group. 

Capito, who is seeking reelection next year, also has not held any town hall meetings. She was in Charleston this week and posed for photos with Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano. As she walked into the federal building, Capito would not answer questions. Bisignano also would not answer questions.

Meanwhile, Justice has scheduled three events in recent weeks and canceled each one the day before. 

On Aug. 6, Justice, a sometimes farmer, was scheduled to give remarks at the Capitol Market in Charleston, but canceled. On Aug. 18, he nixed a tour of a mine with the West Virginia Coal Association. Then, the 74-year-old senator scuttled an appearance at the Upshur County Senior Center on Aug. 21. 

But William O’Grady, a spokesman for Justice, noted the junior senator was at the state fair. 

A picture on Facebook shows him grinning with state treasurer Larry Pack while sitting in a golf cart next to Baby Dog. 

The next day, he appeared in Lexington, Kentucky, to speak at a dinner held by the commonwealth’s Republican Party. 

O’Grady said the Senator’s schedule is busy and cancellations are pretty typical. 

“We unfortunately get overbooked at times.”

Erin Beck contributed reporting to this story.

Screened town halls and overbooked senators: Public appearances still sparse for West Virginia’s Congressional reps appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

On the Ohio River in Wood County, officials are clearing hurdles to prepare sites for new businesses. 

Two locations, 70 acres of farmland and a sprawling industrial park, are set to become suitable for development, thanks to the first $150,000 grant from a new state program designed to make “shovel-ready” sites attractive for businesses.

But these projects are the exception. 

Across the state, properties lack the infrastructure needed to attract new employers. Old industrial sites sometimes need extensive cleanup, while others lack sewer, water or broadband. 

Neighboring states from Ohio to North Carolina already maintain catalogs of dozens of ready-to-build properties. Both Kentucky and Virginia list more than 30 certified industrial sites. But West Virginia has none, and a three-year-old program to change that has barely gotten underway.

Currently, nearly 600 buildings and empty properties are listed on the state’s economic development website. But none fit the bill for what the state considers investment-ready.  

“We’re hoping that with this funding, we will get the first two stamps of approval,” said Lindsey Piersol, director of the Wood County Economic Development office. 

Without this program, West Virginia economic development leaders say companies could turn to neighboring states with shovel-ready properties, taking their investments with them. 

“We’re basically doing a company’s due diligence and their homework for them,” Piersol said. “It’s the most important aspect of economic development.” 

The cost of not being ready for new businesses

In 2018, West Virginia lost a $1.6 billion Toyota and Mazda car manufacturing facility to Alabama in part because the state did not have an inventory of shovel-ready properties. 

Woody Thrasher, former state secretary of commerce, said the deal also fell through because officials needed to perform environmental studies at two proposed sites that would have taken at least nine months to complete.

“We scrambled like crazy to find a singular site, but Alabama offered them nine different ones,” he said. “It just shone a light on the fact that we really weren’t ready to move quickly,” he said.

Alabama has poured $30 million into its site evaluation grant program since its creation last year and currently has 29 certified sites available for businesses.

Dave Lieving, president of the Huntington Area Development Council, said states without a catalog of development-ready sites can miss out on jobs and investment. 

He said companies want a strong labor workforce, a favorable business climate and enough flat land to grow. 

“Companies don’t want to wait around years and years for you to clean up your property before you want to get all your ducks in a row,” Lieving said.

Ruthana Beezley has spent the past four years trying to bring jobs and businesses to the Greenbrier Valley. 

As the head of the region’s economic development agency, she says the lack of adequately prepared business sites makes it tough.

“We’re prioritizing the folks that have already invested here,” she said. “It’s easier to grow somebody who’s already here than to attract somebody.”

A slow start in West Virginia 

The Legislature tried to address the problem in 2022, when Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, sponsored a bill creating a program to improve the readiness of industrial sites. Riley works for Thrasher Group, the largest consulting and engineering firm in the state. 

The state’s Economic Development Department administers the program and includes a grant program to provide developers up to $75,000 per site to make them ready for new businesses.

Other states have invested in these programs, pouring millions of dollars into site readiness. In 2024, Virginia lawmakers poured $126 million in development grants for sites, while $35 million was handed out in Kentucky.

Riley said lawmakers put $5 million into the fund in 2022, but Morrisey’s announcement in Wood County in 2025 marked the first allocation. 

In the years that followed the initial allocation, the state hired consultants to evaluate more than 100 potential sites for development. That list was eventually narrowed to just 10 viable locations.

“It’s been something that the economic development world has talked about for a number of years,” he said. “I think it was definitely a step in the right direction.” 

Steve Roberts, long-time president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said business leaders have been warning the state for decades that it is falling behind. 

“States that surround us are far ahead in having reasonable, well thought through and well funded efforts to keep and attract jobs,” he said, “This is simply a matter of priorities.” 

West Virginia lags behind its neighbors in sites for new businesses. The state is moving on a plan to change that. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

In north-central West Virginia, a few miles of country road takes you from a high-energy college town to quiet country life. 

Last week, Mountain State Spotlight and the League of Women Voters of West Virginia hosted four community listening sessions in Monongalia and Preston counties. 

The pace of life might be different for residents in Morgantown and Kingwood, but many of their conversations sounded remarkably similar. Residents spoke candidly about the struggles they face and the things they value. 

“We take care of other people,” said Morgantown resident Kris Potter, who has lived in the area for over 50 years.

But both counties face some of the same issues: a shortage of affordable homes, gaps in internet service, job loss and frustration over rising health care costs.

Here is what people in both counties told us.

Broadband is not ‘equitable’

For years, residents across West Virginia have complained about slow internet speeds and unreliable providers. Some have even turned to nontraditional providers like Starlink while waiting for the state to complete a $1.2 billion broadband buildout.

Kenny Kidd runs the Arthurdale Heritage Center, where old portraits of Eleanor Roosevelt dancing with residents dotted the walls. It was once home to dozens of families who lived and worked together during the early 1930s. 

Kidd said the strongest internet infrastructure runs along Interstate Highway 68 in northern Preston County. He noted that internet access is slowly expanding. 

“But the further south you move, there are noticeable gaps,” he said.

In Preston County, 30% of households and businesses are either underserved by or don’t have access to high-speed broadband. Meanwhile, next door, in Monongalia County, only 6% of residents are underserved or don’t have access to fast internet. 

Judy Ball serves as president of the League of Women Voters in Morgantown and Monongalia County. She said there are still parts of the county without internet access, while her own neighborhood now has two different providers. 

“And that really annoys me because it’s not equitable,” she said. 

The Interstate and university are a lifeline

Across both counties, I-68 brings thousands of visitors from Maryland and surrounding states, and industry hubs and businesses have set up shop along the route. 

But residents in Preston County say communities south of the interstate, like Kingwood, Arthurdale and Terra Alta, accessible only by two-lane roads, have been left out of major investments and economic development. 

Susan Teeple lives in Bruceton Mills right along the highway. 

She said it’s a small but mighty community trying hard to bring more jobs and new businesses to the area, but she still drives nearly 30 minutes back to Morgantown to shop. 

In Preston County, the largest employers include county school districts, the federal prison system in Hazelton and the Mon Health system. In Monongalia County, West Virginia University plays a major role in local development, employing about 7,600 people. 

But recent budget cuts have caused the university to lay off faculty and downsize departments. 

Barbara Fleischauer, a former state delegate, said a close friend of hers recently lost a job at the university during what she termed “this ridiculous so-called ‘transformation.’” 

She said the university’s declining enrollment could hurt the city’s economy, particularly in the downtown area where shops rely on business from students. 

Sarah Cranstoun has lived in Morgantown for almost a decade. 

She said the recent staff cuts at WVU have been demoralizing for many who moved to the city to work at the university and have been widespread across the county. 

“I have cried in Kroger with friends after they lost jobs,” she said.

Decreased investment in public education 

Statewide funding for public schools has decreased, and many students lack access to school resources. More than two dozen schools are projected to close or consolidate because of a lack of state funding. 

And next year, it’s projected to cost taxpayers $315 million to fund the state’s Hope Scholarship, which subsidizes costs for families to enroll students in private schools or homeschooling programs. 

In Preston County, school tax levies have repeatedly failed to pass to increase funding for public schools. 

Residents with children enrolled in the state’s public school system said local schools weren’t preparing them for the real world. 

“Our school systems do not make them (students) successful,” Morgantown resident Sarah Barnes said. “When they leave, they’re going to have to make up the difference.” 

Lack of investment in public education upsets some residents. 

“Educated people leave,” Bruceton Mills resident John Fillingham said. “Poor education and poverty contribute to poor health.”

Urban vs. rural health care 

Many Morgantown residents rely on WVU’s health care system. 

Lori Claypole said that she recognizes that access to dependable health care becomes harder when traveling out of the city. 

“We’re really lucky,” she said. “We’ve got more places for care here than most people, and most places only have one little hospital.”  

But Melissa Sidebottom, who lives in Terra Alta, expressed frustration with the local health care system. Her son has a serious illness that has taken time to diagnose. 

West Virginia hospitals are not home to a wide array of specialists, so Sidebottom has to travel out of state to Pittsburgh to access the care her son needs. He has been waiting months to get an appointment for specialized care in the state.  

And across the state, there is a shortage of nurses, doctors and physicians in clinics and hospitals due to low wages. There is a gap between rural and urban health care, and looming Medicare cuts will make it harder for residents to access necessary care. 

Nancy Morgan of Reedsburg is an addiction counselor. She said her community still sees substance use as a widespread problem. 

“They say it’s getting better, but it’s really not,” she said. 

Housing costs have increased 

Statewide home values are estimated to rise around 6% annually over the next two years. This creates a shortage of starter homes for new families, contributing to a decreasing younger population. 

“When people say they can’t find a house here, they’re not talking about being picky,” said Morgantown resident Debra Grant. “They’re saying there’s literally nothing available in their price range.” 

West Virginia does not require a statewide short-term rental licence, leading to a rising popularity of Airbnb, Vrbo and other rental platforms. And short-term rental platforms can make it harder for residents to afford homes. 

The state’s minimum wage is currently $8.75, and the median price of a home in 2025 is a little less than $250k, making it difficult to afford. 

“Lack of affordable housing is not a new problem,” resident Mary Bolt said. 

Catherine Grimm asked, “How are young people going to live?”

Mary Kay McFarland and Tyler Dedrick contributed reporting.

From Morgantown to Kingwood, residents want more housing, health care and internet appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a nationwide crackdown on doctors, nurses and other medical professionals it alleged had attempted to defraud government health programs out of $14.6 billion.

Companies sent false billing claims to Medicaid. They took bribes to diagnose and treat conditions that didn’t exist. An addiction treatment provider targeted Native Americans and people who were homeless, billed Medicaid and then never treated them.

This is what Medicaid fraud looks like.

The vast majority of it is committed by providers like hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies, who receive unearned taxpayer funds through tactics like falsifying records and taking payments for people they never saw, according to public records and former Medicaid officials.

But when explaining their votes for President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” government spending bill, and its massive Medicaid cuts, West Virginia politicians said they were just trying to keep patients from taking advantage of the program.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she didn’t want to cut “anybody’s benefit.” 

“But I am interested in making sure that we get rid of the fraud, that we make sure that we have a work requirement, that we make sure we have accountability, and those are money savings in Medicaid,” she said.

Andy Schneider, research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and former senior advisor at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said that politicians were using terms like “fraud” loosely.

“Regrettably, there is fraud against Medicaid,” Schneider wrote, in a statement Friday. “Most of it is committed by providers, with beneficiaries as the victims.”

Schneider said there are a few provisions of the bill that could address extremely rare cases of beneficiary fraud, including more frequent checks for deceased beneficiaries and address records.

But he noted the four provisions of the bill focused on waste, fraud and abuse save an estimated $25 billion over ten years, only about 2.5% of the nearly $1 trillion the bill cuts from Medicaid during that time. 

“If you’re using waste, fraud and abuse in the way those terms are normally used, not political rhetoric, very few of the savings for the federal government in this legislation are coming from waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.

And now, health analysts estimate Medicaid cuts will cost more than 10 million people their health care.

Jeremiah Samples, a former state health official who helped oversee Medicaid in West Virginia, said patient fraud is uncommon.

Examples of patient Medicaid fraud include using someone else’s medical card or reporting inaccurate income.

“It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” he said. “Even if you find the needle, it’s not going to be much money. They focus on what they are able to find and what’s more valuable.”

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., posted on X that he wanted to eliminate Medicaid fraud.

He acknowledged West Virginia’s reliance on Medicaid in a linked Fox Business interview. 

In the older and more low-income state, more than 500,000 West Virginians — nearly one in three people — rely on Medicaid for care like hospital and nursing home stays, heart medications and cancer screenings. 

“We don’t have illegals,” the Republican and former governor said. “We don’t have all the abuse and everything, and to absolutely clean it up and make it right for those that are deserving, should we not be doing that? 

Under the new law, tens of thousands of his constituents could lose coverage.

Along with Justice and Capito, Rep. Riley Moore and Rep. Carol Miller, also Republicans, voted for the legislation, part of a broader spending bill that also extends tax cuts passed in 2017 and adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit. 

Moore said he didn’t want to cut people from the program who needed it but supported provisions to bar states from covering undocumented migrants and eliminate fraud. 

In a statement, Miller’s spokesperson said:

“Congresswoman Miller believes this bill is an excellent first step and will continue to monitor if there are even more places to crack down on fraudsters, be that companies, individuals, or governments.”

The offices of Capito, Justice and Moore didn’t respond to questions about why they focused on patients when health care companies are stealing tens of millions. 

In its news release about the crackdown last month, the Department of Justice reported it was seizing $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles and cryptocurrency.

Laura Jones, who runs Milan Puskar Health Right, a Morgantown free clinic that also accepts Medicaid, said she doesn’t see any patient fraud. 

“If Medicaid is something that an individual uses only if they’re sick, how could you possibly commit fraud?” she said. “If you were making tons of money, you’d have insurance.”

“It isn’t money-making for the patient. They only get what they need.”

Politicians say they’re fighting Medicaid fraud. Their plan punishes patients, not the providers who steal millions. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Nearly a year ago, news outlets began reporting hopeful news: Overdose deaths across the country and in West Virginia were experiencing a sharp decline.

“That’s really good, and we should celebrate that,” then-Gov. Jim Justice said in September 2024. “But at the same time we’re still losing people, aren’t we?”

Now, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated a drop of about 42% in overdose deaths during the most recently reported 12-month period in the state.

In the 12 months ending February 2025, 766 West Virginians died from drug overdoses, according to the CDC estimate. That’s compared to 1,331 during the 12 months that ended in February 2024.

The deaths in 2024 are more than four times the number of West Virginians who died from overdoses two decades ago.

But Congress, with the support of West Virginia’s entire delegation, passed legislation earlier this month that puts at risk key drug treatment and recovery  programs that helped lead to the decline.

Bringing overdoses down from a record high 

West Virginia officials like Dr. Stephen Loyd, head of the Office of Drug Control Policy, have credited the decrease to initiatives including widely distributing naloxone, expanding treatment and starting drug courts. 

Health workers and people in recovery have formed grassroots coalitions. The state drew down federal grant funding and got special government permission in 2018 to use Medicaid for naloxone and peer recovery mentors. People in recovery started working as mentors and opened sober living homes.

“I think the biggest differentiator is the sense of community in the state, because it’s special,” Loyd said. 

But the decline doesn’t mean the end of the overdose epidemic. Part of the decrease is attributable to the state coming down from a record high of more than 1,500 in 2021. Twenty years ago, in 2005, the state recorded 184 overdose deaths, according to CDC data.

During the pandemic, the state received federal COVID relief funds that helped fund addiction programs. That funding is ending.

Now that President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is about to make massive cuts to Medicaid over several years, the hard-fought progress made could stall or reverse.

More deaths predicted as Congress cuts funding to services

Health analysts and advocates say that the spending bill threatens the survival of some health care providers, and some may have to close or cut services like addiction treatment.

People who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, a federal and state government insurance program for low-income or disabled people.

The cuts will lead to about 1,000 more overdoses across the country each year, according to a memo to leaders in Congress by researchers from Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania. 

And that’s only based on the number of people who’ll lose access to medication for addiction cravings, not other kinds of treatment.

A professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, Dr. Sylvia Martins, who researches addiction policy, predicts deaths will occur because the legislation cuts treatment programs funded by Medicaid and defunds federal grants that pay for medication like naloxone.

Martins expects to see stable rates then an increase in overdose deaths over the next two years.

“West Virginia is one of the states that has made the best progress in changing the tide of the opioid epidemic,” she said. “So we don’t want that to plateau or be reverted.”

West Virginia’s representatives in Congress, Sen. Jim Justice, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Rep. Riley Moore and Rep. Carol Miller, all voted for the spending bill, which aims to make permanent the tax cuts Trump pushed for during his last term.

Where we go from here

In Princeton, the county seat of Mercer County, Gov. Patrick Morrisey held an event earlier this month to celebrate the latest overdose numbers.

“We are beginning to make progress,” the governor said. “But we can’t rest on our laurels.”

Morrisey noted widespread concerns about the Trump spending bill’s impacts on Medicaid, but said a rural health care fund in the legislation will help West Virginia continue progress on the drug problem.

The governor also said that opioid settlement funding, which his office helped secure when he was attorney general, can also help some organizations fighting the overdose crisis.

Candace Nelson, chief clinical officer of community programs for Southern Highlands Community Health Center, and other community members attended the governor’s event. 

The crisis intervention team Nelson coordinates, which connects people who’ve survived overdoses in Mercer, Wyoming and McDowell counties to treatment, benefits from the opioid settlement funding.

Each year, her office holds its own celebratory events to honor people lost to overdoses.

Kids have written their parents’ names or drawn pictures and hung them on windchimes. Their grandparents often bring them.

Nelson said, “The part that I’m trying to wrap my head around right now is we’re talking about the success of the services that we’ve been providing, so it only makes sense to me that we continue to support those programs.”

People struggling with addiction or other mental health issues can call or text HELP4WV at 1-844-HELP4WV or 1-844-435-7498 or chat online.

Overdose deaths are finally down. But the crisis is far from over as Congress jeopardizes life-saving work. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

In October, Judge Tim Sweeney ordered state workers to send a severely traumatized child to out-of-state mental health treatment.

Four months later the child, one of more than 6,000 in custody of the state, still wasn’t receiving that care. 

In a February hearing, overworked CPS workers told him that the worker responsible for the child had 100 families assigned to her. It should be no more than ten.

“Am I part of the solution or part of the problem?” Sweeney asked aloud.

The judge ordered state health officials to report to the Ritchie County Courthouse weeks later to start working on the ground as CPS workers. He said he hoped media attention would get state officials to address the problems. 

Most of the inner workings of West Virginia’s child welfare system happen behind closed doors for the privacy of the children. This time, Sweeney gave interviews, alerting reporters to his order and speaking about the understaffing.

Also in February, in Kanawha County, Judge Maryclaire Akers learned in court of a 12-year-old boy who tried to kill himself at a hotel where the state had placed them. She ordered state health officials to her courtroom, appointed a monitor for the department and spoke about the case on statewide talk radio.

Shortly after, the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission, which privately hears and makes decisions about whether a judge’s conduct was ethical, began investigating both judges.

In both cases, the commission found they’d violated the judicial code of conduct and warned them not to make similar comments in the future.

The commission stopped short of filing formal charges against the two judges. 

“As the old saying goes, ‘a good deed is never lost,’” the commission wrote in the admonishment. “Moreover, ‘every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark’ as was done in this case.”

Nonetheless, Sweeney “used his flashlight in the wrong manner to achieve the right result.”

But because the commission’s decisions are available publicly, the judges’ names and news they’d been warned made headlines.

The commission took issue with Akers telling reporters that, since her work as a juvenile prosecutor, she’s learned that kids in state custody often wind up in juvenile or adult court. 

It also took issue with Sweeney telling MetroNews that the hearing in his court made it clear there was severe understaffing in his area, inhibiting the state’s ability to protect vulnerable children.

The commissioners wrote that the understaffing comments from workers were confidential.

West Virginia’s CPS staffing shortage is widely known. Mountain State Spotlight reported in January on the extremely shorthanded office in Sweeney’s area.

Kids in the state’s care are going without the much-needed mental health treatment they need to grow up healthier and happier.

Meanwhile, an understaffed and overworked CPS workforce is still struggling to respond to allegations of kids in unsafe situations. 

In his interview with investigators, Sweeney said he’d felt a duty “to move heaven and earth to get these things done.”

The commission also admonished him for Facebook posts it said could be perceived as promoting prosecution of people pre-trial.

Last week, both Sweeney and Akers filed objections, sending the cases to another panel for hearings. That panel will make a recommendation to the state Supreme Court of Appeals. 

Both judges argued they did not violate the code of conduct and acted lawfully. They also wrote of their responsibility to prioritize the safety of children. 

In his objection, Sweeney’s lawyer, J.H. Mahaney, said an extraordinary crisis, when kids suffer violence, medical distress and die by suicide, requires extraordinary action. Not “empty promises.”

“He should not be punished for satisfying his professional, ethical and moral duty to care for those children, especially when nobody else will,” Mahaney wrote.

The commission had said judges need to encourage public confidence in judicial work. A news release from her lawyer Thomas Ryan stated that Akers  will prove her work deserves that confidence.

“Judge Akers is also hopeful that the public does not lose sight of the more important underlying societal issue: the health, safety and well-being of West Virginia’s most vulnerable children.”

Judges warned CPS was failing kids. West Virginia ethics officials want to silence them. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, is leading the effort to make budget cuts, initiated by the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, legal. 

Moore, a freshman Congressman who represents the northern half of the state, was tapped to lead the new work group billed as the “tip of the spear” for getting the cuts approved by Congress. 

Last week, Moore helped usher through a bill that cut $9.4 billion from foreign aid and public broadcasting. It is now pending in the U.S. Senate. 

“The American people know waste, fraud, and abuse when they see it – and as the leader of the Republican Study Committee’s Task Force on Rescissions, I’ll continue to work to expose it,” Moore wrote in a statement following the vote. 

Just days into his second-term, Trump deputized his billionaire backer Elon Musk to purge the federal government of “waste, fraud and abuse.” 

Under DOGE, which does not have the authority of an official government agency, Musk and his team gutted programs and offices around the country. In West Virginia, jobs were cut at the National Park Service, the Bureau of Fiscal Services in Parkersburg and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. 

The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy estimates the state has lost at least 300 federal jobs and $220 million in federal dollars due to DOGE. 

Among the cuts affecting West Virginians are EPA environmental programs, grants to fund suicide prevention and Americorps, which supplies labor for myriad non-profits.

The cuts, both here and nationally, were met with widespread protests and numerous court challenges. Challengers to the cuts argued under a 1974 law that the President can’t unilaterally stop spending money Congress already budgeted. Judges, for the most part, have agreed. 

A rescission, also known as a clawback, is when Congress takes back money it previously budgeted. The system was established in the same 1974 law that said the President can’t stop spending money on a whim. Since 1974, about $500 billion has been taken back by lawmakers. 

Under the law, Congress and the President can both petition to have federal funds taken back. 

Moore has appeared to take his new job seriously. His Twitter feed has been flooded with calls to support the initial round of cuts. When he was asked whether he’d support cuts West Virginians are already feeling, his office did not respond. 

But in a statement released last week, Moore wrote, “This is only the first step – more cuts are coming.” 

DOGE cuts would hurt West Virginians. Riley Moore is working to make them permanent. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Flanked by state lawmakers in an auditorium last month, Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a law to stamp out what he called “that woke virus that’s invaded West Virginia.”

Since day one, the governor has purged state government of policies promoting fair and full participation of all people — particularly those historically excluded. He has demonized diversity, equity and inclusion practices as “DEI.”

At West Virginia’s other universities, officials quickly closed diversity offices, changed job titles and removed statements from websites.

“DEI is dead in the Mountain State,” Morrisey said. The crowd applauded. 

But months earlier, both of the state’s historical Black universities said they would not change. No offices closed. No job titles altered. No statements removed. 

Both were founded when the state’s universities did not allow Black students.

West Virginia State University serves a diverse student body, wrote the university’s general counsel, and “remains committed to its historical mission of academic excellence, equity, and opportunity.” 

Bluefield State University — the state’s other historically Black university — also told the governor that it has never had a “DEI” office that could be eliminated. 

Black universities never needed DEI

The Morrill Land Grant Act, passed during the Civil War, allowed states to pay for the creation of universities. But in many states, particularly former Confederate states, officials barred Black students from the nation’s fledgling higher education system.

Nearly thirty years later, Congress came back and ordered West Virginia and others to either open their universities to Black students or create separate colleges. 

At this time, West Virginia State and Bluefield State were founded and would be the only place where Black West Virginians could get an education for decades. 

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawed school segregation across the country. Since then, “Bluefield State continued its commitment to the higher education of first-generation, low-income and marginalized individuals and attracted students and employees, regardless of race or other classification,” General Counsel Brent Benjamin wrote in a letter.  

The university has never had diversity training, policies or a dedicated office like the ones Morrisey banned, he wrote.

“Bluefield State follows the principles of equal opportunity and merit,” the lawyer wrote.

Spokesperson Drew Galang said the governor expects all universities to comply with his executive order. Galang did not identify any concerns with the current programs at West Virginia State and Bluefield State, and said Morrisey  “recognizes the historical mission” of the Black universities.

Historically Black universities like West Virginia State and Bluefield State have a long history of serving Black students because of discrimination at other universities, said Marybeth Gasman, an education professor at Rutgers University. But they also serve white students, Latino students, Asian students and international students.

Today, university leaders argue that they have not participated in diversity, equity and inclusion practices. But many support the underlying principle that everyone should have equal access to education, she said.

“They’re walking sort of a fine line here,” she said. 

Both West Virginia universities are now majority-white, with minority students making up less than a quarter of the student body at each university. Students are mostly from in-state. More than half of the freshman class at each qualified for federal low-income student aid in 2024. 

“When it comes to diversity and inclusiveness, that’s really baked into who we are as an institution as part of our DNA,” Ericke Cage, president of West Virginia State University, told Inside Higher Ed earlier this year. 

“At our very core, we are all about being a highly inclusive institution where any student, regardless of their background, can come and get a good-quality education.”

Historically white institutions change to comply

Black universities were founded to include more people in higher education, said Felecia Commodore, an education professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They’ve never been exclusionary, so they haven’t really needed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“Historically white institutions have had to engage in diversity, equity and  inclusion reform to remedy the discriminatory practices they had at their foundation,” she said.

The governor asked state lawmakers to codify his ban on diversity initiatives into law. In mid-April, they passed a ban on universities having diversity officers, hiring preferences based on diversity or requiring diversity training.

The bill exempts academic courses, research and student organizations. Engineering opportunities for women, single-sex sports or bathrooms and efforts to prevent sexual harassment are also among the exemptions.

To comply, the state’s flagship West Virginia University closed its Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — which the governor called “a big win.”

At WVU and other universities across the state, administrators have changed titles, removed statements from websites and ended diversity training.

At Marshall, the Women’s and Gender Center is now the Women’s Center. The Division of Intercultural and Student Affairs is now the Division of Student Affairs. 

At the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, officials removed “multicultural” and “equal opportunity” from jobs titles, struck a diversity statement from its website and discontinued a committee whose work the school had promoted just years earlier.

Diversity bans at the state and federal level have often been vaguely wrapped in rhetoric about preventing racial discrimination, said Commodore. Universities have hastily interpreted these laws. 

“We have this blanket term that has no definition,” she said. “Which leaves a lot of leeway for it to be interpreted however folks want.”

Morrisey targeted DEI at colleges. West Virginia’s historically black universities said they won’t change. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Jim Martin was fed up. 

Inside a hearing room, the CEO of Bridgeport-based internet provider CityNet pointed a finger at lawyers for the state’s public utilities.

“They’ve held a gun to our heads,” he said, raising his voice. “If they were policing their poles, there would be no extra costs for us.” 

Throughout the hours-long hearing at the West Virginia Public Service Commission last week, other internet providers described mounting project delays, unpredictable costs and frustrations with utility companies. 

At the center of it all: how to get internet to every West Virginian when the state receives a once-in-a-lifetime $1.2 billion investment in the coming years.

American Electric Power and FirstEnergy own the physical poles that internet companies need to attach cables to. 

But many are decades old, in poor condition or too short for internet lines and must be replaced. The utilities have said they inspect poles about once a decade and have resisted efforts to require more information about their poles. 

When the hearing began, lawyers for utility companies and internet providers exchanged tense glances.

PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane surveyed the sea of broadband experts and adjusted her microphone. 

“I am just appalled that we are here today, still fighting over this issue,” she said. 

A fight over poles and priorities

West Virginia is on the brink of a plan to bring high-speed internet to every home and business. But on the ground, progress is being slowed by a bitter fight over who should pay for the upgrades to utility poles. 

FirstEnergy and American Electric Power, which both own utility poles across the state, argue that if an internet company wants to use their poles and they need to be replaced, they should foot the bill. 

Internet companies say they’re being hit with unnecessary extra costs to fix errors from the past, arguing it’s the responsibility of the utility companies to ensure their poles are up to safety codes and in good condition.

To connect residents, technicians must install fiber-optic cables that carry higher internet speeds onto poles owned by the power companies. Together, AEP and FirstEnergy own over a million poles. 

But these poles were originally built to carry electricity, not modern broadband. 

Most utility poles are wooden and can last between 30 and 40 years if properly treated and maintained. Wood decay, bug infestations or weather can damage poles, which then require replacements. 

If a pole doesn’t have the height or space for fiber lines, broadband providers must pay to replace it. Each company with equipment on the pole must then send out crews to move their gear, a time-consuming process known as “make-ready” work. 

Any pole that needs a new attachment must be brought up to the national electrical safety code. If a pole needs to be replaced, it can cost $4,000 or more. 

In 2023, federal officials adopted rules stating that internet providers and pole owners must share the costs of replacing these poles. But so far, West Virginia regulators haven’t adopted similar rules.

In Ohio and Kentucky, state governments have started paying for pole replacements. In 2022, West Virginia lawmakers proposed a similar fund but did not create it. 

Pole replacements are the largest roadblock to building broadband, said John Conwell, a Comcast executive. It’s not just in a few cases, he explained. 

In major projects, 20 to 30% of poles often need to be replaced, resulting in thousands of poles and prolonging projects for months, he said.  

Utilities push back on reforms, citing a focus on customers 

There’s no statewide database to keep track of the health, age or safety compliance of utility poles. 

In meetings with the companies and regulators before the hearing, the broadband office proposed a pole database and asked for a role in pole disputes. 

Internet companies want additional data on each pole’s condition before a project begins, including its capacity, age and location in a universal database. 

In March, state regulators said they need more information before deciding whether to require data from utilities about their poles.  

Still, both of the utility companies have objected to several proposals, including establishing a pole inspection database, requiring annual reports to regulators, and creating a working group of industry experts. 

In the northern half of the state, FirstEnergy subsidiaries MonPower and Potomac Edison inspect their poles every 12 years. AEP subsidiaries Wheeling Power and Appalachian Power inspect their poles once a decade. 

FirstEnergy collects some data about the condition of its poles, but because of how infrequently inspections are conducted, this information is likely outdated, said Ronay Tenney, director of engineering services, during the hearing.

Peter Markham, a lawyer for the state’s broadband council, asked her: Could a contractor collect data, or could there be a new form?

“We never said it was impossible to collect it,” she replied. “Our position is that it is not worth it.” 

Markham paused, then jumped back in: It’s not worth collecting the data?

Not beyond the data we already have, Tenney replied. “Because they do not serve our electric customers any purpose.” 

“So broadband is not a priority?” he asked.

“Wow, you’ve really twisted that around, haven’t you?” she said. “Broadband is absolutely a priority, and for anyone to think that FirstEnergy doesn’t feel that way is wrong.”

“We want broadband just as much as everybody else,” she added. 

Many poles have been grandfathered in. It met safety standards decades ago when it was first installed, but when an internet provider wants to attach new equipment, the pole must be brought to modern standards, which can result in a pole replacement, Tenney said.  

George Porter, a spokesperson for AEP’s subsidiary, Appalachian Power, said it would be extremely expensive to upgrade each of the company’s half million poles. 

“Imposing additional regulatory burdens on pole owners hinders broadband deployment in West Virginia, and in some cases, creates a divide between broadband companies and pole owners,” he said.  

And these disputes are already delaying projects funded by other broadband programs. 

Kelly Workman, who leads the state’s broadband office, is urging the various companies to cooperate on “the single most important, most significant issue to broadband expansion in our state.” 

She said she wasn’t asking utilities to take on extra work, just to share information about the poles they already own and inspect, and to work with the office to fill in the gaps. 

“The speed at which we’re going is not sufficient,” she said.

West Virginia’s broadband future hangs on aging utility poles. Nobody wants to pay to fix them. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

West Virginia could lose out on millions of dollars for drinking water and sewer systems under a Trump administration proposal to slash the federal funding for clean and drinking water programs in the state by 89%. 

The two funds help states provide loans to communities at low or no interest to fund a variety of water quality infrastructure projects, including drinking water and sewer systems.

They are commonly known as revolving funds because repayments and interest go back into funding more projects.

In recent years, West Virginia regulators have increased efforts to address the state’s aging water and sewer infrastructure and expand access  —- largely spurred on by “historic” investments in such projects by the Biden administration.  

But that money is still just a little of what is needed.

It would cost about $1 billion to fix and update water systems for just the communities that have already requested funds, according to the 2023 Needs Assessment by the central funding authority for infrastructure projects throughout the state. Sixteen to 20 times that amount would be needed to meet all of the state’s water and sewer needs.

Trump’s proposed cuts could cost West Virginia a crucial pot of money at a time where the state is already struggling to meet the needs for drinking water and sewer systems.

“It would decimate the ability to do meaningful projects that need to be done, whether they are repair and replacement or expansion of service,” said Amy Swann, who sits on the board of the state’s Water Development Authority.

While the state has various pots of money that help fund water and sewer projects, the Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds make up an “extremely significant portion” of that funding. 

 “I just don’t see a way that the state could make up that money,” she added.  

The proposed cuts 

In its budget for fiscal year 2026, the White House proposed cutting funding to the programs nationwide by nearly $2.5 billion, saying that states should “be responsible for funding their own water infrastructure projects.” 

Such a cut would leave West Virginia with only a fraction of its previous funding levels.

For fiscal year 2025, the EPA has earmarked an initial $35.6 million for West Virginia through the two programs. 

But under the proposed cut, the state’s annual funds for the programs could fall to under $4 million.  

The loss in funding will feel especially harsh because money from the Biden administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act runs out at the end of 2026. 

Senators from both parties have voiced concerns over the proposed cuts to the program that has often had bipartisan support.

“State revolving funds have helped many West Virginians, and many around the country, get connected with the water access and resources that they need,” said West Virginia’s Sen. Shelley Moore Capito in her opening remarks during last month’s hearing on the EPA’s budget request.

She told EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin that she hoped to work together to “make sure that adequate resources remain available to support our water systems.” 

This proposal is part of a broader set of spending cuts to the EPA. Trump’s proposal includes eliminating the federal agency’s environmental justice program and cuts to its research and development office and hazardous superfund program. 

While Trump has submitted his budget to Congress, his proposal is just a recommendation and lawmakers aren’t required to adopt it. 

The future of West Virginia’s water infrastructure 

Last week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced grants to three “critical” water and sewer projects, including $1 million for the Town of Bradshaw’s sewer project. 

“Today, we are making an investment in West Virginia’s future,” Morrisey said. “Infrastructure projects like these are critical for the daily lives of our residents, and will help attract new residents, businesses, and jobs to the Mountain State.”

That $8.6 million project to address Bradshaw’s long-standing sewer system issues also received $2 million in funding through the Clean Water Revolving Fund — one of the programs facing steep cuts.

When asked about the proposed cuts, spokesperson Drew Galang said that the governor “is working to address years of mismanagement that led to the current need for water and sewer upgrades across the state.” 

Although West Virginia has made some improvements in its water and sewer infrastructure in recent years, the need remains much larger than the resources available. And such a cut in federal funding could further exacerbate that. 

“It just really takes a vulnerable state like we live in and increases that vulnerability one million percent,” Swann said.  

Trump administration proposal would cut nearly 90% of federal funding to West Virginia water and sewer programs appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.