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West Virginia Supreme Court justices are being asked to halt — sooner, rather than later — a lower court’s actions that could allow hundreds of students to go to public school without required vaccinations.
Michael Froble
Raleigh Circuit Judge Michael Froble last month certified a class action that would affect similar cases in other counties. The case before Froble was originally brought by a couple of local families seeking to have religious exemptions recognized by public schools in the area.

SWISS, W.Va. — Governor Patrick Morrisey says Steve Lipscomb, the miner who was found dead at the Rolling Thunder Mine Thursday, was among the best West Virginia had to offer.
Lipscomb, 42, of Elkview, was killed as a result of the mine flooding over the weekend. Lipscomb was a foreman, and according to Morrisey, he ensured his colleagues got out of the mine safely.
“As I started to learn more information, I knew that Steven was doing some pretty incredible things. Trying to make sure, as the

SWISS, W.Va. — A mine foreman missing since Saturday has been located inside the Rolling Thunder Mine near Swiss in Nicholas County.
Steve Lipscomb, 42, of Elkview, was discovered by a two-man search team inside the mine around 7:37 a.m. Thursday, according to Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
Morrisey told those in attendance the 2025 Governor’s Energy Summit in Charleston that crews were able to enter the mine around 6 a.m. after water levels had been sufficiently receded to allow for a safe reentry by

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A fire at an apartment building at Marjorie Gardens in Morgantown has resulted in multiple injuries and close to a dozen residents becoming displaced.
The Brookhaven Volunteer Fire Department was the first to respond among a half dozen different departments around the Morgantown area to the scene early Wednesday night, where a fire inside an apartment on the lower end of a building at the start of the property resulted in two injuries.
Residents who lived inside the singular

NICHOLAS COUNTY, W.Va. — Governor Patrick Morrisey says there’s still hope of finding the coal miner that went missing on Saturday alive.
The miner, who has been described as a foreman, has been unaccounted for since Alpha Metallurgical’s Rolling Thunder Mine flooded on Saturday.
Morrisey visited the mine Tuesday evening and met with reporters.
“I don’t have any updates to report right now. Obviously, it’s been a few days, but I can tell you this. This is still a rescue mission, and it’s focused

The state Supreme Court is being asked to halt class certification in a case about religious exemptions to West Virginia’s school vaccination requirements.
Raleigh Circuit Judge Michael Froble last month certified a class action that would affect similar cases in other counties. The case before Froble was originally brought by a couple of local families seeking to have religious exemptions recognized by public schools in the area.
More than 570 families around the state so far have sought and

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate has passed a funding package to reopen the federal government.
Shelley Moore Capito
The focus on the shutdown, which heads into its 42nd day Tuesday, shifts to the U.S. House which would need to approve the Senate measure before the government can reopen.
Eight Senate Democrats joined Republicans in passing the bill Monday night on a 60-40 vote. The clean funding resolution would fund the government through Jan. 30, 2026.
“After 41 days of delay, I’m glad we

SWISS, W.Va. — The search for a missing miner from the Alpha Metallurgical Rolling Thunder Mine in Nicholas County is continuing around the clock according to Governor Patrick Morrisey.
Morrisey gave an update Monday evening. He said the worker — who went missing when the mine flooded Saturday afternoon — was a foreman.
The update said that several million gallons of water has been pumped from the mine since Saturday and about 2.7 million gallons remain before rescuers can safely enter.

SWISS, W.Va. — A third dive team entered the Rolling Thunder coal mine in Nicholas County Sunday night in hopes of locating a missing miner.
A wall separating a previous mined area from the active mine gave way Saturday afternoon flooding the mine near Swiss and Drennen.
The mine is owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources.
Nicholas County Commissioner Craig Chapman said it’s believed the miner is 3,000 to 4,000 feet underground. No contact has been made with him.
The dive teams are working

It had been almost a decade since Tanya Drummond needed help from her local food pantry. But at the end of last week, Drummond sat on a bench in the intake room alongside her young granddaughter.
“Just trying to get a little bit to make it,” said Drummond, a Charles Town resident.
The ongoing disruption in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program meant monthly funds had not flowed to the card that usually helps her buy groceries. Drummond’s own refrigerator and shelves had emptied. So she