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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state’s liability insurance agency is doing a reset after spending its reserve funds on dozens of sexual abuse cases from a now closed private boarding school.
BRIM (Board of Risk and Insurance Management) Executive Director Jeremy Wolfe appeared before state lawmakers Tuesday at interim committee meetings at the state capitol. He said the agency is now at “ground zero” with its reserves after the cases involving the Harrison County-based Seventh-day Adventist Church

The state Division of Corrections remains focused on retaining qualified personnel, even under challenges like a wave of retirements, the commissioner told lawmakers.
Commissioner David Kelly appeared before the Oversight Committee on Corrections and Public Safety on Tuesday during legislative interim meetings at the state Capitol.
“The men and women of this agency continue to work together in our mission for public safety,” Kelly said.
Kelly began by saying the corrections agency is

West Virginia’s Medicaid system faces significant changes through the recently-passed “Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” including implementation of a work requirement structure, a state agency leader told lawmakers.
Cindy Beane, commissioner for the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services, made her presentation to the Joint Standing Committee on Finance during interim legislative meetings at the state Capitol.
The “Big, Beautiful Bill Act” made big changes to Medicaid, a healthcare program that is

Lawyers for the state school board and superintendent have launched a state Supreme Court challenge in a power struggle over who has the final authority over education regulations, saying the Legislature has repeated an attempt at a “Constitutional coup.”
The lawsuit, which has been anticipated for months, was filed straight to West Virginia’s top court of review. The attorneys for the state board contend the precedent is clear and that oral argument is not necessary.
At the center of the

West Virginia healthcare institutions are keeping an eye on potential Trump administration changes to temporary, non-immigrant visas intended to let U.S. employers hire foreign workers with specialty skills.
President Trump signed a proclamation late last month calling for a $100,000 annual fee on organizations for each individual working under an H-1B visa. The current fee is $215.
Much of the national news coverage of this issue has focused on the effects on tech sectors. But in West Virginia,

The judge in a vaccine exemptions case that resumes this week asked lawyers to complete some homework about a central question that is also existential: How would you differentiate between religious beliefs and a philosophical viewpoint?
Spoiler: The lawyers in the case responded with very different views about how broadly to interpret religious exemptions and what standards, if any, should apply to determining the depth of belief.
Michael Froble
During two days of a permanent injunction hearing

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Declining populations, school consolidation, and more education choices are pushing the state public school system to reform. That process could begin to take shape during legislative meetings that begin Sunday.
Joe Statler
The growth of the Hope Scholarship, homeschooling and the emergence of the charter system have steadily chipped away at public school enrollment.
Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, the vice-chair of the House Education Committee, said adding options has been

Senator Shelley Moore Capito remains frustrated as a federal shutdown stretches into its third day, and she expressed concern that the executive branch could make good on threats to to conduct mass permanent layoffs in the federal workforce as the shutdown continues.
The Senate was set to reconvene and vote on whether to take up two different proposals to reopen the government, but neither was expected to win the bipartisan backing necessary to end the shutdown.
Shelley Moore Capito
“I always