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RICHMOND, Va. — A huge legal victory for the City of Huntington and Cabell County in their fight against the Big 3 drug distributors in the opioid epidemic.
U.S. District Judge David Faber
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling Tuesday that vacates U.S. District Judge David Faber’s June 2022 decision and remanded the case back to Faber to issue a new ruling based on the Fourth Circuit’s findings.
The decision, written by Senior Circuit Judge Barbara Keenan, says the Court

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced a donation drive with matching state funding of up to $13 million to help food banks while federal supplemental food benefits are halted during the ongoing shutdown.
So the total amount available would be up to $26 million.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey
“We’d like people to match it. It’s an aspirational goal that we’re trying to get to, and it would be great if we had a flood of private donations,” Morrisey said near the conclusion of an announcement at the Capitol.
“I

The federal government says supplemental food benefits won’t be issued for November because of the ongoing shutdown, and the chief of West Virginia’s largest food bank is bracing for tough times.
Chad Morrison
“What went through my mind is, how are we going to fill this gap?” Chad Morrison, chief executive of Mountaineer Food Bank said on MetroNews Midday.
“You know, there’s so many families out there — I mean, 144,000 households in West Virginia — that receive SNAP benefits. And how we’re going

RONCEVERTE, W.Va. — A Greenbrier County poultry barn is in ashes after a massive fire.
The blaze was reported around 10 p.m. Friday, but Ronceverte Fire Department Chief Mike Campbell said by the time his crews arrived the entire building was fully engulfed and the building was a total loss. Firemen set up in a defensive posture to protect three other barns located in close proximity to the one on fire.
The barns are owned by Greenbrier County based Aviagen Turkeys. It’s unclear if there were

Another case focused on whether West Virginia’s religious freedoms law applies to mandatory school vaccinations could be headed to the state Supreme Court.
This one involves nine families in Berkeley County who want their children’s religious exemptions to be honored by the public school system. The families were denied a temporary injunction by Berkeley Circuit Judge Michael Lorensen, and their lawyer filed a notice of appeal to the state Supreme Court.
That’s on top of an earlier notice of

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Public Service Commission says Verizon can purchase Frontier Communications in West Virginia but it has to agree to improve service for traditional phone  customers.
Charlotte Lane
The 14-page PSC order, signed Friday, includes a required $60 million investment into an escrow fund for customers who still get service through copper wires.
The order said Verizon must agree to provide “plain old reliable phone service” where fiber is not currently available.
“These

Kanawha Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay wants to know more about the governor’s powers to send the West Virginia National Guard to Washington, D.C.
Lindsay heard about an hour of courtroom argument today in a challenge to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s deployment of 300 to 400 Guard members after President Trump declared a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital.
The judge then continued the hearing until 10 a.m. Nov. 3 because he wants the lawyers to more fully develop the question of how the law