Via press release from West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice: During Monday’s briefing, Gov. Justice announced that as part of his ongoing initiative to get more younger residents vaccinated, West Virginia will begin offering a $100 savings bond to each person from 16 to 35 years old who chooses to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. “We have vetted this in every way …
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ProPublica reports: The federal government is seeking to collect nearly $3.2 million in fines from coal companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice after the firms violated the terms of a major water pollution settlement, according to documents filed Thursday in federal court. Justice, a billionaire listed by Forbes as the richest person in the state, owns a vast …
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CNBC reports: Hawaii took the top spot for the state with the highest average life expectancy at 81 years. The Aloha state was followed by California, New York, Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, New Jersey and Rhode Island to round out the top ten states where you’ll live the longest. West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South …
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West Virginia Metro News reports: Derrick Evans, facing federal charges for entering the U.S. Capitol with a mob, has resigned from West Virginia’s House of Delegates. “I hereby resign as a member of the House of Delegates, effective immediately,” Evans said in a one-page letter submitted to Gov. Jim Justice and the House. “I take full responsibility for my actions, …
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Charleston’s WVNews reports: Gov. Jim Justice issued several executive orders tightening up on COVID-19 rules. “Beginning at midnight tonight, I will issue a mandatory requirement to wear a face covering indoors in all public buildings at all times. This is not just when social distancing cannot be maintained, this is mandatory wearing your face covering in all buildings, at all …
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The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports: More than 40 members of a family tested positive for coronavirus after an infected relative from another state attended a funeral. Polly Williams, who resides on Jenny’s Creek in Wayne County, West Virginia, was saddened to hear of the death June 30 of her relative who lived in Alabama. Little did she realize the circumstances surrounding …
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ProPublica reports: Companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family received up to $24 million from one of the federal government’s key coronavirus economic relief programs, according to data made public Monday. At least six companies from Justice’s empire showed up on the list of Paycheck Protection Program aid recipients released by the Small Business Administration. The …
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“I would surely hope so. If you could see what I’ve lived with every day in West Virginia, you would be packing up and heading here tomorrow, because it’s the most pristine air, the most pristine water, good family people that have real values, low crime, good schools, the roads are good. “People have such a misconception of West Virginians. …
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The Cumberland Times reports: Gov. Jim Justice rescheduled West Virginia’s May 12 primary election to June 9 on Wednesday, citing fears about the coronavirus spreading at polling places. Justice said medical experts told him that having the primary on its originally scheduled date would be unsafe for voters and poll workers, since health officials have warned of a surge in …
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The Independent reports: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, appeared at a press conference on Tuesday and endorsed a proposal by evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. that certain counties secede from Virginia and join Justice’s neighboring state. “West Virginia’s role is one thing, and that is to tell the world just how inviting we are and that we would …
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The Associated Press reports: West Virginia plans to begin training its corrections department staff about the Holocaust after a photograph of correction officer cadets giving Nazi salutes led to dozens of firings and widespread outrage, officials said Tuesday. A spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said the leader of the regional Anti-Defamation League chapter …
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CBS News reports: West Virginia’s governor fired a group of recently graduated corrections officers Monday, after they made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute in their class photo. Governor Jim Justice also fired a staffer Monday at the state’s corrections officer academy, the third staffer terminated in the scandal, and suspended four instructors without pay for failing to report the …
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The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports: A number of West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees are suspended and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is calling for some terminations after a photo surfaced that shows more than 30 participants in a basic training class doing a Nazi salute. The cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public …
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The Hill reports: Former coal executive and federal prisoner Don Blankenship filed paperwork on Thursday to launch a third-party White House bid. Blankenship, who also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in West Virginia last year, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission announcing he would be a presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. The former coal baron released a statement …
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The Associated Press reports: A farming business owned by the family of West Virginia’s billionaire governor has received $125,000 in soybean and corn subsidies, the maximum allowed from a federal program meant to help American farmers through the U.S. trade war with China. There is no evidence Gov. Jim Justice did anything illegal. But at least one analyst said the …
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Politico reports: Joe Manchin will not run for governor of West Virginia in 2020 against Republican Gov. Jim Justice, the Democratic senator announced Tuesday. “When considering whether to run for governor, I couldn’t focus just on which job I enjoyed the most, but on where I could be the most effective for the Mountain State,” Manchin said in a statement. …
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Law & Crime reports: A former West Virginia county official who made headlines in 2016 for her racist online post about then-First Lady Michelle Obama was sentenced to prison Thursday for the embezzlement of disaster relief funds. Pamela Ramsey Taylor, 57, the former director at the Clay County Development Corporation, a West Virginia-based elderly non-profit group, was sentenced to 10 …
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Reuters reports: He’s a billionaire who owns mines, farms and the swankiest resort in all of West Virginia. But how Jim Justice spends his time as the state’s 36th governor has largely been a mystery. Since he took office a little more than two years ago, Justice has been dogged by criticism that he’s rarely at the Statehouse. He’s been …
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WHSV-TV reports: On Tuesday, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey [photo] filed a lawsuit alleging the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield knowingly employed pedophiles. The suit also alleges they failed to conduct adequate background checks for those working at the diocese’s schools and camps. The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese encompasses the entire state of West Virginia. The complaint alleges …
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The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports: Former Massey Energy CEO and U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking at least $12 billion in damages from a variety of national news and political organizations, claiming they set out on a “search and destroy” mission against his 2018 candidacy for the Senate. The lawsuit, filed in Mingo County Circuit Court, …
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