Charleston Gazette-Mail - The West Virginia Senate approved a bill in a 23-9 vote Friday that would bar magistrates from releasing defendants charged with a felony on a personal recognizance bond, which allows a defendant to be released from jail without posting bail. Read the full article. The ban, which is poised to create more…
WVCBP in the News
Associated Press, Cumberland Times-News - West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice’s administration has been characterized by flat budgets and record surpluses that helped cut the state’s income tax last year. Read the full article. Now, the state could face collateral damage: a possible $465 million clawback of pandemic aid by the U.S. Department of Education. It has…
Bolts - In the months leading up to her death, Ashley Omps of Charleston, West Virginia, felt ashamed to be taking suboxone. It was prescribed to her to treat opioid dependency by limiting cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and though it was clearly a much healthier alternative to the pills and heroin she’d been taking before,…
Mountain State Spotlight, Times West Virginian, Fayette Tribune - As the House Finance Committee began discussing a quickly-drafted unemployment bill on Monday, it quickly became apparent that lawmakers were going to have lots of questions. Within minutes, the committee hit its first roadblock: How much are unemployment benefits? Read the full article. Questions continued over the course…
Mountain State Spotlight, Beckley Register-Herald - Senators are trying to breathe new life into a bill that critics say would lead to more people sitting in jail awaiting trial after a House Committee overwhelmingly rejected the legislation last week. Read the full article. SB 725 would’ve stripped magistrates — who generally see someone first after they…
Public News Service - Nationwide, people with disabilities are overrepresented both as victims of crime and those who are accused of crimes, and advocates believe the justice system could do much more to improve accessibility. Read the full article. The system is not always fair to people with autism, cognitive disabilities and learning disorders, and…
Weirton Daily Times, Parkersburg News and Sentinel, The Intermountain - Members of a West Virginia House of Delegates committee signed on to a state Senate bill making changes to unemployment benefits. But opponents believe it could end up adding to the state’s already poor labor force participation rate. Read the full article. The House Finance…
West Virginia Watch, News from the States - A bill that would cut the duration of unemployment benefits in the state is heading for a vote by the full West Virginia House of Delegates. Read the full article. After a 3.5 hour discussion Monday afternoon, the House finance committee voted 14 to 9 to advance Senate…
West Virginia MetroNews, Dominion Post - West Virginia has a $465 million question with the federal government based not on any allegations of misspending — but instead over whether school systems fell short on an obligation to maintain financial support for education at levels in line with overall spending. Read the full article. A revelation…
Daily Kos - West Virginia’s almost entirely Republican state Senate passed a bill in late January that would require schools in the state to display “In God We Trust'' signs—in every single classroom. When the state’s House Education Committee took up the bill, it was initially amended to require signage in a single prominent area of each…