October 18, 2025

Another claim of religious exemptions to school vaccinations is denied, this time in Kanawha

Kanawha Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay cut through a couple of layers of confusion to issue a verbal order denying a family’s religious exemptions claim to school vaccination requirements, with the judge concluding that the state has a compelling health interest in suppressing the spread of disease.

The first practical challenge in the courtroom was that a Charleston mother representing her family without a lawyer did not attend the hearing for a second time that it had been scheduled. Because the mother had a second chance and had submitted her position in writing, the judge went ahead today.

The second matter the Kanawha judge had to weigh was that a counterpart in Raleigh County, Judge Michael Froble, issued a written order on Thursday afternoon to certify a class action for families asserting their religious beliefs to decline mandatory school vaccinations.

Froble’s class action order did lay out a pathway for families who may have active cases in front of other judges: “Class members who are currently pursuing related actions in other courts may join this class upon voluntary withdrawal of their pending claims, with leave of the court in which those claims are pending.”

https://wvmetronews.com/2025/10/17/another-claim-of-religious-exemptions-to-school-vaccinations-is-denied-this-time-in-kanawha/

October 16, 2025

How Trump got his Nobel Peace Prize after all

By giving the award to Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Committee has effectively crowned Trump’s vision of power and intervention as ‘peace’.

Although the White House immediately put the Nobel Committee on notice for putting “politics over peace” when it failed to deliver the peace prize to United States President Donald Trump, the administration had to be pleased that the award went to Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado. Trump and Machado are cut from the same right-wing authoritarian cloth, which in part explains why the president quickly congratulated her, and why Machado, in turn, dedicated her award to him.

As a leader of Venezuela’s hardline right-wing opposition, Machado has been committed to a brand of peace that has sought to undermine Venezuelan democracy and sovereignty for more than a quarter of a century. In 2002, she helped orchestrate a coup against Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected president at the time. Undeterred by failure, Machado subsequently worked to build an opposition whose primary goal has been to create enough political and economic chaos to undermine the Venezuelan government and return the country to oligarchic rule. This has included mobilising violent mobs to block streets, targeting opponents, wreaking havoc on the country’s economy, and terrorising large segments of the population. More recently, Machado’s tireless pursuit of “peace” led her to ask none other than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose genocide in Gaza Machado vocally supports, to bomb Venezuela in an effort to “liberate” the country.

Machado’s rise to international prominence has long been aided by Western media and political elites who frame her as a freedom fighter rather than a destabilising force. Her image has been carefully curated to appeal to the US and Europe, where right-wing populists increasingly claim the mantle of democratic renewal. By awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee has helped launder that image and reinforced the narrative that the West alone defines what counts as legitimate democracy.

What is troubling about Machado being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is not so much that the committee “got it wrong”, something it has done often enough, or even that mainstream coverage of her award has been largely uncritical. It is that, in awarding the prize to Machado, the Nobel Committee has provided an open invitation for Trump to continue, and even escalate, military intervention and gunboat diplomacy in Latin America. For Venezuela, this means violent regime change is firmly on the table.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/10/16/how-trump-got-his-nobel-peace-prize-after-all

August 22, 2025

Lawsuit seeks to halt West Virginia National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C.

A newly filed lawsuit seeks to halt deployment of the West Virginia National Guard to Washington, D.C., arguing that an order by Gov. Patrick Morrisey exceeds his constitutional and statutory authority.

The lawsuit contends that the deployment is an unprecedented political act, not a response to a genuine emergency and violates West Virginia law that outlines specific, limited circumstances for out-of-state Guard deployments.

Morrisey announced last weekend he would send 300 to 400 Guard members to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement.

The plaintiffs emphasized that officials representing the District of Columbia’s local government did not request this aid and that crime rates in the city are at a historic low.

https://wvmetronews.com/2025/08/21/lawsuit-seeks-to-halt-west-virginia-national-guard-deployment-in-washington-d-c/

August 13, 2025

Trump's Latest Pants on Fire rating at Politifact

Stated by Trump on August 5, 2025 in an interview on CNBC:

Bureau of Labor Statistics employment numbers "were rigged” when the agency revised them “down by almost 900,000 jobs” after the 2024 election.

July 19, 2025

Coal Association: Utility's Plan Could Hasten Plant Retirements

A plan under review by the West Virginia Public Service Commission opens a door for the retirement of three coal plants, an industry group says.

Appalachian Power is seeking the PSC’s approval to securitize more than $2 billion in costs, including the current value of its three coal plants in West Virginia.

That would involve issuing bonds that would be paid back by electricity customers over a 20-year period. Appalachian Power has offered the plan as a way to save customers money versus a regular rate increase.

The West Virginia Coal Association, however, has warned the PSC that the plan could make it possible for Appalachian Power to retire its Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants before 2040.

https://wvpublic.org/story/energy-environment/coal-association-utilitys-plan-could-hasten-plant-retirements/

June 5, 2025

Morrisey's executive order on immunization exemptions is wrong on multiple levels

Governor Patrick Morrisey is trying to force the state school system to abide by his executive order expanding exemptions for mandatory school immunizations. In doing so, he apparently believes that his authority is greater than state law, the will of the Legislature and sound science.

First the background:

Morrisey signed an executive order just days after taking office in January allowing for exemptions to compulsory school immunizations based on “religious and moral beliefs.” West Virginia is one of a handful of states that does not allow for exemptions, except for medical reasons.

State legislators who supported the broadened exceptions attempted to codify them in state law during the recent session. However, they failed as news of a measles outbreak in Texas spread and a number of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the bill.

https://wvmetronews.com/2025/05/08/morriseys-executive-order-on-immunization-exemptions-is-wrong-on-multiple-levels/

More in the linked article.

May 24, 2025

ACLU and Mountain State Justice file lawsuit against religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines

Kanawha County, WV (WOAY) – The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and Mountain State Justice have filed a lawsuit in Kanawha County asking that the court stop education officials from enforcing an executive order that allows religious and philosophical exemptions to mandatory vaccines in schools.

The suit is brought on behalf of two West Virginia parents.

Governor Patrick Morrisey issued the executive order earlier this year. The legislature failed to codify the exemptions into law.

However, Governor Morrissey said that the United States and West Virginia constitutions both ensure religious freedom. He said his executive order keeps state law from running afoul of that. The ACLU disagrees, saying that the governor does not rule by decree.

The case has been assigned to Judge Kenneth Ballard.

https://woay.com/aclu-and-mountain-state-justice-file-lawsuit-against-religious-exemptions-to-mandatory-vaccines/

WV is one of the states that has not allowed religious or philosophical exemptions to mandatory vaccines in schools. It looks like Governor Morrisey wants to govern like Trump does, by executive order. I hope the ACLU wins, particularly since the legislature did not pass legislation to support this.

April 10, 2025

Trump Pulls The Rug Out From Underneath West Virginia's Coal Sector

President Donald Trump just pulled a fast one on West Virginia—a state that helped elect him twice, with 70% of the vote each time. And the trade war he’s started could really hurt the state’s struggling coal industry—one that provides half of all U.S. coal exports to China.

The president will hit Chinese imports with a massive 84% tariff hike Wednesday, ratcheting up the tariff war; China fired back Wednesday morning. The day before, Trump signed a series of executive orders to placate coal country, portending to extend the lives of coal plants and promote coal exports — a move that the Sierra Club said guts pollution and safety controls while raising energy bills on working class Americans.

Since Trump first came into office in 2017, he has bemoaned China’s economic success, calling it a function of unfair trade practices. So, he started slapping tariffs on goods from China in 2018—and now he has upped the stakes. But China is not taking it sitting down. It has hit back even harder—this time on coal. That means American coal is now pricier than in Australia, Russia, and Indonesia, making them potentially more attractive markets. That’s a significant blow to West Virginia.

The Ohio River Valley Institute examined the potential impact. It said China, Mexico, and Canada are the region’s three biggest trading partners; in 2024, they collectively bought $100 billion in goods from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2025/04/09/trump-pulls-the-rug-out-from-underneath-west-virginias-coal-sector/

March 11, 2025

First Energy planning to replace coal plants in W.Va. with natural gas

HAYWOOD, W.Va (WDTV) - First Energy announced during their fourth quarter earnings presentation on Thursday, February 27, 2025, that there are plans to shut down 2 Mon Power coal plants in favor of natural gas.

“We have about 3,000 megawatts of coal powered generation that’s going to be retired - that’s planned to be retired, whether that happens or not - between 2035 and 2040,” said First Energy President and CEO, Brian Tierney.

The Harrison plant in Harrison County and the Fort Martin plant in Monongalia County are scheduled to shut down within the next 15 years; however, the replacement natural gas facilities are expected to begin being constructed within the next 5 years.

5 News reached out to First Energy for comment. They confirmed that they are developing new “dispatchable generation” in West Virginia, and that they are in the early stages of the planning process.

https://www.wdtv.com/2025/03/03/first-energy-planning-replace-coal-plants-wva-with-natural-gas/

March 1, 2025

Inside the 139 minutes that upended the US-Ukraine alliance

White House chefs were at work in the West Wing on Friday laying out plates of rosemary chicken, celery root puree and collard greens when the sound of raised voices began floating over from the Oval Office.

Inside, a remarkable scene was unfolding. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance had begun berating their guest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a hitherto unseen public implosion of a key global relationship.

(snip)

A whirlwind day in Washington drew to a close as Trump boarded Air Force One and flew to his Mar-a-Lago resort for the weekend. Shortly after takeoff, Zelensky came on Fox News, for an interview that Trump watched on the presidential aircraft.

Zelensky said he did not believe he owed Trump an apology for the fiery outbursts in the Oval Office, but expressed his regret that it all unfolded on television for the world to see.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/01/politics/inside-trump-zelensky-meeting/index.html