News

A West Virginia judge has agreed to stop presiding over marriages altogether rather than officiate for same-sex couples.

The West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission issued a warning to Mineral County Judge Lynn Nelson after receiving a complaint from Fairness West Virginia, which advocates for equal treatment of people regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

Workers are removing water and pumping fresh air into a nonoperational coal mine in West Virginia as they search for three people stuck inside.

A federal prosecutor will hold a symposium on marijuana Wednesday in Charleston. The invitation-only event will feature law enforcement officials and researchers opposed to marijuana legalization.

Mike Stuart, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, is hosting the event alongside a regional task force aimed at curbing drug trafficking. 

The West Virginia School Building Authority has voted to fund more than $72 million in facilities projects statewide.

Monday's vote includes construction and renovation projects for public school systems in 19 counties.

A state audit says West Virginia's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management didn't comply with federal regulations, forcing localities to pay for disaster relief.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline developer Dominion Energy stopped construction Friday along the multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline's entire 600-mile route.

In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Dominion said it was halting construction following a Friday decision from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jason Walker spends $50 per month on bottled water. He spends three hours each week standing by the small stream that runs near his house, pumping creek water into a thousand-gallon tank.

“You have to catch the creek at the right time, when it’s clear,” Walker said. “Whatever you pump, whatever the creek looks like, is what you’re going to pump, and that’s going to pump right into your house.”

Walker, 31, used to get water from a well he shared with his mother, Sherry Walker, who lives next door. But they noticed changes after mountaintop removal mining started nearby.

BRADSHAW -- Local officials in McDowell County called a meeting in the town of Bradshaw to talk about broadband internet in West Virginia’s poorest county. But the first question from a resident focused on something more basic.

“Eleven years ago someone knocked on my door and promised me I could get city water. I still don’t have any city water, and I’ve never heard from them since -- not once,” Sandra Roberts said. “Will you be like that? When is the next time we’re going to see you all out this way?”

BRANCHLAND -- In Southern West Virginia, reliable access to clean water doesn’t just mean getting what you pay for. Sometimes, you don’t have the opportunity to pay for it.

Allen Adkins has been trying for years to get water lines extended to his Lincoln County home. Without that, he and his family are left to depend on a set of wells that leaves them uncertain how long water will last each day.

A new study from the West Virginia University School of Nursing suggests that loneliness may be making it harder for middle-aged Appalachians to manage chronic health conditions.

The study looked at 90 Appalachians ages 45-64, each with at least one chronic illness, such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. Using surveys, researchers tracked how lonely or socially supported participants were and then measured levels of anger, depression and how those related to their physical and mental health.

GARY -- Each morning Tina Coleman turns her faucet, she waits to see what color the water will be when, or if, it flows out.

Some days it’s blue or green -- earthy tones that could be comforting in a river bed surrounded by trees, instead of filling the porcelain tub she uses to bathe her 9-month-old grandson. Other days, the water looks like different shades of rust: deep, coppery reds and browns. Sometimes it’s white and cloudy, as if a powder, thoroughly stirred, is about to dissolve.

HARLAN, Ky. -- David Wilburn stood in the kitchen of his Harlan County home and filled a gallon jug from the faucet and held it up to the light.

“It might be clear right now, but that’s just until they have another leak,” Wilburn said as he looked for any discoloration or sediments floating to the bottom.

When service lines break near his home, Wilburn said the tap water can be muddy for days at a time. Those periods have left him questioning the quality of his water, which he doesn’t even like to use for bathing.

Jimmy Kerr sat in his real estate office near Pikeville and talked of a looming crisis in Eastern Kentucky.

Kerr is treasurer of the Martin County Water District, a utility that’s made national news amid reports of poor water quality and long outages that have left hundreds of families without running water for days at a time.

Everyone deserves reliable access to clean water for drinking, cooking and washing, but that’s often not the case in mountainous Eastern Kentucky.

As the Herald-Leader reported this series, Stirring the Waters, in recent months, we spoke with dozens of residents, industry experts, state regulators and local officials about how to improve this fundamental, life-sustaining service in Appalachian Kentucky. These are their suggestions.

HUNTLEYVILLE, Ky.-- Jessica and Tim Taylor’s prayers seem to have paid off.

The rain came. It filled the buckets that lined the outside of their home. It filled the small plastic pool by the barn they use to water the animals. But not knowing how long the rain will continue makes them anxious.

“It’s beyond stressful,” Jessica Taylor said.

A new study has found that cardiology patients with opioid use disorders have more complications, longer hospital stays and costlier surgeries.

The study looked at 5.7 million patients who underwent cardiac surgery and compared outcomes of those who had opioid use disorders and those who didn’t. While there wasn’t a significant difference the rate of death between the two groups, patients with opioid use disorders had more complications, longer length of stay in the hospital and higher costs.

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal energy board despite a video that shows the nominee saying renewable energy “screws up” the nation’s electrical grid.

The Republican-controlled Senate approved Bernard McNamee’s nomination to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on a 50-49 party-line vote Thursday, Dec. 6.

A West Virginia county prosecutor says the FBI has opened an investigation into a traffic stop involving two state police troopers and a sheriff's deputy in which a teenage motorist allegedly was beaten.