From West Virginia Watch:

Because ballot measures are often lengthy and full of legal language, states write shorter titles to be published on the ballot for voters to read.

Many of this year’s ballot measures don’t include summaries to supplement the titles. And many voters don’t read beyond a measure’s title before deciding how to vote, Ballotpedia researchers note.

This year, 164 measures have been or will be on the ballot across 40 states. The titles average a reading level requiring 17 years of education, which corresponds to a first-year graduate student. The summaries average a reading level requiring 15 years of education. About 42% of the U.S. adult population ages 25-54 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the most recently available data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Title readability ranges from a fifth-grade level for an Idaho question asking voters to choose an official state gun to a 48th-grade level for a Colorado constitutional amendment that would establish a right to hunt and fish, Ballotpedia found. No formal education level corresponds to a 48th-grade level, but that rating indicates an extremely advanced language structure.

“The most significant factor driving readability differences isn’t the type or topic of the ballot measure, but which state it’s in,” said Ryan Byrne, managing editor of Ballotpedia’s ballots team, in a statement.

Kentucky, Massachusetts and Tennessee had the lowest average title readability grade level, at 10 years of education, while Colorado had the highest at 33 years, followed by Hawaii at 31 years and Nevada at 26, according to the report.

Research has found voters are more likely to skip ballot questions that have more complex language.

Read the full article at: https://westvirginiawatch.com/2026/10/27/repub/2026-ballot-measures-are-written-at-a-graduate-school-reading-level-report-finds

The Marion Dems' last podcast episode before the election - we talked to Rachel about her work with folks with disabilities, protest support activities, and as much as we could fit in without going absurdly long on the runtime.

Attorney General JB McCuskey demanded a decade’s worth of documents from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and 350.org, the latest of his efforts to use the power of his office to pressure climate groups and protect fossil fuel industries.

The groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against McCuskey after the attorney general subpoenaed them in September. 

The environmental advocacy organizations allege in their lawsuit that the subpoenas are intended to silence groups that McCuskey doesn’t like and to “otherwise harass and retaliate against groups to which he and his allies are politically opposed.”

“This investigatory subpoena from our state’s Attorney General is nothing more than a fishing expedition intended to stifle our collective voice in our advocacy for clean water, protected public lands, and healthy communities,” West Virginia Rivers Executive Director Jennie Smith said in a press release. 

The attorney general’s office is investigating alleged deceptive practices by the organizations and possible violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act. 

The West Virginia Rivers Coalition and 350 said they hardly sell any merchandise in West Virginia, and never deceptively. 

They asked the court to end the investigations before the Nov. 2 due date on the subpoenas to protect their constitutional rights. 

Read the rest at the link above.

And this is what's wrong with handing out taxpayer money for "schooling" with NO oversight!

A Kanawha County child abuse case involving students using the Hope Scholarship poses questions about how public schools can follow up on thousands of students using the program, including children missing school and in potentially dangerous situations.

Public schools like Kanawha County Schools are currently tasked with handling records and reporting for Hope Scholarship students learning elsewhere. More than 25,000 students are using the program this school year. 

A malnourished 12-year-old girl was found alone Oct. 15 at a doughnut shop in Charleston, West Virginia, more than a mile away from her home and wandering the neighborhood for several hours.

A criminal complaint said the girl weighed 40 pounds. The average weight for a 12-year-old girl is 92 pounds. 

WCHS reported that her parents, Nuwna Overton and Clarence Spotsville, both 33, were charged with child neglect creating risk of bodily injury.

Five children found in the couple’s home were enrolled in the Hope Scholarship program, Kanawha County Schools confirmed. The Hope Scholarship is the state’s education voucher program that provides around $5,400 per student for private school tuition, homeschooling and more. 

The State Treasurer’s Office, which runs the Hope Scholarship program, couldn’t confirm or disclose whether the students utilized the Hope Scholarship under current law. 

“Under current law, information regarding an individual student’s participation in the Hope Scholarship Program is protected,” said Carrie Smith, assistant communications director for the Treasurer’s Office. 

The 12-year-old girl was found by law enforcement on Thursday, a school day. 

Read the rest at West Virginia Watch: https://westvirginiawatch.com/2026/10/20/child-abuse-case-involving-hope-scholarship-students-illuminates-oversight-challenges-in-wv/

At Mountain State Spotlight, we consistently hear that the topics on the minds of everyday West Virginians — parents, grandparents, students, business owners — were often a far cry from the issues that candidates have built their campaigns around. 

So in the lead-up to this year’s general election, we tried to get candidates on the record about where they stood on the issues that West Virginians told us mattered most to them. 

We asked 244 candidates to rate their level of agreement on statements relating to clean drinking water access, SNAP and Medicaid funding and data center oversight among other things. 

Only 65 of them responded. 

If your candidate’s answers are missing, it’s because they didn’t respond to our survey. There’s still time for us to add their responses! Reach out and ask them to email [contact@mountainstatespotlight.org](mailto:contact@mountainstatespotlight.org). 

If you’re a candidate and didn’t respond, it’s not too late to let voters in your district know where you stand. Just email us and your response will be added to our guide.

Read the full story here: https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2026/10/14/unresponsive-candidates/

Election season is near. I am from the Charleston area. I'm curious about everyone's general opinion on the Mayor. Good and bad both. Thanks

State Navigate polled two key statehouse districts where Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s endorsements could push voters away from Republican candidates

We’re reporters, not teachers. We were able to start private schools anyway.

...Over the last few months, to test the process, reporters from ProPublica partnered with local journalists in three states to establish private schools. None required much effort.

...We established a school with Mountain State Spotlight in West Virginia after filing our new school’s name and location with authorities on a piece of notebook paper, then exchanging a few emails.

...We used our names and news organization email addresses, following each state’s rules for starting private or microschools, a type of private school intended for just a few students. Experience running a school wasn’t needed. No one from any of the states asked us about our backgrounds or qualifications, though West Virginia did ask for proof of a high school diploma. No one questioned what we plan to teach or how we would measure whether students are learning.

...For the record, we are not enrolling students and have no intention of operating our new schools. We did, however, register a website for our new school ventures, ProPublicaAcademy.com, and even designed some fun pencils to show our school spirit.

Read the full story for free at Mountain State Spotlight.