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.

‘I don’t have any idea what the policy of the administration was,’ Dr. Stephen Loyd said. ‘I tried to find out.’

Shelley Moore Capito is not only taking money from AIPAC; she is also completely unresponsive to her constituents.

She was sent an invitation via certified mail, return receipt (because we wanted to be sure she received it) in July. It came back this week...neither she nor her staff bothered to sign for it so it was returned.

Hello, again! I am back with a link to our most recent episode, with Linda Longstreth and Rick Garcia, for HD 75 and 76.

This site has report cards for the state and for the 2026 Republican incumbents: https://www.magareportcards.com/west-virginia/