Mountain State Spotlight

5 days ago | mountainstatespotlight.org | Erin Beck

President Donald Trump’s administration has cut jobs weakening Social Security, a poverty-prevention program, and proposed numerous other changes that threaten to dismantle it. More than one quarter of West Virginians rely on Social Security. Here’s what some of them, including retirees, former foster kids and people with disabilities told us they’re thinking about and what they stand to lose, from health care to housing to dignity:Patty Hoffman, 59, is raising her grandkids.

1 week ago | mountainstatespotlight.org | Henry Culvyhouse

As Congress moves toward cutting crucial funding that helps West Virginians — many of them elderly or disabled or children — get the food they need, state elected officials so far have no plan to reduce the harm. Under a plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, funding for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, and Medicaid would be cut to pay for tax cuts that disproportionately go to the wealthy. On the day the bill passed the House, Sen.

1 week ago | mountainstatespotlight.org | Erin Beck

Fentanyl continues to be the main driver behind West Virginia’s overdose crisis. But the state prohibits more of the treatment scientists say would save lives. From 2019 to 2022, most West Virginians who died from overdoses had fentanyl in their systems. Opioid painkillers fueled the addiction epidemic in the state, and after crackdowns on those prescriptions, people transitioned to the similar street drug heroin. Eventually fentanyl, an even more deadly drug, became most prevalent.

2 weeks ago | mountainstatespotlight.org | Sarah Elbeshbishi

Tens of thousands of West Virginians could lose utility assistance as the Trump administration proposes ending a program that helps low-income households pay their power bills. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps households across the country pay to cool and heat their homes. The program also offers emergency assistance to folks who are at risk of being cut off by their power company.

2 weeks ago | mountainstatespotlight.org | Henry Culvyhouse

As Congressional Republicans propel a tax plan that would benefit the wealthy at the expense of health insurance and food for the poor, West Virginia’s federal delegation has largely been supportive. The budget reconciliation bill is the key piece of legislation to pass much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. Along with making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, the bill calls for cuts to Medicaid and SNAP along with increases in military and border security spending.