Federal appeals court upholds constitutionality of W.Va. compulsory vaccine law

April 9, 2026

CHARLESTON - While an appeal remains pending before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals over efforts to insert a religious exemption to the state's school-age vaccine requirements, a three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled in favor of the state's vaccine law in a separate case. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a judgment Wednesday reversing a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in a case brought by two parents in 2024 challenging the legality of West Virginia's compulsory vaccine ...

Plea entered in 2024 Walker double homicide

April 7, 2026

PARKERSBURG – A Walker man will accept the punishment for the murders of a Walker couple from May 2024. Bradley Cantwell, 43, appeared, along with his attorney Joe Munoz, in the court of Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane on Monday, to enter into an agreement where he would plead, via an ...

Supreme Court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for LGBTQ+ kids

March 31, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice. An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy ...

Vermont defends its landmark climate superfund law against Trump administration lawsuit

March 31, 2026

Vermont’s effort to make fossil fuel companies pay for damage caused by climate change was tested Monday in a federal courtroom, where the state argued that two lawsuits challenging its groundbreaking 2024 law should be thrown out. Vermont became the first state to enact a climate superfund ...

West Virginia, local education officials lay out case for appeal of religious vaccine exemption ruling

March 30, 2026

CHARLESTON – Months after West Virginia’s highest court stayed a ruling by a Raleigh County circuit judge allowing for religious exemptions to the state’s compulsory vaccination law for school-age children, parties in the case are making their case for the lower court ruling to be ...

Jurors find Cupp guilty of second-degree murder

March 28, 2026

PARKERSBURG — A jury on Friday found a Belmont woman guilty of second-degree murder in the March 2025 shooting death of a Williamstown man with whom she had been in a relationship. The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about four hours Friday afternoon before returning the ...