Government

Officials say homelessness alone isn't automatically an exemption from work or training requirements for food stamp benefits recipients.

State Department of Health and Human Resources spokeswoman Allison Adler tells The Charleston Gazette-Mail that regulations for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program don't allow for blanket exemptions based on homelessness.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is set to visit Marshall University next week.

Jeffrey Lacker is scheduled to speak Oct. 5 at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall in Huntington. A reception will follow.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding public hearings starting this week on proposed work at Bluestone Dam in Hinton.

The agency says Bluestone Dam helps reduce flood hazards to the New and Kanawha River valleys, through Charleston and to Point Pleasant and beyond on the Ohio River. Nearly half of the water that flows through Charleston comes from Bluestone Dam.

West Virginia officials have found a group to run a day care center at the Capitol complex for children of public employees.

The Department of Administration says Discovery Kingdom Child Care will take over the West Virginia Public Employees Day Care Center.

A West Virginia county school board has landed a $1.5 million federal grant for flood recovery efforts.

On Friday, U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the grant for the Kanawha County Board of Education.

Prosecutors say another former water testing lab employee is expected to plead guilty in a false sampling scheme for southern West Virginia coal mines.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that federal court documents filed Thursday show John Brewer reached a proposed plea agreement on one count of falsifying water sample reports.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is joining environmental officials to award a $1 million grant that will benefit workers affected by layoffs in three coal counties.

The state Department of Environmental Protection says Tomblin will announce the project Friday morning at the Ralph R. Willis Career and Technical Center in Logan.

A West Virginia group that helps retrain coal miners who were laid off is receiving an $800,000 federal grant.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the grant Thursday for the Coalfield Development Corporation's factory in Wayne.

West Virginia’s solicitor general will argue before a federal district court panel next week that the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan is an illegal use of presidential power. 

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey previewed the state’s arguments Thursday.

As many as two-thirds of West Virginia's public community colleges are expected to come under increased scrutiny from one of their accreditors because of graduation rates that are lower than half the national average.

Seven Eastern Panhandle residents have been accused of keeping almost all of the money from bingo and raffle games that were being held for charity.

West Virginia Division of Culture and History's four sites are offering free admission on Saturday.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is extending a state of emergency for five West Virginia counties devastated by floods in June.

Tomblin announced the extension until Oct. 21 for Clay, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Nicholas and Webster counties to ensure that state resources are provided to rebuild homes, businesses and communities. That includes demolition and stream cleanup efforts.

A representative of a national sportsmen's advocacy group told West Virginia lawmakers that allowing hunting on Sundays could create thousands of new jobs and spur millions in spending.

Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation Coordinator John Culclasure appeared Tuesday before the Joint Commission on Economic Development to urge lawmakers to pass a law next year that would legalize Sunday hunting statewide.

Authorities say the heroin that led 27 people to overdose in a five-hour span in a single West Virginia city had been mixed with the powerful painkiller fentanyl.

The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington reports that investigators for the first time detailed the potency of the concoction in a federal indictment Tuesday.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will headline the West Virginia Democratic Party's annual dinner next month.

On Tuesday, the party announced that Edwards would deliver the evening keynote speech at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Oct. 8 at the Charleston Civic Center.

West Virginia's Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano has announced he'll leave his post on June 30 next year to be closer to family in his home state of Maryland.

Martirano took over the office in September 2014. 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has won the 2016 NETA Best Documentary Award for Jay: A Rockefeller's Journey.