Government

Gov. Jim Justice has directed the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management to take steps to protect personally identifiable information collected and kept by state agencies, including health information required by law to be kept private.

In an executive order, Justice has also directed the West Virginia Office of Technology, to conduct risk management oversight to ensure cyber security of electronic records.

West Virginia will receive more than $200,000 from a multimillion-dollar settlement reached between retailer Target and 47 states and the District of Columbia.

The settlement addresses allegations from a data breach in 2013. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office said in a news release the breach affected more than 41 million customer payment card accounts and contact information for more than 60 million customers.

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic has opened in West Virginia after air-quality issues led to the previous one being closed in 2015.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports state officials opened the Greenbrier VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic on Monday. The clinic's services include mental health and primary care.

State Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says the former clinic was unacceptable and that the new one is the result of efforts by the community at large. Community organizers fought for the new building and helped prevent a lapse in health care for veterans during construction.

Gov. Jim Justice expanded the special session call for the second time Tuesday, May 23, adding seven more bills – including his budget for the 2018 fiscal year.

The executive message with those bills was read in the Senate Tuesday morning, but not introduced. The bills were referred to committees in the House during its afternoon floor session.

The law license of West Virginia's former education secretary has been suspended by the state's supreme court.

Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Clay County attorney Barbara Harmon-Schamberger's license to practice law was suspended in a court order issued May 16. Her license will be automatically reinstated after the three-month suspension, but she's required to obtain six additional credit hours of continuing legal education in the areas of ethics and law office management.

West Virginia's U.S. senators say federal authorities are awarding $8.5 million to health centers in Huntington and Baker to support medical, dental, mental health and drug services.

According to Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, the Department of Health and Human Services will provide almost $7.2 million to Valley Health Systems in Huntington and nearly $1.4 million to E.A. Hawse Health Center in Baker.

Remarks by a top U.S. health official have reignited a quarrel in the world of addiction and recovery: Does treating opioid addiction with medication save lives? Or does it trade one addiction for another?

Health Secretary Tom Price's recent comments — one replying to a reporter's question, the other in a newspaper op-ed — waver between two strongly held views.

A federal science committee studying the health risks for people living near surface coal mines has scheduled a public meeting this week in southern West Virginia.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee plans to hear from state health and environmental officials, coal operators and environmental groups at a panel discussion Tuesday in Logan.

The federal government has awarded more than $400,000 to West Virginia University to improve sustainable agriculture and help rural communities thrive.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced the $402,890 award in a news release this month.

Manchin said the university, through its Extension Services program, invests in rural communities across the state, creating a great benefit for West Virginia.

At a union's request, a California-based drug wholesaler is looking into allegations in a 2016 lawsuit that the company flooded West Virginia with prescription pain pills.

McKesson Corp. spokeswoman Kristin Hunter told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that the San Francisco-based company appointed a committee to review issues raised by the Teamsters union, which has pension and benefit funds that invest in McKesson.

West Virginia officials say they're in the early stages of developing a plan to implement the state's new medical marijuana law.

The state Department of Health and Human Resources has devoted a section of its website to frequently asked questions and more information, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Members of the House are standing their ground when it comes to tax reform. At least, that’s what House Speaker Tim Armstead said Friday after a vote in the chamber on its own version of a revenue bill.

The bill does not include any of the changes to the personal income tax Senate Republicans and Gov. Jim Justice have agreed to, but Armstead said that doesn’t mean his chamber isn’t still willing to work on a compromise.

A group suing Mercer County schools over its "Bible in the Schools" programs has filed a response to the school system's motion to dismiss.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports the Freedom from Religion Foundation Inc. filed their response in the U.S. District Court in Bluefield.