On this West Virginia Morning, an experimental apple orchard in the state is helping to fight pollution, improve food scarcity and some hope even heal veterans. Briana Heaney has the story.
After a public hearing in the House of Delegates, members worked with stakeholders to compromise on Senate Bill 559, a bill that deals with the licensing requirements for social workers in West Virginia.
As passed in the Senate, the bill would have allowed the state Department of Health and Human Resources to create a training program for new social workers who do not have a degree in the field. Currently in West Virginia, to get a social work license a person must have a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a Council on Social Work Education accredited program.
The bill as passed in the House still calls on the DHHR to create the training program, but only for a provisional license. Anyone apply for the provisional license must also have a four year degree in any field.
“What this bill does is allow DHHR to hire the personnel that they need these are qualified personnel,” Government Organization Committee Chair Gary Howell said of the bill before it was put to a vote.
“The board of social workers is on board with this committee substitute. We met with WVU, Marshall, West Virginia State University and several others. They are on board with this. DHHR is on board with this. We made a lot of changes in this bill to make sure that the children of this state are safe.”
A Boone County teen was found deceased in her home earlier this month. Police say she was emaciated to a near skeletal state. It's now come to light via a Freedom of Information Act Request filed by West Virginia Watch that the child was being homeschooled.
A West Virginia resident alerted the office of Secretary of State Mac Warner Thursday that a candidate's campaign messages misrepresented the dates of this year's primary election.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted West Virginia $1.2 billion for affordable broadband services. More than 300,000 West Virginia households were underserved by broadband in 2023.