Alert (March 11, 2026): Our TV translator in Flatwoods is experiencing technical issues. Our engineers are troubleshooting the problem and expect it to be down for a couple days.
Thank you for your patience.
The 2026 WVPB PBS KIDS Writers Contest is underway! Submissions are due by March 31, 2026.
Find videos, resources and activities for teaching civic education in WV classrooms.
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
The Legislature This Week
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
West Virginia Senators have approved a bill to dismantle the wage bonding requirement for certain industries in the state.
Members voted 21-12 Monday morning after some debate on the chamber floor.
Senate Bill 224 removes a decades-old requirement for employers in the construction and mineral extraction industries to put up a wage bond.
Wage bonds are money an employer pays to the state to cover the cost of employee wages and benefits for a month should the business close. They’re a security for workers and have to be funded by the company for its first five years in operation.
Three of West Virginia’s bordering states—Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia—do not require a wage bond, but Putnam County Democratic Sen. Glen Jeffries told his fellow Senators those states don’t rely on extraction industries like West Virginia and Kentucky do.
Jeffries– who owns his own construction company and opposed the bill– said he wishes the state could expand the bonding requirement to every industry.
“But we don’t need to because the other businesses,” he said, “because they’re not as vulnerable as what construction and mining is.”
While Democratic opposition remained focused on the implications for workers, Republicans focused on businesses, including Sen. Jeff Mullens from Raleigh County.
Mullens said on the chamber floor that potential business owners must have impeccable credit to have the wage bonds covered by creditors like banks, otherwise they have to find sometimes tens of thousands of dollars up front to cover the cost.
“This helps the little guy. The guy that wants to start a little construction company to build houses. The guy that’s just barely getting by and [doesn’t] have the money to put up a wage bond,” Mullens said. “The wage bond helps people that have money. It doesn’t help the little guy.”
Senators approved the bill, 21-12, on a party-line vote, with one member of the chamber absent.
The bill now goes to the House of Delegates for further debate.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
Host and reporter Randy Yohe speaks with Senior Reporter Chris Schulz and Assistant News Director Maria Young. They discuss some of the biggest bills they covered during the 2026 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature — and what issues did not come up. They also look ahead to the legislature's final day, Saturday, March 14.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsAfter a lengthy and passionate debate, the Senate passed a bill that reverts decision-making on athletic transfers back to the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsA new young adult novel titled "The Secret Astronomers" captures a slice of life in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. This debut novel by author Jessica Walter tells the story of a friendship between two high school students as they unravel a decades-old mystery. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Walker before the book was released a few months ago.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsIn rural communities across America, there are people traveling many miles from home to deliver babies. In the past five years, nearly 125 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies or announced that they will. That’s about two closings a month. On the next Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears from families facing that change, and how it’s affecting prospects for their rural cities and towns.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
