One week after winning his bid to be West Virginia’s next governor, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Tuesday shared his plans and priorities as he prepares to advance to the state’s highest office.
Helping Morrisey will be a team of seven transition team “co-leaders” who — along with yet-to-be-named members of the full transition team — will assist the governor-elect in creating policy priorities that he says will allow him to get to work on his first day in office. Among those co-leaders is a former coal lobbyist and operator, House Majority Leader Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, and several Republican political operatives, among others.
All members of the transition team are volunteers, Morrisey said. The transition work is being organized through the West Virginia Prosperity Group, an independent nonprofit organization focused on “advocating for conservative values.”
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the West Virginia Prosperity Group was formed as a 501(c)4 nonprofit on Sept. 11 and was incorporated by Scott Will, who previously worked as Morrisey’s campaign manager for his attorney general races. Will also worked as a senior advisor with the Black Bear PAC, a political action committee that spent more than $11 million this election supporting Morrisey’s bid for governor, according to Open Secrets. Morrisey said Tuesday that Will — along with Marisa Findlay, president of the state’s Federation of Republican Women — was working as a consultant for the transition
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The goals for a Morrisey administration at this point seem, for the most part, to echo the priorities of his predecessor, Gov. Jim Justice, who is preparing to start his first term as West Virginia’s newest senator.
“I’m looking forward to building on past successes but really also taking some additional steps to really help West Virginia rise in those economic rankings,” Morrisey said. “I’m not satisfied with being 48th, 49th, and 50th. So I think what you’re going to see over the course of the next four years is an aggressive effort to rise in those rankings.”
In the weeks and months leading up to him taking office, Morrisey said he wants to meet with legislative leaders to discuss legislation that could come up in next year’s regular session and, maybe, reach consensus before the Legislature even gavels in.
“We want to develop a common agenda where the governor, the House, the Senate, all come together and we could move a series of bills that might be agreed to up front,” Morrisey said. “I’m excited to do that, and so I’m looking forward to sitting down at great length with them to develop the agenda.”
Morrisey said he wants to see advancements in the state’s economics and commerce through more investment from the private sector, a focus on policies to help the state reach its “energy potential” and efforts conducive to “maintaining West Virginia values,” including defending the Second Amendment and the “sanctity of life.”
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“I’ve always been very worried that there were agendas coming out of the Biden-Harris Administration,” Morrisey said.
“You’ve heard the word ‘woke’ before, you’ve heard the word ‘DEI’ before, and those are not, in my mind, West Virginia values, and we’re not going to be an administration that’s going to be advancing those values,” he continued, referring to the acronym commonly meaning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
As attorney general, Morrisey’s office has spearheaded and participated innumerouslegalproceedings to limit the rights of and health care access for people who are transgender.
Throughout his time in office, Morrisey has been vocally anti-abortion and critical of policies he associates with liberal ideology. He’s been a proponent for “school choice” educational policies — including the school voucher program, which gives public dollars to private institutions — saying during last month’s gubernatorial debate that he wants to see them expanded in coming years.
On the environment, his office has actively fought against measures to increase environmental regulations that reduce the impacts of climate change and hold companies accountable for the damage their extraction activities cause to communities and public health.
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On Tuesday, however, the soon-to-be governor said that he wants his administration to work for all West Virginians, even those he disagrees with and those who have been on the opposing side of or targeted by his legal work. Anyone in the state is invited to submit feedback on the West Virginian Prosperity Group’s website, Morrisey said, and he wants to read everything that is sent in.
“I make no bones about it. I am conservatively oriented, but I like to be open-minded to different ideas and listen to people to try to come up with the right decisions,” Morrisey said. “… we have specific values, and I don’t hide what they are. So I will say that, and if we disagree, I think we could disagree respectfully and we can do so in a civil manner. That’s the approach I try to use, and I’ve always tried that and I think people can have a chance to see that.”
Morrisey’s inauguration will be on Jan. 13. He said that more announcements will be made in coming weeks regarding staffing for his administration, policy priorities and more.
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WCHS) — Records show containment issues predated a massive warehouse fire in Wood County, West Virginia.
The facility, formerly REO Processing West Virginia, is now Peoples Cartage. The company states it acquired the operation in September 2024, although the regulatory responsible-party name was not updated until May 2025.
County commissioners say they’ve learned to deal with disasters like this, including the Ames plant fire in 2017.
“They can shed light on what, to answer that to other people too,” said Jimmy Colombo, a county commissioner and former mayor in Parkersburg. “We are very interested in the health and well-being of our community just as you are and it’s a major concern for us that we do follow through what we’re supposed to be doing too.”
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According to documents from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the company, the buildings and others under their umbrella have had several issues over the last half-decade plus.
In June of 2025, the state spill hotline got a call about a fire at the facility that involved the combustion of calcium hypochlorite hazardous waste, which is often called Cal Hypo for short.
That’s a powerful and unstable solid chlorine that’s commonly used to sanitize swimming pools and clear bacteria.
This underlying issue led to the West Virginia DEP inspecting the facility. They found an accumulation of Cal Hypo in floor sweepings.
The agency said the company failed to minimize the possibility of fire, explosion or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or waste constituents to the environment.
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Last September, Peoples Cartage submitted a plan of corrective action that outlined how and when they would become compliant with all the issues.
The WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Rural Health Clinic is now accepting newborns at its Buckhannon office, with two providers — Rachel Burns, CPNP, and Sara Chipps, FNP-C — taking new pediatric patients. Read more →
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CHARLESTON, WV — The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP) and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are reminding drivers that speeding has legal consequences. As part of the Speeding Slows You Down high-visibility enforcement campaign, drivers will see more law enforcement on the roads. West Virginia’s mobilization runs from July 6 through July 31, 2026.
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This campaign is designed to underscore the grave consequences of speeding and urge motorists to reduce their speed. This mobilization emphasizes the commitment of law enforcement to curb speeding behaviors and raise public awareness regarding the increased presence of officers on our nation’s roads during this mobilization period.
Speeding-related fatalities affect communities nationwide every year. In 2024, there were 11,288 speed-related traffic fatalities, accounting for 29% of all traffic fatalities. Young drivers have a higher chance of being involved in speeding-related crashes. In 2024, 39% of male drivers and 20% of female drivers in the 15- to 20-year-old age group involved in fatal traffic crashes were speeding.
In West Virginia, in 2024, speeding-related fatalities decreased 8% from the previous year, from 85 to 78. Our ultimate goal is zero fatalities, which points toward the importance of campaigns like this.
“Speeders don’t just put themselves in danger of serious injuries and death, they put other road users, including passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists, at risk as well. We are asking drivers to please slow down; our goal is to save lives, and we’re putting all drivers on alert. The posted speed limit is the law. No excuses,” said Jack McNeely, GHSP Director.
The consequences of speeding can lead to a costly ticket, potential jail time, or worse, a crash resulting in injuries or death.
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For more information on speeding, visit NHTSA.gov/Speeding.
For more information about the West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program, visit highwaysafety.wv.gov or call 304-926-2509.
Flood debris piles along Route 85 have been growing for more than a week. PHOTO: Chris Lawrence
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the West Virginia National Guard will be dispatched this week to the areas of Boone, Raleigh, and Logan Counties which are under a State of Emergency today.
The Governor declared the State of Emergency following heavy rains on June 22nd which caused high water that damaged more than 120 homes in Boone County alone.
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“Missions like this we’ve done in the past. It’s basically conducting debris removal operations,” said Captain Mike Garcia of the West Virginia National Guard.
The number of guard personnel who will be activated is not yet known, but Garcia guessed it would be in the neighborhood of 15. The teams will be equipment operators with loading and hauling equipment to move household debris to a collection location.
“We’ve got loader teams, dump teams, and skid-steers and we’ll go around those areas and take any debris caused by the weather and the flooding and it is piling up, we’ll be able to remove that, ” he explained.
Garcia said at this point there has been no mission to haul relief supplies to victims as has been done in previous flood events. They are also disallowed from doing any work to assist homeowners on their own private property.
“West Virginia National Guard is not legally authorized to enter or conduct work on private property. Residents need to move any debris and bring it to the curb so that as we get on the ground, we’ll be able to assess where it will go,” Garcia added.
