West Virginia
Vape Safety Act of 2026 passes W.Va. House, tightening oversight and licensing for shops
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Vape Safety Act of 2026 passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday, aiming to crack down on what lead sponsor of the bill Del. David McCormick, R-Monongalia, said are the bad actors in the vape shop world.
“They’re very lightly regulated,” McCormick said. “Here’s something that is becoming a blight on our landscape out here in our neighborhoods and towns. They’re all over the state and they need some oversight.”
McCormick said the bill will also strengthen licensing as to who can run the shops.
A key part of the legislation that passed the House by a vote of 88-5 is an FDA registry, requiring all the products sold in the shops to be approved at the federal level.
“Make sure that something doesn’t have 30 times the nicotine in it that it’s supposed to, which has happened, and get a 12-year-old kid addicted to nicotine,” McCormick. “That’s buying something that looks like Pokémon.”
Cracking down on the marketing strategies vape shops use is also included in the bill. It has gained support from both sides of the aisle.
“You walk into them and they have you know it looks fun and all the flavors and all the things,” Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha said. “So when teens go in there, it’s geared towards teens. So I think some regulation is important.”
Other provisions include vape shops not being allowed within 300 feet of schools, libraries or churches.
“I would deem these things almost attractive nuisance for kids and teenagers,” Lewis said. “What we want to do in this piece of legislation, we want to ultimately, above anything else, is protect our children and to get rid of bad actors to make sure that we know what’s being sold in the shop and we know who’s selling it.”
West Virginia
West Virginia AD: McAfee’s Value to School ‘Maybe Eight Figures’
West Virginia
Register now: West Virginia’s largest yard sale grows with more Webster County sellers for 2026
Community Bulletin
WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Center for Women’s Health has opened its 2026 prenatal and pregnancy classes — including Spinning Babies, breastfeeding basics and Lamaze — for expecting Upshur County families, with Lamaze offered in person or online. Read more →
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BUCKHANNON – The West Virginia Largest Yard Sale is getting even larger, with more participants from Webster County this year.
Cadence Ringer, executive director of the Upshur County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the 2026 West Virginia Largest Yard Sale will take place Friday, Aug. 7, and Saturday, Aug. 8. Registration for sellers is now open through July 26 at 11:30 p.m. Registration can be found on the Upshur County Visitor Center’s Facebook page.
“It’s been going wonderfully. As of last Wednesday, we had 30 applicants, and they keep coming in by the day. They are slowly trickling in right now, but I know we’ll have a big burst of them right before the deadline to register,” Ringer said. “The date set for the map to go live is July 31. I like to prepare for it a week in advance, to give people enough time to map out their own plan for their shopping that weekend.”
The map showing where all the sellers will be located will be available digitally this year on the Upshur County Visitor’s Bureau website. The map will also include brief descriptions of the items each yard sale will offer.
“On our registration form, I have asked them to list at least five things they’re going to be selling. Once I get them on the map, there’s an option for me to add details, so if they click on the actual location of the yard sale and read the details at the bottom, it’ll give them an idea of what that yard sale will be offering,” Ringer said. “There won’t be any photos or anything, but people can at least get an idea of what each seller will have.”
The yard sale has expanded over the year, from Upshur to Lewis and now to Webster County.
“We decided last year to add Webster County to this and to try and get them going,” Ringer said, but the numbers were low. “This year, we have had quite a few from Webster County, so I’m excited to actually get it spreading into that area as well.”
She said people who go out to shop are all looking for something different, but you can always find a little bit of everything.
“There are people looking for a lot of clothes. That’s what a lot of people prepare for the upcoming school year by going yard saling,” Ringer said. “I’m a yard saler myself, so I go looking for those hidden treasures, and I really think that’s what this is about — finding things they don’t make anymore, or antiques of some sort, some decorations. They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so that’s what it’s about: just finding the treasure.”
Ringer said the event also brings in visitors from outside the area and encourages them to shop and eat at local businesses in Buckhannon.
“I think the most important thing to highlight is that this is a collaboration between the three counties — it drives our economy,” Ringer said. “I know some people see it as annoying that traffic is going on, or that there’s a bunch of people around, but it also gives families the opportunity to buy things secondhand and to prepare for the upcoming school year. Maybe some families can’t afford to purchase new things. It also drives the economic boost for our restaurants and other locations downtown.”
West Virginia
Photos show first pieces of West Virginia’s America250 Wheel arriving at state capitol
The first pieces of the America250 Wheel that is set to be a focal point of West Virginia’s Capital City Celebration arrived Thursday morning. Once constructed, the wheel is expected to be the world’s tallest portable Ferris Wheel at 230 feet tall. It will feature 45 gondolas and offer views up to 14 miles from the top. (WCHS)
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