West Virginia

A House bill that passed the education committee, with some controversy, would establish the West Virginia STEM Scholarship Program, granting $5,000 in debt relief to STEM teachers employed for five years.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill aimed at banning any technology or platform from state devices that could threaten cybersecurity. TikTok was the impetus for the legislation.

An Appalachian regional coalition formed to pursue billions of dollars in federal funding to develop a hydrogen-based energy and economic hub says it has cleared a significant hurdle toward making the hub a reality.

A TikTok ban on state-issued devices is already in place in most areas of state government, and Gov. Jim Justice said Tuesday he will introduce a bill next month to include the ban for all entities related to the state.

The state's e-titling and vehicle registration program is expected to go live during the first quarter of 2023, providing residents with access to DMV services through an online portal or smartphone.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice put the brakes on an effort to ban TikTok on state-issued devices Monday, saying the state's current cybersecurity measures already block the social media app on state networks.

The Federal Communications Commission released its updated National Broadband Map last month and West Virginia officials are asking residents to log on and report inaccuracies about their Internet service.

The Department of Energy has announced that it is now seeking public input on a new $1 billion program that stands to benefit energy generation in areas with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants.

Energy industry leaders and elected officials are eyeing West Virginia as the potential site of massive federal investments to support the White House's plan to decarbonize the industrial sector.

As Marion County schools prepare to use facial recognition technology for campus security, neighboring school districts might do well to wait and see, given potential issues with parent consent and misidentification.

Plus, federal lawmakers introduce multiple pieces of legislation related to boosting the nation's broadband infrastructure, Texas moves forward with its own broadband availability map, and more.

West Virginia has joined a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force of 50 attorneys general to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for foreign robocalls.

The Department of Health and Human Resources and the Department of Motor Vehicles were among the state government agencies affected by the system outage. Issues with the mainframe began Tuesday.