West Virginia

Senate moves to allow votes on bills to reform immigration, increase gun background checks

Global Politics

Republicans in the U.S. Senate this week have indicated they’ll allow votes on two bills — one that would reform the country’s immigration system and another that would provide for background checks in all commercial gun sales. Whether they’ll pass, though, remains to be seen.

Energy company reaches federal settlement in connection to Upper Big Branch mine disaster

Global Politics

Massey Energy blamed for West Virginia mining disaster

The money and the politics of the global AIDs epidemic

Health & Medicine

Student Loan Rates Double After Congressional Inaction

Deal Reached on Background Checks

In a groundbreaking move, a compromise has been reached on gun legislation between Senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania. It sets the stage for the Senate to take up a debate on gun legislation today.  Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent, explains. Follow Todd for the latest […]

Gun Owners React to Senate’s New Proposals

Today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, will hold the first procedural vote on major gun control legislation since 1993. Compromise seems to be in the air, as Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), indicated in a joint press conference yesterday.   “I’m a gun owner, and the rights that are enshrined […]

Gun Control Proposals and the Second Amendment

Since the shooting that left twenty children and 7 adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday, members of Congress from across the political spectrum have proposed new gun control legislation. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and a lifelong member of the NRA who shot a rifle in his 2010 campaign ad, told […]

West Virginia Braces for Post-Sandy Blizzards

As millions on the East Coast – from Maine to the Carolinas – face flooding, wind damage, dangerous debris, and power outages, West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian states are also facing dire straights as blizzard conditions spin off of Hurricane Sandy. Half a million West Virginians are currently without power. Authorities closed nearly 50 miles […]

Record Settlement in West Virginia Mining Explosion

At $210 million dollars it’s the biggest settlement in the history of US mining disasters. But will it change the culture that led to the deaths of 29 West Virginia men? The Takeaway speaks to West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall about the Upper Big Branch mining disaster.