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The number of food stamp recipients (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) fell in Texas in 2013, dropping 4.6 percent from a year earlier to 3.9 million recipients in December 2013. Nationally, SNAP caseload declined by 2.1 percent from December 2012 to December 2013 as the job market gradually warmed up. California’s SNAP caseload bucked the national trend, increasing 4.1 percent to 4.3 million recipients, the second-largest percentage increase in the nation behind Maryland. Eleven states saw an increase in their SNAP rolls, Maryland, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Nebraska and Rhode Island , while...

Shelley Moore Capito largely has avoided national attention. Now her U.S. Senate race has raised her profile as one of the Republican Party's best hopes to tip the chamber's balance of power. The party could win a narrow majority this fall if it holds onto its 45 Senate seats and takes six of the 55 held by Democrats, including that of West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller, who is retiring. She is one of the few moderate candidates out there and has the right profile in this state to become the first Republican senator since the 1950s. If she beats her Democratic...

It looks like the Democrats are steadily losing the war on women. The state of West Virginia, which votes for Republican presidents but has a Democratic governor and state legislature, passed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks because babies are viable outside the womb and can feel pain. West Virginia is the first Democrat-ruled state to do so, and the vote was not even close: The state’s Democrat-led House the House passed the bill 85-15, according to the Associated Press. The Senate had previously passed the bill 25 to 9, according to the Herald Dispatch. The outstanding support for...

A grand jury has indicted parents of an 11-year-old girl in West Virginia who were arrested after arranging for an abortion following a case of pregnancy after incest. West Virginia State Police say they consented to the abortion and the abortion clinic in question didn’t report the abortion to authorities. Michael and Amanda Adkins were arrested on charges of child neglect causing the risk of injury. While some licensed medical professionals were involved in getting information to authorities, WSAZ-TV indicates the abortion clinic in Charleston that did an abortion did not report the clear case of statadkinsutory rape. On Wednesday,...

Over the weekend the West Virginia House and Senate put the finishing touches on a hugely important bill. If Gov. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs HB 4588– The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act– West Virginia’s unborn babies, who can feel pain, will be protected from abortion. If there is not a compelling state interest in protecting unborn children from such a hideous death, what would qualify? If Gov. Tomblin signs the bill into law, West Virginia will join ten other states and the United States House of Representatives that have passed similar bills. If Governor Tomblin signs the bill into...

CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Parents, who were originally charged last year in connection with a child abuse case in Cabell County, are expected to be in court Wednesday to answer to new charges. West Virginia State Police say Michael and Amanda Adkins will answer an indictment related to incest and child abuse charges. These are additional charges, following a year-long investigation from when the couple was first arrested. They were arrested in March 2013 after State Police say they consented to two abortion-like procedures within 15 days for their 11-year-old daughter.

A West Virginia prison inmate has been accused of threatening President Barack Obama and his family via mailed letters. Robert Dale Tasker, 43, is charged in an indictment with three counts of threatening Obama and one count of threatening the president's family. The alleged threats were mailed in December and February. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison on each count.

March 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As the media debate the reason abortions declined over the last few years, pro-life voices say the record number of new laws restricting abortion played a role. The year 2014 is already shaping up to follow the trend of substantial pro-life legislation. Arizona Abortion facilities will no longer receive advance notice of state inspections, if the governor signs a proposed law. The state House of Representatives passed the measure, allowing unannounced health inspections of abortion facilities, by a vote of 34-22. Florida A woman tricked into ingesting an abortion-inducing drug that killed her child wants...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A bill to prohibit abortions later than 20 weeks after conception has passed the West Virginia House and will be sent to the governor to sign into law. On Saturday, the House passed the bill 85-15 with two delegates not voting. House Speaker Tim Miley denied requests to talk about the bill. The Democrat from Harrison said lawmakers had too many bills to get through. West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin says he's concerned that a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks could be unconstitutional.

A US senator is asking the federal government to take this remarkable step: completely ban Bitcoin. Joe Manchin, a Democratic senator representing West Virginia, sent a letter Wednesday to the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and other regulators characterizing the virtual currency as encouraging "illicit activity" as well as being "highly unstable and disruptive to our economy."

Unborn babies who are capable of feeling pain are one step closer to protection from gruesome death by dismemberment abortion in West Virginia. The House Judiciary Committee passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.B. 4588) Friday afternoon on a voice vote. Now that H.B. 4588 is out of Judiciary, the bill will go to the House floor for first, second, and third readings. After a favorable vote (and it should pass by an overwhelming margin), the bill will be sent to the Senate. fetalpainAll week long pro-lifers around the state have been following the progress of H.B. 4588. Initially...

**SNIP** Midterm elections are often a reflection of the approval rating of the incumbent president and now President Obama stands at 42.8%. And elections in the 6th year of a PresidentÂ’s term are usually not good for the incumbentÂ’s party. To make things even worse for Democrats, the issues of a weak economy and Obamacare make November look bleak for Harry Reid and his Senate Democratic cohorts. â—¾Alaska, Mark Begich â—¾Arkansas, Mark Pryor â—¾Louisiana, Mary Landrieu â—¾Michigan, Open Seat (liberal Democrat Carl Levin retiring) â—¾Montana, John Walsh â—¾North Carolina, Kay Hagan â—¾South Dakota, being vacated by retiring Democrat Tim Johnson...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- North Dakota residents had the highest well-being in the nation in 2013, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. South Dakota trailed its northern neighbor in second place, with its highest score in six years of measurement. Hawaii held the top spot for the previous four years, but fell slightly last year. West Virginia and Kentucky had the two lowest well-being scores, for the fifth year in a row. North Dakota rejoined the top 10 well-being states in 2013 after being among that group from 2009 to 2011. South Dakota was among the top 10 in well-being for...

Unborn babies who are capable of feeling pain won a great victory in the West Virginia House of Delegates. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.B. 4588) passed out of the House Health and Human Resources Committee without debate on February 17, 2014, and the Judiciary Committee plans to have it on the agenda on Friday, February 21, at 8:00 a.m. Any pro-life West Virginian with a delegate on the Judiciary Committee should contact their delegate and urge them to pass this important lifesaving legislation. For a list of WV Delegates on the Judiciary Committee, click here or see below....

Today, scores of parents will have to start looking for a new daycare. Three Kanawha County daycare centers will be closing soon. The daycare centers are at the Capital Complex, Shawnee, and Elk Center schools. The county says they’re too expensive to operate and have been losing $65,000 since the beginning of the school year. The buildings are in major need of repairs, too. And there are concerns about added costs because of the Affordable Care Act. Parents impacted by the closures are frustrated and now worried about waiting list to get their child into another daycare.

Three day care centers in Charleston, W.Va., are citing costs related to Obamacare as part of the reason they are closing down. Fox affiliate WVAH-TV reports that 40 workers are employed by the centers and will find themselves out of a job. Kanawha County, which operates the centers, said they had lost $65,000 since the start of the school year as a result of expensive repairs and “concerns about added costs because of the Affordable Care Act.”

nside of the Pizza Hut in Kermit, West Virginia surveillance cameras captured one of your worst fears coming to life. "Oh my god, he just peed into the sink," said Tracy Johnson of Mingo County, while she watched the surveillance video. The video recorded a few weeks ago shows a man walking over to the deep sink and urinating in it. The same sink used to wash kitchen utensils and supplies. The Pizza Hut Corporation has confirmed the man in the video is a Pizza Hut District Manager. "Made me sick out of my stomach to think that I ever...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A West Virginia House of Delegates committee has voted to pass a bill to limit abortions after 20 weeks. The proposal passed Monday in the Committee on Health would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks unless a physician deems a woman's medical complications pose a risk to her life or would cause irreversible physical impairment. This does not include a woman's psychological or mental condition. The bill would also compel physicians who perform abortions after 20 weeks to do so in such a way that provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive.

A group of Democrats are urging Walmart to follow CVS Caremark and discontinue selling tobacco products. The seven Democrats said Walmart, the nation’s biggest retailer, is also the nation’s biggest seller of cigarettes. “We recognize the legality of selling and profiting from tobacco products; however, Walmart’s position as the nation’s largest retailer of any kind puts your company in a unique position to contribute to the health and well-being of all Americans<” the Democrats said in a letter to the company. The letter’s signatories included Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the number two Democrat in the Senate. The letter stats that...

The leadership of the West Virginia House of Delegates failed to protect unborn babies from suffering excruciating pain during abortions here in the state of West Virginia. They voted against an opportunity to act on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the House chamber on Tuesday, February 11. westvirginia3bMinority Leader Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha) made the motion to Discharge the Committee and bring the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to the floor of the House. The vote to Discharge the Committee failed 48 to 48. The vote was along party lines with the Republicans voting for the bill and two...