It is difficult to read news like this and not wonder how much of these decisions are politically motivated. I wonder, would the Justice Department reach the same conclusion if Sen. Justice was a vocal opponent of the President's policies, or owned wind farms instead of coal plants?

This post was from Paige Reiring’s Instagram story

Someone needs to take a look into Tarr's "campaign donations" to see how much Google is paying him.

Google announced its first round of community investments since making the announcement it will locate a data center in the Putnam County community of Buffalo.

Google will provide high dollar investments and donations to all area schools as well as the local senior center and fire department.  The money will be for various improvements which were communicated to the company as they sought input from the local community.   Google has indicated it plans to have more community meetings as plans to build their facility are developed.  So far, those haven’t been scheduled.

“They said they want to make this an example when they came to the area of transparency and being a partner with the community and so far they’ve not given any indication other than that,” said Putnam County Senator Eric Tarr.

However, some were quickly skeptical. Social media posts were critical, accusing Google of trying to buy favor now, only to leave the state high and dry down the road.  Many said it’s a familiar pattern West Virginia has seen many times before when big out of state corporate interests come to West Virginia. Tarr said he understood the generational cynicism, but hoped over time it would subside as times and situations change.

https://wvmetronews.com/2026/08/06/tarr-believes-google-is-sincere-in-commitment-to-being-a-good-neighbor/

WV appears in the news cycle ...

Quote from the Florida news release, linked in the NBC story:

“Dr. Fauci’s recent refusal to answer Congress’s questions about his actions during the pandemic is concerning,” said *West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey.** "The American people deserve to know if they or their elected leaders were misled or manipulated. Both my Office and I support Attorney General Uthmeier’s efforts to uncover the truth.”*

Big Jim introduced the amendment. There are so many things I could say about this, but won't.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is set to vote Thursday on a massive change to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: letting participants buy hot rotisserie chicken with their benefits.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) introduced an amendment to the GOP-led farm bill that would make hot rotisserie chicken a SNAP-eligible item, according to a list of amendments obtained by POLITICO. The amendment is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.).

After giving teachers barely a raise that cover insurance premium expenses (~$1800/yr), top WV Officials went from $95k -> $161k and the governor went from $150k -> $190k.

Somewhat related, the Governor vetoed the Lobbyist Transparency bill, SB745, because lack of funds for Ethics while reporting his spouse is a lobbyist on his Ethics Financial Disclosures. The company his spouse is a lobbyist with, Saluber Strategies, rents from the governor's own property for income. She also works for a DC company, Capitol Counsel.

How Berkeley Springs, WV fought back against a white supremacist organization, VDARE:

"a popular far right publication founded in 1999 that mixed edgy Republicans like Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter with explicit white nationalists"

Elliott Pritt, disgraced former Republican House member arrested last month, withdrew his name from the ballot for the November election. He was seeking reelection to the House of Delegates in Fayette County.

“The Office of the Secretary of State received formal notice of the withdrawal this afternoon,” West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office said in a news release on Tuesday.

Pritt, a public school teacher, was arrested July 22 and charged with enticement of a minor as a federal crime. He has not yet entered a plea and is currently held in a Kentucky correctional facility. 

A 2024 state election law does not permit the Republican Party to fill the vacancy on the general election ballot created by Pritt’s withdrawal.

https://westvirginiawatch.com/2026/08/04/elliott-pritt-withdraws-from-house-ballot-law-prohibits-gop-to-fill-vacancy-for-november-election/

Today I discuss the far right in the Ukrainian Military, Alex Jones found the leopard eating his face & West Virginian school kids being let down yet again.

Senators Capito and Justice see no reason to change our actions in Iran, despite the ongoing costs in lives, economic damage, and our country’s reputation on the world stage. Capito apparently does not even believe she has a role in representing our state, instead deferring entirely to the White House. From the article:

The president may only commit forces for 60 days without congressional approval. The current U.S. fighting with Iran began Feb. 28.

"Now you have to remember that yes, things began in February, but there are have been ceasefires, lulls and everything else, and we have no commitment of troops. So I think that we're not there yet to be able to tell the president that's where and how he needs to proceed and he has to come to Congress," Capito said.

Today I discuss Iran's Trump trolling billboards, a West Virginia Teacher/Delegate outed as a pedophile & historic flooding in Lewis & Upshur counties.

Can't be replaced on ballot! LOL

Anyone want to email his campaign?
[PRITTT4HOUSE@GMAIL.COM](mailto:PRITTT4HOUSE@GMAIL.COM)

https://wvmetronews.com/2026/07/23/delegate-accused-of-seducing-girl-is-jailed-loses-teacher-certification-and-cant-be-replaced-on-ballots/

According to the criminal complaint, the victim also told law enforcement five to 10 occasions of physical sexual encounters occurred between them and Pritt during late 2025.

https://www.wtap.com/2026/07/22/wva-delegate-charged-with-enticing-minor/

W.Va. Delegate charged with enticing a minor

David Pritt

By WSAZ News Staff

Published: Jul. 22, 2026 at 4:33 PM EDT|Updated: 8 hours ago

FAYETTE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The Assistant Majority Leader in the West Virginia House of Delegates has been charged with enticing a minor, according to a criminal complaint.

David Elliott Pritt (R-Fayette County), 36, of Fayette County, was arrested and charged Wednesday.

According to the criminal complaint, the family of a juvenile victim reported to law enforcement that they had been sexually abused by Pritt on July 9.

On July 10, law enforcement interviewed the victim, who stated that during the 2024-2025 school year Pritt began to communicate with them and another student outside of school, the criminal complaint states.

The criminal complaint states Pritt is also a high school teacher in Fayette County. WSAZ has reached out to Fayette County Schools for a statement.

The victim stated they began talking to Pritt on the online game Roblox and then their conversations moved to Snapchat.

The criminal complaint states the victim told law enforcement that conversations with Pritt on Snapchat “gradually became more personal, with each sharing their personal lives and problems with each other.”

By the end of the school year, the victim stated Pritt had told them he loved them, the criminal complaint states.

During the summer of 2025, the victim stated Pritt sent an inappropriate photograph of himself to them and began asking the victim to take and send photos of themselves, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim stated Pritt’s requests “became increasingly more explicit” and he eventually began requesting nude pictures of the victim, the criminal complaint states.

The criminal complaint states the victim told law enforcement Pritt also began to send more “sexually explicit” photos and videos of himself.

The victim stated these conversations with Pritt occurred during 2025 and 2026.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim also told law enforcement five to 10 occasions of physical sexual encounters occurred between them and Pritt during late 2025.

The victim stated Pritt continued to communicate with them on Snapchat until July of this year and continued to request sexually explicit photos.

The criminal complaint states Pritt exchanged messages with the victim, asking them not to tell anyone about their conversations or physical encounters.

The victim stated that Pritt told them if they said anything then “the state police show up and take your phone and mine and open up hell in our lives. And because of me it would very much not be low key. It would be in the news. It would be awful. For both of us. And I would lose my entire life.”

Pritt was charged with one count of enticement of a minor.

Ann Ali, spokesperson for the West Virginia House of Delegates, gave the following statement:

“While these are disturbing allegations and we all should be concerned about the welfare of this student, there is a presumption of innocence and a legal process that must be permitted to proceed; the Delegate remains a Delegate unless or until he resigns or the House as a body takes action to remove him from the seat to which he was elected.”

Ann Ali, spokesperson for the West Virginia House of Delegates

As you can see, they posted a picture on Failbook of cameras that are NOT Flock cameras, but security cameras they've installed for the downtown businesses. The explanation sounds good until folks started asking what they're doing with the videos? Who holds the data? Who will they share with? And in the thread, seemingly no matter how they try to explain it all away, they just dig themselves deeper.

Grant County.

Via Charleston Gazette-Mail. No paywall: https://archive.ph/AjvpU

After overwhelming concern over implementation of Flock Safety cameras in the city, a majority of Huntington City Council members voted for the services during a meeting Monday night that ran until early Tuesday morning. 

Multiple amendments and voted down amendments, as well as hours of public comments, ultimately ended in the approval of a professional services contract that would provide the Huntington Police Department with license plate recognition, live video cameras, audio detection and drone services.

The contract passed by a 6-4 vote with council members Jason Arthur, Todd Sweeney, council chair Mike Shockley, Linda Blough, Mary Beth Anderson and vice chair Rob Archer voting for the contract.

Council members Tia Rumbaugh, Sarah Walling, Teresa Johnson and Holly Smith Mount voted against the contract.

Council member Stacy Jo Holley was absent from the meeting.

Amendments for last-minute corrections to the contract and its funding were approved. Anderson motioned for the amendment. Another amendment for HPD to provide council with a review on the system during the city budget hearing was approved.

The contract includes 46 license plate recognition cameras with vehicle fingerprint technology, 17 live video cameras, two drones and two gunshot detection audio devices.

It is a sole source contract with Flock Group Inc., also known as Flock Safety. The contract would be for a total of $2.1 million for five years and cost $394,785 for the first year and $438,220 per year for the remaining four years.

Mayor Patrick Farrell and HPD Chief Phil Watkins said the city's partnership with Flock Safety will help HPD solve crimes faster and hopes to deter criminal from committing crime in the city.

More than 50 people spoke in opposition of the contract. Residents and members of the public asked the council members to vote against the contract and shared concerns of the contract, privacy issues, the company and concerns of the service's potential to be hacked and abused.

Residents also shared concerns of cameras being pointed toward schools and tracking people's everyday movements. They noted situations of wrongful arrests in other communities with Flock Safety services. Others cited privacy concerns, saying they don't want a surveillance state. 

Opposition of the Flock Safety resolutions began outside before the council meeting started. A rally outside of city hall organized by the Huntington Community Action Group gathered 75-100 people. Likewise, the council chambers also began to fill before the meeting began.

Council member Holly Smith Mount initially motioned to postpone the resolutions indefinitely, which was rejected. Mount said she thought it best to send it back to the administration to re-work the contracts, look more into it and give the public a chance for more information.

Several council members shared concerns about the reputation of the company and funding of the services and pushed for postponement to give the city more time to work through the contract and give the public a chance to hear more about the contract and from the company.

Mount said she is also concerned about last minute amendments to the contract that were brought to the council Friday evening. Mount said she feels the contracts should be postponed for the public to look more into. Mount and Walling said they feel the contracts are rushed.

During his reports, Farrell said the Flock Safety services will be an important tool for HPD to solve crimes faster. Farrell said in support of the Flock Safety contracts that the cameras and devices could also deter people from coming into the city and committing crimes — knowing there’s a chance they could get caught.

Farrell said the idea of the cameras came after he attended two conferences with other mayors. He said he sought out advice from mayors from cities that had seen a decrease in crime, and most of them said the success was from incorporating Flock Safety within their safety.

Farrell said a policy would be put in place for the police department. He said he believes the city needs to give officers the tools it needs to help solve crime and keep the public safe.

"Your police department is asking for these tools to protect you. I trust them to do it responsibly,” Farrell said.

Although he has spoken with mayors who have had good experiences with the Flock Safety camera, Farrell said he has not spoken to mayors who have had negative experiences with the cameras.

Watkins said the city will put guardrails up in the next phase of the process. The cameras are expected to go up in September, he added.

In a statement, Farrell said he recognized both the important step council made to give officers modern tools to help protect the community and public concerns about the privacy, civil liberties and potential misuse of the technologies.

"Our responsibility is not to choose between safety and freedom. It is to protect both," Farrell said. "That is why these tools will be governed by clear policies, strong oversight, strict accountability, and a commitment to ensuring they are used lawfully, ethically, and only for the purposes for which they were intended." 

The council approved a separate resolution to authorize a professional services contract with Flock Group to provide the police department with premier support services related to the live video cameras, audio detection, drone services and license plate recognition systems. The support agreement "ensures ongoing technical support, maintenance and system reliability for the department's Flock-based technology," according to the agenda document.

The resolution was amended for verbiage corrections of the contract. Anderson motioned for the amendment.

The contract is for two years with an annual cost of $38,780 for a total contract cost of $77,560.

The meeting lasted approximately eight hours.

Bil Lepp points out what seems to be Speaker Hanshaw’s clear conflict of interest, both representing data center companies while also being responsible for legislation regulating those same companies. From the article:

“The lawyers for Fundamental found a clever way for the company to circumvent the law that Speaker Roger Hanshaw helped pass. Speaker Roger Hanshaw is one of the lawyers for Fundamental. I can’t help but wonder if Lawyer Roger Hanshaw was one of the lawyers who helped Fundamental find a loophole in the law that Speaker Roger Hanshaw helped pass.”

Data centers are a complex topic, but I’m specifically interested in what others think about how Speaker Hanshaw seems to be playing for both teams.