An incident involving Huntington police destroying people’s personal property is raising questions about ethical conduct for public officials and the journalists who cover them. Bodycam footage from the July 8 incicident shows police officers joking about throwing away homeless individuals’ belongings.

That footage was then leaked to one local news station a few days later, which resulted in a highly edited piece that omitted the callous commentary and cast the department in a more favorable light. The station’s news director also happens to be married to the captain of the police department.

Two days before Christmas, the wife of a West Virginia lawmaker called 911 telling the operator she was concerned about him drunkenly handling assault rifles and screaming at people looking at Christmas lights in their neighborhood.

Six candidates for Huntington City Council and one for the mayoral race have seemingly violated a campaign finance law that should have prevented them from appearing on the ballot. If they win, their candidacy could be challenged in court.

From claims about providing health care in West Virginia to saying he’s “negotiated with ISIS” on behalf of US intelligence, De Soto appears to have campaigned on a largely fabricated picture of his life.

Now, he’s running unopposed for the House of Delegates with the backing of the West Virginia Freedom Caucus.

Body worn camera footage shows how officers mistook a community leader for a shooting suspect. Officers quickly realized that Mike Kelly, despite matching the description of a “tall, Black male”, had nothing to do with the shooting in question.

When police are fired or allowed to resign in “lieu of termination” for misconduct in West Virginia, they can switch departments. Public records show what happened and where they end up.

An investigation into an anonymous website revealed Caiden Cowger, the Director of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia, set up the site to make claims about candidate Moore Capito’s personal life. Cowger’s role as a member of the Upshur County GOP Executive Committee calls into question the group’s relationship to Capito’s opponent, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

A 2022 report from the US Army Corps of Engineers has identified decades of government development without appropriate precautions as a factor in flooding. Residents are holding out hope that government agencies can help stop the flooding, but are pessimistic.

Charleston police arrested 16 unsheltered people the day before the city’s multi-million-dollar annual festival. Records not only show police coordinated the arrests with the city’s municipal court and event coordinator, but they fit an 18-month trend of police targeting the city’s unsheltered population.

West Virginia politicians try labeling fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” and are spreading misinformation about it in hopes of bringing back the death penalty.

According to a DHHR email obtained by Dragline, a bill that put the animal tranquilizer on the controlled substance schedule (SB 546) also made the distribution of test strips for it illegal. Without testing, experts say overdose crisis will worsen.

As West Virginia lawmakers passed an abortion ban aimed at “closing the only clinic in the state,” they stirred up an army of supporters, ushering in an increase in financial support for the organization. Despite discontinuing abortion services at that clinic, the Women’s Health Center is expanding the healthcare services it provides in state and is opening a second clinic in Maryland — one of the states with the fewest restrictions on abolition in the nation.

House Minority Leader and President of HD Media, Doug Skaff (D – Kanawha), allegedly directed staff to delete a story about his 2015 gambling scandal from the paper’s website. Reporters who’ve worked under Skaff say his conflicted presence undermines the Pulitzer Prize-winning paper’s integrity.

A new study from ACLU and Human Rights Watch reveals W. Va. leads nation in termination of parental rights.

During a protest outside of President Brad D. Smith’s office, students were invited inside to discuss their own frustrations over the University’s handling of sexual assault cases. After their protests, students sat down with Dragline to discuss the interaction with Marshall’s president and their demands moving forward.

A Dragline survey shows 38 percent of police departments in the state put images of people they’ve arrested on their social media accounts. Departments say it’s a valid form of publicizing the work they do. Critics say it’s a return to the days of government-backed public humiliation.

At the intersection of the overdose crisis and most concerning HIV outbreak in the nation, there is still no cure for stigma.

Despite their progressive reputations, Huntington, Charleston and Morgantown struggle to implement solutions in tackling homelessness.

People who were on Suboxone at the time they were arrested report being denied access to the medication in state jails. Experts say the consequences can be deadly.

A nationwide survey of 45 states showed by 2019, West Virginia was leading the nation for fatal overdoses in jails. Two months after that report was released, the state stopped reporting overdose deaths to the public.