In The News

APPLE GROVE — It took a lot of work to make Friday’s groundbreaking happen at Nucor Steel West Virginia in Mason County. Crews set up massive tents and lined up 550 shovels, stretching half a mile in an attempt to get the groundbreaking into the Guinness Book of World Records. Dignitaries attending the event lauded the efforts of state and local officials in enticing the company to invest $2.7 billion in the small community of just over 25,000 people. West Virginia taxpayers also had a role to... Read More

Elected officials, corporate executives and members of the public all participated in the groundbreaking for a new steel plant in Mason County on Friday. With a countdown from 10,550 shovels of dirt moved at the site of Nucor’s future steel plant, in an attempt to clench a world record for number of people in a groundbreaking. Gov. Jim Justice, U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, state lawmakers, local leaders, Nucor workers and students from three high schools officially kicked off... Read More

APPLE GROVE — Nucor Steel West Virginia not only broke ground on its new $3.1 billion steel mill at the Mason County community of Apple Grove, it also broke a world record in the process. After 550 people in a nearly half-mile line used shovels for the groundbreaking ceremony, an official with Guinness World Records declared the site as the world record for the most people in a single line dig. Susana Reyes, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records, said the previous record was 250... Read More

MASON COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – The largest steel company in North America, Nucor Steel, held its groundbreaking ceremony in Mason County on Friday, and construction should begin right away. Construction for the new Nucor facility is supposed to take two to three years. Once it’s completed, hundreds of jobs will be brought to Mason County. Nucor is being celebrated because of the overwhelming excitement locals and Nucor officials feel about Nucor finding a new home in West Virginia. “This is as big as... Read More

MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — A groundbreaking ceremony for Nucor’s new $3 billion steel sheet mill took place Friday in Mason County, marking what may be the biggest industrial project in West Virginia history. There has already been extensive site preparation work on the 1,700-acre site since the project was announced in January 2022. The state-of-the-art steel mill is expected to employ about 800 workers and 2,000 construction workers will be involved in building it. Officials said that’s just... Read More

Area lawmakers pledged their support Thursday for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas. As expected, the Israel-Hamas war was the main topic of discussion during individual media briefings with U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., and U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va. Capito said she had the opportunity to talk with two American families who have relatives being held hostage by Hamas. “The terrorist attack in Israel is still reverberating around the world,”... Read More

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are urging the Biden administration to freeze the $6 billion in funding recently made available to Iran, which they argue has a history of supporting acts of terrorism through Hamas. Capito is backing the Revoke Iranian Funding Act, a measure in the U.S. Senate that aims to rescind the general licenses that enabled the release of $6 billion to Iran and to prevent the Iranian regime from accessing and using the... Read More

The announcement by the Biden administration of a $7 billion investment in the development and distribution of hydrogen as a major alternative energy source in this country has the potential to be a significant economic boon for our region. The federal government chose the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania as one of the recipients of nearly $1 billion in federal funding to jumpstart the production, transport and use of clean hydrogen. The... Read More

WASHINGTON (WV News) — U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito are both supporting efforts to freeze Iranian assets amid growing tensions in the Middle East. Capito, D-W.Va., joined with colleagues in backing the Revoke Iranian Funding Act, which aims to stop the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds held in Qatar. Manchin signed on to a letter urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make freezing the assets an official policy of the U.S. government. The funds in question were part... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC (LOOTPRESS) – This week, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), along with 23 of her colleagues, introduced the Revoke Iranian Funding Act. The legislation, which was led by U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), aims to rescind the general licenses that enabled the release of $6 billion to Iran and to prevent the Iranian regime from accessing and using the funds held in Qatar to finance terrorist attacks against Israel or any other nation. In addition, the bill directs the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the country needs to continue its support with one their closest allies, Israel. “Now is the time to unabashedly and unapologetically support Israel,” Capito said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. More than 1,400 people have been killed including 31 American citizens since the initial attacks from Hamas on Saturday, October 7. Numerous people have also been taken as hostages. Capito calls this war from Hamas “an unacceptable tragedy.” “I condemn... Read More

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday are proposing legislation to block children from using social media in school, preventing access to the platforms on poorer schools’ networks that receive federal broadband subsidies, the latest in a growing crop of bills to bar younger users from sites such as TikTok and Instagram. The measure illustrates how policymakers are turning to a broadening and increasingly aggressive arsenal of tools to try to restrict children’s online activity amid concerns about... Read More

The announcement by the Biden administration of a $7 billion investment in the development and distribution of hydrogen as a major alternative energy source in this country has the potential to be a significant economic boon for our region. The federal government chose the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania as one of the recipients of nearly $1 billion in federal funding to jumpstart the production, transport and use of clean hydrogen. The... Read More

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott on Tuesday introduced a bill along with 22 other Republicans and one independent lawmaker to permanently refreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue that was released as part of a deal to free five American detainees. That money has since come under intense conservative criticism and drawn vocal defenses by White House officials -- who note the money has never been used and is for humanitarian purposes -- in the wake of a terror attack by the Palestinian militant... Read More

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday during the first Senate GOP press conference since Hamas attacked Israel that the White House will need to draft a "broad" spending bill for aid to Israel that includes "credible" solutions to the border crisis.  "There's a connection between all of this, and I am not surprised, frankly, that the administration seems to be inclined to send up a broad package," McConnell said after telling reporters that the attack on Israel is... Read More

FOLLANSBEE — News that the city is expected to become part of a network of hydrogen fuel suppliers and other developments involving Empire Diversified Energy were discussed before and during Monday’s Follansbee Council meeting. “Kudos to Empire for making this happen. They have been working very hard for this,” Mayor David Velegol Jr. said of the company, whose riverfront property is expected to be part of one of several regional hubs involved in the production and transport of hydrogen fuel and... Read More

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia was a longshot to be chosen as one of seven regional hydrogen hubs to receive nearly $1 billion in federal funding. Despite an emphasis on locating the hubs near international ports, the Appalachia Regional Clean Hydrogen team won over Biden administration officials during the six-hour in-person interview. “The level of collaboration, the level of mutual respect, the teamwork between the industry, academia, labor, and the communities that is something over six... Read More

MORGANTOWN – Sen. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and former Rep. David McKinley joined with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and dignitaries from across the state on Monday to celebrate the selection of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) as one of seven such hubs across the nation. Granholm described all the clean, green uses for hydrogen – transportation, industry, home energy, agriculture and more. “It is the most versatile energy source. And you here, in West... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WTRF) — As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito shared where she stands on the horrific events still unfolding. The Senator said she is standing with Israel after the Israelis were brutally attacked by Hamas, a military organization that is the de facto government of Palestine in the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories. The attacks on Israel came on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Senator Capito expressed her... Read More

Area lawmakers Friday applauded the announcement of West Virginia’s selection as the site of a hydrogen hub, a project that is expected to create upwards of 20,000 jobs. A trio of elected officials, including U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Gov. Jim Justice all discussed the economic development announcement Friday. Manchin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected... Read More