News from the South - West Virginia News Feed
Red states embrace Trump’s crackdown on remote government work
Red states embrace Trump’s crackdown on remote government work
by Kevin Hardy, West Virginia Watch
February 20, 2025
A yearslong conflict over whether Nebraska’s governor can unilaterally force state workers back to the office will ultimately be sorted out by the state’s highest court.
The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, challenged Republican Gov. Jim Pillen’s November 2023 order requiring workers in offices full time. The group argues that Pillen cannot do so without labor contract negotiations.
Justin Hubly, executive director of the union, said most of Nebraska’s state employees would continue working from physical offices, as they did before the pandemic. But he said many state jobs could be performed remotely.
“Who cares where our IT application developers are working, what time of the day they’re working, as long as their assignments are done in a timely matter?” he said.
Hubly said the issue has become needlessly politicized in Nebraska and across the country. In recent weeks, Republicans in states nationwide have echoed President Donald Trump’s skepticism that government work can be effectively done remotely.
“It seems that everything in America today has to become a political issue and then immediately has to be chosen to be a conservative red-state issue or a liberal blue-state issue,” Hubly said.
Last week in the Oval Office, Trump repeated his rationale for requiring federal workers to be in the office, part of his push to shrink the workforce. He claimed without evidence that many of them are balancing two jobs and only devoting 10% to 20% of their government time to working.
“Nobody’s going to work from home, they’re going to be going out, they’re gonna play tennis, they’re gonna play golf,” Trump told reporters.
Experts say the president’s push has turned the work-from-home debate into a partisan fight.
“I would analogize it to many states launching their own DOGE commissions, to sort of signal affinity with what’s happening in Washington,” said Peter Morrissey, senior director of talent and strategy at the Volcker Alliance, a nonprofit that works to support public sector workers.
Earlier this month, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine ordered state employees back to their offices starting March 17. Similarly, Oklahoma GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an order in December that requires employees to work full time from offices as of this month. And Republicans who control Wisconsin’s legislature are pushing legislation and pressuring the state’s Democratic governor over the issue.
In Nebraska, a labor court last July ruled against the public employees union, though the union has appealed the decision to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The July decision came down on a Thursday, and Pillen said he expected state workers to be back in offices the next Monday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is long over, and it is likewise long overdue that our full workforce is physically back,” he said at the time.
Before Pillen’s executive order, 2,250 employees in Nebraska’s 25 largest agencies were working remote or hybrid, said Pillen spokesperson Laura Strimple. She said 1,100 — or 8% of those agencies’ workers — are now working remotely or hybrid and that the state is “still evaluating available space in the future to return even more public servants.”
The politicization of remote work
Like private employers, states have been grappling with the complications of remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic. But nearly five years later, the issue is as political as ever.
Trump is requiring a return to office in part to have federal employees quit as his administration seeks to shrink the government workforce, according to a November Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Department of Government Efficiency task force head Elon Musk and his then-DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy.
This is clearly all about reducing headcount. By making work more unpleasant, the hope is employees quit.
– Nicholas Bloom, economics professor at Stanford University
Morrissey noted that state, local and federal governments compete with the private sector for workers. And with less competitive pay in many government roles, a lack of flexible work arrangements could prove a competitive disadvantage — particularly for some of the most specialized workers.
He added that legitimate debate over worker productivity and taxpayer savings related to remote work should not be an excuse to use “the public workforce as a culture war item or a punching bag.”
Morrissey expects state political leaders will leave flexibility for agency directors and department management to craft hybrid or remote work arrangements.
Even the White House’s order allowed agency leaders to “make exemptions they deem necessary.”
Research has found slight productivity dips from remote work, though it can help with employee recruitment and retention, said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University who researches remote work.
Fully remote workers also can deliver employers significant cost savings through reduced office expenses and less employee turnover. But evaluating the performance of remote employees is tricky, particularly so in government work. Bloom said hybrid arrangements — such as requiring workers to come into the office three days a week — might make the most sense for governments to maximize productivity, employee satisfaction and office savings.
“This is why 80% of Fortune 500 companies have managers and professionals on a hybrid schedule,” he said.
But Bloom views the Republican return-to-office trend in government as a way to reduce staffing. Employees often prefer to work remotely and view hybrid schedules as providing the equivalent benefit of an 8% pay increase.
“This is clearly all about reducing headcount,” Bloom said. “By making work more unpleasant, the hope is employees quit.”
Republicans rethinking remote shift
Long before the pandemic, the Utah government embraced remote work as a way to cut costs.
Then-Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, called himself a “televangelist for telework” in 2019, after a successful pilot program. As governor, Cox in 2021 signed an executive order requiring state agencies to review whether work could be performed remotely. The order said remote work saved taxpayers millions, improved Utah’s air quality by cutting commutes and improved employee satisfaction.
But last month, Cox said the state is reevaluating its framework.
He said remote work could lead to increased productivity — if it’s accompanied with specific oversight and training. But those guardrails weren’t always implemented when the pandemic suddenly sent state workers home, he said.
“You don’t just send people home with a computer. It’s much more detailed than that,” Cox told reporters.
Cox said the state had been bringing more workers back into offices over the past few years as the administration weighs both employee productivity and taxpayer savings.
“Remote work has its place, but so does being together,” he said.
In Wisconsin, the remote work debate has split state leaders along partisan lines.
In November, Republican House Speaker Robin Vos proposed as part of the budget requiring all state workers to return to offices three or four days per week.
“A lot of employees aren’t working or they’re working only from home and not doing it very well with very little supervision,” he told a local television station.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers pledged to veto any such requirement. He noted that Wisconsin in recent years made significant efforts to hire workers across the state outside the major population centers of Madison and Milwaukee.
More than a dozen state agencies have already consolidated office space as the administration sought to develop a work environment better suited to help with employee recruitment and retention, Evers’ office said in a statement to Stateline. In recent years, Wisconsin’s government has shed 230,000 square feet of office space with nearly 400,000 more planned, according to a January report.
The governor’s office said reversing course now would drive up costs and negate millions of expected taxpayer savings. Implementing in-office work arrangements would require more private lease arrangements or reopening buildings that are slated for closure and sale.
Aside from ongoing budget negotiations, Republican lawmakers introduced stand-alone legislation that would require employees who worked in offices before the pandemic to return by July 1.
State Republican Rep. Amanda Nedweski, who leads the state Assembly’s new committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency, or GOAT — mirrored after Trump’s DOGE effort — testified last week in favor of a Senate return-to-work bill. But she said the majority caucus isn’t against remote work entirely.
In an interview, Nedweski pointed to a 2023 legislative audit on remote work that found the state lacked data on the extent of remote work and recommended more detailed monitoring.
Nedweski said there may be potential efficiencies from telework, but said the state needs “to get a handle on who’s doing what and from where and why.”
“And what are they missing out on by not having that opportunity to collaborate with co-workers on a regular basis?” she said in an interview. “We miss out on the opportunities to innovate when people are isolated and not working together.”
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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
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News from the South - West Virginia News Feed
WV Supreme Court will hear BOE’s appeal in vaccine lawsuit — but not right away
by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
September 5, 2025
West Virginia’s highest court will take on a legal battle over the state’s school vaccination requirements, but it denied a request by state school officials that it do so quickly.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday set a deadline of Dec. 12 for the West Virginia Board of Education to prepare its appeal of a Raleigh County judge’s July ruling against it. That ruling was in regards to a lawsuit brought by three Raleigh County families over the board’s refusal to accept religious exemptions to the state’s mandatory school vaccine requirements.
Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble in July granted a preliminary injunction in the case that allows students in the case to attend class with a religious exemption to the vaccination requirements.
The school board had filed notice of appeal and asked the high court to both expedite a review of the appeal and temporarily halt the proceedings in the lower court.
In the scheduling order Thursday, the court denied both motions. Justices also set a deadline of Jan. 26 for the plaintiffs in the case to respond to the board’s appeal. The board will then have until Feb. 16, 2026 to write a reply, if necessary.
After the Feb. 16 reply brief deadline, the court writes, the appeal will be ready for review.
The Raleigh lawsuit is one case in a legal battle over religious freedom and the state’s strict school vaccination requirements. Every state requires school students to be vaccinated against a number of infectious diseases including polio, chicken pox and measles. Florida officials announced this week plans to eliminate its vaccine mandates.
West Virginia has been one of only five states that have not allowed students to opt out of the shots because of their religious or philosophical objections to them.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order on his second day in office requiring the state to allow religious exemptions. His order is based on the 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act. He argues that the religious freedom law, when read alongside the vaccination law, calls for the religious exemptions.
Morrisey has not rescinded that executive order, even though the state Legislature earlier this year rejected a bill that would have established those religious exemptions in state code.
Raleigh County Circuit Judge Michael Froble has scheduled a two-day hearing next week on a permanent injunction in the lawsuit, which he recently consolidated with a lawsuit brought against the state health department by two parents of immunocompromised students over its issuance of religious exemptions. Plaintiffs in that case are represented by the ACLU of West Virginia and Mountain State Justice.
The hearing is set for Sept. 10 and 11 at the Raleigh County Judicial Center. During that hearing, the judge has said he wants to consider issues that include whether the state’s vaccination law is constitutional without religious exemptions and the authority of Morrisey’s executive order.
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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
The post WV Supreme Court will hear BOE’s appeal in vaccine lawsuit — but not right away appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content presents a factual and balanced overview of the legal dispute surrounding vaccine exemptions in West Virginia without evident partisan language or framing. It reports on actions taken by government officials, court decisions, and ongoing lawsuits from multiple perspectives, including those of the state board, families, and advocacy groups. The neutral tone and focus on legal developments suggest a centrist approach, aiming to inform rather than persuade toward a particular political viewpoint.
News from the South - West Virginia News Feed
Christian’s Morning Forecast: Strong to Severe Storms Incoming
SUMMARY: Storm Watch meteorologist Christian Boler reports strong to severe storms approaching West Virginia, especially McDow, Tazewell, and Wyoming counties during the morning commute. Temperatures will remain in the upper 60s to low 70s with southwest winds around 5-10 mph. A marginal severe weather threat exists across the region, mainly involving winds and flooding, but no tornadoes or hail expected. Rainfall of a quarter to half an inch is likely over 48 hours with isolated downpours. Storms will arrive in two waves before clearing Friday. Another front may bring showers Saturday, but high pressure will clear skies for the weekend and beyond.
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News from the South - West Virginia News Feed
More states guarantee students the right to school-day religious instruction off campus
by Robbie Sequeira, West Virginia Watch
September 4, 2025
In the past month or so, federal courts have dealt a string of blows to conservatives’ push for the biblical Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools.
Yet as states lose over required religious displays, many are working on another route to faith-based education by allowing kids to attend off-campus religious instruction. This year, Iowa, Montana, Ohio and Texas passed laws guaranteeing parents the right to have their children excused during the school day for free, off-campus religious instruction, often called “released time.”
Those four states are the latest of at least 12 that require school districts to offer released time religious schooling upon parental request, including: Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin.
The released time approach may be more likely to pass constitutional muster than other government-imposed religious efforts, experts say, by shifting influence off school grounds and under the direction of faith-based groups rather than public school teachers, and by making it free to students.
A 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Zorach v. Clauson allows for released time religious instruction as long as it’s off school property, privately funded and parent permitted.
“Not every family has access to private or parochial school, but for many generations families have been able to take their students out of school for a portion of the day for religious education if they choose,” said Jennifer Jury, a program advocate for LifeWise Academy, an Ohio-based Christian nonprofit founded in 2018.
The organization has been active in expanding its reach and lobbying lawmakers for stronger legislative support. This school year, LifeWise expects to serve nearly 100,000 public school students across 1,100 schools in 34 states, Jury said.
The off-campus gatherings work the same way in most states: With parents’ approval, public school students sign out of school during a lunch, recess or study hall block. Students will either walk or ride one of the distinctive red LifeWise buses to a local church or a program-leased community building in town.
And depending on state limitations for the religious instruction, for either a half or full hour, kids will learn about the Bible. When the allotted time is up, students go back to their public school to finish the day.
In some states, students can earn academic credit for the off-campus instruction, which has been more controversial.
In Montana, for example, legislation that would have required school districts to develop policies for academic credit was amended to “authorize” a district to allow credit, after pushback from the state’s school boards and school administrators associations.
“School districts should have the autonomy to determine which external coursework aligns with the academic frameworks and whether such courses should be eligible for credit,” Rob Watson, who represented the two groups at the legislature, said in his comments to a House committee in February. He noted the groups did not oppose the released time policy itself.
Despite the changes, only one Democrat in the legislature voted “yes.” Montana GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law in May.
Supporters had touted the academic credit option as a way to entice homeschooling families to consider public schools. In her interview with Stateline, Jury noted similar programs that accommodate Jewish, Muslim and Mormon faith-based teaching for public school students.
“Whether a person is religious or not, the Bible is widely recognized as one of the most influential books in history,” Jury said. “A lot of our Western culture was born out of ideas that come from the Bible, like the fact that every person is created equal, that we are to love our neighbor.”
Identical bill language
The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, in August adopted model legislation about released time policies that state lawmakers can propose.
Public schools would be required to allow dismissal for religious instruction under new bill
ALEC’s proposal would allow from one to five hours per week of off-campus religious instruction and would require school districts to award academic credit if the course meets certain criteria. Districts would have to assess instruction based on secular standards and would not be allowed to test for particular religious content, according to the model legislation.
Nearly identical language had already appeared in several state bills, including in North Carolina and West Virginia this year and in Mississippi in 2023. In North Carolina, LifeWise Academy registered with the secretary of state’s office in 2024, as reported by NC Newsline, and a released time bill was introduced in February. It was sent to committee but never moved ahead.
The bills in Mississippi and West Virginia also stalled.
Legislation that does become law earns praise from groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the nation’s most active legal organizations opposing abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
Statements from Greg Chafuen, senior counsel for the nonprofit’s Center for Public Policy, say the new released time laws respect “parents’ educational decisions” and ensure “parents are in the driver’s seat when it comes to their kids’ education.”
An Indiana law lets high school students leave school for religious instruction each week for an amount of time equal to one elective course. Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee laws allow students to earn elective credit for released time religious instruction, though it cannot replace a “core curriculum” class. School boards can set standards for when such programs qualify for credit.
LifeWise operates in each of those states.
Ten Commandment displays
Jury, of LifeWise Academy, said her organization wants off-campus religious options for public school students to be available in all 50 states.
“It’s important to note this is an option, and parents are the ultimate decision-makers in enrollment,” she said.
“We would love to see every student in the United States have the option to attend a program like LifeWise if they want to and if their parents want them to.”
A lack of parental choice might be what trips up state efforts to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
This is an option, and parents are the ultimate decision-makers in enrollment.
– Jennifer Jury, a program advocate for LifeWise Academy
After Louisiana last year became the first state in recent decades to require that the Ten Commandments, a central tenet of the Judeo-Christian tradition, be displayed in school classrooms, bills followed in at least 15 other states. Two states — Arkansas and Texas — enacted laws.
But for now, courts have blocked the mandates in all three states. In Texas, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery warned the displays “are likely to pressure [children] into religious observance” and undermine parents’ rights.
In Arkansas, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks called the state’s requirement to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments “plainly unconstitutional.”
The law “is not neutral with respect to religion,” he wrote. “By design, and on its face, the statute mandates the display of expressly religious scripture in every public-school classroom and library.”
He also noted that the law “requires that a specific version of that scripture be used, one that the uncontroverted evidence in this case shows is associated with Protestantism and is exclusionary of other faiths.”
Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes West Virginia Watch, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
The post More states guarantee students the right to school-day religious instruction off campus appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
This content presents the growing trend of religious education programs in public school contexts with a generally favorable tone, highlighting legislative successes primarily in conservative-led states. The coverage includes references to conservative organizations such as ALEC and Alliance Defending Freedom, and discusses efforts to expand religious instruction in a way that aligns with conservative values emphasizing parental choice and the role of faith in education. However, it also acknowledges the legal challenges and concerns over constitutional boundaries, providing a balanced view that avoids outright advocacy or criticism. The framing and topics suggest a center-right perspective that supports religious accommodations within public education while respecting legal constraints.
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