Latest news with #Lauren'sLaw
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Yahoo
Stories of the Week: April 20 through April 26
CLARKSBURG, – Here are some of the top stories this week on the WBOY 12News Facebook page. The Randolph County Board of Education voted this week to fire 33 staff members. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed Lauren's Law to increase the penalties for bringing fentanyl and other drugs into West Virginia. The Ronald McDonald House in Morgantown said recent funding cuts should not significantly affect its operations. Former ESPN sportscaster and Clarksburg native Mike Patrick died at the age of 80. Twelve University High School students committed to serve the United States during Military Signing Day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
3 WVU students have visas restored by federal government
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Three students at West Virginia University who had their student visas revoked by the Trump Administration earlier this month have now had them restored. According to Shauna Johnson, WVU's Executive Director of Strategic Communications, the university is aware of three students who have had their information restored into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) as of Friday afternoon. Johnson said all three attend the Morgantown campus. 12 News previously reported that a total of seven people—four students and three alumni—across the WVU system had their visas revoked. However, Johnson said that as of Friday, that number had climbed to nine total people, including three at WVU Institute of Technology in Beckley. On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) informed 12 News that it had filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on behalf of Sajawal Ali Sohail, a 25-year-old WVU student from Pakistan who had his visa revoked on claims that he had a criminal background. Gov. Morrisey signs Lauren's Law in Morgantown On Friday, ACLU-WV confirmed that Sohail was one of the three WVU students whose visa had been restored, as well as Marshall University student Shival Vyas, who was granted a temporary restraining order against the Trump Administration earlier this week. This is positive news not just for our two clients in West Virginia, but for international students across the country. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, particularly the announcement that ICE will be developing new policies for revoking legal statuses. We want to be clear that the administration is backing down not because it's the right thing to do, but because they have been dragged to court repeatedly and lost again and again. Statement from ACLU-WV On Friday, The Hill reported that 1,500 international students will have their visas restored by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after numerous lawsuits. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter said that student records in SEVIS will also be restored, The Hill reported. He added that ICE will create a new 'framework for SEVIS record terminations,' and that in the meantime, all student records that have been removed from SEVIS will be restored. This story has been updated to correct information provided by WVU officials. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
Morrisey signs bill into law increasing criminal penalties for drug dealers in WV
Gov. Patrick Morrisey speaks in Morgantown, during the signage of Senate Bill 196 on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (West Virginia Office of the Gov. Patrick Morrisey | Courtesy photo) Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Thursday signed into law a bill to drastically increase criminal penalties for dealing and transporting certain types of drugs in West Virginia. Senate Bill 196 — dubbed Lauren's Law in honor of a Morgantown woman who died in 2020 after accidentally overdosing on drugs laced with fentanyl — passed the Legislature during the last days of the 2025 regular session. The bill introduces mandatory minimum sentences into state code for transporting cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into West Virginia and removes alternative sentencing options — like probation or home confinement — for those who are jailed on those charges. It also increases sentences against those charged with manufacturing, delivering or possessing with the intent to deliver a Schedule I or II narcotic or meth from one to five years up to three to 15 years. Anyone who is charged with those crimes who has more than five grams of fentanyl, among other quantities of other drugs, could face 10 to 30 years in jail. The law uses weight requirements that can make someone delivering a drug containing any fentanyl to be charged with conspiracy. It also includes language for the crime of delivering a drug that results in someone's death, with increased penalties for failing to render aid to someone who is overdosing. During the bill signing on Thursday, Morrisey said he believes the law will be crucial to enhancing enforcement against drug crimes and deterring drug dealers from operating in the state. 'In West Virginia, we all know we've had a long and arduous history fighting substance abuse. It goes back many, many decades, and it's ripped through our communities like a vengeance. It's destroyed many lives. It's laid waste to generations of West Virginia,' Morrisey said. 'Lauren's Law, we think, can be instrumental in helping our state deal with the drug epidemic. It's part of the enforcement side of the equation, and it takes direct aim at the drug dealers.' But advocates for people who use drugs and people in recovery worry that the law will do more harm than good. Oftentimes, people who use drugs are also dealing them as a way to pay for their addictions. And it's not uncommon for individuals to be unaware that the drugs they are using or dealing contain fentanyl, advocates told West Virginia Watch upon the passage of SB 192 in the Legislature. This bill, the advocates say, could open up low-level dealers to heightened penalties that will make it even more difficult for them to get help for their disease. There is no data that shows stronger drug penalties anywhere curbing overdose or fatality rates related to the drug epidemic. Instead of seeing higher criminal penalties that could have unintended consequences for people with substance use disorder, those in recovery and addiction spheres would like to see the state focus more on public health investments that are proven to lessen the impact of addiction on communities. But SB 196 was only one of a handful of bills that was passed by the Legislature this session concerning drugs or addiction. And none of the bills that did pass related to public health initiatives, treatment for addiction or support for people with substance use disorder. 'The answer [to the opioid epidemic] is in public health investment. The last few years, we've seen our state — thanks to COVID federal funding — make additional investments in public health resources, in getting opioid reversal drugs into the hands of people who are using and people who care about them, and we've seen the fruits of that,' Sara Whitaker, the senior criminal legal policy analyst at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, told West Virginia Watch earlier this month. 'SB 196 has none of that, and it's not going to change anything for the better.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Morrisey signs 'Lauren's Law' to boost drug penalties
Apr. 24—MORGANTOWN — Gov. Patrick Morrisey vowed vigilance Thursday afternoon as he signed a bill into law that will deliver harsher penalties to those found guilty of trafficking drugs causing death in the Mountain State. "We're gonna constantly be looking for you, " he said. "We're gonna be targeting you, and by God, we're gonna hold you accountable." Senate Bill 196, is now officially known as "Lauren's Law " on the books in West Virginia. The law delivers penalties of up to 40 years in prison to offending dealers. Lauren's Law increases penalties for drug-related crimes, including enhanced sentencing for the delivery of fentanyl ; increased penalties for transporting fentanyl into the state and conspiracy to transport ; mandatory prison sentences for top-tier drug offenses ; creating a new offense for delivery resulting in death, with a mandatory 10-to 40-year sentence ; and creating a new offense for offenders labeled "drug kingpins " with a mandatory sentence of 10-to-40 years. The bill is named in honor of Lauren Cole, a 26-year-old Morgantown woman who died in 2020 after taking a dose of heroin laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl, in its medicinal, prescription form, is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. The governor, who calls the drug "a weapon of mass destruction, " said families and communities here have languished under its shadow for too long. West Virginia regularly leads the nation in drug overdose deaths. With Lauren's parents, Michael and Cherie Cole, looking on, Morrisey signed the bill just down the hall from Lauren's Wish — a nonprofit, 24-bed triage center they helped found in the years after their daughter's death. The center, which offers counseling and additional help to overdose survivors, is located in Hazel's House of Hope on Scott Avenue. It just saw its 900th client earlier this year. That's a sad irony, Michael Cole said. Lauren was a social worker who was good at her job and often counseled those battling addiction. Right before she died, she had talked with her dad about launching just such a clinic. "We gotta save our kids, " he said after the signing. "We're losing a generation." Cherie Cole brushed tears while holding on tight to the pen the governor had used to sign the bill carrying her daughter's name. "Lauren, we did it, honey, " she said.
Dominion Post
25-04-2025
- Health
- Dominion Post
Morrisey signs 'Lauren's Law' to boost drug penalties
MORGANTOWN — Gov. Patrick Morrisey vowed vigilance Thursday afternoon as he signed a bill into law that will deliver harsher penalties to those found guilty of trafficking drugs causing death in the Mountain State. 'We're gonna constantly be looking for you,' he said. 'We're gonna be targeting you, and by God, we're gonna hold you accountable.' Senate Bill 196, is now officially known as 'Lauren's Law' on the books in West Virginia. The law delivers penalties of up to 40 years in prison to offending dealers. Lauren's Law increases penalties for drug-related crimes, including enhanced sentencing for the delivery of fentanyl; increased penalties for transporting fentanyl into the state and conspiracy to transport; mandatory prison sentences for top-tier drug offenses; creating a new offense for delivery resulting in death, with a mandatory 10- to 40-year sentence; and creating a new offense for offenders labeled 'drug kingpins' with a mandatory sentence of 10-to-40 years. The bill is named in honor of Lauren Cole, a 26-year-old Morgantown woman who died in 2020 after taking a dose of heroin laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl, in its medicinal, prescription form, is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. The governor, who calls the drug 'a weapon of mass destruction,' said families and communities here have languished under its shadow for too long. West Virginia regularly leads the nation in drug overdose deaths. With Lauren's parents, Michael and Cherie Cole, looking on, Morrisey signed the bill just down the hall from Lauren's Wish – a nonprofit, 24-bed triage center they helped found in the years after their daughter's death. The center, which offers counseling and additional help to overdose survivors, is located in Hazel's House of Hope on Scott Avenue. It just saw its 900th client earlier this year. That's a sad irony, Michael Cole said. Lauren was a social worker who was good at her job and often counseled those battling addiction. Right before she died, she had talked with her dad about launching just such a clinic. 'We gotta save our kids,' he said after the signing. 'We're losing a generation.' Cherie Cole brushed tears while holding on tight to the pen the governor had used to sign the bill carrying her daughter's name. 'Lauren, we did it, honey,' she said.
