A termination letter involving a former top official at the now-defunct agency that ran West Virginia's foster care and substance use support services is public information, a state appeals court ruled this week, siding with the television station that was denied the letter.
The public interest in the firing of former Department of Health and Human Resources Deputy Secretary Jeremiah Samples — who was the second highest-ranking official in the state's largest agency — outweighs concerns about privacy violations, West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Judge Thomas E. Scarr said
