West Virginia House Speaker calls for investigation into RISE flood relief program

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Commerce fired its second-in-command as the result of a bungled contract that prompted a freeze on a roughly $150 million flood recovery effort.

Brian Abraham, general counsel for Gov. Jim Justice, said in a phone interview Tuesday evening that a $17 million contract involving RISE West Virginia, a roughly $150 million operation that distributes money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to people whose homes were damaged by the deadly June 2016 flood, was improperly executed.