West Virginia

National coverage

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/9476352

This kind of debt likely means that he's for sale, which is not great when it comes to public officials

I've only had some localized high water, but co-worker just posted to group chat that authorities are advising people in his area to seek higher ground.

Stay safe. Turn around, don't drown!

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - It has been two weeks since a U-Haul crashed into the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association. What remains is a giant hole in the building covered by tarp. And the inside where that hole sits is still a daily reminder of that chaotic day.

“Its been kind of a learning process. We are trying to see what works and what doesn’t work,” said Angie Gillenwater, Community Engagement Manager at KCHA. “We know that there’s definitely a long journey ahead of us, there’s a lot of gray area a lot of I don’t knows right now.”

In terms of what’s next, Gillenwater said the rebuilding process is expected to be a long one, with about $100,000 worth of damages and repairs. But she said since the accident they have been able to raise about $60,000 from the community.

“We’re looking at about a month of operating at half capacity, a month of having a hole in the side of he building. Hopefully once that month is up, three to four weeks once that’s up, we should be putting pieces back into the building, putting our pieces back together and rebuilding.”

And looking ahead -- it’s out with the old and in with the new

“We want to keep that momentum going of getting animals out of here and getting them into homes. Like I said, we do know there is a long journey ahead. We are prepared for any type of news ahead of us, good bad great, great news. Whatever it is, we are prepared and we know that we are going to come out on top of this, possibly even stronger than we were before,” Gillenwater said.

Around 10:45 this morning, every device in my house was screeching with a NWS tornado warning. Considering it was almost noon and getting very, very dark out, I ushered the dogs down to the basement and grabbed my laptop (I work from home).

My area was pretty lucky and didn't get much damage (power was flashing like a strobe light but ultimately stayed on).

This all went down like 90 minutes ago, so I've only got some preliminary photos from local news and ones my friends sent.

And, yay, another strong storm forecast to come through around 3:30.

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Tree demolishes a car

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Billboard blows down in Ona, damaging nearby homes

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Tractor trailer knocked over on the road in Cabell County

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Trees down all through South Hills.

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A facade blew off a building in Charleston

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A billboard leveled in Kanawha City

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Utility lines heavily damaged in Dunbar

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Sam's Club door frame blown in in Southridge

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Tree knocked down traffic lights on Kanawha Blvd

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Many, many trees down in 5th Street Hill

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This asshole (yeah, it's a little guy, but we typically don't get many tornadoes here)

Phone blowing up with tornado warning alerts, sirens blaring outside.

Currently chilling in the basement with the dogs waiting for this to blow over.

Update: Worst of it seems to have passed.

West Virginia’s Republican-dominated Legislature pushed forward a slate of contentious bills Wednesday that would arm teachers, allow people to sue libraries over books that offend them and restrict where transgender kids can use the bathroom at school.

Described by conservatives as efforts to protect children while they learn, the legislation comes as GOP-led state Legislatures across the country are embracing bills expanding gun rights and restricting LGBTQ+ rights.

“This is the only way really that I can see to defend these students,” Republican Del. Bill Ridenour said before lawmakers in the House Education Committee greenlit the bill allowing K-12 public school staff with concealed carry licenses to volunteer to carry firearms on campuses.

All three bills are opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. The state’s only LGBTQ+ advocacy organization has decried the bathroom and book proposals.

In Weirton, W.Va., in the heart of coal country, a company started by MIT scientists plans to build a plant that will produce a metal and alloy critical for clean energy, fuel cells and cleaner steel.

In Vernon, Texas, also a former coal town, a third-generation wind entrepreneur plans to manufacture turbines suitable for remote, rural locations.

And in Vandergrift, Pa., and Louisville, Colo., a window maker plans to retrofit aging factories to produce thin, insulated units that help make buildings more energy efficient.

They’re all projects getting federal funding designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers bring clean-energy jobs to former coal communities, part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package signed by President Biden in 2021. The Energy Department announced the projects on Monday.

The program is an effort by the Biden administration to win support for its agenda to reduce American dependence on coal, oil and gas, the main drivers of global warming. But it also points to the broad realization that as the world transitions toward cleaner energy sources like wind and solar, workers in fossil-fuel industries — as well as regions that depend on them — risk getting left behind.

Coal mining jobs have declined precipitously over the past decades, and there were less than 50,000 miners left in the United States in 2022, half the number 10 years ago, according to the latest figures from the Energy Information Agency.

And these energy workers haven’t been finding clean-energy jobs, despite the rapid growth in industries like solar and wind. A recent study that examined 130 million online work profiles found that in 2021, fewer than 1 percent of all workers who left jobs like coal, mining and oil and gas transitioned to “green” jobs in renewables.

Coal workers, in particular, have struggled in the transition, the study found. Less than a quarter of a percent of workers who left a fossil fuel job in West Virginia moved onto a job in renewable energy, said E. Mark Curtis, an economist at Wake Forest University who led the study. Education was another factor: Fossil fuel workers without a college degree were significantly less likely to find clean energy jobs.

“In places like Texas or in the middle of the country where there’s a lot of solar and wind, fossil fuel communities are relatively well positioned to take advantage of renewables,” Mr. Curtis said. “Coal communities generally don’t have that, especially when you think about Appalachia.”

He said it made sense for government funding to target former coal regions, and to focus on manufacturing projects, because data showed that former fossil fuel workers most frequently sought to switch to manufacturing jobs. “I think that’s a very viable type of transition for a lot of these workers and communities to make,” he said.

With the grant program, the United States is also trying to reclaim more clean-energy manufacturing, which China and other countries have come to dominate over the past decade.

The goal is to “bring new economic opportunities and ensure these communities continue their key role in strengthening America’s national and energy security,” said Jennifer M. Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

The program will distribute $275 million to seven projects in its initial round and the D.O.E. said it expects its funding to be matched by about $600 million more in private investment.

The companies building the new plants said they are eager to tap local expertise. “The most valuable asset for the project is a legacy work force that has played a significant role in the U.S. metals industry” Tadeu Carneiro, the chief executive of Boston Metal, said in an interview.

Its new West Virginia plant expects to hire 200 to 250 people and will manufacture ultrapure chromium metal and high temperature alloys that are critical materials needed for clean power, fuel cells and steel. Currently, foreign manufacturers dominate those materials.

West Virginia Northern Community College, which teaches about 1,600 students in Weirton, said in a letter of support for the project that it was ready to set up courses and internships for students interested in jobs at Boston Metal.

The proposed project, it said, “can help revitalize metals manufacturing in the region after decades of decline.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8481673

Zach Shrewsbury faces an improbable task to replace the conservative Democrat in the face of a Republican onslaught – but he won’t be put off.

To launch his campaign for US Senate, Zach Shrewsbury chose the site of one of America’s most famous hangings.

Charles Town, West Virginia, was where state authorities executed the abolitionist John Brown after he led an attack on a federal armory a few miles down the road in Harpers Ferry, a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the civil war. One hundred and sixty four years later, Shrewsbury – who decided against attempting to get a permit for the event at the site of the insurrection, which is now a national park – stood on the courthouse grounds where Brown’s hanging took place to announce that he would be the only “real Democrat” running to represent West Virginia in the Senate next year.

“We need leaders that are cut from the working-class cloth. We need representation that will go toe to toe with corporate parasites and their bought politicians. We need a leader who will not waver in the face of these powers that keep the boot on our neck,” Shrewsbury said to applause from the small group of supporters gathered behind him.

“So, as John Brown said, ‘These men are all talk. What we need is action.’ I’m taking action right now to stand up to these bought bureaucrats.”

Joe Manchin warns second Trump term will ‘destroy democracy in America’ Read more The remarks were a swipe at Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who for the past 13 years had managed to represent what has become one of the most Republican states in the nation. In recent years he has used his power as a swing vote in Congress to stop several of Joe Biden’s legislative priorities – attracting the ire of progressives and prompting Shrewsbury to mount a primary challenge.

A few weeks after Shrewsbury began campaigning, he was showing a friend around an abandoned mining town when his phone rang with news: Manchin had decided not to seek re-election, leaving Shrewsbury as the only Democrat in the race.

By all indications, Shrewsbury, a 32-year-old Marine Corps veteran and community organizer, faces a difficult, if not impossible, road to victory. West Virginia gave Donald Trump his second-biggest margin of support of any state in the nation three years ago, and Manchin is the last Democrat holding a statewide office. Political analysts do not expect voters to elect the Democratic candidate – whoever that turns out to be – and predict Manchin will be replaced by either Governor Jim Justice or Congressman Alex Mooney, the two leading Republicans in the Senate race.

Shrewsbury’s message to them is: not so fast.

“People were really sold on the fact that Joe Manchin could be the only Democrat that could win in West Virginia, and I very much disagree,” Shrewsbury told the Guardian a week after the senator made his announcement.

Also a former governor, Manchin is considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, and when the party took the majority by a single vote in the chamber in 2021, Manchin stopped the Biden administration from passing policies that would have made permanent a program to reduce child poverty, and more forcefully fight climate change.

Sitting in a conference room at the Fayette county Democratic party’s headquarters in Oak Hill, where visitors pass a lobby displaying an American flag, a pride flag, and a stack of Narcan, the opioid-overdose reversal medication, Shrewsbury outlined his plans to run a campaign distinctly to the left of Manchin’s policies – and one he believes can win.

“People want someone who’s genuine. They don’t want a politician. They want someone who actually looks like them. I mean, hell, you can’t get much more West Virginia than this,” said Shrewsbury, fond of wearing flannel shirts and hunting caps.

Among his priorities are creating universal healthcare and childcare programs, and reducing the role of incarceration in fighting the opioid epidemic ravaging West Virginia.

“Everyone here just is thankful for the scraps or crumbs that we get from whoever we elect. And that’s who we keep electing – whoever can keep the little crumbs coming along. I’m trying to say there is a better way,” Shrewsbury said.

He also doesn’t shy away from identifying as a socialist, arguing the term may be less politically damaging than it appears – West Virginia Democrats voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary, and the independent senator, he argues, is popular even with the state’s Republicans.

“If caring about working-class people, caring about people having bodily autonomy, water rights, workers’ rights, makes you a socialist, then call me whatever you want. Doesn’t bother me,” Shrewsbury said.

Raised on a farm by a Republican family in rural Monroe county, Shrewsbury dropped out of college after a semester and joined the marines. In the years that followed, he guarded the perimeter at the US base in Guantánamo Bay, and was deployed to Japan, Malaysia and South Korea before eventually moving to Seattle and then returning to West Virginia, where he realized how bereft his home state was of the prosperity he saw elsewhere in the country and overseas.

“Why can’t my home be as economically profitable as the rest?” Shrewsbury recalls thinking. “It woke me up in the Marine Corps a little bit, and once I got back home, I really just kind of put the nail in the coffin there for what I was gonna be for work. I want to help people.”

He turned to community organizing, seeing it as a way to help a state with the fourth-highest poverty rate in the nation, which is struggling to transition from the declining coal and logging industries that have historically undergirded its economy.

“I know Zach’s a long shot. It’s like David against three Goliaths,” said Pam Garrison, a fellow community organizer. “Zach is able to be hardline when he needs to be. I’ve seen him being forceful and steadfast in his principles and what things are. And then I’ve seen the compassionate and empathy side of Zach too, And that’s what makes a good politician.”

Since 2020, Shrewsbury has helped towns dig out from flooding, door-knocked in the narrow Appalachian valleys – known as hollers – to find out what residents were looking for from the state legislature, and talked to mayors and city councils about the opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes consumer usage of renewable energy, including home solar panels.

Though Manchin played a key role in authoring the IRA, he also nixed the expanded child tax credit, which has been credited with cutting the child poverty rate by half in 2021, the sole year it was in effect. Shrewsbury was outraged by reports that later emerged of the senator privately expressing worries that people would use the program’s money to buy drugs, and jumped into the race.

Despite the state’s conservative leanings, Sam Workman, the director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University, believed Manchin may have had a path to victory had he decided to run. But he said the same cannot be said for Shrewsbury or any other Democrat.

“It’s kind of a fall-on-your-sword moment,” Workman said. “Politics is like sports: you should never say never, but I do not see the Democrats winning the Senate seat, no matter who runs.”

Shrewsbury may be alone in the Democratic primary at the moment, but he expects other candidates to enter. Since launching his campaign, he has not heard from the state Democratic party, nor the national party’s senate campaign arm.

“I’m not exactly what the party wants, because I speak my mind. You know, I’m not going to toe the party line,” he said. “I wish the party would get back in more touch with the workers. But like I said, I have the message that many people aren’t saying.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.one/post/6853686

The thing is, Democrats have always had zero margin for error heading into 2024. Manchin was always unlikely to hang on to his seat. In West Virginia, the likely Republican candidate for Senate in 2024 is Jim Justice, the current governor of the state. Justice was elected governor as a Democrat, but switched parties at a Donald Trump rally in 2017, just a few months into his term, in one of the more pathetic “kiss the ring” maneuvers you will ever see from a full-grown adult. Manchin was most likely toast the minute Justice declared for the seat, and some polls have Justice beating Manchin by over 20 points.

Manchin was going to lose, and Democrats who hoped that he’d help them hang on to the Senate were simply fooling themselves. Frankly, instead of a conservative “Trump-lite” Democrat, the party should go find the most pro-abortion, pro-labor city commissioner in Wheeling and try to run a single-issue campaign on reproductive rights. That kind of candidate can lose just as hard as Manchin would have, but with a lot more dignity.

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – A lawsuit has now been filed against Mountaineer Gas Company and West Virginia American Water Company regarding the gas crisis on Charleston’s West Side.

The law offices of Calwell Luce diTrapano, PLLC, and Forbes Law Offices, PLLC, say the suit was filed on behalf of the 1,100 West Side residents and businesses who were impacted by the outages. The problem began when the force of a high-pressure water main break pierced a main gas line on Friday, Nov. 10, flooding 46 miles of the gas lines with water.

Numerous West Side residents have been without a heat source since the incident, and some were also without water for a few days. Attorney Dante’ diTrapano, co-counsel, says the two companies should have taken more precautions to prevent the incident from happening.

“The presence of water in natural gas lines is dangerous and renders the lines unavailable for use, and hundreds of residents are suffering without heat during consecutive cold evenings,” said diTrapano. “West Virginia American Water knew or should have known that the high-pressure water main was prone to failure because of its construction, joints, layout, and usage characteristics and the lack of standard, required maintenance and repair. And Mountaineer Gas knew or should have known that West Virginia American Water has a history of poor maintenance and repair and catastrophic failure, and they failed to take necessary precautions to prevent the contamination of the gas lines with water.”

As of Wednesday morning, Nov. 15, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin announced 200 customers on Charleston’s West Side have their natural gas service restored.

Mountaineer Gas has told 13 News that it will take three to four days to start restoration of natural gas services, and seven to ten days for full restoration.

They say a representative — in uniform, with an ID and in a Mountaineer Gas vehicle — will have to come into your residence to begin to restore gas services in three to four days. If you are not home, they will leave a note on your door to set up an appointment.

Anyone affected by this is being urged to not fix anything by yourself and to wait for a Mountaineer Gas official.

Attorney Jesse Forbes, co-counsel, says the colder weather adds to the urgency of the situation as residents need the natural gas to keep warm, cook and for other basic needs.

“A major outage such as this creates a dangerous situation for all those affected. With temperatures dropping, people need heat and basic services. There are children living here, a school is closed, and the elderly and those with health conditions are even more susceptible and need help,” said Forbes.

A class action lawsuit was also filed against the gas and water companies by Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler, PLLC. This one is to not allow the companies to seek a rate increase due to its own conduct.

Charleston Fire Department officials are saying it’s important to remember safety during such a stressful time.

The crisis has caused Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary School — which is only a few blocks away from the scene — to close for the rest of the week.

Students will have to log into Schoology each day for their assignments. Anyone who needs help with Schoology can go into the school from 10:30 a.m. to noon, or go to “Schoology office hours” from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. online. Lunches are also available to pick up between 10:30 a.m. and noon.

(WJW) — An invasive species of tick known as the Asian longhorned tick, found in at least 18 states, including West Virginia, has been rapidly spreading across Ohio.

According to scientists from The Ohio State University, the ticks originally arrived in 2021. The ticks are believed to be responsible for the death of three cattle due to severe blood loss, according to Ohio State researchers.

Scientists from The Ohio State University are now conducting research focused on monitoring and managing these pests.

“They are going to spread to pretty much every part of Ohio and they are going to be a long-term management problem. There is no getting rid of them,” said Risa Pesapane, senior author of the paper and an assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State.

“The good news about the ticks, though, is that most tick control agents that we currently have seem to kill them. Still, managing them is not easy because of how numerous they are and how easily they can come back.”

Originating from East Asia, the Asian longhorned tick was first confirmed in the U.S. in 2017, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it may have been here since 2010 or earlier. As of September 2023, the USDA reports the ticks have also been confirmed in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The longhorned ticks appear to enjoy being in a group, as thousands may be found at a time in grass, shrubs, or on animals, according to the CDC. The Asian longhorned ticks possess a unique ability to reproduce asexually, with each female capable of laying up to 2,000 eggs. Moreover, all offspring can reproduce in the same manner, allowing for exponential population growth.

The ticks appear to be less attracted to humans than native ticks, the CDC explains, but have shown a preference for livestock and wildlife including cattle, deer, horses, goats, opossums, raccoons and mice, among other animals. According to the USDA, the tick — about the size of a sesame seed — has also been found on birds such as owls and hawks.

The first tick in Ohio was found on a stray dog on a farm in Gallia County in 2020. During investigations, researchers collected nearly 10,000 ticks within a short period from the infested farm, leading to an estimate of over 1 million ticks in the about 25-acre pasture.

Ohio researchers say they have also identified the tick-borne illness Anaplasma phagocytophilum in a small number of the ticks, which can cause diseases in both animals and humans. Additionally, cases of bovine theileriosis, caused by a pathogen carried by these ticks, have been reported in Ohio, according to the study.

The CDC says a recent study found that the longhorned tick is “not likely to contribute to the spread of Lyme disease in the United States.”

If you believe you’ve found an Asian longhorned tick on you, another person, or an animal, you should remove it as quickly as possible. Then, contact your health department or veterinarian for the next steps, the CDC advises. If you are concerned about the ticks impacting your livestock, contact your state or local agriculture office.

WASHINGTON, DC (WBOY) — Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) addressed reporters from his home state via Zoom Wednesday for the first time since announcing he would not seek re-election to the Senate.

Most of the questions Manchin fielded were about his political future and whether he would seek a third-party run for the White House.

Manchin has said he wants to travel the country, holding town halls and visiting coffee shops, gaging whether there’s a groundswell of support for a more centrist political movement.

When asked point blank if he wanted to be President of the United States, Manchin answered that he had no “burning desire” to win the Oval Office.

“I have an unbelievable burning desire to save the nation,” Manchin said. “If they said ‘you’re the only person who could do it,’ I would do whatever I can to save this nation.”

Manchin made similar remarks in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview Wednesday morning, saying he said he would “absolutely” consider running for president.

He also strongly criticized both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for catering to the “extreme” wings of their respective parties.

“I think there’s other people, other movements that have to figure out—they’ve got to get off their cans and start doing something,” Manchin said. “Because these parties have taken over to where they’ve weaponized us against each other.”

Manchin has been linked to the No Labels organization, which is attempting to assemble an alternative presidential ticket to the two major party front-runners.

Nitter link

via Reddit

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Mothman, Bigfoot and …Sheepsquatch? Although it may not be one of West Virginia’s most well-known cryptids, the Sheepsquatch is still one of the most unique cryptids in West Virginia folklore.

What is it?

The physical appearance of the Sheepsquatch varies between accounts, and is usually described as either:

• A large creature that walks on two legs, similar to a bigfoot or sasquatch.
• A four-legged creature larger than a dog, but smaller than a horse with sharp teeth.

However, the Sheepsquatch is almost always described as having white fur and horns, and stories usually describe the creature as aggressive, with some accounts detailing how the Sheepsquatch would eat horses and other farm animals.

Sheepsquatch and “white thing” folklore

The name “Sheepsquatch” and “white thing” are sometimes used interchangeably to describe the creature in folklore. The term “white thing” is probably most notably featured in White Things: West Virginia’s Weird White Monsters, a book by Kurt McCoy filled with stories about white, hairy monster encounters in West Virginia.

Sightings of Sheepsquatch are far-reaching. The West Virginia Tourism website says sightings of the creature have been reported in the Point Pleasant “TNT area,” and Marion County Tourism reports sightings of Sheepsquatch as far north as Rivesville.

West Virginia Ghosts, an online repository for West Virginia ghost stories, credits the first stories of Sheepsquatch to the book “The Telltale Lilac Bush,” a collection of West Virginia folklore by Ruth Ann Musick published in 1965. One of the stories in Musick’s book titled “The White Thing” tells the story of a woman who encountered a white beast while traveling home from church on horseback.

According to the story, the creature charged at the woman, but retreated back into the trees after she fled on her horse. Once she got home, the woman left her horse outside and went into her house, but the next morning she found her horse dead, with most of the flesh torn from the horse’s bones.

However, whether this is a story of the Sheepsquatch or just another story of a white monster in West Virginia is unknown, and the original story in Musick’s book makes no note of any sheeplike qualities about the monster other than its white fur.

Clio, a website where people can document local historical and cultural sites, also describes the story of a Croatian immigrant who encountered the creature on his way home from work in Marion County in 1929. According to the story, Frank Kozul took a shortcut through the woods after working at the Jordan 93 mine. During his walk home, he claimed to be attacked by a “beast about the size of a large dog with white hair, a bushy tail, and sharp teeth,” though it didn’t leave any signs of injury on Kozul after he escaped.

This story is another example of encounters with white monsters being attributed to the Sheepsquatch, despite the original sorry not making any reference to any sheeplike features of the creature. Are these stories of Sheepsquatch, or possibly another creature entirely? You can read about more reported sightings of the Sheepsquatch on the Cryptid Wiki.

Sheepsquatch in pop-culture

Although not as popular as Bigfoot or West Virginia’s Mothman, the Sheepsquatch has found itself represented in TV shows, video and card games.

Season 1 episode 12 of the show “Mountain Monsters” focuses on the Sheepsquatch of Boone County. During the episode, a team of West Virginia monster hunters constructs a razor-wire trap in an attempt to capture the creature. The first episode of the show “Monsters and Mysteries in America” also contains stories about the Sheepsquatch.

Players of the adventure survival game Fallout 76 can also fight the Sheepquatch in-game, and there’s even a Sheepsquatch plush toy for sale on the game publisher’s website, although it is currently out of stock.

The trading card game MetaZoo released a playable Sheepsquatch card only a few months ago in its Seance set. MetaZoo is a trading card game made for cryptid and ghost story lovers, with each card based on a different ghost story, cryptid or local legend.

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Have you ever felt like visiting all of West Virginia’s most haunted destinations in one go?

12 News is no stranger to covering the spooky lore and ghost stories unique to the Mountain State. Whether you’re a true believer or just enjoy the Halloween “spirit,” West Virginia has plenty of ghost stories to enjoy.

Here are the most well-known haunted places, and a route you could take to see all of them.

Harpers Ferry

No haunted West Virginia road trip would be complete without Harpers Ferry. Some studies have found it’s the most haunted place in West Virginia. Some visitors have reported seeing the ghosts of soldiers performing marching drills and abolitionist John Brown—the man whose raid of the armory is credited with igniting the Civil War.

West Virginia University

West Virginia’s Department of Tourism lists the state’s most well-known university as one of its most haunted places as well. Urban legends tell of the spirit of a little girl named Sally who can be seen dancing in the halls of the Mountainlair, as well as the ghost of Elizabeth Moore walking through E. Moore Hall, which was named after her.

West Virginia Penitentiary

The former prison in Moundsville is “widely regarded as one of the most haunted” in the country, according to WV Tourism. It’s seen several riots, fires and more than 100 executions. Now, visitors say they see a “Shadow Man” haunting the grounds or whispering or arguing coming from the basement.

The penitentiary is open to the public for various types of paid tours, ranging from guided day tours to public ghost hunts or private paranormal investigations.

Blennerhassett Island

In Parkersburg, Blennerhassett Island is known for its history, but locals believe it’s haunted by Native American and Irish aristocratic spirits. Back in 2021, a tour guide told 12 News about how archaeological evidence suggests that there was a Delaware Nation village where the mansion was built and that Native Americans inhabited the island as late as 1767, meaning there are burial grounds on the island.

Silver Run Tunnel

Located on the North Bend Rail Trail just outside of Cairo, The Silver Run Tunnel is the most well-known rail trail tunnel that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman wearing a white dress who was abandoned at the alter by her lover and then killed by a passing train.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

The old asylum in Weston is believed to be haunted due to the number of people who died there while it was in operation. In the 1950s, it was believed to have held more than 2,000 patients, even though it was only supposed to hold 250.

Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park

In Mercer County, Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was built in the 1920s. But Visit Mercer County says six visitors ended up dying during the park’s brief time in operation, including a little girl who died on the swings and a boy who drowned in the pond. It was abandoned in 1966, and when a developer bought it 20 years later, construction crews began work only to find bones and Native American artifacts.

Historic Lewisburg

WV Tourism describes the Lewisburg Historic District as a “hotbed of paranormal activity.” The Old Stone Church served as a hospital during the Civil War, and visitors have heard cries and moans like those of injured soldiers coming from it late at night. Those who have stayed at the General Lewis Inn have reported run-ins with spirits.

The area is also home to the Greenbrier Ghost, or the spirit of Elva Zona Heaster Shue. Elva was found dead in her home, presumably of natural causes, but in the weeks following her death, her mother claimed that she had a vision from the spirit of her daughter, telling her that “her neck was squeezed off at the first joint.” When Elva’s body was exhumed, the medical examiner found she had a crushed windpipe and a broken neck, likely caused by strangulation, according to greenbrierwv.com. The case is known as the “only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murder.”

Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park

This state park in Pocahontas County is home to one of West Virginia’s most prominent and historic Civil War battlefields. Some visitors report smelling gunpowder, hearing galloping horses or even seeing the spirit of a headless Confederate soldier and another soldier sleeping against a tree.

Seneca Rocks and Seneca Caverns

Seneca Rocks was named for the Seneca tribe that once lived in the area. Near Seneca Rocks, the “Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories,” by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, details reports of “time and dimension slips.”

Seneca Caverns nearby has also been reported to be haunted, with guests and employees claiming to see phantom voices and footsteps as well as floating lights, often close to the Council Room where the tribe held meetings and rituals.

West Virginia has so many haunted destinations that this is actually the maximum amount of stops that Google Maps will provide directions for. Visiting all of the top haunted destinations would take you 14 hours and 13 minutes of driving, and you’d traverse 765 miles.

Archive link

Check out the cross-post; Jason Lively is a Lemmy user.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6648743

Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton has been battling severe pneumonia in a hospital intensive care unit, daughters of the famed American gymnast said.

A Tuesday post on a crowd-funding page by Retton's daughter, McKenna Kelley, characterized the Hall of Fame gymnast as being critically ill. Another daughter confirmed the illness to NBC News.

On the crowd-funding site, McKenna Kelley wrote: "My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. She is not able to breathe on her own. She’s been in the ICU for over a week now."

No Exit published September 18, 2021

Source: https://www.playwv.com/longest-poker-game-lasted-14-years-in-thurmond-wv/

According to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the longest poker game ever lasted 14 years and was played at Dun Glen, one of two hotels in Thurmond, WV. The hotel was owned by the McKell family in a town that was often referred to as the Las Vegas of its time.

The town was known for drinking, gambling, and prostitution, with Dun Glen being the hub for all such activities. Thurmond had saloons on one side and brothels on the other. It was also often referred to as “Hell.“

Thurmond is not technically a ghost town

Online poker in West Virginia is legal, but you wouldn’t know it. As of yet, no online poker sites have expressed interest in serving West Virginia.

When you think of poker and the longest game in history, you probably don’t picture it being in a ghost town. And technically, it wasn’t. The supposedly longest-running poker game was played in Thurmond, which to this day isn’t completely abandoned. The 2010 Census confirmed there were still five people residing there. That number had shrunk to three by 2021.

Regrettably, nothing else is known about the longest poker game in history.

The history of Thurmond

In 1844, the town was settled by W.D. Thurmond, who would become a Confederate Army captain in the Civil War two decades later. More people followed Thurmond’s lead and helped turn the settlement into a town, naming it after the captain.

Thurmond eventually boasted its very own post office in 1888. Four years later, a railway depot was built. Eventually, the Dun Glen Hotel, run by the McKell family, became the hot spot to party at. It opened in 1901 and was a popular destination. Unfortunately, arsonists set fire to the hotel in 1930, marking the beginning of the end of Thurmond.

The Thurmond National Bank shut down the next year in 1931, and the McKells moved their New River Bank to another town in 1935. By the 1950s, Thurmond was pretty much a ghost town.

Perception of poker has evolved over the years

Much like the town of Thurmond, the game of poker has transformed tremendously.

Poker has had a reputation, and in some cases still does, for being attached to drinking, drugs, and irresponsible gambling. It was played in the back of bars, restaurants, and in homes in its early beginnings. Smoking used to be permitted at the tables. And if you got caught cheating, you could be met with a bullet.

Fast-forward to 2023. People are now playing poker as their career. Players are signing up for training sites, paying coaches an hourly rate, and studying simulations using solvers.

Poker is now televised and played in some of the most prestigious rooms across the world. People even travel to locations such as the Bahamas, Macau, and Brazil, to name a few, just to play in a poker tournament.

Despite its popularity nowadays, it’s a good bet that Thurmond’s record for the longest game ever will never be broken.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6336065

Two children were found locked inside a barn in West Virginia without any running water or bathroom facilities and their adoptive parents are now facing felony child neglect charges, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office says.

An investigation was launched Monday just before 6 p.m. after authorities received a 911 call regarding the welfare of the children, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

A sheriff’s deputy went to the barn in Sissonville and forced her way inside to find a boy and girl in the 20-foot by 14-foot room, the release said.

The children were locked inside without access to water, a bathroom, food or adequate hygienic care items, authorities said. At the main residence, another small child was found locked inside alone, the release stated.

The adoptive parents, Donald Ray Lantz, 61, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 61, later arrived and were arrested on felony gross child neglect charges, the sheriff’s release said.

Sgt. Joshua Lester told CNN the couple has five adoptive children ranging from 6 to 16 years old.

One child was with Lantz and Whitefeather as they arrived and another was with a separate caretaker.

All five children were placed in the immediate custody of Child Protective Services, Lester said.

CNN has been unable to determine if Lantz and Whitefeather have obtained a lawyer at this time. They are being held at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, West Virginia, on a $200,000 bond each.

Sissonville is about 15 miles north of Charleston.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Marshal Service said a man was arrested in misdemeanor charges Monday morning after a traffic stop in downtown Charleston.

A statement said the U.S. Marshal CUFFED Task Force personnel observed the man acting suspicious near the Byrd Federal Courthouse at around 9:15 a.m. When he was approached by the Marshal Service he got into a van and left the area.

“CUFFED Task Force Personnel observed the vehicle traveling on Virginia Street in Charleston, WV. The vehicle came to sudden stop in the roadway in the 1100 block of Virginia Street E. Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies then conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle,” the statement said.

Charleston PD and US Marshal Service have Virginia Street in Charleston blocked this hour at Leon Sullivan Way. pic.twitter.com/Nu3y6VEqGS

— Chris Lawrence (@WVOutdoors) September 25, 2023

The man was charged by sheriff’s deputies. Neither the specific charges nor the man’s name were immediately released.

The van was towed from the scene.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman who set fire to an abandoned house in Kanawha City that claimed a man’s life was sentenced to spend eight years in prison Monday.

Patricia White, 50, of Charleston, pleaded guilty in July to voluntary manslaughter and second degree arson. She started a fire at the house on MacCorkle Avenue in February 2022.

White was mad at her husband but he wasn’t inside. Firefighters later found the body of Dennis Rutledge, 52, on the second floor.

White, who has admitted to a decades long addiction, was high at the time of the blaze. She apologized during Monday’s sentencing.

“I understand that my behavior was unacceptable and it has had a significant impact on the Rutledge family,” White said from the South Central Regional Jail. “I never intended to hurt anyone. May God be with each family during all of the endurance, the sadness this has brought.”

White’s attorney Joey Spano said White has been a model prisoner and wants to help others once she finishes her prison term.

“She has not had any write-ups and done everything she is supposed to do. She actually plans upon getting out to continue with her sober life and to get inpatient treatment,” Spano said.

Rowe sentenced White to 8 years for voluntary manslaughter and 4 years for second degree arson but decided the sentences will run at the same time.

“She is guilty of two crimes but it’s a single act,” Rowe said. “I see no reason given the circumstances to run those back-to-back. So it’s the further judgment of the court that they be allowed to be served concurrently.”

White will be given credit for time served. Restitution will be determined at a later hearing.

There was no one at Monday’s hearing to speak on behalf of Rutledge. Prosecutors said efforts to contact his spouse or any family member had been unsuccessful.

Jim Justice has filed a federally-mandated financial disclosure for his Senate run, revealing a mountain of assets — with many indicating they produce little or no income — and also a riptide of debt.

Two debts on the filing are promissory notes characterized as between $1 million and $5 million each to Bray Cary, the broadcaster and businessman who served as Justice’s senior adviser, as well as his Cary Foundation Inc. No explanation is provided for the notes, both issued August 31, 2021, shortly after Cary left the administration.

For many years, Justice was described as West Virginia’s only billionaire, but Forbes downgraded him after 2021 debt disputes. He declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate on April 27, facing Congressman Alex Mooney in the Republican Primary and aiming for incumbent Senator Joe Manchin in the General Election.

Mooney, who has millions of dollars in campaign support lined up from the hardcore Club for Growth, already submits required financial disclosures for his position in the House, submitting the most recent one May 25. Manchin, a Democrat, filed his most recent one May 15 for the 2022 financial year.

Justice took 151 days from the time he declared his campaign before finally filing the financial disclosure report. The submission finally went through 134 days after it was first due and took place on the first day a fine of $200 could kick in.

“Governor Jim Justice has created thousands of jobs and saved businesses, like The Greenbrier Resort, and kept companies open in tough economic times. He is a job creator, and his opponent is a self-serving career politician with decades in political office relying on the largest Never Trump group in the country to get him elected to the U.S. Senate,” stated Roman Stauffer, campaign manager for Jim Justice for U.S. Senate.

The DSCC campaign organization representing Democrats in Washington said it wanted to know three things from the release of Justice’s report: Who are any previously unnamed lenders or financers in Justice’s business dealings? Would the filings show any foreign investment in Justice’s financial structure? And is Justice’s personal wealth truly tied up in the businesses themselves?

Justice’s political persona has been as a businessman who can buzz the numbers. His report, like all others, leads with his earned income. In Justice’s case, that’s $250,000 annually as governor, although the report notes he has donated the base pay to the state Department of Education while still paying the income taxes.

Justice’s report also lists his $3,500 wages as basketball coach at Greenbrier East High School.

His list of assets stretches for 147 entries, ranging from checking accounts to the network of companies in his family-owned coal, timber and tourism operations.

The estimated value of the assets was between $37.5 million and more than $1.9 billion.

Yet many of the assets are listed as producing no or little income. The word “none” appears 276 times on the report, sometimes redundantly, to describe what type or amount of income they produce.

A checking account at Bank of Monroe is listed with $1,000 to $15,000. The contents of another checking account at People’s Bank is listed as “none.”

The report indicates Justice has more than $100,000 in People’s Bank stock, more than $50,000 in Caterpillar stock, more than $50,000 in HP stock, along with smaller amounts in other stock accounts.

Line after line lists assets in Justice’s network of family businesses, and many are identified as being of significant value. But the assessment on the filing is that many also do not produce income.

For example, Justice Receivable — one of the James C. Justice Companies, is listed as having value of more than $50 million. But its income is listed as “none.”

Likewise, Justice’s Southern Coal Receivable is listed with a value of more than $50 million but no income.

Virginia Fuel Investment, value over $50 million but no income. Bluestone Resources Investment, value over $50 million but no income. A&G Coal Investment, value over $50 million but income production of “none.”

The report also specifies major debts, with Justice reporting between $37.5 million and $108.1 million in liabilities between promissory notes and lines of credit between 2010 and 2023.

Justice’s companies face waves of financial disputes in court cases, with some now focused on how companies could ever collect. In an $18 million case involving Fivemile Energy Company of Kentucky, lawyers for the Justice businesses have objected that they lack the ability to pay, maintaining that economic headwinds over the past decade have whittled more than 100 coal and farming companies to just a dozen now actively operating.

Lawyers representing the Justice companies, in a federal court filing, noted that depositions by company representatives “painted a consistent portrait of a somewhat disorganized organization whose resources are stretched to the limit with respect to both finances and personnel. The cash that comes in is almost immediately transferred from those entities that have it to those that need it.”

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The newly-appointed Democratic delegate in Kanawha County Hollis Lewis went on WCHS Radio’s 580 LIVE Thursday to discuss his new-found legislative position in the House of Delegates.

“It’s a big honor, you know, it’s one of those things where you put your name down, hope you might get it, and when you get it it’s a good feeling to represent communities that I’ve worked in and been in for a while, so it’s an honor,” Lewis said on 580 LIVE Thursday.

Lewis replaces the now resigned democratic Delegate Doug Skaff, stepping into the role with 17 months on the current term.

He also joins the outnumbered party in the house with an 11Democrat to 89 Republican ratio out of a 100-member body. Lewis said the biggest challenge of course, is being a democrat in a majority republican state, but he’s ready to take on that obstacle.

“As far as that is concerned, we just have to state our position, do what we can to advance, not only agendas that we set forward, but represent the people and the best interests of the people,” Lewis said.

Lewis said his plan is to come into the position with a positive attitude of building bridges with the dominating party and not being so adversarial when it comes to getting work done.

He said the biggest lesson he has learned from his work out in the communities is that flexibility is key, as well as simply listening to what people have to say regardless of whether it’s an opposing view or not.

“Not everybody is going to get along, even if you have the same mission, even if you have the same goals, people have different ways they want to go about executing that,” he said.

Lewis said one of the big issues he plans to confront and try to get work done on in office is the problems within the criminal justice system in the state, a matter he has already been passionate about in fixing.

Another democratic member in the House of Delegates and Chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party Mike Pushkin came on 580 LIVE the day before. He said he was happy to see his friend Lewis joining on but sad to see Skaff go.

“Doug said he was stepping down to focus on business and family, I imagine it would be difficult to run HD Media as well as serve the public in the House of Delegates,” said Pushkin. “Doug is also a very good friend, I’ve enjoyed my time serving with Doug and I wish him the best.”

However, Pushkin went on to say that it was a good call on the governor’s part in appointing Lewis to the position.

“He’s a very well-rounded individual and he will be a great addition to the democratic caucus and the House of Delegates, I look forward to serving with him,” Pushkin said.

Lewis said his goal right now is to simply just get in and get an idea of the current landscape of the House of Delegates as it stands with such disproportionate numbers.

“I’m going to figure out what we can do and figure out how we can influence things maybe that’s not all our agenda, things that we obviously can’t do to the extent that we would like to just because we’re at such a disadvantage as far as numbers are concerned, but I think there’s ways to influence even those things that we couldn’t fully flesh out,” Lewis said.

A Charleston native, Lewis is a graduate of Criminal Justice from West Virginia State University. He then went on to attend law school at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He has held various positions throughout the community since 2013, including one as Kanawha County Magistrate, a member of the West Virginia Parole Board, an adjunct professor at WVSU, as well as serving on the Charleston Area Alliance.

As of Thursday Lewis couldn’t say for certain of the exact date of when he would be getting officially sworn in to the House of Delegates, but he did say that it should be very soon.

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A woman wanted for defrauding several organization that help flood victims has been arrested.

The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant on September 15 for Brittany Hackney. Investigators say Hackney defrauded several organizations helping flood victims.

Deputies say Hackney, 26, of Sissonville, was arrested in Jackson County, West Virginia by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators believe Hackney lied about her home flooding last month and asked for assistance from West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (WV VOAD) and the American Red Cross. Both organizations were helping people in Eastern Kanawha County who had suffered flood damage on August 28.

Both organizations told investigators they provided Hackney with goods and services totaling more than $2,000.

During the investigation it was determined that no homes existed at the address provided by Hackney to the flood relief organizations.

A preliminary hearing date has been set for Oct. 5, 2023 in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

The Charleston City Council is in the process of passing a bill to create Private Outdoor Designated Areas around the city.

Establishments in these areas, often called PODAs, can be approved to serve alcoholic drinks in specific cups that people can carry with them around the area and into other businesses who allow them.

The bill was discussed Thursday at the Committee on Rules & Ordinances. Committee Chairman Chad Robinson plans to hold another meeting at 5 p.m. Oct. 2 to vote on the bill before that night's city council meeting. If approved by the committee, the bill could with a vote by the full council.

Business owners interested in being included in the PODA will meet at 9 a.m. next Thursday at Adelphia’s to discuss the bill.

PODAs were legalized by the state Legislature this year. Huntington has already created a PODA in its downtown. Other cities around the country also use PODAs.

The first proposed Charleston PODA is downtown, covering Summers and Capitol streets between Kanawha Boulevard and Lee Street. Haddad Riverfront Park, Slack Plaza and part of Hale Street also are included. A draft map of the area is available on the city’s website under meetings. There are already plans to expand it.

Smaller PODAs are proposed for the Elk City district of the West Side, on Washington Street from Crescent Road to Pennsylvania Avenue, and on Bridge Road in South Hills.

Robinson asked for a fourth PODA covering Capitol Market and the area around Go-Mart Ballpark.

Businesses interested in serving alcohol in the PODA would need to apply for an S4 license from the state Alcohol and Beverage Control Administration.

Under the current bill, all PODAs would operate on Thursday and Friday from 4-10 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Under state law, the bill has to include the proposed amount of city personnel needed at each PODA. In Charleston, this includes four police officers and two public works employees in the downtown PODA, and two police officers and one public works employee in the smaller PODA.

After questions from council members, city attorney Kevin Baker said there was room for flexibility on how security was provided in these areas so that police aren’t taken away from other areas where they are needed.

Baker also pointed out that there could be some hiccups with the ABCA’s permitting for fairs and festivals coexisting with the PODA.

Other issues, such as the design and material of the cups and signage, are still being discussed. The city manager will have some rulemaking authority with the PODAs.

Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said her administration has looked at other cities with PODAs like Cincinnati and Dublin, Ohio.

“The best cities that we’ve seen have robust communication to business owners -- what you can do, what you can’t do -- but also to the patrons, too,” she said. “Lots of communication for sure needs to be done.”

Kim Rossi owns the building with Stella’s Gelateria and the old Blossom Dairy Co. She opened her business in 2016 because she wanted to see the downtown expand and thrive, she said after the meeting. She said she’s seeing the Charleston that she grew up in coming back after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think it’s just going to bring more revitalization to downtown Charleston and more people who want to come,” she said. “I think it will be a great addition.

A citizens group in West Virginia is suing federal regulators after their Black community and others in Louisiana and Texas were left out of an effort to tighten rules to control cancer-causing air pollution.

The lawsuit filed Monday alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to protect vulnerable communities from cancer-causing chemicals by missing a key deadline.

Pam Nixon, a long-time environmental advocate and member of the Charleston-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety, said she felt like her community was often neglected by the EPA.

“There is no justice yet until all communities are treated the same and until people everywhere are breathing clean air and it doesn’t impact the health of their families,” said Nixon, who got sick after being exposed to a leak from the Institute plant in 1985.

The lawsuit seeks to pressure regulators to update federal emissions standards for facilities that produce polyether polyols — a category of hazardous air pollutants, which include carcinogens such as ethylene oxide.

These facilities are major sources of pollution that disproportionately affect communities of color and lower-income areas, which are often already overburdened by industrial development.

Institute, one of West Virginia’s only two majority-Black communities, faces an increased cancer risk from industrial air pollution at 36 times the level the EPA considers acceptable from the nearby Union Carbide plant — a facility that has helped define West Virginia’s “Chemical Valley.”

The Union Carbide facility, now owned by Dow Chemical, makes ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical that helps produce a wide variety of products, including antifreeze, pesticides and sterilizing agents for medical tools.

A 2021 ProPublica analysis of over 7,600 facilities across the country that increase the estimated cancer risk in nearby communities ranked the Institute plant 17th. On average, the level of cancer risk from industrial air pollution in majority-Black communities across the country is more than double that for majority-white communities, according to ProPublica’s analysis.

Institute was highlighted in a 2021 Mountain State Spotlight and ProPublica story, detailing how Black communities across the country were saddled with a disproportionate health burden from industrial pollution.

Elevated cancer risks also affect the overburdened “Cancer Alley” along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and New Orleans as well as around Houston, Texas, where there are also clusters of polyether polyols production facilities, according to the lawsuit.

The Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Sierra Club joined the Charleston-based organization in the lawsuit against the EPA.

On Monday morning, the environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to perform its required duties by missing a 2022 deadline to update the polyether polyols production source category.

The EPA did not comment and Dow Chemical did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

The EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to review and update emission standards for hazardous air pollutants every eight years. However, the agency hasn’t updated its standards for the polyether polyol production source category since March 2014.

Because regulators missed the original deadline and still have not updated the source category, the lawsuit is asking the court to find the EPA in violation of the Clean Air Act and to compel the agency to update the emissions standards by a swift deadline set by the court itself.

The lawsuit comes after the EPA proposed a string of new requirements in April to reduce the risks to communities by ethylene oxide, including a significant reduction of air pollution from chemical plants. However, these proposed rules don’t address the outdated emission standards for polyether polyol production facilities – like the one in Institute.

While the EPA reviewed the polyether polyol pollutants in 2014, the agency hasn’t made any substantive revisions to the standards for this source category since 1999, according to Adam Kron, an attorney for Earthjustice representing the environmental groups.

The EPA made minor changes to the monitoring standards of polyether polyols based on the technology review in 2014, but the agency decided not to make any revisions based on its risks review — which looks at whether the current standards adequately protect communities against health risks.

In 2016 — two years after the EPA reviewed the standards — the agency determined that ethylene oxide’s cancer risk was nearly 60 times greater than previously thought.

And in 2021, the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General urged the agency to review polyether polyol production before its March 2022 deadline after a report on ethylene oxide-emitting source categories found that the EPA was failing to meet required deadlines for conducting reviews.

The inspector general’s report also noted that the EPA couldn’t guarantee that the current emissions standards were adequately protecting public health because it had fallen behind on reviewing them, according to the lawsuit.

In response to the report, EPA regulators said they planned to complete a review of emissions standards for facilities like the one in Institute by late 2024 – more than two years after the deadline.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Charleston Mayor Amy Goodwin on Monday announced an event called “Here to Serve.” According to a news release, the community meeting gives residents an opportunity to speak with officials in an open meeting to meet members of the mayor’s team, ask questions to officials, share ideas, and troubleshoot challenges as well.

Goodwin said it is always her goal to have representatives from as many departments as possible so that every person who shows up can talk individually with someone who has the answer to their question.

The city is required to have a 10-year plan which her and her team plan to release and hear residents’ thoughts and feedback. This is something Goodwin said is not just about tomorrow, but the future of the city, as well.

“There is simply no substitute for meeting one on one, folks to listen and understand what’s going on in their neighborhood,” she said. “Not only is this a great opportunity to talk about some of the issues that you’re facing in your neighborhood whether it be paving, trash, parks and rec, but also I want you involved in our ten-year plan. We are going to have our comprehensive ten-year plan with us, and I want your input on what you want to see or what you don’t want us to spend our time and money on.”

The first meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Kanawha City Community Center.

Anyone who is unable to attend the Here to Serve events may use the online comment form to provide ideas, feedback, comments to the city of Charleston.

The head of the West Virginia Department of Transportation has approved contracts totaling millions of dollars for a major roadway project between his agency and an engineering consulting firm that employs his son as an engineer.

“It's a concern,” said Patrick McGinley, a West Virginia University law professor and administrative law expert. “The concern, really, is with the appearance of conflict, or appearance of impropriety.”

Department of Transportation Secretary and Division of Highways Commissioner Jimmy Wriston’s approval could violate federal statute prohibiting an employee from a contracting agency from participating in awarding a contract supported by federal funds if a real or apparent conflict of interest is involved. The prohibition applies when an immediate family member has an interest in the awardee.

Wriston signed two contracts in 2020 for the DOH to pay over $25.7 million to Michael Baker International, according to documents obtained by the Gazette-Mail through a Freedom of Information Act request. At the time, Wriston was deputy secretary of the DOT and deputy commissioner of the Division of Highways. Gov. Jim Justice named Wriston DOT secretary and DOH commissioner in October 2021.

Wriston’s son, Adam Wriston, joined Pittsburgh-headquartered Michael Baker full-time in April 2008 after starting as a college intern in May 2006, according to company spokesperson Julia Covelli. The younger Wriston conducts bridge inspections for Michael Baker clients across the country and performs engineering design for bridge rehabilitation and replacement projects, Covelli said.

The contracts were for quality assurance management for work on a segment of the four-lane Corridor H of the federal Appalachian Development Highway System from Kerens in Randolph County to Parsons in Tucker County. Most of Corridor H is open to traffic, with the Kerens-to-Parsons segment still under construction. The Federal Highway Administration has provided roughly $2.05 billion in federal funding toward Corridor H since 1975, according to the agency.

Michael Baker provides engineering plan review, National Environmental Policy Act documentation preparation and construction inspection services for Corridor H, Covelli said.

Covelli noted Michael Baker has a long history of partnering with state highways officials. Michael Baker designed the New River Gorge Bridge, which was completed in 1977, for state officials.

Federal Highway Administration statute prohibits any employee of a contracting agency from participating in the selection, award or administration of a contract supported by federal funds if a conflict of interest, “real or apparent,” would be involved. Such a conflict occurs, per the statute, if there is a financial or other interest in the awardee from the employee, any member of the employee’s immediate family, or the employee’s partner.

John Pelissero, senior scholar in government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, says there is a conflict of interest if a public official can award contracts to a firm that employs a family member.

“The conflict of interest occurs when a public official acts in a way that may favor the private or financial interest of a family member, either directly or indirectly,” Pelissero said in an email.

‘The Secretary has signed all the contracts’

The FHWA declined to comment directly on Wriston’s approval of the Corridor H contracts. An agency spokesperson noted federal statute makes it the state’s responsibility to enforce the requirements of the section of code prohibiting real or apparent conflicts of interest.

Federal statute also requires a contracting agency to “promptly disclose” any potential conflict of interest to the FHWA.

Wriston has been a vocal proponent of completing Corridor H. In a September 2022 legislative committee meeting, Wriston accused opponents of the DOT’s favored plan for constructing a 10-mile stretch of the project in Tucker County of spreading “disinformation” to delay the project long beset by funding and legal issues.

The DOH has paid Michael Baker over $16.2 million since Gov. Jim Justice appointed Wriston DOT secretary and DOH commissioner in October 2021 and over $41.7 million since Justice appointed him DOT deputy secretary in March 2019, per State Auditor’s Office data.

The Governor's Office did not respond to a request for comment.

DOT spokesperson Jennifer Dooley asserted there is no conflict of interest.

Dooley said Wriston never participated in selection committees that awarded contracts to Michael Baker while he was secretary or deputy commissioner.

But an April 2021 DOH memorandum listed Wriston as a voting member of a panel that ranked Michael Baker first in order of preference among three firms for a federally supported Glenville Truss Bridge project in Gilmer County. Wriston served on a standing selection committee that prepared the short list for the project consultant, according to the memorandum.

Dooley said in an email the memorandum was “found to be in error,” pointing to a March 2021 email from a DOT employee saying Wriston wouldn’t be available for interviews for a Glenville Truss project.

Dooley said the DOT secretary is the only person with the authority to sign agency contracts. Wriston, though, signed the 2020 Corridor H contracts with Michael Baker when he was deputy secretary. Dooley said then-Secretary Byrd White delegated areas of his role requiring technical engineering expertise to Wriston since Wriston is a licensed professional engineer.

West Virginia code allows the DOT secretary to designate their place in any hearings, appeals, meetings or other activities to any department employee. State code similarly allows the highways commissioner to delegate duties to their appointees or employees.

“It is our understanding that, should the need arise, the Secretary could delegate this signature authority to others, such as Deputy Secretary [Alanna] Keller,” Dooley said via email. “To date, the Secretary has signed all the contracts.”

“What could the [Division] of Highways do? I think the best thing they could do is not have Wriston involved at all even in signing or having anything to do with contracts with Michael Baker,” McGinley said.

Dooley contended Adam Wriston isn’t associated with his employer in a fashion that would trigger a conflict of interest per state code.

Dooley pointed to a state statute holding that public employees or members of their immediate family are considered to be “associated” with a business only if they or their immediate member are a director, officer or stockholder of 5% or more of stock of any class of the business.

West Virginia Ethics Commission Executive Director Kimberly Weber said the state Ethics Act wouldn’t prohibit a state agency’s contract with a business that employs the adult son of an agency’s official, citing past commission advisory opinions.

Weber said the Ethics Act wouldn’t prohibit a state official from voting on a contract with the employer of their adult son unless the son is a dependent or the public official has a financial interest in the contract.

Weber cited a 2021 commission opinion that held a county board of education member need not recuse herself from a vote on matters related to a lawsuit filed against the board by her brother because the board member had no financial interest in the litigation or financial relationship with her brother. The advisory opinion overruled parts of three past opinions.

But McGinley is looking for state officials to set a higher standard.

McGinley, in part, highlighted state code that prohibits a public employee from “knowingly and intentionally” using their office for their own or another person’s private gain.

McGinley said state code governing DOT employees doesn’t sufficiently match federal standards guarding against the appearance of impropriety. FHWA statute prohibits “apparent” conflict of interest stemming from an employee, their immediate family member or partner having a financial or other interest in a contract.

“When a public body is entering into contracts for millions of dollars of taxpayer money, as the federal regulations indicate, the agency should be forthcoming to remove any question about conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety,” McGinley said.

“Even if the official does not believe that a family member is benefiting from the contract award, there is the perception that the official is using their position to help a family member,” Pelissero said. “When members of the public believe that a conflict of interest is taking place, it can erode the public's trust in state government and its officials.”

The importance of transparency

An April 2022 memorandum from Wriston updating the DOT’s employee ethics and conflict of interest policy prohibits an agency employee from approving any contract in which they have any financial or personal interest. The memorandum doesn’t directly address the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Dooley indicated the DOH’s engineering division began submitting a letter to FHWA in any instance in which Michael Baker is selected as a consultant.

A DOH letter to FHWA sent on Aug. 14 notes that Wriston has an “immediate relative” employed by Michael Baker. The letter signed by DOH Chief Development Engineer Jason Foster said Wriston wasn’t involved in short-list or selection decisions that led to the agency’s Aug. 1 selection of Michael Baker to design a bridge in St. Marys.

Dooley said the DOH would keep sending letters to FHWA in any instance in which Michael Baker is selected as a consultant to make “abundantly clear that we are an open and transparent agency.”

The DOH letter to FHWA was dated the same day as a Gazette-Mail inquiry regarding DOT oversight.

It took the DOT 41/2 months to provide copies of agency contracts with Michael Baker in response to a Gazette-Mail Freedom of Information Act request.

The DOT said it didn’t determine that it wasn’t the correct custodian of West Virginia Turnpike-related documents requested by the Gazette-Mail in a Freedom of Information Act request until six months after the request. The DOT deferred the request to one of its subagencies, the Parkways Authority, which provided records a month later.

The Gazette-Mail received records the DOT contends are responsive to a separate Freedom of Information Act request last week only after 81/2 months of delay and a Gazette-Mail lawsuit to compel compliance with the law.

McGinley says the DOT must be sensitive to appearances of impropriety and appearances of a conflict of interest.

“And they have to be transparent,” McGinley said. “Transparency is incredibly important with regard to what public agencies do.”

Having faced elevated cancer risk from carcinogenic chemical emissions for years, Kanawha Valley chemical safety advocates say that greater environmental protection is overdue.

In a new federal lawsuit, they’re making that case literally.

People Concerned About Chemical Safety, a Kanawha Valley-based grassroots group, is one of three plaintiffs in the suit that says the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to safeguard public health by not timely reviewing air emission standards that apply to a comparatively high concentration of Kanawha County chemical facilities.

“No one is above the law,” People Concerned About Chemical Safety member Maya Nye said.

Over a sixth of the more than two-dozen chemical facilities that EPA data show fall in the category of emission sources the groups have targeted are in West Virginia.

Included in the category are facilities like those in Institute and South Charleston that emit ethylene oxide, a flammable, colorless gas that sent Kanawha County’s cancer risk soaring after the EPA concluded in 2016 that the chemical was 30 times more carcinogenic for adults than previously thought.

“By having these very sort of potent ethylene oxide emitters, that is a great risk for folks living near these facilities,” said Adam Kron, an attorney for national nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice who helped file the lawsuit. “That’s what we’re hoping to do with this lawsuit is to get [the] EPA on track and on an enforceable schedule to make these revisions that we know need to get done.”

The EPA last updated hazardous air pollutant emission standards for its Polyether Polyols Production category of sources in 2014. Polyether polyols are compounds used to make cosmetics, lubricants, soaps and feedstock for substances that produce adhesives and sealants.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review and, if needed, revise emission standards for hazardous air pollutants in listed categories at least every eight years.

Nye grew up near the Institute chemical plant site where two explosions in 1993 and 2008 killed three workers combined. The site was owned by former French chemical company Rhône-Poulenc and Bayer CropScience during the incidents, respectively.

Nye says her life was forever changed by the first fatal accident, which required her and others to shelter in place.

Institute is an unincorporated, historically Black community that has dealt with the cumulative effects of generations of pollution.

“Protections from cancer-causing chemicals are long overdue for the people who live, work, play, pray and go to school in [the] Kanawha Valley, especially for people in Institute, North and South Charleston, and surrounding communities,” Nye said. “Those protections are already too late for many people.”

EPA spokeswoman Shayla Powell declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the agency had no information to add because of the pending litigation filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. People Concerned About Chemical Safety is joined by two other plaintiffs: the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Sierra Club.

The Polyether Polyols Production category includes ethylene oxide-emitting Union Carbide facilities on Route 25 in Institute, just west of West Virginia State University, and MacCorkle Avenue in South Charleston, according to EPA data. The two facilities combined to emit nearly 23,000 pounds of ethylene oxide from 2014, the year the EPA last formally finalized a risk and technology review for the Polyether Polyols Production category, through 2022, according to EPA data.

The category also includes a Covestro facility in South Charleston.

Local health concerns about ethylene oxide escalated after the EPA’s 2018 National Air Toxics Assessment. The assessment found that six of the 90 census tracts with the highest cancer risk from ethylene oxide were in Kanawha County.

The total cancer risk in Kanawha was 366 in 1 million, 10th-highest in the country.

It was the first such assessment since the EPA classified ethylene oxide as a carcinogen in 2016, causing risk estimates to go up — after the EPA’s 2014 review of the Polyether Polyols Production category.

Ethylene oxide is a flammable, colorless gas used to make antifreeze, detergents and plastics, and to sterilize medical and dental equipment. Long-term exposure has been associated with reproductive problems and increases in female breast and white blood cell cancers, including leukemia and Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

EPA data show that sites in Institute and South Charleston currently operated by Union Carbide emitted over 434 tons of ethylene oxide into the air from 1987 through 2021. EPA-approved air quality modeling has indicated a 600-in-1 million cancer risk around the Institute plant site, where Union Carbide and Specialty Products emit ethylene oxide.

That’s six times the 100-in-1 million risk level the EPA has used to help determine whether facilities need to reduce emissions in developing air toxics regulations.

The EPA Office of Inspector General, an independent office within the EPA that conducts audits and investigations aimed at improving the agency, issued a report in May 2021 recommending the agency conduct a new risk review for polyether polyols.

While a review wasn’t due for another 10 months at the time of the report’s release, the OIG said a review should be conducted “as soon as practicable” given the “potent carcinogenicity of ethylene oxide, demonstrated by the EPA’s 2016 revised ethylene oxide cancer risk estimate.

In a response to the OIG’s report, the EPA estimated a draft review for the Polyether Polyols Production category would be complete in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.

The OIG noted the Clean Air Act “does not provide any exceptions” for the requirement that technology reviews be conducted for source categories every eight years.

The plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuit cited the OIG report.

Kron said he hopes an EPA polyether polyols review results in provisions for more enhanced leak detection technology and more frequent detections.

The plaintiffs contend a new review must consider fenceline monitoring as a way to comply with emission standards, noting the EPA proposed a rule in April applying to another category of emission sources that would require plants to conduct fenceline monitoring if they use, produce, store, or emit any of six key air toxics, including ethylene oxide.

Fenceline monitoring is monitoring around a facility’s perimeter. If annual average air concentrations of the chemicals exceed an “action level” at the fenceline, owners and operators would have to find the source and make repairs.

The lawsuit asserts that as part of its next polyether polyol production review, the EPA would have to eliminate a loophole through the agency’s 2014 review designed to grant industry relief in cases of emission standard violations caused by malfunctions.

The 2014 review yielded provisions to provide an affirmative defense to civil penalties for violations of emission standards caused by malfunctions. An affirmative defense is a defense that allows a defendant to introduce evidence that, if deemed credible, erase liability even if the defendant is found to have committed the alleged act.

The lawsuit cites a 2014 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that found the EPA didn’t have the authority to create an affirmative defense for private civil suits.

“So that’s something we really want to see removed,” Kron said.

“[The] EPA is past due to update the rule,” Nye said, “and now they have to answer to a judge.”

FestivFALL returns in October

FestivFALL, Charleston’s annual fall arts and music festival, will be held Oct. 13-22. The event sees the return of favorites like the Harvest Art Fair, the Carriage Leaf Trail Walk and Glow in the Park at Slack Plaza.

New for this year includes City Center Dead, a tribute to the music of The Grateful Dead at Slack Plaza; the Down & Dirty country music festival at GoMart Ballpark; and the West Virginia International Film Festival’s A Film Under The Stars, presenting “Ghostbusters” at Base Camp Printing.

For more information, including the complete schedule, visit www.festivallcharleston.com.

Sound Checks lineup announced

The Clay Center has released the schedule for the next season of Sound Checks. The series runs from early October through mid-December.

Indie rock band Harbour opens the series Oct. 6. The show also features local band Aaron Fisher and Ghost Fleet.

On Oct. 20, it’s Wild Party with Brenna and the Boys. Zandi Hollup performs Nov. 10 with Khegan McLane and the Raccoon Wranglers.

John Inghram presents a tribute to “The Band’s Last Waltz” on Nov. 22. The 2023 season closes Dec. 21 with Fancy Haygood and Matt Mullins and the Bringdowns.

All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $25. For more information, visit www.theclaycenter.org.

Haven't been crazy about Mr. Bee chips since whatever changes they made about 8 or 9 years ago. I'm tempted to give these a try, though. Just have to prepare myself to be disappointed.

RITCHIE COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — The bond of West Virginia State Police whistleblower Joseph Comer has been revoked in a domestic violence case against him, court records said.

The order was filed in Ritchie County Circuit Court on Thursday, according to court records. An arrest warrant was issued Thursday and West Virginia State Police said Comer turned himself in to the Parkersburg Police Department on Friday.

Prosecutors said in the filing that Comer is accused of having contact with Vikki Marra, his accuser in the domestic violence case, in June 2023, which would violate his bond conditions.

“Upon review of the records received from AT&T, it is clear the defendant has been having contact with the victim,” the filing said. “Based on the records attached, first contact was June 16, 2023.”

Prosecutors said the contact was followed by about 89 phone calls lasting about 32 hours.

On June 21, Marra informed prosecutors she wanted to drop the charges against Comer. Prosecutors said this sentiment was the opposite of what she’d expressed in the days before June 16.

Marra had originally accused Comer of assaulting her during a custody exchange of a child that they share together.

Eyewitness News learned Marra allegedly used associates to reach out to Comer, explaining she was encouraged by former West Virginia State Police leadership to fabricate the accusations which led to criminal charges and a domestic violence protection order.

Sources told Eyewitness News that Marra later alleged an officer assigned to her case filled out a criminal complaint and took a photograph introduced as evidence. Marra said the photograph that showed bruises on her neck were intentionally mischaracterized and were not from Comer grabbing her by the throat.

Marra, who was also a trooper with West Virginia State Police, has since resigned from the agency, Eyewitness News has learned.

Both Comer and his attorney have continually insisted the targets were part of a smear campaign orchestrated by former State Police administrators who suspected he was the whistleblower outlining numerous alleged instances of criminal activity.

The alleged misdeeds include theft, fraud and the cover-up of a video camera placed inside the West Virginia State Police Academy's women's locker room, along with the subsequent destruction of that camera's video recordings.

Sid Bell is serving as Comer's attorney and told Eyewitness News attorneys plan to file a motion next week to get the bond reinstated.

LOGAN, W.Va. — The first elk management tours of the season get started this weekend on the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in southern West Virginia. The tours are the easiest way for the public to catch site of the West Virginia elk herd which was restored in the state in December of 2016.

The tours began in 2018 and are extremely popular according to Lauren Cole who runs the tours out of the Chief Logan Lodge in Chapmanville.

“They are an interpretative program. We meet at the lodge at either 5:30 in the morning or four in the evening and take a van ride out to Tomblin Wildlife Management Area and we go scout for the wild elk herd,” said Cole in a recent appearance on West Virginia Outdoors.

The tours take about four hours and include a snack or lunch depending whether you choose a morning or afternoon visit. Cole leads the tour which includes a ride into the area where the elk were first released. They haven’t strayed too far in their range from that original spot.

Although the public is allowed to walk into the area on the WMA property, only authorized vehicles are allowed to drive. It makes the tours the easiest way to see the elk. The trip also provides some valuable help in glassing from a long distance away.

“There is some walking involved, but it’s very slow paced. We’re scouting for wildlife, so we walk a little and we stop. We have binoculars available and we also have a spotting scope. I operate the spotting scope, so if you’ve never glassed game at 800 yards, don’t worry about it, I’m going to do it for you,” Cole explained.

Cole said there are no guarantees of seeing elk since they are wild animals, but a high percentage of the trips yield elk sightings and during this time of year there is a higher likelihood of hearing the bull elk bugling in the region. The mating sounds are often audible from a long distance away as it echoes on the steep southern West Virginia hillsides.

“It’s really about the management of the habitat and the history of elk and other game species in the state. You’ll see active habitat work and learn about what it takes to reclaim mountaintop removal sites and convert them into valuable, diverse wildlife habitat,” she added.

The tours have limited space and fill up fast. Reservations are available through the Chief Logan Lodge website.