By Charles Owens For Bluefield Daily Telegraph Bluefield — Bluefield City Manager Cecil Marson is asking area residents to enjoy all of the assets at city park, but is also cautioning against acts of vandalism. While the city is gearing up for a busy spring and summer season at Lotito Park, some park facilities have already been vandalized, according to Marson. ”We’ve had a few folks tear up some of the bathrooms and put some graffiti on some of the...

By Matthew Young For HDMedia While the investigation remains ongoing into the death of John Curtis Lucas, the 45-year-old Elkview man who was dragged by an ambulance for nearly 2 miles and later died, family attorney Scott Summers said they now know what happened. In a lengthy Facebook message posted to the Summers Law Office page Tuesday night, Summers wrote, “We have met with the Prosecuting Attorney, Debra Rusnak, and she has provided us with a great deal of information.” Neither Summers,...

By Esteban Fernandez For Times West Virginian Fairmont — Kindergarteners at White Hall Elementary raised $1,600 this week for a nonprofit that provides autism support. They did it by selling lemonade. “It’s amazing,” Whitney Price, founder of Unpuzzled Parents Connect, said. “Even if they wouldn’t have raised any money for us, when you talk about creating a world of acceptance, it starts in grade school.” Last year, Unpuzzled Parents Connect, which is based in Parkersburg, delivered free classroom inclusion kits...

By Brett Dunlap For The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Parkersburg – People from around the community gathered Wednesday in downtown Parkersburg to let the victims of sexual assault know that there are many out there who believe them and support them. Around 40 people gathered at Bicentennial Park to commemorate Denim Day to recognize and support victims of sexual violence as April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month in West Virginia, said Emily Larkins, executive director of the Family Crisis Intervention...

By Mike Tony For HDMedia Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., and his family are doubling down in their fight to preserve their control of the historic Greenbrier Resort and web of related properties. Representing the Justice family, Charleston-based attorney Steven Ruby on Wednesday filed an amended complaint claiming new allegations against a company that has bought the family’s nine-figure debt and that company’s affiliates looking to take over the family’s Greenbrier business empire. The senator’s adult children who have shared leadership...

By Laura Bilson For HDMedia Wearing daisy-rimmed sunglasses and with her salt-and-pepper hair in an updo, the East End Resource Center’s Gardening Program Manager Carolyn Sue Young hacked at a root with a shovel in a square hole, three feet wide and two feet deep. She and several volunteers planted the first fruit tree, a semi-dwarf nectarine sapling, in the East End Community Garden in Charleston on Thursday. Young, 52, and the four volunteers fertilized and watered the garden while...

By Matthew Young For HDMedia “ $125 million investment … this game changer allows us to move immediately on … potholes, and spring paving — to fix the damage left behind by a very tough winter.” That’s what West Virginia Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh told those gathered at St. Albans-based Triton Construction on Tuesday for a news conference and ceremonial bill-signing, highlighting the state’s commitment to roadway infrastructure. “For , it’s always been about safety first,” Rumbaugh added. Joining Rumbaugh...

By Charles Owens For The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Princeton — Vouchers for low-cost spay-neuter procedures will be distributed to the public Saturday in an effort to help control the homeless animal population in Mercer County. During a meeting of the Mercer County Commission Tuesday evening, commission president Bill Archer said the vouchers will be distributed Saturday, May 2, starting at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of the Gardner Center, which is located at 241 Mercer Springs Road in Princeton. The...

By Charles Owens For Bluefield Daily Telegraph Bluefield — New rules regulating vape shops and outdoor rallies and protests were voted on Tuesday by members of the Bluefield Board of Directors. The city board unanimously passed the second reading of a tobacco and vape shop ordinance for the city, which means it is now law. The board also approved the first reading of a new ordinance establishing regulations for the use of city spaces, such as the downtown 400 block,...

By Steven Allen Adams For The Intelligencer St. Albans – Gov. Patrick Morrisey thanked the West Virginia Legislature Tuesday for providing additional funding next fiscal year for road and bridge maintenance projects and the passage of bills to increase safety for highway workers. Morrisey held a ceremonial bill signing ceremony in St. Albans in Kanawha County Tuesday morning at Triton Construction, a company that specializes in road and bridge construction. “When you’re looking at the challenges facing West Virginia, we...