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CHARLESTON — After news broke that state officials had brokered an $83.7 billion deal with China Energy Investment Corporation to invest in West Virginia’s shale gas and chemical industries, one of the first questions to come up was how soon the Mountain State might see the fruits of the agreement. “We’re going full steam ahead, immediately,” state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher said in a telephone call from China. According to U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Thrasher and others familiar with the memorandum of understanding, ground could be broken within six to eight months on two gas-fired power stations to...

UPDATE 11/9/17 Stephen Doss pleads guilty to a misdemeanor offense of Authorized Emergency Vehicle Violation during his pretrial. On January 4th, 2017, Patrolman Doss was responding to a call when he was involved in an accident with his cruiser, in which his vehicle collided with a vehicle driven by an elderly woman. The woman passed away as a result of the accident. Doss pleaded guilty to operating an emergency motor vehicle without the use of the lights and sirens. The charge carries a maximum of a $100 fine, and a sentence to jail for up to 10 days. Doss' negligent...

BEIJING, China (WSAZ) -- China Energy Investment Corporation Limited has signed an agreement with the West Virginia Dept. of Commerce on an $83.7 billion plan to invest in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia. The Memoradum of Understanding was signed Thursday in Beijing, witnessed by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. West Virginia Secretary of Commerce H. Wood Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen signed the MOU. "This is a great day for the state of West Virginia," Gov. Jim Justice said. "I’ve been saying for the last couple months that the tides...

He’s the son of a state trooper. He was reared in a fundamentalist church. He graduated from a fundamentalist school, Bob Jones University, and worked there for 14 years as business manager. He married, had three children and landed back in West Virginia, where he taught art and English. At Nitro High School, he made headlines when some parents wanted to ban Pat Conroy books from his classroom. He won that war. Surely enough material for a column right there. But there’s another whole side to Steve Shamblin’s story, an overriding thread that defines him. He’s gay. When he came...

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) - Charleston Police are searching for two people who stole six engagement rings valued at $30,000 from the Macy's in the Charleston Town Center Mall. According to a release from the Charleston Police Department, they are searching for a male and female. The female threatened the clerk, by stating her boyfriend had a firearm and he would use it if the clerk contacted security

OAK HILL, WV (WVNS) - Oak Hill Police Police Chief, Mike Whisman, said Thursday that the substance found in a child's trick-or-treat bag tested negative for heroin. The test results from the State Police Crime Lab found that it was a derivative of marijuana. On Halloween night, a mother from Oak Hill found what police had initially thought to be heroin in her child's trick-or-treat candy. Police are still investigating where the substance came from. No suspects have been identified at this time.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The bishop of West Virginia's Episcopal Church is encouraging congregations to carry the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Rev. W. Michie Klusmeyer made the request at the West Virginia Episcopal diocese's annual convention in Charleston last weekend. Klusmeyer says naloxone should be available not only to members of the surrounding neighborhood who might overdose, but to church members who might have substance abuse problems.

OAK HILL, WV (WVNS) - An investigation is underway in Fayette County after heroin was found in a child's trick-or-treat bag. Oak Hill Police Chief Mike Whisman said it allegedly happened in the Hidden Valley area. He told 59News several hundred children trick-or-treat in this area every Halloween. The child's mother told 59News she was checking her 3-year-old's candy when she found the drugs wrapped in a rubber glove.

BURLINGTON, W. Va. — It’s two o’clock in the afternoon on a sunny Saturday in late September, and I’m standing in a grassy field with Dale, a white man in his late 70s. I’m at the Apple Harvest Festival in Burlington, W. Va. To our left, a vendor is hawking T-shirts with images of Confederate flags and high-powered weapons printed on them. “Ban idiots not guns,” one shirt declares. In the background are the acoustic strums and picks of fiddles, banjos and mandolins. But my attention is fixed on Dale, who’s holding forth on the virtues of Donald Trump. “I’ll...

A Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter in West Virginia will suspend mentoring services for underprivileged children after donors pulled funding earlier this month in response to an LGBTQ-awareness training program. Sara McDowell is executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central West Virginia. The Charleston Gazette-Mail quotes her as saying the organization won’t recruit or match volunteer Big Sisters and Big Brothers in Raleigh County or fill two vacancies until it has adequate funding. …

FULL TITLE: Dangerous prisoner who tried to kill a cop escapes from jail - but attorney 'who raised the alarm says staff didn't act for TWO DAYS' The attorney to a jail inmate in West Virginia reportedly informed staff that a man had fled the premises the day of the incident, according to a new report. Early Wednesday morning, convict Todd Wayne Boyes, 44 of Caldwell, Ohio, escaped the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, and has yet to be located. Officials at the jail alleged they were not aware that the accused attempted murder suspect had gone missing at...

For those of you who haven't heard, Mary and I moved from Florida to a tiny town in West Virginia to be closer to our parents. We are experiencing wonderful culture shock. I am not a fan of the winding mountain roads. Supermarket and hardware stores are over 20 miles away. And yet, we unexpectedly love our new heavenly haven of Americana. I am one of around 20 blacks in the population of 500. Everyone from the town hall to the bank, post office and country store knew we were the Marcuses who "bought the white house". Virginia brought us...

CHARLESTON, WV (WCHS/WVAH) — The road bond has passed, and jobs are ready to be filled in the Division of Highways before those projects get started. The road projects under the amendment are expected to create thousands of jobs throughout the next several years, but there are about 500 that need filled now in the Division of Highways. Right now the positions vary from inspectors for road and bridges, licensed commercial drivers, transportation workers, engineers, human resources representatives, finance and maintenance workers. The Department of Transportation is in the recruitment process now and they anticipate that the list of 30...

JANE LEW— Fountain Quail Energy Services is bringing more than 160 new jobs to Lewis County as part of a new field office the oilfield services company is opening in the Jane Lew Industrial Park, according to Del. Patrick Martin, R-Lewis. “This is great news for our region and state,” Martin said. “When I learned that Fountain Quail was looking to open an office, the Jane Lew Industrial Park location seemed like an ideal fit, and I reached out to company officials to encourage them to consider it. While they looked at sites in other states, in the end Fountain...

HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA – First lady Melania Trump offered her support to those dealing with the nation’s opioid epidemic while touring a drug recovery center for infants Tuesday in West Virginia, the state with the highest rate of babies born dependent on drugs. Lily’s Place, the first of its kind in the nation, works with addicted mothers’ newborns who are enduring the torment of drug withdrawal. It also offers treatment to parents. “I want to be here to support you and give a voice to Lily’s Place and also for the opioid epidemic,” the first lady said during a roundtable...

First lady Melania Trump traveled to Huntington, West Virginia, on Tuesday to visit a drug treatment center specializing in helping infants suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome after exposure to opioids while in their mother’s womb. Trump visited Lily’s Place, a non-profit drug treatment center where these babies are being treated. “The statistic that 40 percent of babies born addicted to drugs are put into foster care is one that Mrs. Trump would like to see lowered, and Lily’s Place was created with that in mind,” Stephanie Grisham, spokesperson for the first lady, said in an interview with CNN. Every 25...

HUNTINGTON, WV (AP) - First Lady Melania Trump is coming to West Virginia to visit a drug treatment facility for infants born to addicted mothers. West Virginia Congressman Evan Jenkins says he's grateful that Trump will bring attention to Lily's Place in Huntington on Tuesday, October 10th, 2017.

BLUEFIELD, W. Va. (WVNS) – A man from Sweden is in jail after deputies said he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl from Bluefield. Simon Apell, 19-years-old, is charged with kidnapping, intent to seduce a minor, soliciting a minor via computer and sexual assault third degree. Mercer County Deputies said Apell has no ties to the United States other than flying in to Charlotte, North Carolina and then driving to Bluefield to specifically meet the young girl.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – UPDATE 10/2/17 @ 2:55 p.m. A family remains on edge as all they can do is worry and wait for some kind of news about a missing loved one. It's been a week since 81-year-old Billy M Jordan went missing from his home on Piedmont Road in Huntington. His family says he has dementia and numerous health problems that may have caused him to wonder off.

CHARLESTON — West Virginia House Delegate Moore Capito is asking Seattle-based Amazon to add the Mountain State to its short list of location candidates for its second corporate headquarters. Capito, R-Kanawha, has sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking he consider placing West Virginia on his “top locations to choose from” list. Amazon recently announced plans to invest $5 billion to build a second North American headquarters that would be called “Amazon HQ2,” which could potentially create up to 50,000 jobs. Delegate Capito said West Virginia could be an ideal fit for Amazon’s vision, because the company could...