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The body of a Marshall County soldier was on its way back to the United States on Thursday. 25 year-old Julian Berisford's body will be flown back with a military escort. Julian's death is still very raw to all of his family, especially to his wife Gina. However, they agreed to talk to 7News Reporter Melissa Reid. They want everyone to know just who this hero was.

Almost 20% of West Virginians eligible to vote are either dead or have moved. Five States with the Most Dead People Eligible to Vote: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. FUN TIME IN ACORN TOWN: DEAD PEOPLE RULE! Are you lonely when you go to the polling place? Want some company? Perhaps, you'd like to take along a dead "friend" to vote with you. That's a scenario that's becoming more possible across the United States. A combination of old voter registration lists that still contain the names of dead voters and voters who have moved, new "Motor Voter" legislation,...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Former Cabell County Magistrate Candidate Amy Walker Irwin, formerly known as Amy Daugherty, was arrested Sunday night and charged with possession of a controlled substance. According to the criminal complaint, Irwin was in her car outside a "known crack house" on 17th Street and Dalton Avenue in Huntington when officers approached the car and saw a small piece of apparent crack in plastic next to the gear shifter. The complaint goes on to say Lt. J.T. Combs conducted a field test on the substance and it tested positive for the presence of cocaine. Magistrate Dan Goheen...

LOGAN COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A body has been discovered underneath a bridge in Logan County. The county's EMS director says emergency crews have been out all night looking for a 56-year-old man who lived at a local nursing home. The man went missing around 10:30 p.m. Monday night. Right now, crews are trying to identify the body that was found in the river underneath the Middleburg Island Bridge, but they do believe this is all connected. Family members tell WSAZ.com Charles "David" Milon, 56, of Logan County, went missing from the Logan Center late last night and they believe...

For more than 70 years, the Stella Fuller Settlement has been ultimate “helping hand”, but now the organization is making some big changes. HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ-TV) -- For more than 70 years, the Stella Fuller Settlement has been ultimate helping hand in Huntington, but now the organization is making some big changes. According to board of director's president Robert Agee, the building that houses the organization is beyond repair. That is why the organization has decided to sell the building and the property and help out the needy with the funds. He says trying to keep the building going with...

"Recall that Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee. That's the same Mollohan under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint." --Doug Ross, Draining the Swamp NOTE: If the reader is a resident of WV-1 and feels moved to contact Alan Mollohan's office, contact information is provided throughout...

CBS News is reporting that McAllen is the most multilingual city in the United States, according to the latest census data. The Census Bureau Tuesday released its American Community Survey results, which charts a range of social, economic and housing data in U.S. metropolitan areas. CBS reported that the running survey, which is different from the traditional once-a-decade census, tracks three years worth of data. The latest figures cover 2006 to 2008. Among the findings: • McAllen, Texas has the highest percentage of people age 5 and older who speak a language other than English at home - 84.2 percent...

We need to start blasting all his phones, emails , twitter account, facebooks, and writing to the newspapers. Even if you don't live in his state you need to still be active on them and tell them no business in West Virginia if Byrd votes in favor of Obama's reckless Obamacare and cap n trade. Offices Charleston Office 300 Virginia Street, East Suite 2630 Charleston, WV 25301 Telephone: (304) 342-5855 Fax: (304) 343-7144 Eastern Panhandle Office 217 West King Street Room 238 Martinsburg, WV 25401 Telephone: (304) 264-4626 Fax: (304) 262-3039 To read the rest of info follow link http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977872744

While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would "bankrupt" anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven't materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected. The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant "enhanced" review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia - a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the...

An attorney for a black woman who claimed torture by a white group in West Virginia says his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up.

Shades of Tawana Brawley. The Rev. Al Sharpton revealed Wednesday that he gave a $1,000 Christmas gift to a black West Virginia woman who claimed she had been gang-raped by a group of white men - and is now recanting her story. Only this time, Sharpton wants cops to investigate whether Megan Williams "fabricated her story" and the convicted men sprung "if they are being held under false information and she misled authorities." Williams, 22, told cops in 2007 she escaped from a ramshackle trailer near Charleston, W.V., where she was held captive for a week - and where she...

It was all a lie. Megan Williams, the Charleston woman who claimed she was kidnapped, sexually abused and beaten by "the Logan Six" now says it never happened. The Charleston Gazette reports Williams plans to hold a press conference in Columbus, Ohio later today to recant her story. Williams' attorney Byron Potts told the newspaper his client is tired of living a lie and wants to come clean. Back in September of 2007 Williams was found by police in an outbuilding at the home of Bobby Brewster. She told investigators Brewster and five others held her hostage for nearly a...

Last week, media reports indicated that a vacant lot on Bald Head Island, North Carolina co-owned by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) and his former aide Laura Kuhns, and their spouses, is going to a foreclosure auction. The lot was one of five properties co-owned by the Mollohans and Kuhnses that have been part of a controversy that prompted an on-going Justice Department investigation, and Mollohan’s resignation as Ranking Member on the House Ethics Committee in 2006.Kuhns is President and CEO of Vandalia Heritage Foundation, one of five nonprofits to which Mollohan has earmarked well over $100 million. The cozy relationships...

--snip-- It was 150 years ago today, Oct. 16, 1859. The long-haired, wild-eyed Brown was about to launch a raid that would hasten the Civil War and make him the most notorious man in America, a figure who still ignites controversy a century and a half later. Some see him as an Osama bin Laden; others, as a Christian soldier who gave his life to end human bondage. "You could ask 100 people about John Brown and still get 100 opinions," said Jeff Bowers, a ranger at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, which plans three days of activities this weekend...

"Thank you for letting me know of your concerns about health care legislation moving through Congress. I understand - and share - your support for our existing employer based system for workers and Medicare for retirees. Unfortunately, (I AGREE WITH YOU BUT I KNOW BEST FOR YOU) that system is coming under such large and growing strains that its long standing success at giving Americans access to the best health care in the world will be seriously threatened in the coming years. Already, far too many of us fall through the cracks. In my Congressional district alone, 117,000 West Virginians...

A vampire worshiper accused of plotting to kidnap a 12-year-old South Boston girl he met online was under indictment for child molestation in West Virginia and out on bail when caught by Boston police, the Herald has learned. Bryan Confere, 20, of Diamond, W.Va., is being held on $25,000 cash bail pending a pretrial hearing Wednesday in South Boston District Court. He is facing 7 years in prison in Massachusetts if convicted of child enticement and child endangerment. Prosecutors in Kanawha County, W.Va., last week filed a motion to revoke the $70,000 property bond he was free on when Boston...

ANSTED, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Fayette County Sheriff's Department called for classes to be canceled today after a man started firing shots behind Ansted Elementary early Tuesday morning. Just before 2:30 a.m., 911 dispatchers received calls that someone was shooting a weapon near the school. When deputies arrived at the scene, they found that an 82-year-old man had fired numerous shots at nearby houses. The man continued to shoot as deputies approached him, but they don't believe he was attempting to shoot them. The Fayette County Sheriff's Office Tactical Team and the Crisis Negotiations Team were called in to handle...

Ambulances race to Byrd's home By: Manu Raju September 22, 2009 10:16 AM EST Ambulances and fire trucks were dispatched to the Northern Virginia home of Sen. Robert Byrd Tuesday morning. A neighbor of the 91-year-old West Virginia Democrat said several ambulances were outside his residence in McLean, Va., and a Byrd spokesman said the senator suffered a fall in his home. An officer at the McLean Fire Department said that a unit was dispatched at 9:10 to the address where Byrd lives, but he declined to comment on the substance of the response. Byrd – the longest-serving senator in...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Charleston resident Kelli Davis was in for a surprise when her daughter brought home some routine paperwork at the start of school this fall. Davis signed the form and then handed it to her daughter for the eighth-grader's signature. "I just assumed she knew how to do it, but I have a piece of paper with her signature on it and it looks like a little kid's signature," Davis said. Her daughter was apologetic, but explained that she hadn't been required to make the graceful loops and joined letters of cursive writing in years. That prompted a...

Charleston W.Va. -- It seems a recent spike in shouting interuptions at publicized events has many people wondering -- where are our manners? From the South Carolina Congressman interrupting the President by shouting "You lie!" during his speech last week -- to rapper Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift on stage to say that Beyonce should have won at the Video Music Awards. There's also been a number of other incidents involving *athletes.* We talked to a group of young people at Capital High about whether we're becoming a rude society -- or whether it's just a sign of the times....

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Charleston Mayor Danny Jones revealed at a Sunday evening news conference that "there's every reason to believe" friendly fire killed Patrolman Jerry Jones. Patrolman Jones was shot and killed during a chase that ended in the Quick area of Kanawha County after 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Mayor Danny Jones says police can't prove it at this point, but they believe the shot that killed Patrolman Jones came from one of the city's officers. Mayor Jones says they are not sure which gun the bullet came from, but police believe the suspect during the chase was "armed...

> Yet Fiesta's enduring popularity and strong sales even as consumers cut back are helping to keep struggling Homer Laughlin China Co. afloat. It's the last major dinnerware producer that makes its products in the U.S., as competitors have shut down or moved offshore. >

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that 79 applications for surface coal-mine permits in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee might violate the nation's Clean Water Act and require closer scrutiny. Many of the 79 applications would remove mountaintops and dump debris in valley streams. The EPA's action was an abrupt shift from the last big batch of surface mining permits that it's considered during the Obama administration. In May, the agency said it had no concerns with 42 of 48 permits, and blocked six. The latest decision is in line with the Obama administration's call in June for a...

NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. (AP) - A New Cumberland woman has apologized for leaving her baby alone in a hot car while she went shoplifting at a Wal-Mart. Twenty-three-year-old Elizabeth Marie Lancaster says she made a huge mistake she'll never forget. After appearing at a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Brooke County, she told a TV station she is mortified by her actions and will accept whatever punishment is necessary. Lancaster is charged with child neglect causing injury and shoplifting. Police say the baby had been left alone in Lancaster's car for at least 20 minutes last month in the Weirton Wal-Mart's...

Holly Hackett (name changed to protect her privacy), a member of HSLDA in northern West Virginia, homeschooled her daughter several years ago. Although her daughter made enough progress to satisfy state law, a local official pressured her into putting her daughter back into public school. After several years in public school, and with middle school looming, Holly decided to homeschool her daughter again. She filed a proper notice of intent. But she received a letter from the local superintendent saying: “As you will recall, I denied your homeschooling request for the 2005–2006 school year due to the fact that your...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The state Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a Public Service Commission decision approving construction of a 124-turbine wind farm in southeastern West Virginia. The court unanimously rejected appeals filed by opponents of Beech Ridge Energy LLC's $300 million project after a hearing Sept. 2. A group called Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy and a Greenbrier County couple contended the PSC was wrong when it approved the start of construction in February. In giving its OK, the PSC said Beech Ridge had met all pre-construction conditions spelled out in an August 2006 PSC...

Coal entrepreneur Don Blankenship put on a shindig at a reclaimed strip-mine site near Holden, West Virginia, for a Labor day picnic for 100,000 of his closest friends. Sean Hannity is there, so I suppose he will yak about it on his show tomorrow. Hank Williams Jr. is the main draw. Ted Nugent is the emcee. Nugent gave ‘em hell and told the crowd to fight back: “We have the perfect president for a nation that doesn’t care.�

LOGAN -- 100,000 people are expected for the rally, and as you can imagine getting that many people in and out of one location takes a lot of preparation. Hours before the Friends of America Rally begins, crews continue to unload the needed equipment, putting the finishing touches on stage preparations that began 5 weeks ago. "It's a continuous show. There's no stopping. That's why we have 2 stages, so there's something constantly being prepared. While someone is performing, something is being torn down while something is being set up," says David Dodd, Event Production Manager for the "Friends of...

To the Editor: The President wants to encourage students to study and stay in school in an address to public schools on September the 8th. That’s commendable. However, the White House’s initial recommendation that teachers nationwide assign students a paper on how to “help the president” the day before his address to the nation on HealthCare does not pass the smell test. In the President’s search for help on a socialist health care bill, he has politicized the public school–its teachers and students. (I am surprised that the White House did not also request that children wear brown shirts to...

On Labor Day, attend the Friends of America Rally. Over 75,000 Friends of America who have already registered will gather at this event. Hank Williams, Jr. and John Rich will be performing and Fox News Host Sean Hannity will be speaking at this free event on Monday, September 7th from 10.30 am until 8 pm. Ted Nugent will be the event’s emcee. The Rally is going to be held on a previous surface mine, just south of Logan, West Virginia. Due to overwhelming demand, this event has sold out.

More Than 70,000 People to Attend Labor Day Rally in West Virginia As more than 70,000 people have signed up to attend the Friends of America Rally, Holden, WV, is likely to be home to America’s largest Labor Day gathering. The free event, to be held on a previous surface mine, will feature country music stars Hank Williams Jr. and John Rich; Sean Hannity, a nationally-syndicated radio host and Fox television host; and Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. American Legend Ted Nugent will emcee the event. Friends of America from 30...

Morgantown, W.Va. (AP) -- A tree-sitting protest designed to halt blasting at a Massey Energy mountaintop removal mine in southern West Virginia ended Monday when the activists descended from the trees and were arrested. State Police confirmed that Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks were taken into custody after spending six days in a poplar at the Edwight mine in Raleigh County. Stocks, 25, was charged with trespassing, obstructing and littering, and State Police Sgt. M.A. Smith warned of other possible charges. Steepleton, 24, was expected to face the same charges. Both were to be arraigned later Monday. The protesters are...

Mike Daugherty asked his 11-year-old son Logan what he wanted for his birthday. The boy said, "I want a cannon." Dad didn't scoff at Logan's request by saying, "How about a hippopotamus instead," as a Christmas song from another era lamented. No, Daugherty is not that kind of guy. He granted his son's wish and built him a Civil War-era cannon not a model, the real deal. The howitzer fires and rivals anything seen at Civil War reenactments across the country. He said it took him about two weeks to build and is worth about $6,000. "It looks like something...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the cornerstone of St. Timothy Lutheran Church, two dates are engraved. In 1948, members broke ground on Ohio Street in South Charleston. In 2004, they held their first service at a new church built on a hilltop off Corridor G. Now, the congregation - and other Lutheran churches around the country - have reached another point in their history. Earlier this month, leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met in Minneapolis and voted to allow gays and lesbians in lifelong, monogamous relationships to serve as clergy.

As flu season approaches, West Virginia's largest hospital has given its employees a choice: Get a flu shot, or get another job . . . A mandatory flu shot policy like CAMC's is rare for U.S. hospitals, but it may soon become more common. A New York State law that takes effect this month requires hospitals to provide records showing all their workers have seasonal flu vaccinations or face fines, and

ROCKEFELLER ... yes, the one of oligarchy fame with folks like Soros and Rothschild ... and EMERGENCY ... yes, such as when too many people on the Internet trade messages about Obamanist LIES ... ================ Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of...

What if the federal government could temporarily suspend Internet activity during national cyber attacks, much in the same way it can ground planes during national emergencies? That's basically the question surrounding S.773, the forthcoming brainchild of Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W.V.) office. According to an excerpt of the bill, obtained by CBS News' Declan McCullagh, the president would have the power to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" and, "if the President finds it necessary for the national defense and security,… direct the national response to the cyber threat." But the proposal, which addresses a host of additional cybersecurity holes, has already worried...

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A 57-year-old man was treated for a serious hand wound Tuesday after Charleston Police say he tried to drill through a live round to make a keychain ornament. It happened at about 1 p.m. at the man's home on the city's west side. Sgt. Eric Hodges with the Charleston Police Department says the man was drilling through a .30-06 deer rifle round when he saw a spark and the ammunition exploded, causing serious injuries to his left hand. Hodges says the powder charge inside the round had not been removed -- and the round was still...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Sexual harassment, groping, lewd name calling. Those are just a few the explicit accusations at the heart of a case involving a former Marshall University cheerleading and the university -- including the coach. Lawyers presented their opening statements in Cabell County Court this morning, and we were there. This is a case of he said/she said, with numerous sex claims spread throughout. The charges stem from 2005 when Kasey Chambers started cheerleading at Marshall University. According to Chambers' attorney, Chambers lived for cheerleading. It was a longtime dream to be a cheerleader for Marshall, and she...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Supporters of the Democrats' plan to overhaul America's health care system are putting pressure on Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito to compromise. Capito said she doesn't support the current health care plan before the House. On Tuesday, health care reform supporters made their voices heard outside of Capito's office in Charleston. They said they have tried repeatedly to have a meeting with Capito but said she has declined. Supporters said this is not a time to be playing politics. "We need some type of health care reform in this country," said Kenny Perdue with the AFL-CIO....

<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Even though the Rev. Mark Chavez believes the leaders of his church made a decision in direct contradiction of the Bible by lifting a ban on sexually active, monogamous gays and lesbians as clergy, he's staying with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.</p>

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy? Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale...

Three were arrrested last month for making meth in the motel. CROSS LANES W.Va. -- A Cross Lanes Motel is closing down, after a meth lab was discovered there. 13News was told by a spokesperson for Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper, that the parent company of the Cross Lanes Motel 6, is voluntarily shutting down the facility. The Metro Drug Unit arrested three people for making meth in the motel last month. The motel will close at 12 p. m. Saturday. It is not known when it will reopen.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Sanatarians made several visits to the bar throughout the night. CHARLESTON W.Va.-- One year later -- and still going strong -- allowing smokers to light up inside the Blackhawk Saloon. Wednesday, the Blackhawk Saloon held it's second annual smoker's night inside the bar. The establishment has been allowing smoking inside since the county wide clean indoor air regualtion went into effect last year. Owner Kerry Ellison says taking away smoking means taking away his business. "I'm in the beer selling business," he said. "If you come in and you want to smoke a cigarette while you drink...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Troy Berman has been appointed as executive director of the West Virginia Republican Party. State GOP Chairman Doug McKinney said Monday that Berman's appointment is effective Sept. 1. Berman replaces Gary Abernathy, who resigned at the end of the June. Abernathy had said he wanted to spend more time with his family in Ohio. McKinney says Berman has worked for GOP campaigns and committees in Ohio, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

NITRO -- If it's ultimately up to the city of Nitro smoking is now allowed inside Tri State Racetrack and Gaming Center. Nitro City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to pass an ordinance allowing smoking inside certain parts of the facility. While it's still unclear if the city's ordinance can overrule a county wide regulation prohibiting smoking, Dan Adkins with the track says they're willing to be the first to try. "You know, I kind of look at this as this might be very important because if the legislature does choose to address this issue we've got other facilities like...

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy?Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale stretches...

WASHINGTON — At a bend in the Ohio River, a bulky new device is being attached to a 30-year-old coal plant near the small town of New Haven, W.Va. The device is being housed in a building four stories tall and bigger than a football field. A 150-foot-tall exhaust stack — so wide that it would take six adults with their arms fully stretched to reach around it — will reach into the sky. And pipelines will run out of the building and into saline aquifers two miles underground. The entire contraption will start up as early as September. The...

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The FBI says it continues to get tips and follow leads in the unsolved Kanawha County gas station sniper-style shootings that left three dead six years ago Friday. John Hambrick, spokesperson for the FBI in Charleston, says the investigation continues to be a collaborative effort with all of the agencies initially involved in the "sniper task force." That team, made up of local, state, and federal agencies, used to have a common working office in downtown Charleston, but the space has since been vacated. The case is still considered "very active." VIDEO ARCHIVES 5 Years...