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Police arrested a woman they said was running while holding a newborn baby by the neck in South Charleston, West Virginia. 19-year-old Areonia Igo is charged with child abuse creating risk of injury. On Thursday (Nov. 4, 2021), police said they were dispatched to Colonial Park Drive in South Charleston in reference to a disturbance. “The only thing the 911 call taker from the dispatcher can hear is someone yelling about a dead baby,” Patrolman W.M. Tanzey wrote in a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. When police got on scene, they said they saw Igo being physically...

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A bear was hit and killed Monday by a vehicle in Kanawha County, according to Kanawha County Sheriff's dispatchers. There was no word exactly where it happened or if the bear was possibly one of the two black bears spotted earlier in the South Charleston area. Those two bears made their first appearance Monday morning along Interstate 64 near the Montrose exit. South Charleston Police, who investigated the case of the bear hit and killed, confirmed it happened but had no immediate information where or when.

DUNBAR WVa- Dunbar Police have arrested a man on charges of sexual abuse. Edwin Albert Smuda, 58, of Dunbar, is charged with sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person of trust. He is a Junior ROTC instructor at South Charleston High School. According to release from Chief E. E. Whittington Smuda was arrested at him home Thursday afternoon. He was arraigned by a Kanawha County Magistrate. Bond is set at $25,000. Smuda will be back in court at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011.

SOUTH CHARLESTON -- At the Islamic Center in South Charleston, Imam Ehteshamul Haque spent his Thursday afternoon answering phones and preparing the mosque for services. Haque was in India during Sept. 11, but in his six years in America, he's both seen his share of suspicion and has been helping to educate about Islam. "Our practices of Islam day and night are extremely peaceful," said Haque. In a 2009 Gallup poll, 43 percent of Americans admitted to at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims. "I believe if you study any religion you will find this problem: The mainstream is different....

SOUTH CHARLESTON - Pay increases for educators, adding five or 10 minutes to a school day and a bill that one West Virginia senator thinks would encourage families to understand the importance of education are among the suggestions leaders in their fields believe could lead education reform in the state. State Sen. Erik Wells, D-7th District, plans to introduce a bill during the upcoming legislative session, which begins Wednesday, that would revoke the driver's licenses of parents whose children miss too many days of school. Although Wells said he won't bet it will be one of the approximately 200 bills...