WV MetroNews
The Voice of West Virginia
LOGAN, W.Va. — Investigators with the Logan County Sheriff’s Department say the discovery of a body in the county just after daylight Friday morning is being investigated
Sheriff P.D. Clemens said the man in his mid-30’s was discovered dead in a field in the community of Mount Gay just outside of the Logan city limits. The victim had been shot and his dog has also been shot.
Deputies know the victim’s identity, but have not released the name pending notification of relatives.
Clemens said they don’t have any suspects at this point and are still attempting to firm up the circumstances as to why the man was in that location. Authorities believe the shooting happened sometime Thursday night or in the early morning hours of Friday.
The investigation is ongoing.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When he looks back on last season, West Virginia’s leading rusher doesn’t feel as though he exceeded expectations.
This, despite Jahiem White being one of the nation’s leaders in yards per rush (7.7) and tops on the Mountaineers with 842 yards on the ground, a feat made more impressive by the fact White was third on the team in attempts with 109.
“How I played last year wasn’t really a surprise,” White said. “It was just a matter of time to when I got on the field and I’d show my talent.”
White had all of 18 carries throughout September of 2023 when the Mountaineers played five of their 12 regular season games. He had seven carries in the sixth game at Houston, then nine in the next one at Central Florida. That’s about the time White began to come on to the scene and he gained 85 yards against the Knights, while scoring his first touchdown in Big 12 Conference play.
When West Virginia returned home the following week to welcome BYU, White rushed for 146 yards on 16 carries.
Over the season’s final three games against Cincinnati, Baylor and North Carolina, White rushed 50 times for 387 yards with two rushing touchdowns. He added four receptions for 119 yards and two additional scores, including a 75-yard reception against the Bearcats.
“There wasn’t really a difference. I just didn’t really get the chance to get on the field in the first half of the season because of little injuries,” White said. “Once I got on the field for the second half, I just took off.”
Head coach Neal Brown and offensive coordinator/running backs coach Chad Scott often praised White for his talent before he had much of an opportunity to showcase it over the opening month of his college career save for a Week 2 win against Duquesne.
Both, however, also noted the need for White to improve his practice habits early into his freshman season — something not all that uncommon for a player transitioning from high school to major college football.
Around the time that message got across to White coincided with him getting healthier and opportunity increasing. By and large, White made the most of it, though he’s adamant there could have been more success and needs to be more scoring for a player who reached the end zone on four runs and two receptions.
Four of White’s five catches as a true freshman came over the final three games, including the lengthy scoring grab against the Bearcats, which was followed one week later by White hauling in a 29-yard pass with 23 seconds remaining to provide the game-winning points in a 34-31 victory at Baylor.
“Catching in traffic is one of the big things,” White said. “Coach Scott always says you’re going to get hit regardless, so catch the ball. That’s been my mindset playing football all my years.”
Yet against the Bears, there was hardly traffic as White streaked open up the sideline and was essentially uncovered before making the catch on a well-placed pass from Garrett Greene one step into the end zone.
Receiving has always come naturally for the tailback, according to White.
“It was really in me when I first started little league,” White said. “I’d get little swing routes or slants and it was automatically glued to my hands.”
Throughout April, finding a way into the end zone at a higher rate has been a point of emphasis for White. It’s the second such instance the York, Pa., native has been able to partake in spring football after enrolling early ahead of his true freshman season.
“BYU, I left a couple out there,” White said. “I could’ve gotten into the [end zone] more. Cincinnati, one run I had going towards the band and I broke off two or three [tackles], I should’ve scored. There were a couple more games I should’ve scored.”
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Today on MetroNews This Morning:
–West Virginia leaders react to the federal EPA’s new rules which aim to end coal fired electricity in the U.S.
–West Virginia will get the full $1.2 BILLION for broadband expansion from Washington
–Work to transform the old Macy’s location in Charleston into the Capitol Sports Center is off the ground
–In Sports: Darian Devries continues to build his first Mountaineer basketball team
Listen to “MetroNews This Morning 4-26-24” on Spreaker.
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WHEELING, W.Va. — The Wheeling-based Mt. Zion Cemetery Corporation received a $2 million check from Gov. Jim Justice Thursday to help with repairs following a mudslide that damaged as many as 150 headstones after heavy rains earlier this month.
Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, was one of the first lawmakers involved the day following the incident, also the same day U.S. Senator Joe Manchin was making a scheduled visit. Fluharty started the ball rolling with that conversation and another at the state level.
“We knew from the very beginning that this was going to be more than a few volunteers with shovels heading up the hill,” Fluharty said. “This is going to take a lot of heavy lifting; it’s going to be a major project.”
The cemetery, which has the graves of hundreds of veterans including those from the Civil War, has been maintained since 2015 by the Mt. Zion Cemetery Corporation, a non-profit led by President Charles Yocke and Secretary/Treasurer Paula Stein. Those two have a cadre of different volunteers and businesses that are prepared to help make repairs.
Yocke said a Morgantown-based engineering firm is working with them to fix an unstable area above the slide site. Before any major repair work can be done, the surrounding area has to be stabilized for the safety of the workers.
“We’re trying to get a contractor up there to fix the slip because it is still ready to come down,” Yocke said. “It’s like a “V” up there all bottled up.”
The next step will be to identify what headstones have been moved. The conditions have not permitted an investigation into what headstones have been damaged, how many are damaged, and how extensive repairs will be.
“We’ll go along each side of the pile to find the markers and zero in to try to find out what moved,” Yocke said.
A company that specializes in this type of work has given a price range of $1 million to $1.5 million to repair the headstones and reset them on new footers. The process involves finding the pieces, taking them to another location to be reassembled, and returning to the cemetery to be reset.
“They would dig the footers and remount them, and that whole process will take about a year,” Yocke said.
Yocked said the help of Fluharty and State Senator Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, have been very helpful through the process. Fluharty said that in this case, the power of the government was blind to party affiliation and focused on fixing a serious community problem.
“We all came together- a good example of bipartisanship, some good government, some good community service all coming together to see what we can figure out and do this piece by piece,” Fluharty said.
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I’m off for a couple of days. The commentary will return on Wednesday. Dave Wilson is filling in as host of Talkline on Friday and Monday.
Hop
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SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Less than an hour after scoring 20 runs in their Mountain State Athletic Conference tournament semifinal victory over Spring Valley, Hurricane continued to put big numbers on the scoreboard in the league championship game. The Redskins defeated Cabell Midland, 9-5 to win the MSAC title.
Hurricane scored four runs in the first inning and three more in the third to build a 7-3 lead. Ten of their 14 hits came in the first three innings.
“We were working her deep in the counts. We were getting a lot of foul balls and being very patient, waiting on their pitch and getting something to drive,” said Hurricane head coach Meghan Stevens.
On Wednesday, the Knights erased a 6-2 deficit in the seventh inning to defeat the Redskins, 7-6 in their final regular season conference game.
“I think yesterday whenever they came back in the last inning and beat us, it really made us want to work harder and be able to have more good at bats,” said Hurricane junior Alexandra Anderson.
“I think yesterday we realized that we could beat them,” Stevens said. “We said we wanted to learn from it, come out today and not let it happen. Their bats were on fire and they had good energy. There was good production from the whole team.”
Both teams cruised to victories in their semifinal contests. No. 1 seed Cabell Midland defeated St. Albans, 12-4 in 5 innings while the No. 3 seed Hurricane knocked off Spring Valley 20-4 in 4 innings.
Sophomore Kate Justice went the distance in the circle for the Redskins after picking up the win against the Timberwolves.
“That’s what we kept asking her, if she felt good,” Stevens said. “She really wanted it. She kept saying that she felt fine so she went back out there. And she was super-efficient.”
Hurricane and Cabell Midland shared the MSAC title two years ago. Sectional play for both teams begins next week.
“This one is great and we want to celebrate it,” Stevens said. “But we want the ones next week even more. So I think it is good for us. But get a little taste of it and stay hungry.”
“My freshman year, we were co-champs with Cabell Midland,” Anderson said. “It has been head-to-head since then. So it feels good to finally win the championship.”
Kenzie Kessel and Elise Pye each had three hits for Hurricane. Anderson, Jaden Jones and Kyndall Harper each had two hits for HHS (16-7). Quinn Ballengee, Becca Conrad and Baylee Smith each had multi-hit games for CMHS (22-4). Olivia Bell had a two-run home run in the seventh for the Knights.
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WESTON, W.Va. — Lewis County’s Joey Aman was in control from the first pitch Thursday against East Fairmont, but it didn’t stop the Bees from battling with the Minutemen.
Yet with the game tied at 3 in the home half of the sixth inning, the Minutemen got a one-out double to left from Luke Clem, and it allowed Drew Cayton to score what proved to be the winning run in a 4-3 victory over the Bees.
“Quality at bats is always our go-to,” Minutemen head coach Tyler Wood said. “We don’t keep track of the hits as much as getting on base and contact percentage. Coming up with it during key times is part of our game.”
Cayton led off the sixth with a single to center and advanced to second on Ryder Aman’s sacrifice bunt. Clem then delivered the clutch knock, connecting off East Fairmont (13-6) starting pitcher Tristan Boone to put the Minutemen back on top.
Later in the sixth, Class AA No. 3 Lewis County (15-3) had an opportunity to increase its advantage, but Clem was thrown out at the plate while trying to score from second base on Joey Aman’s single to left.
“I told them, ‘thank you for having my back,’ because that was one of the worst coaching decisions I’ve ever made with my best hitter at the plate,” Wood said. “They have my back, they have each other’s backs and to know that you have each other’s backs is what carries us in close games like this.”
The Bees had one more chance to prolong the game when they came to bat in the top of the seventh, but Joey Aman retired the side in order. Aman, who threw 109 pitches over seven frames, recorded the final two outs with his eighth and ninth strikeouts against the No. 1 and 2 hitters in East Fairmont’s lineup.
“Sometimes you just tip your cap. He made some good pitches and we weren’t squaring as many balls up as what we normally do,” East Fairmont head coach Joe Price said. “We had nine quality at bats, which that’s a season low this year. We needed to get some more guys on base, get them around and get them in, and it just didn’t happen.”
Lewis capitalized on East Fairmont’s only error of the game in the second inning to produce the first run. What could’ve produced the final out instead extended the frame, and two batters later, No. 9 hitter Leo Jones singled to center, allowing Ryder Aman to score the game’s first run.
The Minutemen went in front 3-0 in the third courtesy of Trenton Hunt’s two-run home run to the deepest part of the park in center field. It allowed Joey Aman to score after he’d led off that inning with a base-on-balls.
“I wasn’t quite sure it was gone, but he has the pop to take it opposite field, and we’ve already seen it once before this year,” Wood said. “I like the gap to gap hitters. If you’re early, you can pull it down the line, and if you’re late, you can pull it down this line. If you have gap to gap power, you’re going to do pretty well at the plate.”
But momentum for the Minutemen was short-lived and the Bees pulled even in the fourth despite managing only one hit. Brody Bledsoe drew a leadoff walk, and consecutive errors helped EFHS generate its first run, which Bledsoe scored. After Remington Pourbaix was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Casey Linn laid down a bunt that looked as though it would yield the second out of the inning on a force play at the plate, but catcher Garrett Moats was unable to hang on to a throw from Hunt at third base, and Ian Graffius scored to make it 3-2.
Boone helped his cause with a two-out single to score Tanner Mayfield that tied it at 3, but the Bees squandered a chance for their lead when Pourbaix was thrown out at the plate trying to advance from third on a pitch that had briefly gotten away from Moats.
Boone retired six of the seven batters he faced over the fourth and fifth innings, and the Bees had another chance to go in front in the sixth. After the inning began with two outs, Pourbaix was hit by a pitch for the second time and Case Linn drew a walk. But Joey Aman never wavered and got River McClain to hit a fly ball to center for the final out of the inning.
When Aman came back out to toe the rubber in the seventh, his team had gone back in front.
Joey Aman walked three over his stellar seven-inning effort.
“He was painting the bottom left-hand corner of the zone,” Wood said. “That’s hard to hit. You then only have one side of the field. You can’t ask for much more from him.”
Clem and Joey Aman keyed Lewis’ eight-hit attack with two apiece.
In addition to finishing with the Bees’ lone hit, Boone struck out five and walked three over a quality six-inning start.
“He was around the zone all day long,” Price said, “and did a very good job.”
It marked the second time this season the Minutemen knocked off the Bees in competitive fashion after they secured a 5-3 victory in an earlier meeting.
“Tyler coaches a good team and we’ve had two dogfights with them,” Price said. “We’ve come up on the short end both times, but we know we’ve been in the games, and that’s a good test for our guys, and it’s a good test for their guys. We’re really happy with where we’re at. We aren’t satisfied with this result, but we’ll move forward and tomorrow’s a new day.”
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Hundreds of employees at CAMC are celebrating anniversaries this week including a few with over 50 years of service.
More than 1,200 employees and volunteers are celebrating anniversaries in 2024. CAMC recognizes employees celebrating milestone anniversaries for their years of service starting at five years.
A recognition dinner was held at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Thursday evening. More than 800 people were expected to attend the dinner.
CAMC President and CEO Dave Ramsey said the milestones that people have been able to reach as a member of CAMC is truly remarkable .
“It’s just a special time where we get to honor the folks that dedicated most of their working life to taking care of all of us,” said Ramsey.
Jeff Greathouse, CRNA, has accomplished an impressive feat of 55 years of service at CAMC. He started in October 1969 as a part-time attendant while he was still in high school.
“I think it’s pretty special,” Greathouse said about his 55 years. “My grandfather worked for a company for 50 years so I passed him up but I’m sure he’d be proud of me.”
The Greathouse family is full of people working in the medical field. He met his wife, a Kentucky native, in the E.R. His daughter is a CRN and his son is an OR nurse. Greathouse aid there’s no other place he’d rather be.
“I grew up here,” he said. “This is home. Charleston, West Virginia is home.”
Seven more employees are celebrating 50 years including Sharon Elmore who currently works as a surgical scheduler. Her love for her job has also grown strong as the CAMC community has also grown across West Virginia.
“We all work together towards the same goal, taking care of patients,” said Elmore.
Elmore started out in patient care. She said she loves helping people work through their pathway. She too started at CAMC while still in high school, just like Greathouse.
“It’s a little surreal because it seems like just yesterday I was starting while in high school,” she said.
CAMC has had a lot to celebrate since the last dinner recognition this time a year ago. Since then, CAMC joined with Mon Health to create Vandalia Health and expand their service across the state. The number of hospitals has also jumped in recent years.
“We went from four hospitals in Charleston and Morgantown and now we have 14 hospitals that we own in our system and three others that we manage,” said Ramsey.
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SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Highlights from Cabell Midland’s 12-4 (5-inning) win over St. Albans in the MSAC semifinals. Hurricane defeated Spring Valley, 20-2 in 4 innings in the opposite semifinal.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Officials are saying goodbye to a piece of the City of Charleston’s past and setting their sights on the future as they begin to journey further into the $40 billion dollar industry that is sports tourism.
Demolition on the former Macy’s store at the Charleston Town Center Mall has officially begun as to make way for the future Capital Sports Center.
Those behind the effort, city officials and the Kanawha County Commission met for a press conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the next steps and the soon-to-be construction process regarding the projected $80 million endeavor.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin was also on hand at the event. He provided $2 million in Congressionally Directed Spending to help initiate a foundation in the dollars going towards the project.
Manchin said he didn’t think twice about investing in something that will generate an even bigger return on investment, adding that it will be even bigger than what the mall brought in during its heyday after opening in 1983.
“Those who remember when the mall first opened, it was the biggest thing that hit West Virginia, thinking that it was right downtown in Charleston, and the excitement that went on and the amount of revenue it generated, and then you see, it’s gone a life cycle,” said Manchin. “What’s going to happen, fairly soon, is going to be bigger than that.”
The city and the commission has also put in $5 million each for the project and they are currently requesting additional federal direct funding.
Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said state leaders are another potential funding source, as well, because they know the benefits such a major sports facility can bring in.
“The state is doing it better than anybody right now right, they are putting more money into travel and tourism than they ever have before because they see the return on investment, and so, it’s going to be lots of different pots,” said Goodwin.
Commissioner Ben Salango said it’s looking to cost about $60 million for phase 1 of the project alone, which covers a significant portion of demolition and preliminary construction in building the around 196 thousand square foot sports center.
Handling the demolition of the Macy’s building, a big portion of where the new facility will go, is Rodney Loftis & Sons. It’s expected to be an ongoing process of about 6 to 8 weeks in getting the building completely torn down.
Following the demolition process will begin the final steps of the architectural and design planning phase being handled by ZMM Architects.
Preliminary designs include around six basketball courts, twelve volleyball, and around eight pickleball courts. In addition, the indoor complex is expected to house wrestling mats, a fitness center, a turf soccer field, a rock-climbing wall, a main gymnasium, and an aquatic center complete with an Olympic-sized pool.
Three floors of the Town Center’s Parking Garage B is also expected to be torn down to fit the aquatic center into the facility.
However, Salango said property acquisition has been creating a hold-up for phase 2 of the project and it continues to be an issue they are still working on.
He said what they didn’t want to do, though, was to delay all of the benefits coming out of phase 1 while they wait to acquire the property.
“There’s going to be millions and millions of dollars in economic impact, why delay that for years while we negotiate property acquisition,” said Salango.
The Capital Sports Center Committee is also working with Sports Facilities Inc., a nationwide company who helps design major sports complexes like the one being built in Charleston. Goodwin said they know how to make the endeavor be sustainable.
She said, however, that there is already no concern that the sports center will be a success in the city.
“It will be filled and booked before we really even start building this, because there are already companies and organizations saying ‘when is it going to be finalized because we want to host our tournaments there,” said Goodwin.
Manchin said he is committed to helping see the project through until the very end.
He said there are different areas they can tap into to acquire more funding for the project.
“As the transition is going on, we have different opportunities that we’re able to pull from, so we have to search and look for any opportunity that we have, and there’s quite a few,” said Manchin.
Goodwin said with hundreds of teams and thousands of players from across the country making their way to other state’s sports complexes on a regular basis, sports tourism is the future, and the new facility will give the city and state a major piece of that $40 million industry.
She said there is something known as an anchor facility standard, which means that the facility has the capability of hosting some of the biggest tournaments in the country, and that’s something they are striving for with this sports complex. This means, added Goodwin, that looking into anything from how many basketball courts there are, down to where the locker rooms get placed is an important part of the process in getting there.
“We will never be able to compete on a national level unless and until we have anchor-level facilities, that means eight basketball courts, that means 16 volleyball courts, and we are a stone’s throw away from the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center where we can book more of those events,” she said.
Goodwin said they plan to unveil different but similar design plans for the complex in the next coming weeks as those plans get finalized.
Salango said the sport center’s economic impact is expected to reach the tens of millions.
“All of these big dollar travel sports will be coming to town, and you combine that asset with the assets they already have at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, you can host some of the biggest basketball and some of the biggest volleyball tournaments in the country,” said Salango.
The entire Capital Sports Center project is expected to take around two to three years to complete.
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