WQBE News

Kanawha Avenue will be closed this Sunday to allow residents to get out for some socially distant exercise. The street will be closed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from 37th Street to 57th Street in Kanawha City. Mayor Amy Goodwin says the effort has been extremely successful, and it allows people to get out of their homes and enjoy outdoor recreation safely.

The West Virginia Power is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. The team will host a special exhibition today from noon to six under the third-base concourse canopy at Appalachian Power Park. It will feature artifacts, photos, uniforms, and other memorabilia. The Negro Leagues were founded in 1920.

WVU students are being warned to take COVID-19 precautions seriously as the start of the fall semester draws closer. Around eight-thousand students and employees have been tested, and over forty people tested positive. Health official say that, even if your test is negative, you can’t let your guard down.

A Princeton nursing home continues to struggle with a COVID-19 outbreak. Twenty residents and two-dozen staff members at the Princeton Health Care Center have tested positive, and four people have died. Another round of testing was completed yesterday.

There are nearly 120 new cases of COVID-19 in West Virginia, and active cases rose by six, up to over 18-hundred. West Virginia’s “rate of spread” number fell to point-ninety-two, which is the eighth lowest in the country.

St. Francis Hospital is being designated as a surge hospital for COVID-19, and has now accepted its first coronavirus patient. St. Francis reconfigured two floors in April, and added beds and equipment to support up to seventy-five COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations continue to climb in West Virginia, with 123 patients in the hospital with the virus.

A Cabell Midland High School football player tested positive for COVID-19. Workouts are on hold, and the rest of the team is self-isolating.

Two West Virginia education unions are criticizing Governor Justice, saying that his announcement about children going back to school lacked specific details about how the plan will be carried out, and how students and employees will be protected. Earlier this week the governor announced color-coded guidelines and said children would return to school September 8th, with virtual options.

The Scott Depot Kroger store is expanding. The supermarket will expand into the former Kmart store located next door. Kroger plans to begin constructing in late August, and the expansion will be completed by the summer of 2021.

Senator Joe Manchin is not a fan of the new deadline for the U.S. Census. The senator called the decision to move the self-reporting deadline up by a month “asinine.” The response rate remains is less than 55-percent, which ranks West Virginia 48th for census reporting. The deadline is now September 30th.