WQBE News

Governor Justice is ordering flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the shooting victims in Indianapolis. President Joe Biden had issued a proclamation after the shooting that killed eight people at a FedEx facility.

Four flag poles on top of the Capitol building are being restored. Corrosion was found on the poles during the dome restoration project. A contractor scaled the poles and applied a new high-performance coating. It will take about two weeks for the application to set and flags can fly again.

All five members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation signed off on a letter to President Biden, seeking a federal disaster declaration from the winter storms that slammed the state in February. A disaster declaration would give six counties and the state an opportunity to be reimbursed for costs related to storm response.

Boone and Berkeley counties are in red on the state’s COVID-19 alert map. Kanawha and Putnam counties are among seven counties in orange. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is reporting 475 new COVID-19 cases, and five more people have died.

Hesitancy to get the COVID-19 vaccine is tanking West Virginia’s nation leading vaccination numbers. The vaccination rate on Friday was 85-percent. Governor Justice calls that “incredibly low.” He’s imploring West Virginias to get the vaccination. Health officials say more variants of the virus, including a Brazilian variant, are gaining a foothold in the state.

Friends and family filled Laidley Field to remember eighteen-year-old KJ Taylor, the Capital High School student who was gunned down last week on the city’s West Side. Taylor was laid to rest Friday afternoon. An investigation into his death is ongoing. No arrests have been made.

Police in Wayne County have identified remains of a man who has been missing for six years. Kenneth Hamm went missing in March of 2015. He was last seen at his cousin’s home off Ferguson Ridge Road in Dunlow at a time when flood waters were high in the area. State police are investigating.

Police are looking for a man who used a stolen credit card at a Nitro Walmart. Nitro police are trying to identify the man in photographs on their Facebook page. Contact police if you can identify the person. You can remain anonymous.

WVU police are investigating after a student fell or jumped from a parking garage. The 20-year-old man was killed when he landed on the sidewalk below. Investigators do not believe foul play was involved.

Police are investigating a shooting outside the Kanawha County Courthouse. One person is dead. Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford says the gunshot was self-inflicted.