WQBE News

West Side Middle School emerged from the pack in July as the name for the former Stonewall Jackson Middle School. Now the school has a new mascot – the Wolfpack. The principal said students were able to vote on the new mascot and the Wolfpack was the top choice. Work is underway on a Wolfpack logo, but we know that West Side Middle’s colors will be black, silver, red and white. The Kanawha County Board of Education voted 3-2 in July to rename Stonewall Jackson Middle School as West Side Middle School.

A Portsmouth attorney is being indicted on human trafficking charges. Seventy-four-year-old Michael Mearan is facing up to seventy-years in prison if convicted on charges related to incidents that happened over a fifteen-year period involving six different victims.

The Charleston Fire Department is investigating a fire the destroyed two Kanawha City homes. The blaze started in a vacant house on Roosevelt Avenue, and spread to home a home next door, where a family of six lived. Everyone made it out safely, and no one was hurt. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Governor Justice is committing funding for an access road and intersection along Corridor G. The forty-million-dollar project will improve access to the former Hobet mine site in Boone County. The National Guard will resume activities at the site, and help market it to the defense industry.

West Virginia has been awarded an over 17-million-dollar victim assistance grant. The funds will provide counseling, advocacy, and transportation to victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, and elderly abuse. The money will go to more than eighty public and private non-profit agencies around the state.

Governor Justice is warning West Virginians not to let their guard down as COVID-19 cases spike. More than 190 people are hospitalized with the virus, which is the highest number, so far. There are 335 new cases of the virus, and health experts expect the numbers to increase as we head into the holiday season.

A Kanawha County Circuit Judge is dismissing a teachers union’s challenge to the state’s color-coded COVID-19 alert map, that determines whether schools should be open or closed. The West Virginia Education Association contended that the map has been altered repeatedly to allow classrooms to reopen and football teams to play. The judge ruled that the governor has broad emergency powers, and the courts should not intervene unless circumstances are extreme.

Charleston police are investigating a non-profit group that is conducting a needle exchange as part of what it calls a “street outreach” program. The group is called SOAR, which stands for “Solutions Oriented Addiction Response.” The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department shut down its needle exchange program two years ago, and a city ordinance gives Charleston Police the authority to approve a needle exchange program. Something Police Chief Tyke Hunt says he has not authorized.

An 85-year-old Elkview woman shot and killed her 89-year-old husband. The woman said they were involved in a domestic dispute and she was protecting herself. So far, no charges have been filed.

A Point Pleasant man is under arrest for breaking in to a Mason County Sheriff’s deputy’s home. The man came in through a back gate and entered the basement. He got into a struggle with the officer, and was bit by a retired K-9. James Will III is facing burglary charges.