WQBE News

West Virginia Turnpike traffic numbers indicate travel over the July 4th holiday weekend was down from last year, but trending better than Memorial Day. Turnpike officials say the numbers are off by around twenty-percent.

The 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia National Guard welcomed home seventy airmen from Kuwait, and sixty more are waiting to be deployed to the Middle East as part of Operations Inherent Resolve and Spartan shield.

Governor Justice’s family companies received over six-million-dollars from a federal rescue package to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic. At least six Justice family businesses received the Paycheck Protection Program loans, including the Greenbrier Resort.

There are more than one-hundred new cases of the virus statewide, bringing the total to over 34-hundred. The death toll remains at 95. The positive test rate is up slightly to one-point-eight-percent.

Governor Justice is making face masks mandatory when you enter any building, other than your own home. Governor Justice says it’s a necessary step because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in West Virginia.

A Berkeley County woman is pleading guilty after fleeing to Mexico with classified national security documents. Elizabeth Jo Shirley pleaded guilty to willful retention of national security information that was classified at “top secret” She’s accused taking her six-year-old daughter to Mexico to make contact with Russian officials to resettle in a country that would not extradite her to the US.

Former Richwood Mayor, Chris Drennen, pleaded not guilty to three felony charges linked to mishandling flood relief money. She’s accused of paying herself a month before a recover team was formed, as well as months after the team disbanded.

Charleston City Council unanimously passed Black Live Matter resolution that reaffirms the city’s anti-racism policies and ordinances. The council also approved donating the Kanawha Rifleman plaque to a museum. It was removed from Ruffner Park because of its Confederate history.

Stonewall Jackson’s name will be removed from a middle school on Charleston’s West Side. The Kanawha County Board of Education voted unanimously to change the name. A new name will be chosen by October.

One person has died and two others were injured after a shooting at a large party early Monday in Charleston. 33-year old Darius Lucas, of Charleston, was shot multiple times about 1 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of South Park Road, according to a Charleston Police Department news release. He died on his way to the hospital. 25-year old Frankie McNeal and 29-year old Michael Johnson, both of Charleston, were also injured in the shooting. Anyone with information should contact Charleston police.

Metro Communications at 304-348-8111 or police department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 304-348-6480.