WQBE News

WVU will host Coastal Carolina tonight in a quarterfinal match up in the College Basketball Invitational. Tip-off is at seven o’clock at the WVU coliseum.

Fire destroyed two houses in Weston. The fire broke out on Mill Street Saturday around midnight. No one was hurt. No one was living in either house. It took firefighters four hours to get the blaze under control. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The West Virginia Department of Education will hold another public forum tonight in Parkersburg. It is the fifth of eight educational reform sessions being held across the state. Lawmakers and education leaders are trying to better understand what needs to be done in public education before a special session later this year.

The community of Pratt is remembering their fallen heroes. One year ago, a fire truck responding to a crash, hit a rock face, killing two firefighters and injuring three others. On Sunday the Pratt Fire Department honored firefighters Michael Edwards and Thomas Craigo. Fire Chief Bobby Shanklin said the loss of the two men left a hole in their department.

The Dunbar Toll Bridge will be closed nightly this week to allow for annual routine bridge safety inspections. The bridge will be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. today through Friday. As part of the inspection, MacCorkle Avenue will undergo alternating lane closures under the bridge today and tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Former Kanawha County circuit judge and prosecutor Jim Stucky has died. Stucky served Kanawha County for nearly forty years until he retired earlier this year. The Kanawha County Commission will lower state flags on commission grounds in Stucky’s honor.

Fire destroyed a home in Cross Lanes. The blaze broke out early Saturday morning on Russet Drive. No one was hurt. The family wasn’t home when the fire started. The home is a total loss; the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Huntington police are investigating after a man was shot in the leg. It happened Saturday night on Third Street. The victim suffered non-life threatening injuries, and is not cooperating with police. No arrests have been made.

24/7 Wall Street has issued a new report about the top 25 fastest shrinking cities, and it says five of the top 10 places are in West Virginia. Criteria included population percentage changes from July 2010 to July 2017 from the U.S. The report ranked Charleston at 3rd with a population decrease of 5.5, from 226,901 to 214,406. Beckley ranked 5th with a 5.1% decrease and Weirton, WV-Steubenville, OH ranked 6th with a decrease of 4.9%. Wheeling came in 8th with a 4.6% decrease in seven years.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission is planning to pick a new interim leader by late next month due to the current interim chancellor’s plans to resign. The board voted Friday to accept the resignation of interim chancellor Carolyn Long effective May 15. Long said she expects to be re-appointed as president of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology. Commission Chairman Michael Farrell said the panel is accepting applications for the interim leadership post through April 10. Farrell said the board plans to hire the new interim chancellor on April 26. Long was named interim chancellor in July, shortly after Gov. Jim Justice formed his Blue Ribbon Commission on Four-Year Higher Education.