News Staff The City of Charleston is opening warming centers for those in need of shelter. A warming center is open at the Salvation Army at Tennessee Avenue and Randolph Street. Social distancing guidelines are in place. And masks are required.
It was the first white Christmas in Charleston since 2010. The Kanawha Valley got three or four inches, and western West Virginia picked ups as much as nine inches of snow. We will get just above freezing this afternoon, which will cause some slick icy roads tonight.
West Virginia Division of Highway officials are preparing for the snow that is expected tonight. The DOH will deploy 185 new snow plows to clear the roads for holiday travel.
New Census figures show that West Virginia lost more ten-thousand residents in the past year, with a population of less than one-million seven-hundred-eighty-five-thousand. West Virginia is one of ten states project to lose congressional seats.
Senator Joe Manchin says he’s stunned by President Trump’s reaction to the COVID-19 relief bill. Trump wants Congress to increase stimulus checks to two-thousand-dollars, and he called the 600-dollar payments passed in the legislation, ridiculously low.
Governor Justice is urging West Virginians to safe during the holidays, and avoid family gatherings. The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate is over eleven-percent. There are almost 12-hundred new cases of the virus, and more than twenty additional deaths.
West Virginia continues to lead the country in COVID-19 vaccinations. Governor Justice says the state is on track to finish vaccinations at all long-term care facilities by Monday. More than 18-thousand people have been vaccinated, so far.
Justice administration general counsel, Brian Abraham, will become the new Chief of Staff. Abraham succeeds Mike Hall, who announced his retirement last week.
A Kanawha County man is under arrest for attempted burglary. Forty-year-old James Short was trying to break into houses near Rolling Hills Road and Devondale Circle. He was found in a wooded area near the homes and taken into custody.
Four pet goats were found shot and killed on a farm in East Bank. A fence was damaged, and fur was found on the barbed wire. Officials think another animal may have been involved. West Virginia State Police are investigating.