News Staff

A high-profile murder trial in Martinsburg is being delayed because of spiking COVID-19 cases. Prosecutors said one of their witnesses in the trial of Robert Landis Kramerage tested positive for the coronavirus and two additional witnesses are in quarantine. The Journal reported the trial has been set for a January 6th start. Kramerage is accused … Read more

West Virginia University announced Monday it will hold 14 online commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 19. The university said there are 2,680 graduates. While each graduate will not be able to walk across the stage during the ceremonies, their names will scroll on screen while being read aloud.

Former WVU associate professor Qingyun Sun is pleading guilty to defrauding the university and to filing a false tax return. The charges stem from his official travel to China. He faces up to twenty-years in prison.

West Virginia still has over 800-million-dollars in CARES Act funding, and the federal deadline to spend the money is December 30th. The state needs to spend over thirty-million-dollars a day to reach the deadline. Governor Justice says the money will not go unspent.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is reporting 14-hundred new cases of COVID-19, and nine more people have died. There are now more than 19-thousand active cases statewide and the daily positive test rate is over seven percent.

Nearly half of all West Virginia schools will be online this week. Twelve counties remain in the red on the state’s weekly COVID-19 re-entry map, and fifteen counties are in the orange. Kanawha County moved into the gold.

An Ironton man won almost 250-thousand-dollars in a fishing tournament at Lake Cumberland. Chris Malone caught over forty pounds of fish in three days in the 2020 Toyota Series Championship.

Authorities are investigating after two inmates died of a suspected overdose in a quarantine cell at the North Central Regional Jail. A third inmate was taken to the hospital.

A Detroit man is under arrest on drug charges in Wayne County. Officer saw a drug deal go down on the sidewalk in the Westmoreland area. Bruce ‘Lucky’ Walker is in custody. He had a loaded hand gun and crack cocaine.

Three men are under arrest in a drug bust at a Garrison Avenue home. They’re accused of selling drugs to Joshua Phillips, the man charged with killing police officer Cassie Johnson.