WQBE News

Ron Duerring is calling it quits. Duerring starting teaching in 1975, and has been the Superintendent of Kanawha County Schools since 1998. His retirement goes into effect this summer.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito has filed for re-election. That sets up a possible race with former presidential candidate Richard Ojeda. Ojeda faces progressive Paula Jean Swearengin in the Democratic primary.

The State Public Employees Insurance Agency says it’s 105-million-dollar rainy day fund could be depleted by budget year 2022. The money is used to keep state workers from having to pay more for health insurance. The PEIA says they’ll need nearly 80-million-dollars to avoid a premium increase.

The Kanawha County Board of Health approved an indoor vaping ordinance. The ban treats e-cigarettes like cigarettes, and prohibits them in public places like restaurants and stores. The Cabell-Huntington Board of Health will host a public hearing on a similar ordinance next week.

The West Virginia Senate approved a bill that would allow pepper spray in the state Capitol building. The bill would exclude pepper spray from the state’s list of deadly weapons, allowing a small canister to be carried in the building.

On the same day Governor Jim Justice filed his paperwork for reelection, so did two others, as well. Boone County’s state Senator Ron Stollings and Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango are seeking the bid from the Democrats. Another Democrat, Stephen Smith, is expected to file his paperwork today.

A federal jury found a Georgia man guilty of distributing drugs that resulted in the death of a Fairmont woman. Courtney Dubois was found dismember in a Georgia landfill in 2018. Thirty-five-year-old Terrick Robinson was found guilty of eight charges. Two other co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in the case.

A Jefferson High School senior and a 30-year-old woman were killed in a head-on crash near Charlestown. Seventeen-year-old Hunter Muse and Alisha Shamburg died at the scene on Route 51. Another teenager was injured, and is in stable condition.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has launched an internal investigation after a video surfaced of what appears to be two deputies entering a home while the owner was at work, and without a search warrant. An attorney for the homeowner plans to file a civil rights complaint.

The Huntington Fire Department responded to a fire at the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind building. No one was inside when the blaze broke out. The fire broke out in a crawl space and damaged the kitchen and bathroom area.