DUNBAR, W.Va. — A Kanawha County teacher is facing charges after allegedly abusing a non-verbal child a Dunbar Primary School classroom.
Willie Lee Washington (WVDCR)
According to a criminal complaint, Willie Lee Washington, 54, of St. Albans, has been charged with battery and assault of a disabled child. Washington was a substitute teacher working in a first-grade special needs classroom.
The complaint stated Washington was seen on surveillance video on September 2 grabbing a child “under the

West Virginia’s secretary for human services told lawmakers about continued focus on child welfare needs and staffing to make sure that work receives proper attention.
Alex Mayer
Alex Mayer also described progress in reducing overdose deaths in West Virginia.
Mayer spoke before the Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability during interim legislative meetings at the state Capitol.
“We’ve been very busy, particularly in the child welfare space,” Mayer , referencing a child

DUNBAR, W.Va. — A 17-year-old is in critical condition after what an incident that deputies are calling a murder-attempted suicide.
According to a release from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to assist the Dunbar Police Department with a homicide investigation at around five o’clock Sunday morning.
Deputies and detectives arrived at the 400 block of 16th Street in Dunbar where they found Bausley Gwinn-Bowles, 20, of Dunbar, dead from a gunshot wound.
The release says a

Justice John Hutchison is making a return to the state Supreme Court.
Hutchison is returning as a senior status justice to temporarily fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Tim Armstead, Chief Justice Bill Wooton announced.
Bill Wooton
“I am grateful for Justice Hutchison’s willingness to return and serve on the Court as we navigate this difficult time,” Wooton said in the announcement.
“While we mourn the loss of Justice Armstead, we know Tim would want to see the

LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Greenbrier County Sheriff Bart Baker confirmed for MetroNews the weekend shooting which claimed a life came from a handgun at a home in the Clintonville community. Baker also confirmed the young victim was age 14.
The Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department and local EMS were dispatched to the home Saturday evening around 4:30 p.m. There the teen was dead of the gunshot wound and an investigation was launched. According to the Sheriff there were four other teens in the house at