CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Secretary of Commerce Matt Herridge is encouraged with West Virginia’s current economic state, but he has an eye for the near future.
Matt Herridge
Herridge spoke before the Joint Committee on Government and Finance during legislative interim meetings earlier in the month.
Herridge, the former state GOP chair, gave lawmakers a look at the state’s improvements with license reciprocity, which allows some professionals to come over to the Mountain State without obtaining another

KANAWHA CITY, W.Va. — A year-long project begins Monday to repair the three-story headquarters of the state Department of Environmental Protection building in Charleston’s Kanawha City.
Terry Fletcher
The state is paying a contractor $9.7 million to replace the building’s HVAC system, repair the roof, reseal the dozens of windows in the building and fix expansion joints.
The work is expected to take about a year to complete, DEP Spokesman Terry Fletcher told MetroNews.
“These are upgrades that

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Funding for the federal government has been halted for the third week during a budget impasse.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey
According to a report by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, there were more than 22,900 federal employees in the state as recently as March of this year. The report said 15,844 of those hail from the Eastern Panhandle.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey spoke to WEPM Radio in Martinsburg back on Friday at an economic development summit in Martinsburg. He said

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –A man is in the hospital following a crash on I-77 in Charleston Sunday morning.
According to Charleston Police, the man was entering the interstate when he lost control and struck the wall nearby to the 36th Street Bridge entrance. He was transported for evaluation.
There was other information made available.
The slow lane was closed; however, it has since reopened.
The post Man transported to hospital after I-77 wreck appeared first on WV MetroNews.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission meets Monday to interview the applicants for the state Supreme Court seat left vacant by the passing of Justice Tim Armstead.
Armstead died Aug. 26 after a battle cancer. The JVAC HAS until Nov. 24 to interview the applicants and submit two to five names to Gov. Patrick Morrisey. The governor will then have 30 days to make an appointment.
Those who will have applied include:
Laura Faircloth
David Gilbert
Dan Greear
Eric Hudnall
E. Ryan

NITRO, W.Va. — Local and national officials are urging drivers to slow down and stay alert for school buses in their communities.
National School Bus Safety Week begins Monday, Oct. 20, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 24. The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for this effort.
While school buses are considered the safest mode of transportation, injuries and fatalities do still