History was made Thursday afternoon, as the conclave of Catholic Cardinals chose Robert Francis Prevost to be the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church.
Prevost, who will now go by the name “Pope Leo XIV,” is the first American-born Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, as he is originally from the Chicago area.
Bishop Mark Brennan
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Bishop Mark Brennan says Pope Leo will unite the church, just as his predecessors did.
“The Pope’s role is to promote unity among all

BELVA, W.Va. — Three people in Nicholas County are charged with child neglect as a result of a shooting investigation.
Bobby J. Moore (WVDCR)
Bobby J. Moore, 28, Caroline A. Stewart, 32, and Connie S. Moore, 58, were all arrested Thursday and charged with felony child neglect.
According to the Nicholas County Sheriff’s Office, an investigation began after deputies responded to a shooting in the 22000 block of Old Turnpike Road in the Belva area.
Caroline Stewart (WVDCR)
A release from the

BECKLEY, W.Va. –A former correctional officer at Southern Regional Jail has been sentenced for his role in an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate.
Steven Nicholas Wimmer, 25 of Bluefield has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the death of inmate Quantez Burks in March 2022. His sentence will be followed by three years supervised release.
Wimmer, pleaded guilty to conspiring with other officers to use unreasonable force against Q.B. As part of Wimmer’s plea deal, he

MOUNT NEBO, W.Va. –A second person has died as a result of injuries suffered in a crash Monday in Nicholas County.
According to Nicholas County Sheriff Johnny Evans, Misty Carelli, 52, of Tennessee, died in the hospital Friday. Her husband, Ronald Carelli died a short time after the crash at Summersville Regional Medical Center.
The incident was reported at the intersection of U.S. 19 and state Route 41in Mount Nebo. Investigators said that the victims were in a car that was heading south on

MERCER COUNTY, W.Va. –A man is dead after reportedly being hit by a car in Mercer County Thursday morning.
According to police in Bluefield they responded to a call around midnight involving a person who was allegedly hit by a car along U.S. Route 460. When police arrived on the scene, they discovered a man who was lying in the roadway with injuries appearing to be consistent with that type of accident.
He was later pronounced dead by Bluefield Rescue Squad.
An investigation is underway.
The

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Charleston residents will get the chance to hear from national and local bands during the 2025 Live on the Levee in the coming weeks.
Amy Shuler Goodwin
 
Charleston officials and sponsors of the event came together Thursday afternoon at Moses Cadillac GMC to announce the line-up for the levee.
The levee gets started on the Schoenbaum Stage at Haddad Riverfront Park on May 23rd, in conjunction with USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships. They will have one act, Reverend

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– The Director of West Virginia’s largest airport said the first days of a REAL ID requirement for boarding a plane have been fairly smooth. However, Dominque Raineri suggested travel numbers will pick up as we head into the weekend and you will still want to get there early.
“With more passengers needing to get through that checkpoint the likelihood of someone not having a REAL ID increases, those folks have to go through extra screening to get to their flight so it could

FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Members of the Marion County School System are already working to adjust after-school programming as a result of the DOGE cuts.
Donna Heston
A recent announcement that the AmeriCorps Flipside Afterschool Program would be a part of large-scale federal cuts has resulted in at least a 50 percent planned drawback of the number of schools that would be able to support the engagement-based program.
Marion County School Superintendent Donna Heston calls the recent decision a tough