WHEELING, W.Va. — The state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation has announced it’s closing the Ohio County Correctional Center and moving the inmates and workers to other state-operated facilities.
Ohio County Correctional Facility in Wheeling. (Photo/WVDOC)
According to a Friday afternoon news release, there are 54 low-security inmates at the Wheeling facility. They will be moved to facilities that are operating below capacity.
“This decision allows us to make better use of the capacity

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The man charged in the 2022 kidnapping and death of Wood County resident Gretchen Fleming won’t face trial for several more months.
Preston Pierce, 58, appeared in Wood County Circuit Court Friday for a status hearing.
Pierce has two new attorneys and they indicated to the judge it was going to take them months to get ready for trial given a large amount of discovery evidence.
The judge set the next status hearing for Oct. 26. A trial date will likely be scheduled in that

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Fewer than two weeks after heavy rainfall swept through Kanawha County, most of the debris affected by floodwaters have been picked up.
The Kanawha County Commission received positive reports from emergency management director C.W. Sigman and deputy emergency manager Dave Armstrong during its meeting Thursday.
Workers began offering curbside pickup began Monday. Commission President Ben Salango noted that crews have been hard at work in the most-affected areas from the August

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County has its third county commissioner.
Ben Salango
Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango announced Friday Republcan Austin Gessel has agreed to accept the appointment of the commission and serve for the next four months.
“He has agreed to serve and we’re very thankful for that,” Salango said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Gessel was one of three people nominated by the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee to replace former commissioner Lance

CHARLESTON, W.Va – The city of Charleston is turning its opioid settlement funds into hope, using them to invest in local groups working to combat addiction.
In December 2025, the city committed $540,000 to 14 treatment initiatives, and Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin provided an update on that process Friday.
Amy Shuler Goodwin
“We can clear the pathway and we can open some doors, but it’s our local entities that bring people through the doors and really help people,” she said.
Grants are awarded in

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Six Huntington buildings which were marked with “eviction” notices this week are now available for residents to live again. The Huntington Fire Marshal removed the eviction notices Thursday and replaced them with signs which read “Do Not Enter, Unsafe to Occupy.”
The fire inspectors found a myriad of state fire code violations in the six buildings, three of which serve as fraternity houses. About 40 Marshall University students living in the structures were forced to find