CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The renovation project at the Servia rest area along I-79 in Braxton County is moving forward after the West Virginia Division of Highways awarded a contract for the project.
A DOH release said Paramount Builders LLC was awarded a contract for $21,003,611.97 for the project. The contract includes the construction of a new building, new water tank, and utility lines.
The Servia project was among 20 contracts awarded for various project across the state from a bid letting held

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Police have made a second arrest in connection with the murder of a South Charleston man in Huntington earlier this week.
Javon Carpenter (HPD)
Detectives have charged Javon Carpenter, 30, of Huntington, with conspiracy to commit murder.
Police are continuing their investigation into the Tuesday afternoon (July 7) shooting death of Jackie Harper.
Harper, 33, was gunned down in the 2400 block of 9th Avenue.
Huntington police, working with the U.S. Marshal Service, arrested

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — A Detroit man is set to spend up to 15 years behind bars after being sentenced for illegal drug possession.
Donovan Phillips (WVRJA)
The Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Donovan Phillips, 21, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced this week.
Phillips was driving a vehicle without a seatbelt in June 2025, according to police. After pulling Phillips over, authorities then discovered he was wanted in Michigan.
Police said they found two packages of illegal drugs

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association (OMEGA) announced Friday that they raised over $100,000 during their Every Child Deserves a Loving Home Mother’s Day Campaign, which aimed to help children across the state dealing with crisis in the family.
President of OMEGA Traci Nelson said in the release that during the campaign, brightly colored, Mother’s Day themed, paper flowers were sold at hundreds of OMEGA-member convenience and grocery stores statewide,

In a case going back more than a decade, a federal judge has ordered representatives of the family business led by Senator Jim Justice to pay the full amount of a $17 million judgement that has had interested compounded at 8% annually.
U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove filed the 33-page order Friday in the Eastern District of Kentucky. The judge also found that the defendants engaged in a persistent pattern of evading legal obligations and ignoring court mandates about the disclosure

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Six people have applied to fill the vacancy on the Kanawha County Commission.
Ben Salango
The vacancy was created when former Commissioner Lance Wheeler resigned after being appointed executive director of the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority on June 25.
The applicants are Thomas Canterbury, Jared Page, George Smith, Elizabeth Standish, Jim Strawn and George Mets Jr.
Commission President Ben Salango told MetroNews he and Commissioner Natalie Tennant hope to make a

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Health has reported 47 cases of a parasite-caused intestinal illness in the last month.
The state Bureau for Public Health is investigating the increase in an intestinal illness called Cyclosporiasis. Officials said West Virginia typically only reports nine cases of Cyclospora each year. In contrast, there have been 47 reported cases since June 17.
There have been 729 confirmed cases in 30 states as of Thursday, per the Centers for Disease