Clark Davis

A new playground at Harris Riverfront Park in Huntington could serve as the beginning of a revitalized riverfront.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams along with Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District officials opened the new playground yesterday morning. The $50,000 playground was paid for by the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District. The playground is just one step among many that Huntington Mayor Steve Williams hopes revitalizes the park.

The Wild Ramp Food Market will hold a grand opening ceremony Saturday at 9 a.m. as they celebrate a move to a new larger location.

Since opening its doors in July 2012 at Heritage Station in Huntington, the shop that only sells locally grown foods has flourished. With over 100 local farmers, artisans, and bakers producing goods for the market, they have run out of space. So when the city approached the market about moving to a larger location in Central City, Wild Ramp Officials jumped at the chance.

Shelly Keeney is the market manager.

The Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine announced Thursday they have been approved to start a psychiatry residency program. Marshall’s program will become only the third in the state to train the specialists experts say the region desperately needs.

Administrators at the Marshall University School of Medicine see substance abuse as just one of many problems the new psychiatry residency program can impact. Dr. Suzanne Holroyd is the new chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral medicine.

Huntington officials announced yesterday morning a major redesign of the website for the city.

Mayor Steve Williams and Huntington officials felt it was time to change an outdated part of the city, the website. Huntington’s digital presence had fallen behind, according to city leaders. Williams said they had to make a better first impression.

International students at Marshall are taking advantage of a new partnership that helps them better learn the English language.

Akira Uchida is an international student at Marshall from Japan. He’s taking advantage of dialect lessons in the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center.

“One class we do is, we go into a classroom and we learn some slangs, not bad slangs, but what American students use to communicate and how to take an order to a restaurant when you go to a restaurant and those kinds of basic things,” Uchida said.

One professor at Marshall University has a story to tell you….and an award winning story at that. Dan Hollis- a professor in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications has started a tradition, for producing award winning videos.

The two-year-old Marshall University School of Physical Therapy held their second white coat ceremony Friday.

Year-one as part of the Marshall University School of Physical Therapy was not easy for Erin Jordan, a native of South Carolina.

“Yeah I’ll be honest it was a challenge, I spend more time here than I do at my own apartment,” Jordan said. “I pretty much live here, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, I love it.”

Each year the Huntington Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Foundation raises money for the Speech and Hearing Center at Marshall University.

Dillard Price said communication with his daughter, Krista improved after therapy at the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center. The Center focuses on working with children and adults in the area to help improve their speech and also works with children who have encountered hearing issues.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources has issued a six month provisional license to the Potomac Center in Hampshire County. 

A news release says the license will allow the Center to open cottages to house eight children ages five to 21 years of age. Earlier this year 24 children were moved from the Center after allegations of physical and sexual abuse surface.

The city of Huntington hopes to encourage more entrepreneurial spirit through a newly launched small business initiative. Officials gathered Monday morning to announce Huntington Be Small, Live Large.

Robert Smith owns Robert’s Running and Walking in downtown Huntington. He opened his shop eight years ago. Smith was on hand as the city announced the initiative to help entrepreneurs get their small businesses off the ground. The program was not in place for Smith when he opened his shop selling running shoes and equipment.

Marshall University’s Athletic Director Mike Hamrick introduced Dan D’Antoni as the new basketball coach at a press conference Friday on Marshall’s campus.

Marshall University’s men’s basketball program finally has a new

   leader, in Dan D’Antoni. The Los Angeles Lakers’s assistant coach will lead the school that he once played for from 1966 to 1970.  Dan is the younger brother of Mike, the Head Coach of the Lakers.

Dan D’Antoni says he’s ready for the opportunity.

Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick announced this afternoon a Dan D’Antoni will be the new head coach for Herd Men’s Basketball.

Marshall University has announced that Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Dan D’Antoni is the new head basketball coach at Marshall. Dan is the younger brother of Mike, the Head Coach of the Lakers.

The Appalachian Institute of Digital Evidence is holding its 5th annual conference this week in Huntington and Charleston.

A Marshall University English Professor has been named the 2013 Professor of the Year in the state.

Kateryna Schray is an English Professor in the Marshall University College of Liberal Arts. She’s been named the 2013 Professor of the Year by the Faculty Merit Foundation. Each year the Faculty Merit Foundation honors an outstanding faculty member at a West Virginia college or university. Schray said her students were supportive and happy for her after her award. She said she’s just not sure she’s deserving because she still has a ways to go.

A Michigan man paid a visit to Cabell County last week to see where his ancestors were once slaves.

Maurice Sanders is from Michigan, where most of his family lived for the majority of his life. His visit to Marshall’s campus and to Huntington last week on the surface is not unlike other visitors. What makes Sanders visit special, is that much of his family tree in the 1800’s was once enslaved in the area that is now Milton in Cabell County. It’s just up Route 60 from Huntington. They visited the grave site of Sampson Sanders, the man who owned Maurice’s ancestors, Friday.

Officials at the Food Bank in Huntington hope a new name will make all the difference in helping those in need.

Leaders at the Huntington Area Food Bank think the name change holds the key to better representing their coverage area. Tiffany Tatum is the Executive Director at the food bank.

“I hope that it opens people’s eyes, we can have this warehouse stocked full of food and I can give it out in a day, I know that I could,” Tatum said. “I hope that it hopes up a lot of opportunities for food resources.”

With expectations at levels not seen in over a decade Marshall Football is into the second week of spring football practice, working to improve the overall quality of the team by adding depth in some key positions on the field.

Fresh off a 10-4 season that was capped off with a 31-20 win over Maryland in the Military Bowl, Marshall Football is back on the practice field.

Spring Football practice started last week for the Thundering Herd. Marshall Head Football Coach Doc Holliday said this is the time when depth is built and young guys have to step up.

Nearly 800 people were on Marshall’s campus this weekend for the Appalachian Studies Conference.

The three-day conference marked the 37th time the organization has got together to discuss the ins and outs of what makes Appalachia, Appalachia. Tyler Hughes made the trip from East Tennessee State University to attend.

Next week Huntington Prep will get the chance to play for a National Championship for the first time.

Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook announced his resignation this morning. 

Holbrook will take over the same position in Columbia, South Carolina, a city with a population over 130,000. Holbrook said he sees many similarities between the two jobs.

It starts at the top and the common similarity I saw here is they have tremendous officers, they have a tremendous management staff that were stymied or handcuffed and were not allowed or had the capacity to move the department in a certain direction,” Holbrook said.