Charleston

A follow up to our story about the gardens on Charleston’s west side.  Publicity about the effort brought new volunteers to help maintain them.  We’ll re-visit West Virginia’s Teacher of the Year as she prepares for schools to open next month and Lori McKenna with the Mountain Stage Song of the Week. 

On a drizzling morning around 7:00, Sam Rivers has just lit the oak-wood fire for the meat smoker, and smoke is pouring over the sidewalk into the rain. The owner of Dem 2 Brothers and a Grill, Adrian Wright, stands behind him. Adrian oversees the entire operation, from the time when the ribs and pork begin grilling in the early dawn, until the spicy barbecue sauce is made each night.

  Patriot Coal is relocating its West Virginia office in Charleston to Scott Depot in Putnam County.

Patriot spokeswoman Janine Orf says the St. Louis-based coal company plans to make the switch in late summer or early fall.

The Charleston office has about 100 employees.

The company has 10 active mining complexes, with eight in West Virginia and two in western Kentucky. Patriot employs about 4,000 people across the whole company.

Editor's Note: Today we continue our series on how to keep young people in West Virginia. Yesterday, we looked at the struggle many people go through to find work in the state in their chosen fields. Today we examine the stereotypes young West Virginians who choose to stay in the state face from those on the outside.

  West Virginia police are investigating a murder-for-hire plot against a police lieutenant in Charleston.   Darrell Carter was charged Monday with solicitation to commit murder. He was arrested over the weekend in connection with the killing of a Charleston man. Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster says Carter offered two people $15,000 to kill chief of detectives Lt. Steve Cooper. 

The producers of Antiques Roadshow would like to see more furniture from West Virginia.  The popular appraisal show will be in Charleston in August and time is running out to submit your family's furniture heirlooms.

So far, West Virginians have submitted photos of 76 pieces of furniture, but Antiques Roadshow executive producer Marsha Bemko would like to see a lot more.  

This article is part of a special series highlighting the Jewish experience in West Virginia. It's a companion to the television series The Story of the Jews, airing March 25 and April 1 at 8 pm on West Virginia PBS.

Charleston's City Council has repealed a 1993 ordinance that limited handgun sales in the city.
 
The move is in response to state legislation that prohibits municipalities from having firearm regulations that are greater than those of the state or federal governments.
 

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones says he will meet with Governor Tomblin very soon and ask him to veto a gun bill passed by the legislature last week.

Senate Bill 317 makes gun laws uniform state wide. But the bill defines a municipally owned recreation facility as a swimming pool, recreation center, sports facility housing an after school program or other similar facility where children are regularly present.  The bill permits a person to carry a lawfully possessed weapon into such a center, as long as it is stored out of view.

Mayor Jones is pretty upset about it.

On this West Virginia Morning, we meet a water hero.

Also, updates from the legislature on government fraud and a bill on abortions.

Visitors are also in Charleston talking about tourism, and the water spill.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones is exploring the city taking on testing of hotels and homes, to "prove to folks that the water is okay if, in fact, it is."

Jones said he doesn't know how many samples would be collected because he is awaiting a report from an Ohio-based company that would outline the cost of testing. He didn't reveal the name of the company. 

A local research group has calculated that roughly $61 million was lost by local businesses as a result of the chemical spill into the Elk River.

Like many others, I’m distressed and angry about the chemical leak that fouled my city’s water supply and turned off the taps for three hundred thousand taxpayers. But I can’t sustain my outrage without a dose of laughter now and then. And it occurs to me that Charleston may want to consider looking for a niche in the extreme tourism market. So, with the help of my co-writer and accompanist, George Castelle, I’ve put my thoughts into a song:

Charleston—the town inimical

Hip, historic, cool and chemical

Yes, there's sludge, and it could spill

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued a new order to Freedom Industries Wednesday, less than a day after it was discovered another chemical--known as PPH--was included in the tank that leaked at the Freedom site.

According to the order, Freedom has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to provide the West Virginia DEP on-site inspector with information that fully describes the composition of materials released into the Elk River almost two weeks ago.

Antiques Roadshow, West Virginia PBS’s most-watched primetime series, has announced its Summer 2014 Tour destinations, including its first  stop in West Virginia.

The show is scheduled to come to Charleston's Civic Center on Aug. 16.

"Our mission is to tell West Virginia's story, and this visit from Antiques Roadshow will help that story reach millions of viewers," said Scott Finn, executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting. "We West Virginians love our history, and this should be a spectacular show.”

Antiques Roadshow has just announced their 2014 tour dates, and Charleston, W.Va. will be their last stop!

The live event is scheduled for August 16 at the Charleston Civic Center.

This is a big deal for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and for fans who've been asking for Antiques Roadshow to come to West Virginia for years.

Charleston is on the verge of recording its lowest number of murders in two decades.

The Daily Mail reports that with less than a week left, the city has recorded just one murder in 2013. That's down from 10 last year.

A gun rights group has gone to court in an attempt to stop enforcement of Charleston's gun ordinances.
 
     The West Virginia Citizens Defense League asked Kanawha Circuit Court on Tuesday to issue an injunction against the ordinances.
 

In December, 1923, 13 African American women in Charleston met to discuss their love of books.  The club these women formed would continue to thrive for the next 90 years.  The Book Lovers of Charleston is celebrating this weekend with a party.  Membership to the book lovers club is by invitation, but this party is open to the public as the group's gift to the community.

Yvonne Moore was asked to join the Book Lovers of Charleston 16 years ago.