Associated Press, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Inmate Dies After He Was Found Unresponsive At Scrutinized West Virginia Jail

Correctional officers at Southern Regional Jail found the 24-year-old man unresponsive in his cell and attempted life-saving measures, according to a Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation statement. He was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, WCHS reported.

An inmate at a West Virginia jail scrutinized in lawsuits citing inmate deaths and alleging poor living conditions was pronounced dead Friday morning, officials said.

Authorities did not immediately provide further details or reveal the deceased inmate’s identity. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Criminal Investigation Division and the West Virginia State Police have opened an investigation into the death.

Several former correctional officers with Southern Regional Jail were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in connection with the 2022 death of an incarcerated man who was beaten while handcuffed and restrained in an interview room and later a jail cell. They were also charged with trying to cover up their actions, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictments came weeks after two West Virginia corrections officers pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge stemming from the fatal beating of the same inmate, 37-year-old Quantez Burks. Burks was a pretrial detainee who died less than a day after he was booked into the Southern Regional Jail.

The state of West Virginia also agreed this year to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates who described conditions at the jail as inhumane. The lawsuit filed last year on behalf of current and former inmates described a lack of access to water and food at the facility, as well as overcrowding and fights that were allowed to continue until someone was injured.

NCAA Athletes Who’ve Transferred Multiple Times Can Play Through Spring Semester, Judge Rules

College athletes who have transferred multiple times but were denied the chance to compete immediately can play through the remainder of the academic year, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in West Virginia made the ruling on a motion filed Friday by the NCAA and a coalition of states suing the organization. Preston extended a temporary restraining order he had issued last Wednesday barring the NCAA from enforcing its transfer rule for 14 days.

The earlier ruling had opened a small window for multiple-transfer athletes to compete. But that window was extended by Monday’s decision, which converts the restraining order into a preliminary injunction. Bailey also canceled a previously scheduled Dec. 27 hearing and said the case would be set for trial no sooner than the last day of competition in the winter and spring sports seasons.

“This is a great day for student athletes — they will finally be able to compete in the sport they love,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement. “It’s the right thing to do and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”

Friday’s motion came after the NCAA had circulated a document to its member schools clarifying that the redshirt rule for athletes would still apply if the court’s restraining order was reversed: Basketball players who compete even in one game would be using up a season of eligibility.

Several multiple-transfer men’s basketball players competed in games over the weekend, including West Virginia’s Noah Farrakhan, Cincinnati’s Jamille Reynolds and UT Arlington’s Phillip Russell.

The lawsuit, which alleges the NCAA transfer rule’s waiver process violates federal antitrust law, could have a profound impact on college sports if successful. In court documents, the NCAA has said the plaintiffs “seek to remake collegiate athletics and replace it with a system of perpetual and unchecked free agency.

NCAA rules allow underclassmen to transfer once without having to sit out a year. But an additional transfer as an undergraduate generally requires the NCAA to grant a waiver allowing the athlete to compete immediately. Without it, the athlete would have to sit out for a year at the new school.

Last January, the NCAA implemented stricter guidelines for granting those waivers on a case-by-case basis.

“I hope this is the beginning of real change within the NCAA,” Morrisey said. “We have to put the well-being of student athletes — physical, mental, academic and emotional — first. The NCAA needs to enact consistent, logical and defensible rules that are fair and equitable for everyone.”

The states involved in the lawsuit are Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.

W.Va. Appeals Court Reverses $7M Jury Award In Ford Lawsuit

An appeals court in West Virginia on Friday reversed a $7 million award in a product liability lawsuit against the Ford Motor Co. to the family of a woman who died when her Ford Mustang was involved in a fiery crash.

The West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals sent the case back to Kanawha County Circuit Court for a new trial.

A jury had found that Ford was 99% at fault for the 2016 death of Breanna Bumgarner and awarded the money last year to her Raleigh County family.

Court records show that Bumgarner’s 2014 Mustang was hit by a pickup truck that had crossed the center line on U.S. Route 33 near Spencer in Roane County. The Mustang caught fire and Bumgarner was trapped in the vehicle. The lawsuit also named the 16-year-old driver of the other vehicle and her parents as defendants.

The plaintiff’s attorneys had argued that the Mustang’s brake fluid reservoir was not sufficiently protected from the crash and it led to the fire. The jury found that the reservoir’s design was not safe enough in preventing leakage in the accident.

The appeals court sided with Ford’s contention that negligent design claims require proof of a reasonable alternative design for establishing the existence of a defect, and that the jury should have been properly instructed on the requirement.

Vandalism And Wintry Weather Knock Out Phone Service To Emergency Centers In W.Va.

Phone service was knocked out to emergency call centers for several hours in numerous West Virginia counties on Tuesday. Residents in some counties were advised to use alternative business numbers to call during the 911 outage.

Phone service was knocked out to emergency call centers for several hours in numerous West Virginia counties on Tuesday, officials said.

Residents in some counties were advised to use alternative business numbers to call during the 911 outage.

Frontier Communications spokesperson Chrissy Murray said its fiber optic lines experienced two cuts in northern West Virginia, one involving copper vandalism and the other due to damage related to a winter storm.

“The combination of the cuts is what caused the 911 service issue but we worked quickly to restore so that all of our customers had access to emergency services,” Murray said in a statement.

Frontier is planning to offer up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the copper theft, Murray said, adding that tips should be called in to Frontier and local law enforcement.

While 911 calls were going through Tuesday evening in Kanawha County in the state capital of Charleston, the county sheriff’s office said other phone issues remained unresolved. The problem typically involved calls between Frontier landlines and another carrier’s cell phones. Some callers were experiencing busy signals or no response when dialing the sheriff’s office and other places, the office said in a news release.

The office advised callers to reach it using a landline until the issue is resolved.

Mary Lou Retton Says She’s ‘Overwhelmed’ With Love And Support As She Recovers From Rare Pneumonia

American gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton says she is “overwhelmed with all the love and support” she has received and is slowly recovering with family after being hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia earlier this month.

Retton, 55, posted a statement Monday on Instagram in her first public comment since being in intensive care in a Texas hospital. Her daughter, McKenna Kelley, said then that the first American woman to win the Olympic all-around title in 1984 was “fighting for her life” and unable to breathe on her own.

Retton said she was “beyond blessed for the opportunity to make this statement” and is staying positive through what she knows is a long and slow recovery process. She requested privacy and added that she will share more information about her health when the time is right and hopefully help others facing the same battle.

Retton ended the post saying, “I love you all. – MLR.”

Kelley started a fundraising campaign on Retton’s behalf to cover medical expenses because she does not have health insurance. The campaign has generated more than 8,300 donations totaling nearly $460,000.

Retton was 16 when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Retton, who grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia, also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Mary Lou Retton In ‘recovery mode’ After Hospital Stay For Pneumonia

American gymnastics icon Mary Lou Retton has returned home following a lengthy hospital stay because of pneumonia, her daughter said Monday.

Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, the oldest of Retton’s four daughters, posted an update on Retton’s condition on Instagram nearly two weeks after the family disclosed that the former Olympic all-around champion was in intensive care.

The 55-year-old Retton is now in “recovery mode,” according to Schrepfer.

“We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us,” Schrepfer wrote. “But baby steps.”

The family disclosed earlier this month that Retton — who became the first American female gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Los Angeles Games — was “fighting for her life” and unable to breathe on her own.

Donations have poured into a fundraiser the family set up to help offset Retton’s medical expenses after the family said she didn’t have medical insurance. There’s been more than 8,300 donations totaling nearly $460,000 by Monday afternoon.

Retton was 16 when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games. The native of Fairmont, West Virginia, also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.