Tremale Straughter of Rand pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge Monday before the start of his trial in the death of 19-year-old Harold Donovan Taylor.
In return for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop three charges of wanton endangerment against Straughter.
Taylor’s body was found inside a bullet-riddled car. After the shooting occurred last February in Rand, Riverside High School, three middle schools and nine elementary schools were closed while police searched for a suspect.
The 29-year-old Straughter faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 10 in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Author: Associated Press
Parkersburg Area Plant Closing on Proposed Cracker Plant Land
A plastics manufacturer that employs 130 workers in Wood County is closing the plant on land where a Brazilian petrochemical giant is exploring the possibility of building several facilities.
SABIC Innovative Plastics informed employees at its Washington facility on Thursday.
That news came shortly before Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced Odebrecht had chosen the same site to explore the possible location of an ethane cracker plant and three polyethlene plants.
Plant manager Scott Dansey says SABIC is consolidating U.S. operations involving a type of thermoplastic resin. Some production will be transferred to plants in Ottawa, Ill., and Bay St. Louis, Miss., in 2015.
Dansey says employees will continue to work at the Washington site over the next 18 months to assist with the transition.
State Board of Education Acts to Maintain Student Privacy
The West Virginia Board of Education is pledging not to share students’ personal information with anyone outside the system.
The move was codified with a resolution passed at the board’s regular meeting this week and will eventually become policy.
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the action was taken in large part to appease those are concerned with West Virginia’s adoption of the national Common Core standards for education.
Opponents worry that data about students that is collected by the school system will at some point in the accountability or testing process be leaked to outside parties.
The resolution says that it is board policy not to release information to any entity except in a format where the data cannot be traced back to a specific student.
70% of our third-graders are behind in reading
The West Virginia Board of Education has approved the state’s participation in The Campaign for Grade Level Reading.
A recent West Virginia KIDS COUNT report found that seven in 10 children can’t read proficiently by the end of third grade. The report says three-fourths of those children will remain poor readers throughout high school, and one in six won’t graduate.
The Campaign for Grade Level Reading is a national network of groups emphasizes third-grade reading as a critical target. The program includes parents, educators and others who have an impact on literacy throughout a child’s life.
The state Department of Education says an advisory committee will coordinate West Virginia’s campaign efforts.
Report: Fiscal notes for W.Va. legislation flawed
A new report says the Legislature should change the way fiscal notes are prepared for legislation.
The report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says fiscal notes are generally inaccurate, often biased, inconsistent and lacking in details.
Fiscal notes are estimates of the costs of legislation. They are prepared by the state agencies that the legislation would affect.
Forty-three of the Legislature’s 134 members responded to a survey for the report. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents said fiscal notes accurately determine the costs of legislation less than half the time.
The report recommends that a neutral and independent entity review and finalize fiscal notes. It also recommends establishing and enforcing criteria and standards that fiscal notes must meet.
Marlinton mayor says downtown fire devastating for local business
Marlinton Mayor Joe Smith says a fire that destroyed four buildings is devastating for his city.
The Sunday fire displaced several businesses and about a dozen residents. The fire rekindled Monday.
In addition to displacing people, Smith says the fire will have a significant economic impact. He says the city has lost some of its tax base.
He also says that streets in the area, along with other businesses that weren’t affected, can’t be opened until one of the burned buildings is secured. He says the three-story building’s roof caved in and it’s not safe.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. Smith says fire marshals haven’t entered examined the buildings because of safety concerns.