West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
A new U.S. 219 bridge connecting two counties in West Virginia and Virginia is expected to be completed in May.
The $1.7 million replacement bridge spans Rich Creek at Petersburg. It’s expected to improve travel between Monroe County in West Virginia and Giles County in Virginia.
Jason Bond with the Virginia Department of Transportation tells the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that the two states collaborated on the project and jointly funded it.
Students at Fairmont State University will pay higher tuition and fees for the 2015-2016 academic year.In-state undergraduate students will pay an…
Students at Fairmont State University will pay higher tuition and fees for the 2015-2016 academic year.
In-state undergraduate students will pay an additional $157 per semester. Tuition for non-resident undergraduate students will increase by $332 per semester.
Graduate tuition will increase by $170 per semester for in-state students and $351 per semester for non-resident studen
ts.
The Times West Virginian reports that Fairmont State’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the tuition hikes last week, along with some fee increases.
Finance committee chair Mark Pallotta says the increases inflation is the biggest factor behind the increases.
“I have promised my children that I will do everything in my power to fix this and I believe that we finally with this bond have a chance to do that.” -Shauna Starks
Fayette County parents like Shauna Starks spoke during the West Virginia Board of Education’s April meeting in favor of the county’s upcoming $66.5 million bond vote.
Starks, whose son is a fifth grader at Collins Middle School, sends her child every day to a school that was deemed “not suitable for occupancy” by a January report from the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School Facilities. The review came after the roof of the band building on the school’s campus collapsed under heavy snow.
Collins Middle, like so many others in Fayette County, is crumbling so parents and community leaders have banned together to hold community meetings across the county to discuss the bond in detail, explain what will come from its passage and drum up support.
“The total projects in this bond order, between local dollars, SBA and the bond itself, will total $66.5 million,” Fayette County Superintendent Serena Starcher said during the April WVBOE meeting.
The bond voters will be asked to approved is $38.9 million. That money will be used to build a new Mount Hope Elementary School for $12 million. The rest will be paired with state dollars.
Those state dollars, about $25 million of them, will come from the West Virginia School Building Authority, a state agency that doles out money for school building projects based on need. At least, that’s what Starcher hopes.
“Although they can’t give me a guarantee right now, the SBA staff has indicated should the bond pass, they feel confident that we could go to the SBA next December and receive funding,” she said.
A bond, however, hasn’t passed in Fayette County since the 1970s, but parents are hoping the community meetings make a difference this go round.
Terry Abbott of Adena Village attended the Valley High School meeting on April 13 and wasn’t so sure about the results.
“How can I convince them to raise taxes and $60 million of that money is going to the other districts?” he asked of Starcher during that meeting.
Abbott said he supports the bond, he wants to see it pass, but he doesn’t think the Valley district will get behind it. In the bond order, Valley High School would receive a new onsite combined football baseball field at a cost of $2.7 million from local funds.
“My opinion is Valley needs qualified, certified teachers more than we need a football field,” Abbott said after the meeting. For him, consolidation means fewer classroom vacancies, something the entire state is struggling with so he’ll vote in favor.
Fayette County will hold two more community meetings. Mount Hope Elementary Scholl will host a meeting Monday, April 20 at 6 p.m. Meadowbridge High School will host its meetings on April 27 at 6 p.m. and May 7 at 7p.m.
The school bond will be put to a vote on June 13.
The state Supreme Court has appointed a three-judge panel to hear a petition to remove Parkersburg mayor Robert Newell from office.
The court on Friday appointed circuit judges Omar Aboulhosn of Mercer County, Lawrance Miller Jr. of Preston County and Joanna Tabit of Kanawha County to hear the petition filed earlier this week. The petition was filed by Wood County Republican Party chairman Rob Cornelius on behalf of a group of residents.
Among the allegations against Newell in the petition are misconduct and neglect of duty. It seeks Newell’s immediate removal.
The high court set a hearing for June 4 and 5 at the Wood County courthouse in Parkersburg.
Newell didn’t immediately return a telephone message left at his office Friday.
The governing board for West Virginia’s community colleges has approved tuition increases for three institutions.
The Charleston Gazette reports that the Community and Technical College System’s board on Thursday approved increases of almost 8 percent at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, 10 percent at Weest Virginia Northern Community College and slightly more than 10 percent for West Virginia University at Parkersburg.
Other institutions are also increasing tuition, but not above 5 percent. Only increases above that percentage require board approval.
The system-wide average tuition and fees for next year will be $3,576, a 5.4 percent increase over this school year.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin was joined by lawmakers and patient advocacy groups from across the state at the Capitol Thursday for the ceremonial signing of two healthcare related bills.
Senate Bill 366 creates the Patient Protection and Transparency Act which offers protections to people who sign up for insurance through a federal health care exchange website.
Tomblin also signed House Bill 2100 known as the Caregiver Advise, Record and Enable Act.
Backed by the AARP, the CARE Act allows a patient to name a layperson as their caregiver when he or she enters the hospital. That caregiver then has access to patient health and discharge information, as well as training about how to care for the patient when they return home.
“We believe it’s important because not only will the patient have a better outcome and recovery at home, but we could be actually saving money in Medicare and Medicaid by reducing costly hospital readmissions,” Gaylene Miller, state director of the West Virginia AARP, said of the bill Thursday
Miller estimated there are more than 300,000 family at home caregivers in the state which make up about $2.8 billion worth of uncompensated care.