Connect with us

West Virginia

This week in West Virginia history: Oct. 27 – Nov. 2

Published

on

This week in West Virginia history: Oct. 27 – Nov. 2


The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.

Oct. 27, 1879: Howard B. Lee was born in Wirt County. He was elected state attorney general in 1924 and served for eight challenging years. His term saw the impeachment of a state auditor, the lawlessness of Prohibition and labor troubles in the coalfields.

Oct. 28, 1929: Painter Charles Lewis “Chuck” Ripper was born in Pittsburgh and later moved to Huntington. He was one of the country’s best-known wildlife artists, with paintings appearing on nearly 100 magazine covers and 80 U.S. postage stamps.

Oct. 28, 1972: Brad Paisley was born in Glen Dale. Paisley has received the Entertainer of the Year award from the Country Music Association, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards and three Grammies.

Advertisement

Oct. 29, 1861: Confederate commander Robert E. Lee ended his ill-fated western Virginia campaign. His three months in the region were marked by rain, mud, inexperienced officers, diseases among the troops and rampant criticism of his leadership.

Oct. 29-30, 2012: Following Hurricane Sandy, heavy wet snow fell across West Virginia. With accumulations approaching 40 inches, it surpassed all previously known October snowstorms.

Oct. 30, 1825: Randolph McCoy was born in Logan County. In 1878, McCoy’s accusation against a cousin of Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield for stealing a hog set off a deadly series of events in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.

Oct. 31, 1877: Herman Guy Kump was born in Capon Springs, Hampshire County. He was the 19th governor of West Virginia, serving from 1933 to 1937.

Oct. 31, 1940: Gale Catlett, West Virginia University basketball player and coach, was born in Hedgesville. Catlett coached WVU to 13 20-win seasons before he retired in 2002.

Oct. 31, 1946: Labor leader Cecil Edward Roberts Jr. was born on Cabin Creek, Kanawha County. A sixth-generation coal miner and a fiery orator, Roberts has served as president of the United Mine Workers of America since 1995.

Advertisement

Oct. 31, 1951: Football coach Nick Saban was born in Fairmont. As a quarterback, he led Monongah High School to a 1968 state championship. He went on to coach Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama to seven national championships (six with Alabama), the most of any coach in history.

Nov. 1, 1688: Morgan Morgan was born in Wales. Traditionally, Morgan was considered the first White settler of West Virginia, but others were likely here first. He settled in the Bunker Hill area in 1731, building a log house that still remains.

Nov. 1, 1848: Israel Charles White was born in Monongalia County. White was West Virginia’s first state geologist, appointed in 1897 and serving until his death in 1927, working without pay for all but two of those years.

Nov. 1, 1961: The first non-commercial radio station in West Virginia, WMUL-FM at Marshall University, began broadcasting.

Nov. 2, 1859: John Brown was convicted of murder, treason and insurrection in the Jefferson County Courthouse at Charles Town. Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry galvanized the nation, further alienating North and South and drastically reducing any possible middle ground for compromise to avert the Civil War.

Nov. 2, 1952: Tri-State Airport in Wayne County was dedicated, with the first official landing made at 11 a.m. by Piedmont Airlines.

Advertisement

Nov. 2, 1996: Baseball player Toni Stone died. Born in Bluefield, she joined the Negro American League in 1953, becoming the first woman to play pro baseball in a previously all-male major league.



Source link

West Virginia

$450,000 announced for Clendenin Streetscape project

Published

on

0,000 announced for Clendenin Streetscape project


CLENDENIN, W.Va . (WSAZ) – Gov. Patrick Morrisey visited Clendenin West Virginia Saturday during Summerfest.

10 years ago a devastating flood swept through the community.

The governor announced $450,000 of funding for a Streetscape project during a commemoration for the June 2016 flood. The funding will go toward Clendenin’s main street – improving sidewalks, landscaping, and other pedestrian amenities.

Funding for the project comes from the Transportation Alternatives Program – a federal initiative to fund smaller scale transportation projects.

Advertisement

Copyright 2026 WSAZ. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

West Virginia

History Made: WVU Has Two First-Team All-Americans in the Same Season

Published

on

History Made: WVU Has Two First-Team All-Americans in the Same Season


It was a phenomenal year for the West Virginia Mountaineers on the diamond, and even with the season having been over for over a week now, the honors continue to roll in.

Advertisement

On Friday, second baseman/catcher Gavin Kelly and left-handed starting pitcher Maxx Yehl were both named First-Team All-Americans by D1Baseball.com. It is the first time in program history that two Mountaineers have been recognized as First-Team All-Americans in the same season.

Gavin Kelly

Advertisement

WVU Athletics Communications

Advertisement

Kelly was essentially everyone’s pick to have a breakout season for the Mountaineers in 2026, but I’m not sure anyone expected him to do it the way he did. He hit nearly .400 all year and went on a power surge out of nowhere toward the end of the season, becoming one of the top home run hitters in the country over the last month or so of the year.

Kelly was named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, the MVP of the Morgantown Regional, and is currently participating in the Team USA Collegiate National Team training camp in Cary, North Carolina. For the year, he hit .382 with 19 home runs and 63 RBI, cementing himself as a top draft prospect in 2027.

Advertisement

Maxx Yehl

WVU Athletics Communications

Maxx Yehl was one of the best stories in all of college baseball that didn’t get talked about nearly enough. He was forced to sit out the 2025 season as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, and prior to this season, Yehl worked exclusively out of the bullpen. The plan all along was to eventually stretch him out into a starter, and in his first year in the role, he was one of the best in the entire country.

Steve Sabins and Co. did a good job of playing it safe with him early, letting him only go two and four innings in his first two starts before turning him loose. There were a couple of moments where Mountaineer fans had to take a deep breath after he was removed from two starts, one of which was in the Morgantown Regional against Kentucky. He bounced back strong and two days later, pitched a gem against the Wildcats, helping the team advance to the super regionals for the third straight season.

Advertisement

Yehl finished the season with a 9-3 record, an ERA of 2.13, and 112 strikeouts to just 26 walks. He was also the first WVU hurler to win Big 12 Pitcher of the Year since Alek Manoah, who did it in 2019.

Advertisement
Add us as a preferred source on Google



Source link

Continue Reading

West Virginia

Justice firm’s delinquent DEP fines rise past $1.6M amid DOJ criminal liability relief

Published

on

Justice firm’s delinquent DEP fines rise past .6M amid DOJ criminal liability relief


One of the most prominent coal companies in the teetering business empire of United States Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., owes the state of West Virginia over $1.6 million in delinquent fines. Justice’s Bluestone Coal Corp. owes the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection roughly $1.61 million in delinquent fines issued for 214 violations across 44 DEP-issued mining permits spanning Sept. 2019 to March 2026, according to records the Gazette-Mail obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. Bluestone Coal’s delinquent fine debt has grown 32.5% from the roughly $1.21 million it totaled in January 2026, according to records from a previous Gazette-Mail request, an indication that the long-running debt at the expense of Justice’s own constituents may not be going away anytime soon. But the companies’ long history of environmental failures was an issue that prompted a federal criminal investigation scuttled earlier in 2026 by Trump administration officials, according to a report published June 8 by ProPublica and Mountain State Spotlight.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending