West Virginia
W.Va. approves $150M in school projects
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – More money for local schools.
West Virginia’s governor stood with county superintendents Wednesday, moments after he joined state officials in awarding nearly $150 million in school construction grants.
Buffalo Elementary in Wayne County, built more than 60 years ago, is set to close with an expansion to neighboring Buffalo Middle that will make the larger, combined facility a Pre-K through 8 school.
Michele Blatt, now state superintendent in West Virginia, served as the school’s principal for four years.
“We spent a lot of time with our PTO and with our community trying to make it as good as it could be for the students,” she told WSAZ.
Blatt says the Buffalo had been passed over for a number of years.
In fact, every project awarded Wednesday was passed over just months ago due to a lack of money.
But then, in March, lawmakers and Gov. Jim Justice added $150 million to the construction fund.
The governor’s chief of staff told an audience Wednesday that move is allowing the state’s School Building Authority to clear the deck.
“You cherry pick what you think are the most needed and the most important projects,” Governor Justice said afterward. “Really and truly, when it really comes right down to it, these extra dollars now help us to go back and get all the projects and everything, and at the end of the day, that’s monstrously important to those folks that have been passed over.”
In Cabell County, it means expansion at Cabell Midland High School and a new school for Ona Elementary. The aging elementary school lacks handicap accessibility and a sprinkler system.
“(It) is going to mean a new facility for generations of students that will be coming through Ona Elementary School,” said Ryan Saxe, superintendent of Cabell County Schools.
In Mingo County, it means a more secure entrance at Tug Valley High School.
“It means that when they come to school, everyone who should be in that building is in that building and people who should not will not be able to be in the building,” said Johnny Branch, superintendent of Mingo County Schools.
“And without the funding you weren’t able to move forward with the project?” asked WSAZ NewsChannel 3 reporter Curtis Johnson.
“No,” he replied. “We just did not have the funds locally.”
Along with new construction, the $150 million is also a key factor in West Virginia satisfying concerns that the federal government had regarding the state’s spending of COVID relief.
Justice predicts that issue will be settled with no pay back to the federal government.
The Buffalo and Ona Elementary projects rank rank as the most expensive projects approved Wednesday.
Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
West Virginia moved to 16-9 (7-5) on the season following a 74-67 win over the UCF Knights on Saturday night. Shortly after, WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media to discuss what he saw in this one.
The message down 14 and what enabled the comeback
“It was we’re going to have to play with a lot more urgency on the defensive end of the floor. This group’s been in these positions before, and typically, we do a good job of not panicking. It was just hey, we don’t have to panic on offense, but our level of urgency and desperation on the defensive end of the floor is going to have to pick up and pick up right this second. I thought the level of urgency, desperation, and physicality on both ends of the floor…we started making some plays around the rim. Up until that point, I thought we were fairly soft.”
Only having four assists, battling through adversity
“It’s a resilient group. Unfortunately and fortunately, I guess we’ve found ourself in this situation quite often. I think in our seven league wins, we’ve trailed in the second half of every game that we’ve won. They’re a mature group and don’t have a lot of panic. They are bought in and believe that we can find ways to win the game in different ways.”
When he saw the momentum shift
“I thought it started when Lorient made some tough, physical plays around the basket. We were able to get some stops and then Honor (Huff) on the four-point play, and then he kind of starts getting going a little bit, and then you’re mirroring it with we’re getting stops and getting baskets and we’re giving them one shot only.”
How important Honor Huff was in the win
“We need Honor to play good and if you’re going to come on the road and beat an NCAA Tournament team, your best players got to play well. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, so to see him come through like he’s done so many times for us in a big moment, on the road, it was awesome to see.”
Strong showing from the WVU fans
“It was incredible. I am biased because I’m the head coach here, but it really is one of the best fanbases in the country. Tony Caridi is our radio guy, and he always says it. He’s like, ‘Hey man, we show up.’ It’s always nice when you can reward your fanbase for showing up like they do. It was 70/30 probably, 65/35 UCF to West Virginia, but on the road it was awesome.”
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Initial Thoughts Following West Virginia’s Come-From-Behind Win Over UCF
West Virginia got back in the win column on Saturday night, taking down the UCF Knights for their 16th win of the season and their seventh of Big 12 play. The Mountaineers erased a 14-point deficit to win 74-67
As always, a few of my quick thoughts from this one.
The worst broadcasting luck
Of course, this has nothing to do with what happened on the floor, but I’d be remiss to not point out how often the game before West Virginia always runs over or inevitably turns into an overtime game. Then, to make matters worse, FS1 takes a commercial break during the middle of the game, I assume to fix the visual issues they were having, resulting in four minutes of game action that no one could see.
Found something on offense?
After a dreadful first half performance, West Virginia did a much better job of penetrating and scoring inside, although they scored 10 fewer points there compared to what they did in the first half. Part of that was drawing fouls and getting to the free-throw line, a place where they’ve struggled mightily all season. Tonight? They went 15/17 in the second half, which helped them claw back in, take the lead, and seal the deal. Chucking up a ton of threes is just not what’s best for this group, as we’ve seen over the past couple of games.
Staying alive!
There’s still plenty of work to do, but WVU really needed to get this one. A quad 1 win, a road victory, against a team that is currently viewed as an NCAA Tournament team…just huge. This group battled, scrapped, and clawed all night long, even when things looked awfully bleak. A massive win not only for the resume, but also for the confidence of this group to erase such a major deficit on the road against a quality team. Now the attention turns to taking care of business at home on Wednesday night against a struggling Utah team. Get that one and keep your postseason hopes alive.
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Tonight marks the first of two games between West Virginia and UCF, with the Knights making the return trip to Morgantown to close out the regular season.
How will things go down tonight? Here’s how we see it.
Schuyler Callihan: UCF 71, West Virginia 65
Not only do the Knights shoot the ball at a high rate, but they also rebound it well, ranking 56th nationally in that department, which is saying something considering they don’t have a ton of size in the frontcourt beyond the 7-foot-2 big man John Bol.
The Mountaineers desperately need Honor Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff to make a bunch of shots to have a chance, and considering how things have gone for them offensively as of late, I don’t like the chances of that happening, even against this vulnerable UCF defense.
WVU’s dreadful offense continues, leading to their 10th loss of the season.
Christopher Hall: UCF 69, West Virginia 67
West Virginia has won two of its last three road games and is in dire need to scrape together as many wins as possible after a brutal home loss to Baylor. UCF is desperate to get back in the win column after returning from a two-game road swing, suffering back-to-back losses, and is looking to avoid its first losing streak of the season.
UCF has dropped two home games this year, dropping the second game of the season to Vanderbilt, and after starting 4-2 in Big 12 play, with the only losses on the road coming against Iowa State and Houston, fell to top-ranked Arizona.
Both teams have had nearly a week to prepare and, as spoken in nauseum by so many head coaches around the league, the margin for error will be slim for both squads. If West Virginia can impose its defense on the Knights, especially at the outset, the Mountaineers can come away with a win. Slow starts have been the thorn in the Mountaineers’ side this season, but the extra preparation may have cured the early-minute blues.
Expecting the Mountaineers to suddenly fix the weighting issues with a little extra practice doesn’t seem practical, especially against a UCF team that’s played so well at home, but there is also the off chance WVU could get off to a hot start on offense – Honor Huff is surely capable of doing so. Nonetheless, the edge likely goes to the Knights, who skate away with a 69-67 win.
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