West Virginia
Wriston reflects on Roads to Prosperity – WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A number of high profile road projects in West Virginia are winding down in the final months of Gov. Jim Justice’s Roads to Prosperity Program.
The program was launched soon after the start of Justice’s first term. Voters approved a statewide bond to move forward on highway work in many cases which had been talked about for years, but never pushed off the drawing board.
State Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, talked about the progress in a recent episode of the Department of Transportation’s “WV On the Dot” Podcast. Wriston said the Justice Administration made those long delayed projects a priority.
“We were able to take projects which just lingered and lingered and lingered forever and actually get them under contract and get them to construction,” he explained.
One of those projects was widening I-64 to six lanes between Nitro and Teays Valley. The project included construction of an entirely new interstate bridge over the Kanawha River and retrofitting the existing span with a new deck to match. In fact, Wriston said it was several projects molded into one because of many other smaller bridges and overpasses which needed to be built in the stretch. The project is in the final stages and should be finished in just a few weeks.
“What a project and how many decades would it have taken to do that? We know because it’s taken decades to do it,” he said
Other projects which had been on the drawing board for years are now reality. The Wheeling Bridges project was one of the first under the plan. It rebuilt and renovated every bridge heading into Wheeling on I-70 east of the Wheeling Tunnel. There’s a new exit being added at Culloden at the Putnam-Cabell County Line, the Scott Miller Hill Bypass in Roane County was recently completed and is another of those projects.
“The travelling public may think, ‘My gosh they’ve been doing this forever,’” said Wriston. “But you know what, if you’re going to bake a cake, you’ve got to break some eggs and we’ve been breaking some eggs out here.”
According to Wriston, Roads to Prosperity is aptly named. With each ribbon cutting private development followed. He said that was the idea.
“They were coming anyway and we’ve got to accommodate them. If you build it, they will come and if you maintain it, when they get here they’ll stay,” said Wriston.
New West Virginia assistant swim coach Sydney Pickrem will receive a base salary of $50,000 per year in her new role. That is significantly higher than the entry-level salaries we’ve seen for elite athletes with limited coaching experience in prior years, likely driven at least in part by changes in federal law.
Pickrem’s contract includes a relocation stipend of $5,000, tickets to home sporting events, annual dues to relevant professional organizations, the potential to share in camp money, and annual performance incentives.
The term of the original contract is one season, which is common for assistant coaching contracts.
Bonus Potentials
- NCAA National Team Championship $ 2,500.00
- NCAA National Championship Top 10 Team Finish $ 1,000.00
- NCAA National Championship Top 20 Team Finish $ 500.00
- Conference Postseason Team Championship $ 1,000.00
West Virginia has finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Division I Championships once in program history, when the men tied for 20th in 2007. Sergio Lopez, current head coach at Virginia Tech, led the program at that time.
The Mountaineers have never won a Big 12 team title in swimming & diving, though the departure of the Texas Longhorns and the arrival of teams from Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State will reshape the conference going forward.
Pickrem’s Background
Pickrem was announced as a new assistant coach under the program’s new head coach Brent MacDonald in July, before competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. At the time, she told SwimSwam that she is still planning to continue training while coaching.
Pickrem, 27, also has seven World Aquatics Championship medals. Earlier this year, she won silver in the 200 IM; in 2019 she won bronze in the 200 IM; and in 2017 she won bronze in the 400 IM. Her other four World Championship medals were in relays.
She also has five World Championship medals in short course, including two gold medals.
Pickrem previously completed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, which included a bronze medal as the breaststroker on Canada’s women’s medley relay. She also placed 6th in the 200 IM in Tokyo and Rio individually.
In Paris, Pickrem placed 9th individually in the 200 breaststroke and 6th individually in the 200 IM.
New Overtime Exempt Rules
Beginning on July 1, 2024, the threshold for employees in most states to be exempt from overtime pay increased to $43,888. On January 1, 2025, that threshold will again increase to $58,656. Most college assistants at the NCAA D1 level are paid above that level because of the assumption that they will work more than 8 hours on some days and more than 40 hours weekly.
Pickrem is part of a wave of elite athletes jumping right into assistant coaching positions at Power 4 programs in recent years. Last season, Olympic medalist Annie Lazor was hired at the University of Florida with a starting salary of $45,000.
On Aug. 19, 2024 at 10:30 a.m., the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting for Dave & Buster’s to mark the official opening to the public.
The approximately 25,000-square-foot space, which is the former Fun City location near the center of the mall with an entrance near the children’s play area, will include more than 100 arcade games, high-tech darts bays and social shuffleboard bays, a chef-crafted food menu, drinks and a sports bar featuring a 40-foot, high-definition television screen.
The new location will also offer a menu of entrées and appetizers, a complete selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and an assortment of entertainment attractions centered on playing games and watching live sports and other televised events. The location will also offer a party room available for booking special events.
West Virginia
What happens to the fireworks show at the State Fair of West Virginia with bad weather?
FAIRLEA, WV (WVNS) – What happens to the fireworks and rides at the State Fair when bad weather strikes?
Those are two questions that have been answered carefully by officials with The State Fair of West Virginia, National Weather Service, Homeland Security, and more.
Officials will resort to cancelling the fireworks show as a last resort but also want to ensure that the fantastic spectacle is safe for viewers to attend.
How to properly dispose of fireworks
“So, if there is lightning within 15 miles of the state fairgrounds, we get notification and we automatically shut down the rides and tell folks that lightning is in the area. For fireworks, of course, lightning is an issue, but rain is one of the main issues and the moisture content. So we have to look at all those factors just to make sure we’re setting off a good fireworks show and a safe one as well,” comments Kelly Collins, Chief Executive Officer at the State Fair of West Virginia.
Only 1 state in the US completely bans consumer fireworks
A PA system is used for severe weather instances to alert and allow folks to seek shelter in one of the buildings on the facility. The fireworks show is currently scheduled for 10:30 P.M. on Saturday, August 17, 2024!
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