On this West Virginia Morning, we take a long walk through the woods to learn a few things about the medicinal plants growing all around us. Also, in this show, we bring you this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week, “Shotgun Down the Avalanche” brought to us by singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin and co-producer John Levanthal.

  On August 14, 1894, entertainer Ada Beatrice Queen Victoria Louise Virginia Smith was born at Alderson. At age five, Ada made her stage debut in Chicago, appearing in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. By age 16, she was performing on the vaudeville circuit. Soon afterward, a New York saloon keeper gave her the nickname ‘‘Bricktop’’ for her blazing red hair, unusual for an African-American.

A coalition of teachers and public school advocates are asking for West Virginia schools to start remotely for the first 14 days with in-person instruction beginning only after 14 consecutive days of no new coronavirus cases in the state.

The Our Students First Coalition also wants state officials to allow students to return to in-person learning – on a county-by-county basis – if cases drop to zero in certain areas.

Federal, state and local representatives gathered at Yeager Airport in Charleston Thursday to break ground for the new Marshall University Bill Noe Flight School. 

Jerome Gilbert, president of Marshall University, explained that the school learned the aviation industry needed new pilots because they have a federally mandated retirement age. 

“It was after a thorough investigative and fact-finding process, Marshall committed to a flight school to produce commercial pilots with a bachelor’s degree,” Gilbert said  

On this West Virginia Morning, ever wonder what it would be like to fly in a small plane around West Virginia? We hear another story about West Virginia’s airplane industry and its remaining airfields. Also, in this show, we hear more about an unregulated landfill near South Charleston, Kanawha County that has been polluting a creek in the area for decades.

Renowned singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin marked the 30th anniversary of her landmark album Steady On with acoustic treatments of the songs when she joined us last September.

Railroad mogul Collis P. Huntington died on August 13, 1900, at age 78. The Connecticut native grew up in poverty before moving to California during the 1848 Gold Rush. Unlike the miners, he realized that the real money was to be made from selling supplies, not panhandling for gold. After amassing a fortune, he became one of the “Big Four” railroad moguls who built two giant rail systems: the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific.