Duncan Slade

Jett Morton is pretty good at installing new shelves for his growing collection.Between the “Typewriter Room” in his parents' basement and the four large metal shelving units in the living room of his Morgantown home, his collection of antique typewriters take up a lot of space.

After heavy rain doused the region on Sunday, rivers, creeks and streams rose above flood level and closed dozens of roads across West Virginia on Monday.The National Weather Service (NWS) extended flood warnings until 10 p.m. for regions of the state in the east and west.

Early this summer, Eastern Panhandle residents should expect to hear billions of loud, humming cicadas.“Oh, it’s deafening,” said Matt Kasson, an associate professor of plant pathology and mycology at West Virginia University.

The West Virginia Board of Education voted on Tuesday to mandate elementary and middle school students return to five days a week of in-person instruction by March 3.The board also voted for high-schoolers to return to the classroom in counties that are not marked red on the Department of Health and Human Resource County Alert map.

Museum staff broke ground on Monday for a new building to house the Point Pleasant River Museum and Lakin Ray Cook Learning Center.Following a fire that gutted the Old Nease Building, the previous home of the museum, the museum staff has been working to raise funds for a new building.

Three cases of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, or commonly known as the UK Variant, have been detected in north central West Virginia, state health officials announced Friday evening.“While the presence of this COVID-19 variant in West Virginia is not surprising, it’s a good motivator for us to double down on the prevention efforts we’ve had in place for many months now,” said Dr. Ayne Amjad, West Virginia’s state health officer, in a statement Friday.

West Virginia University administrators announced plans to hold an in-person commencement ceremony in May amid improving public health conditions. The plan was announced in a virtual campus forum Thursday.Last spring, graduates had their graduation ceremony canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s ceremony will be held on May 15-16 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.

Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in four counties Tuesday after an overnight winter storm coated trees with ice and brought down power lines.Sixty percent of homes in Cabell, Wayne, Putnam and Lincoln counties are without power Tuesday following the latest winter storm to batter the region.

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston received an almost $2 million loan from federal COVID-19 relief, according to an audit released Friday.As the church faced a considerable revenue decline due to the pandemic and corresponding economic recession, it applied for a federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in April and secured $1,996,372 through the program.

A group of lawmakers, environmental advocates, and representatives of private property owners called for the state legislature to fully fund the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Oil and Gas on Thursday.The office handles inspections and permits for over 67,000 natural gas and oil wells across the state. Last summer, the office had to cut its staff from 40 to 25 due to a downturn in new drilling.