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Public hearing over bill that could criminalize library content brings out books

The first speaker at a public hearing on opening West Virginia’s obscenity laws to prosecution of library representatives read right away from a book describing oral sex, and that set a tone for the House Chamber discussion of what is or isn’t appropriate material. “This is for our 12, 13 and 14-year old children in our middle schools,” said speaker Elisa Payne. “Our society is morally bankrupt if we allow children access to this obscenity in our schools. We are not banning or burning; we are protecting.” The public hearing in the House of Delegates was occurring ...

Junius Lewis: ‘Make sure it’s a good voice’

Junius Lewis was taking those auditorium steps three at a time as he strode through an audience of appreciative students Wednesday morning at South Middle School. “Hold up, hold up,” the Morgantown minister and former WVU star called over the happy din, as he carried a cordless ...

Chestnut Ridge tubing hill opens to snowy success

MORGANTOWN — It was an uphill climb to be sure, but the Chestnut Ridge Park tubing hill opened to the public for the first time this past weekend.  By all accounts, it was a hit.  Monongalia County Director of Parks and Recreation J.R. Petsko said a total of 270 people ...

Kids’ knowledge on display at science fair

KINGWOOD — The Preston County Science Fair for students in grades 5 and 7 and high school was held recently at the Kingwood Community Building. Jennifer Spiker, a teacher at Preston High School, said each student chose his or her own project from a variety of categories. There were three divisions and 80 projects on display to be judged. Debra Zigray, a 4th grade teacher at Kingwood Elementary School and science fair coordinator, also oversees the Social Studies Fair and Math Field Day. Winners in Division I Animal Science: First place — Scarlett Hayes, Which Dog ...

Mountain Line ridership on the rise, but still well below pre-COVID totals

Mountain Line General Manager Maria Smith said public transit numbers are rebounding nationally post-COVID, but the comeback is going to take some time.  For the five years prior to COVID — 2015 to 2019 — Mountain Line averaged 991,544 total riders annually.  Then came the ...

‘Mohigan Idol 2024’ hits the stage in March at the Met: The student talent show that originated at MHS has raised nearly $200K for WVU Medicine Children’s

Cue announcer: “This is … ‘Mohigan Idol.’” OK, so Ryan Seacrest won’t be on the stage of the Metropolitan Theatre in March to emcee, but the Hollywood-styled glamour and glitz of the talent show for a good cause will still commence as it has since 2011, organizers say. That was the year the then-student council of Morgantown High School had a charitable idea to play off the popularity of “American Idol,” the network television juggernaut. “We can raise money for the hospital,” the budding policymakers said. As in, WVU Medicine Children’s. To date, ...