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Aull Center holds 15th anniversary celebration

The Aull Center — technically the Josephine & William Aull Center for Local History and Genealogy — turns 15 today. As you might expect, it’s going to be a historic event. The center, at 351 Spruce St., will hold a historical masquerade today from 6-9 p.m., meaning attendees are encouraged to arrive donning attire from a bygone era — whichever era they so choose. Because the kind of folks who hang out at the Aull Center definitely have a favorite era. “This is the history geek hangout,” Manager Mike McClung laughed. “It’s the last bunker for local historians.” ...

Financial data goes online on OpenGov; Project Mountaineer looks to expand service across state

In August of 2018, Monongalia County became the first to embrace an initiative by West Virginia Auditor J.B. McCuskey to place county financial data online in cooperation with software provider OpenGov. Now the county plans to assist McCuskey in spreading the word about Project Mountaineer, which seeks to expand OpenGov’s services to municipalities on the state’s dime. The county and McCuskey’s office will host a Lunch and Learn session next month in Monongalia County for interested elected officials across the state. “We’re thrilled that the auditor asked us to host this ...

DOH denies Kingwood City Council’s requests

KINGWOOD — The mayor and city supervisor said they were unable to convince the State Division of Highways (DOH) to budge on several traffic issues in town. Mayor Jean Guillot and City Supervisor Bruce Pyles said Tuesday they met with a DOH representative they know only as “Fred” recently. “There is no give and take,” the mayor said. “You can ask ‘This is what we want,’ and this is what he does: He does what he wants.” The city asked that parking be allowed on one side of newly paved Tunnelton Street. The street, a county route that is only partly inside city limits, ...

Preston County BOE clarifies where levy funds are spent

KINGWOOD — How the school levy impacts sports and fundraising by boosters was clarified at this week’s Preston County Board of Education meeting. Representatives of the Preston High School Athletic Boosters asked the board how much money sports will receive from the school levy passed in February and how it will be distributed. “Through the levy, there wasn’t a category to give money to sports,” Superintendent Steve Wotring said. However, he explained, each school receives an allocation that can be used for field trips, and schools may opt to spend part of their allocation ...

Camp Flintlock’s colonial reenactment visits St. Francis

Adam Young played his share of bleak, post-Apocalyptic video games when he was kid — but not for the reasons you might think. He wasn’t zoning out on the pixilated tales of zombies running amok in decimated towns and cities. Nor was he dwelling on dystopian storylines, as a whole. But he was concentrating on the characters depicted, while the game’s algorithms unspooled. To his imagination, those avatars he and his buddies were controlling really were fighting for their personal survival and for the survival of a society. Through and through, Young was a 21st ...

BOE launches program to help students leave stress at home

The majority of Mountain State students who enter high school as freshmen leave like they’re supposed to. That is, four years later (or thereabouts), they gleefully turn their tassels on Graduation Day. In fact, the 89.4% high school graduation rate West Virginia boasted in 2017 was ...