Sierra Marling

A felony child abuse charge has been dropped against a substitute teacher at Dunbar Primary School.Willie Washington, 55, was charged on Sept. 8, 2025, with battery and assault of a disabled child. A West Virginia State Police trooper wrote in court documents that security camera footage from the school showed Washington "aggressively" grabbing, shaking and throwing a child with autism to the floor.

The Kanawha County School Board of Education in Charleston, West Virginia named a new board member during a special session on Sept. 22, 2025. The board unanimously voted for Michael Arbogast to fill the unexpired vacant seat left by former board member Tracy White, who resigned earlier this month due to personal and family reasons. The term will expire in June 2026. With more than 40 years of experience in the school system, Arbogast began his career as a special education aide in 1982. He worked as a teacher from 1991-2003, was employed as an assistant principal from 2003-2007 and served as principal of South Charleston High School from 2007-2018.

By Amanda Larch Hinchman For the Gazette-Mail Fall is officially here, and with it comes festivals and Halloween-themed activities.

Here's an update on three large commercial construction projects in the Charleston, West Virginia area. The Kroger Co., based in Cincinnati, is building a $40 million, 120,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace in the Park Place retail development in South Charleston. Canadian-based TC Energy is building a $60 million, 120,000-square-foot office building in downtown Charleston. Across the street from that project, Poca Valley Bank is building the ninth branch office for the Walton, Roane County-based banking agency.

By LORI KERSEY West Virginia Watch West Virginia School Board President Paul Hardesty said Wednesday that lawmakers — not education

Charleston’s Opioid Community Council has approved 14 organizations to receive $540,000 total in funding to promote treatment for, prevention of and recovery from substance use disorders.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, on Jan. 5, 2026, detailed his plan to reduce the state’s income tax by 5-10%. Morrisey expects to present his plan during his State of the State address, scheduled for Jan. 14, closing the first day of the 2026 legislative session.

Drinking water quality struggles are intensifying for West Virginia water service providers as water system takeovers loom. Gary’s case underscores the PSC’s and some local leaders’ push for greater coordination and consolidation of water service providers struggling with aging infrastructure and dwindling customer bases in vulnerable places like McDowell County, whose percentage of people in poverty in 2023, 36.2%, was the state’s highest and more than triple the national rate. The case also underscores the Legislature’s failure in its latest annual regular legislative session that ended last month to controversially empower the PSC to force mergers between public service districts.

Updated The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has signaled it will approve a permit for an industrial facility controversially

Here's a list of superintendent salaries for the 55 public school systems in all of West Virginia's 55 counties. Included in this data is pay-per-student breakdowns.