Then at 3 p.m. Tomblin will be at the state Capitol’s Culture Center to sign Senate Bill 394 into law. Surrounded by lawmen from across the state, he’ll enact legislation that provides scholarships for children of law enforcement officers who die in the line of duty.

The DOH has a public information meeting scheduled for Monday at Rock Branch Elementary School in Nitro from 4-7 p.m.

The section of I-64 in question is an east-west stretch from Charleston to Teays Valley that has outgrown its four lanes.

“It does seem to be a particular area of congestion, if you’re headed west (on I-64) from the Nitro on-ramp to Crooked Creek,” said Brent Walker, a spokesperson with the DOH.

The 3.79-mile stretch often bottlenecks traffic at the I-64 St. Albans bridge. Walker said that area is in desperate need of widening to six lanes.

“We’ve certainly see the traffic flow increase and the need to do (the project),” he said. “Now it’s on the drawing board and we just want to be able to share that with folks.”

The community is invited to attend the public information meeting where engineers and DOH officials will answer questions and discuss the importance of widening the highway.

Walker said the big obstacle has been the St. Albans bridge, which crosses the Kanawha River at Nitro. It will be a major project to build a new bridge or add on to the existing structure to create the required number of lanes.

But the DOH has the project on its schedule, and Walker said it’s going to happen.

“Our engineers and right-of-way folks and everybody else involved in that project have been hard at work for awhile,” he said.

There will be no formal presentation at the meeting. People are free to come and go during the three-hour session. Walker stressed the DOH is interested in what the public has to say about the project.

The final ceremonies took place Sunday afternoon following a busy weekend that included 19 separate ceremonies.

Students bid farewell to friends, professors and Morgantown memories. The events were held at the WVU Coliseum, the Creative Arts Center, the Mountainlair and Morgantown Event Center.

During each ceremony, students got a final send-off from special speakers including Jay Chattaway, a 1968 WVU graduate best known for composing award-winning music for “Star Trek;” Richard Gingras, head of news products at Google; and retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert G. Jenkins, a 1967 WVU graduate.

WVU handed out honorary degrees five accomplished Mountaineers: Dr. Vicente Anido Jr., an international ophthalmology leader; Edward DiPaolo, a former Halliburton executive; Helen Holt, the first female West Virginia Secretary of State; Jennie Hunter-Cevera, a scientist who holds 15 patents; and Ken Kendrick, a business executive who made his career in computer software, banking and baseball.

Newton waived his $85,000 appearance fee for the quick trip in and out of the Kanawha Valley. He agreed to come to the parade following several invitations from South Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Bob Anderson.

Newton and his wife rode in a convertible down the parade route on D Street in South Charleston stopping for pictures along the way. The couple then joined South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, state Adjutant General Jim Hoyer, House of Delegates Finance Committee Chairman Harry Keith White and others on the reviewing stand.

Several times during the hour-long parade Newton left his seat to meet with fans looking at him from the other side of a smart phone. He gave out lots of hugs too.

The Charleston-based Masters law firm provided the jet service to and from Las Vegas. Newton had a performance scheduled in Las Vegas Saturday night.

Investigators said the unidentified man was either riding the garbage truck or walking beside it to grab the next can when the accident happened. The top of the truck passed through an overhanging branch of the tree, dislodging the broken limb which officials believe had been previously detached by a storm.

He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Someone broke into the school and spread parts of a deer carcass throughout the building. Investigators said blood from the animal seeped into the floor in some places and deer urine was sprayed on a number of seats in the building.

Janitors at the school spent much of Friday trying to rid the building of the foul odor and clean up the mess.

Troopers said they were using surveillance video to identify suspects, whom they believe were recent graduates of the school. They said the suspects also may have bought some of the articles used in their vandalism spree at a local Wal-Mart. No charges had been filed as of Saturday morning.

James Watson, 66, faces charges of obstruction and battery of an officer in the incident from March.  He was arrested when police arrived to quell a party at the Embassy Suites Hotel following West Liberty’s winning of the WVIAC Tournament.   Police describe the situation as “out of control” and arrested Watson after he allegedly tried to intervene as his son was taken into custody.   Watson has a different account of what happened and says police were overzealous when they arrived.  He said the party was not out of control.

Brian Watson, 28, was charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct, fleeing on foot and obstructing an officer, all misdemeanors. 

Both appeared in separate hearings Friday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court and requested their cases be transferred to Circuit Court where they’ll stand trial before a jury.

Marple, former state superintendent of schools, was awarded the Don Marsh Public Award, named in honor of the late editor of the Charleston Gazette. 

Marple said it was an honor to receive an award named after such a great guy.

“He was an intellectual, fearless warrior for the rights of the people and he understood very clearly the importance of education in terms of how everything turns out,” said Marple.

Marple’s husband, Darrell McGraw, longtime state attorney general and Supreme Court justice, was awarded the Si Galperin, in Defense of Democracy Award, a tribute to former legislator Galperin’s lifelong dedication to election reform and civil rights advocacy.

During the event, time was taken to highlight the accomplishments of both Marple and McGraw over their long careers both in politics and education. Marple said the night was ultimately about the kids.

“I think it’s a time for all of us to recommit to using our voice and our advocacy to put in place what our children need in this state,” said Marple.

Marple added that the event was a pleasant change for the two of them, who have had some obstacles to overcome since November. McGraw lost his bid for a sixth term as attorney general in November and Marple was fired abruptly by the state Board of Education from her state superintendent position in the same month.

Marple has since sued the board over the incident and that case is still pending in federal court.

“It is always a good thing to take the time to be with friends and to celebrate an honor like this,” said Marple.

The West Virginia Citizen Action Group is celebrating its 39th year as the oldest consumer advocacy organization in the state. The group was formed in 1974.

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WVU removed AD Oliver Luck from the evaluation team for its re-bid of third-tier multimedia rights.

In a letter to WVU senior associate vice president of finance Daniel Durbin, WVRC’s counsel also requested Brenda Mowen, the university’s chief procurement officer, be present for the hearing. Mowen is heading up the second round of bidding after WVU removed Luck and his previous evaluation committee from the decision-making.

On Tuesday, the day WVU re-issued its request for tier-3 proposals, Mowen officially denied WVRC’s initial protest without benefit of a hearing. WVRC claims that was a breach of WVU’s own procurement rule 7.2.4, which states the chief procurement officer shall issue a protest decision only after scheduling and conducting the protestor’s hearing.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was copied on WVRC’s appeal. It was Morrisey’s office on April 15 that suggested a re-bid after citing “significant errors and sloppiness” on the part of the athletics department. Morrissey noted that Luck improperly shared confidential bid information with Payne, who also sits on the board at West Virginia Media, which happened to be partnering with IMG College, the initial bid-winner.

WVRC owner John Raese initially asked for Morrisey’s assistance in examining the bidding irregularities. (Disclosure: WVRC is the parent company of MetroNews.)

The attorney general, whose subsequent involvement was working on behalf of WVU, also noted an appearance of impropriety involving Luck’s midstream decision to add three hand-picked members to his evaluation committee. All three of them voted with Luck in favor of IMG College’s bid, while two original members — deputy director of athletics Mike Parsons and associate athletic director of business operations Mike Szul — were not afforded what Morrissey called a “timely opportunity to formally vote” and wound up not voting at all.

WVRC’s protest requested IMG and West Virginia Media be barred “from participating in any manner” with the multimedia rights proposal. It also asserted that WVU should reinstate Parsons and Szul, neither of whom was cited for missteps, and pair them with a third member to evaluate only the remaining “innocent bidders” from the first RFP cycle.

Clarksburg attorney Frank Simmerman, counsel for WVRC, stated in the company’s protest that:
♦ Allowing IMG and WV Media to participate in the rebidding of multimedia rights “constitutes turning a blind eye to confirmed breaches of public trust and confidence.”
♦ ”IMG and WV Media have a tarnished record which cannot simply be cast aside or otherwise shielded by a re-bid.”
♦ ”Five innocent bidders spent substantial time and money initially participating” in the third-tier proposal process.

Third-tier rights involve any TV broadcasts of football games that are not picked up by a major network, several non-conference basketball games, as well as radio broadcasts, coaches’ shows, stadium sponsorships and online content.

The re-bid launched Tuesday by Mowen and WVU involves a 92-page proposal, far more detailed than the original and apparently reflecting plans the school made with IMG College before irregularities came to light and the negotiations were stalled. The revised RFP calls for bids to be returned by June 18, followed by bidder presentations June 28 and notification of a winner by Aug. 23.

That notification date comes only eight days before the Mountaineers’ football season opener, though the winner could be alerted as early as mid-June if IMG turns out to be the lone bidder this time.

Akers, 75, suffered serious injuries after falling face first at the Charleston Civic Center back in February. The former Mountaineer basketball player, championship winning high school coach and Logan County commissioner, broke his C6 vertebra and had to undergo surgery.

Akers’ son Darren said earlier this week on MetroNews Talkline that his father has made significant improvement at the Atlanta hospital but there’s still more work to do. He’ll return to Atlanta later this year.

Akers, who will most of the time be in a wheelchair, used the assistance of a walker when he returned home Friday.