Berkeley County

West Virginia State Police have arrested more than 170 sex offenders since the first of the year for providing false information to the state sex offender registry. State Police 1st Sgt. Michael Baylous said the agency and the U.S. Marshal Service has verified the information for more than 1,000 offenders on the registry during that time, after a weekend sweep by state police. Baylous said additional arrests are expected as individuals are located and investigations are completed.

The assessed value of Berkeley County real estate appears to have declined by 6 percent from 2011 and the size of a cushion that has helped offset previous declines - new construction - has plummeted, according to unofficial figures released by Assessor Gearl G. Raynes. As of Tuesday, the net assessed value of real estate in Berkeley County slipped from $4.1 billion to $3.9 billion for the 2012 tax year, according to Raynes' office.  And Berkeley County saw a 48 percent drop (about $25.2 million)

A male died in a pick-up truck crash Tuesday evening on Fish Hatchery Road in Berkeley County, according to emergency officials. The 6:13 p.m. accident occurred when the truck flipped, according to a Berkeley County 911 dispatcher. Further details were not available Wednesday morning. Fish Hatchery Road is off U.S. 11 in Darkesville.

Due to the inclement weather, the Berkeley County, W.Va., recycling program will not operate today. For more information, call the recycling hotline at 304-671-2925  .

A train engine caught fire early Friday at the Cherry Run railroad crossing in Hedgesville, W.Va., a Morgan County Emergency Services dispatcher said. The incident happened at about 1:45 a.m., the dispatcher said. No one was injured.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Friday was the first of four days for Berkeley County residents to get rid of unwanted used tires as part of the 2010 tire collection event, the Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority announced in cooperation with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The tire collection events at the South Berkeley Recycling Center at 637 Pilgrim St. in Inwood, also will be held Saturday and then again on Aug. 20 and 21, all from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to a news release from the Solid Waste Authority.

The Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention & Visitors Bureau has been awarded $131,126 through the Matching Advertising Partnership Program from the West Virginia Tourism Commission. The funding will be used to implement the MBCCVB’s annual marketing campaign that showcases the Eastern Panhandle, specifically Martinsburg and Berkeley County, as a tourist destination. “We built our 2011-12 marketing campaign around the fact that there’s so much to do here,” said Andrea Ball, executive director of the MBCCVB.

A former Berkeley County, W.Va., woman was killed Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle crash in Glen Burnie, Md., that remains under investigation, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said. Wilda L. Scott, 67, formerly of Bunker Hill, W.Va., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened about 11 a.m. on Crain Highway in the vicinity of Md. 100. The driver of the second vehicle, 52-year-old Young Jea Kim of Glen Burnie, was taken to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for treatment, police said.

Del. John Overington has scheduled two town meetings to gather input from residents. The first will be Saturday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Bedington Ruritan Building, south of Bedington Crossroads on the west side of U.S. 11. The second town meeting will be Feb. 16 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Marlowe Ruritan Building. To reach the Ruritan building, take U.S. 11 to Marlowe Elementary School and turn onto Broad Lane. The Ruritan building is on the right. “This will be my 29th year of holding these meetings at the start of the 60-day legislative session which begins Feb. 13 at noon and concludes on April 13,” Overington, R-Berkeley, said in a news release.

A BMX/skate park that the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Parks & Recreation Board opened in December 2009 will close at the end of the month, officials said Monday. The lease with R.M. Roach & Sons Inc. (Roach Energy) for the former cold-storage warehouse space at 39 Kelly Island Road is not being renewed, according to Parks & Recreation Director Steve Catlett. Roach Energy notified the parks and recreation board recently that it is going to expand the ROCS store, which is next to the skate park.

What were, until Monday, City Hospital in Martinsburg and Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Charles Town, W.Va., are now Berkeley Medical Center and Jefferson Medical Center, both under the umbrella of University Healthcare. The new names were announced at a brief press conference Monday at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center in Martinsburg. The reason for the change is to better promote both hospitals in the communities they serve, said Robert F. Baronner Jr., chairman of West Virginia University Hospitals-East, which owns both local hospitals.

Three people were taken to a hospital early Sunday after the vehicle in which they were riding crashed on Old Mill Road in Berkeley County, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court documents. The driver, Michael Stevenson Viands, 35, of Clarksburg, W.Va., was in Eastern Regional Jail Monday night on charges of driving revoked for driving under the influence, reckless driving and fleeing in a vehicle causing bodily harm resulting from his flight, according to jail and court records.

The woman who was killed Thursday night in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Berkeley County was identified as Brandy Barraza-Flores, 29, of Greencastle, Pa., the Berkeley County's Sheriff's Office said Saturday. Barraza-Flores was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred Thursday at about 9:35 p.m. in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 near the Tabler Station Road exit, police had said. The vehicle was northbound when the driver lost control of it, police had said.

A woman was killed Thursday night in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Berkeley County, police said. The woman, who police said was 29 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department said in a news release. Her name was not released pending notification of family, police said in the release. The accident occurred about 9:35 p.m. Thursday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81 near the Tabler Station Road exit, police and 911 dispatchers said.

Berkeley County residents are welcome to drop off unwanted liquid and powder pesticides at the Grapevine Road Recycling Center on Saturday, May 11, the Berkeley County Solid Waste Authority announced recently. Limited to county residents, the event being held in conjunction with the state Department of Agriculture, will be held between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the solid waste authority said. Items that will be accepted at the first large-scale collection event include a wide range of products used by home owners and farmers for pest control and garden applications, insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, fungicides and aerosol cans, the Solid Waste Authority announced.

Tough Mudder's event team is expected to meet with Berkeley County officials this month to discuss plans and resources for endurance series' fall event near Martinsburg, which is slated for the same October weekend as the Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival. “They are aware of the Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival in Berkeley County on the same weekend and are looking forward to working with the community then to ensure both events are fully resourced,” Tough Mudder spokesperson Ashley Pinakiewicz said Friday via email.

 The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will offer a bird walk for families with young children from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11, at Yankauer Nature Preserve in Berkeley County, W.Va. The event is called "Bagels and Birds. " It will help youngsters and their parents learn about the birds that live and breed in the area and give them an opportunity to hear their morning songs. Bagels and juice will be provided. Advance registration is required. To register or for more information, go to the PVAS website at www .potomacaudubon.org; or contact Ellen Murphy by calling 304-676-8739 or an email to ellen@potomacaudubon.org.

Budget changes approved last week will allow nearly 100 contract workers who recently lost their jobs at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Tracing Center in Berkeley County, W.Va., to be rehired, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller's office announced Saturday. “The terrible tragedy in Boston reinforces that those who protect our country and respond to emergencies should be able to get the resources they need to do their jobs to the fullest,” Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a news release.