West Virginia

Two bills - one to free up $100 million for public sewer treatment plant upgrades to meet Chesapeake Bay cleanup requirements and one to protect commuter train service for Eastern Panhandle riders - saw action Friday in the West Virginia Senate. Senate Bill 596, the Chesapeake Bay appropriation, heads to the House of Delegates, where it is assured of passage, said state Sen. Herb Snyder D-Jefferson/Berkeley. “This is the governor's bill,” he said. Twelve plants in seven of the eight Eastern Panhandle counties that feed into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed will have access to the $100 million beginning in January, Snyder said.

McCrae Nicole Wright has been selected to represent the West Virginia Horticulture Society at the 86th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. Wright is a 2012 graduate of Martinsburg (W.Va.) High School, where she participated in Key Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She also was the historian of DECA and a cheerleader. Wright is a freshman majoring in general studies at Shepherd University. Wright was a princess at the 33rd Mountain State Apple Harvest Festival and has participated in dance since the age of 5. Wright is the daughter of Brenda and Brett Wright of Martinsburg and the granddaughter of Canna Crowell of Martinsburg and the late Robert Wright and Jean and John Phillips of Boonsboro.

Two Martinsburg brothers are among the many Eastern Panhandle students who qualified Wednesday for the West Virginia State Math Field Day in April. David Zollinger and Robert Zollinger took first place in their age groups to qualify for the state competiton. In addition, their brother, Matthew, is an alternate for the state competition. There were approximately 250 students in grades four to 12 who competed in the Regional Math Field Day at Potomac State College in Keyser. Participants represented Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan and Pendleton counties.

Family members of Wayne Jones, who died March 13 from multiple gunshot wounds when five Martinsburg police officers tried to arrest him during an altercation, claimed at a news conference Wednesday that Jones was struck 15 times by police bullets. The incident is being investigated by West Virginia State Police. The results of an autopsy performed on Jones, 50, of Stephens City, Va., have not been released. “The case is still under investigation,” Berkeley County Prosecutor Pamela Games-Neely said Wednesday.

Shepherd to host literacy leaders conference SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Shepherd University's Department of Education and the Jefferson County Reading Association will host a half-day Literacy Leaders Conference for the Tri-State area on Saturday, April 20 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Shepherd's Erma Ora Byrd Hall auditorium and classrooms. The conference will include keynote speaker Clayton Burch, executive director of West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Office of Early Learning, who will present the “The Common Core and You;” plus breakout sessions; a hands-on activity focused on vocabulary, comprehension, and writing; a poster session; and book donation through Kappa Delta Pi: Literacy Alive.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., received the Support Music Award Wednesday for his support of music education in West Virginia. The award was presented in a Capitol Hill ceremony attended by the Shepherdstown (W.Va.) Middle School jazz ensemble, musical artists and other advocates for music education. The West Virginia leaders were each honored by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), VH1 Save The Music Foundation and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

Nothing brought to mind more about the suffering that children who grow up poor and destitute endure than the testimony of a young woman Saturday at a forum organized to combat child poverty. Kristi Cotter, 23, of Bunker Hill, W.Va., in an emotional recounting of her life story that brought tears to some audience members, told of resorting to stealing, drug abuse and even prostitution. She grew up with uncaring parents, without roots, love and guidance in dirt-poor surroundings. The forum, one of 12 held across West Virginia, was sponsored by the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Family Coalition.

As we prepare for our state's 150th birthday and reflect upon our history, we have many wonderful people for whom to be thankful - people who have worked together to make West Virginia what it is today. Our state was built by people of all different backgrounds; people like you and me, with stories passed down from generation to generation. Whether it's the fine craftsmen and resourceful laborers from Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Africa, the Swiss farmers who settled Helvetia or the first settlers who found their ways along the Midland Trail, their stories speak volumes to our culture, history and traditions.