Panther News

With a possible crisis looming this winter, officials in McDowell County are taking steps to offset anticipated hardships of low-income families and senior citizens bracing for soaring home heating costs.

An illegal bear kill led to a pot bust over the weekend in McDowell County, police said.

Two McDowell County residents were killed Wednesday afternoon when the vehicles they were driving collided on U.S. Route 52 near the Mercer and McDowell county line.

BLUEWELL — A Bluewell man was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a 19-year-old woman. Edward Omarrah Jr., 30, of Bluewell, was arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of Renee Lorine Coleman, 19, of Lorton Lick Road and formerly of Panther, Trooper First Class A.P. Christian, of the West Virginia State Police Princeton Detachment, said. Coleman died late Tuesday at Bluefield Regional Medical Center as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest. The woman was shot at a residence on Lorton Lick Road near Bluewell.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. East wind between 3 and 6 mph.

A McDowell County pharmacist will receive no time behind bars after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to a federal information charging him with tax evasion, conspiracy to illegally structure financial ...

Growing fuel costs are making public transit fares go up slightly, but lengthening routes are giving area riders more opportunities to beat high prices at the pump.

It's a common sight as Christmas approaches. Seniors, single folks and needy families line up at a local church so they can get some food.There was just one problem. It wasn’t Christmas. It was the middle of summer. High gasoline prices and bigger grocery bills are driving people to church food pantries in numbers usually seen only during the holidays.

Generation West Virginia has announced an online survey of young professionals between 21 and 45 which it hopes will shed some light on the exodus of that demographic.The survey can be taken online at http://www.generationwestvirginia.com.

A study by the Oil Price Information Service finds that the 10 counties where American families spend the largest percentage of their monthly income on gas are in the rural South. One of those county's is West Virginia's McDowell County.

West Virginians for Better Transportation will pay for an average year's worth of state gas taxes for a weekly contest winner between this week and Labor Day.

New time limits for school bus routes in West Virginia could impact several southern West Virginia school systems.The new policy now in effect recommends one-way travel time for elementary school students of less than 30 minutes. The one-way route for middle school students isn’t to exceed 45 minutes, and high school students are to spend less than an hour one way on a school bus.

West Virginia is starting off the new budget year in good shape after finishing the previous fiscal year with a record $3.928 billion in tax collections.

The Department of Health and Human Resources reports that heart disease remains the leading cause of death in West Virginia.

Low-income West Virginians can begin applying to receive state-issued clothing vouchers for their school-aged children.

West Virginian's may be looking at higher utility bills beginning July 1. West Virginia subsidiaries of American Electric Power were granted an 11.35 percent rate increase.

FACED ~ Adjective. 1. Having two faces, surfaces, etc. 2. Deceitful; hypocritical Webster's New World College Dictionary 3. Darnell Perhaps it took signs and chairs to bring us all together.

The dream of gas prices falling even a few cents seems unrealistic. So consumers have started coming up with their own ways to save cash starting with the soil. Nurseries around the country have reported record plant sells this spring. The same goes for Greenbrier Nurseries in Beckley. Their vegetable plants and herbs seem to be flying off the shelves. Vegetables have always been good for you, but now they're becoming economically good for you too. Chip Faulk with Greenbrier Nurseries says, "I think people are getting back to nature. I also think the cost of food and getting the food to us has something to do with it. It's a nation-wide trend. You see it all over the country especially in the organic movement."

Four people were home when the fire started around 2 Friday morning, injuring three and taking the life of the fourth - Freda Hylton.

A worker was airlifted Thursday from a local ball field after an accident at a natural gas well drilling site near Iaeger.