Panther News

Thousands of Mercer County residents have already taken advantage of early voting and more are expected to turn out at the courthouse today for the last chance to cast their ballots in advance of Tuesday's ...

PikeView Middle School is tentatively scheduled to open in Aug. 2011, but whether it will be called PikeView Middle School depends on how its future students vote on Nov.

After two days of defying gravity and bending light at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Edward "Ed" Evans has captured the title of "America's Top Science Teacher." Evans, a veteran 27-year school teacher .Evans, a veteran 27-year school teacher from McDowell County, beat out educators from across the nation to capture the national science teacher award through Discovery Education and 3M. During two days of competition at Goddard Space Flight Center, he participated in multiple rounds of space-themed challenges that were judged by several 3M scientists and NASA representatives, including a former astronaut.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 28. Northwest wind between 7 and 11 mph. Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 57. Light west wind. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. Calm wind. Friday: Sunny, with a high near 67. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Calm wind. Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 65.

On the day after Labor Day, construction will begin on a new downtown park complex complete with scenic river walks and a stage for outdoor performances. “The water has been our enemy all these years,” Welch Mayor Martha Moore said. “We’re going to turn that around and make the water our friend.”

Students are returning to school Tuesday in McDowell County against the backdrop of another year of school construction.As youngsters return to the classroom, construction will continue throughout the fall and winter on a new Bradshaw Elementary, and a new Big Creek-Iaeger High School project. Both of the new schools are being built along a 17-acre educational campus in the Bradshaw community.

A McDowell County coal truck driver died late Friday night when he jumped from his truck after being unable to downshift effectively to slow his truck as he was traveling down a hill, state police said.Danny Lee Jones, 38, of Bradshaw, was on his third day of hauling coal for B&O Trucking at the Bluestone Coal Co., mine on Burke Mountain, according to Trooper M.S. Horton of the Welch Detachment of the West Virginia State Police.

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.

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 ...

Tuesday:Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph. Tuesday Night:Mostly clear, with a low around 56. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

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.