Last fall, Charleston City Council allocated money to warming stations for the first time. The stations, held overnight at the SHOP at Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church, have been open 12 times with 326 different people stopping by to eat, warm up or sleep, according to Traci Strickland, executive director of the Kanawha Valley Collective — the organization that coordinates the shelters.
The Kanawha County Commission heard budget requests, Feb. 22, 2024, from county agencies and other agencies who receive county funding.
The circuit clerk, county clerk, sheriff’s department and tax assessor’s office all submitted flat proposed budgets – budgets where the only increases are uncontrollable costs such as gas, tires and insurance, according to Commission President Lance Wheeler.
The Prosecuting Attorney s Office requested a budget with significant increases due to staffing requirements.
The Charleston City Council voted, on Feb. 20, 2024, to ease restrictions on private vendors, settle a 2019 lawsuit and fund a use of force training simulator for the Charleston Police Department.
After killing a man on the East End of Charleston in a June 2023 shooting, George Yea was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum penalty of his plea agreement. In January, Yea, 30, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of wanton endangerment with a firearm, one felony count of owning a firearm as a felon and one misdemeanor count of involuntary manslaughter. Yea killed Tevin Jackson, 21, on June 20, 2023.