Here are your top weekly headlines.
The construction zone on I-70 near the West Virginia and Pennsylvania state line has become a dangerous place to drive. Three people have been killed in that area, in separate accidents, in just the last two weeks.
Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard says he wants to avoid any more tragedies and is pleading with drivers to slow down and stay focused on the road.
Right now traffic is down to one lane in both directions on I-70 and is often stopped. Sheriff Howard says they’ll keep extra police cruisers in that zone now to watch speeds, and he has one more piece of advice.
Loose objects in your vehicle. Very dangerous. So make sure everything is secure, the smallest thing can cause major injuries in a crash, in a sudden stop crash. So beware of that. If belongings happen to move while you’re driving, leave them move, leave them be.
Sheriff Tom Howard, Ohio County
A suspect in a murder on Wheeling Island was apprehended more than a year after the shooting.
Niyajah A. Hales was wanted in connection to a January 2021 shooting outside the VooDoo Lounge.
The 20-year-old was arrested in the Bronx this week.
42-year-old Michael J. Jackson of Wheeling died in that shooting.
A second suspect, Brian Steele, was also arrested in connection to the event last year.
Big news from Trinity Health System this week….they are expanding in Belmont County.
St. Clairsville will be home to a new neighborhood hospital, featuring 24-hour emergency service.
It will be at the site of the former NAPA Auto Parts Store.
About ten emergency room bays, we’ll have a full service in patient unit upstairs. We’ll have a full service in patient unit. We’ll have 2 operating rooms. We will also have a helipad in the rear of the actual hospital in itself. It’ll be a full service emergency room including all of our laboratory, X ray, cat scan and you name it, we’ll have it.
Dwayne Richardson, President, St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital
They plan to break ground this summer, and open the doors in about two years.
Officials say this will create not only construction jobs, but permanent full-time jobs as well.
Health officials in West Virginia are becoming increasingly concerned with a new rise in COVID cases.
The state DHHR reported more than 700 new cases just on Friday alone.
According to new CDC guidelines and the state’s color-coded map, masks are now recommended in three counties.
That determination is made by looking at COVID risk, numbers and hospitalizations.
And finally….families across the country are still having a difficult time finding baby formula, and despite help from the federal government to resume production, it may still take time to stock the shelves.
Parents are teaming up on Facebook to make sure kids are fed.
One local mom started the group ‘Ohio Valley Formula Help”, which now has more than 700 members.
She helps update the page several times a day with which brands are in stock and where.
Local organizations like the Gabriel Project are also doing their best to help.
However all involved ask that people only take what they need, so they can do their best to get formula to more families.
And stay with WTRF.com for the latest headlines any time of the week.